Category: BL Info

πŸ”°BL Manga for Beginners 01: Introduction

πŸ”°BL Manga for Beginners 01: Introduction

by Lys ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Last edited: 01/20/2026
Happy New Year, all! Today I’ll be starting a little series of posts called BL Manga for Beginners. To be honest, I’ve been thinking for a while about what information would be important to someone who has limited knowledge of the genre… While not a perfect guide, I do hope these posts can help someone who doesn’t know anything about BL/boys love or help people explain BL to others. I also want to thank fellow BL fans who have read over these posts and given me advice/feedback!

This first introduction post will briefly cover what BL is and its history and BL fans. There are wonderful resources out there, so this is a very condensed overview.

I would personally describe BL as a genre/label that refers to stories that focus on male/male relationships. These relationships are often romantic and/or sexual in nature, but other times it’s not as defined. 

BL can be traced back to 1961 with Mari Mori’s novella “A Lover’s Forest”, a tragic male/male love story. Over a decade later, several shojo manga artists began to write stories with male/male relationships. Some famous works include Moto Hagio’s The Heart of Thomas and Keiko Takemiya’s Kaze to Ki no Uta. In the 1980s, amateur self-published work, known as doujinshi, with male/male relationships also grew popular. These doujinshi were often fanwork, as it portrayed characters from existing media or even real-live figures. These in turn influenced modern BL, which continues to evolve today on a global scale. BL media now encompasses comics, novels, games, live action works, and audio dramas.

If I could, I would just hand people a copy of Boys Love Manga and Beyond: History, Culture, and Community in Japan and have them read the chapters An Introduction to β€œBoys Love” in Japan and A Brief History of Shonen’ai, Yaoi and Boys Love to better understand the history of BL.

As Boys Love Manga and Beyond mentions, there have been a few terms used for the genre over time. The following four are the most known.
Shonen’ai: A subgenre of commercial shojo manga published in the 70s-80s featuring male/male relationships. Literally translates to “boys love”. These stories often featured beautiful boys and were set in places outside Japan. The word is no longer in use in Japan due to the word being associated with pedastry. A common misconception is that shonen’ai refers to non-sexual BL works.
JUNE: (Pronounced joo-nay) A magazine dedicated to works with male/male relationships, started in 1978. It also became a genre term mainly used for original BL works during the time. While not really used in Japan, it’s still used at doujinshi events to refer to original BL alongside the term BL. It’s not used in Anglophone spaces, but the publisher JunΓ© (Digital Manga Publishing) is named after the term.
Yaoi: Coined by doujinshi creators in the 80s, it primarily refers to fanworks featuring male/male relationships. It grew to also refer to original work, as some doujinshi creators began to create original works. Overall the word is self-deprecating, as it mocks the amateur nature of their works. Many were often sexual in nature, leading some to think that the word only means sexual BL. It eventually fell out of use in Japan after BL was coined. In Anglophone spaces, yaoi has been considered a term equivalent to BL as English-translated commercial BL manga was often labeled as such. Many Anglophone BL fans continue to use the word out of nostalgia and fun.
Boys Love (BL): First appearing in the 90s, this phrase is currently the most dominant term to describe works featuring male/male relationships in Japan and overseas.

While my blog focuses on Japanese BL manga, here are some more BL media that are popular. Chinese BL is known as danmei (from the Japanese β€˜tanbi’) and mainly takes the form of webnovels and sometimes comics (manhua). Webnovels and comics (manhwa), mainly the scrolling webcomic format, are popular in Korea. Thailand is known for their BL live-action dramas.

