#70s shounen ai manga

[year24groupedits]

I address those who have read "Agnus Dei" or "Kami no Kohitsuji", "Kaze to Ki no Uta" 's spin-off. Could you tell me who these people are, please?

I think the two boys look like Serge and Pascal, but I'm not sure... and about the girl?

[7teresia7]

Poem of Wind and Trees/Kaze to Ki no Uta (1976)

[youdarechallengeme]

more patalliro banmara art❤️

[yousei-no-mori]

Hagio Moto's "Greenhouse" - 1975

[3steart3]

sketch of the boys 🌹

[nieves-de-sugui]

A Quick History of BL

As someone who wrote a thesis on this very subject a few years ago, here is the short version of how BL has evolved throughout the years. For the new comers ❤ 

a minute of silence for the original form of this post that tumblr decied to not save right after I saved it

I am going to go with a chronological approach. Unfortunately, I cannot put everything in one post so if there’s any questions about this or that aspect of the history of BL that you want to know and it’s not talked about here, you are welcome to ask me directly :)

Context and influences - Japan in the 60′s

Before the US forced Japan to open its borders to the outside world in the 1800s, homosexual practices were common place between budist monks, samurais and kabuki actors. During the Edo period (1600s to 1800s) there was a very rich amount of poetry, art, books (such as Nanshoku Okagami (The Great Mirror of Male Love) by Ihara Saikaku) and codes of conduct about how to have a good master/aprentice relationship, kinda like the greeks if you know what I mean. However, with the arrival of western influences, in order to become a more “civilized” country, it was all put in the closet. 

Yet, in the 60′s Japan started to pick it up again through literature about young androginous beautiful boys (aka bishounen). On one hand, in 1961, the novel Koibitotachi no Mori (A Lover’s Forest) by Mari Mori was published. It tells the story of a young and beautiful 19 year old worker and a half french half japanese aristocrat, and their tragic romance. On the other hand, Taruho Inagaki wrote Shounen ai no Bigaku (The esthetics of boy-love), an essay on aesthetic eroticism (of which he wrote a lot of). All this was know as Tanbi (lit. aesthetic) literature. It generally refered to literature with implied homosexuality and homoeroticism such as works by Oscar Wilde, Jean Cocteau, etc. And of course, Mori and Inagaki. 

In chinese tanbi is read as danmei (term used to refer to BL novels in china today, ie: The Untamed it’s all connected friends).

From the birth of Shonen Ai  to Yaoi - 70′s to the late 80′s

Around the beginning of the 70′s, shoujo was being revolutionized by the Year 24 Group, a generation of women manga authors (mangaka) who started to explore new themes. Among them, their interest in tanbi gave birth to a new subgenre: Shounen ai. 

Their most known manga were:

Kaze to Ki no Uta (The Ballad of the Wind and Trees) by Keiko Takemiya, and Toma no Shinzo (The Heart of Thomas) by Moto Hagio

Their stories are characterized by having suffering eurpoean bishounen in boarding schools, living an idealized perfect love (meaning passionate) that, despite the tragic end of one of them, lives forever in the other. 

As this genre starts getting popular, more and more fans of these stories start making their own self published manga, aka doujinshi, of the genre. It is around this time that the term Yaoi is coined. Meaning “YAma nashi, Ochi nashi, Imi nashi” (no climax, no fall, no meaning). Basically PWP fanfiction, for the most part. Doujinshis could be considered an equivalent of fanfiction in manga form.  It is also here that the term Fujoshi (aka Rotten Girl, for liking rotten things) starts being used to refer to women readers of yaoi. 

With this rise in popularity come the start of the commercialization of the genre. Which meant the publication of magazines dedicated solely to yaoi/shonen ai/BL. The most popular yaoi manga magazine at the time was June. The common trait of their stories being the therapeutic power of the love between the mains. The traumatized character would heal throught this newfound love.

Most of the stories at this time happened in the West (Europe or the States) as the exploration of these dark themes intertwined with homosexual romance and homoeroticism still feel safer to explore as a foreign concept. One example would be Banana Fish (1985).

Commercialization and Yaoi Ronso -  90′s 

As more publishing houses pick the genre up, the term Boys Love is used to include every type of manga about homosexuality made for women. 

The increasing amount of BL series sees a changes in its themes: 

the start of the “gay for you” trope where one mantains their heterosexuality despite being in a homsexual relationship, 

the uke/seme dynamic (mirroring hetero realtionships) also relating to physical appearence (one being more feminine, the other being more masculine), 

the use of rape as an act love (sexual violence has always been present but here it becomes a staple),

anal sex as the only type of sex, 

older and more masculine men start to appear 

they now happen in Japan

Good examples of the presence of these themes in manga are Gravitation (1996) or Yatteranneeze (1995).

However in 1992, Masaki Sato (a gay activist/drag queen) wrote a letter in a small scale feminist magazine attacking yaoi and pointing out how it “represented a kind of misappropriation or distortion of gay life that impacted negatively upon Japanese gay men”. The female readers of yaoi responded, defending the genre as a means to escape gender roles and explore sexual themes that was never meant to represent the realities of gay men. This is know as the Yaoi Ronso (Yaoi Debates).

