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"Fujoshi" (JP) is a term for a female otaku character who enjoys fictional works that depict love and intimate relationships between men.
Etymology[]
Meaning of the Term[]
Fujoshi (腐女子) is a combination of "fu" (腐), meaning "rotten", and "joshi", (女子) meaning "girl/woman". The term is a pun on the word "fujoshi" (婦女子), meaning "woman", but with the first kanji swapped out for one with the same pronunciation "fu".[3][4][2]
Origin[]
The term fujoshi is believed to have originated in the late 1990s when female fans of boy's love manga began calling themselves the term as a form of self-deprecation. The term become widely known around 2005. While the term initially had a negative nuance to it, today it is widely used by fujoshi to describe themself and since 2015 there are many celebrities and famous people who publicly identify as a fujoshi.[3][4]
Alternate Name[]
When the otaku fandom for boy's love manga first started in 1976, fans were originally referred to as "yaoer" (ヤオラー) or "yaoi shoujo" (やおい少女). These terms come from "yaoi", an otaku slang term for "a genre involving gay relationships in light novels, manga, anime, video games and other Japanese media", and "raa" (ラー), a suffix meaning "-er", and "shoujo" (やおい少女), meaning "young girl", respectively. However, these terms are not used anymore.[3][4]
Misuse[]
The term "fujoshi" is sometimes used by people to refer to "female otaku" in general, however, this is incorrect usage. It is often based on the thought that all female otaku must be into boy's love when this is not true and those who are not don't like being lumped in with those who do.[3][4]
History[]
Official Media[]
It is very common to see fujoshi characters in anime and manga series.[5]
One of the earliest examples is the 2006 romance manga series Fujoshi Rumi (JP) which follows a girl named Rumi Asai who is a hardcore yaoi otaku who spends her days fantasizing about the two cutest boys in her class, Takahiro Abe and Shunsuke Chiba, getting together romantically. However, when Rumi asks Abe to model for her manga drawings he ends up falling in love with her and confesses. Despite Rumi's heart starting to flutter, she confusingly turns him down because she thinks he'd be perfect for Chiba. The story follows Abe trying to win her over despite her yaoi fantasies.[2]
The 2007 romance manga series Fujoshi ssu! (JP) followed a group of three girls who are all fujoshi and dealt with their struggles of finding love while being an otaku.[1]
One of the most well-known examples is the character of Tae Futaba from the 2012 harem romance manga series Masamune-kun's Revenge. When Tae is first introduced she develops a crush on her classmate Masamune Makabe, however, after being rejected by him she instead starts to turn her attention to Masamune's very feminine best friend Kojuro Shiro and started fantasizing about the two of them dating. Tae even organized a play of Romeo & Juliet just so Masamune could play Romeo and Kojuro could play Juliet, and she could see the two of them in a romantic relationship.[6]
Personality[]
General Behavior[]
Tae Futaba fantasizing about Masamane Makabe and Kojuro Shura getting together from Masamune-kun's Revenge
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Fujoshi are female otaku characters who enjoy fictional works featuring intimate romantic relationships between men, typically known as either "boy's love" (BL) or "yaoi". They are usually fanatic about yaoi and can talk for hours about their favorite yaoi series. Many fujoshi also write boy's love manga or light novels, and enjoy creating their own stories featuring men in romantic relationships.[2][1]
In some cases, they may feel shy about their hobby and try to hide it from others, but when someone shares their hobby they become passionate about it. They are often a bit socially inept.[2]
Sexuality[]
Rumi Asai fantasizing about Takahiro Abe and Shunsuke Chiba from Mousou Shoujo Otaku-kei
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It is worth noting that just because a fujoshi enjoys seeing homosexual relationships between men does not necessarily mean that she herself is attracted to men, though it is very common. However, there are also many lesbian people who are also fujoshi and enjoy boy's love media as a purely fictional one.[5] Often they are drawn in by the "forbidden love" aspects.[2]
Fujoshi will often enjoy seeing yaoi situations happen in real life or fantasize about seeing different yaoi ships. Generally the mindset of a fujoshi is that they only want to observe and don't want to participate.[6] In extreme cases they may even turn down a guy who asks them out because they'd rather see that guy be with another guy, or rather they assume they're already dating because of their wild fujoshi fantasies.[2]
Similar Archetypes[]
- Otaku: A term for a character who is highly interested in a particular hobby or subculture, often to the point of being obsessed.
