Kuriousity | manga reviews and news

Posts Tagged Boys’ Love/Yaoi

Digital Manga Licenses Shoko Takaku’s ‘I’ve Seen It All’ BL

By Lissa Pattillo on Saturday, February 4, 2012

Digital Manga’s newsletter this week announced a new boys’ love title license – Shoko Takaku’s I’ve Seen It All. The series currently has two volumes released in Japan, though Digital Manga’s announcement doesn’t specify if their license is for the first or both.

09/02/12 Update: ANN has confirmed with Digital Manga that their license includes both volumes.

I’ve Seen It All is about a doctor who specializes in male genitalia. He spends his days helping men with a variety of issues and becoming more and more disenchanted with the notion that a male can be attractive between the legs. Enter a man named Asano! I’m sure you can guess the rest. You can read (in Japanese) a more detailed description and see a close up of the cover on Amazon.jp. Sounds pretty entertaining to me!

I still get nostalgic seeing Shoko Takaku’s work since their title Passion was one of the first boys’ love released in English (excluding Gravitation which had strong BL elements). It was thus the first BL title I bought. I still remembering running to the store from school to buy it the day it came out and being the first in my group of friends to proudly hold up a boys’ love book. Her work was thus the first BL to hit my bookshelves and the start of many more to come! Along with the four volume series, Passion, Digital Manga has also released two Shoko Takaku one-shots, Kissing and Shy Intentions.

There’s no news yet on when I’ve Seen It All will be published.

Share on Tumblr

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

SuBLime Launches First Digital Titles, Fans Note Censorship

By Lissa Pattillo on Friday, February 3, 2012

No Comments »

SuBLime – a boys’ love publisher in association with Viz Media – released their first digital titles today. While select SuBLime titles will be published in print, their premiering four titles – The Bed of My Dear King, Oku-san’s Daily Fantasies, Love Pistols (Vol.01) and Husband, Honeymoon are all digital-only. Upon purchasing, you’re able to download a PDF edition of the book(s).

A couple fans pointed on via Twitter and SuBLime’s website that Oku-san’s Daily Fantasies has been censored when compared to its run in Libre’s Be x Boy magazine. Genitals were removed/covered with the infamous-by-now blank glowing shape. SuBLime’s editor assured readers that they do not censor any of their titles and that these edits were done by the original publisher. They appear in SuBLime’s edition the same as they do in the original Japanese collected edition.

I hope these titles sell well for SuBLime – as the largest manga publisher in English, and with a lot of resources at their disposal, Viz Media is a company we definitely want to remain confident in the boys’ love market. I’m torn on their digital releases though – I don’t read manga digitally but I want to support titles in hopes they’ll actually be sent to the printers someday. A situation like this is where I think a fundraising program like Digital Manga has been doing would work better. SuBLime has already licensed the title, completed it and put it up for readers to preview and/or purchase to read in full at their discretion. A Kickstarter-like system could be used for readers who want it in print, where interest could be gauged with something more dependable than a simple poll, and serve as a pre-order system that only goes through if enough interest is shown. I’m not ready to pay for a digital copy I likely won’t read on the slim hope that means it gets printed but I would definitely pledge money towards a product presented like this to get published.

Share on Tumblr

Categories: News
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, Digital, Manga, SuBLime, Viz Media

Digital Manga Licenses Recent Momoko Tenzen Title – Flutter

By Lissa Pattillo on Friday, January 27, 2012

1 Comment »

As a little end of the week treat, Digital Manga announced via their Twitter account that they’ve licensed Momoko Tenzen’s one-shot, Flutter. It’s one of their most recent works, published in Japan just this past October. Digital Manga confirmed on their Twitter shortly after that Flutter is one of their standard licenses, meaning it’ll go to print and have a digital edition.

Flutter is about two businessmen who come into a relationship after being paired together on a project at work. The book also includes another short story titled Sleepless Siesta.

Digital Manga has released seven other Momoko Tenzen one-shots in the past and each one was under their boys’ love imprint, June. Flutter will presumably be published under the same imprint as well. If curious about the creator’s other works, Shannon has reviews posted for La Satanica, Ciao Ciao Bambino and Suggestive Eyes. I also wrote a review for Momoko Tenzen’s Manhattan Love Story.

Share on Tumblr

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

PR: Animate USA Adds New Kindle Titles for January 2012

By Lissa Pattillo on Friday, January 13, 2012

No Comments »

ANIMATE USA – NEW RELEASES IN AMAZON KINDLE STORE

TOKYO, JAPAN – January 12th – Animate U.S.A., Inc. is excited to announce its monthly releases for January! New this month is a never-before-published story by You Higashino, “Theorem of Desire.” It continues the previously released story “Aphrodisiac Kiss.” Also available in January is the one-shot story “Platinum Pasta” by Youka Nitta and the continuation of Naduki Koujima’s popular “Selfish Love” series. “Platinum Pasta” and “Theorem of Desire” can only be found on the Kindle, so you can’t get them anywhere else!