The debate ended with both sides understanding more of each other, with mangakas starting to include queer views in their works. It also started the academic reasearch of BL. 

Yet, it is a debate that has been restarted more than once, as it is still relevant despite the evolution of the genre.

more on this on another post

Globalization and coining of BL - 2000′s 

By the beginning of the 2000s BL is being sold all over the world (like all manga), and has become a stable industry. We could say it has finally become it’s own genre. 

Some of the most well known manga series, to us (in the west), of the time are:

Junjou Romantica 2002 Koi Suru Boukun 2004 Love Pistols 2004 Haru wo Daiteita 1999

all of these have anime adaptations for the curious ones

We also start seeing short anime adaptations or special episodes of the most popular series, with questionable themes, such as: adoptive father x adoptive son  (Papa to Kiss in the Dark 2005), father x son’s friend (Kirepapa 2008), etc... 

However the themes remain more or less the same. Junjou Romantica’s love story starts with a non-con sex scene by the older one (masc, seme) to the younger one (more feminine, uke) addressed years later in the manga btw. Koi Suru Boukun’s love story is triggered by aphrodisiacs and rape. They’re still very present in the stories but slowly going away. A mangaka that represents this era could be Natsume Isaku (Candy Color Paradox 2010).

Change is slow in Japan. Even though the voices of LGBT+ people started to be taken into account in the genre it is not until later that we see it reflect in the mangas themselves. However, we can already see the start of this in Doukyusei (Classmates) (2006) by Asumiko Nakamura. Also Kinou Nani Tabeta? (2007) which is actually part of a more mature genre: Seinen.

It is my personal (subjective) theory that the BL of this era was the one that got popular outside of Japan, which is why we see lots of references to the themes, tropes and dynamics of this time in today’s BL series. 

The LGBTzation of BL and the rise of webtoons - 2010′s to 2020′s

Slowly but surely LGBT characters and themes enter the scene of BL. Existing simultaneously with the previous tropes and themes, we start seeing a shift in these stories. We now see:

characters that identify as gay or some type of queer

discussions about homophobia

more mature themes about life and romance

At the same time as we get the usual love stories with the usual themes, a new trend starts to take over. And we get simultaneously, cute, sometimes questionable but light love stories:

Love Stage 2010 Ashita wa Docchi da! 2011 Kieta Hatsukoi 2019

More profound stories and darker or more complex themes:

Blue Sky Complex 2013  Saezuru Tori wa Habatakanai 2011 (mafias) Given 2013 (suicide) Hidamari ga Kikoeru 2013 (deafness)

And others that adress the queer experience in a more mature way (which might actually fall into the Seinen genre)

Itoshi no Nekokke 2010 (slice of life, queer characters) Smells like Green Spirit 2011 (two ways to deal with a homphobic society) Strange 2014 (relationships between men) Shimanami Tasogare 2015 (an LGBT group helps a closeted gay) Old Fashioned Cupcake 2019 (you know this one 😉) Bokura no Micro na Shuumatsu 2020 (the end of the world)

As queer stories are explored, BL mangakas and mangakas from other genres start to consider more stories about queer people such as the Josei Genderless Danshi ni Aisaretemasu (My Androgynous Boyfriend) (2018) by Tamekou, or the Shoujo Goukon ni Itarra Onna ga Inakatta Hanashi (The story of when I went to a mixer and there were no women) (2021) by Nana Aokawa. 

Still, we can see two realities live side by side. Doukyuusei gets adapted into an impactful animated movie in 2016, meanwhile Banana Fish gets an anime adaptation that keeps the homoeroticism but not the homosexuality.  

For those who might be interested. Here are some of the authors that represent the first half of this era, where they start to include newer points of view:

Scarlet Beriko, HAYAKAWA Nojiko, KURAHASHI Tomo, OGERETSU Tanaka, Harada, KII Kanna (Stranger by the Sea), etc...

And authors that while keeping classical themes break the stereotypes in a subtle manner:

CTK, ZAKK, Jyanome, Cocomi, Hidebu Takahashi, SUZUMARU Minta, etc...

Mangakas also no longer stick to one genre only. They explore whichever of them they want, from BL to Seinen to others. 

ie: Tamekou, 

or Asumiko Nakamura

The curious case of Webtoons

With the digitalization of mangas, throught Renta and Lehzin, it has become easier (and more expensive) to access these stories. Korea makes and appearence with their webtoons. Through the lack of piracy protections and the majority of them being digital, manhwa (korean webtoons) sees a rise in popularity. Through the digital medium the influencee can be the influencer.

However, like many other East Asian countries they have consumed BL, without hearing about the conversations about BL. So they end up mantaining the older themes and stereotypes that newer BL is trying to leave behind. Therefore, we end up with a mix of old and new, ie:

Killing Stalking 2016 Cherry Blossoms After Winter 2017 Painter of The Night 2019

Additionally, it is also thanks to the easy access to internet that Omegaverse, with its higher dramatic stakes (that parallel hetero dynamics), enters the mangasphere in 2016. It has grown in popularity ever since.

