Tag: Junet

College Boys & BL

~ ames ~ Leave a comment

On Twitter a while back, I remember seeing a complaint that there’s lots of BL with businessmen and older guys, and lots of BL with high schoolers, but where are all the college guys? And while plenty of people were kind enough to swoop in with their favorite college-centric BL recs, it still made me start thinking about what college BL I would personally recommend from Renta!’s catalogue. And what better time than now to make a rec post, as spring semester heads into full swing in the U.S.?

First, though, let’s talk a little about what college looks like in Japan to get a better understanding of some of the more common college tropes you might see in BL manga. I’m sure we’ve all experienced the fanfiction that puts Japanese characters in a super American college setting, with dorm parties and drinking and fraternities—the whole nine yards. (Always a fun and exciting AU scenario, up there with flower shop or coffee house.) Actually, though, college in Japan is pretty different in a lot of ways.

First, there’s no greek life. There also aren’t really dorms—at least, not in the on-campus sense like in the States. I stayed at a dorm that was eight train stops away from my school, and that seems to be the norm. College students generally live at home, stay in apartments (financed by their parents if they’re wealthy enough, or by themselves if not), or live in shared housing or general dormitories that aren’t associated with a particular school but instead house students from schools all around the city. The dorm then has a dorm head who usually takes care of management and maintenance, and a dorm mother who’s usually in charge of cooking and cleaning. This scenario is pretty common in manga: the main character moves into the dorm and has to rely on all the strange and exciting people they meet.

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[♡RECS♡] 11/22: Happy Good Husbands Day!

~ sou ~ Leave a comment

Here at RentaBLog, we sure do love our special calendar dates — so far, we’ve covered Good Meat Day, Cat Day, Cat Day Part 2, and even Twink(ie) Day. Last week on 11/11, BL fans and shippers around the world celebrated Pocky Day across social media, which was pretty exciting to see (so much great fanart!). But there’s one more day this month I’ve been looking forward to in particular. No, it’s not Thanksgiving — but I am very thankful for the cornucopia of BL I associate with it.

That day — today, November 22nd — is none other than いい夫婦の日 (Ii Fuufu no Hi), meaning “Good (Married) Couple’s Day” or “Good Spouses Day.” It’s a day for couples to show appreciation for one another, and to celebrate the special bond they share.

While the Japanese word for “married couple,” 夫婦 (fuufu), uses the kanji for “husband” and “wife,” the term can be used to refer to same-sex couples as well. Still, some on social media have taken to the M/M-specific term, いい夫夫の日 — here “fuufu” is pronounced the same, but uses the kanji for “husband” twice, to make it “Good Husbands Day”! I always enjoy scrolling my feed on this day, as it’s bound to be full of adorable BL and ship art tagged “#いい夫夫の日”.

Since I have a soft spot for sweet, married-couple vibes BL, I just had to take this opportunity to introduce some series on Renta! that you can read to enjoy “good husbands” all year round! 🥰

Without further ado, here are five BL series centered around married (or basically married) couples that will soothe your heart. From domestic newlywed bliss to the trials and tribulations of a long-term relationship, these manga have it all! 👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨

Continue reading “[♡RECS♡] 11/22: Happy Good Husbands Day!” →

Artist Spotlight: The Brilliant Eccentricity of Jake Akahoshi

~ sou ~ 1 Comment
So adorbs I LOVE THIS STORY. It’s about a guy who grows apples in his ass りんご
青リンゴ

One of our favorite topics to talk (write?) about on this BLog is the discovery of series and artists that we first come into contact with through our job — whether it’s in the process of quality checking, advertisement creation, hearing our coworkers rave about something they’re working on, or sometimes just clicking around on our site and servers.

One such artist that’s made a big impact on me since I discovered their manga is none other than Jake Akahoshi.

Akahoshi-sensei’s been in the BL game for over a decade, and in that time they’ve earned quite the reputation for their outlandish plots, beautiful depictions of the male body, and moving romance writing.

