Hello! I have a friend who's a mild homophobe (doesn't hate gays, but has an aversion to them), and after chatting with her, it seems it's because she has false preconceived notions about them.

My goal isn't to convert her to the wonderful world of rainbows necessarily, but rather to just get her to understand that BL isn't something as bad as she thinks it is. Dispel ignorance, and then she can decide her views from there. I hope this doesn't instigate a debate or something. >.> So, back to the point of this thread.


I'm looking for shounen ai that is overall...nice. Something that you think the above mentioned friend wouldn't get disturbed by. She's actually pretty open to new things; I just want to make sure the first ones I show her keep her open to more, so that a careless choice doesn't become "I didn't like the ones you showed me, so I won't try any more."

- If it addresses prejudice and such the couple has to face, it might be easier for her to connect with it, so that's a plus.

- Yaoi is a possibility. If you think it would work really well with her, go ahead and recommend it. But I'm still mainly looking for shounen ai, so please don't move this to the Yaoi/Yuri section, mods. >.<;

- *updated* I checked with her, and apparently girly guys disturb her, so careful about those. ^^;

- She particularly likes comedy, romance, and fantasy. Things that are funny, cute or creative. She's aiming to be a children's book illustrator, so anything with that vibe is good.

- She doesn't like things that are psychologically disturbing or overall depressing/dark.

- Stories she really likes:

Cheese in the Trap
Love So Life
Yotsuba&!
Nicoichi
Princess Tutu (anime)
Summer Wars (anime)
From Far Away
Noblesse
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra


Possible examples of shounen ai:

A Night of a Thousand Dreams - more focus is put on the importance of the relationship rather than the romance.

Sannin Gurashi - slice of life, deals with some gay prejudice.

That's all I got. =/ I appreciate any help! Thanks!

Last edited by Blique at 5:38 pm, Sep 10 2012

Uchi no Ouji Irimasen ka
Saiyaku wa Boku o Suki Sugiru
I suppose

________________
KanataxYuki will always remain in my heart...
Their love is so profound~!
CrangolaFango

Maybe Rules by Miyamoto Kano, Doushitemo Furetakunai by Yoneda Kou or Lucky-kun.
All are slice of life type of stories and more of a shounen ai instead of yaoi.

Ummm, I'm not too used to this recommendations thing, so some of these may not fit her taste.
I'll try though >.< ehehe...

Cello Mello - I just finished reading this, and the art is beautiful. Also, the stories are really sweet and the last chapter I loved the best, but there is some hinting at things more than kissing, so if she dislikes it, just ignore that chapter.

Tsuki to Mizu no Yori - Really subtle, but there. The romance isn't the main part of the story though. Oh, and there's fantasy

Totally Captivated - My absolute favorite yaoi manga. It's a step up from shounen ai, but I think if she's willing to try, she might really like it for the comedy and romance.

From Eroica With Love - BL for people who don't like BL, considering that it's not really about gay romance or smut, but about action, adventure, history, culture, espionage, and well... gay flirting

Banana Fish - more bromance than BL. Again, the focus isn't on romance, and the gaysex (not explicit) isn't all that glorious and idealized

btw did I mention that those are two of the most awesome manga ever? (BL or otherwise)



Last edited by Roughan at 7:59 pm, Aug 12 2012

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I think these might fit your criteria:

Kanjou Spectrum
Doukyuusei (NAKAMURA Asumiko)
Seven Days
Bokura ni Matsuwaru Etcetera
Castle Mango (this one deals with homophobia a little bit)

How about Silver Diamond

[Cellow mellow] its very cute and good art. Its a good one since its not about sexual desires and what not

Pokerface
Two Colors
Seven Days
Kare no Aijou no Hakari
Slow Starter (Ichikawa Kei)
Only the Ring Finger Knows
Komatta Toki ni wa Hoshi ni Kike!

All have:
-beautiful art
-good story lines
-likeable characters

And the most ever done between characters is kissing.

All in all, these are some of the best shounen-ai/BL (in general) I've read in my life.

Last edited by neonkitty at 10:24 am, Aug 18 2012

Otona no Mondai is a good place to start. It is told from the point of view of a college student, who has to deal with the fact that his divorced gay father is about to "adopt" his lover, a man about his own age. As I recall, since it's more about the hetero son, there isn't really anything that should make your friend uncomfortable. It's more about the straight son learning to accept his father's relationship.

Banana Bread no Pudding - not BL, an older shoujo, about a girl who thinks that she should marry a gay man because, well, she's basically crazy. While the main story is about the girl, the gay secondary characters are important in the plot as they deal with being in the closet.

These are shounen-ai:
Shibuya de Aimashou is pretty funny
Gohou Drug - supernatural
From Dusk till Dawn - supernatural, this might be a bit too dark
Voice or Noise - talking to animals
Gravitation - this is the most graphic of the list, but the sex scenes are few, and the story is at least as much about the band and Shuichi's crazy antics as it is about the love story. Maybe try the anime first.
May I Tell You - a oneshot about a friendship that has the potential to be something more.
Seconding Silver Diamond - elegantly-drawn fantasy

Yaoi, but not too much sex:
Sorenari ni Shinken nandesu. - a straight man who has been raising his (too adorable!) daughter alone accepts help from a gay patron who is always hitting on him.
Hachimitsu Darling - this is just adorable, a young man who was trying to take care of his sick cat goes to work for a vet, and finds himself starting to fall for him. No sex until the very end.
Jinsei wa Barairo Da - funny, a man pays off his debt with kisses
Kiraboshi Dial

I'm recommending these as non-scary introductions to BL, with the acknowledgement that BL is not exactly the most effective way to learn about real gay men.

Cello Mellow its very cute and good art. Its a good one since its not about sexual desires and what not

Sentimental Garden Lover
Furueru Yoru no Himitsugoto
Super Lovers(Highly Recommended)

Konbini-kun is perfect. It addresses homophobia, first time falling in love with the same gender, etc. For a first time shounen-ai reader, I would suggest only reading up to chapter 4, which functions as the end to the shounen-ai part of the story, with chapter 5 being yaoi. It is kissing only until chapter 5, with lots of emotional turmoil over having a gay crush.

Shinkuu Yuusetsu is also a nice starter manga. It only deals with kissing, nothing more. The relationships are lifelong pairings based on the science of the manga. It can be a little confusing in the beginning, but it is really sweet and is mostly about getting along and making friends.

Lucky Number 13 is also really great, but the scanlations aren't finished so there is no telling if it will be more explicit in the future. It is a comedy which only has a few kisses, and is super adorable (as are most manga by Yamamoto Kotetsuko).

If I were her I would read the manga "ouran high school host club" (or watch the anime) for starters. It's not necessarily a shounen-ai but it does have a lot of bl scenes in it involving the twins hikaru and kaoru.

I was just like her once, not hating on gays (just wasn't very fond of them) , until I watched the anime on on demand when in episode 1 hikaru was getting closer to kaoru's face and I just started blushing! back then I didn't know what yaoi was and there I was like "I don't know what his is but I want to see more of it!!" And then the next thing I knew I became obsessed with yaoi and started to think better of gays saying they are not so bad after all.

They're no different from us with usual romances! Only better!!

And check out "gravitation" too!

Last edited by KireiOtaku at 9:22 am, Aug 14 2012

- Uragiri wa Boku no Namae o Shitteiru (Betrayal Knows My Name).
This series deals with the concepts of soul mates, reincarnation, and eternal love, and poses the question: What would happen if the woman was reincarnated as a male this time?
This is the series that got me into BL. I -inadvertently- exposed myself to the genre when I watched the anime adaptation and had no idea it was shounen-ai while watching it until later on in the series when the plot was more developed (and at that point I didn't care because I was wrapped up in the story). The shounen-ai themes are unoffensive and subtle. Plus, it's a fun shoujo series if you like fantasy, action, mystery and the supernatural.

- Koori no Mamono no Monogatari (The Ice-Cold Demon's Tale).
I *love* this series. It's by the same mangaka as Silver Diamond, but I like this one better. Shounen-ai relationships of characters are introduced almost immediately but the nature of their relationships are very innocent. The story is unimpressive at first but it gradually becomes more and more interesting [particularly for fantasy lovers]. This manga is really cute and it has an imaginative fantasy setting/plot that draws you in to their world.
Note: The scanlations of the first few volumes are of poor quality, unfortunately, but they get better later on and are beautiful now.

- Love Stage!!
Love Stage is a little on the naughty side of BL, but it's a straight-up comedy so it's fun to read. It's also a gender-bender. Your friend should avoid the extras between chapters if she reads this one, though, because those are more on the explicit side.


Edit: If she ends up enjoying BL and becomes interested in more explicit stuff, then I recommend Crimson Spell as a step up. It has a high fantasy setting with princes, wizards, magic, curses, and even an adorable magical animal sidekick. But definitely not something to start with, she'd be like

Last edited by drunkencupid at 5:20 pm, Aug 20 2012