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Boys Love Sommelier uses AI to find titles to quench your man-on-man manga romance thirst

Casey Baseel Oct 11, 2018
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Answers to just a few questions, like whether or not you’re in the mood for something “rock-hard,” is all the information the free-to-use virtual assistant needs.

To outside observers, the boys love genre of anime and manga might seem pretty one-dimensional. They’re all just tales of male homosexual romance and lust, right?

Fans, though, would put a finer point on things. Boys love is a category that’s diverse enough that one Tokyo bookstore managed to further subdivide it down to more than 30 different sub-genres, after all. So if you’re looking for a new BL series to follow, you might find yourself overwhelmed by the wealth of choices, and picking one can be even more difficult if you’re trying to keep your taste in media on the down-low because you don’t want to deal with the reactions from less-than-understanding people around you.

But now boys love Internet portal Chil Chil has a quick and convenient solution. The site, which has been in operation for more than a decade, is offering, free-of-charge, the services of its BL Sommelier. However, unlike the wine stewards for which it’s named, the BL Sommelier isn’t a highly knowledgeable human being, but rather an AI program that analyzes your preferences and mood in order to suggest boys love titles you’re likely to enjoy.

Users can tell the sommelier the name of a BL author they like, their level of experience with the genre (beginner, medium, or advanced), and their mood for the day (the choices for which are “normal,” “in the mood to be comforted,” and “in the mood for rock-hard penises”).

▼ Once you select an author, mood, and experience level (by clicking on the icons on the left), clicking on the maroon button starts the sommelier’s analysis.

The AI takes all of that into account, then comes back with nine recommended BL manga or novel titles that it calculates as likely candidates for your new favorite.

▼ The blurb for food-themed BL title Salt or Sugar? describes it as “juicy right down to the fingertips.”

In addition to brief premise descriptions, the recommendations also let you know what applicable genre tropes and fetishes exist for each (such as “seme,” “uke,”“suits,” “lost job,” “middle-agaed men,” and “eyeglasses”), gives an overall “eroticism level” for the title, and also provides links to where you can purchase them.

While creating a free account with Chil Chil and logging in allows for an even more in-depth analysis, the BL Somelier can be used without an account as well, and can be found here.

Source: Chil Chil via IT Media
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert images: Chil Chil