My eyes are almost crossed from trying to learn some of the terminology associated with manga. First, there are the two major divisions: shojo and shonen. Easy enough then, shojo for girls, shonen for boys. Wait, but then there is seinen, which is aimed at young men. Along comes the next reference, to shonen-ai which means boys love, which apparently has offensive/pedophiliac overtones in Japan. Hence books that have a m/m romantic story line are commonly referred to as BL. Next came yaoi, which are apparently explicit and pornographic. Which led me to wonder what story lines with f/f love stories are called… yuri! However, then it turns out there are two kinds of yuri too! Yuri shojo, which is more of a love story, and yuri shonen which is apparently kind of ‘pervy.’ And apparently if you're a fan in the U.S. you can use the term 'otaku' to describe yourself, which means you're kind of a super fan, but in Japan its a derogatory description of a super fan.
Ack! Can you imagine trying to find books to add to your collection and stumbling across a whole new vocabulary? This would be the point of my independent study… finding out these things now! I was pretty sure I could find my way around the graphic novels, but I’m really learning a lot when it comes to manga!
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