Yaoi-Con 2008 | A Celebration of Male Beauty & Passion in Anime & Manga

Japanese Boy's Love Publishing Industry
by Emi Chiusano

In Japan, the commercial genre known as Boy's Love (BL) consists mainly of books and a rapidly expanding number of drama CDs and computer games. Boy's Love books can be divided into manga (comics) and novels. Although they are equally popular in Japan, manga have been much more popular in the US due to the language barrier.

Publishing commercial manga in Japan is quite different compared to the US. Most commercial manga originally makes its debut in magazines — thick anthologies of various stories drawn/written by different writers, known as mangaka. (Monthly Shonen Jump, published in the U.S., follows this model.) The publishers of these magazines commission a mangaka to write a story, who is then paid by the page. Some large publishers also hire mangaka to draw as employees, giving them an exclusive contract, but this is rare in the BL publishing industry. If the mangaka is popular enough and writes enough manga to fill a book, it may then be published in novel form, known as tankoubon. Most works are a product of one person, who writes both the plot and draws the art. They may have assistants who help draw the backgrounds and shading (known as tones), but each mangaka has a unique art and style because of this. There are a few groups who work together, and some works have a separate story writer but these are rather rare.

There are scores of mangaka wanna-bes in Japan, and competition is extremely fierce. Only a handful ever get published commercially, and even fewer gain enough popularity to actually make a living doing so. Many begin drawing manga as a hobby, then self-publish them in books known as doujinshi. Some doujinshi writers become extremely popular themselves, selling thousands of copies of their self-published manga. Occasionally, they will be noticed by a publisher (scouted) and their manga may get a chance to make a commercial debut. Publishers also hold "contests" several times a year, asking amateurs to send in submissions to be evaluated by editors and professional mangaka. Results and comments on the top finishers are published in their magazine, and if good enough, they may even be published. Many companies also accept walk-ins who bring works to be evaluated. One editor from a top BL publishing company commented that they have several walk-ins and submissions a day, including some from foreign countries.

Many professional mangaka continue to draw doujinshi as a hobby. They like the freedom to express their art without the constraints of a commercial publication where the number of pages are strictly limited and they are often told what to write.

Boy's Love novels are virtually unknown in the US, but are very popular in Japan, with the number of new novels published outnumbering the manga 2:1. They have covers and illustrations which look like manga because many are illustrated by famous mangaka. Content and story is also very similar to that of manga, but novels tend to have more complicated storylines since words allow more story per book than manga.

There were very few Boys Love anime being made for many years but several have been released in the last few years. This includes Haru wo Daiteita (Embracing Love) by Youka Nitta. Drama CDs have also become a large part of the genre. They may be based on either manga or novels, and a few are even based on computer games. They are quite similar to the old-fashioned radio dramas — with voice, music, and sound effects. Seiyuu (voice actors) are a large part of the appeal of these CDs. Many fans actually buy the CDs based on their favorite seiyuu (voice actor) pairings.

Lastly, there are the computer games which have become well established in the last few years. Most are very simple, consisting mainly of still pictures and a story  where the player makes simple choices. Some have full voices, but many do not. Still, they have become very popular and multiple titles are now released each year.