Artigos, Yaoipedia

Alignment Chart for BL labels

You can read the Portuguese version here.

Keeping an eye on the rising of fujoshis and BL lovers, not only in Japan but in the whole word, new BL labels are introduced every year. The public’s demands are increasing and getting more diverse, which reflects directly on BL works. The “Otaku Joshi Marketing Kenkyuujo (Marketing Laboratory for Otaku Women)” is a branch of the Japanese BL website Chil Chil and brings information regarding the market for fujoshis, yumejoshis and otaku women. One of their contributions is the creation of a alignment chart for BL magazines (digital or not), labels and BL publishers in 2020.

They also created a quick test for you to discover what is your “type” of BL.

Coriander type: A peculiar taste

The Coriander type is the one that goes according to the new trends, fetishes, and subcultures from their time. They try to be challengers, showing new plot twists and deep discussions of the characters’s minds, running away from the obvious formulas and old clichés from the “classics”. They are able to show expressions, sex scenes and positions in a more peculiar and creative way. Because of this, these works tend to have strong characteristics and are the source of hatred or love between their readers.

Thanks to the raising of demading readers, that appreciate complex stories and settings, more labels are surging that focus on these type of narratives in order to get the attention of these readers. Most of these readers have between 20 and 50 years old.

Labels and BL publishers of the Coriander Type

arca comics (J Publishing)
ihr hertz (Taiyoutosho)
onBLUE (Shu Cream)
equal (Kasakura Shuppan)
Qpa (Takeshobou)
Comic Marginal (Futabasha)
cheri+ (Shinshokan)
Charles (Media Soft)
Junet (Junet)
PLACEBO (Kasakura Shuppan)
Lynx (Gentosha)

Examples of the Coriander type

“Twittering Birds Never Fly” by Yoneda Kou
“Momo and Manji” by Sakura Sawa
“YataMomo” by Harada
“Given” by Kizu Natsuki
“Liquor & Cigarette” by Zariya Ranmaru
“Yozora no Sumikko” by Hayakawa Nojiko

Honey type: A sweet happy ending

The Honey type has a high probability of Happy Endings and a high degree of sexyness. There are a lot of sweet and sexy descriptions of scenes and many characters without clothes per manga. There are a lot of stories with a realistic portrait of the world, but there are also a particular aesthetic to them. Since there are a lot of sex scenes, most of the readers of this type have between 30~50 years old and, the older they are, the stories they like become more sweet. However, there are also a lot of younger readers between 18~20 years old that are also interested in the more sexy scenes.

Labels and BL publishers of the Honey Type

Chocolat comics (Shinkosha)
Suiseisha (Suiseisha)
gateau (Ichijinsha)
Dear+ (Shinshokan)
drap comics (Core Magazine)
Fusion Product (Fusion Product)
BE-BOY (Libre)
LiQulle (Over Lap)
Reijin (Takeshobou)
HanaOto (Houbunsha)

Examples of the Honey type

“Dakaretai Otoko Ichii ni Odosarete Imasu.” by Sakurabi Hashigo
“Kyojinzoku no Hanayome” by ITKZ
“Rumspringa no Joukei” by Azuma Kaya
“THEO” by Aono Nachi
“Koi ga Ochitara” by Ueda Aki
“Tadaima, Okaeri” by Ichikawa Ichi

Soda type: Moderate erotica and a refreshing flavor

Since BL is a genre of stories about “love between men“, 90% of the manga end up being about romance. Beyond that, comics of the Soda type have many stories that don’t focus only on the romantic, but also in friendship and human psychology. Compared to other types, these kind of stories have fewer sex scenes and tend to be more easily accepted by the general public, or by people that are only casual readers of BL.

They are a kind of manga that makes you feel safe to leave it on your bookshelf. However, it has been an increasing in BL works of the Soda type that are similar to the Coriander type. Also, even if Soda type stories usually have few sex scenes, there are erotic manga of this type, so be careful before recommending it to non-fujoshi.

Labels and BL publishers of the Soda Type

OPERA (Akane Shinsha)
GUSH (Kaiousha)
Canna (Printemps Shuppan)
J Publishing (J Publishing)
Daria (Frontier Works)
MARBLE COMICS (Tokyo Mangasha)
Chara (Tokuma Shoten)
Hakusensha (Hakusensha)
Ru Tile (Gentosha)
Citron (Libre)

Examples of the Soda type

“I Hear the Sunspot (Hidamari ga Kikoeru)” by Fumino Yuki
“ROUGE” by Katsura Komachi
“Does The Flower Blossom? (Hana wa Saku ka)” by Hidaka Shouko
“Classmates (Doukyuusei)” by Nakamura Asumiko
“Mother’s Spirit” by Enzou
“Blue Sky Complex” by Ichikawa Kei

Apple type: The BL gateaway for shojo readers?!

With less sex scenes and few characters with distinct personalities, the Apple type is sweet and disliked by few. If you exclude the fact that the protagonists are always men, most of the works in this category have scenarios and plots similar to the ones in shojo manga. Therefore, there are many works that can be recommended to shojo readers. The encounter, conflicts and happy endings of the protagonists follows the traditional formula that we all know it, so you have a sense of security. This type tends to have more younger readers, between 10 and 20 years old.

There are many labels and publishers of this type that are expanding to the digital format, making magazines available for free, so there are many ways of acessing these works. It’s a really important way for the industry to atract new readers.

Labels and BL publishers of the Apple Type