Tag: Boys Love Manga

Secret XXX – BL Manga Review

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Being stuck at home for what is going on five months has been great for my TBR list (my gaming backlog not so much), so I’ve been on a bit of a manga buying spree. Granted almost all of my new buys have been BL manga, but lets chock that up to the boom in legitimate boys love releases and not on my status as a self-proclaimed fujoshi.

During one of my more recent hauls I snagged a copy of Secret XXX by Meguru Hinohara and I’m going to keep it real with you guys, I have never read anything else by this author. In fact, I wasn’t even planning on buying Secret XXX, the manga I actually wanted to buy was volume 1 of her ongoing series, Therapy Game—which I totally bought btw. It was only after I hit the order button that I discovered that Therapy Game is a spin off of Secret XXX, and not wanting to miss out on any details, I placed a second order and I am so glad I did! I wasn’t familiar with Meguru Hinohara’s works before this, so I had no idea what to expect from this one volume story—what I got was a cute story that was equal parts sweet and spicy.

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Castle Mango – Boys Love Manga Review

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A love hotel, the adult film industry, and a high school aged uke… sounds like the set up for a really sleazy, cliche boys love series. But don’t let the synopsis fool you, Castle Mango written by Narise Konohara and illustrated by Muku Ogura is a surprisingly heartfelt read. A hidden gem in an otherwise sex heavy genre, Castle Mango is a breath of fresh air! 

The series follows Yorozu Shirosaki, a studious high schooler whose family runs the love hotel, Castle Mango, where for a few hours, couples come to let off some steam. Yorozu sometimes helps run the front desk, but otherwise keeps his family’s business a secret from the rest of the world. His “quiet” life is interrupted when an adult film director, Togame, decides to use Castle Mango as the set of their next porno shoot and he is mistaken for one of the “extras” in the film. Embarrassed and ticked off, he vows to give the director a wide berth, but when it seems like Togame has his eyes set on his younger brother, Yorozu devises a plan. So, he tricks a drunk Togame into believing they slept together, in hopes of diverting his attention. Yorozu thought it would be enough to scare Togame off, he never imagined Togame would actually ask him to be his BOYFRIEND?! 

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Wholesome BL Reads to Add to Your Reading List

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Boys Love used to be a dirty little secret fujoshi and fudanshi enjoyed in the dark recesses of their bedrooms—and I will admit that there was a time when I wouldn’t dare admit that I liked anything even remotely related to the genre. But, times have changed and BL media isn’t the taboo it once was—hell I remember the days of watching BL OVAs on YouTube and reading poorly rendered manga scans on questionable sites. But, now BL media is readily available with series like Dakaichi and Given getting full anime series and publishers like Juné and SuBLime licensing entire series for English speaking audiences. And, a lot of that has to do with the gradual shift from the smut heavy boys love stories to more wholesome romance stories.

Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of boys love series that glorify sex, but more and more series are striving to tell more realistic romances. This de-sexualization of boys love media makes them more accessible to folks outside of the target demographic. Even, as a seasoned fujoshi, I welcome this change, because it opens up the genre to more varied stories and proves that relationships between men are more than the stuff of rampant fangirl fantasies. So, I’ve compiled a list of some of my favorite wholesome boys love manga series to add to your reading list!

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What Did You Eat Yesterday? – Volume 1 Manga Review

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I am a huge boys love fan, but looking back at some of the series I own, a lot of them aren’t exactly what you’d call “wholesome”. I’m not ashamed of this, I like smutty BL as much as the next fujoshi, but every so often I like to pick up something a bit more tame—so during one of my RightStuf hauls I snagged a few copies of Fumi Yoshinaga’s What Did You Eat Yesterday? I’d run across the series a few years ago in the dealers room at a Con and back then I wasn’t ready to invest in a longer series, especially when each volume is $12.95 a pop. But, when faced with extra time at home, I figured now was a good time to start adding to my manga library and I have not regretted my purchase! What Did You Eat Yesterday? is one of the most wholesome boys love manga I have read in a long time.

A hard-working middle-aged gay couple in Tokyo come to enjoy the finer moments of life through food. After long days at work, either in the law firm or the hair salon, Shiro and Kenji will always have down time together by the dinner table, where they can discuss their troubles, hash out their feelings and enjoy delicately prepared home cooked meals!

-Synopsis

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Behind Story Manwha Review

Behind Story – BL Manhwa Review

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Like many of you, I’ve spent quite a bit of time confined to my apartment, waiting for the COVID-19 pandemic to blow over. And while the bulk of my time spent teleworking during the week, I do need a bit of a break from the monotony of my computer screen. So I’ve taken to buying manga on Amazon and in the two weeks I’ve been social distancing I’ve amassed quite a few new titles. Of course, most of these are boys love  (which seems to be pretty much all I buy now), which given my not so secret fujoshi tendencies shouldn’t be a surprise (especially if you follow my Insta).

While I definitely snagged some interesting stuff, the one that I was most interested in starting was the manhwa, Behind Story by Narae Ahn. Now, some backstory—Amazon has been suggesting this to me for WEEKS and while I like manhwa, I kind of find their stories a bit on the soap opera side when it comes to drama. And BL manhwa tends to really crank that shit up with their angsty drama and penchant for tragedy, and… I really need to be in the mood for that. So, I kinda dragged my feet a bit. It’s just 3 volumes long so it’s not as big of an investment as say a longer running shounen or shojo series and it was on sale when I got it, so I figured I could do worse.

Behind Story Manhwa (1).jpg

Behind Story is the debut title of Narae Ahn, so it is a bit rough in places, but despite some flaws I actually really enjoyed reading this story. It’s more on the shounen-ai side of things, with very little in the way of actual sex, BUT, it does deal with some intense themes like: non-consentual sex, drugs, and abuse. There are a few characters that have been the victims of sexual assault and while most boys love media tends to sexualize rape, Narae Ahn makes it very clear from the get go that this is not meant to be taken lightly! These are traumatic experiences and they are handled (for the most part) in a realistic way.

Where to Read: Lezhin (Digital) | Netcomics (Digital) | Amazon (Print)

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