Yaoi Fangirl - Television Tropes & Idioms

Ohno makes her thoughts on yaoi abundantly clear.

A female otaku with a Fetish for handsome men engaged in explicitly homosexual activity. Less common in anime than the Cosplay Otaku Girl, due to this character type having less appeal to male anime fans.

In series where such characters are seen, at least one joke will be made that involves the Yaoi fangirl's dirty imagination and at least one of the male characters.

The Japanese name for Yaoi Fangirl is Fujoshi (Which means "rotten girl"). The word is misused as "Female Otaku," making female otakus who are not fujoshi and know the meaning of the word correct people everywhere. The male equivalent is called a Fudanshi, but oddly enough a lot of Fudanshis are straight.

All of the above give testament to the cultural bias that exists against women who enjoy watching male-on-male action. Since their fantasies don't include the heterosexual male - the main target of most shows - they are often depicted as highly unattractive or otherwise "twisted" and "abnormal". This doesn't exist for males enjoying lesbian sex scenes and straight women usually don't mind such fantasies from their mates.

Decidedly a case of Truth In Television. See also Slash Fic, Most Fanfic Writers Are Girls.

Compare Yuri Fan, the mostly Gender Flipped version. That trope tends to have both boy and girl yuri fans. Also, in case you were wondering, there are yaoi fanboys (who are otherwise straight). They're just rare although becoming more prevalent, especially with self-acclaimed bishonen.

Both sets of fans are likely to think that Het Is Ew.

Examples:

Anime and Manga

Fruits Basket has a swarm of these, albeit subtlely. When Yuki makes a public reference to the number of times Hatori has seen him naked, the girls are seemingly horrified... and simultaneously strangely fascinated.
Genshiken features both the "double" otaku Kanako Ohno (seen in the illustration above), who is into both cosplay and yaoi and is unapologetic about her fetishes, and the self-doubting yaoi fangirl Chika Ogiue, who initially is ashamed about her fetish but gradually grows to accept it.
Excel Excel of Excel Saga is shown to fantasize about the men she is infatuated with (Il Palazzo and Key the Rock Idol) being Yaoi Guys.
Renge and several of the regular customers of Ouran High School Host Club might qualify, since this is the twins' gimmick.
- Much later, Tamaki is annoyed when Kasanoda stops by to "visit" Haruhi, since the club hosts women. The Vice President ignores his complaints, indicating the firestorm of Squee behind Haruhi; all the girls see is the normally grouchy delinquent shyly attempting to talk to a short, cute boy.
Haruna Saotome in Mahou Sensei Negima. At the start of chapter 183, she even drags Negi to a convention with her. Of course, he is too innocent to realize what he's picking up.
Negi: What's this? This man is naked and...
Chisame: DON'T YOU DARE TURN ANOTHER PAGE!!!
Haruna: It's kind of hard to get regular people to understand our hobbies. Right Chisame-san?
Chisame: Then don't friggin' bring 'em-!!
- The fact that it appears to be a Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei doujinshi raises the awkward question of where they found two guys...
  - It's largely a Take That at the author of SZS, but the most likely culprits would be Jun Kudou and Nozomu Itoshiki, with Jun topping. Not that Akamatsu was thinking about that in particular.
  - Which only makes us wonder about you...
  - Whatever do you mean? It's we who wonder about you, my friend. We who wonder about you...
Hiyori from Lucky Star is a yuri/yaoi fangirl, and has to keep reminding herself to stop imagining and drawing her friends Yutaka and Minami as Schoolgirl Lesbians.
- "Tamura-saaaaan! What's yaoi? ^_^"
  - Kagami, yaoi fangirl in the making.
In Naruto, Konohamaru uses a variation of the Sexy Jutsu to make two shadow clones transform into a nude Sasuke and Sai locked in a very suggestive pose. This gains for the first time a perverted reaction to the technique from a girl, Sakura—who was just before criticizing Naruto and Konohamaru about being perverts themselves.
- Of course, the anime had to ruin it by ending when Sakura hit Konohamaru for the shadow clones of two girls.
In Onegai Twins, the girls who go on to become Those Three Girls are introduced watching through a window as the Yaoi Guy flirts with/teases the (very unamused) main character, and give commentary that sounds exactly like many a slash fandom discussion.
Harumi Fujiyoshi of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, who's also a Doujinshi artist and has a thing for ears. Her surname is even derived from "fujoshi," a derogatory term for yaoi fangirls.
Just about every major female character in Kyou Kara Maou, with the possible exception of one or two Yamato Nadeshiko types. Not surprising in a comedy featuring a male lead and his all-male Unwanted Harem. The trio of castle maids in particular can be seen at several points poring over charts apparently depicting the protagonist's romantic prospects, calculating odds and placing and collecting on bets as events occur and make various pairings more or less possible.
The Midori Days manga has a small story in which Seji Sawamura's childhood girl-friend sees him again. Seji finds out that she's now an accomplished doujinshi artist...who draws yaoi relationships between canon characters. Even at the end of the story, she draws another comic where "You (Seiji) and Master Yori get together at last! <3"
In the Suzumiya Haruhi novels Itsuki claims he acts Ambiguously Gay and seems to almost be flirting with Kyon because he thinks that if he didn't act that way on his own, Haruhi would unconsciously use her power to make him. Think about that for a minute.
- In Haruhi-Chan, her movie script in episode 9 is centered around a Meido tournament, with Kyon and Itsuki winning and becoming a couple, which causes Mikuru to become confused and stop thinking.
After Kaneru from Doujin Work gets introduced to yaoi doujinshi works as inspiration for her own material, her imagination tends to go rampant whenever she sees males interact.
The title character of Tonari no 801-chan.
Elisabeta/Hungary, the Bokukko from Axis Powers Hetalia. This even extends to her liking to watch how cute guys hit on her husband Roderich/Austria. This Hungarian yaoi fan appreciates the idea a lot.
- Also, add the fact that in the real world, Hungary is "a mecca for gay porn videos" (Word Of God points that out in the Author's Notes) and, well...
- There's one exception, though. Once she caught Francis/France looking lewdly at an oblivious Austria and, um, it didn't go well for him. In her defense, she was told to hit France by someone else.
Takako from Kannagi. She doesn't openly admit it, but in private she tends to have nosebleed-inducing thoughts about the boys in the art club.
Biscuit from Hunter X Hunter is seen reading a Boys Love magazine- and drooling to it- in the manga, with guys on the cover that look oddly similar to Teenage!Sensui and Itsuki.
Fumiko, Sanpeita's mother, in Kemeko Deluxe. As flashbacks reveal, even in high school, she was drawing yaoi manga frequently. Though she keeps calling it "homo-dachi" (homo-friends) manga instead of the more common "boys' love", to the annoyance of her editor.
Yuuko from XXX Holic loves to tease Watanuki about his closeness with Domeki, and suggests multiple times that maybe Domeki is the one destined for him instead of Himawari.
- And to a lesser extent, possibly Himawari herself. Whenever Watanuki and Doumeki interact (read: bicker), she always comments on how they're both so cute and how close they are.
Yayoi, the shortest of Those Three Girls in Mai-HiME, squees the loudest when she envisions Takumi and Akira sharing a room in the boys' dorm. What she doesn't know is that Akira's really a girl concealing her true gender to allow herself to more easily protect him.
Hokuto, Subaru's sister, from Tokyo Babylon. She just loves pairing Subaru with Seishiro, and teasing Subaru about it. She frequently encourages Seishiro in his pursuit of Subaru. All because she sincerely wants her brother to live his life for something more than family obligation. It backfired horribly when "Sei-chan" turned out to be the Sakurazukamori, and reached Downer Ending extremes when Hokuto tried to "fix" it with a Batman Gambit that included her own death.
Reiji of Gravitation is much conflicted between her feelings for Shuichi and her feelings for his relationship with Yuki.
Aikawa, Usagi's editor in Junjou Romantica. Her input greatly influences the content of the BL novels Usagi pens on the side. She also rather enjoys the fact that Usagi has found a male lover, and never helps Misaki out of sexual situations when he asks for it.
Kaname from Full Metal Panic. In a novel sidestory, she's a bit too gleeful about discussing and giggling with her friend about how both Sousuke and Tsubaki are submissive "receivers".
Chizuru Honshou from Bleach. She certainly loved seeing Ichigo on top of Renji in the school hallway, during a certain Not What It Looks Like scene...
Yoko of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, most prominently when Kamina comes up with the bright idea of Combining Mecha.
Izumi Segawa walks across her butler Kotetsu confessing his feelings of love at first sight to a forcibly crossdressed Hayate (of course, not realizing that the Cat Girl he was so attracted to was in fact a male). Izumi, knowing that Hayate was in fact male, told the two to "continue, and just don't mind me".
The title character of Fujoshi Rumi.
Prunus Girl: After her attempts to get Maki's attention were foiled by Aikawa, the girl from the first chapter went on to become a rabid shipper of Aikawa and Maki, as revealed in an omake. Complete with before and after picture.
Fudanshism: Most of the cast are Yaoi Fangirl except for the protagonist, who only has an interest in as far as the girl he has a crush on is a huge fan of it... and the fact that he can only meet her when pretending to be a Yaoi Fangirl. His sister seems to also be a Yuri Fan too.
In Seitokai No Ichizon, the petite, soft-spoken Mafuyu has a just barely concealed interest in having Ken, the male protagonist, getting it on with some guy.
4koma series S.S. Astro has Nagumo Yuko, a teacher who frequently pairs off her coworkers. She's one of the main characters and tries very hard to hide her doujinshi activities from her childish friend and coworker Maki Izumi.

