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Posts Tagged Boys’ Love/Yaoi

Super Savings: Totally Huge Savings at Totally Manga!

By Lissa Pattillo on Friday, June 22, 2012

Some sad news and good news makes up this Super Savings’ post today. I was recently contacted by the owner of Totally Manga, a store dedicated entirely to selling manga. How I wish I could’ve seen that! Unfortunately they’ve needed to close up shop and that means getting rid of the last of their stock. Sad news indeed :(

The good news in this, however, is it that it means huge savings for online buyers. Much to my personal sadness, this sale is for ~~US-buyers only~~ (Edit: shipping options have been updated for Canadian and International buyers) but the deals are too great for me not to share with all Kuriousity’s American readers. This is especially true if you’re a BL fan – Totally Manga a fair variety of titles but predomiantly boys’ love, and notably from the English BL giant Digital Manga, including light novels and out of print titles. Many, many to choose from!

The best part? Every single volume is only $5.00/US! Free shipping is also offered on orders over $100. Quantities are limited, of course, so if you’re curious pop over there now and take a look. Buy lots of amazing, shiny books in my place because I can’t okay? Enjoy!

Added note: Doesn’t the website have the best colour scheme ever? Sort of reminds me of something… hmm…

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Categories: Features, Misc, Super Savings
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, Manga

Review: Three Wolves Mountain

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, June 20, 2012

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Manga-ka: Naono Bohra
Publisher: SuBLime
Rating: Mature (18+)
Release Date: June 2012

Synopsis: “Way up in the mountains, far from any major cities or towns, Kaya Susugi runs a small cafe by day and guards a haunted cemetery by night. Then, one night, he comes across werewolf brothers Tarou and Jiro. Cheerful but klutzy younger brother Jiro quickly falls head over heels for the capable loner Kaya. What results is a dive into the hot, tail-twitching delight of werewolf mating season!”

Three Wolves Mountains is an assortment of ‘finally!’s before I even took off the plastic wrap. It’s among the first of SuBLime Manga’s print editions , and only the second Naono Bohra work to be released in English. While the plot’s execution has its bumps, SuBLime made a fun and memorable choice in releasing a genre fan-favourite that serves up supernatural puppy love (of the sexy, mature-reader only variety!).

Swag Bag: Farewell Ouran, Hello Shonen and Bye-Bye Kizuna Boys

By Lissa Pattillo on Saturday, June 16, 2012

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Swag Bag time! Below are some of my thoughts of books I’ve purchased in the past two weeks (and love very, very much). As always these books were purchased at my local comic shop, Strange Adventures.

My favourite buy of recent weeks was the final volume of Ouran High School Host Club (Vol.18). I couldn’t even wait to get home to read it so I was quick to find a place to sit down and enjoy. It was a fantastic ending, probably one of the best I’ve ever actually read in manga series, especially a shoujo. I plan to go into it in more detail in an upcoming review, but in summary – yay! Though I’m really sad there’s no more to read.

Also from Viz Media this week were the first two volumes of their Bleach speed-up. Despite some pleadings from my wallet, I simply couldn’t leave volume 41 on the shelf when I was walking away with volume 40, so both it was! I enjoyed these together more than I have Bleach in a while and having two volumes at once I think played a big role in that. You can read more of my thoughts in my recent duo-review of the volumes.

Hopping back on a different shonen train, I purchased Toriko (Vol.09). It’s still one of my favourite on-going series right now which I never would have expected when I first came across it. It feels so reminiscent of Dragonball, including Komatsu who ups his adorable and toughing-it-out points in this new volume. On the flipside, I bought Dawn of the Arcana (Vol.04) which is a series I thought I would really like but it has yet to click with me. Volume four is it! If I don’t get into it after this, then I’m done with this iffy shoujo series.

With one series over and three others continuing, I sought something brand new by buying Puella Nagi Magica Madoka (Vol.01) from Yen Press. I haven’t seen the anime but heard the story was really good. The manga didn’t live up to my expectations, but I can see it being worth exploring further in some format at least. I wrote and posted a review on my Madoka thoughts last week.

