Hi! I’m back with yet another Manta Reviewers Club post. As always, these posts are sponsored, but opinions are my own.
This week, I'll be talking about a title I had quite the fun reading, Obedient Pregnancy. Imagine having fun reading a series and get lost in it so much so that you forget reviewing it... Happens to the best of us...
You can give this series a chance now that the first 5 episodes are free to read! The bonus event Manta is offering is also available on their Instagram, where you can get 60 gems for an additional free episode!
Here's the official summary Manta provides for Obedient Pregnancy:
Seowoo Yoon, the secret daughter of a politician, hides a bold nature beneath her obedient facade. Eunhyuk Kim, heir to WM Group, tries to control her—but her quiet rebellion draws him in. Their clash deepens into love, and when she breaks free, they begin a strange yet sweet married life.
Obedient Pregnancy is a massive hit in Korea right now, and I can understand why that is. It's steamy, it's fun, surprising, and let me just say this without spoiling anything: I love a freak in my mature-rated manhwa! The ML Eunhyuk was fine too but I couldn't help but drool over the FL, Seowoo—she's GORGEOUS. For you lightsaber-allergics out there, the uncensored version is exclusive to Manta!
I've mentioned in my previous reviews for Manta that heeterosexual romances are a hit or miss for me, compared to BL, where I'm less picky and more lenient towards works that otherwise wouldn't survive even the tiniest bit of scrutiny. But Obedient Pregnancy scratched a specific itch for me, and I love it when the female lead and male lead actually match each other's frequency in unexpected ways. If you're in the mood for a smutty read and breeding is kinda your kink, then this is tailor-made for you.
This is the most I can dance around the topic without spoiling what it is SO!!! It's time to go to Manta and check for yourselves before those 5 free chapters are locked. Better yet, get those diamonds while you can as well!!
Below, you can find the credits provided by Manta.
I’m OBsessed with omega megaera and no one in my life understands my pain 😭 none of my friends read manga. Anyway, I like your taste, and I’m hoping you’re also an omega megaera enjoyer so we can commiserate at the wait between volumes.
I AM!!! I've been a Maki Marukido enjoyer ever since their BLs have made it to English and we're lucky that Kodansha took a chance with Omega Megaera. Nothing wrong with the work obviously, but all publishers chase nowadays are virality so it must have been a more risky title to license hope it's selling well TvT
Let's commiserate together! I see your pain and raise it with I still can't find the second vol in stock here so i only have 1 and 3. CANT EVEN READ WHAT'S AVAILABLE!!!
this is not directed at the anon who contributed to the genderbend stuff by sending that ask. but i'm sick of people suggesting the best friend manga, especially using a condescending tone when doing so, like yes!!! I KNOW ABOUT THE EFFIN MANGA!! i'm not losing ancient texts, i'm not forgetting it. even if i was forgetting about it, is it a crime?? are we not allowed to ask questions anymore???
Setting aside the performance of gender and all the essentialism that surrounds this topic. If someone's asking me for a BL, am I wrong to assume that they want to read two men in a relationship? Why would I recommend them a genderbend story where the guy turns into a girl when they're specifically looking for the opposite? How are they similar?
To me, they're two wholly different things categorically.
Sorry, this is more to answer the other person’s question and not really a question itself, but there are, I’d say, some pretty popular bl manga series with gender-swap premises. Usually, though, it’s not a girl swapping into a male body — it’s a man swapping into a female body and then getting with another guy in the story. I haven’t read these kinds of stories myself, so I don’t know how they handle the premise, but yeah.
Yeah like this is the thing.
A lot of people suggested Fucked by My Best Friend and sure, it was one of the first titles I've thought of as well, but that doesn't fit the criteria the person is asking for. Thank you for the message!
I’m not a major BL fan, so I wanted to ask: are there any genderbend BL stories, and is that kind of a semi-popular genre? Like where a girl gets genderbent into a guy or something similar. I know that sort of thing is somewhat popular in yuri with male authors.
Hmmm, now this is a tough one. I've read so many BL with a crossdresser lead (manga and manhwa included) but never one where one of the characters turned into a man. One is bound to make mistakes when making generalizations but, I don't think it's common in commercial BL at all, may be possible within doujin circles. I can only speculate about the reasons why, but the "if I turned into a girl, I'd be a lesbian/have sex with a common" fantasy is interestingly common (I just saw a reel of a guy saying exactly this yesterday what a coincidence dfdkuhf). I've been feeling kinda tired and spent this year so I let go of keeping track of the Japanese BL manga trends so I'll ask my frens who would be more in the know & update if anything comes up!
Tl;dr: I don't think genderbend is a thing in BL. It is a thing in shojo, though.
I posted about it on Twitter as well (and for whatever reason, it became a thing) and the closes title I can think of is Kobayashi-senpai wa Onnanoko de Shitai from uri, a BL artist whose works have made it to English before but not this one.
But strictly speaking, the specific kind of transition/genderbend you asked about is not common at all in BL!
I’m not a major BL fan, so I wanted to ask: are there any genderbend BL stories, and is that kind of a semi-popular genre? Like where a girl gets genderbent into a guy or something similar. I know that sort of thing is somewhat popular in yuri with male authors.
Hmmm, now this is a tough one. I've read so many BL with a crossdresser lead (manga and manhwa included) but never one where one of the characters turned into a man. One is bound to make mistakes when making generalizations but, I don't think it's common in commercial BL at all, may be possible within doujin circles. I can only speculate about the reasons why, but the "if I turned into a girl, I'd be a lesbian/have sex with a common" fantasy is interestingly common (I just saw a reel of a guy saying exactly this yesterday what a coincidence dfdkuhf). I've been feeling kinda tired and spent this year so I let go of keeping track of the Japanese BL manga trends so I'll ask my frens who would be more in the know & update if anything comes up!
Tl;dr: I don't think genderbend is a thing in BL. It is a thing in shojo, though.
Hi! I'm back with yet another Manta Reviewers Club post. As always, these posts are sponsored, but opinions are of my own.
This month, until May 22nd, Manta is running a promotion "A Glimpse Inside", where they're highlighting 8 mature-rated short webtoons. The first chapters are free to check out, and there's a big gem-back event where the more you unlock the more you get back. More details and which series I decided to check out among them are below!
