The word yaoi has been derived from the first syllables of each word in the expression, “yama nashi, ochi nashi, imi nashi,” which means “no peak, no point, no meaning.” Initially, yaoi referred to poorly drawn self-published fan comics (doujinshi). With time, it came to be used for doujinshi with sexual pairings between two males. In Japan these days, yaoi is mainly used to point to the sex scenes of a manga or to doujinshi with male/male content. In the West, yaoi has come to be synonymous with any story that includes a male/male relationship and is linked to Japan, whether it is a commercial manga, anime, game, game-based slash fiction, English-language fan fiction, or fan art etc. Publishers in Japan use the term Boy’s Love (BL) for commercial works focusing on male/male relationships targeted at women. In addition to manga, these now include novels, CDs, games, and anime.

Although men definitely enjoy yaoi, its main target audience is women. And it is not gay porn for women. As yaoi is written by women for the enjoyment of other women, the works display a female fantasy of what is sexually attractive, but not necessarily a gay male one. Moreover, yaoi is much more than sex; yaoi manga, novels and anime actually cover a wide variety of genres, from comedy to science fiction, from giant robots to high school romance. Some of them, however, can be sexually explicit and should be kept away from minors.

Many people are still not sure whether shounen-ai and yaoi are the same thing or not.

Shounen-ai, meaning boy-love, refers to shoujo manga written in the “70s and early “80s that featured stories about poetic, platonic or romantic relationships between pubescent or pre-pubescent boys. While Japan gradually discarded the term, the West lapped it up and started using it differently. The American fans now apply the term to stories that have little to no sex, keeping yaoi aside to describe those with a higher erotic or sexual content.

Several companies in the United States publish yaoi titles. They include 801 Media, Be Beautiful, Blu, DramaQueen, Hirameki International, JAST USA, Juné Manga, Media Blasters/Kitty Media, Netcomics, and Tokyopop. Juné by Digital Manga Publishing has announced two new yaoi titles- Don’t Say Anymore Darling and Not Enough Time - for summer.

In Don’t Say Anymore Darling, Kouhei is a doctor at the local university hospital who has lost touch with his schoolmate Tadashi. While Kouhei grew up to become a successful doctor, Tadashi turned into a jobless, poor-as-dirt, flaming gay writer. One lonely night, at his wits end, Tadashi sends Kouhei a text message and gets a reply. In fact, Tadashi has secretly harbored feelings for Kouhei for a long time. But he finds out Kouhei is getting set-up for an arranged marriage…

In Shoko Hidaka’s Not Enough Time, a collection of eye-opening love stories, Yousuke suddenly shows up on the door step of his old high schoolmate Tanigawa after years of separation. While the two had a budding relationship in school, things fell apart and they decided to part ways looking for their true love. However, it might be that their relationship during their school days was what they have been looking for all along.