Our Top 10 BL 만화
WARNING! If we marked the last list as 18+ NSFW this is SOOOOO NSFW that we are glad we are sharing this in the middle of a quarantine. Seriously some of the images shared are extremely sexual. If you are not comfortable with such scenes this list is not for you.
Another Tuesday, another list. And this list is a doozy. Now that we introduced you to BL Dramas, we are going to introduce you to another BL genre. We had brough it up in the last list. 만화, are in the simplest terms, a comic book. And while not many BL drama’s come out of South Korea, 만화 are a totally different story.
Another thing you could gauge from our last list is that we like the sexy stuff. Fluff is nice, but the down and dirty is what we’re about for the most part. This is what we call Yaoi. All Yaoi is BL but not all BL is Yaoi.
These are our favorite BL 만화’s. Let’s Go!
10. Window to Window (창 너머 창) by Lee Aru
This was the first series we ever read, finished, and wished we had more. Ginu and Yubin were best friends ever since they were little kids. But Yubin is in love with Ginu. And does *ehem* to himself while thinking of Ginu. Bad part is Ginu see’s him doing it from his window across the way. Which turns out to be not so bad as Ginu is curious about what Yubin was doing and why and a friends with benefits relationship starts. What Yubin doesn’t realize is that Ginu has liked him since even before they really knew what “being gay” meant. And while their friends with benefits continues, things start to change between them. This was our first experience with yaoi. We were more so into the BL dramas before we knew yaoi and bl 만화’s existed. So our eyebrows raised, our temperatures rose, and our hearts pounded as we read through these sex scenes. We were hooked. The roll play one got us the most. So fair warning.
9. Puppy Love (퍼피러브) by Eumnya
This is a newer 만화having only been released, at the time of us writing this, two months ago. We usually try to steer clear of the overpowering, ‘ownership’ tropes. It just isn’t our thing. We can’t even tell you why we clicked it, but we did. And we were not disappointed. Seoyoon is a young man who is social media famous, but due to trauma in his past, he rarely goes outside and avoids all kinds of real life social interaction. He receives a DM from a man, Yeonwoo. A vulgar comment that is usually ignored but for some reason Seoyoon chooses to respond. The next thing you know Seoyoon is sending lewd photos and doing everything Yeonwoo asks of him. Even making Seoyoon his ‘pet.’ Yeah, we know, it sounds weird, but come to us after reading Killing Stalking. We can’t even share many images from this title as it is very VERY sexual. The reason it made it on our list is because we see that Yeonwoo, while dominating and making Seoyoon his pet, seems to have genuine feelings for Seoyoon. Since this is a newer title, we don’t know where the story may lead but we are excited to find out.
8. Pian Pian (피옌피옌) by Haesin Young
This is another new one to the scene. And while not a lot has happened in it yet, we have a feeling it’s about to. Sooha is the lowest of the low on the totem pole at a famous chef’s, Chef Calix, restaurant. Choosing to go into food as his profession was all due to seeing Chef Calix on tv when he was a bit younger. He started to develop a crush, not that he wanted to admit it, but he did. Seems like a pretty normal story, until you find out that in this world everyone has their soulmates initials on a part of their body, and Sooha has it on a pretty indecent place. He had chosen to never show anyone until he meets his soulmate. BUT, he keeps having very vivid sexual dreams about his boss, and at one point those dreams become a reality. That’s as far as the plot has gone. Our hope is these two are in fact soul mates and get to do all the things together!
7. On or Off (온 오어 오프) by A1
This one was recommended to us by a friend @dyani_robles who has an amazing YouTube channel AND a super awesome website @thebelulineup. Follower her for tons of awesome K-pop content. When we first started reading, we will admit we didn’t like the artists style. Still cannot say we’re the biggest fans of it, but when the story is that good you tend to forget how it’s being drawn. Yiyoung is part of a start up app company. The company gets the chance of a lifetime to present their app to a massive corporation and the head decision maker, Kang Daehyung. Unfortunately, Yiyoung is so flustered by the attractiveness of Daehyung he messes up the presentation. To try and save his ass, as well as help the team, he tries to talk to Daehyung outside the office walls. Daehyung, mistakes his approach as flirtation and angry that Yiyoung would stoop so low, sleeps with him with the promise to take a look at his proposal. Although he has no intention of actually doing so. Shockily, he accidently reads the proposal and finds it was the best and hires the company to create the app for his business. The story and relationship grow from there, but this is another unfinished story. Not a lot of sex has happened, but the characters are enjoyable enough with their growing sexual tension that when they finally do have tons of sexy time we will all be screaming “thank you lawd!”
