Recently we’ve been trying to brain storm how to change our BL Twitter so it’s more fun and interactive! Over the past year, through conversations with readers and community members, we’ve been doing a lot of trial and error regarding what our followers do and don’t like about our social media presence. “Stop posting the same series over and over and over again”? Got it. “We want more culture and recommendation posts”? Working on it! We want to make the BL Twitter as fun to follow as it is to run.
As part of our push to have a more engaging Twitter presence, this last spring we hosted the “BL Trope Tourney”! This was our take on the incredibly popular March Madness men’s college basketball tournament, which we’d wanted to do for a while. Initially, we wanted to face specific popular series off against each other, but that was understandably shot down by our licensing team since it could potentially be upsetting/negative to the publishers and artists. So we shelved the idea for some time—until we realized there were other ways to have a fun bracket without making our wonderful partners uneasy!
Thus, the BL trope Tourney: 16 popular BL tropes were pitted against each other, and over the course of 15 days we held a poll to slowly eliminate the tropes one by one until only a single trope reigned supreme.
Last time we had a sale on ShuCream POP, it seemed like many of our Twitter followers were well-versed in the publisher’s content. And I can see why—ShuCream consistently releases great stories, from silly, sweet comedies like Red-Light Trouble to dramatic, heavy stories like Pain, Sweet Pain. Most anything you could be looking for in a BL manga, ShuCream has it in their catalogue somewhere!
We’ve recently started releasing a handful of newer ongoing titles, however, that are all really fun and cute and I’d thus like to introduce here. This doesn’t include long-running series like omegaverse classic What We Do When The Curtain Comes Down—that one deserves it’s own long-form review one of these days—but some of the newer ones we haven’t had much of a chance to push yet.
Yuma’s been yearning for his older childhood friend Akito ever since they had an encounter in middle school, and when his chance finally comes, he’s shocked to realize Akito’s actually the bottom. In all his fantasies he’d imagined he’d bottom. Still, he’s happy to take on any role as long as it means he can be with the man he’s loved since childhood. Unfortunately for him, it seems Akito is having a hard time getting over his previous boyfriend, who he lived with for years. Even after Yuma starts living with Akito, Akito can’t seem to throw out his ex’s things. Is Yuma really going to be able to put aside his own feelings to live with the ghost of Akito’s ex if it means he gets to stay by Akito’s side, even if it’s going to cause him tremendous pain in the process? A BL manga about what it feels like to be the “rebound” and try to support your partner through their previous breakup while also having to acknowledge and respect your own limits. Yuma makes some bad decisions, but will he be able to prove his love for Akito before it’s too late?
Hiroyuki meets his distant cousin Wataru at their grandfather’s funeral. Beautiful but flippant, and annoyed by Hiroyuki’s innocence, professional model Wataru arrogantly comes on to him and offers to “buy” his virginity. A senior in high school, Hiroyuki’s been desperate to figure out how to pay for his upcoming college expenses after his father’s bankruptcy, so a popular, stunning, wealthy model offering to “buy” him is a chance he can’t possibly pass by. But Hiroyuki is still an incredibly sweet, kind young man, and so he doesn’t want to just fuck Wataru and get it over with—Wataru is beautiful, after all, and there’s a deep sadness within him that Hiroyuki can’t help but be intrigued by. As he finds himself more and more attracted to Wataru, however, it becomes harder for him to accept that once he gives Wataru his virginity, they have no reason to ever associate with each other again. I have to admit, Wataru is absolutely my type, so I’m with Hiroyuki here—I can’t wait to learn more about him and see him open up to Hiroyuki as the story unfolds!
Both Sou and I are obsessed with this series. Kou is a hard worker, but he can seem a bit cold and standoffish. However, office prince and salesman extraordinaire Eito is up to the challenge of befriending him. While at work they seem like perfect enemies, with Kou constantly nagging Eito to fill out his expense report right, as soon as they leave work Eito is actually one of the only people who knows Kou’s secret: he’s gay. As Kou slowly learns more and more of Eito’s secrets, too, the two become almost inseparable—but as Eito wants to continue getting closer, finding himself more and more attracted to Kou, Kou isn’t willing to let himself see Eito as anything other than a coworker and incredibly precious friend. Is there anything Eito can do to make Kou see him as a potential partner, or is Kou’s past trauma around dating straight friends going to get in the way of deepening his relationship with the man who loves and treasures him the most in the whole world. Kou and Eito’s personalities clash, but at the end of the day they complete each other so entirely that it’s impossible (and so incredibly painful) to imagine them not ending up together.
Rui’s the most popular groomer at his pet salon—with the dogs, at least. When an incredibly stylish man, Joji, comes in with a Siberian husky, Rui can’t help but be struck by how handsome and cool they look together—to the point where, when he sees the dog out wandering the streets later that day, he knows exactly who the owner is. He takes the dog into his apartment for safe keeping, in bliss at having a wonderful furry friend around (in his no-pets-allowed apartment). When he’s woken up in the middle of the night by a loud noise, however… Joji is in his apartment?? And he’s naked? And where’s the dog? Not to mention, Joji claims being intimate with Rui is the only way he can learn to control his urges and, thus, his body’s tendency to revert to his dog form. Rui is incredibly cute, and I just love how lovestruck Joji is, so I can’t wait to see how this one will continue to unfold—Rui seems to have trouble accepting his attraction to Joji, so how with Joji convince him they’re meant to be? And what’s this secret Joji seems to be hiding?
