#now bl manga on the other hand...

[metalandmagi]

Romance Anime Starter List

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m sick and tired of seeing “Top ___ Best Anime of All Time” lists that are nothing but shounen. So, with "My Happy Marriage" getting a little attention from the anime community, I wanted to put together a list of some romance anime that I consider good “starters” for the genre. Because if I were just now becoming an anime fan, I’d think all there was to offer was shounen action series.

And by “starters” I mean basic stuff that’s not too…out there, and actually involves the characters getting together instead of just harems or using romance as a side plot (sorry Ouran High School Host Club and My Next Life as a Villainess). 

So if you’re new to anime and want stuff that’s not just guys beating the shit out of each other (which is also fun, don’t get me wrong), here are some basics.

Taisho Maiden Fairy Tale- When the pessimistic Tamahiko Shima loses all function in his right arm, his family sends him away to live in the mountains with the cheerful, hard working Yuzuki Tachibana…who was purchased by the Shima family to pay off her family’s debts and basically act as a caretaker/future bride for Tamahiko so they’d never have to deal with him again. It’s a more cheerful version of My Happy Marriage (without the supernatural stuff), except in this one, the guy is the one who has massive self-esteem issues and an abusive family. There are still very serious themes, but ultimately it’s not meant to make you cry every episode. I swear it’s so good, but nobody watched it!

Horimiya- A slice of life in which pretty and popular high school queen bee Hori, finds out her quiet, unassuming classmate Miyamura is hiding piercings and tattoos that could get him expelled. The two gradually find out more about each other and get together in the most realistic way I’ve seen depicted in an anime. It’s also fucking hysterical and genuinely emotional.

Recovery of an MMO Junkie- Another slice of life that focuses on two adults who meet in an MMO game without realizing they also know each other in real life. I don’t want to say much more than that. It’s adorable, and the main character is so relatable it hurts.

Love with Yamada-kun at Level 999- Speaking of MMOs, this is a newer series about Akane Kinoshita, a college first year who’s reeling from a bad break up. In an attempt to get back at her ex, she winds up meeting Akito Yamada, a popular gamer who happens to be in her guild in the MMO they both play at an IRL meetup. The two go from acquaintances to something more as they keep running into each other. Even more relatable main characters and just wholesome relationships all around.

Snow White With The Red Hair- A fantasy in which an apothecary named Shirayuki (meaning, you guessed it, “snow white”) runs away from her home in order to escape becoming the concubine of her town’s prince. While fleeing, she is rescued by Zen, the prince of a neighboring country, and she ends up becoming an herbalist to repay him. It's super cute with some genuinely swoon worthy moments and a couple that just works so well together. I have a habit of comparing this to Akatsuki no Yona, even though the two aren’t really that alike. This is more romance driven while Akatsuki no Yona is more of a serious historical fantasy with romance elements (Yona manga is amazing, but the anime barely scratches the surface, so that’s why I didn’t include it).

Sasaki to Miyano- When the shy, easily flustered Miyano meets Sasaki, a cool “delinquent” upperclassmen, the two end up bonding over manga…specifically BL manga. That’s right, Miyano is a fudanshi, but due to his small stature and somewhat feminine appearance, he’s constantly trying to convince others that he’s not interested in having his own love story where he’d be reduced to a stereotypical doe-eyed uke. But as Sasaki and Miyano spend more time together, they realize that what they have is more than friendship, and they have to come to terms with their own perception of gay relationships. This is my favorite romance of all time. It’s a slow burn, but boy is it worth it. Their relationship is so natural and realistic, just like Horimiya. Just two people hanging out and bonding over things the way people do in real life!

Given: The story of some boys in a band with trauma. Enough said. It's great. Go watch it.

Bloom Into You- Yuu Koito is a high school girl who’s been waiting her whole life for her own perfect romance to start…but when she receives a confession, she realizes she doesn’t know how to respond when she’s just not into the guy. And then she gets another confession…this time from the cool student council president Touko Nanami, who basically jumpstarts her lesbian awakening. Very cute story about how we perceive the concept of love vs actually feeling it. Also has a canonically aro/ace side character, so that’s a win for me. Another show like this is Adachi to Shimamura (but I honestly don’t remember much about it. It just didn’t stick with me as much).

Ore Monogatari- Takeo Gouda is a tall, bulky high school first year with a sensitive heart of gold. He wants nothing more than to find his own true love, but most girls are intimidated by his enormous stature, and they end up falling for his conventionally attractive friend instead. That is, until he meets the tiny, adorable Rinko Yamato. He falls in love instantly, but he’s sure she’s interested in his best friend like everyone else, so he vows to help get them together, even though his heart is breaking. Peak himbo behavior. Pure of heart, dumb of ass.

Yuri on Ice- Yes it’s the gay figure skating anime everyone knows. And yes it’s a fucking romance, okay? I will die on this hill. The romance between Viktor and Yuri is just as important as the plot!

Kaguya-sama Love Is War- Two insanely smart high school students both have a crush on the other, but since they’re…you know…high schoolers, neither of them wants to admit it first. So they come up with increasingly convoluted plans to get the other to confess first. This will go down as one of the best of all time. It’s a hilarious yet poignant modern classic.

Fruits Basket- I’ve talked about it before and I’ll talk about it again. A romance “comedy” that slowly morphs into a drama about a girl named Tohru who finds herself living with the mysterious Sohma family after her mother dies. Little does she know, the Sohmas are the victims of a  (somewhat silly, but ultimately tragic) curse that she must fight to break. Even though I’m more into it for the family drama, the romance is still top tier and plays an important role in the story. This is my second favorite anime of all time, and it’s a classic for a reason. If anyone hasn’t watched it yet, GO WATCH IT! IT WILL RIP YOU TO SHREDS!

Blue Box- A sports romance about an aspiring badminton player named Taiki Inomata who has a massive crush on the girls basketball team's star player Chinatsu Kano. Through a twist of fate, the two end up living together and having to hide it from the rest of their classmates, all while Taiki tries to work up the courage to ask Chinatsu out. It's so sweet and wholesome, and it's a great blend of sports anime and romance that can appeal to anyone who is more hesitant to get into the romance genre. The animation is also so freaking gorgeous!!!!

365 Days To The Wedding- A workplace romance between the two most awkward people you could possibly imagine! The story takes place at a travel company that is about to open a new branch in Alaska, but because our two main characters are...like I said...very awkward, they come up with a plan to avoid being sent to work at the new branch...by telling their boss they're getting married. Because they wouldn't want to split up a married couple by making one move away, right? As ridiculous as the premise sounds, hilarious shenanigans ensue, but there's also a surprising amount of serious discussions about romance and marriage. The main characters also have major autism coding, so if you're looking for a neurodivergent romance, this is it. (There's also an episode that involves a princess wanting to give up the throne to pursue a life with her girlfriend!)

And now for some honorable mentions that didn't quite fit into the regular list:

Ride Your Wave- A movie about a surfer who falls in love with a firefighter……and I’m not going to say any more than that. Go into it blind. If you like stuff like Your Name, this is a good one to watch.

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun- A comedy about a high school girl who finds out the upperclassman she has a crush on is actually a shoujo manga artist, and no matter how she tries to confess to him, he just never gets it.

The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague- A slow burn slice of life that focuses on a guy with ice powers who has a crush on his coworker. That’s it. That’s the show. When I say slow, I mean SLOW. It’s perfectly cute and fluffy, but my god does it take forever to get anywhere with these two.

Skip to Loafer- A high strung, small town girl decides to go to high school in Tokyo, where she meets a variety of classmates, including the laid back Sousuke Shima. The unlikely pair become friends, and soon enough, she starts to feel something more than friendship. The only reason I didn’t include it in the main list is because they don’t get together by the end of the first season, but it’s still really cute (also canonically trans character for the win!?)

So that’s my starter list. And no, I didn’t include Toradora, even though it’s a classic. I know it’s blasphemous, but I like it more as a comedy than a romance. It kinda lost me with the ending. But anyway, maybe someone will find something they like. Or maybe you'll just want to roast me and my picks 😅

[leatherbookmark]

picked up my given books, started reading vol5 then took a break to flick through the other volumes and man it is with the HEAVIEST heart that i must announce i kinda hate the style change

[amazinglyashy]

Hi , I love your LADs works it fits the would be characters reactions according to their personality and I look forward to your work. Can I request a LADs men reaction to reader reading smut manga or BL smut , only if your comfortable with it. Thank you and All the best for your future endeavours 🥰

I have a tab I'm going through right now of a bunch of josei manga and then I open tumblr to this ask LMAO I feel personally attacked, so of course anon! Thank you for the sweet words, and for the request!

Love and Deepspace Li’s reactions to discovering you being an avid smut reader

Sylus -

He is such an evil person.

If he manages to find a physical copy that you own, he's going to read it and he's going to do it in his own time when he knows you'll be coming over soon. He times it just right where he'll be near the ending by the time you get there.

You walk in to him looking absolutely exquisite in reading glasses, a small smile on his lips as he leans back in his chair to ask you how your day has been- book in hand.

The embarrassment is real, even if you claim to not care about 'cringey' things and consuming them. Your love is sitting there with a smutty book in his hand and a knowing grin, and you can't help how hot your face is getting.

"You know, if you like something, you should just tell me, kitten."

Maybe he's referring to the contents of the book, maybe he's referring to your general enjoyment of the genre, you can't tell. He does mean both, though. He would buy you a library worth of smutty books if it made you happy, and he would get all the needed supplies to commit the same acts the characters do for you the next time the two of you have a session.

"Did you really think I'd be upset by something like this, sweetie? You're cute. I'm glad you found something you enjoy. In the future though, don't keep secrets from me. I want to know about you. Everything, about you."

Rafayel -

He will come up behind you to ask you something, and realize that you can't hear him due to being engrossed or having headphones in. He doesn't mean to snoop, but your screen is on display for him, and you don't know he's there.

Oh, he's so happy he decided to try and ask you something.

By the time you realize he's behind you, it's too late, and attempting to shut off your phone proves unsuccessful because he's already giggling.

"How much did you see?!"

"Not much."

"Liar!"

And you're right, because after a moment of silence, he will proceed to recite the last page you had been reading, ducking out of the way as you jump up, your face reddening, as you chase him around the room.

He doesn't care in the slightest. In fact, he will absolutely surprise you with shipping merch from whatever it is you've been reading, and remind you when new chapters are about to drop in case you forget due to stress at work.

Rafayel will also ask you how certain characters are doing, or how certain relationships are coming along. If you enjoyed watching soap operas, he's absolutely the one to watch over your shoulder and ask you questions to catch up.

He still makes rude quips here and there, but you know he doesn't mean anything by it, and the involvement is strangely comforting.

Zayne -

He's known for a long time. Benefits of knowing you when the two of you were younger, he has a pretty good read on the things you might or might not enjoy without needing an explicit answer.

That, and you left a doujinshi on his coffee table once after you used his spare key to break into his home to clean and surprise him with dinner after you had gotten off of work surprisingly early.

No, he won't let you live it down.

He will find a way to calmly bring it up in the most absurd and unnecessary situations. It's his own little running joke that makes you so adorably frustrated, he can't help but continue it.

He'll find other ways to tease you about it, much like how you occasionally tease him over his sweet tooth despite you loving snacks just as much as he does.

Sometimes though, he likes to throw you through a little bit of a loop.

"But also, if there is any content in what you've been reading that you believe you would enjoy, please don't hesitate to let me know."

