Well, let me try:

Yaoi Novel: I've never read any autentic novel to tell.

Yaoi Anime: the same, Blue Wolves. Most yaoi fans hate it, but I kinda like the main pairing despite the rest. Also, please avoid shota like Boku no Pico series, I don't want newcomers to view yaoi strictly as pedophilia. It's bad for the image of the fans. Also "My Sexual Harassment" has the infamous corn scene that shocked some people. And, to complete, please avoid Enzai, it's a lot of rape.

Hard Yaoi: I always liked hard stuff too... well, the newcomer knows it's hard. I just remember now Black Sun, found it kind of embarassing.

M/M erotica: Well, I can't remember the author's name or the stories... so it won't really help describing the scenes, I guess. I would avoid rape and real torture for sure.

Oh yes, I'd have to agree on avoiding the shota titles - Boku no Pico and Papa to Kiss in the Dark

I don't have problems with dirty, also I like the settings (wanted to write about Reconquest once but it appeared before I started) and the characters are sexy.

But, really, I wouldn't like it to be my first yaoi. As I said, I found the sex scenes kind of embarrassing. Maybe Viewfinder (and I love this series, find it very hot)itself could be a little embarrassing to the newcomer, but it's just an opinion.

I knew there were some stuff on shota (and traps, sure) for males. But somehow I never actually thought about Pico as being intended for straight guys, guess I never connected both stuff.

Now it makes sense the more masculine/pornographic view about some things in this anime. Even if some actual yaoi material has shota in it.

If we're being "technical", then Blue Wolves wouldn't be on the list either since it is gay anime and not "yaoi" or "boys' love".

:-D Still good to avoid either one in my opinion and most of us pervs aren't going to do the research before we traumatize ourselves. >.<



Edited at 2009-11-27 10:00 pm (UTC)

Really, it's not an easy question to answer (for what to grab and what to avoid) because it is dependent on the peron's tastes. If I had started with Only the Ring Finger Knows or, heaven forbid, a Fumi Yoshinaga title (which is all that seemed to be licensed there for awhile), I probably wouldn't have spent any more time or money on the genre.

But here's some suggestions of not:

Hard yaoi (?) - Level C, or Man's Best Friend or Ruff Love (they might go 'ewwww, with his dog?')

Yaoi Anime - Legend of the Blue Wolves, or maybe My Sexual Harrassment

Yaoi Novel - Ai no Kusabi...it's just not an easy read (both prose and plot)

Light yaoi - Vassalord (too much blood/gore for some folks)

Yaoi anime -
Boku no Pico: Shota's not really my thing, so I stayed away from it.

Earthian: There's so little BL content in the OVAs that you'd think you were watching a regular shoujo story. Best to stick with the manga.

(I'll be thinking of more)

It's hard to say what a newcomer may or may not like as I was also one that went for the hard stuff myself :)

I suppose the first volume of Viewfinder might be a bit much for most newcomers although I've only ever drooled at any situation I've seen Asami and Akihito in - thier first meeting might not be for everyone.

Anime wise I would say that Papa to kiss in the Dark might not be everyones cup of tea due to the shota nature of it - although, again, I liked it.

Novel wise I think that the worst translated Yaoi Novel was Desire - good Manga - bad translation.

Like I said since I like most of the hard stuff out there I'm probably not a good one to recommend what 'not' to start with!

later!

Hi!

I´am new here...

For me Enzai is very hard for the new people in yaoi word, the history is very intense.
I agree to avoid shota stories the first time you read yaoi.

It's like... 2-3 episodes long? It follows the plot of the video game... XD;; I'm at work right now but i have it at home. :)

My eyes have seen the horror of The Blue Wolves, I've backed tentatively away from Boku no Picu. I am still crying my eyes out about Ai No Kusabi (spell?)Enzai sounds familiar, but I'd have to go back and check although I am quite sure I've heard of it.Just finished reading my first dosage of Crimson Spell. Viewfinder is on its way in the mail.Thankfully,I have learned about sites that give you a more detailed description about mangas before you jump in headfirst.I really get torn up about tragic endings. Especially if I like a character. I'm still bitchin' about Ai no Kusabi to anyone who'll listen. :)

I was mistaken. It's not Viewfinder. It's Finder: Target in the Finder. :p

*pokes out tongue* I actually enjoy getting indignant over tragic endings. And yeah, now that I know about you I know who to bug when I'm unsure about the quality of a manga.

