Tag: Boys Love

Net Prints: The Why & How of This Fujoshi Fandom Phenomenon

~ ames ~ 1 Comment

Those who frequent Twitter will have likely seen their favorite Japanese BL artists sharing their artwork with a little text/QR code. For those who’ve wondered what the heck the code is for, it’s for a trend that’s becoming more and more common in recent years: Net Prints!

BL Award Net Prints by Cafeco Fujita, HANASAWA NAMIO, Suzumaru Minta, Rin Teku, and Guri Nojiro

Net Prints (ネットプリント or ネプリ/ネップリ) is the shortened version of Network Prints (ネットワークプリント). This is a feature where you can upload images to the networks of various conbini (コンビニ, or convenience stores), and then print them for the standard printing fee at your leisure next time you’re there to buy a snack or pay your bills. They’re most commonly shared through Lawson and Family Mart, which appear to share the same network and are thus particularly convenient. Originally intended to make it easy to print personal photos without having to bring in an SD card or flash drive, it’s instead become popular within fujoshi fandoms as a way to share and disseminate artwork for postcards, prints, polaroids, and stickers of your favorite characters and fandoms. Being able to share physical artwork and prints with fellow fans used to be something artists could only do at doujinshi events, but with Net Prints if they share the code, the artwork can be printed nationwide with no extra effort necessary on the part of the artist.

While this used to be mostly relegated to fanart, over the last year it’s been exploding in popularity with commercial BL artists and publishers as well. Net Prints have become a really fun addition to pretty much anything worth celebrating: artists will post them when they release a tankoubon, or when a reprint or continuation is announced, or when a drama or anime adaption is coming out, etc. During the announcements for ChillChill BL Awards, tons of artists were posting Net Prints to celebrate placing in the finals, so you bet I spent my evening after work at Family Mart inputting code after code to enjoy nice, glossy photo prints of all my favorite BL mangaka’s artwork.

Continue reading “Net Prints: The Why & How of This Fujoshi Fandom Phenomenon” →

A Safe Space to Heal: Sakana Tojo’s “Sweet Apartment in Paradise”

~ ames ~ 1 Comment

Read on Renta!:
Sweet Apartment in Paradise by Sakana Tojo

Japanese title:
楽園性スウィートルーム
Rakuensei Sweet Room

Links:
Sakana Tojo Twitter
Junet (Publisher) Twitter

As I’ve probably made very clear from past blog posts, I’m a massive fan of Sakana Tojo. I’ve already written an artist introduction for her, and also review her works whenever I’m given the chance. There’s something about her manga that slots so perfectly into my preferences—whether it’s the art or character designs or their personalities and relationships, or just the VIBE of her stories. To me, they’re the perfect after-work (or, in this case, during work…) comfort of something simple, sweet, sexy, and cute.

This story is actually a slight step away from many of Sakana Tojo’s previous works, but I’d argue it still holds onto her characteristic sensuality and softness. Sweet Apartment in Paradise follows the story of Sui, a beautiful young man sold off to an “owner” at a young age, and the “Demon” who saves him. The “Demon”—later given the name “Angel” by Sui—is an assassin who hunts evil, bad men. In this world, the human trade is allowed and accepted so long as those who’re bought are treated with dignity and respect. However, there are many horrible people—often very powerful and wealthy men—who exploit this system and treat those they buy as objects for their own satisfaction. Sui’s previous owner, who he called “father,” was one such man. He bought Sui to be used for sex, dressing him up in strange costumes, drugging him to stunt his body’s development, training him to only respond to sexual advances, convincing him his only worth is in how well he can provide pleasure, and hiding him away from the world.

When Angel saves Sui, he’s surprised by just how traumatized the boy is. He’s used to seeing the horrifying results of human trafficking, but something about Sui touches him enough that he offers to home Sui to see him through his recovery. He teaches Sui how to do things on his own and creates a comfortable space for Sui to grow and heal—marking every “safe” thing in the apartment with little bunny doodles (Sui’s favorite animal) to make sure Sui’s trauma doesn’t get severely triggered. He replaces Sui’s shackles with cute accessories, and offers Sui the warmth of his body to show human affection doesn’t always need to be sexual or transactional.