6. Love Shuttle (애인셔틀) by Im Ae-Ju
Another trope we tend to avoid is omegaverse (men can get pregnant and such). Not for any particular reason but it just never interested us. This was another suggestion from our girl Dyani and we are, once again, glad we stepped away from our norm. Doyun is an Omega , who looks, and acts like an Alpha, but hasn’t ‘gone into heat.’ At his age, this is not common and his family is concerned that there might be something gravely wrong. Cue Taehan. Doyun’s sworn alpha enemy, for reasons that tbh weren’t that serious or worth getting so mad over, but we look past it because the story still is solid. Taehan, happens to be the one who sends Doyun into heat, and while he hates it, he loves it. And Taehan, we believe had a crush on Doyun since day one of them knowing each other, although not confirmed. The first season ended with a cliffhanger, and the second season started NOT even discussing said cliffhanger, but we’re here for the new couple that seems to be blossoming and pray that we find out what happened to Doyun and Taehan.
5. Sign (수화) by Ker
We wished this had more sign language in it because we probably would’ve become fluent. This story is about Go Yo, a deaf chef/coffee shop owner and Soo Hwa, a young man who was desperate for a job. Go Yo tends to never speak but when he hires Soo Hwa, who hasn’t learned all there is to sign language, he is forced to use his voice. The crazy thing is, his voice is sexy AF and makes Soo Hwa’s little Soo Hwa excited. The kicker? Go Yo gets turned on by Soo Hwa’s sign language. This is a very light, cute, sexy story, with a little bit of darkness but not enough to make it crazy. They are currently on the second season which is focusing on the best friend of Go Yo, and the boy he’s been crushing on for a while. It’s been a very cute story so far and we hope we will enjoy it, but we doubt it will be as much as the original couple.
4. Fanboy and Robot Idol by Young Dream
We found this one when we were scrolling Instagram and a scene popped up on our explore page. We read it and lusted after the art. So much so that we went on a quest to find the 만화. It took a little digging and several app downloads to finally find this masterpiece. This one is also tame. No sexy bits (shame) but still sweet and funny. Callum is a robotic popstar. Yep you read that right. A robot. He gets shunned by the world when he is blamed for murdering several humans. His creator tells him he needs to learn about humans and he can’t return home until he does. Ron Lee is a massive Callum fanboy. To the point his ex-girlfriend breaks up with him because he was more in love with a robot. Guess who finds Callum, battery almost drained on the side of a coffee shop? You guessed it! Ron. There are several versions of Callum and one of them escapes and finds solace with Ron’s boss. There is a bad guy who truly is scum but for some reason, there are parts you hope he gets redeemed because you feel bad for the guy. They story isn’t finished and hasn’t been updated in quiet some time which breaks our hearts because shiz was just starting to go down but we hope the author comes back to provide us more love.
3. My Suha (나의 수하) by Chahyun
Suha is the secretary to Park Jiwoon, a mild-mannered man who is Director of a massive company. Suha works hard at his job, and makes sure that Park Jiwoon is taken care of. Outside of work, he is much more carefree, trying to find a decent lay and always coming up short. While he does look at his boss and think, “damn, he fine.” (and when you see Jiwoon you will too), he knows not to cross the professional line. That changes when they accidentally run into each other at a gay bar. Hilarity ensues, but then something even better happens. Sexy time! The reason we chose this secretary/CEO trope over all the others was the fact that Jiwoon, while a freak in the sheets, is not a douchebag outside the bedroom. Jiwoon has a past, that Suha is also part of but we don’t know to what extent yet. This story is still not complete, but we will say it moved up the ranks of our favs very fast with the relationship growth, the sex scenes, but oddly one of our favorite things is all the suits Jiwoon wears.
