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Posts Tagged Boys’ Love/Yaoi

PR: Digital Manga Guild Launches First Title on eManga.com

By Lissa Pattillo on Monday, August 15, 2011

Tired of Waiting for Love Now Available Online!

Gardena, CA (August 15, 2011) – Digital Manga Inc. is proud to announce the release of its very first manga title, Tired of Waiting for Love, under the Digital Manga Guild initiative. This first title launch is in conjunction with Japanese publisher, Taiyo Tosho, and localized by the Kawaii Neko group. You can purchase and read this exciting manga now at eManga.com.

The Digital Manga Guild (DMG), first announced at Yaoi Con 2010, is a collaboration between Digital Manga, Inc., Japanese publishers, and a community of localizers to produce hundreds of manga titles for online distribution . This revolutionary alliance breaks down old systems, allowing a flood of untapped manga content from participating Japanese publishers, to reach the hands of hungry manga fans everywhere. Taiyoh Tosho, a premiere Japanese yaoi publisher and long time licensor to DMP’s June imprint, is one of the first publishers to support DMG. Localizing group, Kawaii Neko is one of the first groups activated to work on titles for DMG. You can read more about DMG and Kawaii Neko group in this recent interview at Publisher’s weekly and at The Digital Manga Guild website.

Tired of Waiting for Love, written and illustrated by yaoi fan favorite duo Aida Saki and Yugi Yamada, is about yakuza Kyousuke Sawaragi. Having been sentenced to five years in prison for dealing drugs, he just wants to finish his term and start a normal life. After parole, when he runs into former cellmate Shuuya, he’s in no hurry to renew their acquaintance. Fate seems to have other ideas, the yakuza and Shuuya repeatedly cross his path. Can he really turn his back on all of it, especially if it holds his one chance at finding true love?

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Categories: Press Releases
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, DM Guild, DMP

Review: Men of Tattoos (2)

By Lissa Pattillo on Sunday, August 14, 2011

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Manga-ka: Yuiji Aniya
Publisher: Digital Manga
Rating: Mature (18+)
Release Date: June 2011

Synopsis: “Sweet, delicate flowers and killer animals…they spring to life on the tattooed backs of the underworld’s most infamous men. But does love have a chance to bloom in a world of sin that’s steeped in perpetual inky night? And in the midst of the crime-filled chaos, is there a passion so powerful that it can lift a soul right out if its body?”

Men of Tattoos is the kind of story that leaves you feeling there really is no such thing as the good guy. While the lack of a stereotypical happy ending gives the stories a sense of realism, they also make the entire experience a rather pessimistic one.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, June, Manga

August 1st is Yaoi Day with DMP!

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, July 28, 2011

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August 1st – or 8/01 – has been proclaimed Yaoi Day! Not a bad thing to celebrate mid-summer – nice and hot, right? Well, unless you’re living on the East Coast of Canada… but that’s a different matter!

Digital Manga is ready to celebrate Yaoi Day with sales and contests, the deals of which are lasting all week. Curious what they’ve got to offer? It’s all available to readers around the world and you can read all the details below:

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Categories: Contests
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, DMP, Manga

Swag Bag: Gender, Drama and Baseball

By Lissa Pattillo on Sunday, July 17, 2011

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Another week gone by and another stack of lovely new books to read! Lately I’ve been reading a lot of older titles since my haul at Animaritime but this week’s new titles definitely put up a huge fight for my attention (and who am I kidding, they won!).

First up was the new volume of Black Butler (Vol. 06) from Yen Press. Knowing that the whole curry fiasco is behind us and another mystery is afoot had me extra eager for this book. I was not disappointed! This series is worth buying for the art alone – such gorgeous Victorian outfits ranging from the wonderful to just plain weird. Throw in some detective work and sexual tension between pretty people and it’s an easy sell.

