Making Love to Santa: chabasu’s “A Gift From Santa Claus”

~ ames ~ 1 Comment

Read on Renta!:
A Gift From Santa Claus by chabasu

Japanese:
Santa Claus ga Ataerumono
サンタクロースが与えるもの

Links:
Twitter (author)
Twitter (Publisher)

It’s that most wonderful time of year again! You the know the one: the season where everyone wants to make love to Santa Claus and fulfill their life-long Christmas dreams! …Wait, what do you mean that’s not what the holiday season is all about? I mean, why else would Reibun Ike’s Twitter account be covered in a wealth of sexy Santas?

For all my true Santafuckers out there, though, I’ve got just the recommendation for you. Two summers ago I was assigned the manga “A Gift From Santa Claus” by chabasu, and at first I was like “no way. There’s no way is this actually a BL manga about Santa Claus.” But you bet your sweet ass it’s a BL manga about Santa Claus. Never ever underestimate the mousou power of a BL artist.

Orphaned as a child, Kiyoshi is an now an adult—a simple man with simple desires, he just wants to spend an incredibly beautiful, romantic Christmas with his partner snuggled up next to the tree, surrounded by candles and presents as they sip champagne and huddle close for warmth while watching snow gently fall outside. But newly single, Kiyoshi is starting to feel like his dream will never be realized. That is, until he happens upon a Santa in the park offering to grant any wish. He wishes for a boyfriend he can spend a romantic Christmas with, thinking he’s just shitposting into the wind, and then heads home.

But then the next night Saint Nick shows up at his doorstep, telling Kiyoshi he can do whatever he desires to his body. 😲

This manga is a rollercoaster from start to finish. In true chabasu “older bottom” fashion, Father Christmas is the one to offer up his body. Discarding his silky fake beard and naughty red suit he reveals himself to be Goh Kiritake—but he’s still very much Kris Kringle at heart. It turns out there are many “Santas” all around the world who discard their selves to become a vessel of happiness for children on Christmas. However, by allowing himself to be seen and desired as a man by Kiyoshi, Santa—Goh—must face his punishment by the board of Santas for his Christmas sins.

I don’t want to spoil too much, since I truly feel like this is a manga that needs to be experienced from start to finish. There’s a lot that’s just mindbogglingly wild, such as… you know… watching Santa get fucked. But there are also some incredibly sweet moments, particularly around the fact that Kiyoshi is an orphan, and watching him finally make the Christmas memories he never got growing up. And I also really enjoyed the lighthearted worldbuilding around why there are actually many Santas around the world of all races and creeds—because these are all men who’ve dedicated their lives to making the children around them happy.

There are also hot reindeer.

Incredibly funny and cute and bizarre and entertaining (and sexy—something I don’t often associate with Christmas), I can’t recommend this enough for a heartwarming and light Christmas read! I know I personally think back to this manga every Christmas since it was first assigned to me. Make this your new holiday tradition—you won’t regret it.

I leave you with a simple question this Christmas: if Santa was exiled because he let you fuck him, would you choose to live the rest of your life with Santa in seclusion in an endless winter? I sure hope you would.

Size difference out of this world: ITKZ’s “The Titan’s Bride”

~ Admin ~ 1 Comment

Read on Renta!

Japanese Title: Kyouzinzoku no Hanayome・ 巨人族の花嫁

ITKZ’s Twitter (X) / pixiv / fantia

It’s finally time for me to rant/write about my not-so-guilty pleasure in the Renta! catalog: ITKZ’s “The Titan’s Bride”.

(When I announced my intention, Sou jeered at me from behind her huge monitor, “You’re finally going there??”)

I still remember when news of an animation adaptation had taken some corners of Tumblr by storm way-back-when; now, this manga is past the 30 chapter mark and still going on. One reviewer on Renta! brilliantly describes it as a “shamelessly smutty fever dream”—but I would argue that enough fantasy story-building has gone into that good-ol’ isekai flavor that there’s enough plot to pad and support the gratuitous, giant x normal human smut. The art is wonderful, too; as someone who got into BL from reading shonen doujinshi, it gives me the same vibe. Coincidentally, ITKZ seems to be also active in doujinshi-selling events.

