We’re back, baybee! …Kind of! The second half of 2025 moving into 2026 was pretty crazy at Renta! HQ, and BL Team has been kept busy with lots of projects and new manga we can’t quite talk about yet (soon! hopefully!). This term, however, we’re hoping to make more time for the BLog and other forms of community outreach—partly because we want to give back to show appreciation for everyone’s support, from the Manga Planet move to all of our mangaka projects to Citrus Con–but partly because, well… it’s one of our favorite parts of the job, too, as BL fans and community members ourselves.
Which brings me to today’s BLog post! At Citrus Con 2026 we did THREE panels this year: Guri Nojiro Drawing w/ Q&A, our “Day In The Life of a BL Manga Editor” industry panel, and an hour-long Q&A. However, as those who attended may remember, we VASTLY underestimated both the number of questions we’d get and our ability to yap at length about our job and BL recs, so we got through… maybe 1/3 of the questions?? We promised we would post the rest later as a BLog post, but then one project after another after another hit us in-house, and I’m finally getting round to writing this now.
We are so sorry… 🙇♀️ Trust me when I say there are also lots of BL reviews I want to write and share, and more cultural stuff as well. Hopefully 2026 will be our comeback year!
Also, a sad note: for those who’ve paid attention to the members of BL Team, Yomogi—our lover of yandere and thick eyebrows—will be leaving us this month. So, this will be the last BLog post he’ll be included in. A huge otsukaresama deshita to him, and a thank you for all the fun times he’s given BL Team! We will be staying in touch and continuing to talk about wonderful BL together, even if it’s now outside of work. 🖤
Without further ado…! This is going to be an extremely long post, so strap in.
We’ll also be re-answering all the early questions for everyone who missed the panel, since the Q&A didn’t get recorded. The answers also may have changed in the last four months depending on new series we’ve gotten into recently.
I’ll be answering the vast majority of the questions since I’m the one writing the BLog post, but Yomogi and Sou will also jump in where appropriate! I’ll make sure everyone’s answers are marked clearly.
QUESTION
ANSWER
AMES: One is that we have a full in-house team of editors. Many of my manga editor friends—particularly the ones who also work at JP companies—have told me that’s exceedingly rare since most use freelancers or a team of just 1-2 coordinators. We have EIGHT people on our team: one project manager, five quality checkers, and two final editors. Another is that our team puts out an astounding 4000 or so pages of manga each month, which we try to make as high quality as humanly possible, so we’re always extremely busy making sure everything is up to code.
YOMOGI: I learned early on that there’s A LOT of coordination going on between different teams in the department (such as licensing, web, database, etc.)! For example, we’ve discussed with the licensing team about different BL tropes that are popular in JP vs. abroad.
QUESTION
ANSWER
SOU:
Nakajima Wants To Break Up! by Satonishi
It’s Time For A Snack!! by Sasaki
AMES:
Hooked on Being Dumped by Taka
Both the top and bottom are just so unbelievably dumb and it’s so cute to watch them be incredibly, endearingly dumb together.
QUESTION
ANSWER
SOU:
Sit. Good Job. by Yoko Misumi
YOMOGI:
Brat Tamer / King by Kitahala Lyee
Beautiful art, handsome seme, cute uke—need I say more?
AMES:
A Doting Dom’s Sweet Reward by emu
QUESTION
ANSWER
YOMOGI:
Beware The Haters In Love by Hina Inami
Shirayuki is an emblematic example of a shitty & messy uke, and I love the yandere-ness of Tomoyasu.
Businessman Love Battle by YAN
If you’re a fan of buff characters in suits as well as the nerdy seme x Mr. Popular uke, you’ll enjoy it! Also, that man booba on the cover…
SOU:
Hajime, Masamune, and Tits by Hiyori Nagatsuki
Reborn As A Character In A Dating Sim On Hard Mode by Akimitu
AMES:
Me, Fall For You? by Machiba
Hikage is cute and pissy and traumatized and I love him.
My Imperfect Marriage To My Childhood Friend by Miyako
Toma is absolutely adorable, and his and Hinata’s gentle (STEAMY) love for each other heals me.
It Was The End Of Spring by Guri Nojiro
You really just can’t go wrong with Guri Nojiro, and it was such and honor to get to work on one of her releases!