With the Thai BL Boom of 2020, Japan rediscovers its own BL market and starts investing in it more. Which is why we get live action adaptations of BL manga that was popular years ago (Candy Color Paradox was a manga from 2010), the more recent ones (The End of the World With You) or new anime adaptations (Saezuru Tori wa Habatakanai in 2020). 

more on this in my japanese live action BL post

What has it become now? is it BL? ML? or Seinen? Or is it all just gay manga?

It is clear that Shoujo manga (with BL, Josei and Seinen) is exploring queer themes such as gender and sexuality more and more. Japan is interested in this conversation, not only in manga (Genderless fashion). Which brings up the current question in BL studies: Does it make sense to keep these categories?

As a response to BL, ML (Male Love), which is made by gay men for gay men, started happening (around the 70s too). And Bara (gay manga porn) in response to Yaoi. However both gay men and women read BL and ML. We also see other themes being explored through BL, such as friendship (in BL Metamorphose), food (in Kinou Nani Tabeta), male relationships of all kinds (in Strange), and different queer views on life and its challenges (in Shimanami Tasogare). More and more what is LGBT and what is BL is merging, the line is blurred. 

Conclusion

BL has been in my life for longer than it hasn't. It is through shoujo and BL that I have come to understand people and romance.

It is flawed, like everything else this life, but it's flourishing in many ways.

The genre feels old and new at the same time. 

We can still find shounen ai/tanbi elements in more modern manga (All About J). Or the gay for you in a new light (Itoshi no Nekkoke). Or more educational manga on queer issues (My Brother’s Husband by Gengoroh Tagame). BL has around 50 years of existence but it is also being born anew in Thailand and Korea. 

BL manga will continue to evolve in acordance to Japanese tastes, as it is still a local market. Hopefully the korean webtoons that get popular will be the more daring ones in their themes. Who knows where it will go from here? The only thing we know for sure is that it will continue to change. Isn't it exciting?

A post on the evolution of live action BL in Japan is coming, to complement this post.  As well as a more detailed explanation of the Yaoi Debates and gay manga.

[relentlesslyexisting]

The thing about youtube videos about the history of shoujo manga is that they're just not made for people who are legitimately invested in that history. They are also not made by people who read Japanese, or have a lot of experience with 70's shounen ai, or even otometique (especially otometique, thats something I need to read more of!). There's also a scope problem. Honestly, I'd rather see people like Colleen skip over those "historical" segments and just get into talking about the manga they want to talk about, because there is an unbelievable amount of historical context you can get into when it comes to discussing the development of shoujo manga that is better said in a book. I would know, I wrote a 30 page thesis paper discussing shoujo manga (specifically Akimi Yoshida's weird niche) and I felt like an idiot trying to summarize all that information. If I could go back, I'd probably cut out a lot of that fat and just give a page dedicated to discussing what tanbi and June magazine was.

Honestly, I don't think Colleen does a terrible job summarizing a lot of that history, she certainly has better information than I did when I was like 14. The most blaring issue with these essays is that nothing original is being said. Listening to Colleen talk I cringe a little, because I know and have quoted from her exact sources. But really whats off about these videos is that she knows these series exist, but she hasn't read a lot of them. Not enough to be informed above a surface level. Which is kind of fair. There's a lot there to read. But I guess, if she had more passion for 70's shoujo manga in particular, she'd talk about something that isn't ROV. And I think that's what ends up pissing us snobs off. We've heard all these talking points before, there's nothing new to be learned so it becomes easy to pick everything apart.

I dunno, just some thoughts.

[olderthannetfic]

Hey! There's still modern fucked up shounen ai. I read this one about a serial killer and a prison guard just last week.

--

LOL.

Yes, yes, obviously, there's fucked up BL.

The point is that the word 'shounen ai' is an old one for pederasty—i.e. the love of pubescent boys by adult men. This word got used by some Japanese dude to write about the history of m/m in Japan, Ancient Greece, etc. (which makes a lot of sense given that age gaps were the norm in those contexts).

The 1970s mangaka read said book and were into tragic European shit like Les amitiés particulières.

So they wrote a bunch of stuff like that.

In the 70s.

When this term was last valid to describe a class of manga.

[tealoverdrawssomething]

As a reader of both yaoi and danmei, what always bothers me is that danmei fans get REALLY mad when somebody calls them fujoshi, like fujoshi is some kind of nasty monster whose name we shall not pronounce.

But the fact is that... Danmei fans aren't that much different from fujoshi/fudanshi/fujin🤷‍♀️

Danmei was HUGELY inspired by early shounen-ai/yaoi manga back in the 70s, so pretending that danmei has NO relations to yaoi is like a child who has a sibling that they don't like and in public they pretend they aren't in any way related to their sibling, and they both are just strangers.

Danmei, despite later developing independently from yaoi, often has very popular and questionable tropes similar to yaoi, like:

1. gong-shou/seme-uke stereotypes (what I mean is even if gong and shou look equal and even have equal power positions, shou, more often that not, is portrayed as more illogical, immature, overemotional, embarrassed and even dependent on gong. While gong is usually portrayed as more mature, logical, stoic, independent and emotionally cold or at least knows how to hold his emotions in right time. There are only few authors like MXTX who try to subvert or to parody such stereotypes)

2. sexual consent issues

3. rape phantasy

4. shotacon

5. incest (be it biological or through adoption)

6. big age gaps

7. lack or absence of safe-sex practices

8. omegaverse

And what's funny is that many danmei fans, especially Western ones, act like danmei is "pure", "wholesome", "actual good gay representation", unlike "dirty", "too sexual" and "fetishistic" yaoi.

