A Uke in these tropes is almost always softer, smaller, and more feminine than the Seme. Most Yaoi comics are sexual in nature and define which of the two characters in the relationship are a top (Seme) and a bottom (Uke).Ī Seme in these tropes is almost always someone who is bigger, stronger, and more masculine than the Uke. Yaoi as a genre showcases a few common plots and themes, just like how cis-heteroromantic films have movie cliches, for example, the rich boy and the poor girl falling in love or the strong independent cold man and sweet warm woman falling in love and vice versa, Yaoi has one major cliché, the Seme (top) and the Uke (bottom) who most definitely fall in love by the end of the story. Though gay men have specifically expressed their discontent with the creators of the comics, it’s overwhelmingly women who continue to read and enjoy the genre.
Yaoi has for a long time been discouraged by gay men - the objects of the content - for being grossly unrealistic of how gay men are represented. Over the years it developed into comics that show homoerotic relationships between men.
Yaoi in the beginning was a sub-genre of the Shojo genre (girl’s comics) of Manga.
