The Ultimate BL License Request Guide
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!