Catching my eye was an older title from UDON Entertainment – Evyione Ocean Fantasy (Vol.01). Even knowing their track record for continuing manhwa past a first volume is horrendous, I couldn’t help but buy it. It’s a retelling of the Little Mermaid story except the mermaid is a gorgeous mysterious merman and the prince is instead, you guessed it, a princess. I really like what I read here but I won’t hold my breath for getting volume two.

And then it was boys’ love time! Two new Digital Manga titles arrived in-store, which is always a surprise since you never know for sure when their books will ship. Both titles were by Kazuma Kadoka – Kizuna (Vol.06) and Bad Teacher’s Equation (Vol.04). I was a little disappointed to see that the Kizuna volume was only a single, where all the others released by DMP were omnibus. Nothing that can be done when that’s all that’s left though. I’ll miss the series now that it’s over – it’s a true BL classic. Bad Teacher’s Equation as a series is so silly – I have fun reading it so I’m glad there are still a few volumes left to go.

And in non-manga buying news, but something that still overlaps a lot with the fandom, I purchased the second Avatar the Last Airbender: The Promise graphic novel from Dark Horse. As a big fan of ATLA, I adore these graphic novels for reading so much like the original series (very amusing dialogue, for one) and for being drawn by the very talented, GuruHiru.

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Categories: Features, Swag Bag
Tags: Bleach, Boys' Love/Yaoi, Dark Horse, Dawn of the Arcana, DMP, June, Manga, Manhwa, Omnibus, Shoujo, Toriko, UDON, Viz Media, Yen Press

Otaku USA: On The Shelf – June 13, 2012

By Lissa Pattillo on Friday, June 15, 2012

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New manga day! Okay, well, Wednesday was new manga day as far as shipping goes but today was my pay day so it’s like the same thing…?

The notables out this week are the first two printed books released by SuBLime. I still have no idea what trim size or print quality these books will be (I’m looking forward to finding out!) but as SuBLime is a part of Viz Media, I’m confident they’ll look good. The chance to put more Naono Bohra on my bookshelf is a happy day in any case though.

You can read about the titles that shipped this week over at my On The Shelf article for Otaku USA.

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Categories: Features, News, On The Shelf, Release Lists
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, Kodansha Comics, Manga, Otaku USA, Seven Seas, SuBLime

Games With Me Omnibus Available for Pre-Order With A Chance to Win!

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, June 13, 2012

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A shout-out today to promote some new and upcoming releases of Games With Me, a gorgeously drawn boys’ love story written by Tina Anderson and with art by Lynsley Brito. It’s a darker themed mini-series with lots of eye-candy. BL fans who are always on the search for ‘something different’ should definitely take the time to check it out!

“Ex Civil-War surgeon George Callahan is a man haunted by his past. Unwilling to deal with the demons of his childhood, he turns to opium and finds back alley employment with the heartless brothel keepers of San Francisco’s Chinatown. Dr. George Callahan searches for a Chinese woman from his past, and soon finds himself unwittingly drawn to dim-witted male prostitute Jun, whose own life is complicated by the unwanted attentions of an aggressive bouncer named Roan Baxter.”

One of the story’s leads is a young man named Jun who works in a brothel. The fact that he has a mental handicap may be a down point for some readers, yet I found it was handled well as Jun still seemed self-aware of things that were going on. This contrasts with a manga series it reminded me of for that reason, Brilliant Blue – a series which, though I enjoyed it overall, had a character with a similar personality but who seemed too innocent about sexual situations for me to be totally okay with what was happening. A warning, however, that Games With Me is rated 18+ and includes some violence and non-consensual scenes so not for the kiddies!

Volume one is available to purchase digitally via the Kindle or Nook.
Volume two is available to purchase digitally via the Kindle or Nook.

For those who prefer their shininess on paper, Games with Me is also going to print in a two-volume omnibus edition! It’s currently available to pre-order on Amazon.com. Unfortunately there’s no listing for Amazon.ca, but I’ll update here if it pops up! The 286 page book will only be $10.99 and released later this week – yay!

Tina Anderson is also holding a giveaway on her website where anyone who submits reviews of volumes one or two of Games With Me (based on their digital formats), will be entered into a drawing to win a print edition of the omnibus. The giveaway is open until June 15.