Have you read any of these yet? We’d love to hear what you think! Let us know your thoughts (or any personal ShuCream POP recommendations in the comments or on Twitter!
Did you know that April 6th is National Twinkie Day? Well, now you do!! Perhaps only Americans will understand the nostalgic, sickly-sweet sensation that is a Hostess Twinkie (everyone else we tried to explain the iconic junkfood to seemed baffled yet fascinated at the concept).
While many would argue that aside from the hit of dopamine thanks to the intense sugar content of the phallic snack, it has little to offer, I’d disagree — it is rumored to have been partly responsible for the slang term “twink” that is well-known in LGBTQ+ circles, and even mainstream pop culture today. (Why Twinkies, you ask? Well, uhm, you might have to do some of your own research to get to the bottom of that one )
Because of that association, we decided to use this opportunity to show our love for the twinks that are so prevalent in — and do so much for — Boys Love.
In celebration of twinks, BLog authors and pretty boi connoisseurs Ames and Sou sat down for a nice, long chat (via DM) about twinks in BL. What is a twink? What kinds of twinks are we most drawn to personally? And, what is the appeal of twinks in the broader BL culture?? Read on for our extremely big-brained, candid, and (mostly) unfiltered fujin thoughts.
Conversation timestamps have been kept intact so that you can see for yourself just how much (or how little) time we spent poring over our thoughtful discussion of this dazzling aspect of BL
Happy Cat Day! Or 猫の日 (neko no hi) as it’s called in Japan! As we’ve discussed previously on the blog, Japan loves to play word games with numbers (i.e. 8/01 or Yaoi Day, 11/29 or Good Meat Day, etc.), and 2/22 in Japanese can sound like nya-nya-nya, or the sound a cat makes. So, everywhere you look in Tokyo is currently covered in cats: the convenience store has tons of cat sweets and snacks and cat-related campaigns, department stores are hosting pop-up shops for cat-themed goods and toys and accessories, and shelters are obviously taking advantage of the cat festivities with fundraisers and adopt-a-thons! The weeks leading up to 2/22 are a very good time to love cats in Japan.
Family Mart mofusand cat coffee cups for Cat Day.
“What in the world does this have to do with BL manga?” you’re asking? Is this going to be a special about cat boys? How about beasts? Cats who can shape-shift into cute boys and fall in love with other cute boys? Or maybe about boys who love boys but who also love cats? BL where cats are heavily featured?
BZZZZT. You are incorrect.
Highly in-the-know people will probably already see where this is going: this is a post about bottom supremacy.
As quite a few of you may know, the slang for someone who bottoms during gay sex, which originated in gay circles before slowly meandering into the BL consciousness, is neko (ネコ)—or, cat! Well, we actually can’t be certain if cats are the one-to-one reason for “neko” being used. When preparing for this post, I was reading quite a few theories online as to whyneko is used to refer to bottoms. This article about gay slang points out the two most common reasons: it could come from pussycat/pussy (as in… women’s genitals… lovely), but it could also come from the Japanese word for a wheelbarrow, nekoguruma (because this is the way you might hold someone’s legs while you’re… umm… y’know). This article by drag queen and TV personality Mitz Mangrove about cats (in general) also discusses how cats are often seen as feminine in Japan which possibly is what led to neko having become the universal phrase for a man who bottoms.
It appears the true reason neko has turned into the slang for ‘bottom’ is unknown, but the fact still remains: cats and bottoms are now linked.
As the resident number one cat lover and bottom absolutist in this town, I figured I would celebrate Cat Day by discussing uke archetypes, my favorite uke characters that are available on Renta!, and slip in a little cultural/language lesson for good measure.
New Years is the perfect time to look back on the last twelve months and think to yourself… “What was the best BL manga I read in 2023?” Best-of lists are common this time of year, so we wanted to get in on the action and make a list of our staff’s favorite BL titles a la Chill Chill’s BL Awards. However, our list is less a ranking of the absolute top popular titles as voted by our users (you can find that by checking the “best sellers” list), and more just us—as a team of BL fans—wanting to celebrate some of our favorite titles that were added to the Renta! site this year. (The 2024 Chill Chill BL Awards should be happening again in march, with people already discussing the nominees, so let’s look forward to that in the coming months!)
To make sure it wasn’t just our main blog team pushing our favs we’ve already talked about at length, we also invited Nan, Agedashi, Anne, and Snow from our Japanese side to share some of their favorite titles they got to work with this year!
For each category there’s a good mix of responses, showing just how varied BL fans are in their tastes. However, in the spirit of not making this post too ridiculously long, we’ll just highlight two or three staff comments for each and then list the rest of the choices below.
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.
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