Film

The movie Run Fat Boy Run has one for a few seconds. Dennis and his friend Gordon tumbles around in a taxi, and Gordon's hand accidentally lands on Dennis' arse. Then the taxi stops next to a pretty girl who sees them like this, and then flirtasiously waves at them. Dennis seems rather confused/offended, while Gordon keeps his hand in place and smiles back at her.

Fan Fiction

Internet example: fanfiction.net. If yaoi fangirls were dragonflies, this site (the Kingdom Hearts section in particular) would be a summer pond the size of Texas.
- ... nice metaphor.
- Just to go Beyond The Impossible, FF.net is MILD compared to adultfanfiction.net....Or So I Heard...don't judge me.
  - This troper has to fight to keep his head above the swarm of penis in the video games section alone.
- Forget fanfiction.net, livejournal is where it's at. The thriving community of anonymous kink memes there lives and breathes yaoi - though het and yuri are around, the yaoi by far outstrips it on just about every single kink meme.
- Just go to the Johnny's Entertainment fandom for awhile. THERE IS NO HET... EVER.
  - It's a bunch of sexy guys who sit in each other's lap, feed each other, mock-fight over each other in interviews, and aren't allowed to date until 20. You can't blame us.

Comics

The titular character of Empowered is one of these. Much of her collection of doujinshis is based off the other superheroes, much to their horror.
- The male superheroes change their minds as soon as they find out that the doujins are written by girls, much to Emp's chagrin.

Live Action TV

Grace of Will And Grace often alludes to liking gay porn.
Mel of Flight Of The Conchords. Flight Of The Conchords is a two man band, and she's their Loony Fan who has apparently given some thought to fantasies about them together, and what the offspring of the two of them would look like.
Constable Maggie Habib of The Thin Blue Line is very keen on the homoerotic aspects of football and in one episode speculates on the relationship between both Biggles and Ginger and Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson ("sometimes there's months between cases - what do they do then?"). Her male boss is horrified.
In one of the last episodes of Buffythe Vampire Slayer Buffy is sick and tired of Spike and Angel always ragging on each other - she suggests locking them in a room together and let them wrestle it out (or something to that effect). When Spike seems to like the idea, she comments semi-privately that there could be oil involved.
- More fun when you remember that time where Spike said that "he and Angel were never intimate — except that one time."
The vampire Queen Sophie-Anne, of True Blood, gets excited when she sees Bill drink the blood of a handsome, muscular man, and says that she "loves to watch two men together." Later, she suggests to Bill that he and Eric resolve their differences by having sex, and wants to watch.
State of Play. A homosexual member of the newsroom mentions he just slept with the man they've been investigating. When he asks if they want him to go into detail the men immediately say "No!" while the female journalists have exactly the opposite response.

Video Games

Shiki Misaki in The World Ends With You, though, it's debatable if that's just her personality in the bonus chapter
Anastasia Romanova (yes, that Anastasia) of Shadow Hearts: Covenant. See her starry-eyed expression at the end of the Man Festival.
Anastasia: Isn't it beautiful? Love comes in so many different shapes.
Yuri: (Apparently struggling not to throw up at viewing the same scene) I... I'm not into... that shape.
EVA from Metal Gear Solid 3 seems to enjoy the ramifications of Ocelot's crush on Big Boss a little too much.
- She also hints that Snake ought to put the move on Raikov.
  - And Sokolov. And Volgin. And Johnny.

