/report!: yaoi, yaoi everywhere

[rageprufrock]

Come one, come all (no, seriously), /reporters! After several geologic eras of my incubating whatever disease killed Gwyneth Paltrow in Contagion, we're finally back to Sunday evening posting! This week mklutz and I are joined by Lianne Sentar of Sleep Is For The Weak to talk about yaoi, boys love, some of its history, some of its many questionable and delightful facets, to give the curious or the nostalgic recommendations, and then we spend some time advocating mklutz's future career in audio porn.

(Fair warning to listeners, as a natural result of the subject matter, we talk quite a bit about dubious consent and nonconsensual sex.)

Right-click here to download or click here to stream online to listen. And, as always, you can subscribe to our RSS feed here.



• Read Bukiyou na Silent here. (NC-17)

• Read Haru wo Daite Ita online here or here. (Exuberantly NC-17; attempted non-con later in the series.)

• Buy Wild Rock here.

• To purchase FAKE, go here, to buy Eerie Queerie, click this, pick up Antique Bakery here.

• mklutz's manga-ka of choice is Naono Bohra.

• To check out manga-ka Toko Kawai, click here. Specific titles of Toko Kawai: Cut (dark but satisfying); Cafe Latte Rhapsody (super sweet); In the Walnut (amazingly classy)

• Check out Tyrant Falls in Love here and Little Butterfly (by same mangaka as Tyrant and Bukiyou na Silent, super sweet) here.

• Approach Maiden Rose with caution here.

• For those ready to try Japanese Drama CDs, here's the SUPER BEST OMG English-language sharing forum and community for BL drama CDs.

And! Last but definitely note least: to look into these Tokyo Demons shenanigans, click here.

Comments

[opalsong.livejournal.com]

Hi, totally late comment. I just wanted to say that I love this podcast! I recently got into podcasts in general and after listening to the billion episodes of the one that got me into it I have been searching fruitlessly for another podcast that even sort of pertains to my interests, with awesome hosts that can keep my attention. And then one day a friend of mine said: "have you listened to slash report?" and I was all !!!!! O_O *LOVE* and haven't gone back. I just caught up and I have to say that this episode in particular was simply amazing! I'm a huge anime fan and hearing you guys talk about yaoi was wonderful.
My introduction to slash in general (of the fanfiction kind) was through the Slayers fandom where I managed completely unwittingly to stumble into a hardcore Zel/Xellos PWP. I was totally confused.
Hearing you guys talk about Gundam Wing was amazing! Brought back so many memories! (I still stumble back into that fandom. because I have no shame on the internet)
I don't actually read all that much yaoi and it is for a reason that I don't think you really covered (not that this is in anyway a criticism). I feel like when I read about two boys (or men) in a relationship that I want to read about two Boys (or men) not a boy and a girl substitute. Maybe I'm strange but I like the difference in power dynamics, or the way they relate to each other, or something. I'm aware that with female authors writing for female readers that this isn't likely going to be exactly what happens but I feel like most yaoi (that I've read) has let me down in this regard and that I'm reading about a regular het couple just with two penises instead. FAKE is one of the only yaoi that I actually like, though I would also recommend anything by Taishi Zaō (or in Shojo named: Mikiyo Tsuda... she's a friend of the previously mentioned Eiki Eiki. and also the author of one of the Princess stories) her stuff is super cute and I managed to get through, and like, everything that I've read so...
right, TL;DR You guys are awesome! Relevent to my interests! and I love the ideo of Yaoi but end up back in western slash most of the time.

[ravelqueen]

feel like when I read about two boys (or men) in a relationship that I want to read about two Boys (or men) not a boy and a girl substitute.

I kind of feel the same way about it and after my phase of reading everything I could get my hands on (I did the same thing in fanfiction, does one have to go through that phase? I recently purged my favourites list on fanfiction.net, Jesus my eyes burned) I started to really hunt for stuff that shows more equal portrayals and just portrayals of characters in general.

Which is just a long-winded way of saying, that if that is the reason you don't read yaoi, you should check out Naono Bohra (they linked it up above), because 1. her character designs are very clearly male for all of them 2. her stories are mostly really heart-warming 3. they are I think all kinds of dynamics used in her stuff, some stereotypical some not (one of the only writers where you can't always identify seme/uke on the first look and in one case there is actual switching involved)

also check out my recs (that are...some comments above this I'll use the same icon^^), they start out a bit stereotypical (like one of them being better in house work in Junjou etc.) but it becomes clear very fast that this is a depiction of an actual relationship between two characters

[opalsong.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much! I'll make sure to check her out (and your recs too!)
Also, I have that "read everything ever no matter how aweful it is" phase almost every time I get into a new fandom. I have some standards by this point but in a new fandom the ones pertaining to characterization are very very low.

[ravelqueen]

you're welcome ^^

but as I said, Yamano Ayane does write real men (and there tends to be not a lot of crying but really hot sex), but the consent issues are seriously fucked up.

Additionally I only mentioned 4 of Kodaka's works but she wrote a shit-load of stuff that is all worth reading so if you like her style^^

Bohra has soo much stuff as well....if you like interesting chara designs and suprising roles check out "Dakishimetakunai" and "Ren ai nenrei" first maybe

[liannesentar.livejournal.com]

The discussion I'm having with an anonymous poster right over your comment addresses the "uke as female cipher" issue (and how not all yaoi use that trope, especially recently). If you want stories that are clearly about two men and have little to do with shoujo and het power dynamics, try almost anything by Fumi Yoshinaga, Yugi Yamada, Shiuko Kano, and most of the recs given at the end of the podcast (except for the admitted "sweet" ones...those usually have more in common with shoujo, than, say, Embracing Love).