For the uninitiated, I’ve picked out a handful of their manga currently available in English on Renta! that I believe encompass the spirit of Jake Akahoshi’s unique approach to BL manga, which I personally find utterly delightful.

I’ll also be assigning them ratings 1 thru 5 on each level of the “Jake Scale” — a system I made specifically for this article, since I really believe Jake Akahoshi is on a level of their own when it comes to these three aspects:

Spiciness: 唐辛子How much sexy action can we expect?唐辛子

Unhingedness: パーティの翌朝How “out there” is the setting/plot?パーティの翌朝

“Aww”-worthiness: 涙をこらえた顔Likeliness to hit you right in the feels?涙をこらえた顔

Hopefully this will help you find a title (or titles) most likely to match your personal tastes, so you too can start your journey into Jake Akahoshi’s whacky BL world. Now, without further ado, let’s get right into it!

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Calling All Ikuyasu Fans!! (Fan Mail Special #3)

~ sou ~ Leave a comment

BL fans far and wide, I am pleased to announce the third installment of our Fan Mail Special!! In case you’re new to the phrase, this is a Renta!-exclusive project in which we open up digital fanletter submissions from fans all around the globe, translate them into Japanese, and present them to the featured creator — so they can enjoy messages from their international fans, language barrier-free!

This time around, the esteemed artist you’ll all get the opportunity to lavish with your love is none other than… Ikuyasu-sensei!!

Works Available on Renta!

Ikuyasu’s Twitter

Their manga’s catchy titles, which are always fun to translate, are also a plus 笑い (via Hammered And Pounded)

With an unmistakeable art style and playful sense of humor, Ikuyasu’s become one of those artists that gets me pumped every time I see a new release of theirs — I just know I’m going to enjoy it somehow, no matter the premise. But my personal tastes aside, I can tell why Ikuyasu-sensei’s manga has earned such high praise from countless Renta! readers over the years.

If you enjoy your BL with a healthy serving of “beef” — that is, a bit of meat on both the seme AND uke — I hope you’re familiar with Ikuyasu’s works — and if not, well, then boy are you in for a treat! The musculature of the characters in their manga, whether on the leaner or thiccer side, is clearly drawn with much loving care, which makes it impressive in an artistic sense just as much as in an erotic sense パーティの翌朝

But, the appeal of Ikuyasu’s manga doesn’t stop there. Though they seem to have a penchant for loveable oaf (or, dare I say, “himbo”) characters, which can make for tons of laughs, some of their stories get pretty deep emotionally. All around, they’re quite filling for the yaoi lover’s soul!

For the uninitiated, I’ve prepared below a brief introduction to some of Ikuyasu’s works, and why I’ve personally come to adore them so much. And, for existing fans, maybe this can serve as a quick refresher of some of the many reasons to love them 目がハート Feel free to take inspiration for your own personally crafted fan message, which you can submit here until June 14th JST!

Continue reading “Calling All Ikuyasu Fans!! (Fan Mail Special #3)” →

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”” →

The XL-lent BL That Turned My Expectations on Their Head: Tamachi’s “I’m An XL. Could You Find Me A Spouse?”

~ sou ~ 2 Comments

Read on Renta!:
I’m An XL. Could You Find Me A Spouse? by Tamachi

Japanese:
XL size Desu ga Kekkon Sasetekuremasuka?
XLサイズですが、結婚させてくれますか？

Links:
Twitter (Author)
Twitter (Publisher)

Once in a while, you find a BL that just hits all the right notes to the melody that is your personal taste — almost as if it was tailor-made for you, like the creator knows and sees YOU.

…BL mangaka probably aren’t all psychics, though, so I’ll just call it a stroke of luck that I encountered Tamachi’s “I’m An XL. Could You Find Me A Spouse?” while on the job here at Renta!