Much less in-your-face about its charms is the fourth volume of Cross Game. I’ve completely fallen in love with this series – I love the baseball games, the characters, the romance – it’s all good! It’s so relaxing, the kind of book you just want to curl up in bed with and not put down until you’re done. Plus I think I join the many in-story characters who have a crush on Aoba.

Adding two more volume sixes to go with Black Butler, I also bought Rin-Ne (Vol. 06) and Time & Again (Vol. 06). Both are series I have hesitations buying because the volumes have been hit or miss since the beginning. All the same, this is the final volume of Time & Again so I had to pick it up to see how things fare between the leads. Rin-Ne I buy consistently because when it’s good I really enjoy it, the kind of entertainment only Rumiko Takahashi can offer.

Speaking of hit or miss, two books came in the mail this week from DramaQueen – Missing Road and JUNK!. With three books now under their belt since their ‘comeback’ began, I’m ready to give them another chance and take a look at the new offerings. First impressions say the quality of the publishing itself is great but will the content itself hold up?

The big purchase this week was undoubtedly Wandering Son (Vol. 01), however. I’ve been waiting, waiting and waiting (patiently you see) for this book since it was announced. With this description, how could I not?

“The fifth grade. The threshold to puberty, and the beginning of the end of childhood innocence. Shuichi Nitori and his new friend Yoshino Takatsuki have happy homes, loving families, and are well-liked by their classmates, but they share a secret that further complicates a time of life that is awkward for anyone: Shuichi is a boy who wants to be a girl, and Yoshino is a girl who wants to be a boy.”

The book has since been showered with praise and rightfully so for what it is. I absolutely loved reading it and will hopefully have a review done soon to highlight why. As a first impressions note, it’s another hardcover release from Fantagraphics so on publication quality alone you really get your money’s worth.

What was in your swag bag this week?

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Categories: Features, Swag Bag
Tags: Black Butler, Boys' Love/Yaoi, DramaQueen, Manga, Manhwa, Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Media, Yen Press

Review: Men of Tattoos

By Shannon Fay on Friday, July 8, 2011

1 Comment »

Manga-ka: Yuiji Aniya
Publisher: Digital Manga
Rating: Mature (18+)
Release Date: June 2011

Men of Tattoos is frustrating because of how close it comes to being great but just ends up as a mess. There are a lot of good elements: the art is pretty with a different style than your usual yaoi and the story is willing to go to some pretty dark places, fitting for a manga with a cast full of criminals. But the narrative never really comes together ultimately making this an unsatisfying read.

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

PR: Animate USA Adds New BL to Kindle Store June 2011

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, June 23, 2011

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ANIMATE USA – NEW RELEASES IN AMAZON KINDLE STORE

TOKYO, JAPAN – June 22 – Animate U.S.A., Inc. announces three brand new releases this June for the Kindle!
Coming to the fans this month are the continuations of three popular series. Youka Nitta’s “Kiss Ariki” Episode 5, Naduki Koujima’s “Selfish Love” Part 3, and Shiuko Kano’s Play Boy Blues Act 8 are all hitting the digital shelves this month in the Kindle store. You can’t get them anywhere else so be sure to download your copy ASAP!

Check out www.animate-world.com and www.libre-pub.co.jp for more information. For everything Youka Nitta pay a visit to website, nittayouka.com . Ayano Yamane fans will be pleased to know that, yamaneayano.com, has updates, wallpapers, and comments from Yamane herself! Be sure to check them out!!

June 2011:
Youka Nitta – “Kiss Ariki – Episode 5” KINDLE EXCLUSIVE!!!
Naduki Koujima – “Selfish Love Vol.1 Part 3”
Shiuko Kano – “P.B.B. Play Boy Blues – Act 8”　KINDLE EXCLUSIVE!!!

Read more…

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Categories: Press Releases
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi

Viz Media with BL, Birthdays and a Baked-Good Puppy

By Lissa Pattillo on Monday, June 20, 2011

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Some Viz Media news of note today including, well, just as the title suggests – some BL, birthdays and a baked-good puppy!

