The situation and true feelings of otaku girls] By the way, are all otaku girls "rotten girls"?

This is an anime store in Ikebukuro, known as a "mecca for girls. With blue plastic bags filled with character goods and thin books in their hands, the girls are hurrying back to their homes to admire their loot as soon as possible...

Hello as I watch this scene. I'm Satomi Zunda, an Alaska girl. The year 2015 has come and gone, and it looks like the otaku girls are going to be active again this year.

By the way, how much do you know about the ecology of otaku girls?

I'm often asked by pimps and slightly geeky guys, "All otaku girls like BL (boys love), don't they? No, that's not true.

No, no, no. Of course not. Just because there happened to be a bunch of rotten girls (including Zunda) nearby, it doesn't mean that all otaku girls in the world are rotten girls!

A simple classification would be as shown in the figure (a very rough classification of otaku girls). In other words, a portion of otaku girls who like manga and anime are fujoshi.

Because girls who "like BL" are often mentioned in the media, many people mistakenly believe that "otaku girls = rotten girls," but there are also many otaku girls who just genuinely like anime and two-dimensional characters.

Incidentally, "Doujin = BL" is also different. Just because a girl is involved in doujin activities or reads doujinshi does not mean that she is a fujoshi. There are also drawers and readers who specialize in nomakapu (*1).

Among male otaku, some like yuri (*2) and some don't, so it's the same thing.

(*1) Abbreviation for normal coupling (male-female coupling). Coupling refers to romance between specific characters; also called NL (Normal Love).
(*2) Love between women and works depicting such love, also known as GL (Girls Love).

Fujoshi (rotten girls) are also classified in detail! The difference between "Doujin BL" and "Commercial BL.

The word "fujoshi" can be used to describe a wide range of characteristics. There are "Doujin BL" group who read only doujinshi related to a specific work or character, and there are "Commercial BL" group who prefer original works of commercial magazines. Of course, there are also those who say, "I'll eat any genre of BL! Of course, there are also those who say, "I'll eat any genre of BL!

Most of the "Doujin BL" fans are into attractive male characters in anime and shonen manga that are cool and cute at the same time, and they read a lot of doujinshis in which the characters are "male-accepting" (*3).

(*3) The role of the female (passive) side in a romantic relationship.


Zunda is a member of the "Doujin BL" group, and she read and even drew dojinshis of "Mobile Suit Gundam SEED" with "Aslan" as the recipient (especially Isaac and Aslan).

The "Doujin BL group" does not like BL per se, but rather, "I like BL because of a specific character or a specific coupling! There were also many who said, "I like BL because of a specific character or because of a specific coupling! These girls do not read BL with other characters or commercial BL. However, after a certain period of time, most of them switch genres (*4) and become addicted to other couplings in other works.

(*4) A change in the main work that one is into in doujinshi activities.
Example: "I've been into Kuroko receiving Kuroko from 'Kuroko no Basketball,' but recently I'm really into Hyuga from 'HIQUE.


On the contrary to the "Doujin BL" group, the "Commercial BL" group has a preference for "younger offensive" and for "salarymen," but basically, many of them like BL itself.

However, whether they are in the "Doujin BL" or "Commercial BL" group, it is a fact that they are completely rotten. Then, why did fujoshi (rotten girls) enter this world of BL?

They became "fujoshi" in this way.

Many of them became interested in BL because of their close BL-loving friends. In many cases, a good friend of theirs is actually a fujoshi, who lent them a copy of a fanzine of a manga they liked and got them hooked. However, it depends on the nature of the person whether she will say, "This...might be interesting........." or "Men are creepy! It depends on the nature of the person. The Fujoshi of today are Fujoshi because they have the right qualities to become Fujoshi.

Another key point is whether or not the rotten girl who recommends the manga has a good grasp of the tastes of the girls she wants to rot. In Zunda's case, I liked manga and anime before I became a rotten girl, and at the time, I particularly liked Tenka from "Fushin Engi". It was at this time that a friend of mine first recommended a "Tenka-receiving" doujinshi to me. Of course, Zunda had the qualities of a fujoshi, and the contents of the first doujinshi I read were right up my alley, so I was immediately immersed in the world of fujoshi.

I also became a fujoshi spontaneously when I began to fantasize about "this character and this character in a shounen manga, even though they are both male, might be good together ......," or when I discovered that my older sister was a fujoshi, or when I inadvertently came across a fujoshi in a bookstore or anime store. (*5) I got hooked after picking up a doujin anthology (*6) at a bookstore or an anime shop.

(*5) Unlike doujinshi, which are published by individuals taking advantage of venues such as Comiket, a doujinshi is a collection of several doujinshi works on a certain theme that are compiled into a single comic book by a publisher. Since they are sold in regular bookstores, they are readily available.


There are girls who have thus become completely absorbed in the world of fujoshi, while others just like anime or think that two-dimensional characters are cool, and become adult women without becoming rotten.

The term "otaku girls" covers a wide range of characteristics, so please be careful not to lump them all together!

(Text and pictures by Satomi Zunda)