"I enjoy all of it, that's why I read it, Zayne."

"I assume you misunderstood me, so allow me to restructure my sentence. If there's anything in what you've been reading that you would like done to you, I would like to know. I would love to do those things to you, whatever they might be."

Xavier -

He has purchased you some of these books and ebooks.

Probably the Li that would know the soonest out of all four of them aside from Zayne, just because he kind of just... assumed, much to your own mortification when he told you this fact months ago.

He doesn't give a crap though, it's something you like. He doesn't see any difference between it and the claw machines, even though there is an extremely stark contrast between the two. He used to see no point to the claw machine games you'd love to play, but quickly saw the appeal when he got to play with you.

Maybe he can't share your enjoyment for this, but he does love sitting in the same room as you, reading together even if the two books being consumed are vastly different in content.

He just enjoys your company, it really doesn't matter to him what you both do, or in this case, enjoy during that time.

He thinks its really cute and endearing, especially if you reach a point in whatever you're reading that gets you squealing out loud. Because not only is it absolutely adorable to hear, it's also nice because he knows it means you're comfortable enough to react out loud to your reading, even if it's a rare occurrence.

It's nice to know you're relaxed around him, in every capacity.

[antsday]

in the palm of your hand

[i was re-reading @habken's incredible scammers to lovers au and wrote this short fic. I really love their work and couldn't help myself lmaoo. anyways i hope you all enjoy!!!]

-

“Hi! Can I help you with- oh,” says the angel from the IT department, spinny chair swiveling to a stop. “It’s you again.”

The first week Katsuki had come in, Deku had been relatively understanding and chipper- bright and sunny and shit. More personal than the strained smile and forced cheer that most customer service workers spoke with- of course I’ll fix your laptop, no problem, just leave it to me. 

Now, about three weeks later he looks at Katsuki like he’s just bitten into a lemon. As in, like Katsuki had come into the IT department, looked Deku in the eye, bit into a lemon, and then made a puckered up face and writhed in discomfort and then showed up with another lemon the next day, rinse and repeat for nearly a month. A complicated mix of intrigue and confusion and mild horror at this endless display of masochism.

Which is fair; there really is no other way to look at a top ten Pro Hero who repeatedly comes in to have his laptop fixed and won’t admit under penalty of death that it was because he clicked a pop-up in hopes of having a proper conversation with a dreamy IT guy. Not that Dreamy IT guy in question knows about all of that, but whatever. If Katsuki was in Deku’s position, he would also be worried about the fact that the safety and integrity of the public was left in the hands of guys who can’t stop getting scammed by obvious pop-up ads. 

“Your laptop’s broken again?” Deku says incredulously, as if reading Katsuki’s mind. His voice is really nice, even when he sounds confused as shit. Smooth and soft like- like a satin pillowcase. Or something. Whatever. It’s not like they pay him to be good with words. 

Then again, it’s not like they pay him to (unsuccessfully) flirt with the guy he’s normally supposed to see once a month max, but here he was. 

“Yeah,” says Katsuki, like he said two days ago, and then three days before that, and for the past month. It’s easier to say than I got a pop-up ad for a BL manga and I am ninety percent sure the twink on the cover was just a recolor of Sasuke Uchiha and I clicked it because I’m a fucking dumbass and I needed an excuse to keep coming in here and gazing into your dreamy-ass eyes. If you even care. 

He’s surprised Deku’s even asking. He’s been consistently coming in here for exactly the same reason: his laptop ‘mysteriously’ got a virus and now he needs it fixed. He’ll be back to pick it up soon, no, he’s not getting a new laptop, no, he’s not sure what happened, no, he’s not going to install some fancy-ass ad-blocker because he doesn’t want to (and it would get rid of his excuse), and Deku’s never asked this but yes, he would love to go get dinner sometime, he’s free today and tomorrow and the day after that and the rest of his life, forever, actually- 

“...Did you,” Deku begins, like he’s searching for the right words. “Uh. Do you have any idea what could have happened? Any idea at all?” 

I gazed into the dead-eyed stare of poorly-recolored Sasuke’s green eyes and thought of you because your eyes are also green, and less unnerving to look at, and the more I thought about that the more my mouse moved away from the ‘x’ button and the next thing I know, I have a virus and my desire to carnally hold your hand has overpowered any other logical thought. That’s what happened. 

“No,” Katsuki says belatedly. “Fuck. Look, can you fix it or not?” 

“Of course,” says Deku. He’s still got that little furrow in his brow. Katsuki wants to bite at it like taffy- which, is a weird fucking thing to think, scratch that- “Just- give it over, and I’ll be sure to have it ready for you in a little while.”

“Cool.” He holds out his laptop. It’s reminiscent of when he was four and showing off the cool rhinoceros beetle he caught to his mom. He’s internally beaming with pride at his success so far, and Deku’s got that same baffled, borderline horrified expression that his mom did. 

Although, that particular interaction ended with the thing flying out of his hands and into his mom’s cardigan and with him getting yelled at, so, maybe it’s not the ideal scenario to compare this to.

 But this encounter will end differently. He’s got a grip on the rhinoceros beetle, now. He just has to play his cards right. 

“So,” he says, shoving his hands into the pockets of his slacks so Deku won’t see how fucking sweaty they are. “You’ll have it ready by lunch tomorrow?” 

Deku takes the laptop and tilts his head. “Uh. Yeah, I will. In fact, I can get it to you earlier than that-”

“I’ll be busy for the rest of the day,” Katsuki lies. All his incident reports are done, and he’s got the night shift on patrol tomorrow. “You’re done by 2 tomorrow, right?”

“...Yes?”

“Great. Look, I have to stop at that fucking- crepe place, down the street, right,” he says, praying to every God there is that he looks cool and casual and not like a ‘Deranged Goblin Man’, as the Hero Times described him a few months ago. “So. When you get off work you should meet me there. At the crepe place. Tomorrow. At two pm.”

He doesn’t know what’s worse- the fact that he’s really doing this, being reduced to the same sort of emotional sap he would have made fun of only five years ago; or the fact that Present Mic’s lessons on subtlety and hidden meanings in text were actually good for something. 

Look at him, effortlessly weaving together words to create sentences with underlying motives. He’s like a modern-day Shakespeare. He’s golden. He’s killing it. Bakugou Katsuki, master of words. He’s on cloud-fucking-nine. He’s-

…aaaaand Deku isn’t responding. 

Deku blinks. He opens his mouth. Closes it. He sets the laptop down, staring up at Katsuki intently, and Katsuki starts to sweat. 

You are Bakugou Katsuki, he reminds himself. You might be down bad, but you’re not weak. It will not kill you if he rejects you. Well, it’ll kill you a little. But not that much. 

“At the crepe pla- to give you the laptop, right?” says Deku slowly. His face is turning bright red. Katsuki goes a little weak in the knees. 

“Sure, yeah,” Katsuki says half-heartedly. “Look, if you want, I could. I dunno. Fucking- buy you a crepe or something. As payment.” 

He’s so smooth. Eat your fucking heart out, Dunce Face. ‘Zero game’, his ass. 

“Sure,” Deku says, scratching the back of his neck, smile just a tad bit shy. His face is still mildly flushed. Katsuki swoons (and does his best to not let it show on his face). “I- uh. I’d like that. I guess.” 

“Cool,” says Katsuki. “Cool. Great. Okay, bye. Be there or else. Bye. See you.”

He turns on his heel and power walks out of the room, not once looking back, even when Pigtails nearly crashes into him or when Deku makes a noise suspiciously like he’s slamming his head against the desk. He walks out of the room, into the hallway, back to his own office.

The door slams shut behind him. He takes a deep breath. Squeezes his eyes shut. A breathlessly excited grin forces his way onto his face, and he pumps his fists, victorious. 

He's got a date.

part one/part two

[amphitriteswife]

Goo dating headcanons

💸 Dating goo can be a real roller coaster. A fun roller coaster that is. There could be problems here and there but in his eyes it’s nothing he can’t solve. Yes it is true that sometimes he prioritizes his job over you sometimes. But that’s because his job is very ‘demanding.’ But it pays well, so he hopes you understand.

💸 Fair dates, cinema dates, shopping spree, restaurants, coffee dates and karaoke dates. (Sometimes with jonggun tagging along even though he himself doesn’t want to and goo forced invited him to go) he can’t always make it, but he does make it up to you in one way or another. Always.

💸 if you go to a far date, expect him to scream and yell in every attraction you go to. Yes he’s afraid of heights. Too bad you didn’t know, you have to put with him now. Luckily he don’t throw up. Oh but he WILL try the claw machine’s and not win shit. He spent a lot of money on it too by the way. Bro might start crying. Or just sit on the ground or sum. You might even feel bad for dawg😔

💸 if you are the one to actually win a plushie and give it to him, bro will scream. He’ll immediately hug it and start thanking you. You bet he’s taking pictures of it and posting it on all his socials. Even sending it to groupchats and Jonggun himself with a caption of ‘look what my girlfriend got me hehe😝😈’ and yes he also sends it to you. He’s putting the plush on his bed or in a special shrine he made with gifts from you.

💸 personally, i think Goo also seems to be a best friend and boyfriend. He would want to be in love and love you if you get what i mean. Ofcourse his best friend is jonggun, but that’s different from how he loves you. A main thing that is important to him is understanding, you don’t need to accept. Just understanding for him is enough.

💸 If you date Goo, it’s high likely that you too are a fan of anime. He doesn’t really mind which type you are. Manga, manhwa, anime, donghua even BL or GL. He doesn’t really care which one you enjoy. He just likes the swords in em you know. He would probably talk for you about his favorites and you about yours. It could be that the two of you read/ watch together of that you made trades on watching each other’s faves. For him it feels like he can share a hobby with you which he appreciates.

💸 I can see you meeting Goo at a bookstore. Both of you at the Manga section eyeing the same manga. You having if in your hands first and Goo demanding that you give it to him with a serious gaze, however his face would twist in mild surprise when you do actually hand it to him. He would say he is joking but you would insist that he can take it, he would find your indifference and calm nature intriguing. He would stare at you for a while you pick at another manga and decide to buy that one instead. You didn’t bother arguing with him because you didn’t think you’ll see him again. Unfortunately, he kept showing up even when he saw you avoid him. Which eventually made him say. ‘Miss. Go on a date with me.’

💸 Goo likes to call you ‘sugar’ or ‘sweetheart.’ Because he thinks you’re lively, sweet, addictive and always lighten his heart. He feels as if he can say anything to you, no matter what it is. Sometimes he even wants to tell you everything about his job, but he knows he can’t because it’ll put you in danger and he can’t risk that. You mean too much to him to make you see the stuff he does.

💸 Now when it comes to you being Goo’s girlfriend. There are a lot of people you don’t know who are in Goo’s life. And he also doesn’t think it would be relevant for you to know all of them. He would probably introduce you to Jonggun who wonders why you haven’t left Goo yet. And maybe James who is rather aloof and is on pretty neutral terms with you. Its save to say that James likes you better than Goo. Jonggun on the other hand doesn’t necessarily engage with you, but does little things like asking you to look after Goo or keeping him on a leash.

💸 Goo would go to concerts with you. Even if he doesn’t listen to the same music as you. He’ll make sure he handles everything from tickets to seats to time stamps. He’s pretty laid back about it too, he has it handled but isn’t stern about it. He’ll buy you merch if that’s what you want, even going as far as to go buy it himself during the concert so that you can still enjoy seeing your artist(s). If it’s in another country he’ll ditch his work probably and still go with you anyway. If the concert has lightsticks you can be rest assured: he already bought those.

