In terms of boys love, it’s been a suicidally dull summer and fall for the anime scene. Well, okay, I lied. We did have Koutetsu Sangokushi, but that’s… Hell, I’ve never laughed so hard at slash. I’m sorry, but I thought the point of slash was for it to be “subtle.” There’s nothing remotely subtle about Koutetsu, and is it just me or does that storyline get gayer with each episode? If I didn’t know better I’d expect the series finale to consist of everyone screaming, “Forget the Sovereign’s Seal! Let’s get all this bloody sexual tension out of the way and shag like mad until morning!” (And yes, they’d all say it with a thickly fabricated British accent and we’d get an Austin Powers cameo.) Nonetheless, other than the girly-boy war crack, it was desperate. 2008, however, looks to be a tad more… Well, undead.

The 2007 Holiday season gives us our first taste of the OVA plague. Ikoku Irokoi Romantan, a two part OVA based on one of Ayano Yamane’s many boys love manga of the same name, will be released in Japan on DVD (Region 2) December 21st, 2007. The story takes place on an Italian luxury liner where the newlyweds Ranmaru and Kaoru, children of the yakuza, are having their forced honeymoon. Cue the entrance of a stunning Italian captain, Ranmaru making uke eyes at him, and a conversation that goes nothing something like, “Hey, I have a thing for Japanese men. Let me take you back to my room so you can experience hot European sex,” followed by a, “… Am I supposed to blush like a girl here? This is a yaoi OVA. Yep, I’m getting a cue card for blush. Give me a minute then you can have my virginity. My wife didn’t have the balls to take it. NO PUN INTENDED.” In all actuality though, where the animation here looks stunning, and Yamane’s known for her terribly addicting and sensual work, the trailer gave me the heebie jeebies. “Why,” you ask? The music. It sounds like someone decided to combine elevator music, sleazy 80s lounge tunes and a $10 synthesizer, and then called it “background music.” Honestly, I’ve heard better in elevators. Nonetheless, for those interested, the trailer can be viewed at PrimeTime’s preview page for the OVA.

Continuing with PrimeTime’s OVA plague, the adaptation of Ryou Takagi’s Kirepapa manga will be released January 25th, 2008. Where I have yet to see a preview for this title, the manga follows the story of Chisato Takatsukasa, a father that puts all others to shame. Think your dad’s a tad overprotective and tends to give your boyfriends a hard time? Think again. Be it poison or mind tricks, Chisato will stop at nothing from “protecting” his 15-year-old son, Rijyu, from his “potential suitors.” That is until Shunsuke Sakaki shows up, managing to be the least bit fazed by Chisato’s many attempts. But the questions remains, is Shunsuke really after Rijyu, or is he aiming for something—or someone—else? (Jeez, like that didn’t give it away. I swear, do yaoi fans have “oblivious” tattoed on their foreheads? …No, don’t answer that.) I actually haven’t read this title, or any of Takagi’s works for that matter, so I have no opinion on this. Though if past experience goes to prove anything, OVAs usually tend to butcher BL manga, regardless of how good, bad or ugly the original story concept was. All in all, I guess we’ll see in January.

Lastly, we have the most recent speculation commodity, the upcoming anime adaptation of Shungiku Nakamura’s Junjo Romantica. Already having nine volumes published in Japan, this series was licensed by Blu back in 2006, and there are presently four volumes available for English-speaking readers. Unique and also terribly cliché, Junjo has managed to stand out from the usual BL bombardment over the past few years. A mix of crafty wit, adorable expressions, bitchy ukes, and ever-evolving plot, to say it’s an addicting read can be an understatement. What about this upcoming anime though? Where details are still very scarce, primarily due to the lack of information the official site is currently providing, there is the consensus this may actually be released not as an OVA, but as a TV series adaptation. And yes, those are angels you hear singing, not your psychotic neighbor. Additionally, the cast from Junjo Egoist and Junjo Terrorist will at the least be making an appearance. Current release date speculation is sometime in 2008, most probably in the spring, though I wouldn’t be surprised by an autumn release. More details will be posted when something gets confirmed. Until then, we sit and wait. (Well, I’ll be writing my Psychology and Forensics exams, but you guys can let me know how it goes. Also, someone remember to bring popcorn. And Diet Coke.)

It’s now 12:40am, Monday and my Thanksgiving vacation has zoomed by in a flash. And, as usual, I’ve realized that I’ve managed to accomplish absolutely nothing this weekend (which, by the way, is a lie). Still, somehow, I’ve managed to convince my father that I’ve been working on my backlogged Chemistry and Calculus homework since 2:30 when in fact, I’ve been locked up in my room reading — yaoi. How I managed to do this is still beyond me, but hey, I’m not complaining.

