A Guide to Yaoi Manga: The Basics [3]

Today we’re going to wrap up all the essential words in this guide to yaoi manga. I saved the juiciest for last, along with some honorable mentions that aren’t that naughty. Most of the words refer to relationships between characters. Because most of the words are sex-related, I decided to hide them under a NSFW link. So, if you want to read them, please click on the NSFW link. You might find one word or many.

Ama-Ama: 「あまあま」means “too sweet.” It refers to couples that are very cheesy. You can even vomit sugar when all those lovely and cheesy feelings are exposed. You could end up vomiting sand if things get out of control. 「砂を吐く」or, “suna wo haku.”

Bromance: 「ブロマンス」 is a compound word made by the words brother and romance. It’s an extremely close relationship between two men, but it has no sex. If there’s love, we have to take a look at the bromance case by case. If the bromance crosses the line, then we’re talking about a ship.

Kenkaple: 「ケンカップル」 is a couple that is fighting all the time. They’re a “hate couple,” and they end up being intimate because they fight a lot. If it goes out of hand, we’re talking about a 「殴り愛」”naguri ai” or a punching love.

There’re honorable mentions, but these aren’t hot words like the ones above.

Animix: 「アニミクス」 is an “almost anime.” The only real animated feature is the characters mouths. Ayano Yamane’s Finder has an animix. I bet they’re far cheaper to create than a regular anime.

AV: or “adult video” refers to porn.

Cosname: 「コスネーム」 is the name that a person uses when cosplaying. Many cosplayers might use it as a way of disguise, especially if they’re cosplaying BL characters.

Drama CD: 「ドラマCD」 is an audio performance of the yaoi manga. Many voice actors become famous and do have a fan base. You might even find short comics about the characters acting like the voice actors at the end of a manga, for example.

Doujinshi: 「同人誌」 are self-published works around a particular fandom. There are collections, art related to games, stories with characters of different anime, etc.

Host Club: 「ホストクラブ」 is a bar where male hosts will entertain women for the illusion of romance and sexual attraction. There are also host clubs with women serving men. Drinks are insanely expensive. Depending on the host club, workers are expected or not to accompany their clients out of the establishment. So, depending on the club, the rules are very different.

Light Novel: 「ライトノベル」 is a short novel with illustrations. They’re usually series, and one-shots are rare. Many manga artists illustrate the light novels. They can be yaoi or not.

Otome Road: 「乙女ロード」 is the nickname of a road in Ikebukuro that’s packed with shops that have items dedicated to a female audience. If you’re searching for a doujinshi, odds are that you’ll find the one you want there.

OVA: is an “original video animation.” These aren’t movies nor anime series. Instead, they explain something about the anime series. They can be a bridge between seasons or the explanation of a subplot.

Scanlation: is the process of scanning a manga, uploading it to a computer, and edit it to replace the Japanese for the translation. It’s a very long process, and many people might be working for such a page to exist somewhere online.

Scanlator: is a manga-lover that decides to scanlate manga, edit it, and then translate it. It can be that it’s a group of scanlators to do all the job.

Tankoubon: 「単行本」　is a volume that collects different chapters of manga. It usually has manga that has already been published before, or it’s a collection of one-shots.

Tsundere: 「ツンデレ」 is a character that looks cold, or that gets angry very quickly. However, they do so because they’re shy or get embarrassed easily. Inside they’re super soft beings.

Yandere: 「ヤンデレ」 are characters that are obsessive, and entirely in love with someone to the point of being sick. Their actions can come as “too much.”

So, what’s up for next time now that we’ve seen almost all the words surrounding the world of yaoi? We’ll explore the genres in yaoi, and discover some examples of all of them.

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Copyright: Top banner on this post made by dePepi with an official (C) Ayane Ayano image/ Other images (C) dePepi.com when stated, and others (C) by their owners.