I’m sorry it’s short. I ran out ideas😭

[lemonidae]

Coming-of-age BL Manga

Koimonogatari by Tagura Tohru

When Yuiji accidentally overhears his classmate Yamato confessing to another friend that he's gay, his perspective shifts. Seeing Yamato in a new light, Yuiji does his best not to let prejudice color his view, but he still finds himself overthinking his classmates' interactions now. He especially notices the way Yamato looks at one particular boy: Yuiji's own best friend. Even though he tells himself he shouldn't get involved, Yuiji finds he just can't help it; watching Yamato's one-sided love draws him in a way he never expected. At first, it's empathy, knowing that the boy Yamato has his sights on is definitely straight and has no idea. But as his own friendship with Yamato develops and the two of them grow closer through a mutual study group, Yuiji comes to truly care about Yamato as a person, regardless of his sexuality. He only wants Yamato to be happy, and to be able to express his true self.

Status: 2 Volumes (Ongoing)

Tagged: Drama, School Life, Slice of Life, Coming Out, Friendship, Insecurity, Unrequited Love, Romance

Kieta Hatsukoi by Hinekure Wataru

“Aoki, I didn’t know you thought about me that way.” Aoki has a crush on Hashimoto, the girl in the seat next to him in class. But he despairs when he borrows her eraser and sees she’s written the name of another boy—Ida—on it. To make matters more confusing, Ida sees Aoki holding that very eraser and thinks Aoki has a crush on him!

Status: 9 Volumes (Complete)

Tagged: Comedy, Romance, School Life, Bisexual, Misunderstanding, Romance

Hatsukoi Note by Amekiri

Shouya, a high school boy whose heart has never known romance, comes across an internet diary filled with wistful whispers of love toward the writer's same-sex crush. A photo posted to the page provides a hint as to the blog's owner: Tsubame, a fellow classmate known for being a lone wolf. Shouya realizes that his friend Ryuu is the object of the diary writer's affections, so he attempts to play matchmaker…but where will his own feelings take him in the process?

Status: 1 Volume (Complete)

Tagged: Drama, Romance, School Life, Yaoi, First Love, Misunderstanding

Smells Like Green Spirit by Nagai Saburou

Mishima, a student at a school in the countryside, is bullied by his classmates. The reason is because he's seemingly gay. In reality, Mishima does like guys so he doesn't resist their bullying, and instead, finds solace in secretly cross-dressing. One day on the rooftop, Mishima finds the lipstick he'd lost before in the hands of Kirino, one of the bullies… and Kirino was about to put on the lipstick that Mishima used on his own lips. This is the story of young boys looking for a place they can really be themselves…

Status: 2 Volumes (Complete)

Tagged: Drama, Psychological, School Life, Coming Out of the Closet, Countryside, Cross-dressing, Enemies to Friends

CW: Attempted Rape, Bullying, Homophobia

Doukyuusei by Nakamura Asumiko

Hikaru always thought his classmate Rihito was kind of a snob, until he stumbles across Rihito secretly practicing a song in an empty classroom. Hikaru agrees to become Rihito’s music tutor, and with each lesson the two boys grow closer. But when Hikaru realizes that he’s fallen for Rihito, will they stay classmates or become something more?

Status: 1 Volume (Complete) Has multiple sequels

Tagged: Drama, Romance, School Life, First Love, Opposites Attract

Blue Sky Complex by Ichikawa Kei

Narasaki only wanted a place where he could sit and read books in peace, but was blackmailed by his teacher into supervising a delinquent called Terashima while working at the school library. As they spend their days in silent but close proximity, they begin to feel drawn to each other. And then...

Status: 10 Volumes (Ongoing)

Tagged: Drama, Romance, School Life, First Love, Opposites Attract, Yaoi

Usagi no Mori by Enjo

Shunta and Tamaki are childhood friends with a year of difference, but Shunta feels something different towards his friend, an impure, not correct, dirty feeling. As this feeling grows stronger, will the relationship between the two friends also change ...?

Status: 3 Volumes (Ongoing)

Tagged: Drama, Romance, School Life, First Love, Childhood Friends, Psychological, Childhood Trauma, Yaoi

Monotone Blue by Nagabe

Hachi the cat finds most things monotonous, but at the top of his list is high school and all that comes with it. But when Aoi the lizard--a quiet, high-achieving transfer student--arrives, Hachi catches a glimpse of a brighter, more colorful life. If Hachi can help Aoi open up, unlocking new feelings in the process, maybe his life won't be so bland, after all.

Status: 1 Volume (Complete)

Tagged: Romance, School Life, Slice of Life, Anthropomorphism, Romance

This list on MB | more manga recommendations

last edited 19/dec/2024

Recommendations are always appreciated ^^

[absolutebl]

We've had recent disappointments with the endings to series. For me, Last Twilight, Only Friends, and 23.5 stand out. While I loved the Sign to the end, there was that unexplained Tharn getting his freedom from Chalothorn, which made the very ending not quite perfect. And while I loved Century of Love all the way through, I know some folks were disappointed at the ending.

What are some QLs that you consider to have really strong endings?

OOOO what a great question!

10 BLs With the Strongest Endings

Some BLs had better endings than the rest of the show deserved, and some were saved by the ending, while still others built up to a good ending throughout. So I suspect it kinda depends on ones definition of strong. But here are mine (you'll never guess what's at the top? but...) it's in no particular order

Seven Days - no but ACTUALLY think about it. That ending is truly phenomenal. It ties everything together, gives hope for their relationship without being cheesy AND is crazy romantic, plus it brings the narrative full circle. That ending shot, the direction, the plot, the characters, and the story ALL tied in a neat little bow. It ends by indicating that something is starting for them, something familiar it's just now they are together. Fabulous.

Light On Me - on the beach, the whole friendship group, the kiss that mirrors their couple habit of cheek squiging? Peak YA BL. It reminded me of Make it Right, and that's no bad thing... for me.

Our Dating Sim - domestic boyfriends and then the pan over to all their couple photos. So exactly them.

To My Star - yeah, the sex scene, but remember this was when we finally realized that JiWoo not only liked him all along but actually desired him all along. The tsundere character breaking open for us to see the soft underbelly. Suddenly, all of his behavior made sense in retrospect. They used the final ultra romantic sex scene as a CHARACTER REVEAL. Fucking genius.

Semantic Error - the BOYFRIENDS of it all, the harken back to both the anime and the manga (with that spank bank file), the teasing and then the breaking of the forth wall. It was multiple cheeky punches out to the audience in a tiny stinger of a scene. Not to mention it had a kind of BL "ending fairy" thing that connected to them both being idols. Perfectly executed.

Love For Love's Sake - back in beach territory but wow. I mean this show starts with an ending. And it takes a lot for me to believe in the happiness of a parable about death and self worth. They managed it with this show. But that ending was killer.

My Beautiful Man - the ending made me reassess everything about the show, the story, and the characters. The ending made me love the show. It changed my mind. It BLEW my mind. I might have kinda lost my mind. In real time.

Unknown - there were struggles with this show and not everyone enjoyed the ending but I totally flipping loved it. FINALLY. You can't tell me that "you don't even know what I dream of" line doens't live in your head rent free.

Unintentional Love Story - not the ending scene so much as the whole final episode, it's so good. It brings the story together, we get multiple big realizations, sad baby, learning that baby was abused too, defending baby, baby defending himself. RINGS!

The Eighth Sense - so much peak boyfriend after so much angst. The casual language play and teasing, the stealing of the drink, just everything, and also how very very college it all is.

10 Others I just LOVE

Be Loved In House: I Do - ultra pasteurized cheese fest

Laws of Attraction - THE CAPED WEDDING OUTFITS

About Youth - rainbow kiss cheese fest

Long Time No See - BLOOD COVERED KISSES

Restart After Come Back Home - the pan around lens flare kiss and everything it MEANS

Bad Buddy - It was so CLEVER

DNA Says Love You - the claiming and then the tussle at the cafe? Gorgeous. Adorable. No notes.

Oh! Boarding House - a family gathering while the dads are holding hands behind the couch, adorable

Where Your Eyes Linger - that damn glow up

Tinted With You - perhaps... poly?

Wow... so few Thai BL. I guess this is Korea's strength in the BL sphere? Also more Japan than I expected and outsized rep for Taiwan. (I actually could have stuck a few more from Taiwan on here but they just get SO CHEESY.)

(source)

dated mid August 2024, not responsible for great endings after that date

[duckprintspress]

National Library Week Shout-Outs!

I LOVE libraries – and this week, April 6 to 12, is National Library Week, so I’m here to shout-out my favorite libraries.

US-Nation-Wide Libraries: these are libraries that are available, via Libby, to anyone in the United States!

Queer Liberation Library: “Queer Liberation Library (QLL) is fighting to build a vibrant, flourishing queer future by connecting LGBTQ+ people with literature, information, and resources that celebrate the unique and empowering diversity of our community.” I love QLL, it’s so great and filling such a huge need. They’re one of the handful of organizations that Duck Prints Press donates to monthly.

The Japan Foundation Los Angeles Library: “The Japan Foundation, Los Angeles (JFLA) promotes international awareness and mutual understanding between Japan and the U.S. through cultural exchange. We administer a wide range of programs and grants aimed at introducing Japanese arts and culture, supporting Japanese Studies and language education, and promoting publications, translations related to Japan.” Fantastic if you’re studying Japanese or love Japanese culture. They have toooons of manga.

If anyone knows more nation-wide Libby libraries, please do tell, I’d love to find, join, and support more!

New York State Libraries: I live in New York, so the rest of my faves are local. I’m lucky to live in a state where many libraries allow all state residents access at no cost.

Schenectady County Public Library: My local library system! Also accessible to people throughout the Capital Region (Montgomery, Fulton, Schoharie, Hamilton, Saratoga, Warren, Washington, Albany, and Rensselaer counties). I’m there multiple times a month, getting books for myself or my kids. All those queer YA graphic novels y’all see me reading in my weekly and monthly round-ups? Borrowed from the SCPL.

New York Public Library: I grew up going to my local branch of the NYPL in New York City. Now, I’m still able to access their collections, as can anyone who lives in New York State. They have a huge, amazing collection, and it’s absolutely worth the effort of getting a card if you’re able.

Brooklyn Public Library: I have been so so so impressed by their selection of queer books and graphic novels since I got a card for their Libby. The size of their collection is comparable to NYPL, and they’re also free throughout the state. Absolutely worth it. They also have very high loan and hold limits, and as a result of that and their huge collection of queer manga, they have become my most-used Libby library.

Buffalo and Erie County Public Library: My newest library! I haven’t gotten to use them much yet, but they have an interesting and varied collection that I’m looking forward to digging into once I get through some of the copious number of BL manga volumes I borrowed from BPL.

Other…

The Lilly Library: I have to shout out the Lilly, a rare book library at Indiana University at Bloomington. I studied library science at IU, and earned my MLS, and I took multiple classes at the Lilly and interned and worked at their conservation lab during my two years there. The professor who taught those classes now runs the library, so even though I haven’t been there for a long long time, I’m absolutely positive it’s still a wonderful place totally worth a visit if you get the chance. They’ll bring out any of their huge, varied collection that you ask to see, and they do regular exhibits of rare books from the collection.

What are your favorite libraries? Please do tell!

consider yourself tagged! reblog and tell me your favorite libraries, and I'll share those too!

[jinnaizaemon]

There it is, the Big Tsudoi Post!

