Sex, Violence and Pretty Men: All About Yaoi

By: Micah Bowles
Submitted: 2008-07-01 12:29:29
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Yaoi is the term for manga that deals with romantic relationships between two men.  In the past, the term June or tanbi might also have been used, but these terms have fallen out of usage.  Though it is one of the newer genre of manga to cross over to Western audiences, it has still proven to be quite popular among older girls and women.  Yaoi manga can cover a range of different settings and though the art can be quite pretty, it often has a harsher feel than art from shonen-ai manga, which also features romantic relationships between two men but significantly less sexual content.

When thinking about yaoi, the first thing that should be understood is that it is often very blunt in its depiction of sex between two males.  The conversations about sex are quite frank, as are the pictures that accompany them, and though you may see a thoughtfully blurred picture or a censor bar, there is no question about what it is hiding.  Most yaoi manga tends to come shrink wrapped from the bookstore, and there will be plenty of parental advisories and age appropriate warnings on them as well.

Yaoi is not considered an accurate representation of homosexual male relationships; as a matter of fact, the main audience for yaoi manga is not gay males, but rather girls and women.  While there are certainly yaoi manga that are mostly concentrated on sensual or sexual material, there are still plenty of titles that fall into this category that are well-paced, well-written and story-oriented.  It is not unusual to see yaoi titles that deal with things as serious and adult as drugs, rape, and illegal activities, but you will also see titles that deal with the every day drama that comes when two people are entering into a torrid relationship.

Yellow is a four volume yaoi manga that has been translated to English, and it has proven quite popular in the United State.  This manga features two handsome young men who are roommates and who do dangerous jobs of questionable legality for anyone who can pay them, whether their employers are the police or shady underworld figures.  Taki is a skillful fighter who often provides the muscle for their operations, and he is loyal to his partner Goh in everything except romance; Taki considers himself straight and is often shown on dates with gorgeous women.  Goh, on the other hand, is unabashedly gay and makes no secret of the fact that he would love to change the working relationship he has with Taki into a romantic and sexual liaison.

The four volumes of Yellow show them snatching drugs, uncovering an illegal gun shipment, and dealing with their increasingly tense relationship.  Through it all, this manga has some truly hilarious moments and some extremely touching ones, and is a great example of what the yaoi genre can be.

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