2. Room To Room (방 건너 방) by Lee Aru
The sequel to Window to Window is focused on the friends of Ginu and Yubin. Dowan and Chamin who wind up living together after Chamin’s girlfriend breaks up with him. Little does he know that Dowan is in love with him. And little does Dowan know that Chamin starts taking medication to sleep that turns him into a sleep sex-er. Dowan is a muscled god and little Chamin, well, he is so skinny and tiny that as you read you worry Dowan might break the poor kid with how hard he goes. But their sex scenes are some of the best and we loved every second of it. There are some points where the story gets a little confusing (like when the author throws in a bad guy for only two chapters, that doesn’t really do much and you never hear of him again) but other than that the story is solid, and the sex…well you will have to read to understand just how good it is.
1. U Are Here by D. Jun AND IN A SURPRISE THAT SHOCKED ALL OF KOREAN FROM CONTEXT… A NON YAOI 만화 CAME IN FTW! Yes, you are reading that correctly. U Are Here is a sweet romance story of a boy (Yu Yang) afraid to fall in love and a boy (Li Huan) who wants nothing more than to shower him in love. It wasn’t love at first site. In fact, it was more so hate. But after constantly being thrown into situations together, they bond here and there, and Yu Yang, the boy who is openly gay, but also scared to fall in love again, realizes that the quiet anti-social freshman is actually a sweet, strong, and a little broken in his own way. They realize they can help heal and mend each other’s broken hearts. The story is adorable but real and the artwork is our favorite. These characters stick with us and keep us wanting more.
There you have it! Our top 10 만화! If you want to know where to read these feel free to reach out to us on Instagram @koreanfromcontext OR our Twitter @koreanfrmcntxt
Travel NYC like Seungmin and Hyunjin of Stray Kids
Stray Kids went a lot of different places while being here in New York. And since they’re coming back NEXT WEEK, we decided to do one more before they arrive. Some of the spots we loved (Like when they visited The Roxy hotel, and DUMBO) and some we legitimately try to stay as far away from as possible (like Penn Station and now this new spot).
This spot is actually somewhere we had talked about and been to when ASTRO came to town. Yes, that’s correct. We went back to Times Square. JUST. FOR. YOU! To a section we actually have never even been close to if we’re being honest. We had seen it in videos, pictures, and we knew where it was but since it was in Times Square we avoided it like the plague.
Famous from the Alicia Keys and Jay-Z music video for “Empire State of Mind” those bright red stairs actually hold TKTS, an infamous Broadway ticket selling broker. We say infamous because they say they sell tickets cheap, when really they are the same, if not more than face value for the tickets. Fun fact if you come to NY and want to see a show…don’t go there.
The spot has now become an Instagram mecca for the tourists who come to see Times Square. And the boys of Stray Kids hopped on that bandwagon. And what they do, we do. And we have to admit…
It was pretty cool. Actually really cool. Yes, we will admit that something in Times Square was worth going to see. Between Broadway and 7TH Ave, on 47th St. you will find these large red stairs to climb up and see the enormity of Times Square. And you can snap your shot and check another location off your list as you have now travelled like Seungmin and Hyunjin of Stray Kids.
Travel NYC like Bang Chan, Changbin, Jisung, and Hyunjin of Stray Kids
On a hot summer weekend in NYC, the heat not only radiated from the sun above but off the concrete below causing us to want to spend the whole day in the nice cool AC of our hotel room. But no! We were determined to go hunting for travel spots. With our list as long as Priyanka Chopra’s veil, we ventured out into the jungle.
Hopping onto the subway, we made our way to the always entertaining area of SoHo (short for South of Houston). A place filled with amazing restaurants, cool shops, and all around fun stuff to adventure and find.
On this adventure we were going to a place we had actually never been, but knew from a movie called Two Weeks Notice (released in 2002). See how we have, are, and always will, love love. While they had put a different name on the building, Sammie’s mom had said she knew where the place was and had been with coworkers years prior.
