Guest post: Asian pop slash

My online friend Marius Mink sent me this amazing collection of links to Asian pop slash, and it was too delicious not to share this post, with her permission, with the world of fan girls and boys.

A quick introduction to this extraordinary guest post. Slash is typically gay male pairings from pop culture created by small groups of female fans. A version of Boys Love based on famous characters from manga, movies or even real life (think Kirk and Spock, for example).

What is most amazing about the Youtube clicks below is that Asian pop has taken this culture one step further. The boy bands themselves are now featuring male smooching as a “fanservice” to their boys-love-loving female fans in concert and on television. While the US has women kissing women in order to turn on men, this latest Asian phenomenon has boys kissing boys in order to get their female fans into a super-frenzy. OMG!

Please enjoy!

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Marius Mink’s special guest post:

In an earnest attempt to find my hanchul collection, I went through my favorites and found SO many delicious treats for you. I hope you enjoy the vids. Most of them have nothing to do with Hanchul but I know you will like them. Also, unfortunately most of my good Hanchul stuff got deleted from youtube, but some pretty important stuff is still on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9wt73LF8xI&feature=channel_page Heechul and Sungmin kissed. Starting on Jan 2nd, 2009 (I believe), Heechul performed a song called “Crazy” several times. ^^ He kissed four boys in four diff performances. This, of course, made ALL the kpop news blogs. This is my second favorite but, unfortunately, as much as I love Sungmin, he’s an effing homophobe. For MONTHS after this kiss, he complained about it and said things like “I can’t be around Heechul the same anymore.” In an earlier incident, Sungmin had to touch lips with Hangeng and he made a big deal about that too. -_-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZx4MRBe2yw&feature=related Heechul and Jungmo—bad quality but worth it. This was the first kiss. The first time I was floored b/c Korean pop culture is way more conservative than Japanese, so this was groundbreaking. By the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th time, I was absolutely in shock. Heechul’s gotta be the most daring man in Kpop. Jungmo is part of a krock band called TRAX (they’re not well known but they’re awesome). In my opinion, Jay Kim (the singer of TRAX) and Heechul kind of have a history together. There is some convincing canon slash on them out there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBkpXcwiDdI&feature=related Heechul and Siwon–the uber Christian (but I think homo) member of Super Junior.

http://gengchul.com/ If you can read Chinese…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aHAbaR1kkk&feature=channel_page Kindan no Koi- I have yet to watch this film. It’s probably one of the only BL films in Japan that I haven’t seen. I can’t even find it raw. It looks bad, but that’s never stopped me from watching/reading yaoi before. It’s from the ppl who made Boys Love—best movie ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETZ-q26UKgE&feature=channel_page This is a vid of the now broken up band of Korean transexuals called Lady. My sis and I love them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AwB2TDLlo8&feature=related You’re effing welcome. 🙂 It’s a shame that youtube removed the first vid I ever saw of him. This man, Jung Hyung Min, got a little stint of fame from this event. He was on Starking, one of the most famous tv shows on Korean tv.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-rd4ntV_z4&feature=related Jung hyung min again. I LOVE this guy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5013ob6KZ4&feature=channel_page This is the opening song of a crazy ass Japanese gay camp film I stumbled upon at a previously homophobic friend’s PPV. The two lovers, Yaji and Kita, are in search of magical mushrooms b/c the blonde one is addicted to drugs. The blonde guy is super famous. He played the emperor in Tom Cruise’s Last Samurai. I find that hilarious. The brunette is super hot in real life. They make out a couple of times in the film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNKa56ooOQo&translated=1 This is a recent gay Korean film based on the uber famous Japanese manga Antique Bakery (Bangin-sensei cosplayed as the glasses guy). This film is fabulous and the gay action between the French boy and the pretty Korean guy is gorgeous. Watch it. You’ll love it.