As for BL fans, the most common word to describe them is fujoshi (腐ε₯³ε­). It translates from Japanese as β€œrotten girl”, and a play on the word β€œε©¦ε₯³ε­β€ (also pronounced fujoshi) meaning β€œwomen and girls”. Originally, it was a derogatory and self-deprecating term referring to the way fujoshi fantasize or create and consume content of male/male relationships where there necessarily aren’t any–making it a β€œrotten” activity. In a way, its original usage was similar to how shippers imagine their characters would be in a relationship. Since then it has expanded to generally refer to fans of BL, original or derivative. In Anglophone spaces, the phrase β€œfujo out”/ ”fujoing out” has become rather popular. I would say it’s similar to the phrase β€œgeek out”/β€œgeeking out” but specifically for BL. There are also the terms fundanshi (婦男子) to refer to men who enjoy BL and fujin (婦人) as a gender-neutral option. Fundanshi is sometimes used in Japan, but fujin was coined by overseas fans. While fujoshi is overall a common term to describe BL fans, not all BL fans will use it due to its self-deprecating nature.

I also do want to mention that BL has historically been seen as a genre β€œby women, for women” due to cisgender heterosexual women seemingly making up all the creators and fans. BL has also been a space where women can β€œplay with gender” in creating and reading BL, as both characters are men. Due to these reasons, BL sometimes has a reputation for being β€œnot representative of reality” and/or β€œfetishizing” of gay men and their relationships. These debates have existed since the 90s and continue on today in Japan and overseas. However, on a global scale BL is created and enjoyed by people of all different gender identities and sexualities. While not a topic I will go into great detail, I will occasionally mention the debates and critiques on BL here and there in this series.

I want to close out with saying I do think BL fits in with LGBTQ+ media and stories. While BL is seen more as a “fantasy” genre, I think there has been a growing amount of BL that is more grounded in reality as well. I do think both kinds of stories have worth.

Next time, I’ll talk about BL manga stories and conventions! See you then.

If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to send them my way!

Resources/Further Reading
Boys Love Manga and Beyond: History, Culture, and Community in Japan Chapters:
– An Introduction to β€œBoys Love” in Japan – Mark McLelland and James Welker
– A Brief History of Shonen’ai, Yaoi and Boys Love – James Welker
– What is Japanese “BL Studies”? – Kazumi Nagaike and Tomoko Aoyama
Fantasies of Cross-dressing: Japanese Women Write Male-Male Erotica – Kazumi Nagaike
– Includes a translation of “A Lover’s Forest”
Origin of BL: Mari Mori’s 1961 Novella “A Lover’s Forest” – Akiko Mizoguchi
The Possibilities of Research on Fujoshi in Japan – Midori Suzuki
Reflections on “LGBTQ Issues and BL” Symposium at Meiji University – Thomas Baudinette
BL and its place in LGBTQ media – Ames from Renta!
BL, Yaoi & Danmei Resources – Sam Aburime

2025 Recap!

2025 Recap!

by Lys ♥ 0 Leave a Comment
I finally made a banner and drew an icon for the blog!!

I can’t believe it’s the end of the year already! I started this blog in April/May but have been only irregularly posting due to work and grad school. I am happy to share that I have finished my program~ While the degree conferral date has passed, I still have a bit to wait for my degree to be officially awarded. Another exciting piece of news is being a part of 801 Blogs, a directory of bloggers who write about BL in some capacity.

Thanks to everyone who’s taken a look so far, even though I haven’t written too much due to my schedule. I mainly reviewed titles I was able to get from DRCs through NetGalley and Edelweiss this year since it was available to me. It was my first time being able to do it, and it was really cool being able to read and review ahead of time! It’s been a learning process of figuring out how to format each post, the depth of the review, and which aspects of a work to talk about. I hope to improve over the next year in writing and how I structure my posts! I’ve also decided I will be primarily focusing on BL manga that are localized into English and available in print for the time being. So, I am currently not taking any requests to review BL titles outside this scope.

Here’s a little sneak peek on ideas I have for the blog in addition to reviews:
– My BL Manga for Beginners Picks πŸ”°
– Mangaka spotlights
– Posts on Japanese magazines/labels, tokuten, doujinshi, and more!
– Adding setting tags to posts (office workers, fantasy, high school, entertainment industry, etc.)
– Organizing personal collections

Now, this wouldn’t be a recap post without sharing some of my favorite English BL manga (+ one novel series) releases and reads of the year, in no particular order. Some I’ve may have talked about before. It was tough to narrow it down!!

