Those were the days, old school BL manga
Lately I'm in nostalgic mood since I caught myself reading lots of old-school BL manga. I have lots of mangakas that I've admired since I started reading BL about 8 years ago: KINOSHITA Keiko, KAYAMA Yumi, KUSAKA Takaaki, KOTOBUKI Tarako, KONNO Keiko, TAKAKU Shouko, SUGIURA Shiho...I still adore their works even now.
Sometimes I wonder what they're doing atm - those authors that I used to love so much when I was still in my springtime. By checking MU, I found most of them have retired from the manga industry. KAYAMA Yumi passed away in 2005. Some still draw, like TAKAKU Shouko (I've Seen It All series is licensed by June), like SUGIURA Shiho (Her latest work, Shuuten Unknown is serialized in Comic Avarus mag since 2013) or KOTOBUKI Tarako with her long-run series, Sex Pistols. It'd be a lie if I said I wasn't sad after facing the reality. I feel like I'm the only one being stuck in the past.
BL fans these day around me don't know about those mangakas or just simply don't read them. Since the BL manga industry right now is so much bigger compare to the old ones, there are lots of new mangakas and mangas to read, they fit in your time perfectly. No spare time for the old fashioned mangas. If you aren't following the latest trend, it's hard to start a conversation. It's kinda lonely since friends my age, who share mutual thought, already have their own family or career to care about, as they slowly withdrawn from the BL world, so I hardly have no one to talk to.
I have lots of hobby friends but most of them are younger than me, and our taste don't meet somehow. BL fans these days tend to love twisted, SM manga with rape/violent theme, I think. They love to see their fav characters in bruises and being beat/treat poorly, urg. I know that we all have diffirent ways to love a person and there are diffirent kinds of love, it's not my place to talk (since I read manga with those elements as well, and admittedly they're kinda nice) but sometimes...the fandom is just a little too much. They accept RAPE theme way to easily.They go gaga about it. I'm worried if this can affect their actual way of thinking...Okay, I should stop before I sound more like a hag.
Go read some manga, shoo. Read Nemureru Mori no Binan or Tomoi of AKISATO Wakuni and you'll feel better! << Just kidding, please stop before you jump to the hole of despair xD
It's just a hobby of the younger days. It's just the past. People keep passing my by. I'm still here.