HEY! Who said that Boys Love was only for girls?!

Let me introduce some real boys who draw Boys Love, cooperating not only with gay magazines but also with flagship yaoi publications like June's Pierce, Be-Boy, Opera and so on.

In order to do that, let me start by introducing the publications for boys that girls read as well! But only if they like muscles… and often a bit of facial (and not only) hair! ;)

 

 

SIMONA'S BL RESEARCH LAB
Special, unique, interesting Boys Love authors.

TSUKASA MATSUZAKI, TAKESHI MATSU, GO TSUKUMO
Boys Love for the Boys (and the girls!)

 

Professional manga debut: 1992 /  2004 / 2005
Professional volumes so far: 13 / 6 / 2
Dojinshi activity: yes
Circle name: Matsu & Matsuzaki / BOX
Other Pen Names: (Go Tsukumo) #19

Today let me revolutionize a bit the format of the Lab (making it 3 x 1!) in order to introduce something… completely different! XD

I already spoke briefly of gay publications (anthologies) like Nikutai-ha and GekiDan when introducing Hibakichi; they mainly present bondagy stories with a lot of muscles and the occasional beard. They bring the Oyaji Uke concept to new heights: famous male artists like Takeshi Matsu, Tsukasa Matsuzaki, Shotarou Kojima and the veteran gay artist Gengoroh Tagame are some of the VIPs who grace these muscly pages with bearded big men being chased down and thoroughly possessed by rather cute, smaller boys, often salary men who look too young for their suits.

It is basically the reverse of the classic cool older seme x (namely) dreadfully cute younger uke yaoi cliché; a revolution (?) that BL authorities like Reijin were happy to join, with the Oyaji-Uke High Priestesses Bora Naono and Kaoru Uchida leading the girly pack.

Thanks to authors like Ryoki Kano (Boku no Higeyome [僕の髭嫁 My Bearded Bride]) we even get to see reverse shota, a real novelty, with big bearded men who fail prey of cute young boys in their shorts who really cannot wait to have their first seme experience at their (often straight and very grown up) expenses.

This revolution led to a cross-gender exchange of BL female authors debuting in gay anthologies and male authors contributing in yaoi magazines, though I have to admit that the latter is a less frequent phenomenon, also because there are far more women then men authors, and the gay public is much more of a niche compared to yaoi fans; BL is getting very close to reach mainstream medium status  in Japan, also thanks to big successes like the yaoi-parody Kyoh Kara Maoh [今日からマ王 Demon King From Today] (published in the US with the subtitle God (?) Save the King) and especially the first real yaoi mainstream anime Junjo Romantica [純情ロマンチカ Pure Heart Romantica], that has managed to shrink the culture gap and appeal to the general public.

I actually just went to a comedy show that pretended to be a (hilarious) lecture called "YES!! Boys Love" last Sunday, and speaking with an editor of the publishing business she told me that apparently there are many "Romantica-kei" [ロマンチカ系 (Junjo) Romantica-related] comedians around. Considering that stand-up comedy makes up for an enormous share of Japanese TV and entertainment in general, that means not only that BL is recognized as a social phenomenon, but also that by making jokes about it, it gets even promoted to the general public that would otherwise not even know about it (or, more likely, not wanting to know XD).

Going back to real boys, Pine-tree [松 Matsu] duo Takeshi Matsu and Tsukasa Matsuzaki have a very important role in the gay-BL crossover path, because they are pretty famous in the gay dojinshi & manga world - they are some of the very few boys you can spot selling their work (they make a dojinshi called Shokado [松花堂 Pine Flower Palace] together) at the J-Garden, which is a yaoi event (J stands for June, a term that indicates original yaoi dojinshi more than the actual flagship magazine) - but their styles, even though they are very masculine indeed, appeal also to a not irrelevant part of BL female fans. 

Actually, Matsu confesses that, in spite of the fact that he draws mainly muscly men, in real life he prefers slender, more normal size guys (XD) and he is a pale-skin, megane and inteli-kei (intellectual types) appreciator as well (brother!!) though funnily enough he does like beards (I don't). XD
He is a relatively new face in manga world as he debuted in 2004 but he conquered success pretty fast, getting to illustrate the first seven covers of Nikutai-ha. All of his manga are pretty successful.

Matsuzaki has a longer career, started in 1992 on boys love publications thanks to the late Biblos, passed by Hobunsha's Hanaoto and landed in the arms of Kousai Shobo, mother of SM BL legend anthology Zettai Reido (see Hibakichi) and forerunner of Nikutai-ha with the defunct Kinniku Otoko [筋肉男 Muscly Man] that was basically replaced by the aforementioned publication by Oakla Shuppan, which is still going strong also thanks to Matsuzaki's bespoke series (bespoke, Heavy-Duty, Imitation Gold), telling the tale of a big bearded yakuza boss who has too many pheromones for its own good and gets laid ("raped" would probably be more accurate) by all sorts of horny guys; colleagues, enemies and even tailors (?) alike; very entertaining.

