Fudanshi Koukou Seikatsu

Normally I would stay as far away from the BL or yaoi genre. Those are for fujoshi, right? You know, girls who enjoy seeing men make out with each other. But what happens when there are guys who also like to see this?! Isn’t that full on gay? I don’t know. They’re called fudanshi by the way. I wouldn’t have picked up Fudanshi Koukou Seikatsu if not for my curiosity of thinking how funny this anime can get and weird for a guy who is into BL. It is like a guy taking ballet lessons, right? It is rare but possible. Plus, this series is only 3 minutes long so there is no danger of me turning gay with such short duration ;p. I hope this series won’t be spamming about hot guys making out with each other and being stalked by a male peeper. Yeesh… Hair standing on ends right now…

Episode 1
Ryou Sakaguchi is a fudanshi. He is not happy that the manga store has labelled the BL corner for girls. This makes it harder for him to go get his manga. Although he manages to get it, the biggest problem now is paying through the cashier. He can tell from this newbie’s reaction that he is shocked in seeing what kind of manga he purchased. Worst, he is being stereotype as a gay. Of course Sakaguchi as he complains to his best friend, Toshiaki Nakamura (not a fudanshi by the way) about this stigma. Sakaguchi might like BL but he is certainly not into guys. Huh? What? He explains something about reading it to be fulfilled and admire someone else’s happiness. Sakaguchi is also on this forum for BL lovers, SNS. Nakamura reads an entry about being groped, which was something he told him last week. He is using their talk as story fodder? Nakamura warns him not to use him in his stories. But Sakaguchi reveals his dream to have more fudanshi friends. So why doesn’t he find more on SNS? Because the internet isn’t forgiving. Like how? When he posted a picture of a cake, everyone thought he was a girl. First world problems…

Episode 2
While taking the train, Sakaguchi sees a couple of guys close together and believes they are into each other. Nakamura isn’t too fond that he jumped to such conclusions. If he loves BL so much, why didn’t he enrol in a school for boys only? Guys in such schools fall for each other because there are no girls around. Now, if guys fall for guys even though there are girls around, that is even more exciting. It’s the kind of BL he is looking for. Then Nakamura points out a couple of boys who may fall into that category. Akira Ueda seems to enjoy being the gopher for Yuujirou Shiratori. Sakaguchi is not convinced so he asks Ueda if he is his b*tch! Ueda denies. He is in love with him! He likes Shiratori because he has both traits of a guy and girl. This makes him double strong. Can’t argue with that. Sakaguchi and Shiratori are called to join a mixer to even the gender balance. However if Ueda is coming along, Sakaguchi wonders the need to be here. Oh, that guy is just to carry stuffs. So he isn’t even human? So all the girls hound around Shiratori. The other guys are ignored… Then they wonder about Ueda. Shiratori assures them he is only here to carry their stuffs so don’t mind him. If it doesn’t get weirder than this, one of the girls asks Ueda if he has a girlfriend and his reply is that he belongs to Shiratori. What a way to ruin the mood.

Episode 3
A new BL manga comes out and Nakamura is feeling uneasy accompanying Sakaguchi go get it. Ironically this time Sakaguchi isn’t shy to hide himself from the girls. He could also have got this manga from normal bookstores but depending on which store there are extra freebies thrown in. When Sakaguchi is helping to carry a box, he accidentally bumps into a girl, Rumi Nishihara. The other guys note he doesn’t get along well with real girls compared to fujoshi ones over SNS. As long as they talk about their same love for their BL fetish, everything else doesn’t matter. However he points out that fujoshi are also very dangerous. For example he shows them their tweets and they are very crazy and dangerous stuffs they want to fantasize doing like sneaking under their bed and watch them close up or licking them 24 billion times!!!! Sakaguchi thinks fujoshi aren’t everywhere but he sees Nishihara looking through SNS. Comrade? Before you know it, they become very good friends. They are squealing in delight they never knew a ‘comrade’ was this close. They exchange contact details and Sakaguchi is amazed this is his first contact from a girl.

