Decoding Yaoi: Key Vocabulary for Beginners

Welcome to the fascinating world of Yaoi, where same-sex male relationships are depicted in various formats and styles. Here is a guide to the essential terms for navigating this universe:

1. **Genres and Types of Stories:**
- **Yaoi**: Stories of male homosexual relationships, including Boy's Love (BL) and manga for a gay audience.
- **Boy's Love (BL)**: Manga for women, presenting fantasized homosexual male romances.
- **Shonen-aï**: Male loves often platonic and secondary in the plot.
- **Bara**: Homoerotic mangas for gay men, more realistic than Yaoi.

- **Tanbi**: Tanbi is a subgenre of manga or anime that focuses on romantic and emotional relationships between male characters. This genre is often distinguished by more mature storylines and deeper themes than those found in other romance genres.

- **Juné**: Juné is a term that refers to a type of manga or anime featuring romantic or sexual relationships between male characters. This genre is often associated with love stories between young men and themes of eroticism and sensitivity.

- **Lemon**: Lemon is a term used in otaku culture to refer to works of fiction containing scenes of explicit sexual content, usually involving manga or anime characters. “Lemon” type works are intended for an informed audience due to their explicit content.

- **Shotacon**: Shotacon is a Japanese term used to describe a type of pornographic or erotic content involving young boys, often in relationships with older characters. This genre is controversial due to its depiction of relationships involving minors and is often criticized for being allegedly pedophilic.

It is important to note that some of these terms, particularly lemon and shotacon, may contain mature or explicit content and are generally intended for mature audiences.

2. **Characters and Roles:**
- **Seme** and **Uke**: Respectively, the dominant partner and the submissive partner in a relationship.
- **Chibi**: Childish representation of characters.
- **Bishônen**: Young androgynous and handsome men.
- **Fujoshi/Fudanshi**: Female/male fans of Boy's Love.

3. **Subgenres and Universe:**
- **Omegaverse**: World with alpha, beta, and omega genders, influenced by pheromones.
- **Sub/Dom Verse**: Universe where the characters are dominant or submissive by nature.

4. **Practices and Themes:**
- **Smut**: Stories centered on erotic scenes.
- **BDSM, Masochism, Sadism**: Sexual practices involving pain and domination.

5. **Additional Terminology:**
- **Fanfic/Fan service**: Content created by fans for other fans.
- **Dôjinshi**: Fanzines often parodic and erotic.
- **Art-book, Chara Design**: Books and graphic concepts related to manga and animation.

This vocabulary is essential to fully understand and appreciate the various facets of Yaoi and BL. Explore these terms and dive into the exciting storylines and captivating characters of this unique genre.