In non-Japanese contexts, it’s used to describe any sort of Japanese media depicting homo-erotic relationships but Japanese gay manga artists would argue that bara is characterized by the masculinity of its characters as well as the nature of the art. ĭespite all of this, the use of the word Bara (which directly translates to rose in Japanese) to describe all gay Japanese manga is something that was coined more by the Western world. It would usually depict very big, masculine men as the protagonists of its stories, and while the subject material is more often than not pornographic there are romantic and autobiographical exceptions. It was made primarily by gay men for gay men. It would go on to become known in Japan as gay manga.
The word bara became a colloquialism in Japan around the 1960s for a genre of Japanese art that depicted same-sex love. However, despite the word Bara being popularised by the image board, its use predates the site.