Episode 4
Sakaguchi and Nishihara discuss a yaoi pairing. While Sakaguchi doesn’t like official pairings because it takes the fun out of fantasizing, Nishihara prefers it official. Nakamura thought they are fighting but they clear the air that they are just discussing. Really? They looked like they’re going to fight. She explains terms like seme and uke to Nakamura but he doesn’t get it. For some reason, Shiratori starts molesting Nakamura’s butt! This makes Sakaguchi mad because they’re supposed to do such things when his hands are free! Nishihara’s friend, Kana asks about her getting along with Sakaguchi lately. She can’t expose his fudanshi ways so she mentions something about watching over each other’s forbidden love and console the other for their unfulfilled desires. Kana doesn’t get it. Sakaguchi wants Nishihara to accompany him to somewhere. It is the BL section for girls. This way he doesn’t have to worry as it will look like him accompanying her. She then suggests to go to a place where he cannot go without her. The shoujo corner. This is much harder than BL stuff.

Episode 5
Shiratori is also the president of the cooking club and makes good food. Because Sakaguchi always freeloads on him, Shiratori cheekily hints he will have to pay back with his body someday… For now I guess he just do the dishes. Shiratori then introduces a club member, Keiichi who joined the club to help his childhood friend, Reiji. Sakaguchi becomes ecstatic learning there is BL potential but this scares Keiichi and giving him the wrong idea. Keiichi then describes Reiji who is just useless and carefree. Because he mocked his cooking, the reason he joined to prove him wrong. With Reiji around, Keiichi introduces him to Sakaguchi. Still the carefree dude, he describes their ‘wonderful’ times together. It always seem Reiji is the cause for Keiichi’s troubles. Especially the reason why he is now afraid to get a girlfriend! Because when the mood was going good for them, Keiichi interrupts by coming in between them. From the window! Naturally their relationship ended. But for Reiji, he doesn’t think his best friend need a girlfriend as long as he has him! Yeah… Sakaguchi might consider Reiji a jerk but he couldn’t be thankful enough for this BL potential.

Episode 6
Nishihara invites Sakaguchi to a doujin event, Comima. This will be his debut of such events and despite nervous, he must have underestimated it because he didn’t bring enough cooling and hydrating stuffs for the long wait in the sun. Even Nishihara came prepared also got ‘defeated’. Oh, did I mention the train packed with people too? Sakaguchi gets signatures from his favourite BL authors. Of course those female authors are puzzled that a guy is reading BL. Sakaguchi sees a BL doujin that has the protagonists looking familiar like Shiratori and Nakamura. Turns out the author is Daigo, the guy from next door’s class. This guy likes BL too and so much of it that he decided to make his own series and ended up using some of his friends as references. On the way home, Sakaguchi’s bag breaks. It is horrifying when the public knows what kind of manga you read. When Nishihara offers her bag, he sees the Shiratori x Nakamura print on it. Don’t tell me…

Episode 7
Sakaguchi almost gives the wrong idea when he says he went one step further with Nishihara. To Comima, that is. Because he says he also wants to go to the sea and watch fireworks, Nakamura thinks it is weird for him to say such normal things. Well, he thought at such places where couples spend time together, he thought he could see some BL-like scenarios. Nakamura then sees the doujinshi of him and Shiratori… Oh sh*t… Sakaguchi learns Nakamura saved and bought a pair of limited edition shoes costing 30,000 Yen. He thinks he is mad but then is made to relate his own similar experience. He bought a limited doujinshi for 6,000 Yen when originally it cost 400 Yen. Nishihara too had something similar. She wanted to buy a nice dress but it cost 4,000 Yen and gave up. But she ended up buying it online as limited edition for 6,000 Yen. Nakamura wonders why he needs to accompany Sakaguchi and Nishihara to a doujinshi store. They even separate to buy at different sections, leaving the poor normal guy alone. He waits outside and despite it took them a long time, they didn’t buy much. Because most of the stuffs were for over 18 anyway.

Episode 8
Nishihara tells Sakaguchi that Kana thinks they’re going out. Of course that’s not the case since Sakaguchi only sees her as a fujoshi partner. However Sakaguchi shocks us by saying there is a girl he recently likes! She isn’t from a manga either. As he describes her, Nakamura feels it is getting more confusing. Later Nakamura sees Shiratori putting on a girl’s wig. It’s his club’s cross-dressing day. Then he realizes this must be the ‘girl’ Sakaguchi must be talking about. Nakamura gets cheeky saying ambiguous stuffs like Sakaguchi is having a crush on him. This excites Shiratori and doesn’t want him to tell Sakaguchi. This is going to get awkward. Sakaguchi then comes in and sees this beautiful ‘girl’ who wants to kiss him! Nakamura won’t allow this and stops them but it gets complicated when Ueda steps in and won’t allow Sakaguchi to have this ‘girl’! I guess dumbasses don’t make their words clear because it only confuses Sakaguchi even further when Ueda claims Shiratori is only his and have a ‘crush’ on this ‘girl’. Shiratori is loving every bit of this…

