As promised, Otomen debuted last night on Japanese TV. Britton Watkins created this guest post, which neatly summarizes the plot and characters.
Asuka’s Father was a soft-spoken and romantic gardener.
But the precocious youth Asuka adored him and emulated him at every turn.
Beautiful Mom thought Dad was just great too…
A TV version of the manga Otomen is starting soon in Japan (August 1, 11.10 pm, Fuji TV), as revealed by this Omootesando billboard. The story centers on high school junior Asuka Masamune: manly man and judo/karate/kendo master on the outside, lover of caramel macchiato, shōjo manga, sweets, and pink things on the inside. Apparently he romances a (female) classmate by teaching her how to do girly stuff.
I first heard of this term from my otaku and moe language teacher Bangin. He prefers this term over “soshokukei” (herbivores). Otomen, he defines, as young men who like BL and otome stuff (note the pink flower in the billboard which refers to girls’ anime styles), who are skilled at domestic crafts, and who act manly in public but are secretly feminine.
Thank you, Japanese television. Anyone else looking forward to this show?
Tokyo Moe 