Here's the offer:
Purchase 5 episodes → Get 70 Gems back
Purchase 10 episodes (Total) → Get 150 Gems back
Purchase 18 episodes (Total) → Get 350 Gems back
You can track your progress on the event page, but note that if you've already unlocked chapters from these series, those will ntot count towards your progress.
The series I wanted to check out is called The Celestial Robe Affair! Here's the official summary provided on Manta's website:
Mokdan the woodcutter saves a deer, who promises to repay her and leads her to a hidden mountain pond, where she sees beautiful celestial lords bathing. When she accidentally ruins Gonghwa's celestial robe, he insists that she take him in, but why does this beautiful celestial keep coming onto her?
The series draws inspiration from the well-known folk tale, the heavenly maiden and the woodcutter, and Manta actually has a BL series that draws from the same tale in its library, The Woodsman and the Stag! In The Celestial Robe Affair, things are spicy right from the first chapter. This has become a very common occurance in R-rated webtoons, be it BL, GL, or heterosexual romance stories, and can't say I really appreciate it as it reads more like a "sales pitch" to hook the reader in rather than a deliberate, artistic choice.
That being said, the reason I chose The Celestial Robe Affair to read among the rest is the female lead has a darker skin and really loved the way her body was drawn!
It's also nice to see many platforms lean into licensing shorter stories, which is something I'm always in favor of. If you're looking to meet new creators or want to dip your toes into new mature-rated series but don't want to invest too much or wait until they're completed, A Glimpse Inside is the best promotion to take advantage of! You can get your gems back and read up to 15 free chapters while enjoying short, completed series. From modern romance to both Eastern and Western historical ones, there's something for every taste. See you next month!
Have a BL license on your English print wishlist but don’t know which publisher to send the request to? I’ve been compiling data since I started collecting and have broken it down by publisher to help guide your license requests…
Disclaimers: This is meant to be used as a general guide!
All data may not be 100% accurate and some releases may be missing (especially pre-2020)
I’ve mainly included releases that run in BL magazines although there are some exceptions
Data is pulled from my personal tracker with information manually input from MangaUpdates.com, Amazon and publisher websites
This only includes print license data. Some of these titles are available digitally on other platforms. An additional guide could be compiled for digital licenses but I’ve kept better track of print titles
Link to the data! Please feel free to filter by magazine, publisher or look for any trends you may find interesting:
SuBLime
SuBLime is a partnership between Viz and Animate USA, the parent company of Libre Shuppan, so it’s no surprise they have a large amount of Libre titles. SuBLime used to have a monopoly on Shinshokan titles but starting in 2024 Seven Seas and Kuma have been able to pick up a few licenses. Outside of these two they have a wide spread of additional publishers they’ve worked with.
The magazines they pull from the most are Dear+ and Cheri+. SuBLime has one of the strongest trends of licensing works by the same mangaka. Zariya Ranmaru, Hinohara Meguru, Ogeretsu Tanaka, Natsume Isaku, Minaduki Yuu, Scarlet Beriko and Niyama to name a few regulars in their lineup.
You can request licenses via their form here
Seven Seas
With over 25 new series (Vol.1) releases in 2025, Seven Seas has quickly outpaced most publishers as the go-to for BL licenses. They have the widest, and most even, spread of publishers in their catalogue, with Libre leading at about a 20% rate.
Their highly publicized monthly License Request form as well as the wide spread of publishers and magazines they work with suggests they’re the publisher most open to basing their license acquisitions off of fan feedback vs publisher relationships.
You can suggest titles via the form Tweeted monthly or through the link to the survey on their website (browser: right side, mobile: bottom)
Tokyopop
Tokyopop is releasing BL at a similar rate as Seven Seas although with less publisher variety. In recent years, they license based on their relationships with certain Japanese publishers. 75% of their 2025 releases were Shu-cream titles, so if you’re interested in a fromRED manga it’s highly likely it will eventually get a Tokyopop release.
While they’ve been favoring certain publishers recently their relationships with other publishers may still be in place; they have a decent variety if you go back a few years. Shueisha and Shinshokan seem reluctant to license to Tokyopop but any other publisher may be worth a shot! They’re also the only publisher to successfully license from Tokyo Mangasha…Tokyopop if you’re able to license Blue Sky Complex I’ll love you forever…
They’re continually working on building their relationships with Japanese publishers so I’ll try to update as new licensing trends emerge…
There is currently no license request form but you can make suggestions through their Discord or tagging on social media.
Yen Press
Yen Press’s strongest relationship is with Kadokawa who owns about 70% of their titles. Enterbrain and Media Factory are both brands under Kadokawa so this percentage includes any titles under those publishers as well. They’re the only publisher with a Kakao JP title, Scarlet Beriko’s “Redeem”.
B’s LOVEY and B’s-Lovey Recottia lead with the most titles with Gene Pixiv following closely. The series they license tend to focus on High School BL and have lighter themes. SasaMiya, I Cannot Reach You, NaraKoi to name a few. They were also the first publisher to bring us Suehiro Machi!
They don’t have a license request form but you can contact them through their website
Kuma
Kuma is another publisher with a wide range of works and licenses. While Takeshobo accounts for about 50% of their titles they have a strong range of additional publishers they’ve successfully worked with. I’ve heard Takeshobo can be tricky to license from (SuBLime, Kuma and Seven Seas have been successful) so it’s good to see a publisher have a strong relationship with them.
Kuma tends to license some of the most interesting and niche titles, if you’re interested in a darker work I suggest sending your request their way. They’ve been the only publisher to pick up Harada titles and also seem to have a love for Wacoco Waco. Additionally they’re one of only two publishers to license on BLUE titles, the other being Seven Seas.
Titles can be requested via their Google form here
Kodansha
Kodansha is pretty straightforward, licensing mainly Kodansha and Ichijinsha (a Kodansha subsidiary) titles. Magazine-wise Gateau and Honey Milk lead the pack so if you have a series you enjoy from either of these mags it’s worth requesting as a license is likely!