For more information, go to www.animate-world.com and www.libre-pub.co.jp If one release from Youka Nitta isn’t enough to satisfy you, check out nittayouka.com for recent news, comments, wallpapers, and more. We don’t have an Ayano Yamane release this month, but you can always keep up with her on her website yamaneayano.com complete with updates, artwork, and author commentary! Support your favorite authors by visiting their websites!

January 2011:
Youka Nitta – “Platinum Pasta” KINDLE EXCLUSIVE!!!
You Higashino – “Theorem Of Desire” KINDLE EXCLUSIVE!!!
Naduki Koujima – “Selfish Love Vol.2 Part 4” KINDLE DEBUT

“Platinum Pasta” by Youka Nitta

It’s been a year since Mamiya opened up his Italian restaurant at a coastal resort. Stocking up on top-class ingredients from a fisherman named Ohsuga and an herb garden owner named Eiji, his restaurant has skyrocketed. Then one night, Mamiya happens to see a lover’s quarrel between Ohsuga and Eiji, and he begins to plan an intervention…

“Theorem of Desire” by You Higashino

Never before published in print, it’s finally out for the Kindle!
It’s the sequel to “Aphrodisiac Kiss.”
Ayashima was about to be attacked, but he was saved by Takamura.
Takamura’s kisses melt his stubborn heart from his painful past and draw out his sexual desire…

“Selfish Love Vol.2 Part 4” by Naduki Koujima

The Unexpected Climax!
Orito, the President of the Honors Society, won’t take “no” for an answer. He refuses to stop pursuing the affections of Ryuuya, the Vice President.

After all, according to Orito, the Vice President is supposed to be his “right hand man.” The advances keep escalating, and Ryuuya’s honor is at stake!

Will he remain pure and defiant, or will he give in to Orito’s strong and sensuous game of love?

Read more…

Share on Tumblr

Categories: Boys-Luv.com, Licensing, Press Releases
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi

Media Blasters Reveals Lay-Offs for 60% of Full-Time Staff

By Lissa Pattillo on Tuesday, January 10, 2012

1 Comment »

AnimeNewsNetwork has heard from Media Blasters that the company has just laid off 60% of it’s staff. The full-time staff was at 15 and has now decreased to “five or six regular employees”. The Media Blasters’ CEO, John Sirabella, said they’ve offered continued work in the form of freelance to the employees laid off.

This news following Bandai’s continues to carry 2012 off to a rocky industry start. The loss of jobs for Media Blasters’ staff is really unfortunate – my sympathies to those laid off, it’s a terrible experience. From a consumer point of view, the silver lining is that Media Blasters hasn’t shut it’s doors altogether. Surprisingly, the company has stated it will continue releasing titles as normal.

Unfortunately there’s no news of any upcoming manga publishing. Last we heard concretely from MB about their manga line was back in June 2010 when they cancelled a handful of their boys’ love titles. Stock on existing Media Blasters’ manga titles has also been difficult to get a hold of online or via the direct market with only a select few available for purchase on sites like Amazon unless you’re willing to shell out some hefty dollar values for used copies. If you’re looking to buy Media Blasters’ releases, RightStuf still has quite a few of both their manga and anime releases in stock however. Their Kitty Media titles – including their very entertaining selection of boys’ love titles – is sectioned separately on the site’s search. I also recommend finding their booth at any convention they attend, it’s often pretty sizable and stocked with just about every title they have.

Media Blasters has been running very low-key for a while, especially in the past two years following a large lay-off of full-time workers in March 2010. While they have an occasionally updated Facebook page, their Twitter account has been silent since July 2010 and their website – though broken as it was – was replaced with only ads to standalone promotions for anime titles and a link to their Facebook account. Their only recently updated website seems to be their Kitty Media (18+ only!) website which was relaunched in December as a member-only site to watch their hentai titles.

Hopefully we’ve got some good news coming our way after these two industry blows. I’m grateful Media Blasters has at least survived its latest belt tightening. With all companies in flux, hopefully they can get a more solid footing in time, helped in part by some great recent anime releases like Magic Knight Rayearth Remastered and Bakuman in their hands.