Aww, we're not talking about our Most Hated? Because dude, I have a list... :P

I would avoid anything out of print. I would also avoid anything with major rape and yet also anything *too* tame. If someone is actually looking for BL, they're going to want some nekkidness. And very girly men are polarizing for most people, so I'd avoid those as well.

So! No Lily Hoshino, no CLAMP or other tease artists, No FAKE because it's just too goofy to jump into without some groundwork. No to most Kitty titles because they're either too hardcore or poorly translated or the middle work of a longer series. No Yaoi press because they're either too dark, too cracked and porny, too sugary-sweet or too not-nekkid!

June is starting to have some real variance in terms of soft-to-hardcore, plus it's the one major publisher that might survive the economy. The books are also bigger, which is nice when you're trying to decipher reading right to left. If I were serious about helping someone out, I'd start with June and steer them far away from Kitty and Yaoi Press.

Er...what was the question? *goes back into hiding*

love, lore

Anybody remember which manga featured a boy at a confessional. He used the Virgin Mary statue as a dildo. Uh...I think its safe to say readers should be weaned into reading such things.(or maybe not at all.) It was like a cold smack in the face to me. If I remember it I will get back to ya'll.

I don't know. That's why I asked. lol :P It's all running together, I've crammed so many mangas in my head. However, I think the mangaka's name was Mizukami Shin.

I agree with any shota, so no CJ or Papa.

As much as I hate to agree Ai no Kusabi is a bad choice for a newbie.

I'd omit Viewfinder, Crimson Spell as they maybe too hard for a starter unless you know person really well.

My Sexual Harrassment, also is hard core and I'd have to really know the person. I Shall Never Return because the OVA is just srewed up, royally..

I found this harder to answer than the rec one. Because it becomes my bias and it turns into those I don't like.

A Newbie won't know if translations are bad, so definitely keep them away from Kitty, although I'm a fan because of the titles they put out.

How's about Little Darling by Matsuri Kouzuki, illustrations by Naduki Koujima? I really like Naduki Koujima, but MY GODS! This novel is ri-fucking-diculous:
Maybe it's the translation, but there is just too many gems of ridiculousness to excuse it...

"If this doesn't stop, I won't be able to stop my heart or my legs from opening!" WAH!!!!

"'Huh. That was my extra-special, gorgeous, hallelujah-hurricane love-bomb.'" O. M. F. G. Did I just read 'hallelujah-hurricane love-bomb? No. I. Didn't.

And the list goes on...

I totally forgot about this discussion! What was I thinking?!

I don't normally like to say newbies should "avoid" anything specifically, because different people have different tastes. Some like graphic stuff right off the bat, and some can be horrified by it. Blue Wolves was one of my early Yaoi anime titles. It didn't really "traumatize" me. What I found horrific, even though I wasn't new when I saw it, was No Money. Christ, could the uke have looked any younger? College student, my ass. The Ai no Kusabi OVA was hard to understand without the novels, but the novels are hard to follow, even for fans of the franchise, so maybe something to stay away from at first. As for manga, avoid anthologies. The publishers went on an anthology licensing spree in early years because they thought the books would appeal to "casual" fans. There are no "casual" yaoi fans, and there isn't a faster way to get people bored with an entire genre than only giving them collections of oneshots that contain no character depth and far too many cliches than you can shake a stick at. Anthologies are only good for fans of a particular sub-genre or a particular mangaka, both things that a "newbie" cannot, by definition, be yet.

By the way, when's that whole "new website contest" thing going down? Soon?

I don't normally like anthologies, either, but I did like Bond(z). Toko Kawai is one of my favorite mangaka, though. But then again, at the time I hadn't had much exposure to her work yet.

You could always messily copy/paste the review text from here to there, or keep the LJ community and just post a link to it for old conent.

Anyway, I'm worried January is going to be too busy a month for me. Hopefully I can find some time...

I'd rather more incentive to work on my unfinished fan fiction, but I'll see what I can do. ^_^

If only that were enough. Maybe I should start writing ficcage now. Maybe then it'll actually be finished by the deadline...

Viewfinder has been recommended to be avoided? WHAT? I thought that manga was amazing! Sure, there was some pretty explicit and graphic content, but if you can look past that you'll find a very gripping and intense plot. I also thought that the plot wasn't too predictable which is something I hate in fiction and manga so i was really pleased with that. Overall, I'd say that if you don't mind the explicit content then you should read it, just the story-line if nothing else. Just my opinion, though, so feel free to disagree with me. Just don't say that I'm completely and moronically mistaken!