Techinically, Antique Bakery is not a yaoi, as the term traditionally refers to doujinshi. However, I would say it definitely qualifies as a BL title. It ran in Wings, a mainstream (if nerdy) shojo magazine known for publishing tons of BL-themed manga. Although only two of the leads are gay, the homoeroticism between all the male characters is a big part of the manga’s appeal. Yoshinaga pokes fun at this in her own doujinshi, when she has women visit the bakery and speculate lewdly on the guys’ relationships.

The manga wouldn’t exist if it didn’t have hot guys constantly threatening to make out with each other. There’s more going on, of course, because Fumi Yoshinaga is a genius, but come on.

As for prejudging you based on your having a stupid e-mail address and saying, frankly, stupid things, well, that’s the internet for you.

I’m really sorry that the world is unfair and you have a shitty relationship with your mom, but that has no baring on this discussion. The grown-ups can read the part where I conceded in my piece that it isn’t yaoi, it’s the weeaboos that stopped reading after the first paragraph and hit the comment section.

Finally, if you want to be an LGBT person offended by the blanket use of a term, you’re welcome to your offense, somewhere else. This isn’t that kind of blog.

It’s a great series. It’s also so explicitly non-yaoi (publisher constraints? Personal interest in creating her first entirely non-BL series? The stuff she’s created since has been gen) that Fumi Yoshinaga created her own doujin of the series, with semi-canon status. Now THEY are yaoi, yess.

~just playing. Please avoid ‘that’ title at all cost. I truly liked Red Blinds the Foolish by est em. For plot driven GloBL, try Honeydew Syndrome by Autobrig.

Many people seem to have really, really liked Dining Bar Akira (Tomoko Yamashita), although I found it a bit unsatisfying. Like several of Netcomics’ recent releases, it came from a Japanese publisher that seems to be looking for a crossover audience and has a slightly more guy-friendly outlook.

Johanna– Try Natsume Ono, est em, and of course anything else by Fumi Yoshinaga.

Johanna– Try Natsume Ono, est em, and of course anything else by Fumi Yoshinaga.

As for gateway – I think that might’ve backfired a bit. I recall more than a few non-yaoi reading critics reading AB, loving it – then trying other ‘yaoi’ titles only to be thoroughly disappointed, or upset by the usual plot tropes. They failed to find the same level of story-telling and characterization that existed in AB, because a majority of BL being published around the time of AB was plotless crap. In Japan it wasn’t written for BL fans, so it had to be written well and couldn’t rely on hot sex and priddy art – this is what distinguished it under the yaoi-umbrella here in the states. :)

I’ve always considered AB more of a band-aid manga, rather then a gateway. AB is something you give to a fan that stumbles into yaoi looking for an engaging story, and doesn’t find it.

And incidentally, if this turns into a weeaboo pity-party about labels by people who’ve failed to comprehend the last couple paragraphs of my post, I’ll just start banning comments and commenters. You can have your forums (many of them) to be indignant about the specificities of your hobby, but that isn’t here. Do make sure to link my post though, I’d appreciate the traffic.

- Christopher