One-shots, two-shots, red shots, blue shots
The Challenge
I challenge you ... to name your top five (ten, if you want to be ambitious) BL manga short stories. Please include the title of the volume it's collected in (if collected) and the name of the artist.
The Rules
A short story should be complete in one chapter. If it stretches to two, you should note that in your comments (and I'm afraid the judges will deduct points from your total score). Episodic chapters of longer series don't count (think Harudaki) and could result in your being disqualified. Omake, 4コマ, and any 書き下ろし shorter than 12 pages (how's that for arbitrary?) do not count as additional chapters.
The Rules Revised
5 favorite one-shot stories followed by 5 favorite two-shots.
5 discoveries
1) On my shelves, there are a handful of anthologies which contain no stories I like. Why am I keeping them? Did I once vaguely like some of the stories or think they might be interesting if I were more literate? Did I keep them because the anthologies weren't particularly high-profile (unlike Be-boy Zips and LUV) and I wanted my BLibrary to be comprehensive?
2) I own a lot of porn I never re-read. I flipped through several books which I instantly recognized I had preserved for their porn content, yet I never pull them from the shelves. (I also own a lot of porn I do re-read, but we're not going to talk about that EVER.)
3) There's this Youka Nitta story ("Not Guilty," published in Zips #2 and collected in Casino Lily) with a plot twist I remember very clearly, but I always remember it as a Kazuna Uchida short. Every time I run into it, I go through this process of "that story! It's by Youka Nitta? I thought it was by..." Oh, well. It's certainly not Nitta's best.
4) Short stories by artists who have also written longer series I love can never live up to the longer series.
5) I could have filled both lists with nothing but Bohra Naono titles.
5 one-shots
1) "Otogi Night" (Otogi Knight?) by Soh Aoki (in Fancy Love) -- A beleaguered kingdom "sacrifices" a young prince to appease a demon lord. Accompanying the prince is a knight who has sworn to protect the prince and defeat the demon. Naturally this involves taking the prince's place in the demon's bed (yay!) and killing him (yayer! <-- no, seriously, it's really sweet and very funny). It was a toss-up between this story and "Geshi no Yoi" from the same volume: "Geshi no Yoi" = A Midsummer Night's Dream slash fic with the coolest Titania ever!
2) "Tsunagatte mi yo" by Piyoko Chitose (in S** Friend) -- When Tougo and Shouhei's constant antagonism disrupts the soccer team, their coach pulls the logical sitcom maneuver: he chains the boys together until they learn to get along. (What's the coach doing with ankle chains? This is the kind of query that inspires fanfic.) I adore this story for the flashback to Tougo and Shouhei's preschool days (chibi angst!). I keep buying Chitose's stuff, hoping she'll press the same buttons again, but nothing else has made an impression.
3) "Usotsuki" by CJ Michalski (in Usotsuki) -- In my memory, this very short story fills the whole volume...kinda like the way Kei's love fills the robotics lab. That scene kills me.
4) "Hanaotoshi" by Megumu Minami (in Hanaotoshi) -- Rival ninja warriors battle using deadly sexual ninjutsu. No, wait! In addition to the unabashed perviness, it's sweet. Sweet like ... well, like the three titles above. Alas, it also appears to be out of print.
5) "Agnus Dei" by Mika Sadahiro (in Agnus Dei) -- I love Sadahiro's character designs, but this is the only story she has written that I like. It starts out damaged, moves swiftly to twisted, peaks at melodramatic, and ends happily. Paralyzed in a car accident two years ago, Toyohiko-san asks his teenaged assistant to have sex with a woman while he watches; however, Hisoka really wants Toyohiko. (Stop looking at me like that. I think I'm glad this one is out of print.)
5 two-shots
1) "Koufuku na Dorei" and "Koufuku na Goshujinsama" by Sohta Kazamatsuri (in Kimi no Kuchibiru Boku no Toiki, OOP) -- Ijime'd since middle school, Takase's life grows even more grim in high school, when gang leader Kuze makes him his personal "slave." But Kuze's motives are deeper than Takase knows. Takase's serene acceptance of being ridiculed by Kuze's so-called friends just to help Kuze save face really moves me. (Contrariwise, Kuze could have moved me by sacrificing face to defend Takase, but he doesn't. Phhhbbt. Loser!)
