why is this yaoi?

Mar 28, 2021 7:26 PM

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Oct 2019

269

yea there is an inconsistency with MAL genre labeling, same with yuri and shoujo ai. The distinction btw shounen ai and yaoi can often be a blurry one. Some shounen ai have explicit scenes while some yaoi doesn't.
I don't care about rankings either way but it is a pity.

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Mar 30, 2021 6:44 AM

#3

Energetic-Nova

Offline

Jun 2011

5536

Take a gander at what else it is published with. Nothing but intense content.

16+ rated manga normally end up cusping. Even two pages of lightly portrayed sex will often get it the label but, being published with other intense manga is probably the top reason.

There is only one sex scene at the very end of this and it got the label even tho all other volumes are 16+. But note what it is published with.
https://myanimelist.net/manga/314/Fake

Vs.

Gravitation which was published with shoujo manga and not a 18+ publication. It is also a 16+ manga, there is a sex scene and it is labeled shounen ai.
https://myanimelist.net/manga/332/Gravitation

16+ manga with light sex scene that is almost nothing published with actual 18+ BL

https://myanimelist.net/manga/1200/Dash?q=Dash&cat=manga

16+ manga with no sex in volume 1 but I suspect sex later, published with largely rated T BL labeled shounen ai.
https://myanimelist.net/manga/57791/Canis_Series

I think this is consistent with how MAL decides.

Energetic-NovaMar 30, 2021 7:01 AM

The anime community in a nutshell.

Mar 30, 2021 10:10 AM

#4

peachyixxy

Offline

Jan 2020

48

The way I've always thought about it, "shounen ai" and "BL/boys' love" refers to series that focus on gay relationships in general, usually more on the romantic side. Then "yaoi" refers to the more explicit, more erotic stuff. I don't know if this is a universally recognized thing (I assume it's not), but I know I see a lot of people miscategorize shows like Given as yaoi when... obviously they're not that explicit.

In my opinion, unless it's erotic in nature, a series should only be labeled as "shounen ai" or "BL." At the end of the day, the term "yaoi" just has a worse or more explicit rep than the others.

Apr 7, 2021 9:42 PM

#5

Ant161718

Offline

Oct 2017

335

You know I had been thinking about that, but I think the yaoi category ending up going perfect for this manga. Why?
Because although explicit sex scenes are not shown, the love relationships between couples are too obvious including kisses.
The theme in addition to the music is obviously open about all the gay relationships that are being shown.
There are many shonen-ai who are cataloged in this way and whose development as it is too slow even sometimes leaving open ends or without even a kiss. Sometimes the category of shonen-ai is too soft, almost terse.
Taking this into account, I don't see such an exaggeration that it is cataloged as yaoi. Sometimes the ways in which a love story between boys is approached has blurred lines between genders. Maybe the sex scenes will get a little more concise sometime soon. It cannot be known.

In general, I have seen very little explicit manga cataloged as yaoi but for containing sexual acts themselves (although they were not very showy) and shonen-ai manga cataloged that way for having just a kiss or confession and hug ( without any sex scene at all or to give you an idea of it)

It is difficult to catalog what this blurred line will lie in at all, but in this manga, being so open about love relationships between boys and showing sex scenes (despite being little explicit) can easily enter the range of yaoi.

But ofc, this is all my opinion.

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May 4, 2021 7:45 AM

#6

athena1326

Offline

Apr 2019

21

kuroos_hoe said:
okay so given is clearly not yaoi. it makes me really mad that it is categorized as yaoi, therefore not in the rankings. is there a way to change this? also thoughts on this?

I looked at your manga list. You barely read any yaoi/shounen ai, and this proves my point that people who usually ask this kind of questions aren't aware of this genre therefore talk nonsense.
First of all yaoi/shounen ai aren't genres but tags used by western audiences to separate 18+ gay manga. The actual genre name in Japan is BL (boys love). Majority of modern BL manga had tendency having a sex scene in extra chapter only, while main story is about couples relationship. All those manga are taged as yaoi in mal and everywhere else. There are also some BL that had very censored sex scenes, like many works of Yoneda Kou and some that had it only after a few volumes. Those also taged as yaoi. Given had a few non explicit scene and thats enough to tag it as both yaoi and shounen ai.
Someone mentioned here BL manga that taged as shojo. That can be because that manga was published in shojo magazine, in that case they're more shojo than BL. Given on other hand is publishing in 18+ BL magazine, so there's a possibility of it having explicit sex scene in future.

May 4, 2021 3:12 PM

#7

kuroos_hoe

Offline

May 2020

40

athena1326 said:

kuroos_hoe said:
okay so given is clearly not yaoi. it makes me really mad that it is categorized as yaoi, therefore not in the rankings. is there a way to change this? also thoughts on this?

I looked at your manga list. You barely read any yaoi/shounen ai, and this proves my point that people who usually ask this kind of questions aren't aware of this genre therefore talk nonsense.
First of all yaoi/shounen ai aren't genres but tags used by western audiences to separate 18+ gay manga. The actual genre name in Japan is BL (boys love). Majority of modern BL manga had tendency having a sex scene in extra chapter only, while main story is about couples relationship. All those manga are taged as yaoi in mal and everywhere else. There are also some BL that had very censored sex scenes, like many works of Yoneda Kou and some that had it only after a few volumes. Those also taged as yaoi. Given had a few non explicit scene and thats enough to tag it as both yaoi and shounen ai.
Someone mentioned here BL manga that taged as shojo. That can be because that manga was published in shojo magazine, in that case they're more shojo than BL. Given on other hand is publishing in 18+ BL magazine, so there's a possibility of it having explicit sex scene in future.

ohh i had no idea it was publishing in an 18+ bl magazine, that makes more sense. so it's more like the shounen/seinen difference?
also I do read plenty bl, just ones that aren't on myanimelist, and a lot of korean/chinese ones.
i think the main thing I was angry about was that this was tagged with yaoi, because there isn't any actual explicit sex. the point you made about yaoi not inherently implying sex is something I didn't think of while making the original post.
you could've been a bit nicer in your opening sentence, but I'm extremely thankful for your response

May 4, 2021 5:31 PM

#8

athena1326

Offline

Apr 2019

21

kuroos_hoe said:

athena1326 said:

I looked at your manga list. You barely read any yaoi/shounen ai, and this proves my point that people who usually ask this kind of questions aren't aware of this genre therefore talk nonsense.
First of all yaoi/shounen ai aren't genres but tags used by western audiences to separate 18+ gay manga. The actual genre name in Japan is BL (boys love). Majority of modern BL manga had tendency having a sex scene in extra chapter only, while main story is about couples relationship. All those manga are taged as yaoi in mal and everywhere else. There are also some BL that had very censored sex scenes, like many works of Yoneda Kou and some that had it only after a few volumes. Those also taged as yaoi. Given had a few non explicit scene and thats enough to tag it as both yaoi and shounen ai.
Someone mentioned here BL manga that taged as shojo. That can be because that manga was published in shojo magazine, in that case they're more shojo than BL. Given on other hand is publishing in 18+ BL magazine, so there's a possibility of it having explicit sex scene in future.

ohh i had no idea it was publishing in an 18+ bl magazine, that makes more sense. so it's more like the shounen/seinen difference?
also I do read plenty bl, just ones that aren't on myanimelist, and a lot of korean/chinese ones.
i think the main thing I was angry about was that this was tagged with yaoi, because there isn't any actual explicit sex. the point you made about yaoi not inherently implying sex is something I didn't think of while making the original post.
you could've been a bit nicer in your opening sentence, but I'm extremely thankful for your response

I apologise if I was harsh there. I don't mean to offend, I just read this kind of posts/comments a lot recently. People calling everything that taged yaoi - gay porn gets on my nerves. So I was mostly referring to them.
You're right about explicit sex scenes. I still think they should keep shounen ai and yaoi in genres, like it was before. Soredemo, Yasashii Koi wo Suru for example has only one page of none explicit scene and its yaoi here. Canis series and acid town that in latest volumes had 18+ scene, still tagged only as shounen ai in mal. Probably because they aren't as popular as given so mal stuff didn't bothered to change it.

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why is this yaoi?

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