I haven’t thought too much about the difference and romance is something I prefer as a subplot in a story that has more going on as opposed to the core interest of a story, but I feel like there’s going to be a difference in how the characters are written between these different genres. Straight romance books I think are traditionally most popular with and written for straight women, while the others would have different audiences in mind. I guess that would lead to differences but I don’t read enough romance to know. I feel like I still wouldn’t like romance stories where romance is all that’s going on no matter the genders, but it’s hard to say until/unless I read more of those.
I’m definitely going to be coming back to this thread for recommendations about books in general.
Well, I am gay myself so that’s why I have a preference I do sometimes enjoy hetero couples in fiction, but mostly ones that also have some sort of breaking of societal expectations. Like interracial/intercaste couples, crossdressing, and so on. I don’t really read a lot of ‘fluffy’ romance in any category though.
I also need some time since I am reading a few other things! Maybe some time this summer would be good?
I think it’s partly because same sex relationships are still () not widely accepted in Japan, so these topics are “taboo” and therefore can lead to different dynamics and drama. In a het romance the two main characters may be publicly dating, but in the same sex one, they are often more secretive. Or in the opposite extreme, some series will just have everyone be open about it as (I assume) an escapist “if only the real world was like this” kind of thing.
Speaking as someone who has read plenty of het and yuri romance manga but no BL.
Any examples of what tropes you find uncomfortable?
Seconding @Naphthalene’s suggestion. I’d describe 放浪息子 as primarily a trans coming of age story with romance elements. I assume you’re including where one person in the relationship is trans, not just both.
Oh yes, I love time travel / time loop stuff. If you can write just an okay story with a bunch of plot holes, I will probably still enjoy it. But those rare stories with (nearly) perfect time travel logic like Steins;Gate will always be among my favorites. (The attractor field stuff in Steins;Gate is probably one of my favorite things in any piece of fiction.)
I’ve never really encountered those, so maybe we just read different kinds of romance series. I almost exclusively read blossoming romance manga that are about the awkward flirting/courting phase or the cute (but still awkward) early dating phase.
This is a hard question for me to answer, becasue I care more about the style a book is written in than the plot itself. I accidentally read three chapters of a werewolf fanfiction once because it was written in an intriguing way… But I still tried to put together a list of genres and tropes that I pretty regularly like and dislike:
Things I like:
Horror, suspense, murder mystery, thriller. Surprisingly these don’t give me nightmares. I like putting pieces together as I read, and then seeing how everything connects in the end. I can feel the anxiety and unease the characters are experiencing. I get immersed in the vivid descriptions in gore scenes; I can still recall the exact pictures I imagined while reading what’s now my favorite book as a teenager. I remember the goosebumps and icky feelings I got. Despite this, I’m a scaredy-cat when it come to scary movies.
Short stories. My attention span is short, so I like being able to finish a story in less than an hour. They also don’t waste any time, no pages on pages of pointless narration.
Slow burn enemies to lovers romance. I want to be 12 hours in before they even hold hands.
There’s no name for this but like, living in a cottage in the woods and building a fire and making soup on a rainy day.
Weird stuff. Think Adventure Time and ロジカとラッカセイ. God is a snail and he likes when you bring him acorns.
Romance as a sub-plot. I like watching how it develops around the main events.
Revenge stories. I actually find it cathartic to live out my revenge fantasies vicariously.
Character redemption. Zuko stans arise. But also, not everyone needs a redemption arc. Sometimes people are just bad and they’re not going to change, and watching them being so stubborn is what makes me realize that I can’t end up like them.
Super strong violent character actually has healing powers. Or, “Oh your power is healing, you should be a doctor.” “No thank you I’m actually gonna go beat people up like everyone else.”
When the villain kinda has a point.
Basically anything that gives me goosebumps, or makes me blush and kick my feet, or laugh out loud, or gives me a different perspective on something, 10/10.
Things I don’t like
Love at first sight. I just can’t feel the butterflies here. Where is the build-up.
“Badass female character” written for the male gaze. She’s 5’2" and has noodle arms but can throw a 220lb man through a wall. She has fiery red hair and will smash a bottle on your face if you look at her wrong. She has 19 brothers and thinks other women are stupid and vain.
