<em>Yaoi</em>, YouTube, and Arabic-Speaking Fans

Abstract

Yaoi, YouTube, and Arabic-Speaking Fans Ahmed Baroody (bio) Given the global popularity of manga and anime from Japan, it is unsurprising that these media, anime in particular, have countless fans in Arabic-speaking countries. While popular culture from abroad can easily clash with local conservative Islamic values, the focus on male characters and largely patriarchal gender roles depicted in long-popular shōnen anime such as Grendizer (Force Five: Grendizer), Mazinger, and Dragon Ball Z makes the storylines acceptable, even if the sexuality and violence in the uncensored versions available at underground stores and online are as problematic as they are exciting for viewers. The increasingly global genre of boys love (BL), which depicts male-male romance and intimacy, is quite another story, however. Although BL and its fandom have rapidly expanded around the world, given the strong Islamic prohibition of homosexuality, its small but possibly growing number of fans in the Middle East might seem unexpected, although the fans' lack of openness certainly is predictable. While the genre may be too sexual or taboo to be sold in local video stores, even in the underground stores selling uncensored shōnen anime, the internet has allowed it to reach Arabic-speaking Muslim fans via anime streaming websites, manga scanlation websites, and other channels. This availability has brought about the development of online Arabic-speaking fandoms in spite of local taboos, or perhaps in response to them. On various social networking platforms, fans have started to create their own groups and channels dedicated to yaoi—the Arabic pronunciation of which can be Romanized "yawi" or "yawe"—an older Japanese label for BL, which remains what most fans call the genre in Arabic. Yaoi has a strong presence on major platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, as well as more narrowly focused platforms such as Wattpad, dedicated to reading and writing fiction. Arabic-language yaoi fandom also has a strong presence on YouTube, with numerous fans uploading scenes from various anime as well as fan-produced anime music videos containing or edited to include BL scenes. Such users [End Page 176] are called ashig al yawi, meaning roughly, "I love yaoi," or, in other words, yaoi lovers. There are a large number of such users who flock to channels to view clips from BL anime, as well as mash-ups thereof, and imagery from BL manga and other media to evoke BL tropes. For instance, YouTubers Ashig Al Yawi, with over 6,000 subscribers, and Hidoeyuki Maya, with over 2,400 subscribers, have uploaded various BL-themed videos featuring Korean pop idols and as well as Arabic subtitled clips and mashups of BL anime, such as Yuri!!! on Ice and Banana Fish, and Thai BL dramas, sometimes with Arabic-language subtitles and always with Arabic comments, often accompanied by emoji expressing these fans' excitement over the videos. Each of these videos gets thousands, sometimes tens if not hundreds of thousands of views. Ashig Al Yawi's profile itself has received almost 1.4 million views as of January 2020 and the channel's videos seem to be enjoyed by fans. For instance, a pop music video with clips from various anime, "Video Voiced by Yaoi Lovers on How We View Our World," posted by Ashig Al Yawi in December 2017, has had over 8,500 views, and currently has over 200 comments and nearly 400 likes, against just 26 dislikes.1 Comments with a relatively high number of upvotes—roughly 20 to 30—include "This video is not just amazing, it's the BOMB," "Damn it I'm going to die from embarrassment, I love YAOI," and "It represents me." Such comments express fans' generally enthusiastic responses to the short clips of high school boy-on-boy romance and to the genre itself. Similarly, on Hidoeyuki Maya's YouTube channel, a since-removed video with an excerpt from the Korean BL anime Hyperventilation, received over 300 comments and 800 likes compared with just over 100 dislikes. Popular comments were a mix of general statements of fan pride and reactions to the video itself, such as, "My family always lectured me to not watch anime because it was childish, but . . . [now] I...