Onstage in his tight white T-shirt, mini-backpack, and very short shorts, Goldenboy looks like a fat cartoon of a six-year-old Japanese schoolboy. Which is appropriate since he's sexually attracted to them. "Who likes boys and shota together?" he asks. (Shota refers to sexualized boys and youths.) A young man in a rhinestone tiara and a middle-aged guy holding a huge pink satin cushion gleefully put up their hands along with the rest of the 100-strong, overwhelmingly male audience. "Who likes boys and men together?" Goldenboy asks next. This time, there is a displeased murmur. A group of drunk shirt-and-tied businessmen at the front lower their hands. So do the tiara guy, the cushion guy, and about half the crowd. "I thought so." Tonight, grown men aren’t hot. The packed house is much more interested in little boys and, astoundingly, proud of it.

Labels: international, manga