Diving into Yaoi Paradise: Aarinfantasy Interview
Get ready to dive into the world of Aarinfantasy, the forum that changed the Boys Love and Yaoi scene. We sat down with them to learn about their journey, goals, and the hurdles they've faced. If you're a Yaoi fan, chances are you've heard of them – let's get to know them better!
What role has Aarinfantasy played in making Yaoi more mainstream and available in different languages?
Hearing feedbacks from fans, I also felt that in some ways AarinFantasy has brought awareness that there are many yaoi or BL fans outside of Japan. Some years back, me and my team visited a huge BL publisher in Japan to talked about the details and demographics of BL fans outside of Japan who crave for more English translated BL manga. Contrary to one might believe, I did fansubbing out of frustration that there were no English subtitles available at that time for BL anime. I wasn’t in for gaining popularity and just wanted to share with people who have the same frustration. In a way, it makes me happy when I see it’s helpful. Unfortunately, the younger generation who didn’t know about AarinFantasy didn’t understand my true goal and stories behind what I am doing, so it creates quite a bit of backlash and I hope that someday my ultimate goal will be fulfilled which is to see all BL works being accessible or subbed so that everyone can enjoy them.
If you had to pick one Yaoi series that defines the Aarinfantasy community’s early days, what would it be? Junjou Romantica?
If it’s just one, then yeah it has to be Junjou Romantica. Back then, English subs were not available and international BL fans want to understand the show, so they looked for AarinFantasy fansubs which was the only one available in English at that time.
Before Aarinfantasy, where were fans mainly discussing Yaoi? How did the Aarinfantasy brand change that?
I have not found any community that really talk about Yaoi and I was just sharing Yaoi classics such as Gravitation and Ai No Kusabi which were fansubbed by other groups. While at that, I opened up a small forum from a free forum hosting website called Suddenlaunch. So the amount of people looking for subbed Yaoi anime suddenly increased there and we just shared with each other – videos, opinions and thoughts about the genre. I guess you can say AarinFantasy brings international BL fans together back then where there were not many other sites that do that. There were a few Yaoi related sites but most of them are info sites like what are the available titles and all, but not really about where to watch the videos or really talk about yaoi.
Aarinfantasy was founded in 2004; what was the Yaoi landscape like back then compared to now?
I only found out about Yaoi a few years before 2004, where there were mostly fanfictions which I read and actually read a BL one by accident. I was fascinated by the story and sort of looked for the genre since then and led me to find out about Yaoi anime, but it was really hard to find anything Yaoi, so I was thinking why not share or exchange with fans with what I have as I have been slowly collecting Yaoi titles, hence the tagline “AarinFantasy – The Yaoi Collection”.
How did Aarinfantasy contribute to the golden age of scanlations?
To be honest, I am not part of my own name’s scanlation team and I don’t really read scanlations. Maybe just 5 or so titles in my life way before I know about licensed English BL manga. I trusted a few other people to run the scanlation team for some time and I never interfere, so I won’t say AarinFantasy has contributed much when it comes to scanlations, at least from my perspective. For me, I prefer reading actual books. With English licensed BL manga more accessible now, I highly recommend buying those instead especially digital ones if shipping is an issue.
What impact has Aarinfantasy had on fan translations and subbing in the Yaoi community?
I am just really glad that AarinFantasy has provided a platform for translations and subbing for international Yaoi community, and from those years it also sort of made publishers and creators aware that there IS a substantial market for the genre. I do know that some of the old members of AarinFantasy were somewhat inspired and have actually become part of BL publishing team.
Are there any "classic" Yaoi titles that gained new fans through Aarinfantasy's platform?
Well, I guess it has to be Ai No Kusabi or Sensitive Pornograph.
What was the first major milestone for Aarinfantasy?
I never really thought about that, so maybe the release of Junjou Romantica that made a lot of people know or visit the forum.
How did Aarinfantasy adapt when more U.S. companies started to license Yaoi series?