They have stated at cons there are opportunities to license titles from outside Kodansha as well, which we see with a Taiyo Tosho title in 2025 and a Libre title in 2026. These seem to be more like one-offs so requesting a title under a different publisher is still probably an unlikely pick-up.
You can request titles through their Support Center with the topic “Publishing Suggestions” here
Square Enix
Square Enix is the most straightforward. They license from Square Enix! Even though they license fewer titles a year compared to other publishers we’ve been getting steady BL licenses from them. So don’t sleep on their announcements!
They don’t have a license request form but if you’d like to see something licensed just tag them on twitter, they’ll see it!
Thank you for sticking with me this long, hopefully someone will find this information useful. If so, I can try to post an updated report every year or so. Now go send your BL requests!
This week’s Manta Reviewers Club post is a bit special, as you may have noticed from the title. Manta has introduced manga to its library for the first time. There were Korean comics in the page comic format in their library before, such as The Competition (one of my all-time favorite titles ever, by the way); however, manga is a first. To celebrate, Manta is running a big sale and free gem event…
Last month, there were some changes made on my assigned title, and I didn't read the instructions carefully (hence missed the deadline) so there was no Manta Club review but we're back on track with The Beast Within! As always, Manta Reviewers Club reviews are sponsored, but you'll be reading my honest opinions. Here's the official summary from Manta:
Ray and her older brother Hayes are driven out of their home as their household falls apart. Hoping to find shelter, they arrive at an ominous castle covered in bloody red roses located in the middle of nowhere. This is where Ray meets the castle’s mysterious host Clodan—a dark, beasty man possessing dangerous charm and even more deadly secrets. Within the enclosed walls of a remote castle, there is no reason or logic left as Clodan desires innocent Ray.
I wasn't able to get into the story at all, unfortunately. Both Clodan and Ray are eye candies. The "eerie manor" that gives you the "can't put my finger on it but there's something extremely wrong about this place" feel -normally- makes a suspenseful and captivating read.
However, none of the details introduced in the first handful of chapters are well-thought-out. Ray has clearly experienced physical abuse, flinches and protects herself even at the sight of a raised hand of his brother in the cart, as a response to the trauma, but we don't see a similar reaction when Della grabs her by the wrist forcefully.
The summary introduces the Lisbon Family as a fallen house that once had wealth. And while I can understand Ray not receiving formal education, she must have at least received (or should be in the know of) basic etiquette fitting of a lady of a house. Moreso if she were considered an asset, for her to marry into a rich household. And where did her wanting to kiss Cloden even come from in Chapter 3??? If Ray was captivated by Cloden's sex appeal, then we should've at least seen a sign of it. If there's something more or a supernatural side to that charm, again, I'd like Ray to at least question where that came from. I could go on, but these examples are enough to illustrate my point.
To me, The Beast Within throws a lot of things hoping at least one or two will stick with the reader, but cannot establish the eerie or uncanny manor vibe, neither visually nor through storytelling, and I was not interested in finding out where the two will go from chapter 3 onward.
If you'd like to give the series a read and form your own opinion around it, which I think you really should do, Manta offers 8 episodes to read for free with a Gem Back Event where you can receive up to 50 Gems back when purchasing up to 30 episodes cumulatively, and enjoy up to 18 episodes for free in total including the 8 free episodes. It is the best offer to see whether it will work for you or not!
CREDITS:
Illustration: Pangeon
Writer: zorengyi
Original Story: dikitalis
Where to read: All-ages - Mature
Hey there! Can you help me find this bl anime I watched several years ago but can't remember the name? 😭 The plot is basically that the boys acted together in an adventure shoot when they were younger, and the bottom was dressed up as a girl. the top thinks he's a girl and falls in love and years later, as adults, he plans a reshoot of the ad so that he can meet this girl. And then at said reshoot the bottom reveals himself to be actually a guy and top has a sexuality crisis. They eventually get together.
Top is an actor. Bottom is from a family of famous actors/famous people but he himself is a manga artist iirc. Bottom is very petite and blond. I don't remember either of their names :')
This was only a single season anime. Around 12-ish episodes I think.
Thanks in advance! I've been thinking again about this anime lately but I can't remember its name or the names of any of the characters and it was bothering me 🤧
Hi! This sounds like LOVE STAGE!! to me, here’s the official synopsis:
“Though his family is packed with famous celebrities, Izumi Sena is just your average guy. Currently a college student, he's a huge otaku with aspirations of becoming a manga creator. But one day he gets roped into filming a TV commercial and meets hot young actor Ryoma Ichijo. Not only does Ryoma remember Sena from a commercial they were in together as children, but he’s also been carrying a torch all these years for the girl he thinks starred opposite him! What will he do when he finds out she is really a he?”
Give birth in writing — musings on Journal with Witch Ep 7
Just finished "Leave in Writing", the latest episode of Journal with Witch and I was curious where Minori's journals would lead Asa and Makio to, but it led us to Minori herself in an interesting way. Makio and Kasamichi discuss the form; whether it's a journal (something that's meant to be written for the self and kept hidden) or a letter (something that's addressed to someone and to be delivered and read). But to me, what mattered more was that Minori turned to writing.
Writing is, in a way, an extremely easy thing to do. All you need is a pen and some paper to write on, but really, you can even write on a tissue or find a branch to scribble on the soil. You can easily borrow a pen & paper, unlike a device such as a phone. Makio is right to point out that it's ultimately a lonely practice; you can be in the presence of other people, turn it into a collective game, or write responses, even. But no one can accompany you when you're stringing words, forming sentences. Then paragraphs. Then, a body of text, imbuing each building block with feelings, thoughts and care. The work has to be done by you, and you alone.
We could argue about the tools used, but writing is essentially permanent in the sense that you have to pull a thread from the entangled, incoherent mess inside to be able to crystallize and put it on paper. Once you turn your gaze to your subject and begin facing it, acknowledging it, you can't avert your eyes anymore. Minori turns to writing at such a brilliant moment in her life. Not only because it's the one way the closed-off, eccentric Makio chose to express herself, but also because Minori chose to write at a time when she's soon to give birth to Asa. It would escape no one what the word 'labor' doubles as. During a time when she's ready to bring a human to a world that Minori feels wronged by, I find it so bittersweet and meaningful that she turns to writing.