When we watched “Stray Kids: 제 9구역 시즌2 ( chae 9 guyeok shijon 2 – the 9th district season 2) we loved seeing so many sights of the city we love, which will be showcased in future articles, but when we saw them walk past an iconic scene in RomCom history we paused and proceeded to screech. We knew the image very well.
Sandra Bullock running to save Hugh Grant Sandra Bullock had run to that very spot to find Hugh Grant had called her for the ‘emergency’ of not finding the right outfit to wear to an event. And our fan fiction hearts started imagining Jisung meeting us in one of the gorgeous rooms in the hotel for a romantic rendezvous, or Bang Chan ordering room service so we didn’t have to leave our room and simply spend time together, or Changbin buying us a drink while Hyunjin performed on the small stage in piano bar.
Stray Kids Bang Chan, Hyunjin, Changbin, and Jisung outside The Roxy We knew we had to go. And so here it is. The Roxy Hotel is located at the intersection of 6th Ave, Church St. and White St. Yes, three roads all meet to make the area that is The Roxy Hotel. Outside is a gorgeous old black clock with a white face that reminds us of the clock in the historic Waldorf Astoria Hotel (which is currently closed).
Sammie outside trying not freak out too much that she was living out a childhood memory. After you see some art at a small local gallery, do some shopping at some cute boutique, get a gelato from the local creamery, or a drink down at one of the local pubs, go and relax in the gorgeous venue that is The Roxy Hotel so you can say you travelled NYC like Bang Chan, Changbin, Jisung, Hyunjin of Stray Kids.
#WAFFLEDEBACLE
Sammie here. Thanks for reading our blogs about the recent concerts we’ve been to and even our book Seoul Searching. This post is a little different than what we’ve done in the past. This is my account of what we here at K.F.C, as well as my coworkers and friends, have now deemed the IMFACT #waffledebacle.
Enjoy.
The day started like any other concert going day. I picked out an outfit, proceeded to change it fifteen times, until I ended up going shopping and finding the cutest dress to wear (on clearance too! I love me a sale J). I put on my most basic of make-up as I have zero skills in that department. And I spent an hour fixing my hair only to throw it up in my usual bun because I hate my hair any other way. My normal concert routine.
I arrived at the venue, waited in line, met up with friends, got into the building to meet the members of IMFACT as they signed an album to me, even some of them wished me a happy birthday. I fangirled a bit as we took group photos, and then the concert began. I rocked out, screamed, danced, and went crazy when they played my favorite songs. Again, my normal concert routine.
Then the show concluded, and it was time for the Pick-a-poses. This has always been one of my favorite moments of concerts run by Studio PAV. While most other companies have a hi-touch and a quick group photo after the show, Studio PAV delivers a once in a lifetime experience. A short, but intimate time with idols one on one. I have been to close to ten shows that Studio PAV has put on and usually I tend to say very little to the idols during these Pick-a-pose sessions. They say, “Thank you for coming.” I quickly respond with a smile and maybe a, “You’re show was great.” Click! The photo is taken, I walk away to get on the next line and repeat the same steps. MY NORMAL CONCERT ROUTINE!
WELL NOT THIS TIME!
I stood in line, waiting patiently, talking to the people around me about how amazing the show was and how hard IMFACT had gone during both their group and solo performances. I had no order to whom I wanted to see. As much as Jian was my bias, after the show they put on I was ready to make them all my biases. So, I chose the shortest line and asked who I was in line for as I couldn’t see the members ahead.
Main vocalist, visual, aka: perfection in an idol, Lee Sang.
A name I know I will now never forget. Nor will any of my friends, coworkers, or even my fiancé.
I was internally practicing what I wanted to say, like always, knowing the second, I was in front of him I would say absolutely nothing of what I had planned.
I heard the click of the woman ahead of me as her final photo was being taken and braced myself. It was my turn. My heart was racing, I told the woman with the camera in her hand the two photos I wanted and walked up to Lee Sang, his smirk could’ve knocked me off my feet if I wasn’t too preoccupied in my head. Thinking about it now, it was probably one of the sexiest things ever directed my way and I was too stupid to register it in the moment. I walked over and proudly, in Korean, told him the two numbers I wanted. The smirk suddenly became a full out smile as he asked if I spoke Korean. I responded quickly that I was learning and looked toward the camera for the poses.