The dichotomy of a BL fan (if you’re like me, that is)

If you’ve read some of my other posts on this BLog, you might have already clocked me as a fluff fanatic — to which I can only reply, “Guilty! 天使” But, if you’ve seen the full catalog of the series I’ve recommended here, you’ll know I’m no stranger to the, erm… thirstier side of BL as well (in which case, I can only say, “Go ahead and handcuff me パーティの翌朝” Sorry). These two “flavors” of BL are by no means mutually exclusive, but striking that perfect balance between the two is an art that, when done exceptionally well, calls for celebration in my book. And if a BL can make me laugh too, that’s just icing on the cake!

That brings us to Tamachi’s “I’m an XL. Could You Find Me A Spouse?” When I first saw the title of this series, my first thought was, “Oh. He’s got a big dick. Whelp, better brace myself to check all those tiny sound effect texts during the seggs scenes.” I must admit I have some prejudices; when I see a BL put its most “sexy” component out front and center, I tend to assume that’s its main draw — and that’s not necessarily a bad thing! Sometimes you’re just in the mood to see a cute guy getting reamed on livestream, or a precious boy get degraded (and railed).

So, little did I know this series was going to take hold of me and never let go, with its ridiculous premise developing into something far more tender — and even SEXIER — than I was expecting!

Continue reading “The XL-lent BL That Turned My Expectations on Their Head: Tamachi’s “I’m An XL. Could You Find Me A Spouse?”” →

Renta! Staff BL Awards 2023

~ Admin ~ 8 Comments

New Years is the perfect time to look back on the last twelve months and think to yourself… “What was the best BL manga I read in 2023?” Best-of lists are common this time of year, so we wanted to get in on the action and make a list of our staff’s favorite BL titles a la Chill Chill’s BL Awards. However, our list is less a ranking of the absolute top popular titles as voted by our users (you can find that by checking the “best sellers” list), and more just us—as a team of BL fans—wanting to celebrate some of our favorite titles that were added to the Renta! site this year. (The 2024 Chill Chill BL Awards should be happening again in march, with people already discussing the nominees, so let’s look forward to that in the coming months!)

Without further ado, the categories are…

Favorite New Series
Favorite Continuing Series
Favorite Seme
Favorite Uke
Favorite Up-And-Coming Author
Amazing Art
Favorite Renta! Title
Favorite Cover
Favorite Couple

To make sure it wasn’t just our main blog team pushing our favs we’ve already talked about at length, we also invited Nan, Agedashi, Anne, and Snow from our Japanese side to share some of their favorite titles they got to work with this year!

For each category there’s a good mix of responses, showing just how varied BL fans are in their tastes. However, in the spirit of not making this post too ridiculously long, we’ll just highlight two or three staff comments for each and then list the rest of the choices below.

Continue reading “Renta! Staff BL Awards 2023” →

Beefcake Special (Happy Good Meat Day!)

~ sou ~ 3 Comments

For all lovers of BEEF — dinner is served!!

It’s finally cooled down a bit here in Tokyo, and the Christmas decorations lining all the shopping centers and Mariah Carey blaring from every store’s loudspeaker do a wonderful job of reminding me of the upcoming holiday season.

…But maybe you’re the type of person who wishes the holiday cheer could hold off for a bit longer, and prefers to savor the time between Spooky Season and the lively-but-potentially-exhausting year-end festivities. In which case, Japan’s got you covered!

As we briefly touched upon in our Yaoi Day post, Japan has lots of “special” days throughout the year, based on wordplay that’s possible with the Japanese pronunciation of a given date — and November 29th is one of these days! In Japanese, 1-1-2-9 can be pronounced いいにく (ii-ni-ku), which is a homonym for 良い肉 (also pronounced iiniku), which means “good meat.” As such, 11/29 has been designated “Good Meat Day” in Japan.

Unfortunately, as far as special days in Japan go, Good Meat Day isn’t really that big of a deal — beyond some meat vendors having special offers, or meat lovers treating themselves to a delicious, protein-rich meal よだれをたらしている顔ステーキ.