QUESTION
ANSWER
SOU:
My Quiet Best Friend’s Just Tongue-Tied by Gomouriki
Life – The Road That Leads To You by Miya Tokokura
I Just Wanna Hide My Pink Little Things! by Jake Akahoshi
AMES:
Adorable And Impossible by Owal
Dumb, slutty uke with a sad story? I’m sat.
One-Eyed Wolf in the Sahara by Emu Soutome
The introduction of Byaku, BL Team’s beloved mascot
Intimate, But Not A Friend by Coco Aino
The Cat Across The Hall by Coco Aino
These were my introduction to Coco Aino, who I still love to this day.
I Can Say “I Love You” in the Afterlife by Tsukiduki Yoshi
Sweet story about misunderstanding and redemption.
I Might Be Your Fan, but I’ll Never Fall for You! by Kaoru Watanabe
My introduction to Kaoru Watanabe, who continues to be one of my favorite mangaka.
Playboy Beast by Minomushi Momonoki
Great for those who like dumb uke and animalistic sex.
Sadistic Madness by Wasabi Ochazuke
Intro to Wasabi Ochazuke, and wonderful power bottom vibes.
The Unexpected Expert by AIKAWA AKI
The manga I was trained on when I joined Renta! six years ago.
QUESTION
ANSWER
AMES: I generally prefer exhibitions over cafés, especially if they have lots of notes about the creation process or tidbits and comments from the artist, publisher, etc. I’m not a big eater, and while I can appreciate how photogenic and cute collab cafes are, it’s always a little frustrating when my favorite series get like… drink stands because I’m someone who doesn’t like drinking all those calories. 💀 I know it’s a bit of a meme, but I always appreciate drink stands that have the option to buy an overpriced black coffee (bless u sofmap…) because sometimes you truly JUST want the damn coaster without the drink.
My favorite part of collabs—even cafés I’ve gone to—is just the massive artwork on the walls or when the ネーム is being showcased or original artwork. More than anything else, I just want to see and celebrate the effort and skill by the artists.
YOMOGI: I enjoy cooking, so my dream is for a BL-themed cooking or baking class to happen, where you learn to cook something that comes up in a manga.
Aside from that, I do enjoy seeing original and/or in-progress works displayed, like Ames mentioned!
SOU: Last winter I went to my first BL karaoke collab room, which may sound a little confusing because BL manga and karaoke seemingly have little to do with each other, and was pleasantly surprised at how fun it was. Unlike your typical BL collab cafe (which I also love don’t get me wrong), which is typically a calm and quite vibe, you can get as loud as you want in a karaoke room, so it’s perfect for squealing with your besties over BL. Plus, it feels so special (dare I say… intimate?) to be surrounded by giant BL manga panels decorating the walls of a small room, sipping on character-inspired drinks. I had a blast singing poorly and taking the cringiest of selfies with panels from I Want to Spoil You while Ames watched on in horror. (Ames note: I still have photos of Sou attempting to kiss the wall…)
QUESTION
ANSWER
AMES: Our original answer for this was Famires Iko iirc but with the release of the second volume, they actually made Famires Iko line stamps! They’re very wonderful and we use them daily in the BL Team line chat.
So now, I guess my answer at least would be… My Noons and Midnights Are for You since Luria’s art is extremely expressive and I just KNOW you’d get some great stamps out of it, and Sou and I are both obsessed with the series—me with Mayo-chan and Sou with Ogino.
YOMOGI: I’d love LINE stamps from My One And Only Shiba Inu Love. This series has way too many moments that are so stamp-able, and I have a soft spot for this super cute story.
QUESTION
ANSWER
AMES: Depends on the merch! For booklets and flyers, I have boxes where I store them sorted by JP alphabet by author. For stuff that’s hard to display (or just not currently in use I also have them neatly put away in cute display boxes. I usually just display as much as I can, and sometimes switch stuff out based on the season. For instance, I have a display on my wall where I change out the netprints regularly to fit the season or current theme. But I try to not let my room look TOO cluttered (or dusting becomes a pain) so I do store away a lot of stuff.
YOMOGI: I’m an acrylic standee collector, and I store them in plastic cases from 100-yen shops so that they don’t get dusty. Tokyo is a VERY dusty city…
QUESTION
ANSWER
AMES: I generally follow everything released by KiR comics because I have a strange obsession with them. (Well… they release a lot of good stuff okay.) I’m also obsessed with the mangaka majoccoid so I keep up with their serialization in FromRed. Jamu Miruko’s story in OnBlue. Yoriko’s recent series in Daria. Some stuff by Yamatani Shiki. A lot of stuff through B.Pilz and Tulle. The list goes on and on.