Titles/Series New in English
1. Love in the Palm of His Hand by Rinteku
2. Touch Within the Abyss by Moyori Mori
3. Haberdashery Ginmokusei by Mamita
4. Omega Megaera by Maki Marukido (not BL, but Maki-sensei is primarily a BL mangaka, so there are some elements!)
5. If It’s You, I Might Try Falling in Love by Maru Kubota
6. Ask and You Will Receive by Niyama
7. White Liar by Tomo Serizawa
8. Fake Fact Lips by Machi Suehiro
9. Lovers on the Last Train by Dayoo
10. Flip, Flip Slowly by Mame Ohtako

Ongoing Series
1. Lullaby of the Dawn by Ichika Yuno
2. My Beautiful Man (light novels) by Yuu Nagira
3. Our Not-So-Lonely Planet Travel Guide by Sorai Mone
4. At 25:00 in Akasaka by Hiroko Natsuno
5. After School Etude by Hirune Cyan

Completed Titles/Series
1. Blue Morning by Shoko Hidaka
2. Stigmata: Love Bites by Hidebu Takahashi
3. Old-Fashioned Cupcake by Sagan Sagan
4. Perfect Propose by Mayo Tsurukame
5. Happy of the End by Ogeretsu Tanaka

I do have a few more reviews I need to finish up, but thanks again to everyone who’s come and read the blog this year! If you do have comments, questions, or want to connect, don’t hesitate to let me know!

See you soon~

Happy Yaoi Day 2025!

Happy Yaoi Day 2025!

by Lys ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

For those unfamiliar, August 1st is Yaoi Day! 8 can be pronounced “ya” in Japanese, so 801 can be read as “yaoi”. So what does “yaoi” actually mean?? Here is an except from James Welker’s “A Short History of Shonen’ai, Yaoi and Boys Love” chapter from Boys Love Manga and Beyond (p. 55).

“By the early 1980s, the term β€œyaoi”—in recent years a truly global label for male homoerotic manga and animeβ€”was beginning to be used in the amateur comics sphere to name these amateur homoerotic works. The word is an acronym for β€œyama nashi, ochi nashi, imi nashi,” or, roughly, β€œno climax,
no point, no meaning,” an apt description of the relatively plotless original narratives and parodies replete with implied or roughly depicted male-on male sex. Its coinage and initial use had little specifically to do with the genre, however.”

Though “yaoi” was originally created and used by doujinshi creators, the term was used in some commercial BL magazines in the 90s. But eventually, boys love/BL became the main term in Japan. While yaoi fell out of use in Japan, its use by English publishers when they began licensing BL manga in the early 2000s means it basically became synonymous with commercial BL for Anglophone readers. Many Anglophone BL fans know and understand it’s an old word, but enjoy using the term. (Me included!) However, some people think yaoi specifically means explicit BL while shonen’ai is focused more on romance and has no sexual content. (That’s a whole other conversation though.)

I’ve been pretty busy wrapping up my summer classes, but I still want to include some recommendations in this post! While many BL manga is only a single volume, it often means a story has a quick development. That is why my personal favorite type of short BL titles are ones that are 2 volumes long, which gives the story a bit more breathing room. These titles often have 上 (jou) and δΈ‹ (ge) to mark volumes 1 and 2 respectively.

Stigmata: Love Bites by Hidebu Takahashi
Publisher: SuBLime
Rating: Mature
This story was the first one I’ve read from Hidebu Takahashi, whose unique artwork is very captivating. I thought the premise for this was so interesting, as Asako (left) can feel the pain and obtain wounds of victims when he is near a crime scene… So what happens when you feel the emotions of your superior’s ex-wife who was murdered? I loved how both Kuroiwa (right) and Asako struggled to navigate their feelings, trying to figure out if it’s only because of the case or not.

