COMPLETE agreement on both fronts - Eroica being one-of-a-kind, and Ishihara Satoru being a genius! There's only one other mangaka whose adolescent BL romances have that same toughness and boyish appeal - Kyuugou, who I also worship. Mmmm, non-wimpy ukes! Such a rarity! (Someone ought to start a category for that... )

Actually, come to think of it... Banana Fish has loads of tough, badass subtext you might enjoy - but you've probably already read it, I bet!

I'd like to add Toxic, despite the fact that its title kick-starts some sort of Pavlovian jukebox in my head, that immediately starts belting out Britney Spears. Help...!

Edit: Actually, I'm not sure about Toxic... Let it be a tentative rec until further chapters are released.

Last edited by tartufo at 7:09 am, Jan 17 2011

boku wa ne. can´t explain it, but there is much subtext. but i found a pic that shows pretty much what i mean. and this one, too. and now the final overkill

Last edited by ShadowSakura at 4:53 pm, Jan 29 2011

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CODA
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As gay as can be without on-screen gayness.

Promising, albeit to a somewhat lesser extent: Future Football.

So much BL subtext mentioned here, but almost no GL...So I decided to add a few!

Hayate x Blade definitely qualifies. It was indicated as shoujo-ai (which it is so not!) up until very recently, and I removed the tag. But now someone has added 'yuri subtext' to its category field, and I can't (or won't?) refute that
Konohanatei Kitan is tagged as shoujo-ai, but I haven't seen anything other than subtext so far. It's the kind of manga which is cute up to the point of intoxication, so anyone who likes adorable little fox-girls should give this a go, while those who prefer more mature-looking characters should give it a pass
And Youkai Gakuenki fits too.



While I'm rather fond of Ishihara Satoru's manga myself (but I can only speak for the shounen-ai ones since I don't read yaoi), I can't say I understand everyone's infatuation with Kyuugou. I mean, why the heck does Bokura ni Matsuwaru Etcetera have such a high rating? It's a very typical slice-of-life BL, and I don't find the characters all that interesting or fun. (Though I do like the fact that the boys look like (gasp!) boys ^^) Hopefully, Acid Town is better. It's currently showing quite a bit of promise.

Eroica is, indisputably, a masterpiece! But of course no one in her right mind would call it a BL manga, since it's completely one-sided and played for laughs. Speaking of Aoike Yasuko - I wish someone would scanlate Eve no Musukotachi! There's no doubt that it will be an incredibly fun ride (probably with comedy gold to rival that of Eroica's...)

As for the categories; there's this and this, but very few titles. And only a couple of shounen-ai are tagged 'cause it's not right to assume the 'positions' before anything actually happens LOL. (Though imo it's usually pretty obvious just from the cover)

Last edited by calstine at 10:18 am, Apr 1 2011

Subtext is sexy indeed. At least in my mind it is. Just maybe not in reality.

So, um, yeah. Over Bleed has a protagonist whose entire life is driven by his (dead) best friend, with whom he attempted (lovers'?) suicide, but unwillingly survived. Do guys often attempt suicide together? Just sayin'.

Early days yet to say, don't you think? And it's not uncommon for people who've suffered the same kind of fate in life to commit suicide together, regardless of gender or sexuality.
It isn't romantic interest that binds them together - but the shared suffering. You could hardly call that lovers' suicide...

Sorry for always taking your recs apart like this, but I like to keep things realistic. It's not right to recommend stuff that don't really have subtext here - then people who dislike that sort of thing (in other words, most of the members here at MU) will refrain from reading the manga for no reason; or worse still, give it a lower rating than it deserves. The converse is also true - those who expect subtext and don't get it will be really disappointed.

Read Over Bleed tartufo, and OH MY GOD THE GAY POTENTIAL. What person in their right mind wouldn't be able to sense the pure subtext in, hey, if you're of afraid of dying, I can *join* you.
Two people in love willingly spend their lives together, so what do you call it when two people willingly die together? Of course, it is kind of early to be coupling our angsty boys off, but that's the fun and the point in being a slash fangirl, I think. Obviously the gayness does not actually exist because it's all in our minds. The best kind of delusion!