Okay, danmei is focused more on story and lore than on sex, but how does damn sex make something "dirty"? Sex is a natural thing that people of all sexualities do or don't do. Real life homosexual relationship isn't about unicorns and rainbows, not every gay encounter has to be deep (however it sounds). And many sexual scenes in danmei can be even more messy and atrocious than in yaoi, considering points I listed above.

Yaoi by its origin is "yama nashi, ochi nashi, imi nashi" (山[場]なし、落ちなし、意味なし) , which means "no climax, no point, no meaning". Yaoi wasn't supposed to be treated as serious or as "wholesome".And danmei wasn't supposed to be "god-honoring gay representation" either, because, as yaoi, the genre was made BY "mostly" straight women FOR "mostly" straight women. Even more, queer fans like me weren't a thing in Asian BL until late 90s, when East Asian media got more popularity abroad due to rapid developing and access of PCs and internet + more access to language translations.

So, attacking yaoi and fujoshi/fudanshi/fujin because they "romanticize shit" and "fetishize gays", while at the same time consuming genre that had similar origins, has similar problems and is still mostly written and consumed by straight cis women gooning at conventionally attractive guys banging each other - It's hypocrisy at best and stupidity at worst.

Either consume both genres, find good stories in each of them and be happy, or just don't be a fucking hypocrite.

And no, it's not "homophobic" or "misogynistic" or "anti" to give valid points about problems in BL/slash/yaoi/danmei communities, especially when you yourself consume and produce their content.

[darklightsworld]

Hi! I'd like to ask a question about your Fire! post, because I got asked one when I reblogged it :) Can you elaborate a little bit on what you are referring to with the edgy stuff "Friends" did? I'd like check it out. Thank you, and have a nice February.

Hi! I was referring to Weekly Shoujo Friend, the other major weekly shoujo magazines in the 60s next to Weekly Margaret. These rival magazines followed different editorial directives and had different tones overall.

Initially Friends was considered to be the more conservative one. Even though many young female artists debuted in the magazine in the 60s (this was the decade when female artists became the main content providers of shoujo magazines), they weren’t really trusted to write their own stories, and most had to work based on narratives provided by separate writers. Kodansha continued this at least till the early 70s (I have to check further), and many artists hated it, for example, Aoike Yasuko (Eroica yori ai wo komete), who came into her own only after she left Kodansha and this practice. (There are exceptions, of course, Satonaka Machiko, who debuted at the same time as Aoike in 1964 (both were 16※), was mostly doing her own thing—with editorial guidance, of course.)

Conversely, Margaret recognized faster that young female readers would rather read what artists of their age group would create, and at the same time these young artists, many of whom debuted at 15-16, would know better how to approach readers hardly younger than themselves. This does not mean that there was no editorial guidance, and editors often suggested themes, literature, movies and such for young artists to use as a template for their stories, but Margaret was less rigid and reacted to the changes in demand faster. This is one of the reasons Weekly Margaret was the most popular shoujo magazine in the 60s, the first one to break a million copies in 1967, and even overall, the second manga related magazine to reach that number after Weekly Shounen Magazine.

While Friend hung on to family oriented dramas of young girls for quite long, Margaret switched to romantic comedies faster, first Hollywood-esque, then about foreign girls in foreign setting (mostly American), then about school girls in Japanese setting. Eventually Friend shifted too, but overall the magazine seems to be darker and more dramatic to me than Margaret, the art was also plainer, less decorative overall in Friend (huuuuuge exception is Hosokawa Chieko, who had the most amazing, most decorative, most unrestricted art in the 60s). This impression got only stronger in the late 60s/1970 when Friend had several serious coming-of-age dramas, like Mayuko no nikki by Yamato Waki and stories by Machiko＆Kenji (all came with a writer, but it’s not always a bad thing). Especially Machiko＆Kenji’s works have a touch of gekiga (this was the period when gekiga was widely popular, trickled into shounen manga and led to the birth of seinen manga magazines a few years before) and occasionally mixed with shounen manga line work. Mayuko on nikki is interesting too, it has some experimental artwork as well.

All in all, even though Margaret also had dramas, sometimes addressed societal issues, coming-of-age (the latter in foreign settings more in Bessatsu Margaret), and Friend also had its share of school girl love comedies, I feel Friend, that was more serious to begin with, gained an edgier, grittier tone as well by 1970. (Disclaimer: while I have read every issue of Weekly and Bessatsu Margaret from 1963 to 1970, I have only sampled Friend, a few issues per year, so far, so these are my impressions based on that.)