Continue reading “A Safe Space to Heal: Sakana Tojo’s “Sweet Apartment in Paradise”” →

Sweeter Than Expected: “Kabukicho Cat Honey”

~ ames ~ 1 Comment

Read on Renta!:
Kabukicho Cat Honey by Nekojita Udon & Toriumemaru

Japanese Title:
歌舞伎町キャットハニー

Links:
Nekojita Udon Twitter
Toriumemaru Twitter
B.Pilz Twitter
Brite Publishing

Part of me wonders if I even have to post a review for this series, as it already seems incredibly popular. It really doesn’t need an extra push from me—the cover and description already seem to be doing the trick. However, there’s no rule on the blog that says we can’t talk about things we love that are already extremely popular, so I’m still gonna go for it anyway.

Kabukicho Cat Honey is a BL manga by writer/artist duo Nekojita Udon and Toriumemaru. This is actually their second book together, their first being My Private Love Actor (プライベート・ラブマイアクター) which is also released by B.Pilz and localized in-house. While it’s hard to say going off just two releases, it would appear the two mostly work together on BL projects, though Toriumemaru has also done some illustrations for a couple BL novel series and is currently working on a horror josei manga.

The story of Kabukicho Cat Honey follows a young man named Haru. Haru works in Shinjuku’s gay district as an escort, and is popular as a specialized top since he’s quite tall. He’s not just popular with the men, though—the hostesses who also frequent the bar his escort service runs out of love him as well, and so one night they invite him along to a host club with them. Haru doesn’t understand host clubs—he doesn’t get the appeal of being lied to with sweet nothings—but is forced to go by his boss since he was invited by paying customers.

There he meets Shinya, the number two host. His first impression of Shinya is that he seems arrogant and far too friendly, but they quickly bond when they realize they have the same phone case of an indie band they both love. Just as Haru lets his guard down, though, Shinya starts asking him about his work as a prostitute—and why he specializes in topping when he’s so obviously the perfect bottom. Lean build, slender hips, slim neck, beautiful face, soft hair—Shinya makes it clear he would gladly ravage Haru and make him squirm.

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BL Lines to Look Out For: KiR Comics

~ ames ~ 4 Comments

As I’ve mentioned both on here and on Twitter before, when it comes to whether or not we can fulfill a license request, the best bet is to check if we have a history of licensing from that publisher. If we’re already releasing series by a specific publisher, it already means we have a relationship and contract with them, which makes it significantly easier to request titles. If we don’t have a contract with them, well… we will still gladly request the license, but the chances of obtaining the license can be a lot slimmer for a variety of reasons (some of which I discuss in my post about digital vs. physical publishing). But, this is just to say, there’s a reason we have a lot of content by certain publishers, and little to none by others.

For those who don’t know, you can find the publisher and line on the manga itself via logos on the cover, insert pages near the beginning, or backpage credits at the end. You can also check the description on the product page:

Also, the publisher and publishing line aren’t the same thing. For instance, B.Pilz and Tulle are both separate lines under Brite Publishing, and both aim to provide different content, if only slightly. A more clear-cut example is TAIYOH TOSHO‘s HertZ and Craft lines—HertZ tends to offer more standard, shorter BL stories that can be contained to one or two volumes, whereas Craft tends to run longer, more chaste, plot-driven content. There is some overlap between the lines, of course, but that’s simply because it’s hard to put all stories into clean boxes—one BL might be long and story-driven but very sexual, and vice versa.

Lately, when I’m sending out our licensed projects for translation, one BL publishing line that’s been catching my eye more and more is: KiR Comics! It’s not a rare occasion at all that I’m flipping through something thinking “damn… this is The Good Content…” and I find myself distracted reading the full chapter, get to the backpage, and it’s KiR! A few recent ones (and spoiler on content that’ll be coming later this year Peeking eye): Dekisokonai no Love Song by Akota, Kyou mo Kimi ga Toutoi by Hiiro (coming soon!), Eye Wink de Korogashite by Akari Hayashi, Ato Mou Sukoshi de Koi na no ni! by Sanma Tarou… the list goes on, really.

