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Mmm... is that new shampoo I smell?
You see one guy, you think it's cute.
But if you see two guys, all over each other,
with wind blowing through their hair,
now that's sexy.
—Risenbool Rangers in response to their unnaturally high fangirl base.
One of the more unusual (at least to Western sensibilities) themes in Shojo anime and manga is the love of two men for each other. Ususally called yaoi or shonen-ai ("boy love") in the West, the genre is currently known by the English term Boys Love in Japan. American readers may also be surprised to know that these stories are intended for a female audience; works for gay men are generally considered a separate genre, sometimes called Bara in the West.
Besides the Boys Love genre itself, which focuses specifically on male-male relationships for female readers, many stories for a more general audience feature " bishonen in love" subplots or homoerotic tease to appeal to female readers. Even Shonen and Seinen works may hint at attraction between male characters to increase their Multiple Demographic Appeal. Outside of Boys Love proper, Subtext is more common than outright depiction, although unlike yuri, this tends to be a much more obvious and knowingly direct sell to the viewer.
Some Shonen Unwanted Harem series include a Yaoi Guy character as an unofficial harem member, or at least a wannabe. This allows the Yaoi Guy's advances to be used as a running gag, while providing the series with crossover appeal in other demographic groups. Shoujo harem series, conversely, may hint at male-male attraction among the harem members as Fanservice.
A Yaoi guy doesn't need to be a Bishonen, but there is a certain degree of overlap between the two character types.
Contrast with Ho Yay, which is the closest equivalent in Western media. See also Uke, Keet, and Seme. Has nothing at all to do with Yao Guai, thank goodness. For works where the male-male romance is the main dish rather than the garnish, see Boys Love.
Examples:
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Anime and Manga
- Husky from +Anima could be seen as a yaoi boy because of his hatred for women and his desire to always be by Cooro.
- Axis Powers Hetalia actually has four almost canon Yaoi Guys in different groups. There's Germany and Italy for the Axis Powers, America and England and/or France and England for the Allied Powers, Poland and Lithuania in East Europe, and Sweden and Finland for the Nordics. Many can argue about most of these since only one has been confirmed in canon, but they're pretty well known as far as "Yaoi Guys" goes.
- Mei and Gabu in Arashi No Yoru Ni.
- Suzaku and Lelouch have traces of this in Code Geass.
- Rolo and Lelouch have much more than traces of this, although it's a little one-sided on Rolo's part. It may be slightly more than coincidental that the character design was done by...
- CLAMP. Pick a CLAMP series. Any series. More specifically:
- Cain and Riff from Count Cain and Godchild. Also Cassian and Dr. Jizabel Disraeli. Both pairings are practically canon but never confirmed (except for Cain and Riff because Kaori Yuki said they weren't a couple). I think it's a matter of everyone wanting Cain really.
- There's an author's note about the high percentage of homosexual butlers in Victorian England. Riff is the only one allowed to touch Cain's scars. AND THEN KAORI YUKI CLAIMS THEY HAVE A PLATONIC RELATIONSHIP.
- As of volume eight there is conclusive evidence that Cain has never seen Riff without a shirt.
- Don't forget Oscar. Turns out Cain knew Oscar was in love with him and not Mary the whole time.
- In one episode of Excel Saga, the messenger sent by the heads of ACROSS is a handsome and somewhat androgynous rock star named Key. Excel becomes infatuated with him, and we are shown a fantasy sequence in which she imagines Key and Ilpalazzo as Yaoi Guys.
- Narumi-sensei and Misaki-sensei from Gakuen Alice are an arguable example. Narumi is constantly flirting with Misaki, and they did share a kiss once... of course, Narumi had hidden motives at the time, but still.
- Genshiken has Yaoi Fangirl Chika Ogiue, who in both manga and anime fantasizes about her love interest as a yaoi guy with another member of the club. In fact, the anime episode expands this out into a series of fantasies involving all the male members of the Genshiken as very bishonen yaoi guys, with a tragic romantic plot surrounding Sasahara and Madarame.
- Don't forget the Soba Incident, either.
- Kazuki and Juubei from GetBackers. And pretty much every other guy from Elegance and Kazuki since they all want to get in his pants.
- Shibuya Yuuri and Wolfram von Bielfeld from Kyou Kara Maou are engaged, sleep in the same bed, and are raising a daughter together. Second two resulting from Wolfram's fixation on the first. Played up for laughs, but taken very seriously by Wolfram, who has made passionate declarations of love to Yuuri.
- The Mad Scientist Wars has it's fair share of pairings, but so far the most involved (read: Cannot Spit It Out) relationship is between Andrew Tinker and David Toboz. As of this example, they're official, but Andrew still is Genre Savvy enough to worry about Its Not You Its My Enemies.
- And interestingly, Andrew's son may be heading towards such a relationship...
- Also Commander Xerox and Jess May or may not count. Jess is a shapeshifter who was born female, but when they first met she was shifted as a boy. Xerox, being Bi, donsen't seem to care much either way.
- Though nearly every combination of the main five pilots of the Mobile Suit Gundam spin-off Gundam Wing has been shipped as standard fan procedure, a case for Trowa Barton and Quatre Raberba Winner can actually be argued from canon. Given the director's mentioned that Gundam Wing's "pretty boys" pilots were designed specifically to try to tap into the female fan demographic, this may be less surprising than it seems.