And since this came from the first bed scene, sexual revolution arrived in Japan as well, and by the late 60s it trickled down to manga magazines even for school boys and school girls. The infamous Harenchi Gakuen is a result of that, which caused the quite harmful trend of boys flipping girls' skirts in schools. These topics appeared in shoujo magazines in articles and manga as well, although often from a male perspective. Naughty (harenchi) behavior was kind of encouraged, and even regarding skirt-flipping girls were encouraged to “deal with it” as “boys will be boys” *rolls eyes* (Also never forget that one Friend issue in 1970 where teenage girl nude modeling was basically encouraged—photos included! *urgh*) Gradually articles about physical maturing of teenagers appeared, both about boys and girls, which were more serious, but in comedic shoujo manga “harenchi” elements (peeping toms, skirt-flippers) became frequent, and even more serious works featured shower scenes, underwear scene, nudity. Many of these were also from a male perspective (peeping toms not getting punished, girls being embarrassed, girls showing skin… in a shoujo manga), but many artists were more forward thinking and/or showed boys at the end of the female gaze as well.

Anyway, sexuality was kind of there at the end of the 60s, kissing became more frequent, and coming-of-age narratives featured sexuality, although mostly offscreen. I remember having seen panels of people in bed in at least one story I think in Bessatsu Margaret, but I can’t seem to find it among all my photos now.※※ An there are also the junior manga titles I mentioned, that featured more mature characters and relationship. Characters are obviously sleeping with each other, so at this point, when I haven’t read all the 60s shoujo and junior manga I would neither confirm nor deny that Fire! had the first bed scene ever (depends on the definition anyway.)

※By the way, it is often mentioned how Satonaka Machiko’s debut at 16 was a shock to young mangaka aspirant girls. However, her age is just one reason, several shoujo manga artists debuted that young or younger even before her. However, this was the start of manga awards for people aiming to be a manga artist, and with this (and also manga schools, a tradition started by Bessatsu Margaret not long after and immediately copied by almost every magazine) aspirants finally knew an exact way how they could become a manga artist. Before that it wasn’t clear at all, it involved sending or bringing manuscripts to publishers or older artists and so on.

※※Found it, it was in 1971 so it doesn't matter, Juliano no asa by Nishitani Yoshiko. Well, that was crazy stuff: the boy slept with the mother of his girlfriend thinking she might be his mother o_O

[year24groupedits]

Gilserge❤️

Serge Battour and Gilbert Cocteau from the manga "Kaze to Ki no Uta" or "The Song of the Wind and the Trees" (1987)

[kazetokinouta-a]

[animeyoriaiwokomete]

This is my rough translation for fun. I have studied some Japanese and surely it’s not perfect but I had fun while doing it. 

[yousei-no-mori]

small babies

[akamarulover]

Top 100 anime of the decade!

My personal favorite 100 series that aired from 2010-2019. It was harder than I thought to narrow down the list! I have watched all of these (some multiple times) and would recommend them all! *Some of these are not inherently “good”, but were entertaining enough for me to include :9 **If I specify a season, then I probably dropped it at some point or watched all of it but didn’t like the later material ***Cutoff is October 2009. Unless there are multiple seasons, the majority of which aired after 2010.

#41-100

100) Fairy Tail (2009-2019): Action, Adventure, Fantasy -328 Episodes 99) Black Clover (2017-Current): Action, Adventure, Fantasy -116+ 98) Violet Evergarden (2018): Slice of Life, Coming of Age -13 97) O’Maidens in your Savage Season (2019): Slice of Life, Coming of age -12 96) Fate Apocrypha (2017): Action, Fantasy, Supernatural -25 95) The World God Only Knows (2010-2013): Romantic Comedy -36 94) Kobayashi’s Maiddragon (2017): Comedy, Slice of Life -13 93) Sword Art Online [season 1] (2012): Isekai, Action -25 92) Space Brothers (2012-2014): Comedy, Slice of Life, Sci-Fi -99 91) The Ancient Magus’ Bride (2017-2018): Fantasy, Supernatural -24

90) K: Project Kings (2012, 2015): Urban Fantasy, Action -26 89) Darling in the Franxx (2018): Mecha, Romance, Drama -24 88) My Love Story (2015): Romance, Comedy -24 87) Beyond the Boundary (2013): Romance, Fantasy, Supernatural -13 86) Kiznaiver (2016): Sci-Fi, Drama -12 85) Waiting in the Summer (2012): Slice of life, Romance, Supernatural -12 84) Rokka no Yuusha (2015): Mystery, Supernatural, Adventure -12 83) Arslan Senki (2015): Action, Historical, Drama -25 82) Nichijou (2011): Slice of Life, Comedy -26 81) Ozomatsusan (2015-2018): Comedy, Parody -54

80) Golden Kamuy (2018): Historical, Adventure -24 79) Danganronpa [season 1](2013): Mystery -13 78) Charlotte (2015): Comedy, Drama, Supernatural -13 77) Magical Girl Raising Project (2016): Magical Girl, Battle, Dark Fantasy -12 76) Letter Bee (2009-2011): Adventure, Fantasy, Supernatural -50 75) Bakuman (2010-2013): Slice of Life, Comedy, Coming of Age -75 -Manga is really good! By same creators as Death Note 74) Cells at Work (2018): Comedy, Slice of Life -13 73) Acca 13 (2017): Mystery, Drama -13 72) Assassination Classroom (2015-2016): Comedy, Action -47 71)Mekakucity Actors [Kagerou Project] (2014): Supernatural, Sci-Fi -12 -Good music. Story based on Vocaloid songs.

