MangaBlog

Yen Press has been picking up some interesting manga, and it was sort of inevitable that there would be yaoi in the mix. Below is their press release about their first three titles, all by Lily Hoshino—and Kurt Hassler is promising more in 2009.

YEN PRESS TO PUBLISH BL (BOYS LOVE) TITLES BY LILY HOSHINO STARTING FALL 2008

NEW YORK, NY (November 12, 2007) – Yen Press, an imprint of Hachette Book Group USA that is dedicated to graphic novels, will publish its first BL (Boys Love) romances that feature adult males starting in Fall 2008. Obtained from the Japanese publisher Houbunsha and created by the talented Lily Hoshino, additional BL titles will be published throughout 2009. “We are pleased to support this market that has such a dedicated fan base.” said Kurt Hassler, Co-Publishing Director for Yen Press.

Upcoming BL titles from Yen Press include:

Title: Love Quest (Rabu Kue)
Author: Lily Hoshino
Release Date: October 2008
$12.99 / 176 pages / 5”x 7.5”
Licensor: Houbunsha
Summary: Kazunori Akabane¹s nursing a wounded ego after being rejected by the girl of his
dreams. And all because she¹s got the hots for some guy named Moriya! But when the two rivals suddenly meet in the school hallway, the universe spasms and the floor falls away, swallowing the rivals up! They end up in an alternate reality that looks like a whole lot like an RPG videogame, where a scantily-clad heroine with superpowers informs them that the key to their staying alive in this world and making involve the two becoming much more…intimately familiar.

Title: Mr. Flower Bride (Hanayome-kun)
Author: Lily Hoshino
Release Date: March 2009
$12.99 / 176 pages / 5” x 7.5”
Licensor: Houbunsha
Summary: Shinji Souda¹s not exactly happy about his family’s age-old marriage customs, namely
the fact that he has to marry a boy! Will a sudden confession from his bride-to-be, a beautiful boy in his class named Aoi, make Shinji change his mind? This sweet love story follows the couple through their marriage ceremony, wedding night, life as newlyweds, and even childbirth! The title story in this compilation is the prequel to Mr. Flower Groom, also being published by Yen Press. Childhood friends Ritsu and Kouichirou are married in a traditional Japanese wedding ceremony, as men of the Souda household have been for generations. But where the groom, Ritsu, thinks the custom is a mere formality and urges his betrothed to find himself a girl, Kouichirou (the bride) has other ideas. When Ritsu learns of Kouichirou¹s sincere intentions, will the marriage end before it even begins?

Yen Press to Publish First BL Titles (Cont.)

Title: Mr. Flower Groom (Hanamuko-san)
Author: Lily Hoshino
Release Date: July 2009
$12.99 / 192 pages / 5” x 7.5”
Licensor: Houbunsha
Summary: After a rocky start to their marriage, Ritsu and Kouichirou have tentatively reconciled. . .
into an uneasy friendship. Unable to come to grips with his conflicted feelings about the marriage and Kouichirou¹s undisguised affection, Ritsu is shocked by his own jealous reaction to his “wife” bringing a girl home. But when Ritsu¹s attentions towards a past love hurt Kouichirou badly, will the bride and groom be able to bring their marriage safely back from the edge of the precipice or was their marriage always doomed to failure?

Born on December 17, Lily Hoshino (pen name) is a mangaka who primarily draws and writes boys’ love manga. She also occasionally dabbles in seinen (or adult male) comics and self-publishes original doujinshi comics. She¹s fond of slightly unripened bananas, the taste of yuzu, and mirin seasoning.

Yen Press is an imprint of Hachette Book Group USA dedicated to publishing graphic novels for adults and young readers. Yen Press’ focus is primarily on licensed manga, but will also publish across the wide spectrum of the graphic novel market, including, but not limited to: original manga publications, original American comics/graphic novels, webcomics, licensed adaptations, and children’s graphic novels.

Hachette Book Group USA (HBG) is the wholly-owned subsidiary of Hachette Livre, and is comprised of the following publishing groups: Warner Books; Little, Brown and Company; FaithWords; Center Street; Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; and HBG Digital Media.

Katherine Dacey-Tsuei kicks off the week with her Weekly Recon, a list of upcoming comics and a handful of brief reviews.

At Comicsnob, Matt Blind takes his weekly look at online manga sales, including commentary on some volume 1’s that popped up this week, and lists the top 100 volumes and top 25 series.

Del Rey has a preview of Aventura up on MySpace. (Via ANN.)

New at ComiPress: Another chapter from Manga Zombie, this one about Murotani Tsunezo, and an update on which serials will live on after Comic Bon Bon ceases publication.

ICv2 adds some more guests to the roster of its upcoming Conference on Anime and Manga at NYAF.

Here’s an upcoming book of interest to the otaku set, Robot Ghosts and Wired Dreams: Japanese Science Fiction from the Origins of Anime.

And good news for those with offbeat tastes: The Same Hat guys are launching their own zine!

Here are a few new websites to keep an eye on, neither of them strictly about manga: Rococo Flow, which covers up-and-coming artists, and Comics Village, a UK-based site focused on independent and creator-owned comics.

Reviews: At Comics Worth Reading, Johanna enjoys vols. 5 and 6 of Inu Baka: Crazy for Dogs. Nick is not impressed with vol. 1 of School Rumble at Hobotaku. Greg Hackmann checks out vol. 1 of Psycho Busters at Anime on DVD. Katie McNeill reviews vol. 1 of Angel Sanctuary and vol. 2 of The Tarot Cafe at Blogcritics. At MangaCast, Eva reviews vol. 1 of Clamp School Paranormal Investigators and Mangamaniac Julie looks at Rose of the Rhine. At the Manga Maniac Cafe, Julie settles back with Japan Ai: A Tall Girl’s Adventures in Japan and The Art of Angel Sanctuary 2: Lost Angel. At Okazu, Erica uses her magic powers to find a yuri manga, but unfortunately, it’s vol. 1 of Najica Blits Tactics. Billy Aguiar reviews Portus at CBGXtra. At Soliloquy in Blue, Michelle reviews vols 11 and 12 of Bleach. At Manga Life, Lori Henderson reviews vol. 8 of Tsukuyomi Moon Phase and Chloe Ferguson checks out Nabi the Prototype. Snow reviews vol. 1 of Dark Moon Diary at Manganews. At Mecha Mecha Media, John T takes a peek at Appleseed: Hypernotes.

ICv2 does an interesting piece of analysis on Diamond’s October direct market sales: Instead of looking at the top-selling comics and graphic novels, they compare how the books in the middle and bottom of the lists sold compared to those in the same positions last year, and they found that you have to sell a lot more copies to make it to the bottom of the list in 2007.

The graphic novel at the number 50 spot on the October chart sold 2,467 copies, up 30% from last year’s 1,904. At the bottom of the list, in the number 100 slot, the growth was even more pronounced: 1,482 copies this year versus 1,092 last year, a 40% jump.

The pattern was even stronger for pamphlet comics, with the number 300 comic selling 103% more copies than its 2006 counterpart. The effect tails off as you go up the list, with the number 25 comic doing slightly worse than last year’s number 25, and sales at the top of both charts are comparable to last year’s numbers. Thus total sales are up over last October—6% for graphic novels, 17% for the overall market.

Just for fun, let’s pull the manga out of the Top 100 Graphic Novels chart. I’ll list them in order, with the rank on the overall graphic novels chart in parentheses before the title and the number of units sold at the end.

1. (6) Naruto, vol. 20 (5,175)
2. (7) Naruto, vol. 21 (5,107)
3. (12) Bleach, vol. 21 (4,370)
4. (22) Oh My Goddess, vol. 27 (3,625)
5. (24) Naruto, vol. 19 (3,558)
6. (31) Yotsuba&!, vol. 5 (3,204)
7. (35) Ghost in the Shell 1.5: Human Error Processor (2,971)
8. (58) Return to Labyrinth, vol. 2 (2,204)
9. (63) xxxHolic, vol. 10 (2,106)
10. (64) Appleseeed Hypernotes (2,046)
11. (66) Ai Yori Aoshi, vol. 17 (2,016)
12. (68) InuYasha, vol. 31 (1,993)
13. (72) Samurai Heaven and Earth (1,865)
14. (77) Tsubasa, vol. 15 (1,745)
15. (83) Street Fighter II, vol. 1 (1,692)
16. (96) Vampire Knight, vol. 1 (1,504)

In this week’s Overlooked Manga Festival, Shaenon Garrity looks at Moon Child, “a rad manga that also happens to be batshit insane.”

John Jakala has some brief, entertaining comments on recent manga at Sporadic Sequential.

Manganews reviewer Ishaan interviews Tokyopop’s Rising Stars of Manga editor Hope Donovan. (Intro is here.)

Sequential’s Brian Munn posts The Book Manager’s list of the top-selling graphic novels in Canada, and it’s pretty much all manga and comic strip collections. (Via Journalista.)

Also found via Journalista: Kristy Valenti interviews global manga creator Adam Warren.

At the Manga Maniac Cafe, Julie has just gotten her Naruto Box Set. Despite being mesmerized by the spirals, she is not impressed by the quality of the joinery.

The Daily Yomiuri’s Saori Kan takes a look at Yukari Ichijo’s Yukan Club, which translates to “Idle Rich Club.”

Dallas Middaugh has only met three manga-ka, but one of them was Rumiko Takahashi.

Win the first 17 volumes of Blade of the Immortal in Dark Horse’s latest contest. (Via AoD.)

Anime on DVD is looking for manga reviewers, including someone who wants to cover BL.

Hazel has two posts about the best new scanlations.

The Yaoi Jamboree website has been updated with the latest announcements.

Reviews: Michelle checks out vol. 10 of Bleach at Soliloquy in Blue. At Manly Manga and More, Invaeon looks at vol. 2 of Kyoko Karasuma. Active Anime’s Scott Campbell reviews vol. 1 of Project D.O.A., and Holly Ellingwood checks out vol. 7 of Crimson Hero and vol. 4 of Mamotte! Lollipop. Patricia Beard reads vol. 1 of L’Etoile Solitaire at Anime on DVD. Chloe Ferguson reviews vol. 1 of Zombie Loan at Manga Life. At Manga Recon, Ken Haley checks out vols. 1-3 of Phantom. At Yaoi Suki, Jordan Marks reviews vol. 3 of Innocent Bird. The French blog du9 features an English translation of Xavier Guilbert’s review of Kiriko Nananan’s Strawberry Shortcakes, which unfortunately isn’t available in English yet. Johanna reviews vol. 1 of S.A. at Comics Worth Reading. Ferdinand checks out vol. 1 of Star Project Chiro, a new title from UDON, at Prospero’s Manga. Katie McNeill takes a long look at vol. 1 of The Dark Crystal at Blogcritics. Win Wiacek of the Comics Creators Guild casts an experienced eye on vol. 1 of How to Draw Manga.

Read on for not one but two press releases from Broccoli Books, the first detailing the launch today of the new website for Boysenberry Books, their BL line, and the second announcing their newest title, Cigarette Kisses, by Nase Yamato. Enjoy!

New Boysenberry Books website launches today!

Los Angeles, CA (November 7, 2007) ˆ Boysenberry Books, the new boys’ love imprint from Broccoli Books, has a new website, http://www.boysenberrybooks.com, launching today. The website will contain constant updates about upcoming boys love titles. Also contained within the site is information on released books and their authors.

“This launch reflects on the popularity of boys’ love within the manga industry. After attending Yaoi Con, we have reconfirmed that boys’ love is a permanent genre in North America,” states Shizuki Yamashita, Director of Operations of Broccoli International and managing editor of Boysenberry Books. “We wanted to create a place so our fans can have an easily accessible way of getting information about our boys’ love titles.”

Boysenberry Books plans to have a steady stream of releases since its creation in 2007. Their first release Delivery Cupid, by CJ Michalski, has been well received by the community. Their second release, Pet on Duty by Nase Yamato, had sold out at Yaoi Con 2007 in October. With this booming success, Boysenberry Books already has more titles planned to be released soon such as Sex Friend by Koreaki Kamuro.

Boysenberry Books announces new title, Cigarette Kisses.

Los Angeles, CA (November 7, 2007) – Boysenberry Books, the boys’ love branch of Broccoli Books, is proud to announce that they have acquired the license and publishing rights for Cigarette Kisses by Nase Yamato.

Originally known in Japan as Kuchibiru no Yukue, Cigarette Kisses is a standalone boys’ love graphic novel that is filled with intense drama within a steamy love triangle.

About Cigarette Kisses
Heartbreak abounds in this teen-themed manga from popular write and illustrator, Nase Yamato. Yusuke and Soji have been close since junior high and were flirting with the notion of becoming a couple. However, when Soji suddenly announced his intentions to marry, Yusuke was devastated. Three years have passed since these friends parted, and they meet by coincidence on a cigarette break at the same company. Still refusing to acknowledge his feelings for Yusuke, Soji faces to clash with his still simmering love for Yusuke and his duty towards his wife. Even Masahito, Soji’s kohai, enters the triangle to play with Yusuke’s heart.

About Nase Yamato
Nase Yamato is a prolific author and artist of many romantic comedies and boys’ love titles including Pet on Duty, Pretty Scoop, Skip Kiss, Mr. Convenience, and Kuchibiru no Yukue. Right now, she is working on making an illustration collection, which is planning to be on the “Dear+” December issue from Shinshokan.

Not manga, but well worth a read for anyone trying to make money in a creative endeavor: Dave Roman’s Advice on building a career as a freelance artist and/or paid cartoonist. His pithiest piece of advice—”Don’t be a jerk”—is already being quoted around the blogosphere, but it’s worth taking a few minutes to read the whole thing. Dave writes from the perspective of someone who is an editor as well as a creator, which makes the advice particularly useful. Plus it’s from Dave, so it’s well written and the illustrations are super-cute.

At MangaCast, the motley crew lists their picks of this week’s new releases.

Japanamerica author Roland Kelts visits the new Kinokuniya bookstore in New York.

The Canadian magazine Quill and Quire has an interesting article contrasting the Marvel online initiative and the Japanese doujinshi model.

Booklist report: As usual, since the invasion began, the three latest Naruto titles are the only manga on the USA Today Booklist: vol. 24 at number 57, vol. 22 at number 65, and vol. 23 at number 67.

Business as usual or the beginning of a witch hunt? Heisei Democracy rounds up recent efforts to suppress “indecent” materials in Japan. (Via ComiPress, via Icarus.)

Blog makes the leap to manga: Tonari no 801-chan is a Japanese blog that takes the form of a four-panel manga and tells the story of a fujoshi-otaku couple. The strips have already been collected into two books, and now it will become a regular manga feature in Kodansha’s Bessatsu Friend magazine.

At About.com, Deb Aoki looks at military-themed manga.

A quintet of Tokyopop creators will be making appearances in Southern California this weekend. Details here.

Here’s a nice writeup on Nanocon, in case you missed it.

Your manga news oddity of the day: Man caught stealing 101 volumes of manga. You know, people tell me manga is even cheaper in Japan than it is here, and he was planning to resell the volumes to a secondhand bookstore, which probably would pay bottom dollar, so it seems like he was working pretty hard for not a lot of money—maybe $200. Wouldn’t it have been more efficient to just rob a bank?

Reviews: Jog has a comprehensive review up of MW. Kethylia has some kind words for vol. 1 of Bride of the Water God. David Welsh is growing impatient with vol. 2 of King of Thorn. Ouch! Nick gives vol. 1 of Bombos vs. Everything an F at Hobotaku. Lori Henderson takes a look at vol. 1 of King of Cards at Manga Life. Ferdinand reviews vol. 1 of Uzumaki at Prospero’s Manga. At Okazu, Erica Friedman reviews a title that is only available in Japanese, the Perfect Edition of Cutey Honey a Go Go. Julie reads vol. 25 of Boys Over Flowers and finds that the magic is still there, at Manga Maniac Cafe. Jiji checks out vol. 1 of Kingdom Hearts II at Manganews. The staff puts up some more Small Bodied Manga Reviews at Anime on DVD, and over at ANN, Carlo Santos has posted his latest Right Turn Only!! column.