Citrus Con 2023: A Zesty Celebration of All Things BL

In the age of the internet, it’s easier than ever to connect with people who share the same interests as you — you can collectively squeal over your favorite series on social media, share your fanwork creations with other fans, and stream video and gaming to share real-time reactions. However, there’s still something to be said about the unique atmosphere of a convention, where people travel from all over just to revel in their shared love of a certain thing.

This past weekend, I attended the very first Citrus Con — a weekend-long BL-centered event that combines the convenience of online interaction with the sense of close community provided by good old-fashioned fan conventions.

Read on to get a taste of the juicy festivities!

What is Citrus Con?

As described by the official Citrus Con website,

Citrus Con is a virtual 18+ convention dedicated to BL/queer media, shipping, fan works, and honoring how fan culture has grown in the past two decades.

The con’s name is a reference to the classic rating scale of fanworks (“rated M for lemons,” etc.), and its mission is to make a safe space for fujin (that’s the gender neutral term for fujoshi/fudanshi — cool, right?) of all backgrounds and interests to come together and share in our appreciation of Boys’ Love.

This year was the very first Citrus Con, but the hype was real — with over 1,000 attendees registering to join in on the fun. Having never attended a con just for BL fans, I couldn’t wait to experience it myself!

Getting to and around the Con

This was my first time attending a “virtual con,” so I was a little nervous about finding my way around — but luckily, the Attendee Guidebook included in the welcome email I received had everything I needed to know. Since I’m a Terminally Online dweeb, I was already quite familiar with Discord, and like many others I’d become well-acquainted with Zoom over the course of the pandemic. I was less familiar with Twitch, but even using that turned out to be as simple as a click of a button! Hats off to the con organizers for putting everything together in an efficient, easy-to-understand way.

I joined the festivities Sunday morning JST, or Saturday night EDT; by then, the con was already pretty poppin’. I had a little time before the next scheduled main event, so I took some time to explore the virtual venue.

There was a plethora of channels in the Discord server where people could hang out — there were dedicated chats for people to show off their customized virtual badges, share their cosplay pics, and talk about just about everything related to BL under the sun.

Just looking at all the categories of chats available and seeing how active they all were really made me feel like I was at a convention — including all the excitement that goes with it.

Online chat rooms often get a bad rap for getting out of hand at times (particularly when many people are involved), but from what I could tell the moderators of Citrus Con did a great job of keeping everything under control, and the vibe I experienced in each channel I visited was warm and welcoming.

As much as I love in-person conventions, even smaller cons can get overwhelming at times, and if you’re a bit of an anxious person like me, the con atmosphere can get a bit… much, to say the least. That’s one advantage of holding a con online; it’s easy to take a break and jump back in whenever you want.

There were plenty of activities for attendees to choose from: panels, watch parties, and even games like “Fujin Family Feud” and “BL Against Humanity,” complete with fabulous prizes for winners.

Looking at the con schedule, I was impressed with just how much was going on at all times — a testament to the hard work and dedication of the organizers to make this an accessible and entertaining event for all, no matter your timezone or sleep schedule 🙂

I came just in time for the watch party of the Given anime, one of my favorite BLs of all time, so naturally I tuned in for a bit. The live chat’s reactions to our favorite musical Soft Boys had me cracking up, and made me feel right at home with my fellow good-humored BL fans.

Next, I went to check out the booths. I absolutely loved the creative design of the virtual Artist Alley, which included creators of fanart and original works, with a wide range of media from writing and art to handicrafts and cosplay.

When you zoom in, you can see that yes, those are indeed colorful little peen motifs in the background

There was also a scavenger hunt-like stamp rally which encouraged con-goers to visit as many booths as possible to collect enough stamps to enter a special raffle. This fun little activity gave visitors the opportunity to discover new creators they otherwise might not have checked out, and really showed the con organizers’ admirable initiative to give their entire wide range of exhibitors a chance to shine.

The Panels

The main events held this year included a star-studded guest list and plenty of riveting BL topics. Unfortunately, there’s only one of me and I needed to sleep at some point, so I couldn’t attend every event I wanted to. (;_;) But thankfully, some panels were recorded and will be available for later viewing on Citrus Con’s YouTube channel, so be sure to check out their social media for updates on when they’ll be available! I know I’m looking forward to watching the recorded panels that I missed sometime in the future while I’m working on BL manga — for research purposes, of course!

That being said, I was still able to attend some pretty awesome events, so I’d like to take a moment to share my thoughts about the awe-inspiring panels I had the pleasure to experience.

