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An Introduction to Boy’s love Circuit:

This is a review journal for BL comics. Variably distinguished as Yaoi, Boy’s Love, Juné, and Shounen-Ai, these are comics about gay male relationships and often gay male sex. Please use your browser’s back button to leave this journal if the aforementioned offends you.

This journal is not rated. There are no graphic explanations of sex in this journal, but the nature of most of the reviewed comics are sexual in nature. Crude language is occasionally included. Reading this journal is done so at your own risk, and not recommended for those under 17.

Comics are reviewed on no set schedule, and include reviews of graphic novels, serials, and one-shots, in both licensed and non-licensed (scanlated) formats, as they are available.

If a whole novel that includes one-shots is reviewed, the one shots are reviewed separately and links, in order to provide a distinct reference for every type of story.

Key for review Introductions:

Format: Indicates whether it is a one-shot in a larger novel, the main arc of a novel, or a novel or series of novels itself.
State: Indicates whether the reviewed manga was in licensed, printed format (and the licenser) or whether it was scanlated.
Type: Indicates the type of paring listed with the dominant character first (seme x uke). (ex: “student x teacher” means the main pairing is a student seme and an uke teacher)
Ratings and warnings:G=Fluff, PG=Kissing, PG-13=Romance and suggestive themes, R=Sex, NC-17= Very Graphic Sex. Shota=Involvement of one or more young boys in a sexual situation, other tags include Rape, Bondage, Masochistic violence/Gore, Kemonomimi, PWP, and more.

Key for terms:

New to Yaoi? Learn the terms.

Time? Boys Love originated in the mid-seventies, by women, for women.

YAOI: Not the Japanese word for “gay”. It is an acronym, standing for “YAma nashi, Ochi nashi, Imi nashi”, meaning “no climax, no resolution, no meaning.” The term originated in response to the plotless doujinshi that had a sole purpose of depicting gay sex. So technically, the term applies to manga that fits the description in the acronym, however, it is not used that way in America. (Note, it is a joke that YAOI stands for “Yamete, Oshiri Itai!” or “Stop! My Butt hurts!”)

Shounen-ai: Meaning “Boy’s love”, this term technically applies to romance between two boys that does not necessarily involve sex.

Boy’s Love, BL: The English term “Boy’s Love” has a different meaning in Japan than “Shounen-ai” does. BL is a general term applying to dating-sim video games and comics that depict gay male relationships and sex. The term sneaks around in various incarnations (ex: “Bell Liberty School” of Gakuen Heaven, or “BOYS LOVE” on Shuichi Shindou’s jacket in Gravitation.)

Juné: The serial comic journal that began publishing shounen-ai, beginning with the legendary “Kaze to Ki no Uta (Song of the Wind and Trees).” Occasionally interchanged with the term “shounen-ai.”

Doujinshi: “Fan Comic”. Amateur comics, not necessarily yaoi/BL. Sometimes with original stories, more often about existing anime/manga/game/idol characters. Doujinshi are self-published and can be sold in Japan in occordance with copyright laws if they are published only in small numbers.

Invisible Dick: See Censorship.

Censorship: Various decency laws in Japan prevent depiction of certain sexual images. It is illegal to depict pubic hair (accounting for the so many clean-shaven men), and a continuous graphic image of a penis (accounting for the occasional black bar, dot, mosaic, or word bubble obscuring part of a penis). In some, the trouble is avoided altogether by not depicting a penis at all, but rather an invisible, weeping or sweaty cone/tube where a penis should supposedly be. The “Invisible Dick” is a huge joke in the BL community because of its commonality and hilarity. For a good example, check out LEVEL-C.

PWP: “Plot? What Plot?” A warning meaning to prepare you for a lack of plot in order to facilitate lots of pointless sex.

OOC: “Out of Character” In terms of doujinshi and fan fiction, this is often bad news, because it means a certain character is not acting like the character he is. (Example: Angry, Manly Vegeta puts on a maid outfit and giggles. Unarguable OOC.”

Shota: Sexual situations involving young boys. Perhaps it originally applied to young boys with other young boys (the telltale sign is a very small penis, shota is shota based on the appearance of age of a character, not dictated age of a character), but it now applies also to young boys with not-so-young men. The age line for what is shota is always debatable, but this writer judges it at middle school and below.

Recommended Articles:
“Stop, My Butt Hurts!” The Yaoi Invasion by Kristy L. Valenti
in The Comics Journal (Periodical) Number 269/ July 2005


Using this Journal

-Please friend me to have reviews delivered to your friends page as they are released.

-Use entry tags to find a reviews for genres of your particular interest. For example, find all entries that include a "buisnessman" character or features "masturbation".

-Comment and ask for reccomendations or reviews of yaoi that fits a particular genre or is written by a particular mangaka,

-Cross references will be linked as the respective reviews are written

-Covers are provided for novels, and purchase information/publisher web site can be accessed by clicking the title.

Feel free to comment and discuss.
Review requests will be considered but not necessarily honored.
Please ask if there's a word you would like defined! Don't be in the dark and don't be embarassed!

Please give us some time as the jounral starts up and gets running. Suggestions are appreciated in this first month of Boy's Love Circuit.

I'm shirono, and I do all the reviews. As the friends list grows, I may seek to have a partner in reviewing.

Thanks for your support!

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