Fujoshi Rumi, Vol. 1 & 2
By Natsumi Konjoh
Media Blasters, 208 pp.
Rating: 16+
This manga is the greatest thing since sliced bread. I might be a little biased, since Genshiken and High School Girls are two of my favorite manga series, and Rumi is a pleasant combination of both. Originally published in Comics High magazine, (subtitled “Girlish Comics for Girls and Boys”) Rumi has a similar art style to High School Girls and a wackier, high school plot similar to Genshiken.
High school freshman Rumi sees the world through yaoi fangirl-colored glasses. Hapless protagonist Abe develops a crush on Rumi, who is unable to accept his love and instead imagines Abe as Chiba’s gay lover. Chiba is the hottest guy in school, and Abe’s best friend from middle school. Enter Yoko, a fellow fangirl who might be in love with Chiba… or she might be in love Rumi.
By volume two Abe and Rumi are an on-again-off-again item, but Rumi has a hard time accepting a heterosexual relationship without picturing herself as a boy. She’s also unsure of how actual couples behave outside of yaoi manga.
This manga is hilarious, but you don’t have to take my word for it; Jason Thompson recommended it in Otaku USA magazine, and he doesn’t even like High School Girls. My fiancée and podcast co-host Noah also finds this title genuinely funny, and he doesn’t even like yaoi.
The only thing standing in the way of actually reading Rumi is a lack of availability. I have never seen a volume of Rumi stocked at Barnes and Noble and my local comic book store shelved it in the porn section! It’s only rated 16+! Although the street date of volume 2 was April 9th, it only appeared on the MangaCast’s Diamond distribution list this week. Since Rumi is a Media Blasters title, your best bet to avoid shipping charges is to seek out the Media Blasters table at an anime convention.
Rumi is packed with hundreds of anime/manga pop culture references, some of which are so mainstream even n00b fans who have only seen Evangelion will get the joke. The footnotes provided by the translator are ridiculously extensive, and written in a fun, informal tone.
Thanks to Fujoshi Rumi (called “Mousou Shoujo Otaku Kei” in Japanese, “delusional otaku girl”), I’ve realized I may not be a fujoshi. I don’t see yaoi pairings everywhere I look (like those old Tootsie Roll commercials, “Whatever it is I think I see…”). However, I am a fan of fangirls. I love Rumi, and Oguie from Genshiken, and Renge from Ouran High School Host Club, and Konata from Lucky Star. Perhaps I am a meta-fujoshi.
Rumi is only up to volume three in Japan, and there is an unsolicited live action adaptation of some sort, which I hope Media Blasters will pick up!
Volumes one and two of Fujoshi Rumi are available now.
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