70) No.6 (2011): Dystopia, Shounen-ai, Sci-fi -11 69) Orange (2016): Romance, Slice of life, Coming of age -13 68) Dr.Stone (2019): Adventure, Post-apocalypse -24 67) Your Lie in April (2014-2015): Musical, Romance, Drama -22 66) Scums Wish (2017): Drama, Romance, Seinen -12 65) Children of the Whales (2017): Fantasy, Supernatural -12 64) Food Wars (2015-Current): Battle, Cooking, Ecchi -73+ 63) Rage of Bahamut: Genesis [season 1] (2014): Adventure, Fantasy -12 62) Terraformars (2014-2016): Battle, Sci-fi, Seinen -26 61) Land of the Lustrous (2017): Action, Fantasy -12

60) Blood Blockade Battlefront (2015-2017): Supernatural, Urban Fantasy -24 59) Silver Spoon (2013-2014): Slice of Life, Coming of Age, Comedy -22 -By Hiromu Arakawa (Fullmetal Alchemist) 58) Death parade (2015): Psychological, Drama -12 57) Yona of the Dawn (2014-2015): Adventure, Fantasy, Romance -24 56) My Little Monster (2012): Romance, Comedy -13 -Anime unfinished. Manga is my fav shoujo romance 55) Little Witch Academia (2017): Fantasy, Magic, School -25 -Studio Trigger (Kill la Kill, Gurren Lagann, Promare) 54) Ajin (2016): Horror, Supernatural, Psychological -26 53) Magi (2012-2014): Adventure, Fantasy -50 52) Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet (2013): Sci-fi, Psychological -13 -By Gen Urobuchi (Madoka Magica, Fate/Zero, Psycho Pass) 51) Anohana (2011): Coming of Age, Drama -11

50) Sakamoto Desu Ga? (2016): Comedy, School, Slice of life -12 49) Fate/Unlimited Blade Works (2014-2015): Supernatural, Battle -26 48) Megalo Box (2018): Sports, Sci-fi, Drama -13 -Really awesome classic art style 47) The Promised Wonderland (2019-Current): Horror, Psychological -12 46) JJBA:Stardust Crusaders (2014-2015): Action, Adventure -48 45) Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun (2014): Comedy, Romance, Slice of Life -12 44) Wandering Son (2011): Coming-of-age, LGBT+ -12 43) Run With the Wind (2018-2019): Sports, Slice-of-life -23 42) Dororo (2019): Supernatural, Historical, Action -24 -By Osamu Tezuka (Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion, etc...) 41) Yuri on Ice (2016): Romance, Sports -12

#11-40

40) Demon Slayer (2019-Current): Supernatural, Action -26+ -Gorgeous art/animation. Great soundtrack. 39) Psycho Pass [season 1] (2012-2013): Dystopia, Psychological -22 -Smart, capable, well written female lead. Interesting social commentary.  38) Space Dandy (2014): Sci-fi, Comedy -26 -Very funny. Great leading character. Really good English dub! -Directed by Shinichiro Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo) 37) Future Diary (2011-2012): Psychological, Romance, Mystery -26 -Murder game (so pretty trashy lol). Fun characters. 36) Banana Fish (2018): Drama, Romance, Crime Thriller -24 -Engaging characters. Great Story. Very emotional and tragic.  -Dark Themes. Check trigger warnings before watching! 35) Usagi Drop (2011): Slice-of-Life, Drama -11 -Incredibly sweet and heartwarming. Emotional. Bittersweet. -DO NOT (and I cannot stress this enough) EVER! Read! The manga!

34) Erased (2016): Mystery, Psychological -12 -Good story. Endearing characters. Emotional. Bittersweet. 33) Free! (2013-2018): Sports, Slice of Life -37 -Fun characters. Beautiful art. Great animation. 32) JJBA: Phantom Blood (2012): Action, Adventure, Supernatural -9 -Unique and interesting characters. Engaging storytelling. -If you haven’t watched any Jojo yet, start here! 31) Gintama (2006-2018): Comedy, Parody, Action -367 -Stupid funny bullshit. Fun characters. Emotional scenes done very well! 30) Fire Force (2019-Current): Action, Supernatural -24+ -Stunning visuals. Incredible fire effects. Top notch animation. Good characters. Great OP song! Good aesthetics. Good atmosphere. -Manga by Atsushi Ohkubo (Soul Eater) 29) Parasyte (2014-2015): Horror, Supernatural, Sci-fi -24 -Among my all time favorite horror series. Creepy body horror and cool fights. Good animation. Good soundtrack.

