Despite the fact that Japan’s manga is usually divided by gender and age – shonen, for boys, and shojo, for girls – it offers representation for LGBT characters. Yaoi (known as BL in the West) and bara are smutty genres that depict homosexual relationships, though not all stories are necessarily pornographic.

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In this moody slice-of life queer manga, Yuhki Kamatani (who is self-identified as asexual/x-gender), we follow Tasuku Kane who is terrified of being outed. In desperation he rushes to a house in Onomichi, near Hiroshima, and finds that it’s actually a drop-in center for LGBTQ+ folks who have been struggling with issues similar to their own. The group of people that he meets in Onomichi help him to break down the emotional and mental walls that have been standing in his way, and find his own place as a LGBTQ+ person in an environment that is still not accepting.

Kamatani’s artwork is stunning, full of gorgeous surreal imagery and visual metaphor that convey the characters’ emotions in a way words can never quite match. Even mundane events like Aoba’s face being punched with Umiko’s airsoft pistol or Ko’s cheeks being inflated by Hifumi become meaningful due to how they are illustrated.

Boys’ love is a subgenre of shoujo manga (comics for girls) and the broader erotic media genre known as yei jei or tanbi, which features female-male romance. This subgenre is distinct from shojo (girls’ comics) and the wider erotic media known as yeijei or tanbi which feature female-male relationships. It’s also different from sexyei – a fetishistic representation of homosexuality, often created by females for female audiences.

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Butterfly Soup was a big surprise for queer gamers when it first came out in 2017. Up until that point, no game had explored themes like homophobia and the intersections between race, gender, sexuality, and age.

This slice-of-life BL series follows Shiro Kakei, a serious lawyer who is always on the lookout for savings, and Kenji Yabuki, a gay hairdresser and cook. While Shiro is a serious and penny-pinching lawyer, Kenji is an openly gay hairdresser who loves to cook. Each episode contains charming humour as well as heartwarming tales that will make both you and your audience laugh out loud.

The manga series was created by Gengoroh Tagame, who is known for creating erotic manga that explores gay men’s issues and subjects. He began to produce non-pornographic, mainstream manga in the 2010s that explored LGBT themes and subjects.

The series’ uniqueness is the way it presents an older gay couple in a mainstream setting, while highlighting their domesticated relationship. Characters are nuanced and well-rounded, and lead actors can handle dramatic as well as comedic scenes. This is one of the most enjoyable BL dramas ever made.

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Both Kazusa Ayumu and their childhood friends are scared when they start dating. When Ayumu and Kazusa start dating, they’re both scared.

This manga about homosexual relationships is a heartfelt and realistic depiction of the struggles of LGBT+ characters. It’s also a good read for those looking to discover a new side of Japanese romance.

Boys’ Love (Japanese, Hepburn: Boizu Rabu) is a Japanese manga genre and other media that features homoerotic romances between male characters. It’s usually made by women, for female audiences. This is different from the more sexy and yaoi-like genre that men create for their own audiences.

BL, despite being criticized by some for its latent fetishism of queer characters or even blatant fetishization, is still read and loved by many. Mangaka often cross genres to create media that suits their creative bent. The lack of conversation about important issues, such as non-consensual sexual assaults and misgendered figures, is often the result. These discussions are rarely addressed in Boy’s Love/BL and yuri manga, which operate within a sexy, alternative setting.

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Gone Home, a first person game where the player interacts with various objects and moves around a house. The interactivity of the game relies heavily upon the player’s exploration of the house and the reading of notes hidden within it. It is, therefore, a queer archive that is built around the idea of a archaeological uncanny.

The mood is enhanced by a moody music score, and Riot Grrl tracks played from cassette tapes that were found in the home. The combination of these sounds creates an evocative atmosphere that evokes the tension of being a woman in a patriarchal society. The game also features female characters that are not caricatures, which is rare in video games where most of the main roles are played by men.

Even though there are many games that feature LGBTQ themes, it is difficult to find any without latent or obvious fetishism. However, it is encouraging that more games are starting to focus on women’s lives and relationships instead of male escapism. We can look to the work of developers such as Florence Smith Nicholls who, in her article on a queer game called Gone Home, argues that the way the game is structured “queers the domestic by making it unfamiliar”. It is an important step in a gaming industry where gender bias is often subtle and implicit.