YOMOGI: At the time we did this Q&A, I was waiting for the volumized continuation of Heaven and Demon -Kyu- to come out. When it finally did towards the end of May in Japanese, I rushed to Animate to get it, and the final volume sure did not disappoint!!
QUESTION
ANSWER
AMES: KiR comics!!!!!!!!! I love them!!! They’ve been growing lately and it makes me so happy. I just feel like they really respect and do right by their artists and their marketing and community outreach is really strong. They’re just doing it right. I also really like Taiyoh Tosho, and FromRed also releases a lot of great stuff. But honestly I’m an omnivore when it comes to BL, so I read a lot of stuff from TONS of different publishers so I could go on forever if I started naming ones with lots of releases I like.
YOMOGI: I love stories from TaiyohTosho’s iHertZ & CRAFT! This line is my go-to for whenever I’m craving some story-centric BL.
QUESTION
ANSWER
AMES: PORN! I know this is probably very well-known in the community, but Renta! is a platform known for having a lot of ero BL, and we take pride in and lean into that. I can’t talk about actual sales numbers, but three tags that consistently do well are omegaverse, beast people, and yandere.
QUESTION
ANSWER
AMES: Frankly, any feedback is highly valued and important. But I guess most valuable is concrete feedback—stuff that’s actionable. For instance, as people might notice in our newer releases, through doing market research (searching for people talking about us) we found that people really hate how hardline and old-fashioned the old style guide was regarding name localization, so we’ve since changed that on all new series. Also feedback on our service (website usability, branding, marketing, etc.) is always valued. Without hearing the voices from our users (or potential users, even) it’s hard to make the rest of the machine move, so the more feedback we get about how we can do better by our customers, the more we can improve as a company.
If you want more of a certain artist, or a certain publisher, or want us to do more of a certain type of promo or sale, or if you don’t read our localizations because of XYZ issue or—on the flipside—LIKE XYZ about our localizations, we won’t know that unless you tell us. So please keep the feedback coming!
YOMOGI: Yes! Anything honest, and anything actionable as Ames pointed out! Our department values comments directly from our users, whether it be on Discord or via our Inquiry form, so please don’t be shy to let us know what we can improve!
QUESTION
ANSWER
AMES: I guess the opposite would essentially be something I would only recommend to someone if I know they’re okay with it, so… nocori, lol. nocori’s stuff has a lot of dubcon and BDSM themes and piss play and close-ups of feet and drugging… you get the picture. You can tell they’re originally a doujinka because their stuff is pretty intense for the commercial BL market, but the fact that they’re insanely popular regardless (even before being picked up by KiR) is a testament to how god-tier their work is.
YOMOGI: Ames covered it… There’s a reason why Ames and I refer to the mangaka as Queen nocori.
QUESTION
ANSWER
AMES: I think one of the strengths of BL is that it can tell stories that removes gender from the picture, and explore issues that would have been kind of uncomfortable for a female audience had one (or both) of the characters been female. Omegaverse, for instance, often deals with the same issues that women deal with—discrimination in the workplace, being treated like baby-making machines, no one taking them seriously—but it can be easier to explore those themes without the mostly-female readers having to put themselves in the place of and relate to the characters in terms of gender.
QUESTION
ANSWER
AMES: Generally we try to keep it as close to the JP as possible without it being an overly-literal translation. If it sounds absolutely ridiculous, or if there’s a cultural reference that’s going to be lost, we localize as necessary. But we generally try to not change the titles too much form the original.
Most challenging are titles where the title sounds awful in English (too literal or just doesn’t make sense) but seems to be referencing something, but you read the manga and can’t figure out what the title I referencing so then you have to wing it but you chance altering the artist’s intention behind their title…
QUESTION
ANSWER
AMES: We’re not in the publishing side of the industry—only the localization side—so we really don’t know, sorry! I can only assume by friends who’ve published manga that it depends heavily on a variety of factors: publisher, publishing line, author popularity, contract terms, how well it’s selling, etc.
QUESTION
ANSWER
AMES: I’ve said this for the last year or so, but it continues to be true—cute characters are currently very popular in JP manga. Whereas much of the rest of the world (outside perhaps danmei, there otherworldly beautiful men are very popular) buff, more manly guys tend to be MUCH more popular, but—lucky for me as a HUGE fan of BL where both characters are bottom-coded—cute, femme characters continue to be in.