What propels Minori to take up the pen and set a future date for Asa to read them, if we assume that she really intended for Asa to read them? Is it to give structure to her wavering self? Is it an attempt to understand Makio, in a twisted way? Is it to leave a mark that only she can, after spending all those years trying to fit in and be like everybody else, losing who she is as a person along the way? It wouldn't come as a shock that AFAB people end up being defined by their positions—you're either the daughter of a man, the girlfriend, the wife, the mom, the aunt. But it's all the more prominent in Japan, as Journal with Witch highlights through Emiri's mother Michiko, that people even stop referring to you by your name. It's a subtle moment that lasts a second, but Michiko's surprise highlights a custom that still persists to this day. Although Michiko and Minori were in the same boat, I highly doubt they'd confide in each other, each trying to keep up the perfect facade as Asa's and Emiri's mothers.
The person who wields the pen has a readership in mind. Always. If it's not someone else, it's themselves. Sometimes, both. And it only makes sense that both Makio and Minori, who are alike in their tempers, would turn to a medium that allows you so much structure and control to one's interior, but betrays you in giving your most vulnerable part of self away in the least expected ways.
I apologize if this is a complicated question or if it kind of scatters everywhere and doesn’t have a coherent point.
I’m new to BL, but one thing I’ve noticed from people both within and outside the community is that a lot of people say BL as a demographic is generally catered toward romantic stories.
Obviously there are exceptions, but non-BL queer stories seem to cater more toward identity-based narratives, if that makes sense. I’ve also seen people criticize the fact that some BL uses internalized homophobia more as a plot device rather than really treating it as a narrative that gets deeply explored.
And also I’ve seen people critique BL for when it delves into a guy having a girlfriend and then suddenly liking a guy, and it doesn’t really explore the complicated feelings of discovering that for the first time.
That then leads to the whole “I’m not gay, I only like you” trope. But even that trope itself, I feel like, isn’t really delved into from a nuanced perspective. I feel like it could make sense and be written in depth, but a lot of the time it isn’t.
And this leads to people kind of using this as a way to discard the whole demographic as not really being queer, even though it involves two men, because it doesn’t seem to want to get involved with the actual queerness of the characters — like the in-depth, complicated feelings someone might experience.
I’m not trying to dismiss BL or attack it. I just want a nuanced perspective on this from someone who doesn’t completely dislike or discard BL as a demographic.
I apologize again if this is complicated or scattered.
Hello! Thank you for reaching out to me, and your message wasn't incoherent at all. As is always the case with online social media discussions, a lot gets lost between people trying to best one another and snappy one-liner gotchas. I also think there are certain aspects that people don't take into consideration when talking about BL/LGBTQ+ comics, their tropes, and structure. You asked for a nuanced perspective, so you're getting a lengthy post haha. I'll try to break them down and hopefully, there'll be a useful takeaway here somewhere.
You're right in noting the distinction, and that's also my very broad rule of thumb. I often say that BL focuses more on romance, while LGBTQ+ comics tend to focus more on identity. However, it's important to notice that this is a spectrum. On one hand of the spectrum, we have wish-fulfillment, on the other, interpersonal drama and identity politics. Works in both genres fall somewhere on this line. As the IRL LGBTQ+ movement pushes forward and the identity politics/allyship discussions gradually become a topic of everyday conversation, you will see its effects on the genre without a doubt. Just like how climate change and discussions around scarcity are topics that are increasingly delved into, like in Fool Night, or discussions around neurodivergency give way to works like Spacewalking With You, BL changes and evolves too.
We also have to take into consideration that sexuality, gender, and how they are performed IRL are contextual and cultural. What we see in works from East Asia may not fit into what we want to see from a Western perspective. It's also possible that certain cultural codes that signal queerness elude us simply because we're not accustomed to them.
For example, the "only gay for you" trope you mentioned is still being tossed around, but it's been quite a long time since I've read a BL work that explicitly incorporates it. Now, one of the leads identifies as heterosexual until he meets the other lead, and after certain tribulations, they reach their hard-earned happy ending, but it isn't portrayed in a "I will never be with another man if we break up" kind of way, as certain older works have explicitly put those words onto the page to portray a very narrow, singular devotion. The characters cease to exist the moment a story ends, and unless the creator openly explores what happens after the breakup, we can't really speculate whether that ex-hetero character is now open to dating men or not.
To be honest, I'm reluctant to approach fiction simply through the lens of "How much of it exists in real life," but even if you wanted IRL correlation, there are people out there who, despite identifying as heterosexual, seek out gay sex for reasons of their own. Some BL explicitly mention discovering bisexuality and there are more and more openly queer characters in the genre. As I've talked about in a previous post of mine, people read very little BL and the ones that they read are the handful of extremely popular series, then they go around and base their whole opinion on a genre on these titles. They are loud, and the algorithm amplifies divisive takes. Then it looks as if everyone thinks that way.
Imagine believing every shonen series is like Naruto... It is no doubt an influential work, and you can trace the shonen staples in many works that come before or after it, but can you really say Gintama and Naruto are the same? Chainsaw Man? Promised Neverland? Or Marriagetoxin?
It is, again, important to keep in mind that BL in Japan is a genre that stemmed from shojo manga. You can, again, trace artistic sensibilities that are adopted — paneling, screentones, structure, tropes, you name it. BL's approach to love is also reminiscent of the shojo series that focus on romance. There is, and always will be, a wish-fulfillment side to BL, just like how there will be one to romantic shojo manga.
This fulfillment can be about a happy ending after hardship or about a world where two men can experience simple misunderstandings or run-of-the-mill interpersonal problems when getting together, instead of the crushing weight of heteronormativity and phobia. Or, it could be about extremely good-looking, kind, sweet, smart (or extremely evil, toxic, vile but hot) men that are either too good to be true, or you'd change countries if you were to come across one. Throw robots, beasts, and supernatural beings in the pot, and you have yourself a feast. The levels of this fulfillment vary as well. Some works are more grounded, while others are unrealistically sweet or unbearably kinky. Either way, it's so engaging, fun, and compelling to read all kinds of characters to find each other and fall in love and rearrange each other's guts in all kinds of ways!
