Wow, Konohanatei Kitan is ultra, super, mega cute! The fox-girls are just adorable 🙂
Thanks for the rec!

Ishihara Satoru's manga are great. The best thing is how there aren't any shy, blushing, girly guys to be found anywhere in them!
And while I normally loathe sexually-suggestive comedy, Yarouze! was just so hilarious I was too busy laughing to feel disgusted! 🤣 Once you get past the silly jokes, the story itself is pretty good. I'm a big fan of bad boy-becomes-good boy stories (they're much less common than the good boy-to-bad boy ones), so I loved Fuwa's character development.

But I don't like yaoi either, and only 3 of her shounen-ai series have been scanlated. What a pity! 🙁

I read Zantei Koibito just now. Office-worker BL manga are usually pretty bland, but this was a load of fun. Sakamoto has gotta be the bossiest uke ever!

Just read something that I'm sure you'll like; Blue. Read it. It's really worth the time.

Btw - complete agreement on Yarouze! I loved that manga, it was so much fun!

And actually, there are five of Ms. Satoru's non-yaoi that've been scanlated. If you haven't read them all, you really should, 'cause they're much nicer than what you normally see in the BL medium.

Blue was good. The ending was the best part. I really do wish someone would write a shounen-ai like that! (You said the same thing in your comment, right?)
Thanks for the rec!

Quote from calstine

And actually, there are five of Ms. Satoru's non-yaoi that've been scanlated. If you haven't read them all, you really should, 'cause they're much nicer than what you normally see in the BL medium.

Oh - I've read all of them 🙂 I just don't see Watashi no Kakurega e Douzo and So wa Reirei no yuki ni mai as BL, which is why I said three. Kimi Shiruya is probably the weakest out of the lot, don't you think? Not that I didn't like it - but it could definitely use a few changes. I liked the kendo part, but the whole triangle thing with the little brother was dumb. I hate love polygons! =_=

Now that I think about it, isn't Golden Days a little like Blue in that the unrequited love actually remains unrequited? Whether it fits or not, you definitely have to read that one! It's quite lovely 🙂

But to stay on topic - this isn't a GL, but have you tried Satou Kashi no Dangan wa Uchinukenai? It was marked as shoujo-ai (until I removed the tag) - probably because the relationship between the two girls is the most important one. Anyway, the story is surprisingly dark considering how light-hearted it initially appears to be. I think you ought to read it.
I wish the scans would come out faster, though 😐

Quote from cyclamen

I liked the kendo part, but the whole triangle thing with the little brother was dumb. I hate love polygons! =_=

Amen to that, sister! I don't like them either, 'cause they're melodramatic, unrealistic and annoying >:-( It's true that Kimi Shiruya is definitely not Ishihara Satoru's best, but there's one redeeming quality to that love triangle - how Tsurugi and his little brother managed to be rivals without pissing me off at all. That's definitely a first! 🤣

Golden Days is the sweetest BL I've ever read! It's right up there on my list of favourites together with Koori no Mamono no Monogatari.

A Lollipop or a Bullet is a nice manga, and I agree with you that it isn't GL. The tragedy tag worries me though. Could it be that that nasty abusive father does something to Umino? I hope not! She's a weird girl but I'm rather fond of her.

It was you who rec'ced it to me (but you said you don't want to read it because it's yuri) - I just read Gunjou. You know, it's really not bad. There is a bit of sex (both het and lesbian), but it isn't meant to be gratuitous. I rather like the twisted psychological aspect of the characters. If you're feeling up for it, give it a shot. I don't think you'll regret it.

Actually, I started on Gunjou just yesterday, before I read your post! Weird coincidence... 😛
I get what you mean when you say it's not porn. In fact, it's pretty much like any other 'mature' seinen manga. I'm planning to keep on reading 'cause the story is well-written enough that I can't guess the ending, which is more than can be said of most GL manga!

About ALoaB -

I saw a post on the Mangafox forums which said that Umino does, in fact meet a tragic fate at her father's hands.

But I don't know how reliable this info is, so don't quote me, okay?

Moonlight Flowers, Love Vibes, Husky and Medley, Otome Cake, Shibuya District, Maruyama Neighborhood: After School, Sugar wa Otoshigoro...
That's all I can think of for now... They are all stories with a bit of a more serious tone, I usually avoid anything... how should I say... too girly? And I think I'm the only yuri fan that dislikes Morinaga Milk and her works.
Edit - Sorry I didn't understand your request. So you're looking for a manga with GL as a secondary plot... Maybe you should try Yamaji Ebine's works. In Free Soul it's more about a girl's struggle to deal with her mother and to create her manga and character Angie. In Indigo Blue it's about sexual identity and confusion. Also I think Aido may interest you.

Man, I hate Morinaga Milk! Almost as much as I hate Morishima Akiko. Just not quite as much.

@Kohai -

Wow, thanks for your recs! The titles you suggested (both before and after understanding my request ^^) look interesting. Well, except Aido. I don't read manga with the 'adult' tag on them - they have way too much sex and I can't handle that.

Morinaga Milk tries too hard to make her stories and characters cutesy - and as a result they become pretty annoying. I don't hate her manga, but she has a long way to go before she can write something like Sasameki Koto or Pieta.

