BL Lines to Look Out For: KiR Comics

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

VTubers and BL Trends

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