Another real boy worth more than a mention is Go Tsukumo, also known as #19, a Scorpio cutie who is well known in the shota world for his pretty naughty and realistic illustrations of boys engaging in their first experiences or rather slutty behavior in school. Contrary to classic shota, we are actually talking mainly about teenagers, and mostly same age, but his works can be pretty crude and rather pornographic, especially his dojinshi color illustrations, which are amazing but definitely not for everybody. His black and white manga are somewhat tamer, though the ero-do [エロ度 Erotic Level] is rather high.

Shobunkan collected most of his teenager / a.k.a. shota work in his first tankobon Sentimental na Toki [Sentimental Time], while the second, Saigo no Sangatsu [The Last (as in final) March (as in month)] is actually classified as Boys Love because most of the characters are grown up. If you want to try REAL boys love drawn BY a boy FOR the boys (and the girls) I would really recommend it; though it is a collection of short stories and they do not go very deep into the characters' minds, his dark Scorpio component expresses itself in all its plutonic might, painting everything with a subtle melancholic shade; very, very sensual and beautiful stuff, in a boyish sort of way.

The drawing style is not as bold as his other muscly colleagues, but it ain't sugary & girly either. Very sexy to me, nonetheless! Provare per credere! Try to believe! XD
 

In the next Lab we will explore the other side of the coin: the reel Otaku Fujoshi Squad taking the gay publishing world by storm!!

The world will never be the same.

 

Bibliographies (Newer first):

Tsukasa Matsuzaki

1. experience [エクスペリエンス]
    Oakla Shuppan, 2008

2. Nozoki Karakuri Kuruimitsu [覗機関狂威蜜 Peeping Organ Crazy Honey]
    Furukawa Shobo, 2008

3. IMITATION GOLD [イミテーションゴルド]
    Oakla Shuppan, 2007

4. Senzen Sekai no Tori wo Koroshi [三千世界の烏を殺し Killing the Three Thousand World Bird]
    Furukawa Shobo, 2006

5. Heavy-Duty [ヘビーデューティ]
    Oakla Shuppan, 2005

6. Kurodagumi Kuruwa Aibiki [黒田組曲輪逢引 Rendez-Vous in Kuroda Gang's District]
     Furukawa Shobo, 2005

7. beast tamer [ビースト・テイマー」
    Kousai Shobo 2004

8. bespoke [ビスポーク]
    Kousai Shobo 2003

9. Yuwaku Suru Adam [誘惑するアダム Adam the Tempter]
    Hobunsha, 1998

10. Ren'ai Shosetsu ga Dekiru Made [恋愛小説ができるまで Until the Romance is Written]
    Hobunsha, 1996

11. Yagiza no Koibito [山羊座の恋人 Capricorn Lover]
    Biblos, 1995

12. 9 to Love 5 to Love 2 [9to恋(ラブ) 5to愛(ラブ]
    Biblos, 1993

13. 9 to Love 5 to Love 1 [9to恋(ラブ) 5to愛(ラブ]
    Biblos, 1992

 

Takeshi Matsu

1. Gokujo Oyaji [極上親父 First Rate Oyaji (father/middle aged man)]
    Furukawa Shobo, 2008

2. Takuhai Spirit! [宅配スピリッツ!! Express Delivery Spirit!]      
    Oakla Shuppan, 2008

3. Susume! Riku, Umi, Sora!! [進め!陸、海、空!! Go Forward! Land, Sea, Sky!!]
    Furukawa Shobo, 2007

4. Anata wo Ai Shite Yamazu [あなたを愛してやまず I Love You in Earnest]
    Oakla Shuppan, 2007

5. Sanbiki ga Iku! [三匹がイクッ!! Three animals come! (lit: "go", the verb may also refer to reaching orgasm)]
    Oakla Shuppan, 2005

6. Itsuka wa Kumagoroshi! [いつかは熊殺し!! I'll Kill a Bear One Day!]     Kousai Shobo 2004

 
Go Tsukumo

1. Saigo no Sangatsu [最後の三月 The Last March]
    Shobunkan, 2008

2. Sentimental na Toki [センチメンタルな刻 Sentimental Time]
    Shobunkan, 2005

Images copyrights:
© Tsukasa Matsuzaki and Oakla Shuppan, Furukawa Shobo, Kousai Shobo.
© Takeshi Matsu and Oakla Shuppan, Furukawa Shobo.
© Go Tsukumo and Shobunkan.