And then, something I never planned for, happened. Something I never in a million years thought would ever be spoken to me from anyone apart from maybe my fiancé, left this idol’s lips.
“You’re very pretty.”
I’m not even joking I could feel his eyes on me. They were on me, and nowhere else.
My response? I laughed. I hadn’t looked at him. I couldn’t. Surely, he couldn’t be serious. And when he said nothing and the woman taking the photo still hadn’t taken the photo, I looked over to him. His eyes surprised at my response. Finally, my brain came to the conclusion, “Beesh he’s serious.”
I bowed my head and said thank you.
He followed up by asking me my name.
THIS WAS MORE INTERACTION THAN I’VE HAD WITH ANY OF THE OTHER IDOLS I HAVE MET!
I was simply staring at him for a little too long and his eyebrows raised while in my head I’m screaming, “Answer the damn question!”
I respond with my name. Mind you, we still have not taken the first photo. The woman was simply watching us. I’m pretty sure she had been in the middle of changing the film. It’s the only way the conversation was able to continue.
I will say again, I’ve done these Pick-a-poses multiple times. I have been there when the film needed to be reloaded and I stood awkwardly next to the members who simply waited for the film to be filled and the photo to be taken. We say nothing to each other. And I acknowledged it as, this is there job, they are being paid for this, they are tired and they want to go home so they want these pictures done and done quickly. I don’t blame them for that at all and I always forget to wish them a nice rest, but as you can all clearly see, talking to the idols is not my forte.
Lee Sang was different from all of them. Even from the rest of his members. He spoke confidently, but nervously. He was worried he had something incorrectly but also knew that he wanted to get out what he had to say.
I had again looked back to the woman ready for the photo, only to once again be asked a question, “Are you from around here?”
Snapping my neck in surprise that this conversation was continuing, I nodded my head and said, “Born and raised.”
That’s when the woman finally put the view finder up to her eye and we made the first pose.
Click.
One photo down. I looked to the poses as at that point I had totally forgotten what the second one I chose was and that’s when another thing fell from this man’s lips I never thought I would ever hear someone of his magnitude say to me.
He leaned in a bit and spoke slowly to make sure what he said was perfectly clear, “What should I do after the show? What should I see?”
My body felt like it had gone limp. My soul had left my body. No way. This god of a man was most definitely not asking me to hang out. No way. He just wanted to know what he should go and do before he had to hop on a plane back to South Korea.
I shrugged and responded, “hmm. I don’t know. What is it you want to see?” while internally I was saying “DO ME! SEE ME!” (disclaimer: I love my fiancé. With all my heart. But a damn sexy idol was potentially hitting on me. I’m still a woman. I have urges. And by the end of this, you’ll all see why my fiancé has nothing to worry about.)
The woman had begun to rush us to take the second picture. I was sad that moment had finally arrived but as she was trying to take the picture he kept talking saying, “We can still talk.”
WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU WANT TO KEEP TALKING TO ME!?!?
He then mumbled something while smiling that I couldn’t understand, and I simply nodded my head thinking he had asked a yes or no question.
When I went to pull away he grabbed my hand and kept repeating a word that at first I was unable to understand and finally he spoke louder and I realized he was saying, “Waffle.”
I nodded to say I understood and repeated, “Waffle?”
He nodded excited and said, “I really want to try them.”
And here is where you will all see why my fiancé has nothing to worry about.
I responded, “Oh yeah! I love waffles.”
He smiled brightly and the hand that was holding onto mine went to my neck. I was dreaming. It had to be a sick vivid dream that wanted nothing more than to torture me. And then he gently squeezed and massaged, confirming I in fact was not dreaming, and suddenly 18+ thoughts were running in my mind begging for me to let them live their fantasy.
He let go and all I could think to do was walk away with a small “맛있어 (Masheeso- it’s delicious)”
You read that right. I WALKED AWAY! Instead of taking the bold move of saying something like, “I know I great waffle place!” for him to ask where and me to offer to take him…my dumb nervous ass walked away.
