Yaoi News

Lots of good news this week for a few titles our visitors had questions about. First off, Anime News Network reports that a second season of the Junjo Romantica anime is indeed coming this October in Japan! Kadokawa USA holds the U.S. release rights for this anime, but has not yet announced a distributor.

On the manga front, BLU Manga updated their web site this week to include later volumes of several popular titles. The long-awaited fourth volume of Black Knight is scheduled for release from BLU in February of 2009. The eleventh and final volume of Love Mode is back on the list, too, after being removed for a time over questions about whether BLU was selling enough Love Mode to justify finishing the series. Looks like they won't leave us hanging -- Love Mode vol. 11 is slated for release in October 2008. Finally, Junjo Romantica volumes 7 and 8 are on the schedule, arriving in September 2008 and January 2009, respectively.

For a long time, I maintained an account with Streamload (then MediaMax, then TheLinkUp) to help get unlicensed yaoi anime to users who couldn't get it any other way. I paid $5 a month for years to the service so I could have an account that allowed me to upload and download and get stuff out to people -- not a huge amount, but it adds up over time.

A few months ago, MediaMax "upgraded" to a new service called TheLinkUp. for months they promised that despite technical difficulties, they would move all of my files to their new service if I was just a little patient. Well, they didn't. I got an email last week stating that the entire service was shutting down, and the only files I could access were those currently in my account. TheLinkUp didn't even transfer all of my files, only about 2/3rds of them. I hope it's understandable that I feel a little bit burned by this, when I paid my subscription fee faithfully to this company for at least 4 years.

Since BitTorrent and file sharing has become more widespread and more accessible, I've only had about 1 request for files every month or two. In light of that, with TheLinkUp service shutting down, I've decided to cease file-sharing through Boys on Boys on Film. I'm very sorry that I have to do this, but I promise I will try to find other download links for every unlicensed anime we review on the site, just as I have always done.

Thanks for understanding.
-Wiggle

The first fansubbed episodes of Antique Bakery, the anime based on Fumi Yoshinaga's incredibly popular manga of the same name, are now online via AnimeSuki. Antique Bakery is the story of a bakery owner who employs an adorable gay baker for his quaint little shop, only to find out that his new employee is the same high-school classmate he violently rejected years ago. While neither the manga or the anime are considered boys' love, the gay characters are portrayed with positive humor and have a prominent role in the plot.
(Screenshot used without permission from the Antique Bakery official site.)

We reported in September that U.S. anime company Geneon would no longer be distributing DVDs, including Kyo Kara Maoh!. Lucky for us, FUNimation picked up the distribution rights to this and other Geneon series and will restart the release of Kyo Kara Maoh! again this fall! Picking up where distribution left off in 2007, Volume 7 of Season 2 will be available on DVD on September 2, 2008.

Geneon is still producing the anime, so dub actors and translation choices such as the spelling of character names should remain the same. FUNimation is producing the actual physical DVDs, so only the packaging and marketing is likely change.

We heard from Rachel Livingston at Digital Manga Publishing today, who had some information to clarify what their new Doki Doki label is all about. We asked about Crimson Cross and Wolf God specifically, two of the new licensed announced for Doki Doki at Anime Expo. Rachel said:

"Doki Doki isn't a purely yaoi label. So there are a bunch of titles under the imprint that aren't yaoi. Wolf God and Crimson Cross aren't yaoi. In fact, I don't think any of the Doki Doki titles we announced at Anime Expo are yaoi titles."

Several of the titles announced at Anime Expo, including Happy Boys by Makoto Tateno and Otodama by Youka Nitta, are of particular interest to BL fans, while not specifically BL manga themselves. Although Happy Boys is reported by some sources as a "shounen ai" manga, since the title originally ran in Shinshokan's shoujo publication Wings (not the Dear+ BL publication), Happy Boys is probably not considered a BL title by the publisher. Crimson Cross is likely an ambiguous bishounen title.

Anime Expo this past weekend, July 4-6, served up a whopping twenty-eight (possibly thirty-one?) new BL manga/novel licenses, as well as one anime! Here's all of the news we could gather from various sources, and we'll keep this list updated with more details. Many thanks to Gia at a geek by any other name, Anime News Network, and Deb Aoki of manga.about.com for keeping us informed!

Kadokawa USA Licenses Junjo Romantica Anime

Kadowaka USA announced the license for the BL anime hit Junjo Romantica! Kadokawa usually does not distribute anime on their own, but instead works with other distributors, such as Media Blasters or ADV, to produce an anime for U.S. consumption. No distributor has yet been named for Junjo Romantica.

Deux Press Announces New Title by Est Em

Deux Press has announced they will publish Red Blinds the Foolish, a manga by the creator of Seduce Me After the Show, Est Em. Red Blinds the Foolish is reportedly about Spanish matadors. No release date has yet been set, but it is not on Deux's 2008 release calendar currently.

Go!Comi Reportedly Licenses BL Title?

Several Go!Comi panel reports from AX have noted that the company announced a manga titled Days of Cool Idols which the panelists said was a BL manga. No mangaka has yet been found, and we are not sure what this title is yet.

DMP's Doki Doki Label Adds Questionable New Titles

Not connected to their definitely-BL labels Juné and 801, Digital Manga Publishing announced several new titles under their Doki Doki label, a partnership with Shinshokan Publishing of Japan.

Update (7/8/2008): Rachel Livingston of DMP clarified to us that Doki Doki "isn't a purely yaoi label" and that none of the titles announced at Anime Expo were being considered BL/yaoi manga.

Juné Manga and 801 Media License Another Ton of Titles

It would hardly be an anime/manga convention without a boatload of new titles from the Digital Manga Publishing BL imprint, Juné, and its more adult sister company, 801 Media. We have a quick list with links to MangaUpdates for more information, courtesy of BoBoF-Updates members Jukebox and sunflower. Thanks, guys!

801 Media Titles:

• Hey Class President by Kaori Monchi
• Dog x Cat by Yoshimi Amisaki

Juné Titles:

• Clan of the Nakagamis Volume 2 by Homerun Ken
• Cut by Toko Kawai
• Desire-Dangerous Feelings (novel) by Shoko Takaku -- The novel version of the Desire manga.
• Double Trouble by Takashi Kanzaki
• Eat or Be Eaten (novel) by Jinko Fuyuno Yamimaru Enjin
• Hey, Sensei by Yaya Sakuragi
• Honey/Chocolate by Nanao Okuda
• Live for Love by Jun Mayama and Itsuki Sato
• The Lonely Egoist (novel) by Hikaru Masaki and Masara Minase
• The Longest Time by Tohko Tateno
• Love/Knot by Hiroko Ishimaru
• Love Potion by Sakuya Fujii
• Love Syndrome by Yura Miyazawa
• Manhattan Love Story by Monoko Tenzen
• The Object of My Affection by Nanao Okuda
• Planet of Earthquake by Miou Takaya
• Pure Heart by Hyouta Fujiyama
• The Spiral of Sand by Yuna Aoi
• Suggestive Eyes by Momoko Tenzen
• Then Comes Love by Riyu Yamakami
• Tricky Prince Yukari Hashida
• The Way to Heaven by Yamimaru Enjin
• When the Heavens Smile by Aki Senoo
• Where Has Love Gone? by Ryou Tsunoda