Now, here’s what *I* heard about MikaNoNamida. 
Poor guy, he’s between a rock and a hard place, 
and I, for one ain’t going to begrudge him a few 
bits of celluloid.

According to our mutual acquaintance (a non-cel 
collector; we met through an anime con we’re both 
working), he’s up in Seattle, and is a huge, 
albeit closeted, yaoi fiend. And I mean 
*closeted*. Because he’s got a wife and a couple 
of impressionable-age kids, he can’t buy the out 
and out yaoi stuff like, say I own. No 
scrumptious Ai no Kusabi or Kizuna cels for 
MikaNoNamida, alas (or hidden doujinshi stash). 
He has to limit himself to pairings or characters 
that he, as a fan, would know and appreciate, but 
that his family would be clueless about. 
Afterall, would *you* want to explain why daddy 
has cels of half naked men in bed (it’s a slumber 
party, hon)?

If you’ll notice, he’s got a penchant for at 
least one canonical doujinshi couple, Hiei and 
Kurama. Well, perhaps more than a penchant, but 
who can blame him. He’s also terribly fond of 
Xellos and Zelgadis. Not being a Slayers fanatic 
myself, I don’t automatically place the two 
together, but, hey, anything’s possible in 
fandom. And, well, the Flame of Recca fetish can 
be easily understood: Mikagami’s pretty as a 
picture. And all those pretty, exotic Sailor 
Moon “boys,” too. 

Now, you’re asking about now, what about those 
cels of women he’s buying? Well, the whole family 
likes anime, and they’ve been bitten by the cel 
bug too. So when he can, he buys them a few cels 
to keep them happy. What’s a Washu here, a Lina 
there when there’s always a Kurama around the 
corner, eh?

Still, I might’ve taken this all with a grain of 
salt  if I hadn’t seen him win a gorgeous, non-
racy yaoi cel I was eying on YJ a while back. 
Sigh. Kireina…. I wish him luck getting it past 
the family radar.

As for the Japanese. Well, any yaoi fan worth 
their salt’ll tell you the good stuff’s written 
in kanji. Without furigana.  Self taught’s what 
my friend told me. Going on 10 years now. 
Impressive. He has a friend working in Japan 
currently (2 year assignment), which explains the 
recency of his YJ ID. Not sure what he’ll do when 
the friend moves back.

Anyway, for what it’s worth, that’s my 
understanding of the situation. Thankfully I 
don't buy much YYH or Slayers, but heaven help me 
if he ever comes out of the closet and starts 
buying up real yaoi cels left and right. Aie!

A.