I personally consider BL to be queer, not only because it focuses on two men, but also because we don't need fiction to spell things out for us. Simply engaging with fictional works creates the possibility of change, and it's no coincidence that countless people rethink/discover their own sexuality and/or gender through BL. I also suggest you check out Cathy's answer to an anon on subtext/canon BL. I'm not touching upon its transformative power for cishet women and their relationship with patriarchy since your message was about queerness.
Now that these are out of the way, I'll mention other key points that I don't often see taken into consideration.
Industry
Commercial BL, and comics in general, are an art form that is strongly tied to the publishing industry. What that means is that what gets published (both in and outside of Japan) is heavily shaped by the companies and, as an extension, fans. Each company, platform, and manga magazine has its own identity and style, and has a say in which series gets a bigger cut from the marketing budget. Fans are getting more and more reactionary, and with the purity culture that's infested the English-speaking fandom (can only speak for this fandom, as idk what the situation is like in others), the works that publishers dare to license are gradually getting sanitized. The overall far-right tendency around the world we've been experiencing over the past couple of years has been detrimental. Barely anyone takes any risks anymore, and that includes not taking risks in terms of art style or diverse works as well.
I highly suggest you check out Cream's blog post on Tsuki to Pieta. It's not like diverse works don't exist, or there aren't any artists who are interested in delving deeper. Sometimes, publishers don't take the risk or can't figure out how to frame a work in a neatly packaged, appealing way, and eventually, they reject said work. Other times, they don't promote certain works as much and they fly under the radar. I know I'm pretty biased about Dal Hyeonji's Love for Sale, to give you an example, but even disregarding the love I have for it, it's an excellent character study! Or you tell me why people aren't going crazy over Takahashi Hidebu's Stigmata! I'm not approving publishers' behavior, but that's how commercial publishing works and a lot depends on where they will allocate their resources and time. What is being read, what is popular, and what gets published is like a cycle that feeds each other. I also want to finish this by mentioning Breeze's blog as a BL artist. There are lots of interesting bits and experiences that we readers may not know much about on the creation side, but they break it down in a fun-to-read manner!
Form and style
This is obviously tied to the industry side as well, but when we are talking about commercial BL, almost all series (unless you're a big name or you're serializing your work in a digital magazine and accept that your work may not get printed physically) are single-volume stories. Saying that it doesn't allow much space for exploration or delving deeper would be a misleading remark, but it does play a role.
Just like in literature, different forms require different stylistic approaches. You can't approach writing a short story in the same way as you would a novel. So obviously, you'd have to find a way to tell the story you want, according to the space you're given. A one-shot has to be structurally and tonally different from a single-volume or a several-volume work. It's true that not many are great at short-form storytelling and instead opt for incorporating the standard beats within a volume, at times disregarding how cramped it reads or how superficial the themes can become.
It is also true that not everything has to be about identity and one's struggle with normativity. This doesn't make a work objectively "less valuable" or "less queer". It is, I guess, a balancing act. You can't drown in your pain and struggle day in and day out, but you can't completely turn away from it either. And I wholeheartedly think BL, GL, and LGBTQ+ comics together cover everything I might want and more from a genre! These three don't work against each other, but complement one another. And together, they paint a fuller picture.
Artist preference
Since we can't form an argument over speculation, we don't really take this into consideration but... sometimes you just want to create something simple and sweet, no matter how overdone it is, and regardless of readers' expectations! One fic I've written that's super dear to me came out of me wanting to write something extremely cringy and melodramatic, like the daytime soap operas you see on TV. Of course, since I'm the creator, the fic ends up being "my version" of a cringy soap opera, but from a reader's point of view, it might be just another random, sappy, "mid" fic.
The same goes for any creator. Not every work has to leave a mark or aim to be exceptional or deep. Not every artist's body of work is diverse, either. Sally Rooney has an interesting take on this (she was so patient with this awful interviewer, stronger than I could ever be tbh). From the BL perspective, look at Furuya Nagisa's works; they keep returning to the very same themes and characteristics, to the point that it's sometimes hard to tell one work from the other. Are they doing it because they know it will sell? Or because, as an artist, they find themselves wanting to keep circling the same spot? Who knows! But it is an important parameter in the equation.
Reader/fan assumptions
I will talk about two assumptions here that I notice are being made both by the fans and the antis.
First is the assumption that the type of work one wants to read has to dominate the market and just magically fall into one's lap. No. You have to dig and swim neck deep into the sea, acquire your own taste, find your own favorites, and make friends who can introduce you to what you might be missing out on. You have to jump headfirst into series you have no idea about and get a taste for yourself. That is the only way to survive and get past the surface-level popular stuff that may or may not be okay at best. The worst that can happen is you'll stumble into something that's not for you, and you'll swim away. Easy as that.
I came across a dead dove fic the other way and started reading it out of curiosity. I don't seek out dead dove. I'm a pretty mild reader compared to some, but I consider myself to be immune to pretty much everything. The fic turned out to be much... more than I could ever imagine it to be, for lack of a better word. And I was just like, 3 paragraphs into it, mind you. I closed the tab and went on with my life. The mental image persisted for a while, but you know what? I survived. And discovered a boundary that I didn't know was there. Only through encounters like this one can one discover what's good or right for them, and this is why fiction is irreplaceable for me. It allows me to approach the world from a safe distance and helps me discover ideas, circumstances, or sides of me that I didn't know about before. You just have to keep in mind that your boundary or taste is not, cannot be the norm, and reading is not activism.
The second assumption is that BL is a silly genre. It is silly and whimsical at times, sure. That's the spirit of BL. But anything that focuses on romance is immediately put into the "not worth pondering on" box. Emotions are silly! Interpersonal relationships are silly! It's simply about, for example, two university students in the same club, and they fall in love. What kind of "deep thought" can you extract from that?
That's where people are wrong again. I have so many mutuals who write extensively on BL, both specifically on works themselves, BL as a genre, and discourse similar to the questions you asked me. Let me tell you, there aren't enough people who do this!! Some of them I linked above, but you can visit the directory Cream kindly put together, and discover long and short-form writing that people are consistently putting out. I argue it's much better than reading simplified, snappy takes on Twitter!
