This is a subject matter that has been on my mind for over a year now and it is also a subject I have discussed with a few fellow yaoi and boys love fans online. Our genre of choice has a huge piracy problem and I will admit that in the past I like many others have used pirate sites to read scanlations and watch anime within the genre that has not been made available for me in my region and used that excuse to justify myself for using these sites. But I want to change this and stop using these sites and give my support to legal avenues to support the creators of the genre I love so much. I finally decided to make a post about this after a recent post from Futekiya on their official Instagram account.
Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as telling a lot of these pirate sites to stop, because a large part of the yaoi and boys love fandom beginnings and growth was found on many such sites, but just because this is how it has always been done does not make it right and does not mean we as a fandom can not change.
In the past, we have asked for more western releases of yaoi and boys love titles and many like myself in the past used the excuse “oh I only pirate it because there is no legal avenue to view and or read these titles” In the last few years we have been given that opportunity to support that legal avenue to support those titles. Through purchasing not only physical manga only but also ebooks of some classic titles through various online resources from Amazon and Kindle to Bookwalker and many more options. Heck you can even buy yaoi ebooks like Ten Count from the google play store!
If you can not afford to purchase the whole of your favourite series on one of these options, there is always the option of a subscription service. Though not many there are a few boys love titles and lgbtq+ romance within the Kindle Unlimited Library as well as a few classic mangas. Or you could go to the option of Futekiya and choose from their many subscription options you can cancel at any time.
If that is out of your budget then maybe the Lezhin option is better for you. Where you can choose to spend as much or as little as you want on chapters of awesome yaoi stories.
Now I know an argument I can hear coming is why would I pay to use these services when I can just go to the pirate sites I have always used and read my yaoi and boys love manga for free? Plus they have stuff on these sites that I can not read anywhere else.
If it is a matter of cost that is stopping you from supporting these official releases why not look into a legal reading option for your boys love fix with apps like Tapas and Webtoon? Yes, you will not find the big titles everyone is talking about on here but it will expose you to more indie stories and you never know you might find a new favourite, I know I did when I found This Fluffy Love over on Webtoon. Heck, you can read HeartStopper on Webtoon and that is now a Netflix series so you are not missing out on quality content going down the legal free app option.
What I am saying my fellow yaoi readers is we live in a time where we can support the creators behind some awesome work, no matter what our budget might be. As I said in the past we screamed for an opportunity to support those behind our favourite stories, for legal releases. Our voices were heard so maybe it’s time to take a step back from those sites of the past and work towards a future where we support more official releases.
And to stand behind what I am saying here, from this point onwards here on Yaoi Playground I will only be reviewing titles with official English releases and when I can I will also share links to where you as well can support these official releases.
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