Sexual assault done wrong. This is hard enough to read even when it’s done well, so I can’t stand when it’s done for all the wrong reasons: shock value, character development for a male character, or you can tell that the author is just getting off on it.
“Let’s shove as many minorities as we can into one character so that we can make the rest of the cast straight white people.” Yes fat disabled trans black lesbians exist and deserve representation. Yes it’s obvious that you only gave us this character so that you could say “See? We have a diverse cast!” and then push them to the side and go back to your “normal” characters.
Teens having sex. It’s been established that they’re dating, we can all assume what they’re doing, you don’t need to show us. I’m a grown adult I do not want to read about children doing that.[1]
Making me learn about a bunch of different characters just to kill them off. (Yes this is about Game of Thrones)
Oh I think that book was actually referenced in ミシン | L30??! The narrator of the second short story was very into it (or another book from the Taisho period with yuri undertones). Thanks for the recommendation, I’ll keep an eye out for it! I enjoy reading older things a lot so it looks interesting for sure.
In Japanese, I’ve only seen them in TL and TL-adjacent josei manga, which does not look like the kind of things you read. I guess it also happens in “terrible people doing terrible things” novels, but I wouldn’t call those romance to begin with
Edit: actually, I have seen some of those in BL as well, now that I think about it.
I’ve gotten back into reading thanks to Japanese studies. I can justify to myself that I need to read, read, read to learn and maintain the language ;).
As far as what I like to read and why, it really depends on the reason I picked the book up. If I want to mindlessly read something and just feel the feelies, I like to read innocent romance books. The stories tend to be somewhat shallow, so I don’t think much while reading them. Honestly, thinking about them would ruin their entertainment value lol. I prefer romance books that do not have much sexual content. A little is fine, but I’d rather not read about it.
Slice of life is another genre I like to read when I do not want to think too much and just have things happen to characters that are immediately understandable or relatable. Yotsuba&! for example is my favorite because its good vibes the whole way through with some sentimental moments.
I also love stories that features a sad-boy or sad-girl character that eventually learn to overcome their hardship or trauma. Something about seeing someone that is suffering so much and then finds a way to overcome that suffering is satisfying. I like a book that makes me cry, in other words. Again though, I’m not analyzing these stories so much, just purely empathizing. I don’t want to think too much when reading these kinds of books. That’s what real life is for.
When I actually do want to think more about things and relate them to my own life or to current events, I tend to pick up a non-fiction book, which I haven’t gotten to yet with Japanese, but I am looking forward to the day that I can read them with full comprehension. I think it will be so interesting to read a non-fiction book from the perspective of a Japanese person in Japanese. I want to read Fukuzawa Yukichi’s autobiography, for example. I read it in English already, but I want to see how different it is in Japanese.
Things I am not interested in
Erotic fiction
Stories that are overly vulgar just because. Lies of Locke Lamora stands out. I liked the story for that book, but yeesh sometimes the characters just did or said strange, overly unhinged things for no apparent reason.
Teens’ Love, a very weird way to say “erotica for women”
Especially since the character are necessarily 18+ (and typically around their thirties because of the target audience), but I guess 18/19 are still teens.
Edit:
It’s not, but thinking about it, I’ve never seen a trans woman in TL. Instead I have seen heterosexual (spicy) romance involving a trans woman and a cis guy in the BL category (Japanese publishing )
I do sometimes enjoy hetero couples in fiction, but mostly ones that also have some sort of breaking of societal expectations. Like interracial/intercaste couples, crossdressing, and so on. I don’t really read a lot of ‘fluffy’ romance in any category though.
) not widely accepted in Japan, so these topics are “taboo” and therefore can lead to different dynamics and drama. In a het romance the two main characters may be publicly dating, but in the same sex one, they are often more secretive. Or in the opposite extreme, some series will just have everyone be open about it as (I assume) an escapist “if only the real world was like this” kind of thing.
Thanks for the recommendation, I’ll keep an eye out for it! I enjoy reading older things a lot so it looks interesting for sure.
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