I could’ve gone back. I could’ve bought another Pick-a-pose, stood on his line, walked back up and said, “So about those waffles…”
So many scenarios I could’ve done, that I have now since played out in my head, all ending with me potentially EATING WAFFLES WITH LEE SANG OF IMFACT!
But alas, I didn’t do any of these things. I walked away never to see him again. Not knowing if he got those waffles he seemed so eager to devour. I walked away from an unfinished fan fiction moment. The romance writer inside of me died and has been laid to rest. She no longer resides in this body because she can’t believe what an idiot I was.
I told my friends and coworkers and all they could do was shake their heads in shame and say what an epic fail I had pulled. And that is how the IMFACT #waffledebacle ended.
But did it have to end like that? I could write a better ending, saying we found the typical New Jersey twenty-four-hour diner and got those waffles. I could say we talked about our lives, our likes and dislikes, and had some deep conversation over a large plate of warm fluffy squares topped with butter and syrup with a side of strong coffee to keep ourselves awake to enjoy each others company. I possibly could’ve said we drove around finding the perfect spot to wait for the sun to rise over New York City knowing I had to bring him back and we had to face reality.
And yet, none of that would be true and I am sat here left simply to wonder if Lee Sang got his waffles or not.
#waffledebacle
Hangul 한글
Hangul is the Korean alphabet. It’s the letters that form the gorgeous puzzle pieces that are Korean words. Sadly there is no way to put this into a story without having an extremely lengthy scene that would bore you and having you scream, “WHEN ARE THEY GOING TO MAKE OUT?!”
Don’t worry! Throughout the story you will receive both the hangul as well as a romanization. It will be at the bottom of every chapter so you can sound it out as you read.
Here is my breakdown of the letters and how you sound them out:
A real first chapter will be posted next week. Until then practice sounding out these letters as well as continue listening to K-pop and K-dramas and see if you can figure out how to spell some of the words they say!! (YES I ASSIGNED YOU SOME HOMEWORK…but tbh, you were gonna do that stuff anyway.)
Hello 안녕하세요
My name is Sammie (쌔미). Since you probably don’t know who I am, because why and how would you, I have been writing since I was in the fifth grade. I thank my mother for the gene as she is a New York Time Best-Selling author. I have also been an avid Korean Pop and Korean Drama junkie for the last four or so years.
Since getting into said Korean things, I realized I was slowly starting to pick up words and phrases used fairly often. I’m sure fans can agree that they have also picked up certain phrases. Much to my mother and father’s dismay, I know more Korean than I do Spanish or Italian.
And I wanted to learn even more of the language, so I bought study books and tried to dive in head first. It was so BORING! For me, at least, the breaking down to the point I was stressing out over something that was supposed to be fun, made me hate the idea of learning a new language. It was frustrating! So much so I wanted to bang my head against a wall and throw in the towel. If you want to make something fun, try to not make it so clinical. I mean, that’s probably why my high school Spanish never stuck.
The only thing I could say the books helped with was the pronunciation and grammatical symmetry of the Hangul. Other than that, I wasn’t able to get any sort of enjoyment or feeling of accomplishment from the books.
What I realized was that simply watching K-dramas and listening to K-pop was more helpful to me. I even had a Korean mail lady at my old surf and skate shop who I would ask questions and she would give me the correct pronunciations. Soon she had let me start calling her 언니 (older sister spoken from another female) and we formed a friendship. I came to realize I was learning from what I heard in context. And from that I have grown in my knowledge and have chosen to continue my studies in a unique way. I want to use my writing and I want to bring you guys along.
So here is my pitch: How fun would it be to learn a new language while falling in love?
Korean From Context is my baby. It’s the idea that a person can learn from what’s being said around what they don’t necessarily know. It’s my platform for a new type of genre. Educational Romance.
Yes, this will be predominantly romance. My plan is to create one or two large novels (who knows maybe more!), while also making small scenarios, where you the friendly readers can ask me how a saying would be used, or how something would play out in a particular situation and I will write a scenario in which the statement would be used.
This is a site to learn and 재미있게 보내세요 (have fun)