However, here at RentaBLog, we like to spice things up and take every opportunity to celebrate different aspects of Boys’ Love — and thus, I decided that on this day, we’d give the spotlight over to the beefy guys of BL, who make our hearts pound with their rippling muscles — the buffer, the better! 

Hope you’ve saved room for a feast, because meat is on the menu tonight!! カトラリー

Continue reading “Beefcake Special (Happy Good Meat Day!)” →

Beast Week Day 3: Embrace the Succubussy

~ ames ~ 3 Comments

I’ve already spoken about Sakana Tojo at length, but when given the opportunity to write a review for “Baby, Sugar, Succubus” (ベイビー、シュガー、サキュバス) I’m obviously going to take it. You just have to check my artist spotlight to know how I feel about their work, and this title is no exception.

Baby, Sugar, Succubus is the story of nearing-30 restaurant owner Arata whose dick is Just Too Big. He’s a nice guy with a heart as big as his junk, but no girls are willing to get serious with him because they fear his monster schlong. (Maybe that’s the real beast in this Beast Week article…) An attempted blowjob, a handy here or there, but actual loving, romantic love making? Nah man, it’s Just Too Big.

Enter sweet, gentle succubus Shinya, who passes out in front of Arata’s shop one night because he’s absolutely starving. Arata makes him a nice meal, but what he doesn’t realize is Shinya doesn’t need food as sustenance, but semen. “Please, sir, can I have some cum?” Shinya asks (not really… kinda…), and while Arata has never been interested in other guys before, he can’t help but be drawn in by Shinya’s kuudere cuteness and the fact that this is the first person who’s seen his dick without flinching away in fear and disgust. “Is it the fact that you’re a succubus, or just the fact that you’re you?” Arata can’t help but wonder, in awe of how attractive he finds Shinya.

What follows is the most astoundingly cute, raunchy, amaero manga known to mankind, with Arata and Shinya quickly falling more and more in love while also being able to accept the parts of themselves—for Arata it’s his giant dick, and for Shinya it’s his succubus nature—they never thought possible. They can’t keep their hands off each other, constantly whispering sweet nothings and annoying all of the people around them with their flirting and making out.

Plus, it has a really fun twist on the whole succubus trope, with it just being accepted in this world that there are “variants” to humans and Shinya just happens to be one of those. The beautiful ethereal shine he gets to his eyes after feeding is so unbelievably cute (all those sparkles! how is this a porno manga!?), and I can very much understand Arata wanting to treasure and protect Shinya for all eternity. Overall, 100000/10. If you’re in the mood for a super sweet and sexy romp with the horniest type of beast, definitely check this (and Sakana Tojo’s many other manga) out!

Artist Spotlight: Sakana Tojo

~ ames ~ 4 Comments

I’m sure everyone else has them, too: artists we would ride or die for. If someone insults them, we will defend them with our dying breath. We gaze lovingly at their art as if it’s a masterpiece in the Louvre, taking in every single detail from all angles. We follow and purchase every single thing they release, read every social media post by or about them, and have read every book multiple times. Well, that’s how I feel about Sakana Tojo.

Sakana Tojo / Sakana Toujou
東条さかな（とうじょうさかな）
Twitter: @diabolism_st
Portfolio: click

Available on Renta!:
My Lovely Bunny (星のうさぎ)
Love At First Bite (君と美味しい愛のコトノハ)
Baby, Sugar, Succubus (ベイビー、シュガー、サキュバス)
My Cat And My Bed (猫とベッド)
Endless After-School Honey (ホウカゴ・エンドレスハニー)

Sakana Tojo specializes in very fluffy, sweet, intense smut. A majority of her BL are released through Junet, a publishing line that caters to the more ero rather than story oriented side of the genre. She started out as an ero manga artist, and still does illustrations for various types of manga, light novels, etc.

Continue reading “Artist Spotlight: Sakana Tojo” →