So, anyway, come with me into this review to talk about isekai and, uh… macrophilia.

Continue reading “Size difference out of this world: ITKZ’s “The Titan’s Bride”” →

“Where’s the Dong??” – the Confusing Mechanisms of BL Censorship

~ sou ~ 3 Comments

If you’ve spent a good amount of time in the spicier part of Japanese BL fandom, it’s likely that you’ve encountered some form of censorship. A dick scratched out here, a hole whited out there — basically anything to keep the images from being completely explicit. It may have left you wondering, in a genre focusing on guy-on-guy romantic and sexual relationships, why is there nary a peen to be seen?

Inquiring minds NEED to know.

This phenomenon isn’t unique to Japan, though – it’s also present in Korean webtoons, for example, and other adult-oriented media in countries where anti-obscenity or anti-pornography laws exist.

It begs the questions: what rules are in place, if any, that keep us from enjoying our pr0nz in their uncensored glory? And, what point even is there if the intended audience is over 18 anyway, and we already know full well what’s going on behind those teeny tiny censorship bars?

I decided to take a trip down the rabbit hole and explore this sometimes annoying, often confusing, yet in some ways necessary aspect of BL and share my findings with you all. Please note that this article pertains to Japanese BL manga specifically — it’s the type I’m most familiar with, dealing with it on a daily basis for work and enjoying it in my free time as well. The censorship landscape may look different in other countries and across different media, so this is but a small case study!

Continue reading ““Where’s the Dong??” – the Confusing Mechanisms of BL Censorship” →

Christmas Gift Recs: BL Style

~ ames ~ 3 Comments

Perhaps it’s a bit late in the month for gift recommendations, but at least with Renta! you don’t have to worry about shipping! (Let’s give those overworked postal workers a break…) Since it’s that giving time of year, I figured why not make a nice list of recs for that BL fan in your life? Or, for yourself? Christmas is still a good time for self-care in the form of BL, surely.

So I decided to take our top ten categories and list my top three for each, and why I think they’re a great option for anyone who’s into those tropes.

1. Older Bottom
2. Delinquents
3. Omegaverse
4. Beast
5. Childhood Friends
6. Younger Top
7. Hosts
8. Businessmen
9. Sadistic Boyfriend
10. Fantasy

Without further ado, read on for thirty of my personal pics that should satisfy and heal any BL fan during this hectic holiday season!

Continue reading “Christmas Gift Recs: BL Style” →

Call Me Daddy: Shizuku Kunichi’s “Dad, My Lover”

~ ames ~ 1 Comment

Read on Renta!
Dad, My Lover

Japanese title:
ダッドマイラバー

Links:
Twitter
Comic Picn (Publisher)

This last father’s day, I asked on Twitter which kind of BL dads our readers prefer, and sugar daddies—referred to in Japan as パパ活 (papa katsu)—got a pretty lukewarm response. Which I guess is understandable, since there’s actually not a lot of BL about sugar daddies. It’s truly an untapped market. If you look up the tag on Chill Chill, even, there are only twelve (!?) hits.

Which is one of the reasons I got really excited when I found Shizuku Kunichi’s “Dad, My Lover.” Full disclosure: I actually read this three years ago when it was originally released in Japanese. One look at the cover sitting on the bookstore shelf, adorned with Shizuku Kunichi’s stunning art with Makoto’s adorable twink face and lopsided pink hair, was all it took for me to know this was going to be one of THOSE manga—you know, the ones where for some reason they just hit all the right buttons and you find yourself rereading them every six months? That’s not just me, right?

So when I saw we got the translated version of the manga via one of our partners, you bet your sweet ass I was going to take advantage and push this book with all my might. So here I am, doing just that. Pushing this book. Directly into your arms. Imagine me with a creepy, crazed look in my eyes as I take your hands in mine and then gently but firmly place this book into them. (Or, in this case, the JPEGs…)

Dad, My Lover is about sweet, innocent (beautiful cinnamon roll too good for this world, too pure) gay university student Makoto. In university on a scholarship with no extra support from his parents, when Makoto loses his arcade job he’s absolutely screwed. He’s living on his friend Ryota’s couch when Ryota, desperate to get Makoto to move out, recommends sugar dating. Makoto, without thinking too much about it (sweetie… baby… please…) agrees and joins a sugaring app. From there, he’s contacted by a man who calls himself “Sako.”