Share on Tumblr

Categories: News
Tags: Bakuman, Boys' Love/Yaoi, CLAMP, Media Blasters

Year In Review: Lissa’s Favourites of 2011

By Lissa Pattillo on Sunday, January 1, 2012

7 Comments »

There are no shortage of ‘Best Of’ lists this time of year. While I like popping around to different peoples’ sites and seeing what they thought, it’s a bit of a frustration that I can’t seem to write one myself. How people choose a solid list containing five or ten favourites, from across different genres and subject matters, is just something I can’t seem to muster the brain power for. Not enough conviction I suppose? There’s just so much to love!

But I can’t overlook the perfect chance to look back at all the great titles a year had to offer and 2011 had some really fantastic ones. So then where is this going, oh rambling one, you ask? My semi-traditional equivalent to the yearly best of – the random Lissa’s favourites and best-ofs list! Which really just means you get a lot more titles broken into a lot more categories so I can remain a lot more loving to a lot more series. And in some cases not so loving… From the Best Release Quality to the Favourite Fan Service and even to the most Gag Worthy – here are a bunch of my favourite titles from 2011!

Digital Manga Gifts With New License – Secretary’s Job

By Lissa Pattillo on Monday, December 26, 2011

1 Comment »

Digital Manga announced a new title license for their print line earlier this week, just in time to head off for holiday vacation – Miki Araya’s Secretary’s Job. It’s a one-shot title by the creator of Digital Manga’s previously released I’ll Be Your Slave. There are no further details on the imprint or release date, but it’ll likely be under the June line based on Miki Araya’s previous title.

Secretary’s Job is about a “legendary secretary” who is assigned to the son of a company’s president. An office romance springs from a sudden kiss. Also included in the book is another short story titled ‘Fried Rice’. The book was originally published in Japan this past September.

Share on Tumblr

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

SuBLimeManga.com Launches Website and Adds a New Title

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, December 22, 2011

No Comments »

Just as promised when news of their existence was announced, SuBLime has launched their website this week. No titles are yet available to purchase but they have release dates listed for their first four titles due out January 31, 2011.

I really like the website’s design – simple, fast-loading and quite visually cute while simultaneously rather classy. There’s a newsletter you can sign up for, as well as registration for the site itself which will allow you to comment and purchase and download the digital editions when they’re available. The forum is currently marked as ‘Coming Soon’.

Tonight SuBLime also announced a new title – Iwamoto Kaoru and Fuwa Shinri’s Yebisu Celebrities. The first volume was originally released by BeBeautiful back in 2007. SuBLime will be releasing this five volume series digital-only, starting in March 2012. The story takes places at a design firm, one where only the talented and attractive are allowed, as the new part-timer catches his boss’s eye. As part of the new license, SuBLime will be doing some related giveaways in January when the staff returns from holiday vacation.

Share on Tumblr

Categories: Licensing, Misc, News
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, Manga, SuBLime

Review: Mr. Tiger and Mr. Wolf (Vol. 01)

By Shannon Fay on Sunday, December 18, 2011

1 Comment »

Manga-ka: Ahiru Haruno
Publisher: June
Rating: Mature (18+)
Release Date: August 2011

Synopsis: “It was fierce love at first sight! When the adorable cub Mr. Wolf carries away to his cave turns out to be a wily tiger boy, little does the sly hunter know that he’ll soon become the submissive wife to his manipulative (but charming) captive! When Mr. Tiger calls the shots, Mr. Wolf can’t help but bend to his every whim. After all, who could possibly resist such a handsome, furry face?”

Lots of yaoi manga feature anthropomorphic animals and it’s easy to see the appeal: cute guys plus cute animals equals win/win. Mr. Tiger and Mr. Wolf doesn’t bring anything new to the table, but it at least delivers on both sides of the equation.

Digital Manga Imprint Shifts with Starry☆Sky to DMP

By Lissa Pattillo on Sunday, December 11, 2011

2 Comments »

Following up on recent news of Digital Manga licensing Starry☆Sky, the company’s website has now been updated to show the series is being released under their Digital Manga Publishing line. Originally the site’s listing had the title being published in their boys’ love imprint, June.

Starry☆Sky now joins Digital Manga’s other series such as Itazura na Kiss and The Beautiful Skies of Houou High, which seem much more suiting company to this series about a girl pined after by a group of attractive young men in private school. The book’s cover image has also been replaced with a new look sporting the recent DMPBooks cover design instead of the ‘Yaoi Manga’ sidebar it was posted with previously.

Fans of the series were confused over what seemed like Digital Manga’s original decision to release the title as a boys’ love series. Whether a mistake or a change of heart, this switch-up looks like a much better fit and should appease Starry☆Sky‘s fans and those who like having faith they’ll get boys’ love in their BL.

Share on Tumblr

Categories: Licensing, News
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, DMP, Manga