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Anime, Manga, Etc

Yubisaki Milk Tea, Lolicon for the Masses?

A few days ago, I noted the rise of Yaoi manga at Borders and wondered where the culture police were hiding. Now after reading volume one of Yubisaki Milk Tea I’m wondering if I should quit using coupons and start paying for things in cash! Yubisaki Milk Tea is the first manga I’ve personally encountered that features cross dressing, and a heavy dose of lolicon (lolita complex) including underage nude girls, all in one package. I know such things have existed for some time in Japan, but this is the first I’ve seen of it in a mainstream bookstore. The story is interesting and I like the exploration of gender identity introduced by the the cross dressing Yoshinori/Yuki. But the lolicon undercurrent is a little pervy putting the manga right on the borderline of hentai. So the book is shrink-wrapped and marked with an M (mature ages 18+) for good reason. But there is nothing graphically explicit that would push the title over the line, so while it may inspire some really naughty thoughts, the police are not likely to come a knockin any time soon.

All of this makes me wonder if we’ll see another volume of this stateside at all. It also makes me wonder if manga in the U.S. has already peaked which would make catering to niches within manga another way to support sales. Or is this part of a greater trend in the entertainment industry to cater to more mature tastes?

4 replies on “Yubisaki Milk Tea, Lolicon for the Masses?”

Personally, I read all sorts of manga, but not YAOI… not that I have anything against guys liking other guys! That’s an option other guys can choose for themselves. I came across Yubisaki Milk Tea at an anime shop in Reseda and, after flipping a few pages, I decided to buy it. I usually buy mangas that have cute characters in them. Great layout and character designs captivate my imaginary artistic side, and that also plays a role to my anime movie collecting too. If I like what I see (design-wise), then I pay for them, no second thoughts about it. Japan is slowly opening up to show the rest of us what makes their culture so inviting. It raises up a lot of questions everytime you read or watch something coming from them. Although these are mere figments of one’s fantasies, it actually sells to express them. So whether you like it, love or hate it; these things will be made available to every cut of the market. Honestly, there are far more explicit titles out there than Yubisaki Milk Tea can ever offer. Cross-dressing and lolita complexes have been around before this title was released. One example is Hanakimi, where a girl cross-dresses as a boy in an all-boys school, just to get near to her crush. For Lolicon-types, care to read through Ken Akamatsu’s NEGIMA or Masakazu Katsura’s VIDEO GIRL AI? I’m sure there are other likely titles already released in America that I have yet to find out. One thing is certain though. That these things managed to get published is another way of telling just how open our shores have become to anything “candy” to our eyes and minds. And that all there are to it anyway. So long as it entertains us, we’ll accept anything that falls from the sky!

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