DLsite garumani Industry Panel ft. Special Guest: Yura from Tennenouji

The first panel I sat in on was hosted by DL Site garumani — one of the largest online shops of downloadable digital media. They specialize in BL and Otome content, with a massive library of manga, doujin, games, video, and audio — many of them available in English!

The panel’s Guest of Honor was Yura-sensei, the producer and original artist of Tennenouji — an indie BL PC game developer known for works such as Luckydog1 and Mirakuru No-ton. Their newest game, Friendly lab – unlock(); will soon be available in English for BL fans around the world to enjoy.

The panel host, a member of staff at garumani, introduced Yura-sensei, and fans gave Sensei a warm welcome via the live chat. Yura-sensei didn’t appear on camera, but was able to communicate by typing answers to fans’ questions and comments on a shared screen. The host did a great job interpreting, but Yura-sensei was surprised by the amount of messages in the live chat written in Japanese — fans were doing their best to communicate with Sensei directly. We got to hear about Yura-sensei’s inspirations, the history of Tennenouji, and some heartwarming messages from fans letting Yura-sensei know how their games had inspired them to pursue art and learn Japanese. Since this was Yura-sensei’s first time appearing at an international event, the Q&A was exciting for everyone involved.

The audience was then treated to an exclusive sneak peek of the newly-translated English version of Friendly lab. It looks to be a mysterious game where you play the role of a researcher and control the fates of two pretty boy “experiment subjects.” The intriguing premise and Yura-sensei’s gorgeous character designs (plus the host’s hinting that increasing the characters’ “intimacy level” would unlock some spiciness ) had me hungry for more.

If you want to experience this thrilling experiment for yourself, the full game drops soon, so head to DLsite garumani and add it to your favorites now. You can also follow garumani and Tennenouji on Twitter for updates!

Learning Japanese with Yaoi hosted by Bishie Sensei

This informative lecture-style Japanese crash course put a BL spin on introductory Japanese. I felt like I was back in my Japanese 101 course in college, and Bishie-sensei was a wonderful teacher who led us through the basics with plenty of humor and creative integration of raunchy BL into the lesson.

We started out with the basics, including Japanese pronunciation and the different writing systems. We then went into simple grammar and self-introductions. The interactive nature of the Zoom live chat let audience members practice what they’d learned right away.

True to the panel’s title, the presentation was full of eye-catching BL references that no doubt helped the information stick. Bishie-sensei’s experience as a bona fide BL scholar shone through, and he provided some cultural insight as well. For example, he explained the concept of リバカップル (riba kappuru, or “reversible couple”), where the partners in a BL couple switch between being the “top” and “bottom.” Apparently, this is a Super Big Deal in Japanese BL fandom — so much so that publishers have put out trigger warnings to fans to prevent them from being utterly shocked or even devastated when their favorite handsome seme character is suddenly topped by the cute uke. I got excited when he mentioned Harada’s Happy Shitty Life (available on Renta!) and how it served as the gateway riba kappuru for a lot of Japanese readers. If you’re unfamiliar with this delightfully ridiculous romp of a series, I highly recommend checking out Ames’s article diving into it!

Near the end of the panel, Bishie-sensei provided some helpful Japanese learning resources (I was reminded of the helpful Tofugu blog) and answered some questions from the audience. Part of his answer to a question regarding getting into the translation industry struck a chord with me: “Translating is not just about knowing both languages, but being comfortable with them.” As someone who works in manga localization, I found this all too relatable; it’s something I’m still working on every day. Though I’ve been studying Japanese for over 8 years now, I found plenty to take away from this fun introductory course.

Manga Planet presents: Ayu Yamane at Citrus Con 2023

This was probably the panel I was most excited for this year, both as a BL manga fan and an amateur artist. I always love getting the chance to see an artist in their element — especially if they’re one I admire!

The panel started off with a presentation by the lovely team at Manga Planet (formerly known as Futekiya, which is now their BL label), an official manga reading service with subscription plans available. They expressed their continued desire to serve the BL community, and their passion as fans as well as members of the manga industry left a strong impression on me. They also talked about the importance of supporting the industry through legal, official means. By buying official releases of manga, fans can not only support their favorite creators monetarily, but also protect the hardworking creators’ mental wellbeing and contribute to a healthy manga ecosystem (what a great way to put it!).