I apologize that the answer got lengthy, but I can't give you a simple yes or no answer because it depends on so many parameters! And sometimes the same parameter can be regarded as good or bad depending on the context. But the tl;dr of it is industry, trends and real-life politics heavily affect the works created and licensed, and BL is a very diverse and fulfilling genre. However, it's up to the reader to put in the effort and discover not-so-hidden gems, while meeting other fans who read as diversly and engage with the genre critically AND whimsically!
we are all enriched by having nora in our lives!! the amount of care and effort she puts into her asks and posts should make her eligible for canonization.
i just wanted to add that my first reaction to this ask was a combination of these two points:
... people read very little BL and the ones that they read are the handful of extremely popular series, then they go around and base their whole opinion on a genre on these titles. They are loud, and the algorithm amplifies divisive takes. Then it looks as if everyone thinks that way.
and
The second assumption is that BL is a silly genre. It is silly and whimsical at times, sure. That's the spirit of BL. But anything that focuses on romance is immediately put into the "not worth pondering on" box. Emotions are silly! Interpersonal relationships are silly! It's simply about, for example, two university students in the same club, and they fall in love. What kind of "deep thought" can you extract from that?
the reality is that bl is like any other collection of work created by many diverse individuals with diverse experiences, subject to diverse editorial and publishing choices, sometimes separated by great swaths of time and even language. no one particular work can perfectly capture every issue, and queerness looks very different to everyone. "i'm not gay. i just like you!" may not be a nuanced depiction of queerness to one reader but could resonate with another. i feel this way with many works of fiction, including novels with main characters who have my background (asian-american, female, maybe even a lawyer). the characters often have what i consider shallow realizations about their identities or selfhood, but then i'll be talking to a friend and find out it resonated with them. i've accepted that i have idiosyncratic taste, and like nora says in the post, that requires me to dig deep and approach algorithmic recommendations with suspicion. we must!!! do the same with bl!!
i also think many readers tend to downplay that bl manga like all other manga is a visual medium first and foremost. maybe nora is too nice to say this, but bl mangaka are not exempt from the weakness that plagues their non-bl counterparts, or even their western comic artist colleagues: being a good artist does not make you a good or even coherent writer. it is not easy to write in-depth, complicated feelings. many times, romantic developments are plot devices, because this is a manga and we have to progress the story so there can be more excuses to draw things happening.
yet fans are willing to give, say, akutami gege the grace and (volume) space to write a story that is interpreted as having meaningful nuance even when his pacing and plot issues are at their nadir!! where is that grace for bl? it is like we are sitting around waiting for the perfect series that will tackle every feeling and every experience to land in our laps, instead of making like shounen manga fans and celebrating the works for what they are and even valorizing their failings. if i read too deeply into bl every week, it is because i think we have a right, and a need, and maybe even an obligation to do for bl what shounen manga twitter does for their series. we too can [gen z voice] glaze bl into legitimacy.
I apologize if this is a complicated question or if it kind of scatters everywhere and doesn’t have a coherent point.
I’m new to BL, but one thing I’ve noticed from people both within and outside the community is that a lot of people say BL as a demographic is generally catered toward romantic stories.
Obviously there are exceptions, but non-BL queer stories seem to cater more toward identity-based narratives, if that makes sense. I’ve also seen people criticize the fact that some BL uses internalized homophobia more as a plot device rather than really treating it as a narrative that gets deeply explored.
And also I’ve seen people critique BL for when it delves into a guy having a girlfriend and then suddenly liking a guy, and it doesn’t really explore the complicated feelings of discovering that for the first time.
That then leads to the whole “I’m not gay, I only like you” trope. But even that trope itself, I feel like, isn’t really delved into from a nuanced perspective. I feel like it could make sense and be written in depth, but a lot of the time it isn’t.
And this leads to people kind of using this as a way to discard the whole demographic as not really being queer, even though it involves two men, because it doesn’t seem to want to get involved with the actual queerness of the characters — like the in-depth, complicated feelings someone might experience.
I’m not trying to dismiss BL or attack it. I just want a nuanced perspective on this from someone who doesn’t completely dislike or discard BL as a demographic.
I apologize again if this is complicated or scattered.
Hello! Thank you for reaching out to me, and your message wasn't incoherent at all. As is always the case with online social media discussions, a lot gets lost between people trying to best one another and snappy one-liner gotchas. I also think there are certain aspects that people don't take into consideration when talking about BL/LGBTQ+ comics, their tropes, and structure. You asked for a nuanced perspective, so you're getting a lengthy post haha. I'll try to break them down and hopefully, there'll be a useful takeaway here somewhere.
You're right in noting the distinction, and that's also my very broad rule of thumb. I often say that BL focuses more on romance, while LGBTQ+ comics tend to focus more on identity. However, it's important to notice that this is a spectrum. On one hand of the spectrum, we have wish-fulfillment, on the other, interpersonal drama and identity politics. Works in both genres fall somewhere on this line. As the IRL LGBTQ+ movement pushes forward and the identity politics/allyship discussions gradually become a topic of everyday conversation, you will see its effects on the genre without a doubt. Just like how climate change and discussions around scarcity are topics that are increasingly delved into, like in Fool Night, or discussions around neurodivergency give way to works like Spacewalking With You, BL changes and evolves too.
We also have to take into consideration that sexuality, gender, and how they are performed IRL are contextual and cultural. What we see in works from East Asia may not fit into what we want to see from a Western perspective. It's also possible that certain cultural codes that signal queerness elude us simply because we're not accustomed to them.
For example, the "only gay for you" trope you mentioned is still being tossed around, but it's been quite a long time since I've read a BL work that explicitly incorporates it. Now, one of the leads identifies as heterosexual until he meets the other lead, and after certain tribulations, they reach their hard-earned happy ending, but it isn't portrayed in a "I will never be with another man if we break up" kind of way, as certain older works have explicitly put those words onto the page to portray a very narrow, singular devotion. The characters cease to exist the moment a story ends, and unless the creator openly explores what happens after the breakup, we can't really speculate whether that ex-hetero character is now open to dating men or not.
