fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2707 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2707 ⌋

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Hey, I'm looking for the most popular BL manga. I'm thinking like Okane na gai (or whatever it's called), Tyrant Who Falls in Love, Gravitation maybe. I want to see if any of them work for me. Suggestions?

Why the most popular?

Uhmmm, I think Nabari No Ou was kind of popular. Super downer ending, though.

Do you want to see if any of the standard popular ones work for you or do you want to read one to see if the genre in general works for you? Because the most popular ones are not exactly the best of their kind and if you want to make a choice about the genre, you might not want to start with something mediocre or terrible.

I'm open to recs (my favorites are pretty obscure) but I was looking for the most popular because sometimes they're popular for a reason.

The one in which the uke has cat ears. Loveless.

lol @ calling him the uke

BL stories in general, or manga in particular? First ones that come to mind..

Gravitation
Okane ga Nai
Loveless
Viewfinder
Ai no Kusabi (I don't think this one is a manga, but anime/light novels)
Mirage of Blaze (also not a manga, as far as I know, but anime/light novels. though I don't think of this as BL genre, and I'm not sure if it is actually classified as such)

Oh, and I noticed you said "See if it works for you" - which is totally different from "most popular". :P But that depends 100% on what you are interested in? Do you like very stereotypical yaoi, with defined ukes and semes? Sexy rape tropes? Lots of talking about feelings? Cute styles, or mature styles? I mean, much as people criticize it, BL is a term that encompasses a LOT of variety in Japan.

I personally liked the Viewfinder manga by Ayano Yamane a lot. Beautiful art, the characters all look like adults. Very sexy, though it has rape and that is portrayed as sexy. I don't mind "sexy rape" in my porn though, but that's definitely not for everyone. Viewfinder also developed a lot more plot when it became famous after its first manga. But yeah. Lots of porn.

Also, another very famous yaoi manga: Junjou Romantica. Forgot to mention that one. Has rape/sexual assault that isn't actually treated like rape in the first episode, but I think that's it.

Another famous one: Under Grand Hotel. There is rape, but it is actually treated like rape, and doesn't occur (as far as I remember) between the two main characters.

...I don't think I've ever typed "rape" so many times in one comment, oops

^I liked Junjou Romantica, but not the main love story. I think there were three. The other two were infinitely more interesting than the main love story.

But Swordfish does rape the other main character iirc.

It's been such a long time, I can't actually remember. I just remember the Japanese guy gets raped by some other prisoners, and that his relationship with Swordfish seemed a lot more "equal", to the point of them being friends. And there was no uke/seme stereotypes, even though the Japanese guy always was bottom, iirc. Maybe I'm completely misremembering. Anyway, Under Grand Hotel has rape.

Re: Most popular BL manga

(Anonymous) - 2014-06-01 22:10 (UTC) - Expand

Eerie Queerie.

Aw, Eerie Queerie was adorable! I like Hands Off for the same reason. :) Or anything by Naono Bohra, though I don't know if her stuff counts as popular because she tends to write one-shot novels, not series.

Well, seeing as you said you want to see if they work for you, I'm going to rec Honto Yajuu by Yamamoto Kotetsuko despite it probably not being the most popular, but it is, at least, enjoyable imo.

Seconding. Honto Yajuu is refreshingly adorable.

Try Fake. Good art, solid enough story, fun gags, great female characters, sexy sex scenes, likable leading men.

I dunno how popular it is but I'll rec Saezuru Tori wa Habatakanai anyway, because it's my favorite.

For lighter BL, Antique Bakery maybe, or Embracing Love by Youka Nitta? (I've read the former but not the latter).

Personally, I enthusiastically recommend Crimson Spell. (Still ongoing, though, if that's an issue.) ~ By the mangaka of Viewfinder, the art is gorgeous, but in a fantasy rather than a contemporary setting. The uke is not a limp weepy lily (he's a prince who turns into a demon at night), there's minimal non-or dub con, and it has romance, humor and plot as well as sex. The 4th volume is coming out in English in June, with vol 5 slated for August. (I've ficced for it, so I have an "about" page here with a few pictures.) ~ fwiw, it was topping Amazon's sales in the BL manga category for a while, but that was possibly due to pent-up demand (it was OOP for several years.)

SuBLime Manga's website sometimes has "read the first chapter free" for various titles, it's a good place to browse.

Edited 2014-06-01 23:27 (UTC)

Man, I wanted to like Crimson Spell, but I didn't give a shit for the two main characters as a couple at all. Doesn't help shipped Rulca with Vald and find Rulca to be the most interesting chatacter.

That and I didn't find the writing to be all that good.

Ah really? How far did you read (if you don't mind saying)? I found vol 3, when Havi was poisoned/MC'd by Gile, to be what really invested me in the characters.

(Rulca is hella fun, total agreement there.)

(Anonymous) - 2014-06-01 23:44 (UTC) - Expand

Aaaaaah I love Crimson Spell! And I agree that Youka Nitta's Embracing Love is probably one of the most famous ones.

Uhhh to add to OP's list, I think Love Mode by Yuki Shimizu was really popular back in the early 2000s. It was a long-running series.

Seconding Crimson Spell.

Fake is probably the most popular, but I think it's terrible. :/

I've really enjoyed Oka no Ue no Rakuen, but that's just a stand alone manga, I think. (Maybe not, haven't checked in a while.) Anyway, it's cute.

I really love Maiden Rose, but like the others you've mentioned, it's hella rapey. Ludwig II is my favorite yaoi manga but it isn't very popular. It is excruciatingly beautiful though. Only the Ring Finger Knows was hella popular when I was a kid but I don't remember anything about it except that I hated it lol. ...I just realized I have an entire bookcased full of yaoi/BL manga and I don't remember half of it. Oops