I'm really impressed on the foundings in this thread!! I get excited just reading along
I also want to contribute, but anything which comes to mind was already mentioned. (CLAMP is the queen of all subtexts)
Have anyone mentioned Shounen Onmyouji yet?
Though the girl is kind of getting in the way - __ -

Wow, I definitely love this thread. Partly for the fantastically long list of great recommendations, but also because it's just great to know there are so many other lovers of gay subtext out there. I like realized gay relationships too, but the subtext ones allow these relationships to exist in so many places where they otherwise couldn't.

Anyways, I don't have a whole lot to add since most of the ones I know of have already been mentioned, although I would like to reiterate the recommendation for Cotton, since I love that manga and it only got one mention early in the thread. In the truest sense it could never be considered subtext, the yuri relationship is pretty much the focus of the story, but it's also not fully realized and never consummated. I guess it just depends on how subtle you want the relationship to be.

Also, it's kind of off the beaten path, but not simple is another great manga with a beautiful unrealized gay relationship. It's been a while since I read it though (and I rushed through it too much), but if I remember correctly it's pretty one-sided in that one of the men is straight and expressed interest in women, but I still found it wonderful nonetheless.

Strawberry Shake Sweet is a cute little story of (mostly) unrealized GL. I found it a bit frustrating, because there was too much longing with absolutely no acting on it, but I've heard from others that really liked it, so it's worth a try.

Azumanga Daioh kind of strays from your requirements in that the more blatant subtext of the series is between a minor-character and a main-character, and given the gag-driven nature of 4-koma manga it never really develops, but I'd recommend it nonetheless. The whole thing is rife with potential subtext (if you're wearing your Yuri Goggles) in that pretty much all the named characters are female. It's worth a read anyways if you want a fun little 4-koma manga, but the subtext is an added plus.

If the K-On! anime was following the manga closely then there should be some yuri subtext in that 4-koma as well, but I haven't read past the first volume yet, so I can't say for sure. Although, even if it doesn't have the more blatant subtext from Mugi that the anime had the close relationship between Mio and Ritsu is pretty much canon-level yuri subtext anyways.

Anyways, those are the only ones I can think of for now that haven't been mentioned. Thanks to everyone else for all the recs -- my reading list just got a lot longer.

Wasn't Strawberry Shake almost consummated at the end? I mean, they said the
"I love you"s and kissed and all that, so it can't really be considered subtext. There are 2 or 3 non-canon couples among the side cast, though...

Yeah, I was unsure of whether I should add it or not. While it is consummated at the end, the entire manga up until the end was just a massive bunch of unstated, passionate feelings for one another. And if I remember correctly their consummating it at the end wasn't even all that satisfying because it got interrupted part way through. Yeah, pretty much the entire supporting cast is involved in a subtext pairing though, so it's probably still worth a look for someone into the whole subtext relationship thing.

For yuri, would Vampire Knight count? It might be more text than subtext, though.

The first female villain, Shizuka had some lesbian subtext with the main character, but the current female villain, Sara is most definitely a lesbian. She only goes after female victims and keeps a harem of girls that she has turned into vampires. Sara likes keeping her human-turned-vampire girls around as pets and enjoys cuddling with them and occasionally gives them (non-passionate) kisses on the mouth. I predict that it's only a matter of time before lesbian subtext emerges between the main character and Sara, or possibly between Sara and the main character's (female) best friend, or possibly both. The only bad thing about this if you like subtext is that Sara's lesbian tendencies are used to show how bad she is, which is offensive, in my opinion.

A lot of fans want to see gay subtext between the two male leads because there was once a (forced) blood drinking scene between them, but other than that, the two have such pure hatred of one another that I honestly don't think you can legitimately argue for there being a thin line between love and hate, etc. between them. I'd say if you're looking for gay subtext in this series, the closest you will find it is in between Zero & his twin brother Ichiru. They always slept in the same bed, were always discussed as being part of the same being, etc.

*sneaks back into the thread after, oh, ages*

Recommending some recent reads, which are not recent manga, so they are out there and complete.

Basara (supporting characters in a rad bromance)
Jyu Oh Sei (cute boy dropped on a prison planet)

Also, is anyone following the Spring 2011 anime season? You guys really need to be watching Tiger and Bunny. Just check out its Ho Yay section on TvTropes.

Last edited by oriana3k at 4:26 pm, Jun 12 2011

the women from CLAMP write under the mottoe "everyone is bi"

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