We try to prioritize stuff that seems like it’ll be popular overseas, but you never know what might surprisingly catch on, so we still do pick up a good handful of stuff to test out.
QUESTION
ANSWER
AMES: This is probably very confusing, but we actually have no ties to the JP site, so what the JP site hosts has no effect on or say in what we eventually license! Our licenses depends much more on the English branch’s relationships with the publishers we work with. What we continue to license has a lot to do with what has sold well in the past, what seems like it would be popular, and what customers specifically request!
QUESTION
ANSWER
AMES: I only read BL and whatever demographic Famires Iko is, so I can’t speak on shojo and josei. But I guess I have to mention that Isekai and fantasy are still going strong in general, particularly villainess stories. I have noticed the shojo love interests are getting prettier and prettier, though. Every time I see them I think to myself “I hope she pegs him.” I don’t think we have any of those on Renta! sadly…
YOMOGI: I also don’t follow many josei/shojo series, but I can say that the villainess (悪役令嬢 akuyaku reijo) trope still remains strong. In terms of josei series, stories involving revenge (such as on cheating husbands) seems to be trending, probably due to those stories being more sensational and attention-catching.
SOU: This is extremely specific and more of a trope (if you can call it that) than an overall trend, but… some of the manga check team members here at Renta! have pointed out how often gazebos of all things pop up in our manga (mainly shojo but also BL occasionally) and now I can’t unsee them whenever they appear. What is it about gazebos that appeals to the joseimuke manga reader’s heart? Is this architectural staple of Renta! manga a passing fad or here to stay? Perhaps only time will tell…
QUESTION
ANSWER
AMES: Even though I wasn’t sure how it would perform with an overseas audience, Ayame Erica’s The Boy With The Secret Account Wants The Innocent Boy’s Love was a specific request from me just because I love that manga so much. We can also ask for certain series to be prioritized based off what we think will sell, and well… we’re not necessarily the least biased people ever. 😇 Still, we try not to prioritize our own preferences too much, bc obviously we live in Japan and can read Japanese and can buy the JP manga ourselves easily and cheaply, so what’s most important is making the manga our readers want more accessible for them.
Sometimes we’re just lucky, though, and manga we love just shows up on our doorstep and we’re not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth. An example of those for me would be Hotaru Dies Tomorrow and The Alpha’s Bride, and When “Not Yet” Means “I Love You”.
YOMOGI: Soon after joining the BL team, I requested nocori’s The Handsome Salesman At My Office Is My Ideal Master because the whole world deserves to see their beautiful manga. I think that’s how I outed myself as a fan of intense & smutty BL to Ames and Sou…
QUESTION
ANSWER
AMES: Essentially, if the publisher already works with us (or is willing to work with us) and if it seems like it’ll sell! As noted above, we can suggest titles, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll be able to license them.
QUESTION
ANSWER
AMES: Since previous answers were related to Renta!’s releases, I’ll answer this with my favorite general 2025 BL release, which was absolutely Love Chain Love Gene by Ebino Bisque.
SOU: I really enjoyed Koi wo Surunara Hirefushite by Harumoto Kon! I’m waiting for the release of the second tankobon to catch up with the story, but I’ve heard good things so I’m very much looking forward to it!
QUESTION
ANSWER
AMES: Definitely Beware The Haters in Love because Hina Inami writes the most adorably fucked up characters, but more recently I’ve been loving the seme from Finding Cinderella who’s a piece of shit but he’s trying his best.
QUESTION
ANSWER
YOMOGI: Kirisawa from My Cute Stalker… His apartment gets broken into, and he ends up thinking the burglar/intruder is a stalker of his and proceeds to… you know😏
I also love Tomoyasu from Beware The Haters In Love. He is also a stalker… wait, now I see a pattern…
SOU: He’s probably more Yandere Lite™ than a traditional yandere, but I love Ogino from My Noons and Midnights Are for You for MORE than just his body — and that very much includes his possessive side that will go to surprising lengths to make sure nobody gets TOO close to HIS Mayo. I love a character who seems to be cool and composed on the outside but is actually a little (or a lot) unhinged (ʘ‿ʘ🌺)
QUESTION
ANSWER
YOMOGI: Carnal Incarnation -Reincarnated Into Another World To **** You- was a VERY quirky series with tons of comical puns which were hard to translate, but came out okay (I hope…). For example, ウケバッカ王国 (literally “uke everywhere kingdom”) was turned into Kingdom of Bottomore, and a maltese dog named マルダシちゃん (literally “exposed/on display,” often referring to things that shouldn’t be widely displayed heh) became Balltease the Maltese.