KiR’s manga don’t seem to have too strict a theme, but they often tend to be a bit on the lightly gritty, very sexy side—but not always. KiR also tends to host a lot of lesser-known or debuting artists, which is exciting for me personally since I love discovering new BL mangaka to throw myself behind.

The manga I noted before are all things to look forward to in the future, but for now, I was thinking I’d put together a post recommending some of my favorite current KiR releases that you can read in English. Also, this would be a great time to point out that their website actually has an “overseas” section that lists all their books that have been licensed and in what languages! 訴える顔 A very nice feature for non-JP readers; thank you, KiR Comics staff!

So without any further ado, my personal five picks that I’ve really loved from KiR Comics!

Continue reading “BL Lines to Look Out For: KiR Comics” →

The good, the dark and the gritty: omegaverse

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Blooming cherry blossoms be damned, Japan has been in a rainy mood lately. It’s probably the kind of situation when most people would like to indulge in something uplifting, like a comedy or happy song; but, if you’re anything like me, you prefer to consume media that affirm the rainy season tenfold. That’s sometimes the appeal of sad, dark stories, after all. Which is why this humble purveyor of angst embarked on another exploration through the Renta! catalog, not to find our many cute, sweet, domestic, sexy omegaverse manga, but the stuff that shows people utterly under the thumb of a society governed by biological urges.

Which means of course, here’s a hefty content warning for the most ruthless things omegaverse might offer—if you’re looking for something to scatter the rainclouds rather than darken them, how about Sou’s April Fool’s post?

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BL Event Report!: ChillChill Festival 2024

~ ames ~ 3 Comments

On April 6th, Sou and I had the honor of attending two separate talks at ChillChill Festival! What is ChillChill Festival? What did the talks entail? And why the heck were we able to go? Read on and you’ll find out! Morning after party

On a Friday in mid-March, our coworker Snow (also a participant in the Renta! Staff BL Awards 2023) suddenly approached me after the weekly company-wide meeting and asked if I’d heard of “ChillChill Festival.” Spurred on by my confused post-hour-long-meeting look, she brought up the event page and told me tickets were available through work, since our main Japanese branch is a sponsor of the ChillChill BL Awards. We were allowed to pick two talks, and attend them with one friend if we so desired.

While I would have loved to bring my friend Merry (interviewed on the BLog here), she was unable to come. So, I was thinking I’d go alone—until I brought it up with Sou. Since they’re also a huge fan of Kishimoto-sensei (we discuss her adorable tweets regularly), they said they’d be interested in coming with. Thus, I requested two tickets each for “Discussing the Frontlines of BL Trends” (BLトレンド最前線を語る) featuring Kishimoto, Satou Sugar, and Teku Rin, and “BL Fetishism in the Reiwa Era” (令和のBLフェティシズム) featuring Okita Yuuho, Nikuya Inui, bov, and Yukiharu.

However, before we go into the day of the actual event, let’s discuss ChillChill, and the history of ChillChill Festival!

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VTubers and BL Trends

~ ames ~ 1 Comment

As someone who spends a lot of time in Japanese 女性向け (joseimuke, or female-oriented) spaces and also consumes a lot of BL, one thing I really enjoy is how BL manga very frequently reflects what’s going on in those circles—what themes are popular, what fashions are getting big, social concerns women are dealing with (have you ever wondered why JP Omegaverse is significantly more about social issues than hot breeding kink sex…?), etc. But it’s not just these themes and styles, but overarching trends in popular culture that suddenly start showing up as well. And in this case, the one I want to talk about is:

Shikinagi Akira and Hayase Sou discuss their fav BL tropes

Vtubers.

I’m not super open about it, but I’ｍ a Vtuber fan. I’m not as big into them as I used to be—back during the pandemic it was my (and many other people’s, I believe) main fandom. My cat is named after Saegusa Akina. I cried so hard and for so long on the day Mayuzumi Kai graduated that I wished I could call into work the next day but instead went in looking like I’d been punched in the face. I attended the Nijirock concert back in 2021 as well as Fantasia in 2022. Unfortunately, I’m not super acquainted with the newer gens, and I have much less time to watch them now that we no longer work from home, but Vtubers and streamers still hold a special place in my heart for making living alone during the pandemic significantly more bearable.