Episode 9
BL version for Halloween? I’m sure the BL freaks would love it. Nishihara wants Sakaguchi and Nakamura to cross-dress but they are against it. Since she throws a tantrum, they agree. My, they look hideous. When Shiratori sees this, he blows his top and shows it how it’s done. Man, they look better now. Nishihara lost as a woman… Even more so when Shiratori makes Nishihara cuter. And how the heck is Ueda cuter than Nishihara?! This guy is really talented. As they make food for Halloween, notice how the guys are using ambiguous words while carving out the pumpkin? “It’s pretty hard”, “It feels good when it’s all clean inside”, “Look at all the stuff that came out”… Sakaguchi realizes too late that he just gave Nishihara the best Halloween fanservice.

Episode 10
The gang prays at the shrine. Nakamura tricks the BL lovers into revealing their wishes. Sakaguchi wants all the gays in the world to be happy! Nishihara wants to buy all the BL manga from the circle she wants. You know what they say about wishes don’t come true when you reveal them… Working in this shrine is Keiichi’s sister, Yukari. Nishihara starts fawning over a real life miko priestess. But Yukari may not be all innocent as she looks. Deep down, she is trying to control herself from unleashing her savage desires on her brother! Yukari and Nishihara talk about the hit or miss about lucky bags in which Yukari usually ends up buying them. Of course Nishihara notes if she’d spend that kind of money, she would prefer to do it all on BL instead. When they leave, Sakaguchi realizes he has not much money left. Apparently not only during New Years that those BL lovers are in such dire straits. Something about not being able to buy a 28 page doujin for 500 Yen.

Episode 11
It is Valentine’s Day but why is Sakaguchi excited? Well, he might be into BL but he isn’t gay. Yeah, my head hurts thinking about this. Anyway, Sakaguchi is looking forward to chocolates but he got none in his shoe locker. Even more depressing is him mentioning he would prefer to be at a doujin event instead of dating a girl. But Nakamura has a love letter in his locker. It is his first. Sakaguchi stays optimistic. It could be from a guy… From Miyuki Takei. Sounds like a girl. Maybe he read it wrongly. It could read as Yoshiyuki. Thankfully they see she is a girl. Sakaguchi ever the optimist thinks she might look girly on the outside but underneath all that she might have a dick! Trap?! Nakamura confronts her and she gives him not chocolates but a hair accessory. She likes making them and always thought he has beautiful hair and hopes he will put it on. Sakaguchi is laughing his ass off. He tells this to Nishihara and she casually gives him chocolates since it has design of an anime he likes. Nakamura is irked they are so normal and yet their relationship is not happening. Nishihara has also given her chocolates to someone else. However that person is a 2D manga character and she’ll have to live with the fact that she will never get anything in return.

Episode 12
When Sakaguchi says he intends to take up a part time job, Nakamura thinks it is to observe a romance blossoming between male co-workers. Actually he wants to save up to buy a new BL manga at Comima. Well, at least it is still a BL reason in the end. When Daigo hears this, he hopes Sakaguchi can help out. He agrees seeing Daigo knows one of the authors. At the booth, Sakaguchi envies Daigo who has good looks and is a hit with the ladies. Daigo insists Sakaguchi is also popular. Well, that is only because with the guys sitting close together, the other guys are happy fantasizing a potential BL about them. You freaking out, Sakaguchi? And yes, Nishihara is one of those who enjoyed this. After the event, they talk how they started liking BL. Sakaguchi happened to stumble upon it in a bookstore and find it surprisingly good. For Nishihara, her mom and sister are fujoshi. So naturally, right? Nakamura sees Sakaguchi and Nishihara heading to the bookstore to check for new volumes. He apologizes for interrupting their date but they in sync protests they aren’t. Everyone has this annoyed looks… Frustrating, right?

Men Make Better Lovers?
Well, good thing it wasn’t that bad. The BL and yaoi elements are only used as comedy and are so mild that I won’t even classify it as a yaoi series. You know how mild that lesbian series, Sasameki Koto was? This series isn’t even that close to that sort of mildness. Safe enough for young kids to watch. Woah! Okay, the thought of males making out with each other may already be the alarming signs but what I meant was that other than this setting and their slightly twisted thought of ‘romance’, this series is pretty much safe for anybody. If you just want to have a few laughs about this topic, this series is light enough to do the trick. Or maybe this is light enough as an appetizer to get you hooked into BL? Yikes, thank goodness I didn’t.

