2018 Yaoi Challenge! (+Review)

I have been reading yaoi for years now and it brings me so much joy its crazy. I have read a large share of yaoi/BL manga as I read one or two every day. Recently, in an attempt to explore different subgenres within the yaoi genre, I have been asking friends to pick one at random for me to read. This way, I avoid judging the story by its cover or its art. By doing this, I have found so much manga that I truly enjoyed reading but probably would not have read otherwise. However, I did find myself leaving many unfinished, which I don't necessarily want to do. So, I have decided to read every yaoi in numerical/alphabetical order. My go-to yaoi reader is mangago.me; On this site, there are almost 6,000 listed yaoi manga, so I have a lot of reading ahead of me. I started reading from the top of the list last week, and have completed 7 out of 5,918 yaoi manga; I have finished the numerical series of yaoi where I found some pretty bad stories and one beautiful gem.

That beautiful gem would be 1999 Shanghai. I was hesitant to start this manga as the art looked older and there were so many chapters. The comments/ratings for this manga were pretty high yet everyone said it was extremely sad; which isn't necessarily my favorite. Setona Mizushiro has illustrated this tragic love story in four volumes. The story follows two men who meet by chance one night in Shanghai. They later learn they are from opposing gangs, Xianglongji gang and Toulon gang. The men begin to share feelings for eachother developing a romantic relationship that must be kept secret from their gangs. Dawu, of Toulon gang, is a younger boy with an innocent aura, however, as the son of a drug lord he does possessive an aggressive and murderous side to himself which reveals itself as the story progresses. Dawu is surrounded by the struggles of others, including an unrequited love from another Toulon member which ultimately tears the gang apart. Xiaoxue, of Xianglongji gang, is strong but hesitant of everything as he was orphaned as a child and raped by his adoptive father. Xiaoxue struggles to deal with his loneliness and uses his childhood friend to fill the empty space in his life. Personally, I am not a fan of gang stories, yet this one had a more prominent forbidden love and didn't focus so much on the gangs themselves, though the parts that did focus on the gang rivalry were interesting and well executed. This story is so beautiful yet tragic as it is a twist on the classic Romeo and Juliet tale.

If anyone has been reading this genre for a while, I recommend doing this challenge as well. However, if you are new to yaoi, it might be best to avoid the horrible manga's like 01 Monkey. I would definitely recommend 1999 Shanghai for new and old yaoi readers, and please don't be put off by the older art style!

Indiana Grace

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