The passion of Gengoroh Tagame: the master of gay erotic manga

Manga vision: cultural and communicative perspectives

“…Furthermore, Lunsing, like researchers before him, has unassumingly accepted the idea that bara is a homogenous art form and that all bara promote the same images of masculinity and gay subjectivity. Indeed, a recent article by Ruh (2014) has highlighted the need for researchers to challenge this position, especially as bara manga is now becoming available in formal English translation.…”

“…This is despite the fact that various literary, sociological and anthropological studies of Japanese gay experience have highlighted the important role of bara manga, and various other gay media, as 'gateways' to knowledge concerning male homosexuality in Japan (Lunsing, 2001;Mackintosh, 2010;McLelland, 2000). What little scholarship exists has tended to be de-contextualised and presents a homogenised image of the stylistic devices utilised within bara, particularly in regard to depictions of the male body (Ruh, 2014). Loosely defined, bara [rose] refers to a genre of manga that depicts male homosexuality and is produced for and by Japanese gay men (Butcher, 2007).…”

“…Overall, this chapter suggests that researchers must engage with bara manga as a situated genre and follows Ruh (2014) in questioning claims that bara is typified by homogeneity. These findings are not only relevant to the study of bara, but also to the study of other genres of manga.…”