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BL and its place in LGBTQ media.

~ ames ~ 7 Comments

From Japan’s やおい論争 (Yaoi Ronso, or Yaoi Debates) to the online discourse of today, the most common question surrounding BL in media and social criticism is “what is BL’s place in the larger sphere of LGBTQ media?” Does it belong there at all? Is it a genre that, while revolving around MLM, remains entirely separate from LGBTQ culture? Does it mostly being written by and for (supposedly) straight cis women fully disengage it from being LGBTQ? Is BL a force for good, or does it only exist to promote stereotypes of queer men? And what about BL’s treatment of women? Which supersedes the other: the queer men who’re uncomfortable with the content in some BL, or the fans who use BL as a reprieve from the stifling nature of the heteronormative media landscape? Or is BL, in itself, heteronormative?

Those are just a handful of the questions discussed at the Meiji University symposium “BLの国際的な広がりと名国のLGBTQ,” or “LGBTQ Issues and the Globalization of ‘BL’.” Hosted by around twenty scholars, academics, fans, and community members from around the world, this symposium aimed to share research around how global queer communities interact with and shape BL in their own image post-import.

First, a little background. Taking place on November 25th and 26th, the event was hosted at Meiji University, which is often at the forefront of manga studies and research in Japan. The actual lectures were held at the Nakano campus, which just seemed right considering Nakano is also home to Nakano Broadway, a huge multi-level otaku hub for used manga, doujinshi, and goods. It’s been years since I was personally on a university campus and, being a huge nerd (I probably would have tried for my graduate degree if I hadn’t landed my dream job), I was pretty excited to feel those academic vibes again. Especially since the temps recently finally took a turn in Tokyo, so not only was it academic vibes, but cold weather, fall leaves, grab-a-huge-ass-coffee-before-class vibes. The perfect atmosphere to nerd out about BL manga for two days straight. (And get paid for it… 😏 I love my job.)

Continue reading “BL and its place in LGBTQ media.” →

Beefcake Special (Happy Good Meat Day!)

~ sou ~ 3 Comments

For all lovers of BEEF — dinner is served!!

It’s finally cooled down a bit here in Tokyo, and the Christmas decorations lining all the shopping centers and Mariah Carey blaring from every store’s loudspeaker do a wonderful job of reminding me of the upcoming holiday season.

…But maybe you’re the type of person who wishes the holiday cheer could hold off for a bit longer, and prefers to savor the time between Spooky Season and the lively-but-potentially-exhausting year-end festivities. In which case, Japan’s got you covered!

As we briefly touched upon in our Yaoi Day post, Japan has lots of “special” days throughout the year, based on wordplay that’s possible with the Japanese pronunciation of a given date — and November 29th is one of these days! In Japanese, 1-1-2-9 can be pronounced いいにく (ii-ni-ku), which is a homonym for 良い肉 (also pronounced iiniku), which means “good meat.” As such, 11/29 has been designated “Good Meat Day” in Japan.

Unfortunately, as far as special days in Japan go, Good Meat Day isn’t really that big of a deal — beyond some meat vendors having special offers, or meat lovers treating themselves to a delicious, protein-rich meal よだれをたらしている顔ステーキ.

However, here at RentaBLog, we like to spice things up and take every opportunity to celebrate different aspects of Boys’ Love — and thus, I decided that on this day, we’d give the spotlight over to the beefy guys of BL, who make our hearts pound with their rippling muscles — the buffer, the better! 

