Yeah, another seemingly impossible request from me 😀

But I have to say this first before you waste your time reading further - no yaoi, please! Yuri is okay as long as it isn't hentai, adult, ecchi or smut.

Like the title says - you know how most of the time it's really obvious that BL and GL are written for teenage girls to read (and fantasize about)? And in the case of GL that's actually rather surprising...I mean, isn't the target audience supposed to be guys?

So, I'm looking for BL and GL manga that have a little more grit. And by 'grit' I do not mean sex! Actually, most yaoi manga are just as girly as shounen-ai - the only difference is that they're really dirty where the shounen-ai ones are not 🤣

When I say 'grit' I mean;

• No (or almost no) blushing.

• In BL; no feminine (neither in looks nor personality-wise) guys. In GL, both the girls are at least a little tomboyish, and don't go bright red just looking at each other.

• No constant pondering over their relationship. You know, like how they go "Does s/he love me? Will we break up soon? Will s/he ditch me for another person?"
  A little bit of worry is okay, since that's natural, but this kind of emotional conflict should not take up more than 5-10% of the manga.

• Characters who do NOT think that losing their lover will be the end of the world / to whom there are other things that are just as (if not more than) important (job, hobby, education, family etc.)

Examples;
GL - Husky and Medley - This. Just this. If you like tomboy x tomboy GL, you must read it!
And Hatshepsut too. Really atypical manga, should definitely have been longer.

BL - Pretty much anything by Ishihara Satoru. Despite the perverted humour, I still love this mangaka's stories for the fact that all the guys behave exactly like guys. No spineless, weepy, shy ukes anywhere in sight!
An obvious one, but Kinou Nani Tabeta? What a pity such a nice series is no longer been scanlated! T_T
Acid Town (hopefully!)

Anyone?

Love My Life

[img]http://i39.tinypic.com/21l79eo.png[/img]

Love My Life was a very sensible GL, and much better than the mangaka's other works, imo.
Thanks for the suggestion!

I'm running out of BL and GL to read! So sad...

Quote from cyclamen

Yeah, another seemingly impossible request from me 😀

But I have to say this first before you waste your time reading further - no yaoi, please! Yuri is okay as long as it isn't hentai, adult, ecchi or smut.

Like the title says - you know how most of the time it's really obvious that BL and GL are written for teenage girls to read (and fantasize about)? And in the case of GL that's actually rather surprising...I mean, isn't the target audience supposed to be guys?

So, I'm looking for BL and GL manga that have a little more grit. And by 'grit' I do not mean sex! Actually, most yaoi manga are just as girly as shounen-ai - the only difference is that they're really dirty where the shounen-ai ones are not 🤣

When I say 'grit' I mean;

• No (or almost no) blushing.

• In BL; no feminine (neither in looks nor personality-wise) guys. In GL, both the girls are at least a little tomboyish, and don't go bright red just looking at each other.

• No constant pondering over their relationship. You know, like how they go "Does s/he love me? Will we break up soon? Will s/he ditch me for another person?"
  A little bit of worry is okay, since that's natural, but this kind of emotional conflict should not take up more than 5-10% of the manga.

• Characters who do NOT think that losing their lover will be the end of the world / to whom there are other things that are just as (if not more than) important (job, hobby, education, family etc.)

Examples;
GL - Husky and Medley - This. Just this. If you like tomboy x tomboy GL, you must read it!
And Hatshepsut too. Really atypical manga, should definitely have been longer.

BL - An obvious one, but Kinou Nani Tabeta? What a pity such a nice series is no longer been scanlated! T_T
Acid Town (hopefully!)

Anyone?

Finding BL/ yaoi without girly-ness, blushing is difficult, since, well, it is a subgenre in the shojo and josei categories. Heads up, don't use the term shonen-ai, well, in Japan at least... well.

Well, GL (yuri) is a different story since yuri is more a more "catch-all" genre (anything depicting lesbian releationships, either for straight men and women or real lesbians)

KIMINO Sakurako's "Strawberry Panic" and Kashimashi - Girl Meets Girl are nice ones for male audiences, funny and chaste.

“𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝓇𝑜𝓈𝑒'𝓈 𝓇𝒶𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝑒𝓈𝓈𝑒𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝓁𝒾𝓋𝑒𝓈 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓇𝓃𝓈.” ― 𝑀𝒶𝓌𝓁𝒶𝓃𝒶 𝒥𝒶𝓁𝒶𝓁-𝒶𝓁-𝒟𝒾𝓃 𝑅𝓊𝓂𝒾.
あたしは腐女子です。少女漫画、たくさん読んでください。

For BL I'd suggest these:

Let Dai
The Mysterious Stories of Ghost Moon Tower
Litchi Hikari Club
Otona no Mondai

Quote from Alexander92

For BL I'd suggest these:

Let Dai
The Mysterious Stories of Ghost Moon Tower
Litchi Hikari Club
Otona no Mondai

Usamaru Furuya's Litchi Hikari Club is more, well, it much more seinen, so I think it doesn't count as BL, since BL is a womens' genre... but, I mean, it DOES have themes though.

“𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝓇𝑜𝓈𝑒'𝓈 𝓇𝒶𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝑒𝓈𝓈𝑒𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝓁𝒾𝓋𝑒𝓈 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓇𝓃𝓈.” ― 𝑀𝒶𝓌𝓁𝒶𝓃𝒶 𝒥𝒶𝓁𝒶𝓁-𝒶𝓁-𝒟𝒾𝓃 𝑅𝓊𝓂𝒾.
あたしは腐女子です。少女漫画、たくさん読んでください。

Quote from Bunny-chan

Usamaru Furuya's Litchi Hikari Club is more, well, it much more seinen, so I think it doesn't count as BL, since BL is a womens' genre... but, I mean, it DOES have themes though.

Yeah, I know. Technically I don't think Otona no mondai is really BL either. But they do have gay themes so I figured the OP would be okay with it. They wanted something more adult, after all...

Quote from Alexander92

Quote from Bunny-chan

Usamaru Furuya's Litchi Hikari Club is more, well, it much more seinen, so I think it doesn't count as BL, since BL is a womens' genre... but, I mean, it DOES have themes though.

Yeah, I know. Technically I don't think Otona no mondai is really BL either. But they do have gay themes so I figured the OP would be okay with it. They wanted something more adult, after all...

Otona no Mondai is BL though, by the way it looks and the magazine serialization. Haha.

“𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝓇𝑜𝓈𝑒'𝓈 𝓇𝒶𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝑒𝓈𝓈𝑒𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝓁𝒾𝓋𝑒𝓈 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓇𝓃𝓈.” ― 𝑀𝒶𝓌𝓁𝒶𝓃𝒶 𝒥𝒶𝓁𝒶𝓁-𝒶𝓁-𝒟𝒾𝓃 𝑅𝓊𝓂𝒾.
あたしは腐女子です。少女漫画、たくさん読んでください。

Quote from Bunny-chan

Otona no Mondai is BL though, by the way it looks and the magazine serialization. Haha.

Technically yes, but it's really not about that. The main character is a straight guy with no interest in guys. It about his awkard friendship with his gay fathers lover aka his step father. It's not romantic or anything; it's just about a normal guy dealing with the fact that his father is dating a man.

First thing I thought of when I read your request is Gunjou, definitely an atypical yuri manga to say the very least. Very gritty.

Dounika Naru Hibi
Seijou Kouchakan no Jijou
Banana Fish
Tie Breaker
Honey & Honey

Not all of these totally hit the bill but all of them distinguish themselves from typical girly BL/GL in a way

The problem with Litchi Hikari Club is that the guro, rape, masturbation etc. category tags are rather disturbing. I guess I should leave it for later when I'm able to stomach stronger stuff (whenever that may be ^^)

Actually, Let Dai is still sorta girly despite dealing with some serious topics. It's an okay manhwa, but not exactly what I had in mind.

Dounika Naru Hibi's cover is putting me off. It's sorta...oh, I dunno...unpleasant? I'm not a huge fan of the whole 'tying up' deal.

The thing about Gunjou (and the reason I didn't mention it in my examples) is that it isn't actually a female x female romance (since the blonde woman's feelings are unrequited, even though they do have sex on occasion). It's the best yuri I've read so far; but once again, not what I'm looking for here.

All of the other titles look good. Thank you everyone for the suggestions, and more is always welcome!

Bump...

Stuff by YURA Tamaki, but it can get really "homosexual"...

“𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝓇𝑜𝓈𝑒'𝓈 𝓇𝒶𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝑒𝓈𝓈𝑒𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝓁𝒾𝓋𝑒𝓈 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓇𝓃𝓈.” ― 𝑀𝒶𝓌𝓁𝒶𝓃𝒶 𝒥𝒶𝓁𝒶𝓁-𝒶𝓁-𝒟𝒾𝓃 𝑅𝓊𝓂𝒾.
あたしは腐女子です。少女漫画、たくさん読んでください。

Can't believe I forgot to mention Nemureru Mori no Binan. It's sort of dull, though.

I think I'll stay away from Yura Tamaki...Adult + yaoi?! Shudders at the thought of what she might see in there
But thanks anyway.

I'll try out Nemureru, thank you!