The problem with that, however, is not the yaoi but the fact that I still somehow have to figure out how to stop procrastinating. I made all of these grand plans this summer — working on my websites, going on trips, volunteering for non-profit organizations… and I all ended up doing was reading yaoi. Now I’m staring at the Princeton CommonApp supplement, and it wants me to talk about what I did the last two summers. Maybe it’s just me, but I get the impression that saying I sat at home and read yaoi would not be an appropriate answer when my fellow classmates who are vying for these seats were most likely at Governor’s School or traveling to Europe or something vaguely more exciting.

So if I don’t get into Princeton, I might unfortunately have to blame my lack of motivation on the fact that I didn’t want to do anything other than read yaoi. As opposed to, you know, my grades or SAT scores (which, for the record, aren’t actually that bad). Good thing I don’t actually care whether or not I get in, but now I’m hoping my admissions officer doesn’t somehow miraculously find this and manage to connect it to my application. I don’t know which would be worse — them knowing I really hate their school or them knowing I waste time reading yaoi. Huh. Well, as long as it’s not MySpace.

And of course, all of this is a sort of a roundabout way of saying: yaoi makes people procrastinate. Well, more specifically me, but I sincerely doubt I’m the only one, and I’ll be so conceited as to speak for the general fangirl populace. Actually, it’s kind of ironic in many ways because procrastination due to yaoi actually prevents more yaoi from happening.

For instance, I was going to actually do some editing this weekend. Editing as in I work for Countless Time (though more like “worked” as I haven’t done anything since mid-October) and I’ve somehow been privileged into becoming the head editor for one of my favorite series ever, Aoi Hitsuji no Yume (take note of this; I’m going to be blabbing a whole lot about the series so why not read it now? *hinthint*). Of course, I’ve had the translations in my hands for a few weeks, but I haven’t done anything because, well, I’ve been reading yaoi. Think about it: if all the yaoi translators, editors, qcers and such out there all spent reading yaoi and not working, there wouldn’t be any more yaoi left to pillage in a few months. And then there’s Christmas Cacti, this TezuFuji exchange I was supposed to be working on, but no, guess what I was doing?

…working on college crap, actually. But that kind of destroys the point of my argument.

Still, the only reason this site sat around for a year was because I was too lazy to write an entry and decided reading yaoi was more interesting than writing about reading yaoi. And actually, that’s what I’d rather be doing now. (Though that’s a lie; I’d rather be sleeping. …but I need to actually do homework before I sleep, so technically, I’d really rather be doing homework.) So, the point is that yaoi just tends to kill motivation. Though I’m still pretty motivated, so I guess that kills my argument.

……

Good thing I don’t need to write an English paper anytime soon. I’m either unmotivated or just don’t make sense. Or quite likely both.

The first entry is always the hardest and most difficult to write, apparently. It all comes down to getting your idea across, not sounding like a total prick-ass, and having that somewhat-maybe-please-catchy intro. Evidently all that would be done in the reverse order, but hopefully the point was taken. Nonetheless, I’m going to throw an analogy out there, and you guys can nod, shake your head, or decide I’m a helpless deadbeat. Whatever works for you, really.

Opening a website is like a typical boys love novel.

And the masses scream, “Kill the writer!” So before I start running, here me out.

Let’s be terribly generic here and think a random You Higuri manga. (Since the woman drives me mad, but whatever. This isn’t about her.) Anyway, regardless of the plot, you get this same sort of ark: an introduction to the characters and their evident love interest(s), a whole lot of fucked flirting and excuse-me-while-I-blush-worse-than-a-Japanese-school-girl moments, finding out the femmy boy isn’t actually a boy, then all this ridiculous oh-what-an-obvious-misunderstand-but-hey-we’re-pretending-to-build-conflict-and-anxiety that lasts for 80% of the manga until WHAM! teh smex. (And yes, I see you in the corner sharpening your axe, but I’m not done yet.)

My point is there’s all this useless drama and work and strife and ass-kissing and sweating and stressing and absolute bullshit. Which is exactly what happens when two webmistresses that have been members of the yaoi community for probably too long think, “Hey, um, yaoi-based rant/blog/press/news site?” Then all this absurd background thought, planning, coding, designing, bitching, whining, swearing, sweating, stressing JUNK takes place, getting us 80% of the way there, but then WHAM! Blockade. (AKA “Um, staff? Someone needs to write the first entry.” “EXIT STAGE LEFT!” *crickets chirp*) So yes, a month later, I finally bring on teh smex with a terribly written, absolutely garbage analogy.

So here I am to say feel free to bitch, moan and groan, and remember that, if you think you’re confused now, just wait and see how twisted the staff here can be. All in all, welcome to Antipathy.