THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP…AND BL! Comitia is well underway, but Ichinoi is getting overheated and they have yet to sell a single thing! Urara is just about to throw in the towel when a certain someone from the publishing industry shows up at her table! Can true friendship make dreams come true? Find out in the final volume of BL Metamorphosis! The final volume!
BLFFS After a little push from Ichinoi, Urara finally takes a step toward something she has only dreamed about! They might be over fifty years apart, but Urara and Ichinoi prove that age means nothing when it comes to the support of a good friend!
Ichinoi, a seventy-five-year-old woman living a peaceful life, unwittingly buys a boys' love manga one day, and is fascinated by what she finds inside. When she returns to the bookstore to buy the next volume, the high school girl working there--Urara, a seasoned BL fan--notices a budding fangirl when she sees one. When Urara offers to help Ichinoi explore this whole new world of fiction, the two dive into the BL fandom together, and form an unlikely friendship along the way.
Boys Love Manga and Beyond looks at a range of literary, artistic and other cultural products that celebrate the beauty of adolescent boys and young men. In Japan, depiction of the “beautiful boy” has long been a romantic and sexualized trope for both sexes and commands a high degree of cultural visibility today across a range of genres from pop music to animation. In recent decades, “Boys Love” (or simply BL) has emerged as a mainstream genre in manga, anime, and games for girls and young women. This genre was first developed in Japan in the early 1970s by a group of female artists who went on to establish themselves as major figures in Japan's manga industry. By the late 1970s many amateur women fans were getting involved in the BL phenomenon by creating and self-publishing homoerotic parodies of established male manga characters and popular media figures. The popularity of these fan-made products, sold and circulated at huge conventions, has led to an increase in the number of commercial titles available. Today, a wide range of products produced both by professionals and amateurs are brought together under the general rubric of “boys love,” and are rapidly gaining an audience throughout Asia and globally. This collection provides the first comprehensive overview in English of the BL phenomenon in Japan, its history and various subgenres and introduces translations of some key Japanese scholarship not otherwise available. Some chapters detail the historical and cultural contexts that helped BL emerge as a significant part of girls' culture in Japan. Others offer important case studies of BL production, consumption, and circulation and explain why BL has become a controversial topic in contemporary Japan.
Shy Miwa has always dreamed of finding love, but living in small-town Japan made finding the right match difficult—especially since she likes girls! Even going away to college didn’t seem to help, until one day her outgoing classmate Saeko suggests they might as well start dating each other since it’s not like either of them has other options. At first it seems like things won't work out as their personalities clash and misunderstandings abound. But when their casual friendship starts to become something more, Miwa begins to wonder—can a pragmatic proposal lead to true love? -- VIZ Media
Super serious Asahi Suzumura and laidback, easygoing Mitsuki Sayama might seem like an odd couple, but they made a deal; they'll vacation around the world and when they get back to Japan, they'll get married. As they travel from country to country, the different people, cultures and cuisine they encounter begin to bring them closer together. After all they're not just learning about the world, but about themselves too.
First published in 1975, The Cage was a graphic novel before there was a name for the genre. Considered an early masterpiece of the genre, the Canadian cult comic has been out of print for decades. The new edition includes an introduction by Canadian comics master and Lemony Snicket collaborator Seth (Palookaville; It's a Good Life, If You Don't Weaken). Cryptic and disturbing, like Dave Gibbons (Watchmen) illustrating a film by Ozu, The Cage spurns narrative for atmosphere, guiding us through a series of disarrayed rooms and desolate landscapes, tracking a stuttering and circling time and a sequence of objects: headphones, inky stains, bedsheets. It's not about where we're going but how – if – we get there.
Trying to keep their failing relationship going was putting a huge strain on both Miwa and Saeko. Now that they’ve broken up, they can focus on being friends and all the things the future might have in store. And for Miwa, that means finally telling Shiho how she feels. But is she ready for what her confession might unlock? -- VIZ Media
When Noshiro transfers to a new school, he meets Sanada, a loner who doesn’t seem to have friends—or want any. The other kids whisper that Sanada keeps to himself because he’s secretly gay. But rather than scare Noshiro away, the rumor only makes him more interested. He sets out on a campaign to win over the surly Sanada, embarking on a surprising friendship. -- VIZ Media