I reordered by theme and translated claims that were originally compiled on this page. Said page was edited with time, some info reworded or removed, so I used the wayback machine to make it as exhaustive as possible. I've read more facts browsing boards, and I might add them to this list in the future. But this page is the most well-known, and the facts listed here are what comes up most often in discussion and fanworks.

What is tsudoi? It just means meet-up, and it refers to the fan gatherings with the author of Rakuran, Amako Soubee, which used to occur every 2 years. What's relevant here is the Q&A and discussions with the author that led to plot points, trivia, bits that she hadn't included in the story yet or can't include at all, being mentioned during those meets. None of these meet-ups were recorded, so all the info we know about them comes from word of mouth, forum messages, and blog reports. As such, these facts should be taken with a grain of salt, and while a lot of them turned up to be canon (either in the manga, anime, or musicals) in the long run, they are not canon. Consider them food for thought for possible development and lore for the characters if you want, or just context for discussion and fanworks you might encounter in the fandom. There haven't been any such meetings in a good decade, so you'll notice a lot of that info is obsolete or eventually became canon. Additionally, while there's a lot of overlap with the anime, these concern the manga.

Under the cut, you'll find my translation. The text in black is directly translated from the people who reported those facts, and I tried to offer context and additional information in blue text.

Ninjutsu Academy

In general

Among the students of Ninjutsu Academy, there are orphans other than Kirimaru.

In Ninjutsu Academy, students keep the same class and same teachers for six years.

Uniform colors do not depend on the year, meaning that the 1st year will keep the criss-cross and circles patterned uniform until graduation. This was retconned / not true for the anime and musicals. Flashbacks showed the current sixth years wearing the blue patterned uniform in their first year, and the purple one in their fifth year.

Tomesaburou, Sakubei and Kazuma were established as mob characters at first, but the author made them join the main cast after a group of fans begged her to. It’s funny when you look up discussions about this, there’s a lot of anti-fujo sentiment going on because it seems those fans were from a BL doujin circle. Some people claim they nearly harassed the author about giving these 3 bigger roles.. err… I assume Amako Soubei is grown up enough to decide by herself…

There are kunoichi upperclassmen too, but these characters won’t appear or the cast would get too out of hand.

The family situation and number of siblings of upperclassmen (except for Takamaru) hasn’t been really decided yet. Nowadays Tomesaburou, Koheita, Heisuke, and Shuichirou’s family situation are known in canon. Saburou’s family background is mentioned within tsudoi, and his name implies he has two older brothers. (the characters in ‘saburou’ means ‘third son’) 

It’s a coincidence that “Taira” no Takiyashamaru and “Minamoto” Kingo ended up in the same P.E Committee. Sensei said she didn’t think about it at all. “Taira” and “Minamoto” are two major clans from Japanese history, whose rivalry would cause the Genpei War, concluding with the fall of the Taira Clan, the victory of the Minamoto Clan, and the end of the Heian Period and beginning of the Kamakura Period. 

Classmates share a bedroom in the dormitory. Monjirou and Senzou, Chouji and Koheita, Tomesaburou and Isaku, Saburou and Raizou, Kihachirou and Takiyashamaru are roommates. Has been canon for a long time now! 31-69 explains why Saburou and Raizou are rooming together without their classmate Hachizaemon.

1st years

Rantarou is kind, so he won’t be able to perform assassination and such, and won’t become an elite ninja.

Just like his father, he will become a half low tier ninja-half farmer in the future.

Kirimaru lost his parents in the war, and was picked up by a certain monk who raised him until he entered Ninjutsu Academy.

Kirimaru used to have an older brother.

Kirimaru’s spring clothes were originally Doi’s. Doi cut his clothes and patched them up to fit Kirimaru.

Kirimaru is 140cm tall.

Shinbei’s future is not decided yet.

He might drop out in the 4th year because he has to take over his family business.

In a more recent meet-up, Shinbei dropping out was retconned, and instead all of the 1-ha class will graduate together. (Since Doi-sensei and Yamada-sensei are in charge of them!)

Shouzaemon will become an anaushi ninja, acting like a relay of information for everyone. Anaushi refers to ninja infiltrating a given space by living a regular civil life with a regular job, gaining information by earning the enemy’s trust over a long amount of time. This is why ninja have to learn many skills and crafts, to assume different identities and work different jobs. Senzou takes a pottery class because of this in 18-43, and there is such a ninja in 24-66.

Rantarou, Kirimaru and Shinbei always make sure to give the best seats to the teachers, because “it’s more important to be a polite person than a top student.” This refers to an aspect of Japanese etiquette where everyone is expected to know their seating positions in a given room based on social hierarchy. The most important people will sit the furthest away from the entrance door into the room (or into the most comfortable seat). In a tatami room of feudal Japan, this would be the warmest place, and also safest in case of attack. I assume this works as Rankirishin’s justification for sitting closest to the door in the classroom!

The “The lord who visited me last night~” song that Rantarou and the others sing is actually pretty suggestive, but they still sing it since they don’t understand the meaning of the lyrics :

From volume 42. Doi-sensei is blushing and saying “Come on, now…” Phonetically, the kids are singing: “Yufubekita yobahidono akai fundoshi otoshita Otoshitayara wasuretayara Mata koyouto oitayara” Written properly, it becomes, and is translated as the following: 昨夜来た夜這い殿 The lord who visited me (a woman) last night, 赤い褌を落としていった Dropped his red loincloth. 落としたやら、忘れたやら、 Did he drop it, did he forget it, また来ようと置いていったやら Or did he leave it behind so he can come see me again?

Danzou does not usually wear pants, but he carries a pair around with him.

Maybe due to the influence of his parents, Sanjirou might have some sixth sense when it comes to the supernatural.

Tsurumachi Fushikizou’s “So thrilling!” catchphrase comes from a pair of older sisters being suspected of a crime in Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot. This doesn’t specify if it’s from a novel or the script of a TV adaptation, and older sisters being suspected of a crime in a Hercule Poirot story does not ring a bell, sadly. 

The 1st years’ uniform is flashy so that in case of emergency, the teachers can find them easily. Contradicting the retconned fact that uniforms don’t change by year.

The Equipment Committee stinks of pee because the 1st year members often pee their pants. In the anime, Heita is the sole responsible of this. I'm pointing fingers.

Underclassmen

Shirobei is stupid enough to get yelled at by even Koheita. (ow)

Tounai’s front bangs aren’t curly, it’s bed hair.

Because of bad luck (and being forgotten), Kazuma’s name wasn’t properly introduced. In the anime, he introduces himself in 16-11 after his fellow committee members ask him “Who are you again…?”

4th years

Kihachirou thinks of Takiyashamaru as trash. Kiiiind of retconned with 32-61.

Kihachirou’s grades are average.

Takiyashamaru will find an early death.

5th years

Hachizaemon’s quirk of going “Oho!”, comes from a line spoken by Mifune Toshirou’s character Kikuchiyo in the movie Seven Samurai, pronounced as he was watching approaching enemies. Timestamp is 2:29:55. I think. Kikuchiyo makes a lot of funny noises.

Hachizaemon is a natural optimist.

Heisuke was modelled after what Doi Hansuke would be like in his younger days.

Heisuke is 165cm tall, the same as Monjirou. Hachizaemon has a bigger build than Heisuke.

Heisuke is an airhead. The original text says 天然キャラ tennen kyara, literally an “airhead character”, but when a real person is called a tennen kyara it means they are Pretending to be an airhead for attention/to be cute/etc. I assume OP meant it as in a character who fits the “tennen” trope. Tennen evokes an airhead personality but also someone who goes at their own pace, is eccentric, has trouble reading the room, etc.

Heisuke has “excellent grades”, a “sharp mind”, and is “accomplished at both the pen and the sword”.

Heisuke is a better student than Kanemon, but Saburou is a better student than Heisuke.

Raizou and Saburou will find work in the same castle as sounin, showing effort and success. 双忍 sounin, literally “a pair of ninja”, or ninja working together! Love wins.

Saburou’s actual hair is silky straight. On day offs, he walks around town maskless, and no one recognizes him.

His father is alive and well, and is also a master of disguise, apparently even more skilled than Saburou.

Even though some of them weren’t introduced into the story yet, some 6th years sneak out at night to meet with girls. They get in trouble if teachers catch them. 

Sensei looks disappointed that Hachiya Saburou’s name is spelled 蜂屋 hachiya in the anime, and would like it to revert back to 鉢屋 hachiya somehow.

Hachiya might be a discriminating word against burakumin in some regions?

The name 鉢屋 Hachiya was taken after the real life Hachiya-shu ninja clan. The original poster seems unclear on this, so let me add context even though it’s a bit long. This is a huge speedrun and burakumin has a complex history which deserves better than being taught through ninja cartoons, so I really urge you to read about them.  In the anime, Hachiya is spelled with the characters 蜂 hachi (bee) and 屋 ya (seller, store, house). Hachiya with that spelling is also the name of a variety of persimmon. In the manga, Hachiya is spelled with the characters 鉢 hachi (bowl) and the same 屋 ya (seller, store, house), and has a richer history. Burakumin are historically stigmatized people in Japan. Back in Muromachi, they would live separately from the rest of society in their own settlement, and were considered lesser due to the jobs they occupied. These mostly involve work deemed “unclean” by Buddhist teachings, relating to blood, rot, and death: they were famously executioners, butchers, and leather workers. It also includes popular, “vulgar” entertainers, opposed to noble entertainment such as noh theater. 鉢屋 hachiya (with the “bowl” character) in relation to burakumin refers to followers of Kuuya’s teachings. Kuuya was an itinerant monk involved in “unclean” practices, such as burying the dead or praying while dancing for the people. His religious dance, nembutsu odori, found more practitioners in the San’in region (North-west of Hyougo Prefecture), living secluded in their own villages called Hachiya. These people worked with bamboo to craft items such as tea whisks, but were marginalized due to their dancing performances. They went door-to-door chanting prayers and making sound by tapping a bowl, and this gave them the nickname 鉢叩き hachitataki (who hits a bowl) or 鉢ひらき hachiaraki(who presents a bowl). Like this, hachiaraki became synonymous with “to beg for money”. 鉢屋 hachiya (still with the same “bowl” character) also refers to a group of entertainers in the same region turned ninja associated with the Amago clan during the Sengoku period. They’re famously known for taking Gassantoda Castle (Izumo Province, nowadays Shimane Prefecture) with an extravagant scheme involving a spectacular parade of dancers and musicians passing through the main gate of the castle, with weapons hidden under their clothes. The ninja who led this attack was named… Hachiya Yanosaburou! 

6th years

According to the meet-up in 2006, all the sixth years except Isaku come from a background of the Koga school of ninjutsu. When this was stated, Tomesaburou was still a background character and not properly established, so his background is unclear. The school of Koga is a type of ninjutsu from the Koga region (now Koka City, Shiga Prefecture). The Koga region had sou, villages that were allowed to self-govern (sou are mentioned in Nintama movie 2) in exchange of helping out the local Rokkaku Clan during wartime. They specialized in guerrilla warfare and handling of medicinal herbs and poison, and after retaking Koka Castle from Shogun Ashikaga to the Rokkaku Clan, they started working as ninja for said Rokkaku Clan. This would be pretty modern history by the time Nintama takes place, making the sixth years’ family, except Isaku’s, having a recent history of being farmers/samurai mercenaries recently turned “professional” (in Nintama terms) ninja. Interestingly, we don’t know the sixth years’ family situation in canon, except for the fact Koheita has an army of siblings living in a household large enough to belong to the samurai class (31-65), and that Tomesaburou has two older brothers that are warriors, making him likely to be samurai as well (30-34)

6th years ranked by height:Chouji > Koheita > Tomesaburou > Monjirou > Isaku = Senzou.

