BL Challenge

Graziella Sigaya
Aug 1, 2021
3 min read

Updated: Dec 7, 2021

Raku dun nagaganyat ka dya ka nakon nga magpasimpalad sa BL world... nagapamirip-hi lang gid ang prude in me. But I think it's about time that I b*tch slap my inner Prudence McPrude and embrace the degenerate that I really am.

For the uninitiated, Boys’ Love or BL is a literary genre or media depicting the romance between male characters. The term “boys’ love” emerged in the early 1990s, but the material began being created in the 1970s as female writers started to break into the male-dominated world of writing manga for girls. All thanks to the pioneering works of the female mangaka group Hana no Nijūyo-nen Gumi (花の24年組). The genre is currently known by the katakana name ボーイズラブ (boizu rabu) or the abbreviation BL. However, most international fans still refer to it by the older Japanese name of yaoi.

BL stories are predominantly written by women and the consumers are overwhelmingly female. Ang fangirl ka BL and/or yaoi is described as “fujoshi” (腐女子) or “rotten girl” kag ang fanboy tana is “fudanshi” (腐男子) or “rotten boy.” Ang tanan kuno nga bayi may dormant "fujo" genes nga gaka-trigger kun makakita ka mga pretty boys "almost" kissing... Hmn, tuod gid man?

The growing popularity of stories centering on male homosexual encounters contributed to the independence of this emerging genre. And with BL penetrating (pun intended!) the mainstream, the fandom has grown into a fandemic. It is currently divided into two subgenres. Shonen-ai, which literally means "boy love", portrays the romantic love between the two men focusing on emotional aspects and Yaoi presents homoeroticism in a sexually explicit form.

Typical BL stories feature "bishonen" characters (beautiful boys), who have exceptional physical characteristics. A common BL couple consists of the “seme” (攻め) and the “uke” (受け). The seme is the domineering masculine character, while the uke is the more submissive and feminine character of the two.

Kag amo lang dan anay ang basics sa BL 101 para ka naton nga waay pa gawa hinalung-ong sa genre. Raku pa dya daad nga discussions ang BL phenomenon but let's get into that sa future posts. Inanayon ta lang lawas ta hay basi hilanaton kita kun magulpihan sa BL kag masal-an pa ang symptoms nga bag-o nga variant kang Covid. Mamingaw bala ma "queerantine".

BL is more than just double the eye candy, as these tales of romance between beautiful androgynous boys release women from a judgmental gaze and create a world that frees them from the constrictive social norms of reality. - Kirsty Kawano, Boys’ Love, The Genre That Liberates Japanese Women To Create a World of Their Own

May pirang nahut man ako nga nabasahan sa manga kag webnovel but so far ang akon pinaka BL exposure gid is only these two drama series: Great Men Academy (2019) kag A Man Who Defies the World of BL (2020). (Inuli-anon dun ang akon kun isal-ut ko duman ang The Untamed.) Sa kaluoy ni Lord waay man ako nagpabotbot pagkatapos ko lantaw. Makalilingaw man ah. Light and fluffy lang. Here's a sample:

Let this be my challenge then. Tinguhaan ko malantaw ang mga recommended BL series ka akon mga openly fujoshi friends. Mga tv/web series lang dya anay. Lain pa nga orasyon ang kinahanglan ko para sa mga d*ck re-drawers kang manga/manhwa scanlations...

Palihog lang idugang sa comments ang imo timo BL recommendations.