I felt a huge sense of relief and excitement to know that there are more US companies who understand there is actually quite a big market for BL and started licensing BL manga. So even if it meant a decrease in traffic to AarinFantasy website, this shows that at least more people are buying licensed BL manga, which honestly is my initial goal – To get English BL manga or anime for fans to understand.
Has Aarinfantasy ever collaborated with Japanese creators or publishers? What came out of it?
Not really collaboration but more like discussion with Japanese creators (mangaka) and publishers. As mentioned previously, we visited a BL publisher in Tokyo, Japan and spoke about the importance and demand for BL manga from international fans. Even without collaborations, I am more than happy to help mention about them like SuBLime Manga especially when they first started and it’s been over 10 years already. I was sponsored a few yaoi goodies like postcards and posters so I can give it to fans through events.
Did Aarinfantasy ever have any competitors?
I think sometime before 2010, there were lots of people telling me that there is a certain website that follows the exact system of my website – a BL forum that provides download, the layout, community chat and even down to the forum cards system. I also heard that the website was built by someone who didn’t like how I ran my website and they decided to make one on their own. I didn’t give much thought after that because it’s all rumors and I just took it as a compliment instead since they like my website system as to follow it.
How has Aarinfantasy influenced the way Yaoi is consumed globally, not just in English-speaking countries?
Back in the days, the non English-speaking community have mentioned that they have translated to their own languages from my team’s English translations, as most of them do not have a Japanese translator and only rely on English. So in a way, I guess that helps spread the love a lot more. But I feel that more and more international fans whether it’s English or non-English speaking countries… they are more exposed or more willing to learn Japanese, Chinese or Korean just to understand what they like or consume. So I guess it isn’t as significant now as before.
As Aarinfantasy approaches its 20th anniversary, what do you think is its most significant contribution to the Yaoi world?
Just able to bring joy and understanding of the Yaoi or BL world. All that may be a thing in the past but I think the most significant is that whether one will agree with it or not… AarinFantasy has created some form of awareness that there are lots of global fans around the world and brings the community together at some point. This made publishers aware that there is actually market for English BL manga or other languages BL manga, so that they made more licensed titles available. I’m sorry I keep highlighting this point but I truly want people to understand the importance of their support for buying original works especially at this time of age.
Thoughts on the new Yaoi coming out today? Is it better than the classics?
The new BL animes are quite different today as the classics have more depth but that’s just my opinion. A few of the new ones are just fast cash grabbers especially those that are 5minutes per video type. But I guess it depends on the show’s animation quality, story and all… so I wouldn’t say it’s better or not than the classics. An oldie like me who is over 40years, may seem like I would prefer classics but there are new ones that I totally like such as Twittering Birds Never Fly and some upcoming or new Korean animations, those are good too.
What are some of your favorite Yaoi games and visual novels?
Don’t really have any in particular. I actually don’t play much yaoi games or visual novels as I am more of a gamer who loves games such as Final Fantasy and many other genre games that require very active hand movements. Fun fact: The Fantasy in “AarinFantasy” is actually from my love of the Final Fantasy franchise, combined with my name Aarin. So it originally has nothing to do with yaoi or how some people thought it’s like yaoi fantasy.
How can community members support Aarinfantasy?
As more years have passed, there are significantly lesser and lesser people who know about AarinFantasy due to the fast pace social media where most people prefer or shared my subtitles there and most people just watch and that’s it. I totally get times have changed, so I just want to say that how the community can support AarinFantasy is just to remember that there’s such a website or a person and her team that have done something in the past for the Yaoi or BL community. If you truly cherish AarinFantasy, do cherish my goal on why I started my website – Bringing the BL community together and getting the English speaking community to understand BL. So in return and also my message… please buy from original creators or publishers which actually means a lot to me and this will truly support AarinFantasy’s dream. There’s also a point where if every single BL anime is being subbed to English and people no longer needs AarinFantasy as fansubber, I am glad to retire from it and just have a place for community to chat and talk about everything Yaoi or BL.
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