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Categories: Contests, News
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, Global Manga

PR: SuBLime Debuts Honey Darling and Three Wolves Mountain

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, June 13, 2012

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GLOBAL YAOI/BOYS’ LOVE MANGA PUBLISHER SuBLime DEBUTS FIRST PRINT RELEASES WITH
HONEY DARLING AND THREE WOLVES MOUNTAIN

Bold Yaoi/Boys’ Love Manga Publisher Releases
Two Acclaimed New Titles This June

San Francisco, CA, June 12, 2012 – SuBLime, the global yaoi manga (graphic novel) publishing initiative between VIZ Media and Japan’s Animate, Ltd. (Animate), delivers its first pair of print editions with the worldwide debuts of HONEY DARLING, by Norikazu Akira, and THREE WOLVES MOUNTAIN, by Bohra Naono. Both new manga (graphic novel) are available now, are rated ‘M’ for Mature Readers, and carry an MSRP of $12.99 U.S. / $14.99 CAN.

Digital versions are available worldwide in a download-to-own format for $5.99 each from www.SuBLimeManga.com, are viewable as a PDF on any enabled eReader device or computer, and also may be accessed via the online manga viewer found on the web site.

HONEY DARLING by Norikazu Akira  Rated ‘M’ for Mature Readers 
MSRP: $12.99 U.S. / $14.99 CAN  Available Now!
Chihiro drifts through life with no purpose, going from girl to girl, until one day he finds an abandoned kitten in a box. He quickly falls in love with little Shiro and couldn’t imagine his life without her. One evening, Chihiro finds Shiro has fallen ill. While searching aimlessly for an animal hospital, he runs into Kumazawa, a local vet who takes Shiro into his care. Watching Kumazawa in action, Chihiro realizes he wishes to learn the value of life and asks Kumazawa to consider hiring him at the vet clinic. Kumazawa agrees, but only if Chihiro serves as his live-in housekeeper. Has Chihiro finally found his purpose in life, or will living with the handsome vet be a little too much to handle?

Norikazu Akira is also the creator of the manga series Twin’s Labyrinth, Heart Strings, and Beast & Feast.

THREE WOLVES MOUNTAIN by Bohra Naono  Rated ‘M’ for Mature Readers  MSRP: $12.99 US / $14.99 CAN  Available Now!
Way up in the mountains, far from any major cities or towns, Kaya Susugi runs a small café by day and guards a haunted cemetery by night. Then, one night, he comes across werewolf brothers Taro and Jiro. Cheerful but klutzy younger brother Jiro quickly falls head over heels for the capable loner Kaya. What results is a dive into the hot, tail-twitching delight of werewolf mating season!

Bohra Naono has created over 20 manga series, some of which have been adapted into drama CDs. She has also published “doujinshi” (independent comics) under the pen name of “NAIFU.” THREE WOLVES MOUNTAIN is Bohra Naono’s second English-language release, with her first being Yokai’s Hunger.

“The summer heats up in a sexy way with our publication of THREE WOLVES MOUNTAIN and HONEY DARLING in June,” says Jennifer LeBlanc, Editor, SuBLime. “THREE WOLVES MOUNTAIN creator Bohra Naono is one of the most requested creators among yaoi fans. In THREE WOLVES MOUNTAIN, readers will learn of all the strange things that go bump in the night at a foreboding cemetery as well as the love that binds two people together – even if one of them is a werewolf! HONEY DARLING is also not to be missed with its heartwarming tale of an unlikely love between a vet and his live-in housekeeper.”

Digital Manga Grabs a Snack with Mr. Mini Mart, Announces Yaoi Con GOH

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, June 6, 2012

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Convention season is officially underway and Digital Manga was at Fanime with some news to share. Just before that though they announced another new boys’ love license: Junko’s Mr. Mini Mart.

The book is scheduled to be released in print next year (Summer 2013) at a cost of $12.95. This license announcement even came with a plot synopsis, something I’ve bemoaned DMP before for lacking, so yay on actually knowing the plot of a book so I can properly anticipate it!