Viz Media is celebrating its 25th birthday this year (proving that awesome people and things were indeed born in 1986 – completely irrelevant it’s my birth year also). They have a mini-hub set up that’s updated with news relevant to the milestone – Viz Media: 25 Years! News so far on the site includes, among other things, their 2011 summer convention schedule:

April 22-24	Sakura-Con	Seattle, WA
May 27-30	Fanimecon	San Jose, CA
June 10–12	A-kon	Dallas, TXA
July 1-4	Anime Expo	Los Angeles, CA
July 21-24	San Diego Comic Con	San Diego, CA
July 29-31	Otakon	Baltimore, MD

Congrats on the birthday, Viz Media! May you have many more – and any chance we’ll see you on the East Coast at NYAF for well-wishes in person?

Noted by Viz Media staffer, Alexis Kirsch, on their Twitter page (and caught by eagle-eyed, Andre!) – Viz Media has licensed the manga series Cinnamoroll starring the character of the same name. Cinnamoroll is a Sanrio (company responsible for iconic characters such as Hello Kitty) character: a white puppy with long ears (that he uses to fly) and a little cinnamon bun shaped tail. No doubt the manga will be adorable and as sugary sweet as the baked goods that apparently drew Cinnamoroll from… wherever he came from.

Viz Media’s Job page has updated with four new job listings, but one in particular immediately caught the eyes of many – Editor (Yaoi/BL).

“The Editor (Yaoi/BL) is responsible for property acquisitions, executing print and digital publication production, and managing relationships with licensors and business partners in order to establish and grow VIZ Media’s line of mature content titles. …Knowledge of yaoi/BL genre and market, and ability to work on adult-oriented materials A MUST”

With Viz Media seeking an editor for the genre, it seems fairly safe to assume the manga-mecha company will be delving into some BL publishing. It’s exciting news and bears a lot of promise for boys’ love fans. It could do well filling the little gap that BLU’s demise has left by adding back some more BL titles on the shelves. Plus Viz Media’s wide distribution, which TP was always very similar to, means they may be easier to find than similar niche titles often are.

What boys’love titles would you like to see Viz Media license? The first that came to my mind was Sakuragari – a dark, boys’ love story by Yuu Watase (since they’re released almost everything else of hers). Ideas anyone? And don’t hesitate to let Viz Media know through Twitter – they’re always listening!

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Categories: Licensing, News
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, Manga, Viz Media, Yuu Watase

Swag Bag: All The RightStuf With BL, Kai and Viz

By Lissa Pattillo on Sunday, June 5, 2011

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Canada Post recently announcing their rotating strike was already bad news on its own but I was doubly cranky about it as my box of RightStuf goodies was presumably trapped somewhere between here and there. Luck was on my side though and on the morning the strike was set to start, my box arrived!

Taking advantage of their Digital Manga sale a little while back, I picked up a bunch of my must-have titles at prices I couldn’t possibly refuse! Paying their sale price on the US price, and the Canadian dollar as it is, I got each book for 50% off what I would’ve paid here.

Continuing current series, I bought Target in the Finder (Vol. 03), Kizuna Omnibus (Vol. 02) and Tyrant Who Falls In Love (Vol. 02). Now that I’ve got a couple volmes of Kizuna and Finder, it’s time to retire my BeBeautiful version to the storage bins. I also purchased Replica (Vol. 01) and Countdown 7 Days (Vol. 01). Both are shonen (I think?) series that I was able to get an early preview of from Digital Manga. I really liked them both and hope they still get a chance to impress people despite being hidden within DM’s big boys’ love library.

Back to the boys’ love, I got one of BLU’s final publications: Crimson Snow. It’s a one-shot title that I’ve been dying to have in my hand since I saw the gorgeous cover on Amazon last year. Learning the plot only furthered my want so it was the first to have its plastic covering ripped off. I also picked up the last two volumes of breath – a five volume BL series by the so far one-series company Yaoi Generation who’s been disappointedly quiet since last year.

