Seconding the part about Prince of Tennis fandom being very dedicated to the ridiculousness of it all--somewhere in my bookmarks, SOMEWHERE there's a fic about how the creator plotted out the last arc of the series while drunk (note: this did not actually happen... I think). I'm not sure I've yet seen another fandom top that. There's also seriously no heterosexual explanation for a few of those doubles pairs. Exhibit A is Silver Pair with the formation we fondly nicknamed "buttsex formation," which I cannot find a picture of at the moment, but for the uninitiated I assure you it is as suggestive as it sounds.
In my early days as a yaoi fan, Gravitation was the title that everyone liked. I watched the show (Well, most of it? I don't recall if I ever finished it) and was super annoyed because Shuichi and Wassface's relationship seemed so fucked up, but still framed as this super sexy romance. I fuckin' hated Shuichi for all the stupid decisions he makes. When I finally tried the manga I was delighted to realize that I'm supposed to hate Shuichi! Well, kind of. You're definitely not supposed to respect him. His idiocy is played for laughs, with all the secondary characters rolling their eyes at him repeatedly throwing himself at... Yuki? ...Yeah, Yuki, and getting pushed away every time.* Like, you're not exactly supposed to like either of them? And I appreciate that. And the manga's kinda raunchy, irreverent sense of humor. It's goofy. Shuichi's an idiot, Yuki's a dick, they're both kinda hot, let's watch this runaway train of a relationship crash into the station in a fiery inferno. (Neither of them are as hot as Shuichi's friend Hiroshi anyway.) *glossing over sexual assault bits because SO DOES THE MANGA, PAY IT NO MIND
I never got into gravitation, but I did find a download of the opening and I watched that over and over again. I wasn't really ready to enjoy protagonists that were assholes, and shut children was unbearable at the time. Does anyone remember Aarinfantasy? It cropped up as hub of all things imported and BL/yaoi, with user maintained doujinshi download links and their own torrent server. I spent so much time on that site, it for big just before 4chan took off. I remember huge photobucket supported threads of Japanese fanart that we'd painstakingly collected off of personal sites (and possibly pixiv?). That was around 2004/2005, near when KH2 was released. It had..a point system, and later they made a gallery to replace the huge image forum threads. The site was MASSIVE when I stopped going there (I'm not even sure why I stopped? It went down for awhile maybe, and it was easier to find relevant art on 4chan). Their big accomplishments were translating the Ai no Kusabi oav remake and translating some bl games.
Oh god. Ai No Kusabi. I bought the novels when I was 14. Fourteen. That was not a book series for this 14-year-old Mushroom. I managed to sneak them into the paper recycling bin a week before my mum decided to clean out their hiding spot in my wardrobe.
I remember that *chinhands* you were super intent on enjoying them even though they were really fucking weird.
I remember using info from the Aarinfantasy forums to try and get DRAMAtical Murder to run on my computer in English in like... 2013 or something. At the time I was like "Man, this place is still around?" (Never did get the game to run.)
Yep, I certainly remember aarinfantasy. I liked playing the games they had up until someone used a bug to get high scores on every game, at which point it was taken down.
I still have all the novels, but I never finished reading them. They were so trashy but completely unapologetic, which was nice. They had decent world building for a dystopian sci fi future based on the yaois. I enjoyed the strict caste system and how the author worked kinks and sex into just about every aspect of the culture. I remember being thrilled when the novels started to come out, previously they had been untranslatable because the author liked to use obscure kanji and even created her own kanji in some cases. Also you should have donated them to the library, don't destroy books!
To be fair, sometimes donated books go in the recycling. Depending on Mushroom's local library they might have gone to a Friends of the Library sale, but paper recycling is a fine end for books. Better than the trash!
I got into the BL game from late '90s homoerotic fantasy manga, when I was around 11. I don't remember what order... I think it was CLAMP, Descendants of Darkness, Saiyuki? I own Cardcaptor Sakura (A+) and want to reread X/1999, it's been a while. Maybe RG Veda, Tsubasa, and xxx Holic too? I do not want to reread Tokyo Babylon, because I hate it. Descendants of Darkness is pretty silly, but I like rereading it sometimes... Saiyuki is practically perfect in every way and I will love it forever. DNAngel, Loveless, Silver Diamond, and the collected works of Kaori Yuki came a little later, around 13, and they all have a special place in my heart.* I think the first fanfic I ever read was for X/1999. I remember it was slim pickin, since I shipped Subaru/Kamui instead of the powerhouse Seishiro/Subaru and Fuuma/Kamui ships. *shakes fist* I also definitely read in a ton of the BL heavy fandoms like Gundam Wing, Weiss Kurtz, Final Fantasy VII and Kingdom Hearts without actually watching/playing the thing. I played my first KH game (Dream Drop Distance) last summer, and getting to finally experience the feels first hand nearly broke me, ngl. I almost cried at the end, it was great. For standard BL, I read Fake in Borders, and a couple volumes of Gravitation. My mom got into BL at the same time I did, and she has enough BL manga to build a small fortress, it's amazing. I might look them them again since people are interested in recs. *I just realized these all qualify as Gothic Nonsense, aka my Favorite Genre Ever. My taste hasn't actually changed at all in the last 10+ years, maybe ever.
I used to read manga in Borders a lot. I'd go after school with some friends of mine. There was some fucking cross dressing based manhua that I liked a lot? Like some girl was crossdressing as her brother and there was like GAY romance except it wasn't gay because crossdressing. But I am pretty sure there was actual m/m shit in it too? And it was a mess that intrigued my little brain. It was liked among my yaoi loving friends at the time. What wasn't loved was yuri, which always made me sad. I very quickly learned not to talk about my interest in yuri around them. And yessssssss Gravitation. That was my shit. Even though it was fucking atrocious. Also that fucking soundtrack. Christ. It was lovely. It still is. Motherfucking ass Super Drive which I still know all the lyrics to.
There is a >70% I read that same manhua. Probably also in Borders, but my local library system has a fuckton of comics, so I'm not sure. Crossdressing is my jam. I'm sorry your friends were jerks about yuri :(
I was 14 and terrified of my parents finding my gay porn novels. I was definitely not going to give said gay porn novels to the library. But yes, I should not have just chucked them away. I imagine I'd appreciate/understand them more now that I'm actually an adult tho
READING MANGA IN BORDERS. THAT WAS THE LIFE. I was so sad when it closed down. I found a fucking full box set of FAKE at Borders but I didn't buy it because of being a teenager who didn't want her parents finding the cartoon sex in her room.
I ALSO SPENT MANY HAPPY HOURS IN BORDERS READING MANGA :D (and omg @Pukjie Ainsel Gothic Nonsense is my favorite genre too! I love every series you mentioned) Somehow Gravitation completely passed me by, except for the Megamix porn doujinshi, which I found online when I was ~14 and prompted much horrified giggling. Not because of the gay, just the incredibly explicit sex.
Hooray, I've always wanted one of those! :D Although I've read enough CLAMP to know that we'll probably meet a tragic end. But at least we'll be reunited in a future series incarnation.
