Maria – rentaBLog

As someone who spends a lot of time in Japanese 女性向け (joseimuke, or female-oriented) spaces and also consumes a lot of BL, one thing I really enjoy is how BL manga very frequently reflects what’s going on in those circles—what themes are popular, what fashions are getting big, social concerns women are dealing with (have you ever wondered why JP Omegaverse is significantly more about social issues than hot breeding kink sex…?), etc. But it’s not just these themes and styles, but overarching trends in popular culture that suddenly start showing up as well. And in this case, the one I want to talk about is:

Shikinagi Akira and Hayase Sou discuss their fav BL tropes

Vtubers.

I’m not super open about it, but I’ｍ a Vtuber fan. I’m not as big into them as I used to be—back during the pandemic it was my (and many other people’s, I believe) main fandom. My cat is named after Saegusa Akina. I cried so hard and for so long on the day Mayuzumi Kai graduated that I wished I could call into work the next day but instead went in looking like I’d been punched in the face. I attended the Nijirock concert back in 2021 as well as Fantasia in 2022. Unfortunately, I’m not super acquainted with the newer gens, and I have much less time to watch them now that we no longer work from home, but Vtubers and streamers still hold a special place in my heart for making living alone during the pandemic significantly more bearable.

And the fun thing for me is that many BL mangaka seem to feel the same. When they aren’t drawing Vtuber fanart on their side accounts, BL manga about streamers (and Vtubers to a lesser degree) has exploded in the last couple years, so I wanted to write about the collision of these two things I love.

Six months went by in a flash, and it’s already time for J.GARDEN 55! Regular readers of the BLog likely already know, but we attended J.GARDEN 54 as a business trip of sorts. This time I’ll be attending by myself just as a regular BL fan, so I won’t be writing another attendance report, but I figured I could still update everyone on who’ll be there, and which artists and books I’m personally super excited for.

Because the pamphlets sold out within a week last fall, I was careful to leave for Akihabara at 8AM on February 18th—I was going to be there at store open on the morning of the pamphlet being released, and I was going to get the damn thing. I went to Akihabara because it’s less popular with fujoshi than my usual haunt of Ikebukuro (land of the infamous Otome Road), and last year Akiba took way longer to sell out, so I wanted to go to Shosen Book Tower, an incredibly popular (and old) bookstore in Akihabara. However… the pamphlet wasn’t there lol. Ope. So I asked the staff, and they confirmed they WERE supposed to get a shipment in, but something went wrong and it was delayed.

Which was fine. Because you could also buy the pamphlet at Animate, and Animate Akihabara was only a few blocks away. (And I could look at Genshin goods while I was there…)

Tip that I actually didn’t know at the time (I spent a good ten minutes combing each floor with no sign of the pamphlet before asking the staff): pamphlets like this are actually generally kept behind the counter of the main floor. So if you’re ever in Japan and looking to purchase an event pamphlet, ask the staff first before wasting a bunch of time looking for it! (They’re very nice and helpful, and if you don’t speak Japanese just show the image on your phone and they’ll understand!)

Anyway, pamphlet obtained! Onto the actual content for the upcoming J.GARDEN 55!

Tag: Maria

VTubers and BL Trends

J. Garden 55