“NEET shut-in Endou just wants to get his life back on track, but employment at a convenience store brings the rude Yamai Kouhei into his life…soon Endou finds himself troubled by his past and trying to get along with Yamai.”

During their Fanime panels, Digital Manga shared current and upcoming plans for their digital-only release group, Digital Manga Guild, including news they’ll be releasing translated light novels and have licensed Erementar Gerade: Flag of Blue for a digital-only release (they’re currently releasing Erementar Gerade this way). They also let fans know that success of their previous two Kickstarter projects has prompted them to put another Osamu Tezuka title into the works to be funded the same way. No word yet on what the title is.

Now that Digital Manga are owners of Yaoi-Con, they’ve announced their guest of honour for the 2012 boys’ love event is Uki Ogasawara. DMP has currently released two volumes of her series, Black Sun (review), while DramaQueen previously released two other stories, Chronicle of the Divine Sword (correction: this title was licensed, but never released) and Virtuoso di Amore (review).

This is going to be my first year at Yaoi Con and I was really hoping for a bigger name guest, notably more akin to previous guests such as Fusanosuke Inariya, Ayano Yamane or Hinako Takanaga. I still feel the leftover tears from not being able to attend the years those artists were there. Uki Ogasawara is still a good guest, of course, as a published manga artist and a new comer to the event, but with this being Digital Manga’s first year as Yaoi Con management (and them facing scrutiny over how they’ll handle it), I was expecting a more fan-favourite creator to wow the crowds. Of course Yaoi Con 2010 had almost a dozen artistic guests so who knows what else could be announced between now and the convention this October.

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Categories: Licensing, News
Tags: 801Media, Boys' Love/Yaoi, Conventions, DM Guild, DMP, Hinako Takanaga, June, Manga, Yaoi Con

Swag Bag: Girls and Guys, Guardians and Ghouls

By Lissa Pattillo on Tuesday, May 22, 2012

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It is raining so hard outside! While this has left me soaked during my early morning treck home, it at least provides the perfect opportunity to curl up in a warm, dry set of blankets with a good book. My past two weekly trips to the comic store has alloted me plenty to choose from (but where to begin!?):

I stocked up on shoujo with the second volume of A Devil and Her Love Song (which I loved as much as the first) and volume one of The Earl & The Fairy (which really could’ve used more fairies). Both were from Viz Media.

From Kodansha Comics, Sailor Moon (Vol.05) was a big given. This particular volume is extra hefty with pages and a lot happens, finishing up the entire Dark Moon arc. It’s been so long since I’ve read the story so a lot of little elements of the plot are fresh surprises, which is awesome! I love these original versions of the characters so much, Sailor Moon and Chibi-Usa in particular. Everyone is super classy.

Speaking of another type of classy, I bought a few new seinen titles all of which are continutations of series I’m collecting – Saturn Apartments (Vol.05), Blood Alone (Vol.06) and Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (Vol.12). The first two are really relaxing reads, very laid back and mellow, even when things get dramatic. In some series I’d find it boring, but in these two it’s their greatest charm. Kurosagi is still fun to read, what with all the corpses, murders and creepy endings. The wait between each book is rough! I do hope we see a return to the connecting stories earlier books had though. I miss those…

Last, but certainly not least, comes some new boys’ love! Digital Manga served up another action-packed and sex-filled time with the fourth and fifth volumes of Ayano Yamane’s Finder series. So much gun-touting melodrama as the hunter is now the hero – it’s the sort of kinda-trash you can’t help but love. It was all fluff, feelings and a little physical-fun, however, in the sixth volume of Hinako Takanaga’s Tyrant Who Falls In Love (Vol.06). I really like this series because of the characters but it’s tough watching their relationship dragged on so long. In this volume the cast of the prequel series, Challengers, show up too – bonus!

Those were my recent purchases – feel free to share some of their own! Anything you’d recommend? Loved? Despised? Share the contents of your own swag bag!

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Categories: Features, Swag Bag
Tags: A Devil and her Love Song, Boys' Love/Yaoi, Dark Horse, DMP, Hinako Takanaga, June, Kodansha Comics, Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, Manga, Sailor Moon, Seven Seas, Viz Media

Otaku USA: On The Shelf – May 16, 2012

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, May 16, 2012

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Life’s been a bit of a blur since I came back from TCAF, but aside from a horribly messy post-trip bedroom, things are finally smoothing back over. This means – new comics! Before I take my weekly trip down to my favourite comic store, I had to do my usual romp-through of the new books available to buy once I get there.

