Boys Love Manga and Beyond looks at a range of literary, artistic and other cultural products that celebrate the beauty of adolescent boys and young men. In Japan, depiction of the “beautiful boy” has long been a romantic and sexualized trope for both sexes and commands a high degree of cultural visibility today across a range of genres from pop music to animation. In recent decades, “Boys Love” (or simply BL) has emerged as a mainstream genre in manga, anime, and games for girls and young women. This genre was first developed in Japan in the early 1970s by a group of female artists who went on to establish themselves as major figures in Japan's manga industry. By the late 1970s many amateur women fans were getting involved in the BL phenomenon by creating and self-publishing homoerotic parodies of established male manga characters and popular media figures. The popularity of these fan-made products, sold and circulated at huge conventions, has led to an increase in the number of commercial titles available. Today, a wide range of products produced both by professionals and amateurs are brought together under the general rubric of “boys love,” and are rapidly gaining an audience throughout Asia and globally. This collection provides the first comprehensive overview in English of the BL phenomenon in Japan, its history and various subgenres and introduces translations of some key Japanese scholarship not otherwise available. Some chapters detail the historical and cultural contexts that helped BL emerge as a significant part of girls' culture in Japan. Others offer important case studies of BL production, consumption, and circulation and explain why BL has become a controversial topic in contemporary Japan.

Magazine editor Mamiya meets popular high school model Noeru Kisaragi for a story Mamiya's working on. When Noeru suddenly tries to go down on Mamiya and makes sexual advances at him, Mamiya turns him down flat. But Mamiya's loneliness starts to get to him and he decides to try starting over with Noeru on equal footing.

"Boys' love," a male-male homoerotic genre written primarily by women for women, enjoys global popularity and is one of the most rapidly growing publishing niches in the United States. It is found in manga, anime, novels, movies, electronic games, and fan-created fiction, artwork, and video. This collection of 14 essays addresses boys' love as it has been received and modified by fans outside Japan as a commodity, controversy, and culture.

In the male talent agency run by two women, Hana Fukuhara and Megumi Shimada, many strict rules have to be obeyed. Some of them are hard to follow. No relationships. No sexual activities. Not even self-stimulation. But things happen... Kenta Yamamura is somehow always dragged into forbidden encounters with other boys. His inability to say no causes him a lot of troubles. He does want to be faithful because he has a partner he loves more than anything in the world. His partner is Hana Fukuhara. This is a secret. But... Kenta has more secrets. One of them is... Kenta and Yuta have a special connection… what is it? Find out in this Fate Looked Back. Part of a controversial boys love novel Missunderstanding- My Thread.

A brand new anthology series of guys in love with guys. First, prisoners of a medieval circus unite against their wicked ringmaster. Then a tale of forbidden love between members of two rival gangs in modern Tokyo. The final tale is of a boy who escapes two sadistic hillbilly captors and recovers from their torture with the help of a romantically vulnerable cop. Our top talent comes together for this brand new yaoi anthology

Yaoi's target audience, readership, and creators are almost exclusively women; the genre focuses on effeminate, pretty men — often so androgynous as to seem genderless. Here in the West, non-illustrated yaoi stories are getting very popular, to date exclusively among online readers. This all-original collection of six yaoi novellas written by Western women will be the first in the print marketplace here in the U.S.; only hentai (illustrated books) are currently available. The contributors include: Nix Winter — a rising star in yaoi ebooks and also one of the most sought after illustrators for yaoi ebook cover art; Bianca James — whose lesbian erotic fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies and her first novel Star of Persia was a finalist in the Project: Queerlit Contest, 2004; Stevie Burns lives and writes in Germany where she is publisher of Vora Books and editor-in-chief of the monthly erotic literary e-zine VoracityBeat.com; Claire Thompson — top-selling BDSM romantica writer on the Web. Catherine Lundoff has short stories and novellas in 37 collections; and Marilyn Jaye Lewis who has been writing and editing erotic fiction for the last 17 years.

Iori, the eldest son of four brothers of the Kobayashi family, decides to move to Tokyo to attend college. While he looks for an apartment, he finds an ad that says "live-in house keeper in exchange for free rent." This poses a perfect opportunity for him. Growing up with three other kids in the family, he's used to taking care of other people, he can cook well, he is good at cleaning, and he can save money on rent. In this is situation, Todo is his boss, landlord, roommate -- and lover, too?

A DELICATE DISCLOSURE After returning to Shun’s hometown—and moving into his family’s old shop—Shun and Mio have begun their new, if slightly offbeat, life. But just as they’re settling in, Shun’s younger brother, Fumi, catches these two lovers in the act! With Sakurako’s help, Shun tells Fumi the unvarnished truth. Will his family finally be able to accept him for who he is?

Meet Davide, a college nerd hopelessly in love with a girl who's way out of his league. Fortunately for him, the campus stud Valerio needs a tutor bad. Valerio will give Davide a total makeover so he'll be the type of man his lady-love will go out with. In exchange, Davide will make sure Valerio doesn't flunk out. The two spend lots of time together, and Davide shockingly finds himself becoming more interested in his studly style guide than the woman who inspired his transformation.