To be honest, I'm reluctant to approach fiction simply through the lens of "How much of it exists in real life," but even if you wanted IRL correlation, there are people out there who, despite identifying as heterosexual, seek out gay sex for reasons of their own. Some BL explicitly mention discovering bisexuality and there are more and more openly queer characters in the genre. As I've talked about in a previous post of mine, people read very little BL and the ones that they read are the handful of extremely popular series, then they go around and base their whole opinion on a genre on these titles. They are loud, and the algorithm amplifies divisive takes. Then it looks as if everyone thinks that way.
Imagine believing every shonen series is like Naruto... It is no doubt an influential work, and you can trace the shonen staples in many works that come before or after it, but can you really say Gintama and Naruto are the same? Chainsaw Man? Promised Neverland? Or Marriagetoxin?
It is, again, important to keep in mind that BL in Japan is a genre that stemmed from shojo manga. You can, again, trace artistic sensibilities that are adopted — paneling, screentones, structure, tropes, you name it. BL's approach to love is also reminiscent of the shojo series that focus on romance. There is, and always will be, a wish-fulfillment side to BL, just like how there will be one to romantic shojo manga.
This fulfillment can be about a happy ending after hardship or about a world where two men can experience simple misunderstandings or run-of-the-mill interpersonal problems when getting together, instead of the crushing weight of heteronormativity and phobia. Or, it could be about extremely good-looking, kind, sweet, smart (or extremely evil, toxic, vile but hot) men that are either too good to be true, or you'd change countries if you were to come across one. Throw robots, beasts, and supernatural beings in the pot, and you have yourself a feast. The levels of this fulfillment vary as well. Some works are more grounded, while others are unrealistically sweet or unbearably kinky. Either way, it's so engaging, fun, and compelling to read all kinds of characters to find each other and fall in love and rearrange each other's guts in all kinds of ways!
I personally consider BL to be queer, not only because it focuses on two men, but also because we don't need fiction to spell things out for us. Simply engaging with fictional works creates the possibility of change, and it's no coincidence that countless people rethink/discover their own sexuality and/or gender through BL. I also suggest you check out Cathy's answer to an anon on subtext/canon BL. I'm not touching upon its transformative power for cishet women and their relationship with patriarchy since your message was about queerness.
Now that these are out of the way, I'll mention other key points that I don't often see taken into consideration.
Industry
Commercial BL, and comics in general, are an art form that is strongly tied to the publishing industry. What that means is that what gets published (both in and outside of Japan) is heavily shaped by the companies and, as an extension, fans. Each company, platform, and manga magazine has its own identity and style, and has a say in which series gets a bigger cut from the marketing budget. Fans are getting more and more reactionary, and with the purity culture that's infested the English-speaking fandom (can only speak for this fandom, as idk what the situation is like in others), the works that publishers dare to license are gradually getting sanitized. The overall far-right tendency around the world we've been experiencing over the past couple of years has been detrimental. Barely anyone takes any risks anymore, and that includes not taking risks in terms of art style or diverse works as well.
I highly suggest you check out Cream's blog post on Tsuki to Pieta. It's not like diverse works don't exist, or there aren't any artists who are interested in delving deeper. Sometimes, publishers don't take the risk or can't figure out how to frame a work in a neatly packaged, appealing way, and eventually, they reject said work. Other times, they don't promote certain works as much and they fly under the radar. I know I'm pretty biased about Dal Hyeonji's Love for Sale, to give you an example, but even disregarding the love I have for it, it's an excellent character study! Or you tell me why people aren't going crazy over Takahashi Hidebu's Stigmata! I'm not approving publishers' behavior, but that's how commercial publishing works and a lot depends on where they will allocate their resources and time. What is being read, what is popular, and what gets published is like a cycle that feeds each other. I also want to finish this by mentioning Breeze's blog as a BL artist. There are lots of interesting bits and experiences that we readers may not know much about on the creation side, but they break it down in a fun-to-read manner!
Form and style
This is obviously tied to the industry side as well, but when we are talking about commercial BL, almost all series (unless you're a big name or you're serializing your work in a digital magazine and accept that your work may not get printed physically) are single-volume stories. Saying that it doesn't allow much space for exploration or delving deeper would be a misleading remark, but it does play a role.
Just like in literature, different forms require different stylistic approaches. You can't approach writing a short story in the same way as you would a novel. So obviously, you'd have to find a way to tell the story you want, according to the space you're given. A one-shot has to be structurally and tonally different from a single-volume or a several-volume work. It's true that not many are great at short-form storytelling and instead opt for incorporating the standard beats within a volume, at times disregarding how cramped it reads or how superficial the themes can become.
It is also true that not everything has to be about identity and one's struggle with normativity. This doesn't make a work objectively "less valuable" or "less queer". It is, I guess, a balancing act. You can't drown in your pain and struggle day in and day out, but you can't completely turn away from it either. And I wholeheartedly think BL, GL, and LGBTQ+ comics together cover everything I might want and more from a genre! These three don't work against each other, but complement one another. And together, they paint a fuller picture.
Artist preference
Since we can't form an argument over speculation, we don't really take this into consideration but... sometimes you just want to create something simple and sweet, no matter how overdone it is, and regardless of readers' expectations! One fic I've written that's super dear to me came out of me wanting to write something extremely cringy and melodramatic, like the daytime soap operas you see on TV. Of course, since I'm the creator, the fic ends up being "my version" of a cringy soap opera, but from a reader's point of view, it might be just another random, sappy, "mid" fic.
The same goes for any creator. Not every work has to leave a mark or aim to be exceptional or deep. Not every artist's body of work is diverse, either. Sally Rooney has an interesting take on this (she was so patient with this awful interviewer, stronger than I could ever be tbh). From the BL perspective, look at Furuya Nagisa's works; they keep returning to the very same themes and characteristics, to the point that it's sometimes hard to tell one work from the other. Are they doing it because they know it will sell? Or because, as an artist, they find themselves wanting to keep circling the same spot? Who knows! But it is an important parameter in the equation.
Reader/fan assumptions
I will talk about two assumptions here that I notice are being made both by the fans and the antis.
