From Underground Manga to Popular Novel: The Development of Yaoi Publishing in Thailand from 1994 to 2015
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.48048/ajac.2026.59Keywords:
Yaoi culture, Yaoi publishing, Manga, Novel, Censorship, Thailand-JapanAbstract
This paper explores the development of Thai Yaoi culture, tracing its roots to the 1990s when it emerged under Japanese BL manga influence. Thai Yaoi culture has evolved to present its most popular form, Yaoi series, which gained global market prominence by the 2020s. Initially, however, Thai Yaoi culture faced significant societal resistance as an underground subculture. Yaoi manga and novels were labeled pornographic content and subjected to aggressive censorship, forcing them underground during the mid-2000s.This raises the question: how did Thai Yaoi culture develop and gain widespread popularity within a decade despite these challenges? This study employs historical research based on documents, interviews, and digital footprints to examine the development of pioneering Yaoi publishers and the Yaoi publishing field in Thailand.
The development of Thai Yaoi publishing reflects the dynamic interplay between censorship, fan communities, and shifting social values. The findings reveal that Yaoi manga and novels were prohibited not solely for their homosexual content, but primarily because their explicit erotic content was the key factor leading to Yaoi publications’ ban in the 2000s. Although targeted by censorship, Yaoi publishing persisted and transformed into popular novels in the mass market by 2013. The emergence of online platforms, digital printing, and social media facilitated new forms of participation, enabling amateur creators to publish, distribute, and engage with fans. Passionate fans played crucial roles in this process. They negotiated power dynamics with both the state and publishing industry while transforming their product from underground Yaoi manga to Yaoi novels. This transformation laid the foundation for the widespread success of Thai Yaoi series as an autonomous culture since 2016.
Highlights
- Argues that the rise of Thai Yaoi novels laid the foundation for the global success of Thai Yaoi series in the 2020s.
- Traces the historical development of Thai Yaoi publishing from underground subculture to popular culture.
- Demonstrates how passionate fans transformed into professional publishers.
- Reveals how political censorship and economic constraints shaped the shift from underground manga to popular novels.
- Shows how changes in the book publishing field enabled Yaoi novels’ integration into the mainstream market.
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