Even though some of them weren’t introduced into the story yet, some 6th years sneak out at night to meet with girls. They get in trouble if teachers catch them. 

Senzou is the most popular among the town girls. Isaku is the most popular among kunoichi, because he’s easy to deceive.

Among the 6th years, Senzou has the best grades. Isaku has the worst ones.

Koheita is so bad at studying people wonder, “how did you even make it to the 6th year?”. But because of his bad luck, Isaku’s grades are still worse overall.

Koheita has had that kind of personality since the second year. Kind of retconned? He’s shown being his cheery ikedon self back in 1st year in 30-33.

Chouji used to laugh a lot as a kid, but gradually stopped as he got wounded while practicing using the jouhyou rope dart, because the scars on his face hurt him. Also shown in 30-33.

Chouji might be an eccentric person, but he’s kind.

Monjirou has been acting as a hardcore gingin ninja since he was little.

Monjirou’s left and right eyes are different shapes. One is pine-nut shaped, the other almond shaped.

The speech Monjirou makes before and after his meal to pay respect comes from Enryakuji Temple on Mount Hiei(?) or some other very famous temple (I[OP] can't remember exactly). This refers to vol 42 of the manga. In the anime, he recites this speech in 16-56. OP says they don’t remember well, but Enryakuji is a very likely candidate as it’s the head temple of the Tendai sect, and this speech comes from Tendai meal etiquette. As found on Tendai’s website, here’s the complete speech: われ今幸に、仏祖の加護と衆生の恩恵によって、この清き食を受く。つつしんで食の来由をたずねて、味の濃淡を問わず。その功徳を念じて品の多少をえらばじ。いただきます。 I am now blessed to receive this pure food, granted by the divine protection of the Buddhas and the grace of all living beings. I will humbly reflect on the origin of this food, regardless of its rich or mild flavor. I will pray for its merits without thinking about the quantity. Thank you for this meal. Monji omits the “granted by the divine protection of the Buddhas and the grace of all living beings”, but otherwise recites it word for word! 

Monjirou and Tomesaburou often disguise themselves as Rokubu (I[OP] don’t know the kanji spelling, but it’s pronounced rokubu), itinerant monks who travel to offer copies of the Lotus Sutra in 66 different temples. But even while in disguise, they can’t stop bickering. Over things such as whether to take the right path or the left path, etc. OP spelled it right, it’s 六部 rokubu. As they explained, they are monks going on a pilgrimage across the country to offer copies of the Lotus Sutra, the most important scripture in Buddhism, to 66 temples, looking to expiate their sins.

Monjirou and Tomesaburou make good teammates, and when push comes to shove they are able to work together like in the Sonoda Village arc.

Tomesaburou is regarded by fans as handsome, but Sensei didn’t particularly try to draw him in a cool way. But while trying to keep his face consistent with the profile that appears in volume 22, he ended up looking handsome.

Tomesaburou might be manly and handsome, but he’s stupid.

Tomesaburou gets caught up in Isaku’s bad luck because they are roommates.

Tomesaburou and Isaku’s bedroom is split in two. The front of the room is Isaku’s area (that is turning into a small infirmary), the back of the room is Tomesaburou’s (that is turning into a small equipment storehouse).

Their room is the most cluttered with their respective luggage, so it has been divided in two.

Since Tomesaburou’s side of the room doesn’t have an entry door, there’s a little corridor made with a partition screen on Isaku’s side at the front of the room, leading to the back.

As a consequence, Isaku’s area is smaller than Tomesaburou’s. His part of the room being more narrow is also because of his bad luck.

Whether other students partitioned their room the same way or not is unknown. (Or rather than unknown, she worded it more like “it’s not decided yet”.)

(Seemingly from a more recent report.) All the sixth years seem to have a lot of clutter due to their respective committee, so their room is partitioned as well.

Isaku’s name comes from the baptismal name of one of Sensei’s friend, “Isaac”. 

Someone asked why Isaku often trips on his feet or into pitfalls, and was told that “He might have a bad leg.” 

In the first drafts, instead of being known as the Unlucky Health Committee, it was known as the Poop Committee, so Isaku wasn’t the Unlucky Committee President but the Poop Committee President.

Isaku caring for others comes from an instinct typical of those involved in medical care.

After graduation, faithful to the mentality of the Health Committee, Isaku becomes a “battlefield doctor” who treats people without taking sides. Kinda like Doctors without Borders. 

Isaku’s weapons are drugs and poisons, but he can use weapons like swords. He doesn’t seem proficient at using any specific weapon (apart from drugs), as he’s shown using different ones in every fight scene ; swords, bandages, …pebbles…… But he’s also shown having interest in getting better at the sword in 27-13.

Staff

Doi-sensei’s personality is unfit for a ninja. Same for Isaku.

To Doi-sensei, cheese feels the same as nerimono (fish paste products), so he can’t eat it. After the Heian period, due to the rise of the samurai class, the need to transport people and supplies, and war in the larger sense, raising horses became a priority over raising cattle. People didn’t consume dairy anymore until the late Edo period where it was regarded as medicinal food, and it only became an everyday food during Meiji. Who the heck tried to feed Doi cheese? Castella-san’s cheese harassment episode when…

Doi-sensei is 175cm tall. Studies of remains from the early Edo period suggest that the average height of people was 157cm for men, and 145cm for women. Since Nintama takes place before Edo, it makes Doi an exceptionally tall person for the times. 

Yamada-sensei recommended Doi-sensei as a teacher to Ninjutsu Academy. Shown in 32-64.

Doi is from a powerful family in the Seto Inland Sea, which fell in the war.

Doi's father was named Tokikuni, and he was a person of character.

He was killed in a sneak attack by someone named Sadaakira.

Just before passing, Tokikuni told Doi “Do not avenge me”. Doi’s backstory is based on Hounen, founder of Jodo Buddhism. It ended up being explicitly mentioned in vol 50. Hounen was born in a powerful clan in Mimasaka province (now Okayama prefecture), and his father, Uruma no Tokikuni, was a military chief who was assassinated at night by a warrior named Sadaakira, sent by the emperor to govern the province. In the manga, Doi’s backstory is merely referred to through Hounen’s own story. It’s kept vague how similar the two actually are. In Ninmyu 12, the father entrusts baby Doi to a servant, so there is no “do not avenge me” bit. The servant runs away but is killed by Kaentake ninja, who pick up Doi and raise him under the name Yogiri. Later, when he learns Kaentake killed his family, Doi runs away, and the story becomes similar to the anime where he is found by the Yamada family. 

After the current 1-ha class graduates, Doi will quit teaching and open an orphanage.

Kirimaru, now independent, will sometimes come to help care for the kids. 

A Komatsuda fan once told the author “I’d be happy to see him return as an office worker [for the school] or something”, to which the author replied “That sounds fun” and eventually made it canon.

Tasogaredoki Castle

Currently, Tasogaredoki is the strongest antagonistic ninja army.

There’s a ninja village in Tasogaredoki Castle.

Zatto is 180cm tall. Like I said earlier with Doi, that makes him Extremely tall for the time period.

Zatto has between 50 and 100 men under his command. (At first, Sensei said 100 men, to which a fan reacted like “Huh?! So many?!” in surprise, so she lowered it to 50.)

While doing his bandages, Isaku saw Zatto’s unmasked face.

“He might be covering burns?”, Sensei said. Confirmed in volume 50. 

After the accident that caused Zatto’s burns, his engagement was called off.

That accident happened when Zatto saved Sonnamon’s father.  Shown in 32-63.

Zatto is deaf in his left ear. This is reflected in the second movie, when Zatto reports information to his lord on Jinbei’s right side, but then has to turn to his left to listen to Jinbei’s reply.

Kousaka was Zatto’s chigo. Chigo mostly refers to children left in Buddhist temples to receive an education from monks. Because of the sexual exploitation they could be subjected to in exchange for that education, they are portrayed in art and described as graceful, attractive young men often dolled up like little girls. As far as we know Zatto doesn’t come from a specifically religious background, so his relationship to Kousaka might have been that of chigo and master in the secular sense, so that of a wakashuu (“young folk” ; prepubescent boys considered genderless/not men yet) and a samurai master who offers him apprenticeship, be it in academics, religion, martial arts, etc. Those were purely contractual relationships, supposed to end once the boy comes of age, and weren’t necessarily sexual. …But sexual relationships were prevalent enough that the samurai’s sexual practices with young boys has a name, wakashuudo. As for the nature of Zatto and Kousaka relationship, nothing is specified canonly.

Zatto’s subordinate, Moroizumi Sonnamon, got his name when Sensei told herself “Isn’t something like that good?” Sonnamon’s name is spelled with the kanji characters 尊奈門 sonnamon, individually meaning 尊 son, respect, 奈 na, quince fruit, and 門 mon, gate. I already explained the etymology of his name in another blog post. “Sonnamon” spelled in the phonetic hiragana alphabet, そんなもん sonnamon, means “that’s how it is”, “that’s like that”, “that’s it”... So when she said “Isn’t something like that good?”,  it sounds like そんなもんでいいんじゃないの, sonnamon de iinja nai no?, or “Isn’t “sonnamon” good?” .

Sonnamon is 19 years old.

Sonnamon is Zatto’s subordinate number two, and Zatto’s favorite. 

Hyougo Navy

The Hyougo Navy crew is modeled after the real Murakami Navy. They were devoted to war lords and close to the samurai class. Suigun directly translates to “navy”, but is an historical term. It refers to groups of pirates robbing goods meant as official taxes, who eventually gained enough power and influence to control a given area at sea. They became sort of “samurai of the sea” when daimyo (feudal lords) contracted them to provide security, transporting goods, set up checkpoints, collect fees, etc. The Murakami Navy operated in the Seto Inland sea, the body of water separating the islands of Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. 

Atoi is tall because he’s Gilyak. His name comes from the word “atuy” in Ainu language, which means “sea”. Gilyak, or Nivkh people, are an indigenous ethnic group living in the northern Sakhalin Island (north of Japan) and the adjacent Russian coast, by the river Amur. In the Muromachi period, they traded with the Chinese, Japanese, and Ainu people. Ainu are another ethnic group inhabiting the north of Japan, Kuril Islands, and southern Sakhalin Island. The Ainu language is written either in latin characters or Japanese katakana alphabet, making the word for “sea” spelled atuy or アトゥイ. Atoi’s name is written 網問 in Japanese, the kanji characters are used for phonetics rather than meaning: 網(a), 問(toi).

 Suiren, the dedicated swimmers/divers of the Hyougo Crew, also perform during battle. This ended up being shown in 31-57, Shige and Miyoshimaru dive to stick explosives under enemy ships.

Whales were luxury goods, offered as a valuable present.

Whale fishing was used as practice for naval battles.

Yoshimaru has a woman in every port.

Kagerou’s eye was shot with an arrow, and when he pulled it out both the arrow and eye came out together.

Kagerou suffers from landsickness (oka-yoi) and vomits going bluuurgh (gerogero), so that’s why his name is Kagerou. 

Pirates who got landsick were an actual thing. It is an actual thing for sailors, yes. It’s called Mal de débarquement syndrome.

Kameko will inherit the Fukutomi family business.

