Bara Yaoi or simply Bara is a peculiar subgenre of
yaoi made by gay men and for gay men. Differently from the "traditional" yaoi, Bara features more mature and realistic(ish) relationships and lacks the over melodramatic soap opera plots, instead, Bara plots tends to be simpler and shorter direct to the point
If You Know What I Mean. Another important characteristic is that Bara emphasizes
manly and muscular (sometimes hairy) characters opposed to the
pretty and effeminate boys commonly found in
Yaoi. It also lacks the
Uke and
Seme dynamics.
Since
All Gay Men Are Perverts play it hard here, Bara is
almost always very explicit, to the point of saying Bara
Hentai being redundant.
Unlike
Yaoi Fangirls Bara fans don't worry about shipping and are not so vocal about it either. Bara Fans are, probably, as scary as Yaoi Fangirls, maybe more, for straight guys.
The term was coined by a Japanese gay magazine called
Barazoku (lit. rose tribe) the same magazine that coined the term
Yurizoku (lit. lily tribe) that later became
Yuri.
So Yeah
Kinniku Otoko (literally "Gold Man") is a rare magazine that focus on this genre. Takeshi Matsu is also a well known name among the Bara Fandom.
Fan Yay plays an important role on the Bara fandom, since official works are quite rare, so they have to rely on
Doujinshi,
Fan Art and
Fan Fiction.
Tropes commonly associated with Bara are:
See also the
Distaff Counterpart Yuri. Contrast and compare
Yaoi.
Examples
- Legend Of Blue Wolves is a rare, perhaps the only, OVA that has Bara elements. It mixes bara and Mecha altogether. It tells the story of Leonard and Jonathan mecha pilots that are fighting in a war againt the Apocalypse while they go through all sorts of tribulations such as rape and betrayal.