- Kaworu Nagisa and Shinji Ikari's brief but powerful friendship at the end of Neon Genesis Evangelion is rife with common overtones of this sort. While not being specifically elaborated on, it has been milked in non-canonical (and humorous) material.
- Kaworu's (failed) attempts to get some attention from Shinji are actually canon in the spin-off series The Shinji Ikari Raising Project.
- Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin offer twincest-y BL fanservice to the customers of the Ouran High School Host Club. Honey and Mori's more downplayed guardian/master relationship has shades of this too.
- And let's not forget Kyouya's rather intense fondness of Tamaki.
- Peacemaker Kurogane: After being raped in the manga, Suzu becomes gay, crazy, and obsesses over Tetsunosuke in this manner. And then there's this manga cover
 ◊.
- Please Save My Earth includes a (heterosexual) couple who were both reincarnated as boys and who have to redefine their relationship once they find each other again.
- Princess Princess is a series set in an all boys school where the most feminine boys are forced to dress up as girls and accept the adoration of the rest of the school. Some don't mind, most adjust.
- To the point of Shihoudani's mother, at one point, assuming that Shihoudani and Tohru are an item.
- Akio Ohtori and Touga Kiryuu from Revolutionary Girl Utena represent this aspect in their series, especially in certain questionable situations. Interestingly, Touga himself seems to view it largely as a powergame, while Saionji's role as his Unlucky Childhood Friend is less clear.
- Saber Marionette J makes a running gag of the attraction the flamingly gay rich boy Hanigata has for the poor, industrious (and fundamentally straight) Otaru. Then again, they are on a planet whose human inhabitants are all men, clones in fact, while the women are, well, marionettes.
- The uncensored first season of Sailor Moon shows a semiromantic relationship between two members of the Dark Kingdom, Kunzite and Zoisite. This is largely censored in the North American release, mainly by turning Zoisite into a woman.
- Also Fisheye in the fourth season. Again, turned into a woman, despite having "her" take "her" shirt off in one scene. Cue face palm. It doesn't help that in the original Fisheye's voice sounds like a girl's.
- In Sensei no Ojikan, High School junior Kudou Yuuichi has had a crush on classmate Suetake Kenta since at least elementary school. He's an interesting example inasmuch as being a completely standard looking male student, unlike the show's (straight) part-time Wholesome Crossdresser.
- Simoun even manages a pair of them, who were originally Schoolgirl Lesbians.
- Talesof The Abyss: Guy and Luke(or even Asch and Luke if you're into that) because of Guy's inability to have physical contact with women and the slashy events such as Guy ditching Jade and the others in favour of going back to the injured Luke after the Azkeriuth incident. .
- What exactly WAS Jade doing to Dist in that one scene? You know... That One?
- Vassalord: Charley and Rayflo. Barry is a Yaoi Guy, and he probably thinks he's this with Rayflo, although it's not reciprocated.
- Karasu and Itsuki in Yu Yu Hakusho. (Not dating; if they were it'd be a massive Trainwreck.) Sensui is a borderline case; he may either be gay or asexual, but either way, he's too crazy to tell.
Films
Literature
- The third book of the Warchild Series by Karin Lowachee. Yuri and Etienne fit many of the definitions of this particular trope. Yuri was trained as a space-age geisha by his pirate "master" Captain Falcone. His relationship with Etienne began so that he might be "instructed in the arts of love-making." Falcone hoped to use Yuri as an offering to any of his prospective clients who might want a little fun while they did business with the pirate. But Yuri ended up falling in love with Etienne, a feeling which may or may not have been returned.
- Tom and Carl from the Young Wizards series.
- Not Exactly Yaoi, but Balthamos and Baruch of His Dark Materials have some VERY passionate love going on, which is one of the best things about the third book.
- In The Black Magician Trilogy, by Trudi Canavan, the characters Dannyl and Tayend are examples of this. The relationship that develops between them is not sexually explicit and took until the last book, however.
- In Wicked Lovely, Niall and Irial. Esspecially in the backstory, with Iri as the Seme and Niall as the uke, but their dynamic has changed over the centuries. It is implied, however, that given the chance they would go back to the way it was.
Live Action TV
Video Games
- Raven and Lucius from Fire Emblem 7, with Heath and Legault as the second-most popular pairing. And it's not too much of a stretch to assume Matthew's got something for Guy.
- It's more famous for the implied twincest between Ephraim and Eirika, but Innes and Ephraim could practically define UST with their constant bickering. Forde and Kyle are a toned-down version. Gerik and Saleh have a surprising amount of evidence in their favor: Shared history that they haven't really gotten over, the "Quiet Guy + Talkative Guy" dynamic, and Gerik even takes Saleh out despite having two attractive women vying for his attention.
- Soren and Ike from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, although it's less developed than the other examples.
- In fact, pick any male character from FireEmblem—odds are that they've got another guy they can support with for extremely subtext-heavy support conversations.
- Yoshiya "Joshua" Kiryu from the DS game The World Ends With You-he practically embodies the yaoi guy for laughs trope especially in Another Day.
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