Uraboku & Kansetsu-kisu

I have been watching Uraboku. I have to admit that I…I’m…hooked. Hamacchatta~. But I’m not gay, no way. Yes, I’m in a state of self-denial, but you can’t hide your head in the sand forever. So, I hereby came to have made a tough decision to come out.

1. BL rosen maiden voyage

First of all, I was doubtful because it was about BL. Or Yaoi? No, yaoi is graphic. BL is platonic. So, BL is more compatible with community standards of the Miller Test. At least it’s not obscene. I just wanted to give it a try, because Uraboku has been a topic of lively discussion among fujoshi (rotten girls, Yaoi fans). I’m a hetero-male, but I want to get exposed to a different perspective also. At least I want to know what they are drooling over.

Just like we want to engage in all women’s world, fujoshi want to engage in all men’s world. A notable one is Hakuouki, which is about Shinsengumi, the Edo period’s male idol group, Johnny’s idol groups or the Jonas Brothers that Obama children are gushing over, the Back Street Boys in the Bakumatsu period. And the main character Yukimura somehow dresses up as a boy and gets to be around with the idol group that all women dream of. The Promised Land for fujoshi.

Yes, I want to be Hideyoshi, Natsuru, Hazumu, or Fukuzawa Yumi, so I can be around girls without any difficulties. Yes, Marimite was the best all-girls-school anime I’ve ever seen. Just like that, a fujoshi would identify herself with Sakurai Yuki of Uraboku. This anime is perfect for fujoshi since it’s actually about a girl becoming a dude and hanging out with a bunch of bishees. So, it is a reversed version of Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~.

So how does Sakurai Yuki, the main character of Uraboku, become a guy? Well, by reincarnation. So, Uraboku’s story is based on reincarnation, which is the central concept of Indian philosophy, attributed to Yajunavalkya. Yuki’s past life was a girl. But Yuki becomes a bishonen in his current life. And since he was a girl in his past life, he is very feminine. And he gets to be around all the good-looking ikemen/bishonen types. And he is also quite popular among girls. There’s a scene that three schoolgirls surround him and tell him that he is cute. I mean he is a girl at heart, but he is still popular among girls! Man, I am a soshoku-kei too. I’m a girl at heart. I think my past life was a girl too! But, I was treated harshly in my school years. No girl had ever followed me around. What a hapless life I had gone through!

Groupies chase after Yuki.

Yuki runs away from girls, too embarrassed.

OMG, if this ever happened to me in high school, I’d never have come to America!

And the Gion Clan is a bishonen group Yuki belongs to (few girls are in the group to be more accurate), and the clan boys are extremely good-looking. They are like Visual-kei artists, so naturally they have a lot of fans. And in Episode 9, there is a girl who has a crush on Renjou Hotsuma, one of the Gion guys, a very cocky hard to approach character, a protector of Yuki. I went ecstatic when the girl played peekaboo. She is very shy. Cute~! <333When Hotsuma walks in front of her, she suddenly looks down and blushes. But once he passes, she looks back. She really wants to have a little chat with him, but she is too shy to do so. She just follows him with her eyes. Ah, how sad. The way she acts, she behaves, so girly! There’s nothing heavenlier than girl’s coy romantic gestures! I was like, “What the fuck is going on!” I screamed out at the top of my lungs. And by the time I realized, I was watching this particular scene over and over, probably over 30 times. “Man, if some girl acted like this in front of me, I would never have come to America!” And then, she discovers a handkerchief he left on his desk, and she walks over to his desk and picks it up. And she is bringing it to the fortuneteller, or maybe going to cast a love spell or something? I can’t wait to see the next episode. Hahaha, a typical teenage girl. This is a typical contagious magic.

She looks down when Hotsuma passes.
Then, she looks at him.
Hotsuma doesn't realize her.
"Ah, he's gone."
She can't seize an opportunity to talk to him.

Wow, even this kind of cute-looking girl doesn’t feel confident enough to approach him. And too bad society doesn’t expect girls to initiate dating. I mean she’s got a really cute hairstyle. So, the only thing she needs to do is just walk up to him and say, “Nee, Renjou-kun. Houkago, atashi-to ocha shinai? (Hey, Renjou-kun. Wanna have some cup of tea with me after school?)” Or what about making obento (lunchbox) for him? Well, Hotsuma is repellent, an unapologetic bossy type, and too bad this girl is all about him, but that’s okay, because it’s BL! Thus, I have no anxiety and anger watching this anime! Totally different from a typical shojo like Kaicho-wa-Meido-sama, which made me too upsetting to continue watching it. But in Uraboku, they’re not gonna grapple and force any girl into submission, and that’s quite a relief!

She finds his handkerchief.
She finds his handkerchief, blushing ^///^

2. Kansetsu-Kisu (magic flute)

Contagious magic is a term that James George Frazer coined in his book The Golden Bough. And in Japan, contagious magic is pretty big. As you know, Japan is extremely a skinshipless culture. Girls and boys don’t simply have any opportunity to touch each other unless they’re in a relationship. Therefore, Kansetsu-Kisu (indirect kiss) becomes very typical. Yes, kansetsu physical contact is very typical in Japanese schools. An object that the opposite sex has touched becomes a catalyst for sexual contact. The object will become a romantic item. Yes, it is a transitional object between you and your crush. Therefore, because of a lack of skinship, Japanese teens resort to contagious magic such as Kansetsu-kisu.