First is the assumption that the type of work one wants to read has to dominate the market and just magically fall into one's lap. No. You have to dig and swim neck deep into the sea, acquire your own taste, find your own favorites, and make friends who can introduce you to what you might be missing out on. You have to jump headfirst into series you have no idea about and get a taste for yourself. That is the only way to survive and get past the surface-level popular stuff that may or may not be okay at best. The worst that can happen is you'll stumble into something that's not for you, and you'll swim away. Easy as that.
I came across a dead dove fic the other way and started reading it out of curiosity. I don't seek out dead dove. I'm a pretty mild reader compared to some, but I consider myself to be immune to pretty much everything. The fic turned out to be much... more than I could ever imagine it to be, for lack of a better word. And I was just like, 3 paragraphs into it, mind you. I closed the tab and went on with my life. The mental image persisted for a while, but you know what? I survived. And discovered a boundary that I didn't know was there. Only through encounters like this one can one discover what's good or right for them, and this is why fiction is irreplaceable for me. It allows me to approach the world from a safe distance and helps me discover ideas, circumstances, or sides of me that I didn't know about before. You just have to keep in mind that your boundary or taste is not, cannot be the norm, and reading is not activism.
The second assumption is that BL is a silly genre. It is silly and whimsical at times, sure. That's the spirit of BL. But anything that focuses on romance is immediately put into the "not worth pondering on" box. Emotions are silly! Interpersonal relationships are silly! It's simply about, for example, two university students in the same club, and they fall in love. What kind of "deep thought" can you extract from that?
That's where people are wrong again. I have so many mutuals who write extensively on BL, both specifically on works themselves, BL as a genre, and discourse similar to the questions you asked me. Let me tell you, there aren't enough people who do this!! Some of them I linked above, but you can visit the directory Cream kindly put together, and discover long and short-form writing that people are consistently putting out. I argue it's much better than reading simplified, snappy takes on Twitter!
I apologize that the answer got lengthy, but I can't give you a simple yes or no answer because it depends on so many parameters! And sometimes the same parameter can be regarded as good or bad depending on the context. But the tl;dr of it is industry, trends and real-life politics heavily affect the works created and licensed, and BL is a very diverse and fulfilling genre. However, it's up to the reader to put in the effort and discover not-so-hidden gems, while meeting other fans who read as diversly and engage with the genre critically AND whimsically!
This year was truly the year of me really getting into specific BL magazines/labels... Because I noticed I've really enjoyed a few specific ones. Some of these include Taiyoh Tosho's ihr HertZ and iHertZ/iHZ, Takeshobo's qpa, Ichijinsha's gateau, etc...
But Shodensha's on BLUE (which is also produced by Shu Cream) really took the cake for me this year.
on BLUE releases every other month, and has been releasing for 15 years! The first volume was released on December 10, 2010. Some of the first comics in this initial issue included chapters from His Romance of 500 Years by Yamanaka Hiko, Wait for Me at Udagawacho by Hideyoshiko, Shinjuku Lucky Hole by Kumota Haruko, and Kuslar by est em.¹
I tried to calculate the numbers once and there are around 90 on BLUE titles licensed in English Based on number of works individually listed by digital manga sites + licensed print works, only 6 are print licenses!
From Seven Seas:
Seaside Stranger Series by Kii Kanna
At 25:00 in Akasaka by Natsuno Hiroko
Marriage to the Wolf: An Interspecies Union by Inui Hana (Vol 1 releasing July 2026)
From KUMA:
Even If There's No Rainbow to Tomorrow by Kihara Noriko
The Ruthless Commander and his Reincarnated Warhorse by Narita Nomoto and Sakashima
One Room Angel by Harada (Release TBA)
As for digital releases...From MangaPlaza:
What's Wrong with Being Innocent? by Fuyushima Shigure
The Vessel of Transparent Love by hitomi
From Renta!:
His Romance of 500 Years by Yamanaka Hiko
Under The Cherry Blossoms by Nishi Tsurumi
Nini's Forest by SHOOWA
Running Hot and Cold by Nobara Aiko
The majority of the translated on BLUE titles are on Manga Planet/Futekiya, which unfortunately is closing down in March. Most of the titles are available with the Manga Planet Pass, which I think you can only do for a month at this point??? But here's all the on BLUE titles they have.
Here are some recommendations:
While we have a wealth of on BLUE titles available in English, many of these titles are older! iirc the "newest" titles (barring ongoing series) available in English were released in 2022. And ongoing Futekiya titles haven't been updated as well, and the site will be closing. Momo and Manji in particular is a title I and many other readers would love to see finished! However there are some 2022 and earlier titles with no licenses.
Ikigami and Donor: Futari no Ikigami by Yamanaka Hiko (spinoff)
Bokura no Micro na Shuumatsu by Marukido Maki
Tourou no Ori by Psyche Delico
STAYGOLD by Hideyoshico (has an ongoing sequel!)
And for muuuch older on BLUE titles, ones by est em, such as Equus and Kuslar.
As for more recent releases... I'd love to see:
Akunin no Shitsukekata by Dayoo (spinoff to Lonely Playground)
Koi Jigoku de Matsu by Dayoo
Saynonara Dattara Yokatta by Inami En
Boku no Blue Cat by Inami En
Only Talk by Shimura Takako and Ichiho Michi
Tsumasaki to Ajisai by aioiuo
Internet Love! by Urino Kiko
Bitter Playmate by Nishimoto Rou
And of course I'd have to mention Harumoto Kon's 3 on BLUE titles!
Henai Dramatic Monster
Himeno-kun wa Tokimekitai
Koi wo Suru nara Hirefushite
I feel like BL labels always have a nice variety of stories and works, and on BLUE is no exception!! But there really is something about the variety that's drawn me to the magazine?? Sorry I'm not really giving much else to go off of. But if you read a lot of the titles, maybe you'll see what I mean...?????
TL;DR
To BL fans: Check out what we have in English while you can!!
To Shodensha and English manga publishers: O am once again asking for more on BLUE in English. And to save the titles we are losing with Manga Planet's closure... There really are some gems in their catalog!!!
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