BL, Shounen-Ai, Yaoi?

[trickssi]

I'm posting this here because I know that personally, I've found much more in this genre in terms of manga/doujinshi/artwork than actual anime, but you're welcome to talk about any of it.

Let's kick this thread off with an anecdote from Moonland: Two of my classmates/friends from Japanese class in high school and I were on our trip in Japan. We'd been having a lovely tour when finally we got to Akihabara. Which, squee! We wanted to find all the original yaoi doujinshi we could and bring it back for our friends. So we started looking in some stores... and... found racks upon racks of... well, racks ^^; Tons of hentai everywhere, but no BL to be found. After about eight floors of it, we got fed up and schemed to ask one of the cashiers where the BL was, although we were limited in our Japanese usage. But! Necessity was the mother of yaoi-finding. We got a napkin and a pen and I scribbled in my best katakana, "Boizu Rabu?" and Simone held it out to him and went, "Doko?!" The kind man at the register laughed... a creepy, jaded laugh that did smite the fangirlish giggles in our throats. And pointed us next door, where there was indeed a ton of yaoi on the second floor.

I have more shounen-ai adventures to share for later, but I'd like to open the floor to you guys for a bit. What are your favorites? Why do you like/dislike BL? What got you into it? Let's share some stories and have some fun with things we can't discuss properly during our meetings because of all the guys~! <3

[Salmonking]

Hell, what got me into it? at this point I have no idea. Something in the ancient recesses of time, no doubt.

I do remember my first experience with finding it, though. Back in fourth grade I was looking for some Digimon websites to kill time on, and this very courteous popup came up for this one site.

It very nicely explained the nature of the goings-on of the site, in non-specific but clear terms, and I read it politely and politely clicked "take me back to Google" and then sat there and was surprised (and kind of sickened) for a time.

Ah, those blissful, innocent years of pre-puberty.





As to why I like it? God, why not? Two dudes for the price of one? Do guys like lesbians? This nuts's AWESOME. XD

[ninfa]

I think it's funny, but for me, what started me on the path of yaoi-lurve was (supposedly) heterosexual anime....like Gundam Wing (come on! 5 guys..in space, we know what's really going on). lol Actually because I watched all male anime (with mechas, fighting, stereotypical female roles), I found myself immersed in mostly yaoi fanfiction. It didn't take much to convince me that the male relationships were way more sincere than the het ones (in some cases.)

Ai No Kusabi is totally one of my favorite yaoi animes ever, but I've covered basically all of the anime list on boysonboysonfilm. com so it's hard for me to pick. I probably like slashable anime better than actual yaoi or shonen-ai anime, though shows like Loveless, Gravitation, and Sukisho will always have a super special place in my heart.

As for manga, it's all soooooooooooooooooooo good! I've recently fallen in love with Korean yaoi manga like Let Dai (it's amazing!) I've tried to read as much yaoi as possible. ^_^

[trickssi]

>It didn't take much to convince me that the male relationships were way more sincere than the het ones

THIS. For some reason. Yeah, I don't know what it is, but same-sex relationships, especially male ones, seem to be more... powerful. Is it the fact that they're crossing social boundaries by being so open to each other? Is it the excitement of something considered forbidden? I mean, Oscar Wilde's "love that dare not speak its name" has been applied in so many different ways. Across literature, across films, across Japanese yaoi and fanfiction.

I know that when I went to the Otakon yaoi panel, they described its popularity in terms of a power struggle. Which, certainly--it's hot to see two "straight guy" types fighting for dominance. Are we just beyond the shoujo-style weak-girl, strong-guy stereotypes? But how can we even think of it as being "beyond" if so many people still adore the shoujo-style romances?

Either way, it's hot.

Also, like M-chan, I prefer slashable anime to anime actually meant to be yaoi--especially if there's intentional ho yay. It's what you don't see that makes it sexy. Plus, you don't have to think about the social implications of the characters being as gay as a treeful of monkeys on nitrous oxide if it's just implied or slashable. (As much as I appreciate Gravitation, sometimes the open flamboyancy feels distasteful to me.) And you can read more fanfics. Or write them, or whatever.

... Also, I love historical slash, for some reason. Especially if it's never openly addressed. Example: when you're reading your history books and they say "Alexander died of an 'unknown' cause," or "Hadrian built a bunch of important monuments... because." But you know why those things happened...!

Related because I'm watching Peacemaker Kurogane and Hijikata/Okita is soooo heart-wrenching even if it is a little historically inaccurate.