Yaoi Heaven!

An interest that was first jump started in January this year and rapidly ballooned to fill the gaping void left by the erstwhile all consuming obsession that was World of Warcraft; Yaoi continues to remain a keen interest to this day. While it no longer commands an intensive compulsion as it once did during the zenith of the obsession back in March where I was searching the various yaoi forums for new offerings on a daily basis as well as translating full time for two scanlation groups (Obsession and Bliss), often finishing an entire book (translating) in a couple of days; it remains a pleasurable past time.

Those translation days are gone, Sean was right that I'd be too lazy to keep it up for long but it was good while it lasted, which was about 3-4 months. I genuinely enjoyed translating and giving back to the community as part of a scanlation group. My free time these days is split between Yaoi, Anime and the occasional gaming session. Once in a while I even manage to spare some time for the PLC stuff. I still trawl the forums, just not so regularly and more selectively, finding my favourite mangakas then making a mental note to get the english release when and if it has been licensed.

The one bad thing about living in Singapore is that your english manga is normally damn expensive, about 15-25 bucks A book, and it's usually available only some time after the mangas are already released by the licensed US companies in US. One can always e-bay from Amazon but I did the math, unless one is buying 10 books or more, it's still cheaper to buy from here. Aileen usually screams at me for not buying the cheap Chuang Yi Chinese version ones but it doesn't really bother me because

1. some of the titles from my favourite mangakas like PlayBoy Blue by Shiuko Kano are not available, usually the more explicit ones. Censoring also tends to be prevalent for the Chinese copies. Which bloody sucks.

2. My Chinese is not fantastic, when translating I had the help of a dictionary for the more complicated terms. And the complex Chinese as opposed to the simplified Chinese Singaporeans learn is even worse. I'm sure I can scrape through while reading the manga and comprehend what it's saying with some difficulty but the whole point of reading manga is to have a light and enjoyable read. Scrutinising every other sentence and deciphering it, isn't enjoyable.

So I was particularly thrilled today to find that the store I frequent had stocked up with a lot of new titles since I'd last visited a month back and more importantly, that they were from my favourite mangakas and series that I've been following (Kizuna, Level C, Love Mode). They even had the tantalising 'Love Pistols' vol 2 by Tarako Kotobuki (which incidentally is known as Sex Pistols in Japan, the US company which bought the license probably thought love has a nicer ring to it). Like they always say, a picture says a thousand words.

Yaoi Fanboy's new haul (Clockwise from top left): Kizuna Vol 8 :) , Spell by Hyouta Fujiyama :P, Love Mode Vol 6 by Yuki Shimizu, Hate to Love you by Makato Tateno of 'Yellow' fame and Love Pistols (Sex Pistols) Vol 2 by Tarako Kotobuki. Which left him a hundred bucks poorer - if only the bill was as nice.

Sorting through the buys, I realised that I hadn't unwrapped the previous month's purchase for some reason, choosing to stow them away instead. Which in effect means it's like a second haul. Double the entertainment value. ^^

Last month's stash (clockwise from top left): Alcohol, Shirt & Kiss by Yuko Kuwabara, Picnic by the yaoi mangaka queen Yamada Yugi, A King's Lesson! by Aoi Futaba & Kurenai Mitsuba and Delivery Cupid by CJ Michalski.

A few of my favourite titles I have in my current stash of 50+ hardcopy mangas (as opposed to the softcopy scanlations).....

Select All-time Favourites (clockwise from top left): Gakuen Heaven by You Higuri, Little Butterfly (1-3) by Hinako Takanaga, Desire by Yukine Honami (I love this one - this reviewer reviews it nicely) and last but certainly not least the fantastic yaoi classic, Close the Last Door by Yamada Yugi (one i can read and re-read again.)

Of course what decent semi-otaku would be without his plushie? I saw the seated Ichigo a month ago at the store and just couldn't resist not getting him. Plus he looked so much better than the ones you find at the vivocity shop where the head is disproportionate and the features just don't look right.

Ichigo and his Number 1 favourite yaoi title by the mangaka he absolutely adores for her drama, hot guys, anatomically correct bodies and pure smut, Play Boy Blues by Shiuko Kano. All hail the Queen!