Kameko admired Chouji, but will marry Onigumomaru.

Onigumomaru will manage the import and export of goods, while Kameko will work staying on land.

Sekibune are fast, but not sturdy. It can reach a speed of about 16.2 km/h when rowed by hand. Given that the current ships of the Japan Coast Guard can reach roughly twice that speed, achieving this speed with a hand-rowed boat is impressive.

Atakebune have high defense, but are slow. About 2 knots. Sekibune and Atakebune are two types of warships used during the Sengoku period. Atakebune is the larger one. 2 knots is about 3,7km/h.

The price to hire pirates as bodyguards is absurdly high. They’d ask for something like ⅓ of the cargo one is carrying, but there’s no substitute for safety.

In the Hyougo Crew, Yoshimaru is the first to attack during battles. Explained in 20-79, part of the Hyougo Crew Audition Arc.

Others characters

After Doi-sensei ruined the Yamada family’s picnic, little Rikichi felt “damn him!” since he was a cheeky kid. But later, just like how an elementary school student grows affection for his teacher, he became attached to Doi-sensei.  Doi-sensei crashing the Yamada’s picnic appears in 30-35.

Rikichi wasn’t a student of Ninjutsu Academy.

A long time ago in the rakuran doujin world, it was believed that Yamada Denzou gave Rikichi a spartan education, this fact being apparently written in an answer letter to a fan by Amako-sensei. 

But it’s actually his mother who taught ninjutsu to Rikichi. Shown in 32-62.

Rikichi goes through a seriously turbulent phase in his twenties. The original wording uses the verb 荒れる, “to become violent, out of control”, “to get wild”, “to come to ruin”, implying physical and mental instability.

Rikichi will leave a child he got from making a housemaid pregnant in Doi’s care.

That child will look a lot like Rikichi.

They had a talk kind of like, “That child looks a lot like you.” “...S/He’s an orphan.” 

Yoshirou and Kisanta are close friends. Initially, Yoshirou was designed with a short bun, making him look even more similar to Tomesaburou.

Back when the anime’s production started, Sensei asked the staff “Please make sure to give Shousei-san a cool voice, okay?”.

The reason why Shousei-san has such a sexy voice is that since he uses matchlocks regularly, the smoke that comes out of the fuse gets to his throat. Because of this, his voice became lower.　　　　　

Satake’s rifle corps will eventually go under, as every army will have their own rifle corps in the future.

Shousei knows this, but keeps silent as he watches over his men.

In the near future, Satake and Fukutomi will be in conflict, because Fukutomi will do business selling guns to every military commander for the war. While no specific date is mentioned in Nintama, we know it takes place during the Sengoku period, which overlaps with the Muromachi period. “Muromachi” is often brought up within the series, and this period corresponds to the Ashikaga Shogunate, which ends in 1573. The use of firearms, which will become even more widespread in the future of the series, seems to indicate we are near the end of Muromachi, when the matchlocks imported from Portugal in the port of Sakai were imitated and perfected by Japanese blacksmiths. Oda Nobunaga equipped his army with firearms in 1549, slowly setting a standard as they got further improved in the following years.Meaning the story is probably set after 1549 but before 1573!

Komatsuda Yuusaku is not married. He really wants to marry, but he’s still dealing with a recent heartbreak.

Kitaishi Teruyo’s age was a fan’s idea.

She is 19 years old. That makes her a mature woman for the era.

Kitaishi Teruyo is in a position similar to Fujiko Mine, except she always ends up making a mistake at a critical moment, resulting in failure. Not sure what their connection is…. Fujiko Mine is a femme fatale kind of character, from the franchise Lupin the III. A female character working solo amongst an overwhelmingly male cast…?

General setting stuff, misc info

The salary of foot soldiers was between 60~70 mon per day. Meaning that hiring 100 foot soldiers for a month would cost 300,000,000 yen nowadays. At war, one battle would cost 3,000,000,000yen, so Dokutake Castle is pretty rich.

Linen fabric cost 100 mon, making clothes very expensive at the time. As a consequence, laborers such as horse riding couriers wore little to no clothes. Characters like Seihachi or Danzou don’t wear pants when riding horses so as to not damage expensive clothes.

Couriers load heavy luggage on a pole they carry on their shoulder. When that happens, they’d remove their clothes to avoid damaging them. When that happens to Seihachi, he ends up wearing no pants and no top, leaving him looking all sexy. (lol. Oh... Seihachi.)

At the time, wood planks were valuable. Half of Rantarou’s house has bamboo flooring.

Because the wood plane wasn’t invented yet, wood planks would look uneven. The beams of Doi-sensei’s house have that uneven finish to them. Kanna, the japanese wood plane (the tool used to make planks even), has been developed mid-Muromachi, making it a new invention by the time Nintama takes place. Before that, yariganna, a curved blade attached to a handle, was used to work wood. The labor intensity came at cost, meaning advanced carpentry was first for samurai houses, temples etc.

The age of characters is expressed according to the western style of counting ages, not the traditional Japanese one. Rantarou, Kirimaru, Shinbei, and all the 1st years are 10 years old. The western way of counting age is what you’re familiar with: a just born is 0 year old, and will turn 1 after fully completing one year, etc. The traditional Japanese way of counting ages comes from China, and faded out of use after the Meiji era. A baby would be considered 1 year old when born,  and everyone would get one year older during the New Year. So for example, all the first years are considered 10 years old in modern times, but would have been considered 11 back in the days.

The pattern on Shou-chan’s clothes is called “suhama”. Literally "sandy beach". It’s a symbol representing a shoreline. 

The pattern on Kisanta’s clothes is called “shikiriki”. I couldn’t find any information about this, so I wonder if it was misheard. The “shi” part might come from 四 shi, “four”, the first letter in 四角 shikaku, “square”.

The pattern on Ooki-sensei’s clothes is called “karigane”. It refers to the clothes he wears in the manga, since it’s different in the anime. The twisty shape evokes the wings of a goose. Karigane is originally used as a family emblem, kamon, and it features the bird’s head on top of the twisty shape.

The screentone used for the 6th years’ uniform is “Tone No. 654 LETRASET JAPAN”.

And that's it for now! Phew! Thank you for reading this far!

[rainy-tapestry]

in the wotakoi light novel, it covers kabahana’s first date!

this is just what i’ve google translated. i have no idea if i’m allowed to post the manga illustration, but it is sooo cute holy shit. also a thank you to @itscuntingseason for helping me discover the light novel TT

it starts off with hanako reading BL, then suddenly receiving an email form kabakura.

so, it was actually kabakura who had messaged hanako first. since the day they’ve confessed, they’ve been messaging everyday. but with school coming up they haven’t been talking, as hanako assumed he’d be busy and wouldn’t want to message “for nothing.”

Good evening. How are you?

was the message kabakura sent, and hanako thought it looked like an email template lmfao. hanako was really nervous, but getting this message reminded her of the fact that they are dating. she worries a lot about her grammar, because she remembered all the times kabakura would scold his juniors for not being careful with their words (which is why a lot of them were afraid of him)

kabakura then asked if hanako was free this sunday. i don’t think he explicitly asked her on a date, but it was implied. anyway, hanako was thinking about what she should wear. remembering that his type is usually cute kinda things, she decided to wear something like that.

she arrived like 30 minutes early, and had a lot of doubts. i thought it was really cute, because hanako now is so much more confident. when kabakura came, he asked if she was waiting long. and hanako was like well i waited a while, but that’s because i came to early (and she was like ?? why couldn’t i have said i didn’t wait long).

the whooooole time kabakura was really flustered. he had asked, “do you usually wear something like that?” hanako had thought there something wrong, like a broken collar TT (note: there’s nothing wrong, it simply suits you). he then said that, it’s just that he hasn’t seen her outside of her school or gym uniform. in her head, hanako was like even if he had smiled she’d be too embarrassed.

soooo kabakura had no idea or plan of what to do on their date. hanako was like, how could you have nothing planned ?? to which he apologized and said that to be honest, he had wanted to ask her out for a while, so when he had the moment, he just found a random place for them to go to.

hanako had caught him staring at her, and she was like ? why is he looking at me, i wasn’t going to say anything. or maybe he wanted to say something. she said something along the lines that he looks cute, but said that it might only because they’re dating and “love is blind” lmfaooo.

with seeing how many couples there are in the area, hanako had asked if he’s taken some other girlfriend here. i think for both, they are each other’s firsts. so then, hanako asked to hold hands, kabakura got all embarrassed like what are you talking about we just started dating the other day !? !? little note: it’s not normal to kiss on confession day, now is it? kabakura goes on like we can’t hold hands in public dadada… hanako was thinking it takes as much courage to kiss someone, to ask kabakura to hold hands.

hanako drops it, then she makes her way to the craft store. she had admitted that she makes costumes, which kabakura thought was cool. until she said she was planning on going to an otaku convention, and he said that it was his fault that she liked anime and these kind of things now.

they go out for ramen, and kabakura was like !! you want to eat ramen? wouldn’t your clothes get dirty? hanako was like, do you really eat that messy that your clothes get dirty !? and he was like well it’s okay if my clothes get dirty but it would stand out if your clothes got dirty.

they sort of go back and forth until the end of their date. towards the end, kabakura had suddenly held her hand, and apologized about not really having a plan for their date.

kabakura asked, “you went out of your way to wear what i like? i think it suits you well.. you look cute. you know you don’t have to wear what i like? no, but if you like it, that’s okay.” he had an unusually desperate look in his eyes, “i’ll take ‘take revenge on the first time,’ will you go out with me again?” and hanako was like ?? revenge on the first time, which he meant first date.

hanako was like, i’ll look forward to it! but next time i wanna hold hands. kabakura was like ??? hanako was like yk, like intertwining our fingers. this part i have no idea what they meant but kabakura said isn’t that too much how our fingers are intertwined? hanako then said to not be so sensitive about these things next time.

[badgalsasuke]

Have any of you seen this before?

I don't think I've seen someone talk about this on tumblr before, but I found this image on Pinterest

So, as you can see it's a doujinshi of Naruto and Sasuke being compared to the actual manga and it seems incredibly similar. Now, I made research and the author apparently published this on 2013, not April 2012 (unless they uploaded to a platform I haven't found bc the Doujinshi it's in Korean) EDIT: The author did post the doujinshi on 2012, someone in the replies shared the link to the og post on Pixiv and it's in Japanese not in Korean as my other link suggested.

so it would still be at least more than a year (now we know it had been TWO years) before chapter 698 dropped on Nov. 17th, 2014.

The doujinshi is based on Naruto Shippuden ending #20 and goes by the same name of the song "By My Side". It has a pretty similar art style to the animation of the ending and it serves as a continuation of the story the ending is presenting.

Its final panel is actually Sasuke crying after looking at Naruto and holding hands

VERY SIMILAR to what happens in canon as well

The whole doujinshi (it's very short you've already seen half of it on this post lol) is here in Spanish and here in English

There's still this two things that I'd love if someone could answer:

Is it true that Kishimoto intended for the final battle to end with Naruto and Sasuke holding hands?? I remember someone on here saying he said that in an interview but that it was sort of a platonic open ending but because it could be interpreted as romantic his editor forced him to change it and that's how we ended up with the intertwined blood.

Is it true that Kishimoto is fan of bl?? I've seen people say it on tumblr and tiktok but idk if they're joking or if it's just a rumour or if Kishimoto said it in an interview or something (at least joking???)

I'm asking because this is just too much of a coincidence like we already say on here that kishimoto and his staff probably read SNS doujinshis because some of dialogues are incredibly similar to the ones of his own work (and they came out before the manga so) and it's kind of a urban legend type of thing on the sns tumblr community. BUT it is one thing to have similar dialogues and another thing to have similar fucking panels... like if the original manga finale was supposed to be holding hands wouldn't that then mean Kishimoto was really gonna copy a goddamn NARUSASU DOUJINSHI???? like?????

[waitmyturtles]

Have you read any of the Thai academic papers regarding MAME's work? sometimes I feel like fandom at large has a very strong western bias towards her that borders on xenophobia in review of anything attached to her unless it's more low stakes gmmtv style stuff like wedding plan was which suits western sensibilities more.

Hi, Non! This is interesting framing you've put forth here. I want to note that I'm close with some folks, particularly @bengiyo and @lurkingshan, whose critical tastes I trust, and I can assure myself that they would not call Wedding Plan low stakes. During my Old GMMTV Challenge project, I promised myself that I would not watch another MAME show after Love By Chance and TharnType, and I've taken Ben's and Shan's urging to chuck that aside to add Wedding Plan to my OGMMTVC syllabus, which I'll get to after my summer travels. Let me take a second to sort this all out in a more sensible and chronological answer to touch upon what I know about MAME now that I'm much more read into Thai BLs and the history of the genre.

Regarding academia and MAME, I have not read Thai source material on her start and her legacy in Thai Y novel writing and Thai BL/Series Y television productions. What I am in the midst of reading at the moment is Dr. Thomas Baudinette's Boys Love Media in Thailand (Baudinette hailing from Australia), and he does get in depth with MAME's beginnings, which for me was the first primary source material that I have encountered about her background. To summarize quickly, MAME (along with individuals like INDRYTIMES/Kwang Latika, who wrote the original novel for Love Sick, and others) was part of the first crop of young middle-to-upper-class female college students who became enamored with Japanese BL/yaoi manga, as well as (in many cases) K-pop idols, and began writing fan fiction about and/or in the styles of these interests, which led to the development of the unique Thai Y novel genre.

It does seem to me, at least on Tumblr, that a good chunk of Western fandom here has written off MAME. I'm Asian-American, and I come to my hesitation about MAME from a particularly Asian perspective, so I really can't speak for the non-Asian fans about what they're rejecting. Let me at least explain what I'm rejecting, and how I've engaged in dialogue about it with critical friends here.

LBC did not have as much of what I will attempt to describe as I saw in TharnType, something that I might now call collectivist homophobia or collectivist bias. But LBC had a smattering of it, something that I smelled early on in that series. In both series, MAME seemed to approach her characters, to me, with a distanced hand of judgement that, to me, recalled the kinds of biases that my Asian parents tried to implant in me in my childhood, that I rejected throughout my young years. Queer material is so very often not good to its queer characters, and it seemed to me through LBC and TT that MAME intended to gild that lily to channel a populist homophobia that she seemed to know would resonate with a broader fanbase -- which it did, in part, because TharnType in particular was the first Thai BL with heat in every episode.

(Two things to note about my review of TharnType that I penned last year. First item to note is that Boys Love Media in Thailand had not been published yet, and I had not read primary source material about MAME. I was enraged at the time about fan theories that MAME had been a victim of sexual assault, and had therefore written her queer characters with the biased vitriol that I perceived coming from her because of that theorized past. I still think these theories are equivocating and problematic. Second item is that I heavily recommend reading the reblogs of my TT review, tags and posts and all, to see literally the spectrum of commentary of the MAME fandom/anti-fandom across Tumblr. Writing that post and reading those reblogs was a hell of a great experience.)

Just to summarize this, then -- I choose to not engage with MAME because I see under- and overhanded bias in the work that I've watched, with my Asian eyes; and I just might assume that many Westerners see the same thing. But I don't really know, because I haven't talked to that many Western fans about the depth of this.

So what does this mean for this moment in time? I understand MAME's Love Sea is airing, which I'm not watching, and I missed the boat on Love In the Air -- so I think I'm missing some critical and/or catty chatter about those two shows from the fandom because I don't have context.

But I do know there are folks out there that either write MAME off wholly, likely for similar reasons that I've listed above, and/or hate-watch her shows and post about it. To each their own.

I would not have considered Wedding Plan if Ben and Shan weren't screaming about it. I'm happy to have fewer shows on my plate, I got no time. However.

Nothing in this world exists in a static vacuum. If MAME is experimenting with tone, approach, style, and even taste regarding her shows, then more power to her. @bengiyo's post linked above about Wedding Plan is important for me to see, because I see that he's noting that parts of the fandom may have actually demonstrated real homophobic dialogue about MAME's fictional characters, which, to me, I'm like, what? Really? You got time for that? But also:

If MAME, back in 2019 with TharnType, picked up that her Thai and global fanbases were more inclined to check in with collectivist homophobia, as I'm calling it.... and now, in 2023-2024, has noted that her fanbases might be far more inclined to support real queer equality and overtones in shows, and is including those themes in her work -- can we not welcome that change in? That's why I'll give Wedding Plan a shot.

Let's be sassy and ironic for a second. Could she be making this change for da money and the fame? Sure. But -- capitalism unfortunately rules this world. Car commercials in the States have interracial queer couples parenting children nowadays. If equality talks to money, then content makers will take note. I think I'd be a hypocrite to say that MAME shouldn't make her dollar, all while she's experimenting with more equitable stances.

Last note. There's been quite the dialogue simmering these past few weeks about GMMTV's We Are, and whether or not GMMTV is stepping away from a past where many (not all, but many) of its shows explored queerness in depth. He's Coming To Me, Bad Buddy, Dark Blue Kiss (yes... the first three shows I listed were Aof Noppharnach shows, fuck), Theory of Love, 3 Will Be Free. The major GMMTV BL/GL shows that have aired recently that have made huge waves on social media -- Only Friends, 23.5, Last Twilight, and now My Love Mix-Up -- were/are helmed by branded (capitalism, hello!) pairs, and three out of four of them were flops, with MLMU already treading that territory in EPISODE TWO, for heaven's sake. (Y'all, read the reblogs on this post. Wow.) I finished a rewatch of The Eclipse weeks ago, and I'm dragging my feet on my review, because of what I think that show represents for what branded pairs end up doing to otherwise original content.

I want to posit a theory, that I'll work more on when my OGMMTVC is over, that we have living, real-time proof that the branded pair system is failing good content -- because these shows have to produce engagement snippets of these pairs, instead of more broadly penetrating artistic content. GMMTV's one-off shows with non-branded pairs, like Be My Favorite and Wandee Goodday, are FAR MORE INTERESTING content-wise, varied and inquisitive in their artistic takes on queerness. Even Cherry Magic, featuring the long-awaited return of TayNew, felt fresh, because we literally hadn't seen TayNew in FIVE YEARS. Tay actually KISSED ANOTHER DUDE, shocker!, in 3 Will Be Free. I want to go back to those days, where the pairs could act well outside of their range and their business partners, instead of being limited to the same tone and style that their pairings and their fandoms demand.

I say ALL OF THIS, because isn't it interesting that GMMTV seems to be reverting on a scale of inquisitiveness about queerness -- and MAME seems to be going in the opposite direction?

I would not have expected it. But I have found, lately, some of GMMTV's "takes" on "queerness," as in Only Friends, to be outright offensive. This corporation has become far more gunshy to let their branded pairs just be fictionally gay. If MAME wants to take on a healthier stance of equity, and to play around with more realistic depictions of what it means to be queer in Thailand, then go for it, girl. I will admittedly be watching Wedding Plan with my Asian side-eye and my smell tests for bias, but I look forward to being proven wrong about my suspicions. I want to be a responsible fan here, open to MAME's changes.

This ended up being a lot, but thank you for provoking these thoughts, Non.

[yukinasversion]

I wanna add to an ongoing conversation about the nuance behind old yaoi, specifically in Sekaiichi Hatsukoi and Junjou Romantica because I feel like the more we talk about it, the less bad others will feel about consuming this type of content and enjoying it. Plus I feel like some people are immune to nuance so it might not hurt talking about this. The thread is here if anyone wants to read it.

The subject I wanna add to specifically is about how politics and society's view on homosexuality might have shaped the content in yaoi, especially yaoi back in the early 2000's. I think people sometimes forget that Junjou Romantica started running back in 2003.

I have the Japanese copy of JR vol 1 now and as I read through it, it sparks a lot of thought. (And no I am in no way an expert in Japanese!) What I wanna say specifically is the interaction between Usagi and Misaki when that ominous first encounter happens and Misaki thinks to himself "this pervert's hand... Why does it feel good".

The reason I'm mentioning this scene, because in the Japanese script, the word Misaki uses is 変態男 which reads "hentai otoko" aka pervert man. This is the phrase they use in the English script. BUT! The katakana next to the kanji that helps reading the kanji is ホモ which reads "homo". Now the proper term for homosexual in Japanese is 同性愛者 - douseiaisha - same-sex attracted person

The reason I wanted to mention this is because of how the kanji for "pervert man" ended up reading as "homo" in the manga. And how back in the days people viewed same-sex attracted people as perverts and harassers and immoral.

And this type of view intertwines with a lot of internalised homophobia we see displayed in both SIH and JR (and probably in other BL/yaoi, too). This is the reason why Misaki battles a lot with his sexual orientation and calls what Usagi does to him "sexual harassment" all the while craving that type of attention A LOT. This very likely has to do with how society conditions you into thinking that being gay is immoral and nothing but perversion and you're wrong for being gay and enjoying gay sex. It was probably easier for him to say Usagi is harassing him than to admit he enjoys it.

In both SIH and JR we see this slowly disappearing as time progresses, thus this type of view doesn't influence the characters and the world building anymore. The more the world has progressed since 2003 caused a slow progression in old yaoi, too.

A lot of what might look like sexual harassment on the surface is moreso internalised homophobia and a ton of discomfort in some of the characters for LIKING having sex with a man as men. Especially Misaki and Ritsu.

Because there's other characters that aren't uncomfortable in admitting that they like men or aren't uncomfortable dating one. So this type of 'problem' doesn't extend to every character and the entire story.

Therefore I feel like the "sexual harassment" is deemed SH by the characters BECAUSE society used to teach us that gay men are immoral perverts. And I personally like to see that Misaki is slowly unlearning this behaviour in the manga, and only tells Usagi that he's "harassing" him because Usagi is being annoying AF generally. But nevertheless there's a lot less worry in that department now.

I hope this post makes sense because my thoughts are running at 4000 m/h right now and I really wanna get this point across properly.

[cherryblossombombs]

There was a bkdk poll asking us how we thought bkdk's relationship would end. I typed a paragraph response, but tumblr won't let me reblog my response or that post in general, so I will make a separate post lol.

But to answer @ammy246's question, I would've answered the other option.

While I still feel like the ending is still anyone's game, I do believe that it's unlikely that hori will end it like naruto. It seems like an izch ending is unlikely due to how the ship has been treated for the few years. Yeah, hori may pull something like that, but I honestly believe he's not going to do it. It's been too long since izch has even gotten a moment and hori knows that. This is the same author that recommends romance manga and apparently is a fan of unrequited love. This is also the same author that drew that 2021 art of the two falling in the sky and said it's what could've happened IF he had decided to developed the two more (he apparently said to pay attention to what was happening in the drawing; falling = bad omen; also reference to spirited away where the two characters separated).