Web Comics

Aoi House features two straight guys winding up in what was supposed to be "Yaoi House," populated entirely by Yaoi Fangirls (and one crossdressing Yaoi fanboy), who constantly try to turn them into their "yaoi pets."
Meji, in Errant Story.
Jodie from Loserz is a fan of Tidus and yaoi, as seen here.
In Namir Deiter, two girls who realize Isaac knows Charles immediately assume "the forbidden love between student and teacher," complete with an appropriately graphic shared fantasy. (They're half-right... the student was a female acquaintance of Isaac.)
Aeris from VG Cats is a big yaoi fangirl. One strip has shown her writing yaoi Final Fantasy X Fan Fiction (and violently beating her male co-star when he chides her on it). Another has a homosexual encounter between Starfox characters (with dialog composed entirely of repurposed lines from the game) and is revealed to be a very happy dream Aeris is having.
- Bill + Tank = Squick
This Treading Ground strip.
Kairi of Ansem Retort fit this one for her short lifespan.
- Seeing how actual yaoi fangirls usually treat her, that's... ironic, to say the least.
Zii of Menage A 3 is definitely this. (She likes Yuri too, though... but is bored by hetero porn.)
Shion from Experimental Comic Kotone seems to be one, too.
There was a brief window of time, just before her introduction in the comic proper, when this was practically all that DMFA fans knew about Regina.
- Also Wildy's spy novel featuring a not-so-subtle Expy of Jyrras.
Lisa of Mechagical Girl Lisa ANT seems to be one, as evidenced in the Massive Multiplayer Crossover.
Marigold, the Otaku girl from Questionable Content. And she just contaminated Hannelore.
- And Angus, awkwardly enough.
Much to Chrono's horror, his own mother, Lindy, as well as her best friend Leti are examples of this in the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Fan Web Comic Nanoha R'r. Few things are worse than watching your mother celebrate after you told her that you found your male friend pretty than having her discuss with her fellow yaoi fangirl◊ whether you're the Seme or Uke in the relationship and how to best crossdress you for your role.
Lin of Linburger is intensely into this. So much so that she prefers to sit and watch her boyfriend and his male lover together rather than join in.

Web Original

Mocked by anime voice actors Steven Blum and Vic Mignogna in a parody of the budweiser 'Real Men of Genius' skit.
Missy, one of the characters in More Tales Of MU is very clearly one of these. What makes it funny is that previously, the gay sex itself spawned a conversation in the comments concerning the existence of such fangirls just like the example above.

Real Life

This Troper, after making the mistake of informing who seemed like a normal girl who liked talking about manga I had a twin brother, was asked if I could pose for a photo of me kissing my twin brother for her "personal use". Needless to say, actual twins find some Yaoi Fangirls' fantasies disturbing. Not because they want to hate on Yaoi Fandom, but because we just don't see our siblings in that light.
- Even a regular yaoi fan would find that kind of squicky. And rude... :l
  - And horribly, horribly creepy. What kind of person would ask a random guy "Hey, mind making out with your brother so I can masturbate to it?"
  - I'm a regular yaoi fangirl. I'm reading this and I'm horribly, HORRIBLY embarrassed on behalf of all of us. We're not all crazy, really.
- OTOH, This Troper has met more or less decent looking guys who actually are more than willing to pose that way with other guys to attract the attention of yaoi fangirls. They're rather easy to spot at anime cons, and while many of the most... "inexperienced" girls are all goo gaa over them, older yaoi fans are embarrassed.
This Troper's first boyfriend was Tall Dark And Handsome. According to him, he got many girls asking him to make out with other men. The troper herself is a HUGE Yaoi Fangirl, but even then she was all "wtf" - come on, that's rude.
Sadly, a good deal too many yaoi fangirls like to bug the voice actors of popular yaoi-related characters about it at anime cons. Similar to the examples above, there have been fangirls making yaoi between the actual voice actors themselves. But this did lead to some good: once Quinton Flynn and Jeff Nimoy found out they were being shipped together, they created the "Yaoi Song".
- And angered the Yaoi gods with it.