BL University | Early Western Canon
These are the BL those of a certain demographic will likely be familiar with - the small spectrum of books and anime brought over to the West in the early and mid-2000s. This list is intended to serve as a bit of nostalgia, as well as a way to explore what the early BL-landscape would have looked like to the average non-Japanese-speaking Western reader during that time period, and is by no means exhaustive.
NomenclatureWhile today the preferred term is boy's love, in the early days of Japanese "BL" media translations there were two distinct terms used: shounen-ai, and yaoi. Shounen-ai referred to more subtle and understated depictions of male homosexuality in shoujo media; yaoi was more sexually explicit.
Unofficial Fan TranslationsMany - quite possibly most - fans at the time first discovered Japanese BL media through piracy. Official translations were few and far between, and accessing them could be difficult (even impossible) and expensive, particularly outside North America. Fan translations, on the other hand, removed many barriers: they were easily available, offered a significantly larger range of titles than official channels, published more quickly after the Japanese release, with greater frequency (usually releasing by chapter/episode rather than by volume/season), and, of course, were free.
While there's no doubt that scanlations (scanned, translated manga) and fansubs (fan-subtitled anime) were technically illegal, it's difficult to say that they hurt the burgeoning English-language anime and manga market at the time; if anything, they could be considered one of the main factors that helped establish said market in the West. They introduced Japanese media to those that otherwise would never have discovered them, and created demand for official releases (it's speculated that official publishers would use the popularity of fan translations to inform them of series that resonated with western audiences).
Some notable BL fan translation teams at the time include Blissful Sin, Dangerous Pleasure, Biblo Eros, Essence of Purity, Obsession, Storm in Heaven, Bliss, Aarinfantasy, Peccatore Sanctuary, Countless Time, Nakama, and Liquid Passion.
Official English-language PublishersTokyopop released several BL titles under their own name before the creation of their BL imprint BLU (also stylised Blu), which launched in 2005 and released English translations of Japanese manga and light novels until 2010. Tokyopop ceased publishing in North America in 2011, stating that "our Japanese licensors did not move fast enough to provide a legitimate alternative to piracy"; however the company was able to resume publishing in North America several years later.
DMP (Digital Manga Publishing) created two BL imprints in 2006 (previous BL titles were simply published under "DMP"): Juné, for general manga and light novels, and 801 Media, which published more explicit, uncensored titles (until 2016, when all titles were moved to Juné).
Other contemporaneous publishers, with their BL imprints: VIZ Media's SuBLime; Media Blasters' Kitty Media; Seven Seas Entertainment; Broccoli's Boysenberry (now defunct); Central Park Media's Be Beautiful (now defunct); Aurora Publishing's Deux Press (now defunct).
Interesting links for those who want to delve more into back catalogs:
- Wayback Machine link to 801 Media's site as of Nov 2010
- Wayback Machine link to BLU's site as of Oct 2010
- Wayback Machine link to DokiDoki's site as of Dec 2010
- Wayback Machine link to Juné's site as of Jan 2010
- This list is ordered by earliest release date, regardless of whether they were fan translations or official.
- Generally, translated BL media was published in the USA and exported to other English-speaking countries.
- Because the pool of buyers at that point of time was so small, publishers tended to go for the more "hardcore" titles when choosing what might be more successful. Please read these with caution.
- Scanlation release dates are sourced from MangaUpdates, which was founded mid-2004; it's difficult to find date information for fan translations released before this date. Aarinfantasy was very active at the time; many of their release dates are stated as 2005, though it's unknown if this was when they were founded or simply when their forums were created. Release dates for officially-published English translations of anime and manga are sourced from ANN's Encyclopedia.
- According to Wikipedia: "The first officially-licensed English-language translations of yaoi manga were published in the North American market in 2003."
- Fan translation groups are italicized; official publishers are in bold.