- Yurijoshi: A term for a female otaku character who enjoys fictional works that depict love and intimate relationships between women.
List of Characters[]
Gallery[]
 Tae Futaba from Masamune-kun's Revenge  Rika Shiguma from Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai  Rumi Asai from Mousou Shoujo Otaku-kei  Rumi Asai from Mousou Shoujo Otaku-kei  Rumi Asai from Mousou Shoujo Otaku-kei  Rumi Asai from Mousou Shoujo Otaku-kei |
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Fujoshi ssu!. Pixiv Comics (2007/06/22). “Cosplayer Yuki, doujin manga artist Megumi, and doujin novel writer Eri are a trio of close friends who are "fujoshi high school girls" and attend the same high school. Suddenly, three-dimensional love descends upon these three girls! However, their "fujoshi," which could also be called their nature, stands in the way of each of their love... Is it possible to be an otaku and have a romantic relationship at the same time?”
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Fujoshi Rumi. The Mage Semporium (2006/04/12). “Takahiro Abe is an ordinary, well adjusted, proper young man. In his freshman year in High School he fell in love with Rumi Asai, an anything but ordinary, Yaoi Moe Otaku girl. Rumi is utterly convinced Takahiro and Shunsuke Chiba, Abe's best friend from middle school, are in love with each other and is letting her Fujoshi Fantasies run wild! Can love happen between an ordinary guy and a fujoshi!? *Fujoshi: A crazed fangirl of gay romance stories. They're sometimes a little socially inept. The literal translation would be a "rotten girl".”
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 What is Fujoshi. Pixiv Encyclopedia (2009/11/14). “A term used to refer to women who enjoy homosexual fantasies involving other men. Fujoshi are women who enjoy fictional works about love between men (BL manga, original BL novels, BL games, etc.) and who enjoy pairing male characters or 3D men together (fabricated couples). The existence of women who fit this description has been recognized since the late 1970s (Takemiya Keiko began serializing "Poem of Wind and Trees" in 1976 and received enthusiastic support, and the work was later called the "originator of BL"), and at the time they were called "yaorer" (ヤオラー) or "yaoi shoujo" (やおい少女). It is unclear who first used the term "fujoshi," but it originated around 2000 when fujoshi themselves began calling themselves fujoshi with a self-deprecating connotation. As mentioned above, "fujoshi" is a self-deprecating self-description, but nowadays it does not have a negative nuance. It is widely used by fujoshi themselves as a way to self-describe and differentiate between groups.”
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Fujoshi. Wikipedia JP (2004/05/18). “Fujoshi (腐女) is a term used to refer to women who enjoy fictional works such as yaoi, which deals with gay men, especially boys' love (BL). It is a subcultural term that was adopted into Japanese in the 21st century. It is a play on the word fujoshi (婦女子). Formerly they were also called yao-er (ヤオラー) and yaoi shoujo (ヤオイ少女). The term fujoshi was first seen online in the late 1990s and became more widely known in the general public around 2005. Originally, yaoi and otaku were considered pathological phenomena in society, but the new terms fujoshi and boys' love, which have a large image gap, have helped to renew the image of works themed around male homosexuality and their fans. Since 2015, fujoshi have been increasingly featured in the media, and with an increase in celebrities and famous people who publicly admit to reading yaoi and BL works, fujoshi have become more positively portrayed.”
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Kami Eshi JK to OL Fujoshi. Comiplex (2018/12/25). “Aizawa, a beautiful but unfortunate fujoshi office lady, and Misumi, a high school girl and godly artist with over 40,000 followers on social media. The two hit it off on social media over their interpretations of their favorite anime, and end up meeting in person at an event...!? A girls' love story drawn by Sato of "Flag Time"!!”
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Tae Futaba. Masamune-kun's Revenge (2017/01/05). “Masamune's classmate and reliable class representative. When Masamune had just transferred to the school, she fell in love with him and approached him, but was heartbroken. Now they are friends. She is usually caring and trusted by those around her, but she also has a fun side to her, fantasizing about pairing Masamune with Kojuro.”
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