AMES: I have to agree with Yomogi. He and the translator did an amazing job localizing all the jokes and references in that series.
QUESTION
ANSWER
AMES: For those who don’t know, the Renta! localization team has a shitpost group chat where the name changes constantly depending on the current vibe of the chat. The answers we listed during Citrus Con 2026 was:
- POST NTU CLARITY (Current)
- Japan Aphrodisiac Sound Source Research Institute
- Rages of Mangas
- OVULATING WITH DESIR
- Fondler on the roof
The new current chat name as of June 2026 is “ketsumanko hanko” but who knows, someone may make a funny reference later today and it’ll change on a dime.
As for BL Team chat, it always has been and always will be “Byaku’s Thigh Highs” in reference to Byaku from the Black Eagle in the Sahara series, who both Sou and I adore.
QUESTION & ANSWER
QUESTION & ANSWER
QUESTION
ANSWER
AMES:
YOMOGI:
SOU:
QUESTION
ANSWER
YOMOGI: James from Pokemon.
SOU: Similar to Ames, who refrained from answering this question because her fictional crushes are “all [objectively] attractive,” I don’t have many characters I thirst after that I think would require further explanation. HOWEVER, one character from a BL who makes me feral, and which NOBODY ON THE TEAM seems to GET for whatever reason, is Kurita, a side character who appears in Harada’s Yata & Momo AND Happy Shitty Life. I instantly fell in love with his nerdy but chic character design and worn-down yet petty personality. (Also, as I’ve stated before, I can’t get enough of pathetic men. The more miserable, the better.). Is his only purpose in the story to get pissed off at his neighbors fucking too loudly and interrupting his writing flow? Yes. Is he also incredibly cute and breedable (IMO)? ALSO YES.
QUESTION
ANSWER
YOMOGI: I’m hoping for meriba (merry bad end) to become more popular! I’m a sucker for dark stories with seemingly sad endings, especially if they make me cry😭
AMES: I feel like there’ll continue to be more and more stories about streamers and influencers.
QUESTION
ANSWER
AMES: Since we’re a completely different department from content creation, I’m not really sure tbh! Sorry! However, from a localization perspective, we treat our own titles the exact same way we treat licenses from other publishers.
QUESTION
ANSWER
AMES: Much, much more than manga about publishing, since we don’t technically work in the same field as manga editors, I’m fascinated by how fans and readers see our field and what they say about it. Sometimes I’m surprised how knowledgeable people are about the industry, but sometimes people also make really weird assumptions and say really wild things about our supposed work process and it catches me off guard.
QUESTION
ANSWER
YOMOGI: Yes! I read some doujinshi—both original stories and fanfics of series like JJK! Aside from that, I tend to go for anime than manga.
AMES: It’s my main fandom even outside of work, and probably what I spend most of my income on.
SOU: I do, though admittedly I tend to gravitate toward fanmade doujinshi nowadays because 1. shorter and 2. less brain power required than an original series since I’m already familiar with the main characters. But I definitely also buy regular manga volumes of series I either discover through work or by word of mouth (usually from social media).
QUESTION
ANSWER
YOMOGI: MCs with a trauma—the darker, the better…
AMES: I think everyone already knows this about me, but I love junjou bitch characters—slutty as hell but with a pure, sweet virginal heart. I also love “queen bee” bitchy, cold bottom characters.
SOU: Enemies-to-lovers, hetare seme, mutual unrequited love, there’s too many to name (what can I say? I love me a BL trope.) Another thing I personally love is when the first volume of a series gets all (or most) of the difficult/heavy conflicts out of the way and the second volume and on can just focus on the couple being cute together (bonus points for domestic fluff…!) By the way, the sequel to Brat Tamer / King (Brat Tamer / King engage!) is set to drop on Renta! July 2nd, and let’s just say I was very well fed while doing the final checks for it 😏 so I hope you’ll all enjoy it as well!
QUESTION
ANSWER
YOMOGI: I think トントン is an essential—it’s the sound of tender, loving taps that are often used when the seme’s schlong is tapping the prostate of the uke heh.
