The difference between the words... yaoi, BL, S-Ai

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Lancha's avatar
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Hello~
I feel like I am nitpicking but on the other hand I also feel like maybe I should clear up some terms that are used in a wrong way by a lot of people...
(I wonder how many people wrote a journal like this before me xD''' )
The terms in question are: yaoi, shounen ai, BL.

A lot of people comment on my pictures with things like: "Is this yaoi?" No! it isn't. (most of the times, though I can not remember ever submitting yaoi here... since I am not much a fan of porn artworks)

Yaoi means (this I am taking from wikipedia, since I can never remember it) "yamanashi ochinashi iminashi" with in English terms would mean "without climax (in the story!!!), without plot, without sense". So in fanfiction terms it would mean "Porn without plot".
It refers to erotic manga with two males engaging in sex. Mostly without much plot.

The Shounen Ai term could be translated as "boy's love" and is not much used in Japan at all. It refers to stories which do have a plot and where the characters relationship is developed slowly. Most of the times they don't have sex and if they do, it is not explicit.

Since Shounen Ai sounds as if they are young boys... Japanese people use the term Boy's Love more often which in short is BL.  (They don't want it to sound pedophile... you know?)

But BL can also refer to Yaoi... there are no clear borders here. It implies that it's less explicit though and that there may be a story... most of the times (thanks Skaera for the "imply" word). So it is also like a word that includes both: Shounen Ai and Yaoi. So if you are not clear: use that term?

phew. Thank you wikipedia. (I was clear on the difference but it was easier with help, haha)

And thank you for reading. Maybe some of you learned something xD'''
I think, most of you have been clear on the difference, though.

Love,
Lancha

Correct me if something is wrong please. I am no expert xD

EDIT:
Oh yeah! Target for the BL genre is obviously females.
Bara or gei comi is the gay manga that targets male audience.
© 2011 - 2023 Lancha
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henatauzomaki54321's avatar
to be honest I just love yaoi weather it's explicit or not....but my friends dared me to watch a show all the way and they said it was yaoi so I was like ok, IT WAS BOKO NO PICO!!!!! DON"T WATCH IT.......WELL IF YOU'RE IN TO A 16 YR OLD BEING BANGED BY A 30 SOMETHING YR OLD,WITH CUM ALL OVER THE PLACE THEN WATCH IT..................................srry about that but it was the most disgusting yaoi everAshamed