28) Blue Exorcist (2011, 2017): Action, Supernatural -37 -Great characters. Good demon designs. Standard shounen done well. -Anime is unfinished but manga is GREAT! Amazing art. Woman writer! 27) Deadman Wonderland (2011): Action, Thriller -12 -Great character designs. Cool powers (all blood based). Creepy Atmosphere -Anime unfinished. Manga among my all time favorites! Great art. 26) Tsuritama (2012): Comedy, Sci-fi -12 -Charming characters. Feel good show. Super fun and sweet. Good vibes. 25) Gangsta (2015): Action, Drama -12 -Deaf main male! Nuanced characters. Thoughtful handling of difficult subjects. Female writer! Emotional and tragic. 24) Tatami Galaxy (2010): Slice of Life, Romance, Comedy -11 -One of the most unique series I’ve ever seen. Very unique characters. Engaging storytelling. Bizarre and funny. Defies expectations.  -Has an accompanying movie (Night is Short Walk on Girl, 2017) 23) Angel Beats (2010): Drama, Supernatural -13 -Emotional, bittersweet, tragic, heartwarming. Every character gets focus. 

22) JJBA: Diamond is Unbreakable (2016): Action, Drama, Battle -39 -Unique characters. Cool powers. Good OST.  21) One Punch Man (2015, 2019): Action, Comedy: -24 -Incredible animation. Great fight scenes. Great characters. 20) Kids on the Slope (2012): Musical, Romance, Coming of Age -12 -Great jazz/blues style music. Good character growth. -Shinichiro Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop, Carole and Tuesday) 19) Hunter X Hunter (2011-2014): Action, Adventure, Fantasy -148 -Good character dynamics. Great animation for a long running series! 18) Noragami (2014-2015): Supernatural, Action: -25 -Amazing atmosphere. Great use of color. Cool fights/powers. Fun characters -Anime unfinished. Manga is great! Good art style. 17) The Eccentric Family (2013, 2017): Drama, Comedy, Romance -25 -Charming unique characters. Quirky storytelling. Very fun to watch.

16) JJBA: Battle Tendency (2012-2013): Action, Adventure -17 -The most fun JoJo part imo. Great villains. Fun characters. Colorful.  15) Natsume’s Book of Friends (2008-2017): Supernatural, Slice of Life -74 -Main chara is very sweet. Wholesome, funny, bittersweet, episodic stories. 14) Devilman Crybaby (2018): Action, Horror, Supernatural -10 -VERY intense scenes/gore. Unique art style. Leaves a lasting impression. 13) Haikyuu!! (2016-Current): Sports, Comedy -60+ -Huge cast of fun characters. Great animation. Good OP/ED songs 12) Kill la Kill (2013-2014): Action, Battle, Magical Girl -24 -Great supporting characters. Majority female cast. Good fight scenes. Very fun, over the top and weird. Fantastic OST. 11) Chihayafuru (2011-Current): Sports, Drama, Romance -74+ -My all time fav sports anime! Female lead. Well developed characters. Great character dynamics. Good art/animation.

10) My Hero Academia (2016-Current): Action, Fantasy -75+ -When they actually try, animation is great. Great character designs. Fun cast. Great character interactions. Great chara development. Cool powers. Basically everything a superhero series should be. -If this were based on manga it would be my #1 pick haha 9) Mob Psycho 100 (2016, 2019): Action, Supernatural -25 -Animation consistently incredible. Good use of color. Unique art style. Unique and interesting characters. Shigeo is a national treasure. Great fight scenes.

8) JJBA: Golden Wind (2018-2019): Action, Adventure -39 -Unique characters. Unique powers. Great chara dynamics. Interesting fights. Probably the most unique character/ability designs of any series. -As a collective whole, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure would be in my top 3. But since each part has its own complete story, I separated them. 7) Attack on Titan (2013-Current): Action, Mystery, Horror -59+ -Interesting premise. Impressive animation. Amazing art. Great atmosphere and tone. Engaging and interesting story. Good writing. Great OP/ED songs. Well executed plot twists. -I would say best animation of the decade. Huge scale of characters and the world framed very well. Consistently great looking action. Best use of 3D animation in anime that I know of.

6) Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu (2016-2017): Drama, Romance -25 -Young (absolute best boy) ex-con Yotaro gets inspired by performative art form Rakugo. He begs Rakugo master, Yakumo, to teach him. Yakumo however is a bitter, depressed, gay old man with deep emotional wounds and a tragic past. -Incredible voice acting (best of ANY series out there.) Emotionally captivating. Great story. Fully fleshed out depth of characters. Great character interactions. Great character growth. -Funny when it tries. Heartbreaking and angsty. An amazing, thoughtful, heart wrenching series led by well rounded characters. 5) Made in Abyss (2017): Adventure, Horror, Fantasy -13+ -In the center of a certain city lies a massive abyss containing countless unimaginable sights, treasures and monsters. Once you enter, it is impossible to return. 12 year old orphan Riko ventures inside with robot boy Reg to find her mother who disappeared many years ago. -Great art. Great concept. Mind blowing backgrounds and environments. Good monster designs. Great characters. Great atmosphere. Fantastic OST. Truly terrifying and horrific. Captivating and enchanting worldbuilding. -Season 2 confirmed (with no date)

4) Madoka Magica (2011): Magical Girl, Psychological -12 -Great OST. Good characters. Plot very well done. Handles plot twists very well. Good character design. Leaves lasting impression. -Among the most influential anime of the decade imo.  3) Fate/Zero (2011-2012): Fantasy, Action, Battle -25 -Interesting characters explored very well. Great animation (same studio as Demon Slayer). Great OST. Good story writing. Interesting premise. -Prequel series to Fate/Unlimited Blade Works -I hesitate to call it “historical”. But it includes many historical figures and mythos from a wide variety of the world and time periods. I have learned a lot of lore through the franchise and my own research.  -Those unfamiliar with Fate franchise, this is an acceptable starting point. My own first step into Fate (now I’m fully entrenched in lore).

