Quick question. Did Aoi Hana or Sasameki Koto sell through to lots and lots of males? Also, can this market be milked further?

My theory is that a large number of girls want Yaoi because they want to emotioinal build up in typical romance with the submissive girl replaced by a submissive guy, so there is a thriving market for the genre outside of smut. However, there is no equivalent market for Yuri because guys just want the sex.

Looking back at my old post I should have clarified that I was talking about Yuri that will actually sell through to males in quantities equivalent to Yaoi, not all Yuri in general.

However, I dont think that either Yuri or Yaoi can be made into “countless plots” – Gravitation, Fake, Kyo Kara Maoh = typical Yaoi-flavoured stories. Kashimashi, Strawberry Panic, Aoi Hana, Sasameki Koto = typical Yuri-flavoured stories. Each have certain tropes which basically are followed in their respective stories.

As for predicability, that’s something that just comes with the genre. There’s a reason audiences tend to go see romances, and that is to see the main pair hook up. Why do you think everyone’s pissed about open endings in harems? The writers cop out at the most important part of the story, the resolution (the hooking up). There are examples of when this is subverted and the resolution is that they don’t get together, but that usually pisses off most audiences more often than not. (the exception of course is tragedies, but audiences expect a tragedy when they walk into a tragic movie, not so much with romances). I agree with TIF that good characters are more important in making a good romance, rather than making it unpredictable.