2) "Oujisama no Kiss" and "Oujisama no Kiss II" by CJ Michalski (in Oujisama no Kiss) -- I usually don't like Michalski's shota. Not because of the too-precious underaged characters, but because of their tongues. Eeeew! Those tongues. This pairing is an exception, however. Hiroya has an incurable medical condition and will soon die, so his doctor suggests putting him in cold sleep until a cure can be found. Hiroya has an angsty and inappropriately sexual parting from the neighbor boy Shuuji, who is convinced that Hiroya can be awakened, like a princess in a fairytale, with a kiss. When Hiroya is brought out of his sleep, 20 years have passed and he hasn't aged a day. Shuuji, on the other hand, has matured at a normal rate and become a doctor. (The second chapter suffers from Hiroya's failure to grasp the obvious from the end of the first chapter, but the resulting over-the-top sentimentality is why I enjoy this miniseries.)
3) "Hidoi Otoko" and "Yuushuu" by Masara Minase (in Infernal Boys and Infernal Boys 3) -- I need 40 pages of fan analysis on why Katsumi-san first left the bar to go with Nagao. Romance stories typically run on about 30% misunderstanding and miscommunication ("I wasn't kissing the beautiful male prostitute! I was administering his medication orally!"), but Nagao x Katsumi-san have increased that level to 80%. With good reason. These men have little in common except being in love. Nagao is ten years younger, a university student, and openly gay. Katsumi-san is a bespectacled, buttoned-down, divorced businessman. I want to watch them being in love forever.
4) "Hinata" and "Mayonaka ni Taiyou" by Bohra Naono (in Hohoemi no Nichijou and Yume ni Tobu Tori) -- This marks the first time I ever unexpectedly encountered a second chapter of a short story I enjoyed. The feeling of "yay, more!" never fades. Warnings for December x May romance, histories of abuse and loss, nude photography, m/m domesticity, and bug-eating.
5) "Yatteyaru, Konya!" and "Drunker (?) Night" by Shinano Oumi (in Yatteyaru, Konya!) -- Tohru can neither forgive nor forget the night his older cousin Shin had sex with him seven years ago. All grown up and semefied now, Tohru is determined to have his revenge only to discover that there's no way to win against ultra-reversible Shin.
I challenge you ... to name your top five (ten, if you want to be ambitious) BL manga short stories. Please include the title of the volume it's collected in (if collected) and the name of the artist.
The Rules
A short story should be complete in one chapter. If it stretches to two, you should note that in your comments (and I'm afraid the judges will deduct points from your total score). Episodic chapters of longer series don't count (think Harudaki) and could result in your being disqualified. Omake, 4コマ, and any 書き下ろし shorter than 12 pages (how's that for arbitrary?) do not count as additional chapters.
The Rules Revised
5 favorite one-shot stories followed by 5 favorite two-shots.
5 discoveries
1) On my shelves, there are a handful of anthologies which contain no stories I like. Why am I keeping them? Did I once vaguely like some of the stories or think they might be interesting if I were more literate? Did I keep them because the anthologies weren't particularly high-profile (unlike Be-boy Zips and LUV) and I wanted my BLibrary to be comprehensive?
2) I own a lot of porn I never re-read. I flipped through several books which I instantly recognized I had preserved for their porn content, yet I never pull them from the shelves. (I also own a lot of porn I do re-read, but we're not going to talk about that EVER.)
3) There's this Youka Nitta story ("Not Guilty," published in Zips #2 and collected in Casino Lily) with a plot twist I remember very clearly, but I always remember it as a Kazuna Uchida short. Every time I run into it, I go through this process of "that story! It's by Youka Nitta? I thought it was by..." Oh, well. It's certainly not Nitta's best.
4) Short stories by artists who have also written longer series I love can never live up to the longer series.
5) I could have filled both lists with nothing but Bohra Naono titles.
5 one-shots
1) "Otogi Night" (Otogi Knight?) by Soh Aoki (in Fancy Love) -- A beleaguered kingdom "sacrifices" a young prince to appease a demon lord. Accompanying the prince is a knight who has sworn to protect the prince and defeat the demon. Naturally this involves taking the prince's place in the demon's bed (yay!) and killing him (yayer! <-- no, seriously, it's really sweet and very funny). It was a toss-up between this story and "Geshi no Yoi" from the same volume: "Geshi no Yoi" = A Midsummer Night's Dream slash fic with the coolest Titania ever!