My most-eager-to-buy books of the week are Sailor Moon (Vol.05) and Tyrant Who Falls In Love (Vol.06). You can see the complete list over at my On The Shelf article for Otaku USA. Buy and enjoy manga lovers!

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Categories: Features, News, On The Shelf, Release Lists
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, Dark Horse, DMP, June, Kodansha Comics, Manga, Otaku USA, Sailor Moon, Viz Media

Swag Bag: Toronto Comic Arts Festival 2012 Edition!

By Lissa Pattillo on Friday, May 11, 2012

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This past weekend was Toronto Comics Art Fest – one of the best comic shows in North America for meeting and greeting comic artists and checking out their work. It was my second year to attend and I loved it. And who can possibly leave a show as magnificent as TCAF without an armful of comics? Certainly not I! The ability to buy directly from creators is an experience that blows my mind, I adore it and TCAF offers the perfect fix.

Bento Comics – a collection of artists whose works you can read online then have published print-on-demand – had a new anthology available: Peter Pan and the Language of the Dead. I was giddy to see it, as a fan of Bento Comics’ anthologies and a huge Peter Pan junkie. The theme combo was brilliant – it was so unnerving but at the same time fascinating. Wonderful!

Another anthology collection I picked up was Cautionary Fables & Fairy Tales which includes a story by one of my favourite artist/writer combos, Katie and Steven Shanahan. It’s a pretty hefty book with a bunch of artists new to me. I’m looking forward to discovering some new creators to follow.

Becky Cloonan premiered her new self-published short, The Mire, and I was quick to nab a copy. I haven’t read it yet but just the print quality and a quick flip-through shows it was worth each and every penny. Fellow Haligonian Jordyn F. Bochon also premiered a print collection of her comic, The Terrible Death of Finnigan Strap. Two other Halifax artists present whose works I couldn’t miss were Mike Holmes‘ – who had copies of his creative multi-style self-portrait art book, Mikenesses – and Kate Leth who debut her collected comic, Ultimate Kate or Die.

A lot of artists at the show were selling print editions of their web comics so I took the opportunity to buy a bunch. I don’t typically read comics on the web but when an opportunity to try them out via print arises, I go for it! I bought a book of Octopus Pie, Earthsong (Vol.01) and In The Air (Vol.01). Of the three I’ve read In The Air so far and it was great! I hope I enjoy the others just as much, and it’s fun knowing there’s more to read online should I be unable to wait for more to hit the printers.

There are a few web published comics that I read each week though, and of course I couldn’t possibly resist purchasing the print versions of those. The print editions of Starfighter (Vol.01) and Teahouse (Vol. 03) were both gorgeously reproduced and will now sit proudly on my BL shelves (once I’ve finished oogling them for hours). The colourist of Teahouse, Christina, was also selling hardcover books of her web comic (which I also follow regularly), Fox Sister.

Vertical Inc had a booth at TCAF and I was able to pick up a few volumes of manga from them too. For new volumes, I got Flowers of Evil (Vol.01) – very twisted! – and GTO: 14 Days of Shonan (Vol.02). An older book I’d been having trouble finding was Osamu Tezuka’s MW, which I’m now happy to have in my hands.

Outside of TCAF, I visited The Beguiling where I always know I’ll find a stack of goodies to buy. I was giddy to find a missing volume of One Thousand and One Nights (Vol.07) and an out of print copy of an old comic favourite of mine, My Faith in Frankie. Then it was boys’ love stock up time with Right Here, Right Now (Vol.01-02), The Desert Prince, Black Sun (Vol.02) and, in currently joint ownership with my awesome roommate, four volumes of bara manga. Not easy finding this stuff! Well… unless you’re at the Beguiling. Thanks, Chris!

Thus sums up my Toronto Comics Art Festival purchases for 2012 – all fantastic! It’s a great show that I look forward to attending again next year and I hope others do as well (and let me know!).

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