Before its print release, Stigmata:Love Bites was released digitally on Futekiya. For Yaoi Day, Futekiya announced that Hidebu Takahashi’s work Psychedelia, which also centers around detectives, has been licensed for print! So excited to see another work have a physical version.

Haberdashery Ginmokusei by Mamita
Publisher: KUMA
Rating: Mature
Note: Currently only volume 1 has released! Volume 2 is slated to release in October.

When I first started getting into BL manga a few years back, Haberdashery Ginmokusei was actually one of the first manga I purchased in Japanese! Like Mamita, I too love suits and thought the idea of a BL set in a tailor shop was so cool. When Ubuki (left) is struggling to keep customers at the tailor shop he inherited from his grandfather, Theo (right) suddenly appears and offers to help improve business. Learning why Theo decided to help Ubuki was very sweet, and I’m excited that there’s a sequel serializing in Japanese!

I’ve read most of Mamita’s works, and I can say that this one is still my top favorite. I’ve enjoyed all of them to be honest, so you can’t go wrong with any title! Many of Mamita’s works were licensed in English last year are now releasing this year! Natsume Wants to be Trained will actually release later this month from Seven Seas.

From Screen to Paper: Digital BL Manga Now in Print!

From Screen to Paper: Digital BL Manga Now in Print!

by Lys ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

As an American manga reader, I can say with confidence that many others here in the US love and prefer print manga. With the majority of digital purchases of media only granting a license rather than ownership, there are a few concerns. Access to digital media can be easily revoked from platforms when a license expires, and platforms themselves can disappear. Manga and comics in general have been no exception to this.

But even with BL’s popularity, it would be impossible to license and print all the titles out there! There are some digital-only titles have been licensed for print release by American publishers. But some digital publishers have also joined in print publishing! Today, I will introduce two different Japan-based manga publishers who have a handful of titles now in print. I briefly mentioned them in my post Who is Publishing BL in English? but am excited to talk about them a little more.

First off is Animate International (not to be confused with the online store with the same name). The company is a part of the Animate Group and primarily works in importing overseas goods and film distribution. But in 2021, they began to publish titles digitally in English with their first announcements being Kabukicho Bad Trip and Lala’s Married Life. They partner with a few different publishers, especially those within the Animate Group, such as libre and Frontier Works. Their digital titles are available across multiple Japan-based and US-based platforms, giving readers flexibility to choose. While they have no official website, their linktree lists all their available titles. They have a great selection of titles, and I highly recommend checking their works out! Some of my favorite digital titles from them include Breathless Momentum by Zeniko Sumiya, Dear My Killer Tune by Iyada, and Kimi no Sumire: Your Spring Flower by Arashi Arima.

At Anime Expo 2023, they announced their first print release. Since then, they have released 6 titles in print, with their most recent being the first volume of the popular Tashiro-kun, Why’re You Like This? For multi-volume titles, so far only the first volumes have been released at this time. Animate International’s titles are primarily available to purchase through Animate’s international and US stores, Kinokuniya USA, the Crunchyroll Store, and Amazon. Outside the US, some of their titles are available in Canada through the shop The Beguiling.

Here are their list of titles available in print:
β™‘ Living with Him by Toworu Miyata
β™‘ Mask Danshi: This Shouldn’t Lead to Love Vol. 1 by Mitsuru Sangou
β™‘ Love and the Highly Sensitive Person by Chimi Sarukawa
β™‘ Countdown to Yes by Roji
β™‘ Kabukicho Bad Trip Vol. 1 by Eiji Nagisa
β™‘ Tashiro-kun, Why’re You Like This? Vol 1. by Yamada

Next is Manga Planet/Futekiya, a digital publisher and platform owned by FANTASISTA. Futekiya is the BL branch of Manga Planet, which used to be a separate site and subscription until it merged with Manga Planet’s main site in 2023. Now it has both a subscription plan (Manga Planet Pass) and points to purchase works. Some titles are available in full through the subscription, while others are point purchase only. Some are available through both the subscription (either in full or in part) and point purchase.