We are at the point where a bkdk implied ending is not far-fetched. It's not something that can only exist in fanon anymore. Bkdk's relationship has seriously developed to the point where dudebros and non-MHA fans who are caught up (whether anime or manga) can't deny that the relationship is close. Not to mention how the ship has been promoted for the last couple of weeks (Bakugou's JP VA promoting a BL that has BKDK undertones, the little promo panel of midoriya and bakugou talking about opening an agency together, how CD dramas and those games have been recently, the 2024 Spring GIGA cover, Shonen jump's tiktok promoting the GIGA cover, Hori telling Bones the ending and now suddenly Bones now cares about BKDK and is adding more scenes about them compared to how they were with izch). It really does feel like these people are doing a soft launch of the ship.

However, because I feel like (IMO), that I haven't seen enough in the manga, I still feel like we're going to get an open ending. No ships. But I do believe that we will get a hand hold soon in the manga, as well as a deep conversation that will bring katsuki and izuku even closer than before. The question is, will hori go even further and make it romantic. Atm, I don't think we will get a kiss or a love confession, but I do believe that we are at the point where we may be lucky and get a crepe date at the end. I also do believe that we may get the ending where the two open an agency together.

[emotionallychargedtowel]

what's different about Hatano, part 3

This really took a while to get out—sorry for the wait, y'all. Part 1 is here and part 2 is here. Part 4 will follow very soon is here.

All gifs are by the inimitable @my-rose-tinted-glasses. Thank you, Rose!

I wrote in part 1 about how Hatano cuts to the chase and immediately confesses to Mob, cutting out the usual preliminaries that Mob uses as warning signs that show he needs to escape a situation. In part 2, I talked about how Hatano sometimes seems to have some awareness of the side of Mob that directly addresses the audience and describes his experiences via voiceover. I also talked about the significance of Mob’s relationship with the audience and how Hatano relates to that. 

There are some other big ways in which Hatano differs from other people who have pursued Mob. First, a couple of short but crucial ones. 

Hatano perseveres.

This is related to my part 1 thing about how Hatano isn’t fucking around. Not only does he come out guns blazing right away, but he keeps at it. Lots of dudes make some kind of play for Mob, but no matter how tricky it is to evade the flags they raise, if he does so, that’s it. They’re done. 

I will hand it to Kikuchi, he also hangs in there pretty well. He does tend to back off fairly readily. The time when he did the best job of roping Mob in was actually when he wrote him a goodbye letter because he was backing off so much he was moving to another country, and I don’t believe for a second that it was a ploy given how surprised he was to see Mob at the airport. So he definitely has that backing off tendency, but so far he has eventually come back every time. He’s intermittently persistent. 

Hatano just keeps coming back, relentlessly. He’s like the Terminator of BL boys. He does make one big backing off gesture when he says he wants to (temporarily) rescind his confession and promises to come back in three years and make it again as an adult. But after only three weeks, he’s shooting a BL at the university Mob attends and seeking him out after seeing his name on the call sheet. (It’s interesting, actually–we may not know Mob’s name, but apparently Hatano does.)

There are even more examples of this in the manga, such as the time Mob had a "jumpscare" encounter with Hatano at a restaurant.

But there’s one respect in which Hatano really wins first prize in the sticking with Mob category. Hatano sets his sights on Mob in season 3 and doesn’t let up. But his devotion goes back much further than that. He has liked Mob for eight years, since he was only nine years old, and never forgot him. You can’t write off that kind of dedication. 

Hatano runs away!

It might seem contradictory given the way he keeps coming for Mob, but another helpful habit Hatano has is running away. Specifically, running away after making some kind of overture toward Mob. He does it after his first confession and he does it after his “three years” declaration. Both times, he robs Mob of a chance to try to put him off. You could even argue that his swift exit after Kikuchi shows up in the season 3 finale is a variation on the same strategy. 

It makes sense when you think about it. Mob spends a lot of time in his voiceovers asking “What do I do?” or some variation thereof. It’s a standard part of the show’s, and the manga’s, formula. A story trap appears, Mob panics, but then he has an idea and is able to evade it. So an obvious strategy for a pursuer would be to create a story trap, then hightail it out of there before Mob has some kind of brainstorm. Of course, not all story traps are effective if you don’t remain in Mob’s presence. But Hatano uses methods that continue to matter even after he skedaddles. 

Now for a difference that's a smidge more complex.

The age gap between Mob and Hatano creates specific, complex challenges that Mob can’t evade as easily as he does other flags.

When it comes to the age gap between Mob and Hatano, there’s a bit of seemingly good news for Mob: the age gap serves to keep him and Hatano apart, at least for a time. Of course, this is of dubious benefit since it simply puts off the day of reckoning instead of canceling it. And the fact that nothing is supposed to happen in the present anyway actually makes it more difficult for Mob to counteract the forces pulling them closer. Hatano isn’t waiting for an answer from Mob about how he feels because he can’t act on his feelings for Mob anytime soon regardless. So that eliminates opportunities for Mob to reject him. 

At the same time, as Mob recognizes immediately after Hatano first confesses to him, there’s no relationship he can have with a teenage boy that won’t seem to implicate him in some degree of inappropriate closeness or have the potential to be interpreted by Hatano as encouragement. This rules out, as Mob notes, doing something to get Hatano to hate him. It rules out anything else that would involve initiating contact, too, so he doesn't pursue any strategies in that vein.

But it isn’t entirely up to Mob. Hatano keeps putting him in the position of talking with him alone, which sometimes creates the impression they’re acquainted in the eyes of others (like when Ayato sees them together when Hatano confesses and asks Mob where he knows Hatano from) and potentially in Hatano’s eyes as well. In the end, even if he tries to keep his contact with Hatano to a minimum, he can’t seem to avoid being implicated in some kind of relationship or potential relationship. Meanwhile, Hatano’s attempt to wait for Mob rules out most opportunities to reject him and just leaves the prospect hanging over Mob's head. 

This particular age gap factor (one in which the other party is too young for Mob) is one that Hatano doesn’t seem to share with any of the other Bs who’ve tried to L Mob. But that could change at any time. Just because he’s the first to pose a real challenge to Mob in that way doesn’t mean he'll be the last. But Hatano has other things up his sleeve that can help him compete with any rivals his age. In other words, he combines his age gap advantage with other unique attributes. Which I'll talk about in part 4, which really will be up soon which is here.

[k-s-morgan]

TGSTLTH related

Ok so I decided to do it here cuz I don't know will AO3 allow me to write essay hahahahah 😂😂😂

I don't even know how to start this. I've been reading fics for 13 years straight, like I don't remember the period of my life where I didn't read them cuz I always have some ship active and I'm crazy BL fan. Only a small number of them can make me crazy to the point I don't wanna sleep, eat, skipping my obligations, killing the pain and your sebaciel did everything. I haven't felt like this reading fic..,maybe ever? This is totally another level of me being fascinated by some writer.

I adore sebaciel, I'm in fandom since 2016 but the biggest problem I had with their fics is that - either people go too much OOC with them orr they rush up the things between them, going quickly with sex and feelings. It bothered me so much so I was crawling for good SC fics as crazy!!

After some break with SC, I came back to ao3 and saw your long fic. I started reading it but I dropped it after 3 chapters, I got bored cuz I thought you are gonna just re-type manga and do classic thing which another people do. Quickly, I got disappointed with another one and idk how but I decided to give your fic one more chance and dear lord......that was one of the best thing I have ever read. Maybe even the best.

Like, how smart are you? What's your IQ? Your manage to explain me some things about Kuro plot which I haven't udnerstand by myself. And the way you write Sebaciel relationship. That's everything I have ever wanted. Everything. They have normal conversation and that's it, that's all I need cuz there is everything. I feel electric every time when they talk, fight, do things together, goood the little touches svbjhsdjvbvbvbvbvbsdjvhbdf. I was tense whole fic. I read it for like 10 days, abandon everything until I finished it and now I feel sad ahahhaahha. But you are really something special, cuz I always used to say that manga itself is the best fiction cuz Yana knows the best how to create good Sebaciel energy. You, next to Yana, did the best job. You kept them as they are, never broke the character, and that's what I am most grateful. Slow burn, with drama and angst, love and attention, all misunderstanding, you put all necessary spices for 5 star meal. My fav part is when Ciel told Sebastian to add slamming doors to his most dramatic moments of his life ahahahahahahhaha 😂😂 I laughed like crazy, they are so precious♥ And I really wanted kiss to happen when Ciel lied Sebastian about another demon, that was sooo svbjhsvjhjhvbdf. But okay, you know the best, I trust you fully with this♥

The fact that they are ready to kill each other before they have normal conversation about their feeling is my fetish. I am in love with toxic things. Ciel ready to throw all game just to prove Sebastian that his value is not only his soul, right after he told himself for 1000 times he needs to stay on distance..... I LOVE ITTTT!!! I also need to say that you find PERFECT balance for good plot and romance. Your games and their cases...I just don't know, deep bow for you queen🔥💯After all, you didn't retype drama ahahaha but you manage to keep it canon without changing anything but still adding your spices so it's not ordinary Kuro plot we see every day....

I just have one question. From time to time, I was like a Bard ahahhaha, so sick of their games and my head hurting me, but on a good way. I am clear about Ciel but what about Sebastian and his disgust for Ciel's nicer, soft, emotional side? I know Ciel doesn't have it a lot, but would Sebastian still be grossed out about it as he was at the beginning of a contract or not? Keeping in mind that he is more and more obsessed with a boy?

So, that's all. I don't know how to use Patreon/PayPal, but for you I'll try cuz I only have credit card and that's all I know ahhahaha, I like to keep money in my hands😂 I'm sad about the situation in your country and all under - war countries. It's not bringing any good for anyone, specially for civilians. I hope you are okay and I wish you alll the best, the good karma must hit you really quickly cuz you made one person really, really happy here♥

Looking forward how will you finish this story, have a nice day❤

PS - this is the longest comment for fic I have ever left ahhaha, it's crazy how you got me sooo hyped up bjcvsdghvbds.

Hi! Ooh, thank you so much for your amazing, wonderful essay! I can't tell you how happy it made me! I think the electricity was already started being cut off when I got it, so I could see I have some really lengthy ask, but it wouldn't load. It was the torture of the most delicious kind :D

Like you, I've been reading fics for ages now, and the moments where I find some fantastic story that won't let me sleep or work or even blink are always the happiest and the brightest spots I remember. So it's extremely flattering to know that my story has become something similar to other people.

I love writing about smart characters, but most of them are definitely smarter than me! The benefit is that since I'm writing, I can think and plan everything in advance. In real life, I only wish I were as quick-witted and inventive. Alas, the best ideas and arguments come to me when they are no longer needed.

I love slow burns, and I love characters who abhor the idea of expressing their feelings, so Ciel and Sebastian have the most perfect dynamic in my eyes. I feel like I could spend the eternity just enjoying their Gothic world with their games, arguments, plots, and so on. Them antagonizing each other only to instantly team up against the common enemy is my most favorite thing in the world.

As for your question, right now, Sebastian would be thrilled if Ciel were to show a softer and more vulnerable side - at least in relation to him. Well, a part of him would feel the automatic need to mock him for it anyway, some habits don't die easily, but Sebastian's feelings have evolved a lot, plus Ciel is cold more often than he is not. So Sebastian treasures every word of praise, every hint of appreciation and need because they are so rare - he's come to crave them, and he has memorized all known cases of them by heart.

And no worries about supporting me! I really appreciate you taking your time to leave such a fantastic review, it made my day!