Hope you’ve saved room for a feast, because meat is on the menu tonight!! カトラリー

Continue reading “Beefcake Special (Happy Good Meat Day!)” →

Himemiko’s indescribably, unbelievably gorgeous “The Monster & The Ghost”

~ Admin ~ 1 Comment

Read on Renta!:
The Monster & The Ghost by Himemiko

Japanese Title: Monster and Ghost
モンスターアンドゴースト

Himemiko’s twitter
Himemiko’s pixiv

There’s this huge store in Ikebukuro that’s floors and floors of anime and manga goods, even an exhibition space. Having moved to Tokyo recently, the first time I visited it isn’t that far back—so I very clearly remember the gorgeous artwork on the walls, advertising one particular BL manga that had recently released its first collected volume. I didn’t have time to stop and catch its name, but I did stare at the beautiful, realistic art, almost daydreaming every time I passed it by; then, I noticed that many other stores around Ikebukuro were advertising the exact same manga, so I knew it had to be a phenomenon in the making.  

When I saw a manga named “The Monster & the Ghost” in my work assignments, I let out a squeal of excitement at its cover, like, “OH! IT’S THAT MANGA!!!”

And I’m obviously not the only one who’s been entranced by this work since. Both Japan and overseas, people seem to be buzzing about this story—so, what is it about?

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Healing From Trauma’s Scars: tapon’s “Entwined in Red”

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Read on Renta!:
Entwined in Red by tapon

Japanese Title:
Karamaru Himo no Akai Ato
絡まる紐の赤い痕

tapon (author)
moment (publishing line)
ShuCream Official EN

TW: emotional, physical, and sexual abuse

A complaint I see frequently regarding BL manga is that it’s too short. Compared to shonen or shojo series, which can go on for tens (and sometimes hundreds) or volumes, BL is often kept to between one and three volumes, and only goes beyond that for extremely popular series. (Though, I’ve noticed this is changing a bit with the proliferation of digital publishing in the BL space, but that’s a tangent for another day.) I personally like this aspect of BL, however—it forces the artist to write a concise story that makes a big impact with as few pages as possible. And, in the case of today’s review subject, sometimes you come across a manga that fits a full coming of age story in as few as four chapters.

tapon’s Entwined in Red condenses a story about abuse, trauma, and shame into just over one hundred pages. Our main character, Asai, is a Very Good Boy whose entire personality and motto are heavily based on the idea that it’s best to live a “normal” life. Good in school, a wonderful son and big brother, and popular with all his female classmates, Asai seems like the perfect example of what a teenage boy should be. However, he’s harboring a secret—ever since elementary school, when he and some fellow classmates stumbled on a porn mag with women in full shibari, he’s been obsessed with the idea of beautiful red ropes marking pale skin. From his classmates’ exclamations of disgust, however, it was made clear that liking shibari isn’t “normal.”

Enter his beautiful classmate Rui. Consistently truant, to the point that most of his classmates only remember his existence through rumors about him being a player and son of a yakuza, Rui is a complete mystery to Asai. So when Rui is suggested as the pianist for their class choir contest (evidently a staple in Japanese middle and high schools), Asai is asked as the class rep to visit Rui’s apartment, tell him about the contest, and deliver some paperwork. What he walks in on, however is Rui in the middle of prostituting himself to an older man, his beautiful pale skin covered in red rope.

When Asai tries to chastise Rui for doing “stuff like that,” Rui gets annoyed and points out Asai got hard from seeing him all tied up, so what right does he have to act superior? When Rui tells Asai to take responsibility for constantly interrupting his time with his clients, Asai can’t resist the allure of these desires he’s been pushing down for half his life, and thus Asai’s squeaky clean image is tarnished—but in its stead starts the blossoming of a relationship tying him to Rui.

Continue reading “Healing From Trauma’s Scars: tapon’s “Entwined in Red”” →

Community Tags, Why They Exist, and Why They Matter

~ ames ~ 2 Comments

While searching on our site, you may have noticed we have two tagging systems:

If these tags appeal to you, they’re for the series Chew Me Up and Teach Me About Love!

For those who’ve ever wondered why in the world we need two tagging systems, or what these two tagging systems are used for, I figured I’d do an explainer. I’ve noticed the community tags in particular seem under-utilized, and since they’re sincerely more helpful the more people actually use them, I was hoping I could “take a Selfish” and talk about why I think the community tags are important.

Continue reading “Community Tags, Why They Exist, and Why They Matter” →