I’ve personally really enjoyed the selection of Futekiya titles on Manga Planet since I heard about it last year. It’s a service I recommend for new BL fans, as the Pass gives access to a great amount of titles at an affordable rate. Midnight Bookstore by Tacocasi, the Pornographer (along with its prequel and sequel) by Maki Marukido, Perfect Propose by Mayo Tsurukame, and City Lights Birthday by Chika Hongo (available in print!) are some titles I’ve enjoyed. While most of the Futekiya titles available with the Pass are from 2023 and earlier, there have been some additions in the last year and a half, such as Color Collection by Tomo Serizawa. I’ve only used the current Manga Planet site, but I’ve heard great things about the old Futekiya one. I even heard there was a blog with some author interviews and posts on BL information, which I would have loved to see!

In 2023, Manga Planet announced they would begin printing some titles. Since then, they have released 14 titles in print, all but 1 being Futekiya titles. While some of the Manga Planet/Futekiya titles are currently exclusively available to purchase from Kinokuniya USA, they have been expanding distribution to other stores, including international ones. Their list of printed books is available here, along with a form for booksellers interested in carrying their books and a form for print requests.

As I mentioned on Twitter (X), I feel like they are not as well-known outside those who are already fans of BL, so I wanted to highlight them in this post today! Both publishers had their books available at Anime Expo this past weekend and have attended the convention in past years, so happy to see they have a presence there. I look forward to seeing what new titles they will bring digitally and to print. I also hope to see them have greater distribution for their print books. I know I’m fortunate to live in the US and have a local Kinokuniya, but I feel for international fans who wish to support them but cannot as easily.

And since they aren’t distributed in the same way as larger publishers, I’m not sure how libraries can acquire some of these books! Regardless, I filled a patron purchase request form and we’ll see if it goes through in the coming weeks. I also wonder what the feasibility is to have their digital works on platforms such as Hoopla or Libby (though this is more for Animate International rather than Manga Planet, since those titles are mainly locked to the platform.)

Regardless, I’m glad these publishers took the chance to print their titles and wish for their continued success! I own a few books from both publishers and am waiting for some to come in as I write this. (I plan to write about some of these in the future too!)

Thanks for reading, I hope this was informative. If you’re a BL fan and haven’t checked out the publishers yet, I definitely recommend it. Both have a range of sweet to spicy works so there’s something for everyone.

See you next time!

A Quick Introduction to Chill Chill and the BL Awards

A Quick Introduction to Chill Chill and the BL Awards

by Lys ♥ 1 Comment

In a few of my posts, I mentioned some titles have ranked in the 2025 Chill Chill BL Awards. So today I’ll finally talk about them!

In short, Chill Chill is a database and community site dedicated to BL. (Please note the site is all in Japanese.) Users can browse recent releases, rate and review them, discover titles through extensive filters, read author and artist interviews, log your bookshelf, and more! Users can also choose their favorite authors, artists, and works. This information in turn can be used to find recommendations through their BL Sommelier service, which does utilize some type of AI. Chill Chill also has several social media accounts outside their main site.

Please Note: Chill Chill has non-explicit mature content on the site.

The top of Chill Chill’s front page.

On their front page, they list the top 10 rated works over the last 10 days, with options to change the time range. This ranking is determined by how many ratings the work has received in that time. While there’s a primary focus on commercial BL manga, Chill Chill’s extensive database also includes novels, drama CDs, and doujin/self-published works. It also includes some non-BL works and works translated into Japanese, such as M/M novels like Captive Prince.

