tragedy – The BLacklist: Yaoi Reviews

November 15, 2024November 15, 2024

THE DAY I BECAME A BUTTERFLY (Sumomo Yumeka)

One of the first BL I ever read was Same Cell Organism, also by this mangaka, and I was struck by her unique stories and soft artstyle. Having a lot more BL under my belt now, I was curious if I would still like her work. I can happily say that even after becoming considerably more jaded about BL, Yumeka is like a soft, fresh breeze in a world of lightsaber dicks, oversized hands, dorito chins, and rape tropes.

November 11, 2024November 14, 2024

LOVERS AND SOULS (Kano Miyamoto)

Are you in the mood for cute, sexy, lighthearted BL? Well hopefully not because this one is… dramatic, emotional, and tragic, so I guess the total opposite. But when it comes to those kinds of stories, Kano Miyamoto really knows how to wring the emotional washcloth and make you feel for the characters, so if you want to get the feels you’re in good hands.

March 28, 2024July 4, 2024

ENDLESS RAIN (Yuuya)

I picked this one off my shelf because it was raining. I guess there’s no better time to read it?

I was fooled by the cover and title of this one. I thought there would be sweetness and romance, but instead there was…rape and murder. Close enough?

October 27, 2023March 28, 2024

SEVEN (Momoko Tenzen)

Boy I sure do love when a book leads up to an ending that would tie everything together but instead they go ‘sike, you thought this was going to have the ending the reader wants? Girl do you even read bad yaoi?’ Well golly gee, guess I have egg on my face for being hopeful…

January 16, 2021April 23, 2024

SCARLET (Hiro Madarame)

I had planned to finish and review the small pile of Studio Kosen titles I have all in a row so that I can get it over with, but reading that last one was like chewing on a dung-flavored stick of Juicy Fruit and I’m not sure I can handle another one just yet. I need some mouthwash for the brain, if you will. Brainwash I guess? So I picked a random M-rated one-shot off my shelf…I mean, there’s no guarantee it will be good or anything, but it would have to be, idk, fingerpainted by a drunk or something to be worse than Kingdom of Selfish Love.

Scarlet is Hiro Madarame’s debut work, though not the first of hers to be licensed in English (it was preceded by Cute Devil). It has a title story and two side stories, one of which I enjoyed far more than the main story, incidentally. To say the title story is ‘kind of fucked up’ would be one way to put it, as its main plot points include bloody anal rape followed by attempted murder. And they say romance is dead…