In topic: "THE YAOI THREAD (possibly NSFW)"
Sarazanmai's my favorite bl/yaoi anime by metric miles. It's got a Dirk in it! how can I resist. I also really like Sk8 to Infinity for what it is, though its not quite as high on the yaoi energy levels. I did watch Doukyusei and enjoyed it, too.
Another big yaoi for me is Hunter x Hunter, which ok, is a shonen battle anime and the bl elements aren't exactly like there'll be kissing or anything. But HxH's gay themes exist as part of a broader tapestry of varied queerness--the deuteragonist Killua isn't just basically explicitly gay in a way almost nobody can deny, he's also a stalwart ally to his explicit trans girl sister. It's something you just can't see anywhere else in anime.
I've been reading a lot of gay romance/fantasy and sci-fi novels lately and having a good time with those, though since they don't fall under anime/manga idk if they warrant a different thread entirely.
'"I thought this was a love story," you say.
Your Lola's insistence has remained with you since the beginning, and you say these words in a quiet manner, with a shrug, as if to let these performers know it is fine, it does not matter that much, this thought—that maybe the definition of what a love story is could be stretched to include all that has up till now taken place. You say it like an apology. Like it is a thing to be apologized for.
A runaway child, charging through the porcelain shelves:
I thought this was a love story. I had hoped this was a love story.
You say it with shame, embarrassed at having said it, wishing you could take it back.
You say it, worried that you have betrayed some secret part of yourself that does not wish to be exposed—
an old gremlin in you, sick and yearning. You say it with hope.
Timid, and without conviction.
The hope of someone who knows they are about to wake from a dream to a reality they do not understand. The pub awaits, as does your empty bed.
I thought this was a love story.
You regret having said it; as if you know it will lessen the quality of the tale. Rob it of its smoke and shadow. But still, you say it.
And this moonlit body smiles. And from the wings the patting of the drums slowly builds, and the curtains behind the dancers rise. Because you are right, this moonlit body tells you;
This is indeed a love story. Down to the blade-dented bone.'
-You, in the Inverted Theater - The Spear Cuts Through Water
"I don't care if the best I can hope for is half of what I want. I'm not here for a realistic outcome. I'm just going to fight! Forever! With perfect greed! Until I get everything!"
-Saturn, Heaven will be Mine