Today’s top 10 ranking for manga, and top 5 for novels and drama CDs.
Licensed manga titles include:
β™‘ Our Dining Table: Seconds, Please! (#1) – Seven Seas
β™‘ PUNKS TRIANGLE stitch 1 (#2) – this sequel actually isn’t licensed as of now, but Seven Seas licensed the prequel
β™‘ Kitayama and Minamiya 5 (#5) – Seven Seas
β™‘ My Beautiful Man 5 (#8) – Tokyopop

Now, the BL Awards is an annual event that ranks the top works of the previous year, primarily focusing on manga. This only includes commercial BL works that were released as a volume/tankobon. For 2025, they also have categories for best webtoon, novel, and drama CD. Ratings on Chill Chill determine which works are nominated, and then users vote over the course of about 10 days. The results were then released in April, showing the top 20 for most categories. As long as they have a Chill Chill account, anyone can vote! The page is mostly in Japanese, but there are some parts of the site that have translations available.

The top 3 Best Overall Comics:
πŸ₯‡ Noumi-senpai no Benmei – Not licensed
πŸ₯ˆ You Should be the One to Come Kiss Me – Renta! (Digital only)
πŸ₯‰ My Noons and Midnights are For You – Tokyopop; Releases Nov 2025

While I mentioned the BL Sommelier service earlier, these people can actually become a Chill Chill certified BL Sommelier through an exam! This exam is in two parts and offered once a year! The exam has a 1.4% pass rate, with only 36 of 2,508 test takers becoming certified BL Sommeliers as of 2024. The next exam takes place in October of this year. Sommeliers work with Chill Chill for a variety of online projects and events, now including the Chill Chill BL Awards! The BL Sommelier Recommendation category was a new category for this year, where Sommeliers nominated and voted on works. As this is not based on general popularity in comparison to the other categories, I hope they continue to have this category in future BL Awards.

Titles licensed in English in this category are:
β™‘ My Instructor Won’t Yield (2nd Place)- Kodansha; Releases Aug 2025
β™‘ Yotsuya Ghost Night – Tokyopop; Releases Oct 2025
β™‘ My Cute Teacher – Renta! (digital only)

While Chill Chill is primarily for Japanese audiences, they have begun to connect with international fans. Their English X (Twitter) account has been growing over the last year. It’ll be interesting to see what they’ll do in the future! Japanese and international audiences in general do have different tastes, but Chill Chill and the BL Awards is still a valuable resource to those who are interested in the Japanese BL world.

To be honest, I would adore an English version of Chill Chill. But with the cost of hosting a database and website and then maintaining, it is rather costly. There was a project called Ouendan Blue that was similar to Chill Chill for English licensed BL but unfortunately ceased updating a few years back. (The site seems unreachable now too.) General English manga and anime databases like anilist and MyAnimeList already exist, so I am unsure of the need. (I personally would love to participate in making one dedicated to BL manga…)

To end this post, I will refer to two more blog posts from Renta!’s BLog for further reading on Chill Chill. Renta! in Japan is a well-known e-book platform, and the English version of Renta! differs a bit from the Japanese site, as it’s not only a platform but a digital-only English publisher as well. And while the Japanese site has all genres, the English site focuses more on romance and BL. The BLog is run by the localization team and a neat resource for information on BL culture within Japan, which I feel is rarely available in English! Note: There may be discussions of mature content on the BLog.

ChillChill BL Awards 2024, and their Importance in the BL Landscape
β™‘ Gives an overview and history of Chill Chill and the BL Awards

We Attended the ChillChill Fujoshi Seminar!
β™‘ Introduces Sandias, Chill Chill’s parent company and their BL market research
β™‘ Discusses Sandias’ seminar that focused on international fans and BL

Last edited: 2025.07.16

Who is Publishing BL in English?

Who is Publishing BL in English?

by Lys ♥ 1 Comment

Many publishers in the US (and overseas!) have been licensing more and more BL in English in recent years! Tokyopop’s LoveLove imprint is overwhelmingly BL. Seven Seas Entertainment‘s weekly Wonderful Wednesdays licensing announcement often have BL, occasionally making up nearly half of the announced titles. They have been known for licensing many Chinese BL novels (danmei) since late 2021. Indie publisher Denpa has been releasing BL manga under their imprint Kuma. YenPress introduced their imprint Ize Press, whose lineup includes Korean BL manhwa and novels. Penguin Random House now has Inklore, which has also released some BL. More recently, J-Novel Club announced their BL imprint Knight last year, and plan to announce titles soon. These publishers have been announcing a great number of BL, with catalogs that may one day rival long-time BL publishers such as SuBLime and JunΓ© (imprint of Digital Manga Publishing).