Moonlight Flowers was nice. Better than Claudine, which had a very good story but ruined it with that silly melodramatic ending. I don't approve of people who kill themselves over something as dumb as a failed romance 🤨

Indigo Blue was...how should I put it? A little too realistic, perhaps? In the end, I don't even know whether Natsu really was in love with that editor or not. And while I didn't expect a perfect resolution to their relationship, it could maybe do with another volume to develop on their feelings a bit. It ended up being a tad shallow; a little too physical and not enough emotional...you know what I mean?

Husky and Medley is the first and only male oriented (non-josei) yuri I've read. It was really rather perverted, but also just a bit fun. I didn't regret reading it, anyway.

You know, Girl Friends isn't all that bad. It suffers a little from the 'waaay-too-cute' syndrome, but I'm thankful that the mangaka doesn't try to make all of her characters lesbians. (Yeah, Strawberry Shake - I am so looking at you!) 🙂

I liked Indigo Blue, but I also thought that it was perhaps a bit too inclined towards sex. And no matter what she says, I refuse to believe that Rutsu is a lesbian! She's obviously bisexual, even though she prefers women.
Free Soul I have yet to try. Moonlight Flowers is extremely feminist (ah, the 80s!), but if you forget that, it was nice. And yeah, calstine - I didn't like the ending of Claudine either. Typical shoujo melodrama; "If I can't have the love of my life, I'd rather die!" Pfffftt!

Husky and Medley was a bit too perverted for me, especially from chapter 4 onwards. I stopped at chapter 6, but really, it wasn't bad. And it's a very boyish GL that makes a nice contrast to the usual girly, blushy, angsty shoujo-ai stuff.

Otome Cake was very nice, especially Tiger Lily. That was one heck of a lovely one-shot!
Shibuya District wasn't all that enjoyable, mostly because all the angsty "running away from home and taking refuge in the red-light district" bit didn't quite cut it for me. The art was really something, though.

I like Strawberry Shake, but of course it's a yuri-lovers' paradise that is as far from reality as anything can possible to get. But oh man...Zlay! Is it just me, or were they totally awesome?!

I just read something now which I think qualifies as yuri with a plot - Renai Idenshi XX. (It's currently on hiatus, though) But the really interesting thing is that this is a rare occasion where a BL mangaka (in this case, a duo) is writing GL. But you can still see some hints of their past histories as BL authors/ artists. Read and you'll see what I mean 😉

I love Tiger Lily too. I don't know why, but it sort of reminded me of Golden Days...

And yes, Zlay is awesome. Do you remember that concert? "Well then, who am I supposed to kiss?"
"I think you're starting to lose sight of the original objective here" LOL priceless! 🤣

Oh - and as to your theory about Rutsu being bisexual; I sort of agree, but since I've never known anyone who is lesbian or bi, I can't say it with absolute certainty.

Renai Idenshi has an interesting but slightly typical start. I'm not the hugest fan of single-gender societies, but this one isn't so bad. (All-female makes more sense than all-male anyway)
I suppose when you said there are signs that the mangaka usually write BL, you must mean that most of the Adams look like boys? But for me, that's the best thing about this manga - I mean, I've seen girly girl x girly girl GL pretty often, but this is the first time I've seen a tomboy x tomboy one! (Can you tell I totally love tomboys?)
But the ones I really don't like are the girly girl x tomboy ones. I mean, is it totally masquerading as straight romance or what? Sadly, that's the most common type >:-(

The concert bit in SS was fun! Imagine your first kiss being on-stage (and on the front cover of the newspaper to boot)! Another scenario only a yuri paradise could have! Normally, that kind of thing would mean a terrible scandal and they'd lose their jobs as idols / models. But I guess the total lack of realism is what makes Strawberry Shake so enjoyable.

Surprisingly enough, the tomboy / tomboy romance is what made me want to read RI XX too! I'm not too fond of the feminine girl / masculine girl stuff myself, but I find them slightly more bearable compared to feminine male / masculine male BL. Ugh! 🤢

I'm not the hugest fan of single-gender societies, but this one isn't so bad. (All-female makes more sense than all-male anyway)

Me neither. It makes the GL / BL feel forced and seem more like an act of desperation than one borne from genuine feelings. But if I'm gonna read a story about a mono-gender world, I'd opt for all-female too, 'cause M preg = sheer grossness and impracticability <_< (Which is why I still haven't managed to convince myself to read Marginal, despite knowing that it has an excellent plot...)

But if I'm gonna read a story about a mono-gender world, I'd opt for all-female too, 'cause M preg = sheer grossness and impracticability <_< (Which is why I still haven't managed to convince myself to read Marginal, despite knowing that it has an excellent plot...)

Yeah, male pregnancy is seriously sick. But I still like Marginal (nowhere near as much as A Cruel god Reigns, though). You really should read it. The pedophilia and the behaviour of some of those guys is sorta...bleergh, but the story is interesting and I can't predict how things will end, so it's all good.

You know, I just found a few fitting titles myself; Tetragrammaton Labyrinth, Epitaph, Aoishiro and Venus Versus Virus. I'm surprised you haven't read them!