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Posts Tagged Boys’ Love/Yaoi

PR: Animate USA Announces October 2011 BL for Kindle

By Lissa Pattillo on Monday, October 17, 2011

ANIMATE USA – NEW RELEASES IN AMAZON KINDLE STORE

TOKYO, JAPAN – October 14th – Animate U.S.A., Inc. is pleased to announce their October releases! Coming this month is a much anticipated extra story to Ayano Yamane’s very popular Viewfinder Series. Also available this month is a never before published work – even in Japan – by You Higashino, “Aphrodisiac Kiss”. These two titles are only available in the Kindle store; you won’t find them anywhere else! Naduki Koujima’s “Selfish Love” is also debuting its newest release on the Kindle this month. These titles and more are now available in the Kindle store. And as a special treat, Animate and Libre are pleased to bring you “The Right Way to Support Manga Artists Part 2” absolutely free on the Animate USA site! What are you waiting for?

For more information, go to www.animate-world.com and www.libre-pub.co.jp To relieve your Youka Nitta withdrawal, you can get your fix at nittayouka.com. Check out recent news, comments, and wallpapers. And you can never have enough Ayano Yamane so be sure to go find out what’s new with her as well as artwork and comments at her site yamaneayano.com! Show them your support and visit their sites!

October 2011:

Ayano Yamane– “Viewfinder Series – Hard-Working Cameraman Akihito Takaba’s Fulfilling Househusband Life” KINDLE EXCLUSIVE!!!
You Higashino – “Aphrodisiac Kiss” KINDLE EXCLUSIVE!!!
Naduki Koujima – “Selfish Love Vol.2 Part 3” KINDLE DEBUT

Read more…

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Otaku USA: On The Shelf – October 12, 2011

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, October 12, 2011

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Conventions are generally my time to dig through boxes of vendors’ manga to find those older missed titles but that doesn’t mean I skip a beat on the new titles out! My most recent On The Shelf article is up at Otaku USA with this week’s new releases.

I was really happy to see the new volume of March Story is out from Viz Media. It’s not a series that seems to be on many people’s radar but I really enjoyed the first two. They can get pretty gruesome but my interest in the characters and gorgeous imagery outweighed the sometimes overly-heavy violence elements easily.

Seeing the release dates come up for Digital Manga‘s big pile of boys’ love titles was the real kicker for me though. Rabbit Man, Tiger Man; A Strange & Mystifying Story; and Kizuna are three of my favourite boys’ love series. I hope I can find copies of these new books at NYAF this weekend!

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Categories: On The Shelf
Tags: Bandai, Boys' Love/Yaoi, DMP, June, Manga, Otaku USA, Viz Media

Review: My Girlfriend’s a Geek (Vol. 04)

By Lissa Pattillo on Saturday, October 1, 2011

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Author: Pentabu
Manga-ka: Rize Shinba
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: September 2011

Synopsis: “…lately, with Taiga putting some distance between himself and his girlfriend as he tries to buckle down and study hard to get into the academic department of his choice, Yuiko starts getting suspicious that Taiga might have found a little piece of his own on the side! To make matters worse, his attempts at keeping the part-time schoolboy-tutoring gig a secret form Yuiko have only served to stoke the fires of her doubt!! After all is said and done, will Taiga even have a girlfriend to spend his hard-earned money on?!”

Immediate quip about this volume – are Taiga and Kouji long-lost brothers or something? I kid, of course, but the cover artwork makes me very grateful the two have ‘black’ and ‘white’ hair during the actual story. Seeing them both with light brown hair and coloured eyes makes them almost indistinguishable from one another at first glance. Enjoyable as I find the two interacting in the series, Kouji’s appearances in this fourth volume are minimal however as Taiga and Yuiko have some much needed honesty time. … and it’s about time too!

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, Manga, Yen Press

Digital Manga Newsletter Licenses and YaoiCon Events

By Lissa Pattillo on Tuesday, September 27, 2011

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Digital Manga’s weekly Newsletter was released tonight and in it were a couple fun tidbits of info for boys’ love fans.

Even though the upcoming YaoiCon is only a month away, Digital Manga is still revealing new licenses utilizing their newsletter. Exciting as the con atmosphere is for new licenses, I love that they’re sprinkling license news online like this. It definitely beats finding it randomly on Amazon. The new two books are:

Depression of the Anti-Romanticist
by Yasuna Saginuma (Author)/Riyu Yamakami (Manga-ka)

Beast & Feast (pictured above)
by Norikazu Akira

Along with the licensing announcements, some Digital Manga Guild reminders and job postings, they also made a few quick notes on the contents of their YaoiCon events:

“DMP Panel(date/time:tba)News
New Releases/New Licenses
More Promotions!
Top-Secret announcement!!

DMG Panel(date/time:tba)News
Up-coming Releases
More Japanese Publishers!
Incentive bonuses for groups!!”