2) From the New World(2012-2013): Psychological, Dystopia, Supernatural -25 -1,000 years in the future, after apocalyptic events, all remaining humans possess psychic abilities. All humans are considered ticking time bombs, and children are closely monitored and dealt with as the government sees fit. Saki and friends discover all the dark secrets of their society and human history. -Great character development. Fantastic worldbuilding. Great storytelling. Plot twists delivered well. Good story. -Plot twists are truly mind blowing. And really alter how you view the series. Grey morality explored and makes you question who is truly good or bad.  -Almost every main character is canon bisexual :9 -One of the best written villains I have ever seen. -Avoid the manga :/ 1) Durarara!! (2010-2016): Urban Fantasy, Drama, Romance -62 -Unique writing style. Great character development. Interesting character interactions. Good handling of a large cast. Multiple plot threads handled well. Good OST. Well rounded female characters. -No one “main” character. Just central characters the plot tends to revolve around. Multiple plots and charas are thrown around until they all come together in a very satisfying way. -I love series with a large cast. And DRRR handles it better than anything I have ever seen (which is why it’s my fav). The character progression through each arc is fantastic.

Special Mentions

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood (2009-2010): Action, Adventure -38 -One of, if not the best anime ever made -Did not include bc majority of the show aired in 2009. Mushishi (2005-2006, 2014) Supernatural, Adventure -46 -Majority aired far before 2010. Most of my fav stories in first season.  -Great episodic, surrealist anime. Explores interesting concepts and supernatural powers and entities. Carole and Tuesday (2019): Drama, Musical -24 -I have not watched the recently released second half yet  -Great music. Charming characters. Good animation. FGO/Absolute Demonic Front Babylonia (2019-2020): Action, Fantasy -12+ -Still airing, reserving judgement until full adaptation is complete -Great OST, Fantastic animation, great story. -My favorite story from FGO mobile game. So far the adaptation is done great. Fight scenes translated beautifully.  Stars Align (2019-20??): Sports, Drama, Coming of Age -12 -Unfortunately series was cut halfway through production. Big cliffhanger waiting on unconfirmed second season. -Thoughtful handling of difficult subjects. Good characters. Nice art style. -Surprisingly dark at times. Sharp changes in mood. Kings Game (2017): Horror, Murder Game -12 -Awful. Hilariously awful. Incomprehensible.  -Truly baffling choices in direction and storytelling -Character motivations and actions absolutely unintelligible. -Actually watch it though. The roller coaster of terrible decision making and incompetence is a real treat to experience.

And with that, my top 100! Curating this list was a huge nostalgia trip. And very fun. Some older shows feel like they aired barely a year ago, while others feel like they’ve been around forever. Let me know if you watch something from my list! (Or message me if you want to know more about a series. I would love to talk about it.) Also send me recommendations! I obviously can’t catch every show ever aired, so if something’s good I would love to know about it. This decade or otherwise. If you read through everything, thanks so much! Happy New Year!

[olderthannetfic]

YA G-D anon again with an analogy concerning "what is/is not YA" that might be helpful or put things into more perspective through m/m fiction:

In the 20th century, shounen ai was a category that described m/m manga, usually about attractive teenage boys in schools (many being boarding schools), and inspired by French films then being shown in Japan. Today, we'd just call this BL (at least, professionally. Colloquially it is still called shounen ai and contrasted with yaoi to mean stories without sex and with sex, respectively. This is incorrect, however, historically and culturally). Yaoi was just nonsensical stories, often parodying tropes of shounen and at times seinen manga. It comes from yama nashi, ochi nashi, imi nashi, translating to approx “no climax, no fall, no meaning.” Both shounen ai and yaoi (as well as BL that was published in shoujo, like Banana Fish, and ) today are called BL. It wouldn't be incorrect to say BL didn't exist before the 2000s because it didn't, as an established genre/demographic. BL technically existed as centuries if we're just generally talking about m/m stories from Japan, or even East and SE Asia in general. However, in the context of publishing, we understand BL to refer to a specific era of time in which magazines adopted to term BL to publish specific manga.

(Of course there's less to muddy the waters because the categorization of demographic in manga is dependent upon the target demographic of the magazine that published it originally. So, there're less confusing things in this aspect than in the context of YA because books can be reclassified as different things upon republication or when published in specific editions, like those that are abridged. *Insert long-winded explanation of abridged books for adults being classified as appropriate for children and YA with specific ISBNs and subjective editor standards*)

--

It always makes me die laughing that 'shounen ai' is cluelessly used for ~clean~ stuff in parts of English-speaking fandom. Granted, you probably won't see dicks on-page in all those tragic 70s schoolboy manga, but they're not exactly fluffy.