American girls back in the 1950s wanted to have Elvis’ towel. The same principle. Well, he was a superstar, but I’m talking about daily school life here. Yes, in Japan, contagious magic is prevalent even in commoners’ schools. Even shaking hands with a girl is not a normal thing to do. It’s a big deal. While in America, handshakes are common. And you can even share the straw of a drink with a girl. It’s no big deal. When I was fresh in America, I had to get used to it for the first time, but now I’m used to it. Today I don’t feel anything sharing a drink with a girl. Anyway, that’s why contagious magic is pretty big in Japan. Even a straw would have a magical power. And of course, in anime, girls are very touchy, and they are very skinship-oriented since real girls don’t act that way in 3-D.

When you see the OP of B gata H kei, you may have noticed that Yamada is playing the recorder (in Japanese, Tate-bue). Yes, back in my Japanese school days, the recorder was a fetish item among horny boys. They wanted to snatch a girl’s recorder, so they could attain Kansetsu Kisu. In America, most people thinks Yamada is playing an English flute to simulate a blow job. Or a marching band geek girl uses it for penetration according to Michelle Flaherty from American Pie (1999). That may be true, but in Japan, the flute is rather seen as a fetish item. The same goes for buruma and sailor-fuku at burusera shops, which is a result of a skinshipless environment. But now, probably buruma is going to disappear from burusera shops because buruma is no longer used in schools since the year 2005.

Anyway, the recorder is a fetish item that Yamada uses to mess our mind. Yes, the lead of her recorder is what school boys want to kiss, so they can achieve Kansetsu-kisu. The mouthpiece is her simulated lips! Yes, her recorder is a simulacrum. It is the Magic Flute (mateki in Japanese). That’s what this scene is all about! Anything she touches will have a magical effect. I remember back in my school days, there was an incident that a saddle of some girl’s bicycle was missing at school. Maybe some horny dude stole it and used it for contagious magic, indirectly touching her butt or kissing her butt, or whatever, I don’t wanna know. I bet some dudes stole the flutes, kissed them, and put them back in place when girls were not present. Thus, it is contagious magic. Yes, fetishism is based on contagious magic. I don’t know if they have the flute section at burusera shops. I’ve never been to one of those, so I have no idea. 3-D objects ain’t no Otaku’s concern.

Yamada's Magic Flute

So, I thought that Hotsuma’s fan was going to kiss or smell his handkerchief. No, she didn’t. She is not that hentai. But she is going to use it for fortunetelling. So, she is using it for contagious magic (actually the handkerchief is not Hotsuma’s but Shuusei‘s, but I’m not supposed to spoil it). Yes, she is also a victim of the skinshipless culture. Because Japan severely lacks skinship, contagious magic is very popular among teens like her. It’s typical for Japanese school girls to make obento for their crush. Yes, a home-made obento. Or on Vatentine’s Day, a home-made chocolate. Yes, Honmei-choco (real choco). Not giri-choco (IOU choco) that every guy hates. A homemade is very important, so they can cast a love spell on obento so that a guy will fall in love with her. This is also evident in the Mexican film Como Agua Para Chocolate (1992), in which Tita and Pedro get sexual contact indirectly through her cuisine since skinship is banned by her mother. Yes, it is Kansetsu-kisu, or even Kansetsu-sex. Therefore, a lack of skinship feeds contagious magic. Japan is highly a pseudo-atheistic society (a polytheist society), yet Japan is the 2nd worst hotbed for new cults in the world next to the United States.

By the way, Usui Shuusei also has fans. Bull bull bull!  Fuzakeyagatte. Chikusho! Well, it’s okay, it’s BL anyway.

This girl is like, "OMG, Usui-kun." Totally gushing over him.(>_<)

Therefore, to conclude, I’ve explained a few examples of contagious magic among school teens in Japan since I grew up with it. And of course, the biggest part is Kansetsu-kisu.

But I can’t explain BL. It’s very new to me. I don’t know this world. And I’m not a hetero-girl. So, my perspective is very limited on this. I regret my maleness is hindering me from understanding fujoshi’s perspectives. Well, I’m an otaku, since I haven’t been able to get to talk to girls that often. I’ve failed to befriend with girls, even though I personally think one female friend is worth a thousand guy friends. I never want to be around men. I loathe men’s world. I had enough of machismo. The world of fierce competition among the demonic males. Den of nikushokukei-danshi (carnivorous males). Yes, it’s filthy, just like a sty. I’m tired of this cruel, brutal, ruthless, merciless, heinous, violent sexist world. I wish I could be born female. If I could, I want to enroll in all-girls-school.

Here’s Otaku’s lamentation, “I have never been able to happily mingle with girls, so I’ve never had a good time as a dude. I want to be a girl, so I can mingle with girls without any difficulties.” Yes, I wish I could be a joshi. So, I would have been able to understand more about BL and mingle with girls happily. But that’s impossible in reality, so I rather become a girl in 2-D like Hideyoshi or Fukuzawa Yumi.

Therefore, I suggest Anime Diet to consider recruiting some female staff. That way, at least we can learn better and spread our horizon.

Author: Monsieur LaMoe

A refugee from Japan. Live in NAFTA. Get hooked on Moe. Moe is opium? Twitter: @MonsieurLamoe

3 thoughts on “Uraboku & Kansetsu-kisu

    1. @Don’s Flutes

      Yes, thank you. They need to plan dating and pay since they earn income. Gender equality.

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