Forum - View topicRecommendations - good shounen-ai/yaoi?
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BlackthornGirl
Posts: 3 |
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I'm a fan of shounen-ai and yaoi manga, but the bookshops near my house are quite small and don't have any save for 'Gravitation' (which I tried reading, but I just couldn't get into - the quality of the art was off-putting, plus the Lolita-ish aspect kinda creeped me out)
If anyone could recommend me some - please, tell me why it's good, too, if it's not too much of me to ask you!  - I'd be most appreciative! I'm over 18 so rating isn't really an issue with me....
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marie-antoinette
 Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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I know Fake is a fairly popular shounen-ai title, though I haven't read it myself.
The only shounen-ai I really know well is actually Gravitation, which I enjoy. The art style changes quite dramatically throughout the series, so if you don't like it at first, it does get better. I'm not sure exactly what you are referring to as the "Lolita" aspect, Shuichi is what...18-19? I can't remember which it is exactly (though admittedly, in the later art he sometimes looks 12 -_-). Yuki is 26. A fair age difference, but not really that extreme. |
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BlackthornGirl
Posts: 3 |
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As for Lolita-ish-ness, it's just the high school guy involved in a relationship with an older guy that got to me... it probably wouldn't have, except that in a side panel the author kept talking about how Lolita it was, and I'd read Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov and been totally grossed out, so then that connection was made in my head as I was unpleasantly reminded of that book.
Maybe I'm neurotic; I just couldn't get past it after that.
Thank you for the suggestion, though. |
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marie-antoinette
Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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Shuichi graduates from high school in the first volume.
Though I must agree that Murakami Maki has an odd sense of humour at times. Sometimes, the only real way to respond to it is just shake your head and continue reading the manga. Oh, another shounen-ai I've heard good things about is Yami no Matsui/Descendents of Darkness, though a warning that the English release has been edited quite a bit in a few places (see this thread: animenewsnetwork.com/article.php?id=6420) |
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Wolverine Princess
 Posts: 1100 |
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While it's stated constantly in the side-panels in the first volume of Gravitation how "Lolita" Shuichi is, I'm pretty sure (this is just speculation, as I can't read the original Japanese version) that the word "Shota" was used. Lolita refers to romance with a young girl, anywhere from ages 5-12 (sometimes even younger than that), whereas Shota (or Shota-con) refers to romance with a young boy ages 5-12. (also occasionaly younger than that) The word Shota was most likely replaced with the word Lolita, as not many people in the states are familiar with this term and Lolita has a closley related meaning. While this change of terms doesn't excuse how disturbing the implied content is, Shota-con doesn't have a notoriously famous novel that everyone who's even slightly interested reading has heard about. Even my naive 8 year old sister shudders at the word "lolita." (What shota *does* have is a large slew of overly-sexual manga that is enough to grant a name to the genre, but of course it hasn't gained enough notoriety to be an easily recognizable word to average American ears.)
I'm pretty sure Maki Murakami was just goofing off when she said Shuichi was shota-ish, since he is 18, which makes him an adult. Eiri is 21, too, not 26. I've met an 18-year old boy married to a 37 year old girl, and I will say that THAT'S kind of pushing the limits. (Also, the Lolita refrences stop after volume one, if not volume two since it's been awhile since I read the first volumes.) Another great yaoi story is Boys Next Door by Kaori Yuki. It isn't in english, but fanscans exist for it. |
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marie-antoinette
Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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Oh, yes, you're right, he's 21 or 22. I thought that spoiler[the stuff in New York City happened ten years before the series, when it really was 6]...oops. So yeah, there's really hardly an age difference at all, though you wouldn't know it to look at them
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