And the fun thing for me is that many BL mangaka seem to feel the same. When they aren’t drawing Vtuber fanart on their side accounts, BL manga about streamers (and Vtubers to a lesser degree) has exploded in the last couple years, so I wanted to write about the collision of these two things I love.

Continue reading “VTubers and BL Trends” →

BL NON-Guilty Pleasures

~ Admin ~ 1 Comment

When the idea of a “guilty pleasures” blog post was floated during one of our BL meetings, I (Ames) was originally not super into it. While the intention was good—creating a space to talk about less-common or accepted niches within the BL sphere—I’m not someone who likes the idea of ‘guiltily’ or ‘ironically’ liking things. (I know, I know—perhaps I’m a bit too serious and sentimental.) In my honest opinion as an ancient BL fan, just enjoying the things you love with your whole ass is most often the way to go.

There’s already so much shame in fan spaces as it is for just enjoying BL on its own, so I’m not so big on adding even more shame by referring to things as “guilty pleasures.” We already agreed this blog would be a positive space for and by BL fans, and I want to uphold that at all costs. So rather than making a post about guilty pleasures, Sou and Alice have shamelessly gone whole-hog talking about the aspects of BL and MLM media they love that maybe gets a little flack sometimes—but who cares? If you love something, love it.

I admittedly wasn’t able to participate in this post this time around, but maybe someday. パーティの翌朝 Nonetheless, I hope you all enjoy Sou and Alice baring their “rotten” souls to the world discussing Mpreg, and assholes.

Continue reading “BL NON-Guilty Pleasures” →

ChillChill BL Awards 2024, and their Importance in the BL Landscape

~ ames ~ 4 Comments

It’s that time of year again! This past Friday, ChillChill opened voting for the 2024 BL Awards! But I figured there might be some of our readers asking:

“What is ChillChill?”
“What are the BL Awards?”
“Why does this even matter?”

…which is why I’ve decided to write a post about ChillChill, the BL Awards, the recent history of year-end BL best-of compilations, as well as this year’s nominee pool and what you can actually read on Renta! So let’s just jump right into it!

What is ChillChill (ちるちる)?

I feel like anyone even vaguely versed in Japanese BL fandom has heard of ChillChill—that’s the level of impact and importance the site has in the Japanese market. You can barely search a BL artist or title without the site popping up as one of the top results.

ChillChill came onto the scene in 2008, starting out as an indexing and community site. Essentially, it was the BL version of sites like MyAnimeList. You could build a profile, share your favs, post reviews, take part in discussions, find new recommendations through their intense tagging system (which I’ve also discussed briefly in my post about why our community tagging system is important), make friends with similar tastes, etc.

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“Look at Me.”: Identity & Acceptance

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Read it on Renta!:
Look at Me. by Momose An

Japanese Title:
俺を見て。
Ore wo Mite.

Links:
Momose An Twitter
Doodle Twitter
Momose An Pixiv

When I heard we’d be getting a Momose An title on the site, I was personally ecstatic. I’m not sure how well-known she is in the West, but Momose An is currently an incredibly popular BL mangaka in Japan. She has two smash-hit, long-running series, Naka Made Aishite (Yuzuriha, my love… I use your LINE stamps every day…) and Osananajimi ja Gaman Dekinai, and her series Shitasaki kara Koi was highly influential for the cakeverse genre. I haven’t seen much fanfare for her overseas, and from what I can tell none of her other stories have been licensed.

Look at Me. is actually one of Momose An’s earliest titles. Published in 2017, you can tell she was still coming into her art style at the time, as this is quite different from the angular and boyish characters she currently draws—but the essence of her style still remains (particularly when she draws the side-views of characters). The art is softer and rounder, but still equally a joy to look at.

The story of Look at Me. centers around childhood friends Kyosuke and Saku. Saku was beautiful from birth, with a gentle and feminine face, so Kyosuke initially mistook him for a girl. Most people, in fact, mistook him for a girl—and were often disappointed to find he wasn’t. Not Kyosuke, though—young and blunt, Kyosuke didn’t care one way or another if Saku was male or female. But unfortunately, Kyosuke was too young to save Saku from an adolescence of trauma, isolation, and loneliness.

Continue reading ““Look at Me.”: Identity & Acceptance” →