YaoiCon takes place October 21st-23rd down in Burlingame, California. Digital Manga’s sponsored guest this year is Fusanosuke Inariya, creator of (to name an especially popular one), Maiden Rose. Digital Manga doesn’t make too many convention appearances but as a company that primarily publishes boys’ love, they always save up their resources and news for this yearly event.

While I’m always most eager to hear about new licenses, I’m curious about their ‘Top-Secret Announcement’. More publication exclusives such as Yellow 2? Related to DMG or the requests for novel translators this past month? More accessibility to their eManga library (access to it on a smartphone would be a ‘huge’ step in me dipping my toe into digital manga with all their DMG one-shots)? Maybe some yuri licenses?! …I can dream right? I keep telling myself their library of Eiki Eiki and Taishi Zaou means they have a great gateway in place already for fans so it could happen…

News-wise, I’m also curious if they’ll talk at all about their newly, and rather quietly, launched hentai imprint Project-H. Sure it’s not BL but I’m definitely not the only BL reader out there who likes a little senseless, heterosexual porn sometimes.

Convention season is coming to a close for another year (well… a handful of months anyway) but I’m sure we’ll have plenty to ponder, discuss and cheer for after YaoiCon and the upcoming NYAF/NYCC. Any big manga news you’ve got your fingers crossed for?

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Categories: Licensing
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, Conventions, DM Guild, DMP, June, Manga

Boys’ Love Beginnings: Fantagraphics Licenses Heart of Thomas

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, September 14, 2011

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Great news today for fans of boys’ love, shoujo and classic manga (and definitely if fans of all) – Fantagraphics has licensed Moto Hagio’s Heart of Thomas!

Created by Moto Hagio in the early 70s, Heart of Thomas has been cited as one of the earliest examples of boys’ love. It’s the story of a boy named Juli who comes to realize feelings he had for his friend Thomas, who commits suicide at the story’s beginning. A transfer student who bears a striking resemblance to Thomas acts as catalyst for Juli’s reflection.

Heart of Thomas is being released all in one go in a 480 page, hardcover edition. It’s scheduled for release in August 2012. Fantagraphics previously released a collection of short stories by Moto Hagio with Drunken Dreams & Other Stories. As a bonus to this news, it was great reading on their website that Drunken Dreams was “wildly successful” – congrats!

Admittedly it was my fault this news broke a bit prematurely. The retail link popped up when following a recommendation from Amazon via e-mail and a brief search from my phone to About:Manga‘s Heart of Thomas page (which linked to Fantagraphics) had me thinking I missed the license announcement. Inquiring on Twitter opened the floodgate to lots of happy cheers and the news was officially out! Fantagraphics were really on the ball and addressed my wondering almost immediately and then confirmed the license on their website shortly after. Go, go social media! I was very impressed with how they handled it.

I’m really looking forward to reading Heart of Thomas. It piqued my interest after coming up a number of times during conversations re: Moto Hagio and Drunken Dream. We’ve got a year to wait but for almost 500+ pages, hardcover, and a classic manga we’d only dream of any other publisher releasing, it’ll be well worth it!

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Categories: Licensing
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, Fantagraphics, Manga

PR: Animate USA – New August 2011 Releases for Kindle

By Lissa Pattillo on Friday, September 2, 2011

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ANIMATE USA – NEW RELEASES IN AMAZON KINDLE STORE

TOKYO, JAPAN – August 31 – Animate U.S.A., Inc. has five new titles for all the eagerly awaiting yaoi fans this month! First up is the next installment of Youka Nitta’s Yakuza series, “Kiss Ariki”. And Shiuko Kano fans will feel lucky to have two new chapters of the popular “Play Boy Blues” series. Naduki Koujima fans also get a double-dose of her manga “Selfish Love”. And still available on the Animate USA site – absolutely free – is “The Right Way to Support Manga Artists” by Ryo! Many of these titles can only be found in the Kindle Store so be sure to download your copy ASAP!

For more information, go to www.animate-world.com and www.libre-pub.co.jp And if you haven’t gotten enough Youka Nitta this month, you can get your fix at nittayouka.com. Check out recent news, comments, and wallpapers. Ayano Yamane might not have a new release this month, but you can always find out what’s new with her as well as artwork and comments at her site yamaneayano.com! Show them your support and visit their sites!
August 2011:

Youka Nitta – “Kiss Ariki – Episode 6” KINDLE EXCLUSIVE!!!

Naduki Koujima – “Selfish Love Vol.2 Part 1” KINDLE DEBUT

Naduki Koujima – “Selfish Love Vol.2 Part 2” KINDLE DEBUT

Shiuko Kano – “P.B.B. Play Boy Blues – Act 9”　KINDLE EXCLUSIVE!!!

Shiuko Kano – “P.B.B. Play Boy Blues – Act 10”　KINDLE EXCLUSIVE!!!