The Guest of Honor Ayu Yamane-sensei then made her appearance, dressed in a beautiful kimono and speaking to the audience in fluent English. This was my first time seeing Yamane-sensei at a con, and I’d assumed an intepretor would be present, as is usually the case with international guests, so I was surprised to see her communicate directly with fans — and blown away with how eloquently she expressed her thoughts in a second language in front of a large international audience! (I still get extremely nervous just speaking up in Japanese during work meetings )

Yamane-sensei first answered audience questions, and talked about her inspirations as an artist. One artist she was especially inspired by is Sakae Kusama, who also draws BL manga and has a very unique style of paneling. She said that Kusama-sensei’s works changed her life and highly recommended them. (If you’re interested, Kusama-sensei’s works are available in English through our very own Renta! as well as SuBLime.)

The live drawing began, with Yamane-sensei using Posca pens, one of her favorite mediums. She continued to chat with the audience while drawing — sharing her creative process, her future ideas for stories, how she studied English (hint: a lot of MLM novels!), and more.

It was exciting to watch the illustration develop little by little. Before long, fans were able to recognize the characters from Yamane-sensei’s Save the Serious Talk for Later. She also included a citrus fruit in the background especially for Citrus Con!

This panel was recorded and is now available to view on Citrus Con’s YouTube channel, so if you’re at all interested in watching a manga artist work their magic, I highly recommend seeing it for yourself!

You can also view a high-quality picture of the finished drawing on Yamane-sensei’s Twitter (seriously, go check it out — it’s too beautiful for words!) and check out her heartfelt manga in English on Manga Planet.

BL That Hurt Me hosted by Peachie/Church of BL

The last panel I went to definitely wasn’t for the faint of heart — described by host and seasoned BL fan Peachie as their “dead dove panel” (if you’re unfamiliar with the fandom term “dead dove,” you can read an explanation here), this presentation of BL recommendations was aimed at people who prefer their BL on the darker side.

It’s at this panel that I was introduced to the concept of “Psychological Horror BL” or PHBL for short. If you can’t guess what that entails from the name, let’s just say Killing Stalking would only be the tip of the iceberg for this subgenre. It’s definitely a niche category within the BL sphere, so it can be hard for PHBL fans to find recommendations regularly. Thankfully, Peachie had a slew of recs ready for the most morbidly curious to check out.

The manga and manhwa discussed featured everything from kidnapping and mindbreak to cannibalism/vore, and plenty of absolutely despicable-sounding characters. If any of that sounds right up your alley, I highly recommend checking out this panel in the future if you have the chance — Peachie is always updating the rec list to include their latest enthralling PHBL finds.

As a self-described “BL fluff enthusiast,” I must admit don’t often venture into series that might qualify as PHBL, but I’m always looking to expand my horizons — and Peachie’s passionate explanations of the series presented certainly piqued my curiosity. There is definitely a side of me that is fascinated by the macabre (I follow plenty of true crime and scary story YouTube channels, if that says anything), and perhaps it’s only a matter of time before my interests collide and I fall deep down the rabbit hole.

If you’re ready to venture into PHBL yourself, or if you’re always in the mood for something darker, allow me to introduce two of Peachie’s personal recommendations that are available on Renta!:

You Control Me by Yamada Supocon (pictured above)

Dangerous Drugs Of Sex by Yuki Mizuta

I suggest reading the story summaries, preview pages, and user reviews, and then judging if you think you can handle the potentially disturbing content; I can’t guarantee you won’t be emotionally scarred, but don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Final Thoughts

Overall, I can confidently say that Citrus Con achieved its goal of uniting BL fans worldwide. I think one attendee said it best when they took a moment to reflect on the magic of the con and the enduring power of BL to bring people together:

Though I only participated as an audience member this year, I’m happy that Renta! could still be a part of the convention as a “mini sponsor” — if you were at the con, check your Goodie Bag for our exclusive coupon! We’re already excited for next year, and are brainstorming ideas for future panels. (We heard the “is it a Renta! title?” game was quite popular in the past… )

Citrus Con may be a new tradition, but I have the feeling it will continue for years to come, and provide BL fans the world over a safe space to come together and share our love of Boys’ Love. In attending the first Citrus Con ever, I feel like I got to be a part of BL history

Here’s to Citrus Con 2024! Hope to see you there!!

Citrus Con Website Twitter

A big thanks to all the Citrus Con staff who worked tirelessly to make this event happen! And special shoutout to Peachie — one of the con organizers who was kind enough to give me a sneak peek at the con schedule to plan my “press” activities, recommend some panels for me to attend, and offer Renta! a last-minute sponsorship spot. You can check out more of their wonderful work on their website, the Church of BL, or Twitter!

Want to see Renta! at more cons? Let us know what conventions you’re excited for in the comments below or @ us on Twitter!