Why start this blog?

Admittedly there are many yaoi resources on the web for the longest time. In fact, I am a member of several wonderful yaoi communities online. No way do I begin to imagine that I am more knowledgeable than those more well versed in this genre of japanese manga and animation. However, I do hope to be able to share my own reviews and recommendations, as well as my favourite resource pages.

What more, I do hope that this would be a resource for those in Singapore. Admittedly, the yaoi resources online are either based in western countries or other asian countries. I have yet to find a resource dedicated to Singapore (yet!). Although aarinfantasy is based in Malaysia, surely Singapore deserve to have one of its own as well! *grin*

Actually it all started because I was asked to write reviews for the NUS comics corner and I figure I might as well store the reviews somewhere for prosterity sake!

Why yaoi / boy love (ボーイズラブ）?
Yaoi or Boy's Love (BL) is actually aimed at the shōjo (teenage girls) and josei (adult female) demographics, but is considered a separate category. It is important to understand that this genre of manga does not include gei comi, which is by gay men and for gay men.

In this site, I should use the word yaoi less, and BL more to describe this genre. In my opinion, I find that BL is merely the graphic version of romance novels or your regular mills and boon. That's josei for you. But in addition to that, BL plays up the tension and forbidden love aspect that women love to read about and cry over. Add to that all the fantastically handsome bishounen, voila! Most BL are women and understands what women are looking for. Reading heterosexual josei manga may focus more on the women's body instead of the men which I am sure all women would secretly love to sit back and enjoy. Just like the age old debate about how actresses can go full frontal nudity in movies but not men, this is really the answer to that. Of course, most of the manga are highly discreet and there is never anything extremely vivid or explicit. As in the beauty of the japanese culture, everything is implicit and leaves everything to the readers' imagination.

What can I find here?
In addition to BL, I will also be reviewing my favourite josei (non-BL) manga titles which is again, not exactly slam dunk or naruto. My reviews are not limited to manga but extends to anime, live action dramas as well as any anime that I find to have lots of bishounen. It will all be clearly indicated in the categories. I will also try to review shops in Singapore that offer BL content. Of course web resources are a must, including scanlation sites, etc. I also venture into taiwanese and korean mangakas so this is in no way limited to japanese authors only.

Personally I'm rather adamant about the fact that people find BL offensive. Surely I can understand if men find this uncomfortable but again, I must emphasize that this genre of manga is NOT targeted at women. Thus if you know you're going to find the content offensive, please leave now and don't even bother leaving rude remarks. However, I intend to approach all of this very analytically - an occupational hazard surely - with a few squeals over hot bishounen once in a while of course.