Now we begin the Hanchul part:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkINzfl-AEw&feature=PlayList&p=09609FD031338ECF During their Don’t Don stage, Hangeng boasted some fierce blonde hair. This is his now famous hip thrust in the song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cp2pLLGoRQ&feature=PlayList&p=D7A497AF7B35247B This is a really cute vid of Hanchul holding hands and being all coupley on Chinese television. I’m not gonna lie… this video inspires me almost more than anything else to learn Chinese. I SO want to be able to understand Hangeng and the Chin prog he’s on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfvoz4y4odc I love this SOOO much. It’s adorable. Hanchul at its best.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD3Vj6j_VLo This is THE most famous Hanchul clip. It occurred on the Korean variety show YSMM (which I’m addicted to). I highly recommend watching the whole ep b/c it’s hilarious and thoroughly entertaining. Plus, I’m in love with the singer Sung Si Kyung and he’s on there. Also, the woman with short orangy hair is a great singer too.

Favorite Tennis Slash Couple

I am sad that my favorite tennis slash couple will not be facing off in the US Open final today. Poor Nadal has had a rough year with lots of injuries, including his abdominals now. The photo above shows the tenderness underlying men’s tennis’ biggest rivalry. I love how #1 Roger has his thumb on Rafa’s nipple. There’s a lot of love and hate, all mixed together in competition. Hot!

Spock x Kirk slash video

This blog has featured much Japanese “Boys Love” or yaoi stories (man-on-man action created by and for women). A startup entrepreneur reminded me today of US slash fan videos, particularly this Star Trek edited fantasy created to the soundtrack of Nine Inch Nail’s Closer. Moe knows no national borders!

While the classic Trek slash video has over a million views in the past two years, a newer version (v2) was created using this summer’s Spock and Kirk lovefest.

“How come I am uke?!”

On Monday, I had the supreme pleasure of helping my internet friend Bangin, the master teacher of otaku vocabulary for the English-speaking world, cosplay Kyon from The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi.

Bangin’s idea was to have Kyon, the narrator, provide a tour of Otome Road, the fujoshi (female geek) world capital in Ikebukero. My role was to take hundreds of photos. It was great fun since I’ve long admired Bangin’s blog, and I’d watched seven English subbed episodes online between the time he asked me and when we did the cosplay.

A brief summary of the manga and anime story: Kyon, the narrator, is a high school freshman who is trying to grow up. He falls under the spell of a dominant female classmate who organizes the SOS Brigade to make contact with extraterrestrials, time travelers, and ESP experts. Basically, she’s looking for magic in the mundane world, a lovely concept. The story has plenty of otaku moe (school girls in uniform, including one who is used as sexual bait to gain a computer, new members and attention), and a slash fan story of Kyon’s romance with the “mysterious (male) transfer student Koizumi.”

My National Science Foundation and Fulbright-sponsored university research with Rio de Janeiro drag queens in the early 1990s only partly prepared me for the role of cosplay photographer. Make-up, costume, fantasy, role-playing, utter seriousness, a depth of knowledge and passion– all to be expected.

What surprised me was the concern to not be “too loud” or too noticed while performing. I had thought it would be fun to interact with the butler cafe doorman, or the many fujoshi pulling their wheelie bags full of manga and doujinshi (fan slash manga). This was not Bangin’s idea at all. And, oddly, no fujoshi approached us to ask about Kyon.

Here you can read Bangin’s post about Otome Road. It’s even funnier than I anticipated because Bangin writes the whole travelogue in Kyon’s voice– being “forced” by Haruhi, and warned by Koizumi about the catastrophe of closed spaces. His introduction ends with, “Today is going to be my worst day in all of my life. Will you follow me? I will show around.” There are many photos, observations and explanations!

The finale of the tour is very amusing. Across from the dozens of shops catering to fujoshi is a small, somewhat uncared-for-park, where the young customers open up their purchases (and homeless people make their home, which reminded me of San Francisco).

The photo at the top of the post shows Kyon’s shock and horror that he is the subject of a Koizumi x Kyon doujinshi. Bangin provided the quote, “How come I am uke?!”