Thanks to the short duration of the series, there won’t be very much to draw on especially the characters. Because we will all know who they are right when they appear the first time to the end. Like Sakaguchi as the rare male fudanshi but as mind boggling as it is he isn’t totally gay because as he said himself he might love the genre of yaoi but that doesn’t mean he has to be gay himself. I think this is true because we all tend to jump the gun that if you like such gay stuffs, you’re 100% gay. For example, we like to play first person shooter games doesn’t mean we are all gun freaks and like to go around shooting people, right? I think there is a clear division with what you like and what you are and I believe that this series subtly hinting that is good.

Other characters are also rather okay and also nothing much like Nakamura as your normal guy but so normal that he doesn’t even have his own girlfriend :’(. Yeah, pretty normal for guys his age but not normal when you think about this guy actually his quite good looks. This isn’t normal! But the good thing about him is that he accepts Sakaguchi and his fetish. If this was the real world, I think many of us would be forcing others to be normal. That’s not cool. Nakamura’s role feels like he is to play the rebuttal every time Sakaguchi goes into his BL fantasies. Well, I guess that is what a normal person should do each time his gay friend does or says something like that.

Then there is Nishihara as Sakaguchi’s partner in crime in BL. Unlike Sakaguchi, we aren’t sure if Nishihara is really a lesbian herself. She interacts with Sakaguchi normally because she only sees him as her comrade of her favourite genre. And possibly Sakaguchi would be the closest real life yaoi she can experience in 3D if a need ever arises. Yeah, with so many hot guys around, there is always that possibility. Speaking of Shiratori, this guy is like good in everything and feels like he is waiting for that moment whereby he can make Sakaguchi do yaoi things to him. I don’t think he is a BL fan but he is a true gay. And it has become some sort of a running joke that Ueda is his lap dog trying to please him with everything in hopes that one day his gay love will be accepted. Kana is like the female version of Nakamura but unfortunately she doesn’t get as much screen time so there is not much that we know about her except she is a little dense. It is good to know that the BL lovers even have normal friends. Too bad for those hoping for Sakaguchi x Nishihara, if that ever happens, it will just destroy the definition and setting of this series. Ultimate shocker!

But it is more baffling and confusing to think if Sakaguchi will ever fall in love with Nishihara. Definitely he isn’t into guys when it comes to love but being with Nishihara for so long and although we know they see each other as BL comrades, there is always that chance that Sakaguchi’s romance will kick in because he would like to have a female if he should have a girlfriend. I mean, it is possible after seeing how he fell for Shiratori’s cross-dressing. Unless it was his inner BL that was the attraction… But let’s not confuse ourselves with that seeing if there is the possibility Sakaguchi does find himself falling for Nishihara, would it be the end of his gay and BL fetish? Yeah, that would confuse the hell out of everyone including us. Unless he can keep it separate reality love and fetish love. Yeah, that will be hard for me…

The art and drawing are pretty normal and of course if you look at all the characters, they are pretty good looking. How can you not have any good looking guys when you have a BL theme? Animated by EMT², it seems this relatively new company also did another ‘gay’ short, Ame-iro Cocoa. Yeah, that series already has 3 seasons but let’s not talk about it. The only other show they produced so far and isn’t gay is Kuma Miko. Surprisingly I like the ending theme, Sekai Wa Boy Meets Boy by Wataru Hatano (voice of Sakaguchi). It is quite a lively and energetic piece that sometimes wants to make you get up and do a little dance.

Overall, this short series is funny and gives you a little peek into the minds of BL lovers of a guy albeit not much. You don’t have to be a BL fan to watch this little series. This is generally for everyone. Though, I’m still not going into BL myself. Ever. Look, you don’t even have to fear of turning gay by watching this. I believe this series isn’t offensive to the straight people or even the LGBT community and if you are, you shouldn’t be living on this planet. That is what makes humans interesting because of our many different and twisted fetishes. Because remember, love knows no and comes in all shapes and forms. So why should BL and gay be any exception? Therefore whatever you consider yourself including the gender that you want to assume, let us all sit back and relax and sometimes laugh at ourselves for being weird. Make love, not hate.