“Kiss Ariki – Episode 6” by Youka Nitta

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Categories: Press Releases
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi

Devils & Wolves – Digital Manga Adds 3 New Boys’ Love Titles

By Lissa Pattillo on Saturday, August 27, 2011

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Slipping in some under the radar news last week (unless you’re signed up with DMP’s handy newsletter), Digital Manga has added a few new boys’ love titles to their print line-up:

Devil’s Infirmary – Aco Oumi
(“Hokenshitsu no Akuma”)

Ambiguous Relationship – Masara Minase
(“Mijuku na Kareshi”)

Gentlemen’s Agreement Between A Rabbit & a Wolf – Oumi Shinano
(“Usagi to Ookami no Shinshikyoutei”)

Devil’s Infirmary is the second book Aco Oumi has had published by Digital Manga – the first being 801Media‘s Love Circumstances. Amibiguous Relationship‘s artist may look familiar to some also – they’ve had a couple works released by Drama Queen and were the artist for June‘s BL novel, The Lonely Egotist. Oumi Shinano hasn’t had any works released in English yet but they do have a one-shot titled Yakuza Cafe coming from June in October.

Digital Manga has also recently updated their website to include book releases up until September 2012. Some notable (and my most anticipated titles) include up to volume five of Tyrant Who Falls In Love and the Finder series, About Love (wedding planner yaoi? Must see!) and the long-awaited third volume of A Strange and Mystifying Story.

An important distinction to make is the licenses above are for print and don’t include Digital Manga’s growing list of one-shot titles being published through their Digital Manga Guild. This includes the recently released Tired of Waiting for Love. The DMG titles are digitally only and will be released on eManga.com as they come out. I recommend following Digital Manga’s Twitter account for guild news as it comes out.

*Image above is from cover of Oumi Shinano’s Gentlemen’s Agreement Between A Rabbit & a Wolf

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Categories: Licensing
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, DMP, June

Review: Cold Fever

By Jaime Samms on Friday, August 26, 2011

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Author: Narise Konohara
Manga-ka: Nanao Saikawa
Publisher: June Manga
Rating: Mature (18+)
Release Date: February 2011

Synopsis: “Tohru lost his most of his memory in an accident. He can’t remember anything that happened from the past six years. Struggles, but with time, he slowly recovers his memory. He feels as if he is a different person now, and he hates “the other guy” – the “himself” from six years ago… And thinking, Fujishima was his friend, felt like he was being watched over like a guardian angel but in the end he’s betrayed. Miserable and emotionally drained, Tohru is trying not to relive in the shadow of his past. He is trying to move on with his new life… but harder he tries, he finds himself being pulled in by Fujishima.”

“I wanted to make sure this book had real impact. I wanted to portray a couple who were in love but not happy.” – This is a quote from the author in her afterward, and there is no doubt she has accomplished her goal with Cold Fever. This was a very hard book to read.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, June, Light Novels

Super Savings: Fumi Yoshinaga Edition

By Lissa Pattillo on Friday, August 19, 2011

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August’s Manga Moveable Feast – an assortment of articles from a variety of bloggers about a single manga topic – is about Fumi Yoshinaga, manga artist extraordinaire. There’re already lots of great posts for the MMF about her books, her art style and her storytelling methods so I highly recommend following the updates.

For my contribution, I’ve compiled sources where you can buy Fumi Yoshinaga’s books online. We’re lucky to have so many to choose from and collect – just compiling this list was a great reminder. While there’re a variety of places online and in-store to purchase her books, I’ve tried to find the cheapest options to make it that much easier to start, add to or finish your Yoshinaga library.

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Categories: Features, Super Savings
Tags: BLU, Boys' Love/Yaoi, DMP, Fumi Yoshinaga, June, Manga, MMF, Viz Media

Super Savings: RightStuf with Hot Deals on Hot Manga (18+)

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, August 18, 2011

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RightStuf is back with more manga savings and this week it’s specifically for the adult readers out there! Until midnight tonight (August 18th), they’re offering sale prices on all books from Digital Manga’s 801Media imprint.

While their 801Media line-up is all the raunchier of their boys’ love, the RightStuf sale also includes titles from their recently announced hentai imprint – Project H. This is the perfect (and affordable) chance to try out the first of their titles which are due out later this month: Shocking Pink & Three P.

My top reccomendatin for this sale is Under Grand Hotel – it’s a two volume series and each book has over 300 pages. They’re a really interesting size book too, considerably smaller than the norm, but they’re still easy to read. They earn their 18+ rating and then some with violence, sex and rape so warning!

Coinciding neatly with this month’s Manga Moveable Feast about Fumi Yoshinaga, you can also buy her two-volume boys’ love series, Ichigenme: The First Class is Civil Law.

You can see the full list of titles available for sale on their website.

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Categories: Features, Super Savings
Tags: 801Media, Boys' Love/Yaoi, DMP, Fumi Yoshinaga, Manga