AMES: You absolutely don’t need to know this word but my favorite JP SFX is へこへこ (hekoheko). It’s the sound of awkward/stilted/unpracticed thrusting. So like a dog humping your leg. Whenever I like double-uke pairings and Sou is like “but if they’re both bottoms then who puts it in?” my reply is “idk but they can hekoheko against each other for all I care.”
QUESTION
ANSWER
AMES: Mangaka aren’t a monolith, so this is going to vary by author. Some are extremely excited to find they have fans overseas, and some are scared and unsure about how their work is going to be taken once it leaves its culture of reference. Some don’t even realize they even have overseas fans. Mangaka are almost always extremely happy to receive kind messages of support from fans all over the world, however.
QUESTION
ANSWER
SOU: Some of our earliest-licensed series — particularly from the Peropero Danshi Zukan label published by Bevy — have some pretty wild titles that make even me, a Renta! veteran, do a double-take whenever I spot their folders in the server while searching for an older series. Prostate investigations, “sexretaries”, BUTT terrorism?? It’s all there right in the titles. While the titles we license, including the ones from Peropero Danshi Zukan, seem to have gotten a fair bit “tamer” in recent years, there will still be some unique ones once in a while that make us chuckle fondly (lookin’ at you, Leg-Locking Hunky Maids -Sexy Heartthrobs-). It comes with the territory.
QUESTION
ANSWER
AMES: We have ten currently. Our workflow is probably different from most companies in that we essentially guarentee the same amount of pages monthly once someone is fully trained, so our freelancers have a lot of say over their workload with us.
QUESTION
ANSWER
AMES: We look for good writers! Whether or not someone “knows Japanese” is beyond the point, because you can know textbook Japanese (or use ChatGPT…) and still be an absolutely awful manga translator. You need to know how to write character dialogue and translate Japanese in a way that’s fun to read, and you also need to know how to read manga to know how to translate it, because many less-skilled translators want to translate bubble-by-bubble which means you’re missing tons of context in the dialogue flow and chance making incorrect translation choices (or mistaking who’s speaking, which is another common issue). We also obviously vastly appreciate people who are knowledgeable about BL and otaku culture, since those are extremely useful in translating our content (knowing omegaverse terms, understanding oshikatsu, etc.)
QUESTION
ANSWER
AMES: Ideally, it would take around 4~7 months with our current system!
License
↓
Ordered translation (one month)
↓
In-house translation check (two weeks to one month)
↓
Ordered for lettering (one month)
↓
In-house lettering check (two weeks)
↓
Sent for corrections (two weeks)
↓
Quality Check (two weeks)
↓
Proofreading (two weeks)
↓
Final Files (two weeks)
↓
On the website (1~2 months)
Things are rarely ideal, however, and sometimes series have to be pushed back while others are prioritized due to contracts, editing, etc.
QUESTION
ANSWER
AMES: We have noticed that print continues to be significantly more popular in the Western market and have definitely had many meetings regarding the topic. However, getting into print is extremely difficult if you don’t have the right connections.
QUESTION
ANSWER
YOMOGI: AH, ANOTHER DARK BL FAN!! Some of my picks of works available in English are:
Rabbits’ Forest by Enjo. Deals heavily with queer sexuality and abuse/emotional trauma.
Eat Me By The Forkful by Murooka. It’s a cakeverse with a slightly dark atmosphere.
A Home Far Away by Teki Yatsuda (through Kuma). Religious themes, rejection, etc.
As for series that are yet to have English releases/in Japanese, some of my favorites are:
Rental Tama-chan. This made me cry…
Shinju Suru Made Mattetene (Warning–this is very much Dead Dove type of manga!). This made me cry x 10…
SOU: I’m usually a baby when it comes to darker themes in BL, but a series that’s stuck with me recently that has some potentially triggering content is The Golden Bee Drops Into Honey. I think through this series I finally realized that a bit of angst in a story can really make the “happier” parts shine all the more beautifully. (Seasoned angst readers are probably like “Duh” right now, but this is a Very Big discovery for me. My eyes have been opened.) I recommend this to readers who enjoy a little emotional turmoil with the promise of a hopeful ending.
AMES: It feels weird to call it dark bc Taka is very good at trying to keep enough of their stories light/silly/sexy enough that the sad parts don’t overpower the rest of the story, but their manga Taking Him Back To That Night deals heavily with child abuse and poverty and bullying and abandonment in a way I wasn’t expecting that really affected me.