And because a RightStuf purchase isn’t complete without some anime, I happily took advantage of the Funimation sale to buy Dragonball Z Kai Parts 2-4 and the second half of the series Welcome to the NHK.

Buying back on more local soil, I visited our big bookstore Chapters as the customary before-and-after seeing a movie ritual (aka, it’s right next door to the biggest theatre). Last week I was thrilled to get a copy of A Bride’s Story from Yen Press. It’s a really gorgeous book and you’ll want to spend some time oogling the hard cover design before you even crack it open.

This upcoming week is Viz Media‘s huge shipping list, which generally always happens the first week of the month. This often means a big armful of books for me and this month was no exception, especially with some of my absolute favourites out. Books carried to the check-out included Pokemon Adventures (Vol. 13), Bleach (Vol. 35), Blue Excorcist (Vol. 02) and Toriko (Vol. 05). I also bought Full Metal Alchemist 3-in-1 (Vol. 01) because of a friends’ recommendation. To try and round out the shonen just a little, I also bought Grand Guignol Orchestra (Vol. 03) – battling doll-like zombies with music while wearing Victorian gothic attire!

Thankfully I just finished a big Spring cleaning revamp of my manga bookshelves (which of course included adding a new one), so there’s plenty of space to start adding in my new goodies. That said, I’ll be selling a couple boxes full at this upcoming Animaritime so East Coast Canadians have another reason to come enjoy the event ;)

So what was in your swag bag this week?

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Categories: Features, Swag Bag
Tags: BLU, Boys' Love/Yaoi, DMP, June, Manga, Toriko, Viz Media, Yaoi Generation, Yen Press

Review: My Girlfriend’s A Geek (Vol. 03)

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, June 1, 2011

1 Comment »

Author: Pentabu
Manga-ka: Rize Shinba
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: May 2011

Synopsis: “Lady Luck may have smiled upon fresh-faced college student Taiga Mutou in the form of his cute coworker Yuiko agreeing to go out with him. But little did he know that this particular lady was rotten through and through! When the couple’s first Christmas rolls around, Taiga decides to tutor a schoolboy for some extra cash. Only Yuiko’s fujoshi filter seems to have rubbed off on Taiga more than he ever anticipated, and now he’s seeing his new part-time gig in a whole new light?! Can Taiga hang on to the job, or will his Christmas plans be thwarted by his own fully ripe and rotten tendencies — not to mention Mr. Perfect, Kashiwabari, who still wants Yuiko for himself?!”

Yuiko is still a geek, specifically a huge boys’ love geek. The facets of her and Taiga’s individual personalities haven’t changed much since the beginning which makes the frustrating nature of their relationship a continued fault. Seeing as how the book is based almost entirely around this, you can see the problem. Some quirks are still entertaining though, and some occasional circumstances sweet, but they only just manage to balance out the moments that just painful – or as in this volume, even a little creepy.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, Manga, My Girlfriends a Geek, Yen Press

PR: Animate USA Adds New Titles for May 30

By Lissa Pattillo on Monday, May 30, 2011

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TOKYO, JAPAN – May 30 – Animate U.S.A., Inc. is happy to announce four new releases for the Kindle this May!

New this month are the continuation of four popular series. Continuing this month are Naduki Koujima’s “Selfish Love,” Youka Nitta’s Yakuza love story “Kiss Ariki,” You Higashino’s “Hyper Loving a Maniac,” and Shiuko Kano’s “Play Boy Blues.” These are all Kindle exclusives so be sure to get your digital copy ASAP!

For more information, please visit www.animate-world.com and www.libre-pub.co.jp. Youka Nitta fans should be sure to drop by her website, nittayouka.com to see wallpapers, author comments, and any news. Fans of Ayano Yamane should be sure to check out her site, yamaneayano.com, which has updates, wallpapers, and comments from Yamane herself! Be sure to check them out!!

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Categories: Press Releases
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi