Fujoshi O'Clock: August Edition

Fujoshi O'Clock is a monthly feature at Nagareboshi Reviews which focus on boys' love/yaoi news, reviews, and meta. The feature also puts a spotlight on trans/bisexual/genderqueer manga/anime news and articles. For yuri/shoujo ai, see fellow bloggers Yuricon and Yuri no Boke for a more thorough examination of the girls' love genre.

It was actually quite difficult to keep up with the reviews this month, so only articles again.

But do visit Slightly Biased Manga, as I think Connie has been the best at steadily posting yaoi/BL reviews at a good clip this past month. See also a review of the Betrayal Knows My Name series over at No Flying No Tights.

But other than those!

Here are the articles for August:

Fujoshi O'Clock (3/14/15)

What time is it? It's Fujoshi O'Clock, a regular feature at Nagareboshi Review, when I bring to you the latest fujoshi-related news and reviews and various shiny BL-flavored things. There is also a focus on trans and bisexual anime/manga. Why? Because rotten girls need love too!

This week on Fujoshi O'Clock:

• According to a Twitter report, manga-ka Gengoroh Tagame's latest work is an all-ages manga about a gay couple and their daughter.
• An Answerman article from early February talks about the Free! anime and the issue with the anime's licensing confusion.
• ANN looks at Sparkler Monthly, which publishes multiple BL and LGBT-friendly titles of original English language manga. And, yes, they talk about Off*Beat quite a bit!
• Hazukashii Kedo looks at the haitoku/'fall from virtue' themed anthology of BL that will be published by Charles Comics.

Reviews:

• Otaku USA reviews the Massive Anthology, which features shorts from major bara/gay manga authors like Tagame and Jiraiya.
• Slightly Biased Manga reviews volume 2 of Crimson Spell by Ayano Yamane from SuBLime and the single-volume One Is Enough by love from GEN Manga.
• Experiments in Manga reviews Hide and Seek volume 1 by Yaya Sakuragi, a romance between a doctor and a candy store owner.
• Rebecca Silverman at ANN reviews volumes 1-3 of Hide and Seek by Yaya Sakuragi, and gives it a B overall.
• ふう子 at Hazukashii Kedo reviews Twilight Underground by Akihira Shiro, a new story by the manga-ka that is running in Craft magazine.

Am I missing your blog? Got some awesome fujoshi-related news and reviews you think deserve a shout-out? Poke me with a link and a bit of description over at my Twitter: @theseventhl. I'm always on the look out for more BL love!

Fujoshi O'Clock (11/29/14)

What time is it? It's Fujoshi O'Clock, the biweekly feature at Nagareboshi Review, when I bring to you the latest fujoshi-related news and reviews and various shiny BL-flavored things. There is also a focus on trans and bisexual anime/manga. Why? Because rotten girls need love too!

This week on Fujoshi O'Clock:

• Otaku Champloo has posted lessons from Australia's Manga Futures, a scholarly manga conference, that are centered around gender/sexuality questions and how they play in Japanese culture and writing as well as the role of participants in fandom.
• ふう子 at Hazukashii Kedo looks at two recent BL manga titles available in Japanese: Himitsu, Hitohira by Kawamura Ayano (a volume of related shorts) and Hidamari ga Kikoeru by Fumino Yuki (in which a college student falls for his hearing impaired classmate).
• A roundtable of bloggers at MangaBlog discuss their favorite food manga, since the U.S. Thanksgiving was this week, and Fumi Yoshinaga's What Did You Eat Yesterday? and its handling of food culture and gay life in modern Japan receives a lot of love and praise.
• Discotek Media announced their latest slate of anime licenses and rescues, most of them scheduled for release in 2015. One of them is Descendants of Darkness/Yami no Matsuei, a classic BL-flavored supernatural series about shinigami who work in an office.

Reviews:

• Slightly Biased Manga's Connie reviews the first Embracing Love omnibus by Youka Nitta. It is being re-released in bulk books through Viz's SuBLime imprint. She also reviews volume 2 of Castle Mango by Narise Konohara, a current DMP release.
• s.e. smith at this ain't livin' reviews Wandering Son volume 1 by Takako Shimura, one of the few manga series with trans characters available in English.
• Animation Scoops reviews Massive: Gay Erotic Manga and the Men Who Make It, an anthology filled with various bara artists/authors, including Gengoroh Tagame and Takeshi Matsu.

Am I missing your blog? Got some awesome fujoshi-related news and reviews you think deserve a shout-out? Poke me with a link and a bit of description over at my Twitter: @theseventhl. I'm always on the look out for more BL love!

Fujoshi O'Clock (6/28/14)

What time is it? It's Fujoshi O'Clock, the biweekly feature at Nagareboshi Review, when I bring to you the latest fujoshi-related news and reviews and various shiny BL-flavored things. Why? Because rotten girls need love too!

This week on Fujoshi O'Clock:

• The Beautiful World talks about LGBT pride parades and why they are still needed, from a non-Western perspective. It's split between three pages, so don't forget to read all of them! Content warning for quoting bigoted slurs.
• Bruno Gmuender Publishing has announced several new titles for their English translated gay manga line of books. They include titles by Gengoroh Tagame and Takeshi Matsu. The page is in German; PhoenixTerran has a quick and short translation of the important parts of the news on their Twitter.
• As the second season of Free! premieres next week, fujoshi swim fans now have new ways to watch it. Funimation has licensed Free! -Eternal Summer- for simulcast and home video release; the first season is still available on Crunchyroll.
• Speaking of Free!, you can now purchase a life sized tapestry of Rin Matsuoka as he joins the ranks of his fellow swimmers in scroll form. There is also a new Free! season two poster at the ANN link.

Reviews:

• Experiements in Manga looks at two collections of bara manga by manga-ka Gengoroh Tagame, Endless Game and Gunji. It also discusses The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame, another collection of works by the manga-ka.

Am I missing your blog? Got some awesome fujoshi-related news and reviews you think deserve a shout-out? Poke me with a link and a bit of description over at my Twitter: @theseventhl. I'm always on the look out for more BL love!

Manga Review: The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame

The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame
Author: Gengoroh Tagame
PictureBox Inc.
256 pages

Provocative to say the least, Japanese comic master Gengoroh Tagame’s gay BDSM stories are legendary for both their virtuosic drawing and their unparalleled passion. PictureBox’s oversized omnibus includes ten English editions of short stories dating from the late 1990s to 2012. (Source: PictureBoxInc.com)

Content warning: This review covers a very sexually explicit manga that has scenes of rape, torture, BDSM, and related issues that can be triggering/upsetting to readers. Feel free to skip this post if those things aren't cool for you.

Technically, this book is yaoi. But I would never suggest it among titles like Love Mode and Wild Rock and the Finder series, although the Finder series can get pretty brutal. Gengoroh Tagame's works are a different beast all together: explicit, violent bara manga - also known as "men's love", m/m manga specifically targeted towards men. No uke/seme dynamics here, just grown burly men in sexual scenarios. Except that Tagame doesn't play nice and neither do his characters.

In other words? Hide this one far, far away from young, innocent eyes. Don't let your parents even see the cover. When it's good, it's good, but when it's bad, it's nasty. But if you can handle a plethora of muscles and non-con situations, then The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame should definitely be on your bookshelves.

Fujoshi O'Clock (1/16/14)

What time is it? It's . . . Fujoshi O'Clock, the biweekly feature at Nagareboshi Review, when I bring to you the latest fujoshi-related news and reviews and various shiny BL-flavored things. Why? Because rotten girls need love too!

This week on Fujoshi O'Clock:

• Viz's BL manga line SuBLime has a new title out: NIGHTS by Kou Yoneda, a mature-rated collection of stories.
• Fantagraphics announces a new license, the erotic anthology Massive, which had been previously licensed by PictureBox Inc. It features yaoi manga-ka such as Gengoroh Tagame, well known for his bara work.
• Oguie Maniax's Fujoshi Files is nearly in the nineties with its two latest entries: Yamada Moe of Princess Ringo's Adventures in "Wota" Land and srhshr of gdgd Fairies.

Reviews:

• Fandom Post reviews Hot Space Cowboys, a hentai anime release also known as Legend of the Blue Wolves, which is a surprisingly layered sci-fi yaoi title.
• Naru at OASG reviews Lies Are A Gentleman's Manners by Marta Matsuo, a one-shot BL manga centered around a professor and his student.
• Experiments In Manga reviews volume one of Castle Mango by Narise Konohara and Muku Ogura as part of their Week In Manga feature.

Am I missing your blog? Got some awesome fujoshi-related news and reviews you think deserve a shout-out? Poke me with a link and a bit of description over at my Twitter: @theseventhl. I'm always on the look out for more BL love!

Fujoshi O'Clock (5/24/13)

What time is it? It's . . . Fujoshi O'Clock, the biweekly feature at Nagareboshi Review, when I bring to you the latest fujoshi-related news and reviews and various shiny BL-flavored things. Why? Because rotten girls need love too!

This week on Fujoshi O'Clock:

• Melinda at Manga Bookshelf is lovesick over Loveless, the BL flavored title by manga-ka Yun Kouga. It covers up to volume six of the Loveless manga.
• SuBLime has licensed the four-volume manga series Crimson Spell. This Ayano Yamane has been previously released, partially, by Kitty Media.
• Japanese company Otome's Way is to release a guide to learn Japanese entitled A Fujoshi's Guide To Japanese as well as the Otome's Way Anthology. The Fujoshi's Guide book will be available digitally and in full color.
• Manga publisher PictureBox announces further plans to release more BL/bara titles, including more titles by Gengoroh Tagame.
• RightStuf is warning Canadian customers that their copies of the Bonds of Dream, Bonds of Love manga may be seized at the border. Each volume's listing on RightStuf now includes a line that the work has been banned in Canada and that it will no longer be shipped to Canadian addresses.

Reviews:

• Helen at Narrative Investigations reviewed volume one of Off*Beat by Jen Lee Quick.
• Naru at OASG reviewed The Cat In The Box by Sumako Kari.
• Daniella at All About Manga reviewed Love Makes Everything Right by Sanae Rokuya as part of her 30 Day Yaoi Challenge.
• Brain Vs. Book reviewed Bara Iro no Ho no Koro by Asumiko Nakamura, which is part of the J no Subete series.
• Experiments In Manga reviewed The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame: The Master of Gay Erotic Manga by Gengoroh Taname, a collection of bara manga.

Am I missing your blog? Got some awesome fujoshi-related news and reviews you think deserve a shout-out? Poke me with a link and a bit of description over at my Twitter: @theseventhl. I'm always on the look out for more BL love!

Fujoshi O'Clock (7/26/12)

What time is it? It's . . . Fujoshi O'Clock, the biweekly feature at Nagareboshi Review, when I bring to you the latest fujoshi-related news and reviews and various shiny BL-flavored things. Why? Because rotten girls need love too!


This week on Fujoshi O'Clock:

• AnimeNation: Media Blasters has announced a trio of new titles, including the most recent OVA adaptation of the light novel BL series Ai No Kusabi. Note: link contains NSFW cover art.
• Boys-Luv.com: Picture Box Inc. is to publish a collection of bara stories by Gengoroh Tagame, available in print and in English this upcoming spring 2013. Bara is BL targeted at gay men, by gay men, and are often centered around men who are burly and muscularly.
• ANN: JManga has added several new titles to their site, including Dousei Ai by Setona Mizushiro, a yaoi manga about classmates and a shared tragedy.
• AnimeNation: Kadokawa announces the release of a new Junjou Romantica OAD, to be bundled with the manga's sixteenth tankoubon.
• Ogiue Maniax continues the Fujoshi Files series with file 49, Yuria of Hanjuku Fujoshi, and file 50, Yajima Mirei of Genshiken and Genshiken II.
• Over at SuBLime Manga, they've created a super handy guide on how to download their manga files as well as transfer them to other devices. Cool!

Reviews:

• The manga habit reviews Yuujin ga Yuusha by Chocodoughnuts, a story of RPG heroes and fluffy video game meta. Plus, sheep! I'm gonna need DMP or SuBLime or anyone to license this for English release ASAP.
• Connie from Slightly Biased Manga reviews Honey Colored Pancakes by Keiko Kinoshita, a decent story of taking in a stray that is very familiar.
• Boys-Luv.com reviews Tender Master by Yamila Abraham and Ero Pinku and naturally, the story falls completely flat.

Am I missing your blog? Got some awesome fujoshi-related news and reviews you think deserve a shout-out? Poke me with a link and a bit of description over at my Twitter: @theseventhl. I'm always on the look out for more BL love!