QUESTION
ANSWER
AMES: I think this was answered in April! I can’t share much more than that since it’s about contracts! Sorry!
QUESTION
ANSWER
AMES: I feel like no matter what I’ll accidentally leave some out and show my bias, but from my perspective…
Kaze to Ki no Uta
Poe no Ichizoku
Ai no Kusabi
Finder Series
Doukyuusei
Itoshi no Nekokke
Saezuru Tori wa Habatakanai
Given
Pink Heart Jam
I wanted to pick a well-known title for each important “era” of BL that showed a shift in fanbase and genre presentation, from shojo-esque to gratuitous non-con porn to more story-driven and progressive.
The most current ones were particularly hard to choose bc BL is so huge now, there’s no longer any “unifying” theme that encapsulates the genre. Plus, you have shojo/ippan lines publishing BL-type content that isn’t even in the BL section anymore. The lines around what makes something a BL manga are starting to blur. Still, I feel like Given and Pink Heart Jam in particular showcase “BL as IP” which is the growing trend in recent years as goods and collabs and pop-up shops are becoming more profitable and commonplace.
QUESTION & ANSWER
QUESTION
ANSWER
AMES: I LOVE DORMITORY STORIES!! They still exist, thankfully, but there was a period where they were the bread and butter of the BL genre and they’re MUCH more rare now. I eat that shit up: emotionally volatile, sexually confused dudes trapped in a room together? Fuck yeah.
For older authors… Ogura Muku. Their manga was the reason I got into buying and reading BL in Japanese in the first place. I miss them.
QUESTION
ANSWER
AMES: I have a 50 minute commute, most of which I spend scrolling Twitter, which is mostly BL for me (aside from the occasional Star Rail or Genshin fanart). I also check the new releases regularly, and I have time set aside every day at work for “market research.” And somehow I still feel like I miss a ton of stuff.
QUESTION
ANSWER
YOMOGI: I’d love to see a BL written by Sou & then localized by Ames…👀
AMES: I wanna see Nojiro Guri and Ebino Bisque collab. I don’t even care who does art and who does story—maybe they could even do one volume from seme perspective and one volumes from uke perspective and swap who does art/story between volumes. I just love them both a lot and it’s always cute when they interact on Twitter. I feel like Shikke/Suzumaru Minta and Amekiri/Mayuharu are two other duos who interact a lot who I’d love to see team up.
QUESTION
ANSWER
AMES: tbh it’s unfathomable how much more BL I would read if I had more time and money. Which I know is ripe coming from me since I get paid to read BL all day.
It’s my job and also my main hobby, so reading a lot of BL is both how I relax AND a form of market research, so I’d like to read more and more and more. But it feels like the amount of BL available is infinite—and I only read JP manga! I don’t even wanna know how bad it is for people who try to keep up with all the non-JP stuff!
SOU: Oh, it’s BAD. I may need to look into getting a bigger apartment (jkjk…unless…?) 🥺
QUESTION
ANSWER
AMES: I chance coming off as pretentious saying this, but I don’t read a lot of BL that’s popular! Or more like, I’m not interested in stuff just because it’s popular. Everyone reads BL for different reasons and there’s a BL manga for every preference, so I really only seek out BL that fits in within my interests. For instance, BL about old guys, and BL that seems emotionally upsetting, or it’s really story-driven rather than focusing on the BL aspect… a lot of other people love those types of BL and they always rank really high, but I’d prefer to spend my money on BL manga that’s more to my personal tastes, even if it’s not as popular.
Perhaps if I had infinite money, I’d try to read more popular titles just to check them out! Though one I did check out just because it was popular was Tarou DON’T ESCAPE. I enjoyed it very much.
YOMOGI: I have yet to read The Titan’s Bride (here’s the Uncensored version😉) and Twittering Birds Never Fly. I keep telling myself I NEED to read them…
SOU: Basically anything by Rico Sakura… The art is always beautiful and the stories usually seem right up my alley, but there’s just sooo much BL I need to get through at this point in my life (what a problem to have amirite), I just haven’t found the time to sit down and appreciate their manga. I literally have both volumes of Sukinara Nugasete sitting at home because I could NOT miss out on those beautiful bonus postcards included with the print release, but all I know of the story is what Ames has conveyed to me via one of her “otaku sales pitch” sessions. I’m sure I’ll get around to reading it eventually. It’s like when you have a nice bottle of wine you’re saving to enjoy on a special occasion…
rentaBLog 