2) "Tsunagatte mi yo" by Piyoko Chitose (in S** Friend) -- When Tougo and Shouhei's constant antagonism disrupts the soccer team, their coach pulls the logical sitcom maneuver: he chains the boys together until they learn to get along. (What's the coach doing with ankle chains? This is the kind of query that inspires fanfic.) I adore this story for the flashback to Tougo and Shouhei's preschool days (chibi angst!). I keep buying Chitose's stuff, hoping she'll press the same buttons again, but nothing else has made an impression.
3) "Usotsuki" by CJ Michalski (in Usotsuki) -- In my memory, this very short story fills the whole volume...kinda like the way Kei's love fills the robotics lab. That scene kills me.
4) "Hanaotoshi" by Megumu Minami (in Hanaotoshi) -- Rival ninja warriors battle using deadly sexual ninjutsu. No, wait! In addition to the unabashed perviness, it's sweet. Sweet like ... well, like the three titles above. Alas, it also appears to be out of print.
5) "Agnus Dei" by Mika Sadahiro (in Agnus Dei) -- I love Sadahiro's character designs, but this is the only story she has written that I like. It starts out damaged, moves swiftly to twisted, peaks at melodramatic, and ends happily. Paralyzed in a car accident two years ago, Toyohiko-san asks his teenaged assistant to have sex with a woman while he watches; however, Hisoka really wants Toyohiko. (Stop looking at me like that. I think I'm glad this one is out of print.)
5 two-shots
1) "Koufuku na Dorei" and "Koufuku na Goshujinsama" by Sohta Kazamatsuri (in Kimi no Kuchibiru Boku no Toiki, OOP) -- Ijime'd since middle school, Takase's life grows even more grim in high school, when gang leader Kuze makes him his personal "slave." But Kuze's motives are deeper than Takase knows. Takase's serene acceptance of being ridiculed by Kuze's so-called friends just to help Kuze save face really moves me. (Contrariwise, Kuze could have moved me by sacrificing face to defend Takase, but he doesn't. Phhhbbt. Loser!)
2) "Oujisama no Kiss" and "Oujisama no Kiss II" by CJ Michalski (in Oujisama no Kiss) -- I usually don't like Michalski's shota. Not because of the too-precious underaged characters, but because of their tongues. Eeeew! Those tongues. This pairing is an exception, however. Hiroya has an incurable medical condition and will soon die, so his doctor suggests putting him in cold sleep until a cure can be found. Hiroya has an angsty and inappropriately sexual parting from the neighbor boy Shuuji, who is convinced that Hiroya can be awakened, like a princess in a fairytale, with a kiss. When Hiroya is brought out of his sleep, 20 years have passed and he hasn't aged a day. Shuuji, on the other hand, has matured at a normal rate and become a doctor. (The second chapter suffers from Hiroya's failure to grasp the obvious from the end of the first chapter, but the resulting over-the-top sentimentality is why I enjoy this miniseries.)
3) "Hidoi Otoko" and "Yuushuu" by Masara Minase (in Infernal Boys and Infernal Boys 3) -- I need 40 pages of fan analysis on why Katsumi-san first left the bar to go with Nagao. Romance stories typically run on about 30% misunderstanding and miscommunication ("I wasn't kissing the beautiful male prostitute! I was administering his medication orally!"), but Nagao x Katsumi-san have increased that level to 80%. With good reason. These men have little in common except being in love. Nagao is ten years younger, a university student, and openly gay. Katsumi-san is a bespectacled, buttoned-down, divorced businessman. I want to watch them being in love forever.
4) "Hinata" and "Mayonaka ni Taiyou" by Bohra Naono (in Hohoemi no Nichijou and Yume ni Tobu Tori) -- This marks the first time I ever unexpectedly encountered a second chapter of a short story I enjoyed. The feeling of "yay, more!" never fades. Warnings for December x May romance, histories of abuse and loss, nude photography, m/m domesticity, and bug-eating.
5) "Yatteyaru, Konya!" and "Drunker (?) Night" by Shinano Oumi (in Yatteyaru, Konya!) -- Tohru can neither forgive nor forget the night his older cousin Shin had sex with him seven years ago. All grown up and semefied now, Tohru is determined to have his revenge only to discover that there's no way to win against ultra-reversible Shin.