Japanese companies and publishers have also started to join in the English market, though digitally. Japanese publisher Takeshobo has their own in-house team and ShuCream previously released their own titles before working with publishers like Tokyopop, who has licensed many titles from ShuCream’s BL magazine from RED. Animate International, a company which mainly focuses on importing goods to Japan, also began to license manga. There are also companies who are both publisher and platform, such as Futekiya (which is now a part of the service Manga Planet), Renta!, and MangaPlaza. Though I said they were mainly digital, Futekiya/Manga Planet and Animate International have actually started to print some of their titles. In the United States, books from both of these publishers are currently available for purchase from Kinokuniya USA.

While there has been an increase in BL overall, there have been little updates on JunΓ©’s releases and ongoing titles. This includes the second edition print of Even So, I Will Love You Tenderly by Kou Yoneda, which released digitally last summer. There has been no announcement regarding the physical print since then. JunΓ© has been licensing BL for over two decades now, but no longer release as much…

As for the types of BL being published, Japanese manga continues to be the largest. However, novels and print versions of webcomics have also been increasingly popular. As previously mentioned, Chinese BL webnovels, known as danmei, has been very popular. Even manhua have been released. Indie publishers of danmei include Hai Tang, Rosmei (Singapore) and Via Lactea (Canada). While Via Lactea books are available through major retailers, Rosmei books can only be purchased through select partner retailers. For indie publishers and manhua, Aloha Comics has published two: the Taiwanese manhua Day Off and Chinese manhua Here U Are. Similar has happened with Korean BL manhwa and webnovels. While Korean BL is primarily released digitally in English, some have been printed. One indie publisher called Publang has recently announced print releases for some of their novel titles.

Outside East Asian BL, Thai BL has also been gaining traction. In particular, novels SOTUS and The Red Thread have gotten Japanese manga adaptations. Both titles are available in English through YenPress.

As a fan, the BL boom is real! And keeping up with titles is definitely costly… In addition to larger US publishers releasing BL novels and comics, there are many smaller publishers whose titles may be worth checking out as well! Hope this was a slightly helpful rundown, even though it may have been information overload.

2025.05.17 Edit:
I forgot to mention indie publisher Star Fruit Books! They have a few BL manga available too, including a self-published series called When Pink Rain Falls.

2025.05.26 Edit: I also forgot to mention BLoved Publishing, another indie publisher who has licensed the Korean BL novel and manhwa adaptation of Dear Benjamin and Japanese BL novel series Deadlock.

2025.07.08: I’ve added more publishers to the list not previously mentioned in this post, including BluPetal, another new publisher staffed by people who have experience at other publishers.

I’ve created a table of publishers that have published BL! Hope to keep this updated.
Here’s a preview:

Last Edited: 2025.07.08

A New Blog!

A New Blog!

by Lys ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Hello, I’m Lys.
I’m a library worker, MLIS student, and a huge fan of BL!
You can learn more about me on my about page.

I’ve been wanting to make a BL-focused blog that’s informative but also a space I can still gush over titles I enjoy. I’m especially hoping this blog will be helpful for those working in libraries wanting to learn more about the genre and maybe add BL to their collections!

To start, I’d like to share this book from 2015 that covers the origins and history of the BL genre and other scholarly essays. I particularly recommend those who aren’t familiar with BL to read the chapters An Introduction to “Boys Love” in Japan by Mark McLelland and James Welker and A Brief History of Shonen’ai, Yaoi and Boys Love by James Welker.

Boys Love Manga and Beyond: History, Culture, and Community in Japan
Edited by Mark McLelland, Kazumi Nagaike, Katsuhiko Suganuma, and James Welker