#sublime manga
Looking back on 2021 and Japanese comics one of my favourite artists, Yamashita Tomoko, has had a what I’d call a good year. With recent releases of older titles overseas, adaptations in both film and anime, new audiences are discovering her name and work. While a creator who has been delivering exciting work across genres for over 15 years now, it is Yamashita’s boys’ love titles which have gotten the most attention by English licensors. (The defunct JManga service so far was the only company to offer examples outside that genre by Yamashita with Don’t Cry, Girl andMo'some Sting.) Too North American publishers have predominantly chosen to release these comics in a digital-only fashion unfortunately. I hope that will change, along with more examples of what Yamashita has to offer readers following in the future. (Publishers in Europe are another matter. Check out translations in several languages if you can.) So, if one finds their interest now piqued, or are a longtime fan like me, here is a list of all her currently available (BL) comics translated in English.
Yamashita’s English debut came in 2009 courtesy of publisher Netcomics who delivered two of her comics in both print and digital. (And btw if you know Japanese both further have BLCDs).
Dining Bar Akira(2007)
This lively drawn comic about two quarreling restaurant workers with a six-year age gap (26 & 32) has them feeling out (often literally) their romantic and sexual relationship. The book also includes two shorter comics. ‘Foggy Scene’ with a highschooler keeping a few secrets including his love for a friend. And ‘Riverside Moonlight’ where a 27-year-old gay man finds himself attracted to the 30-year-old teddy bear like coworker at a printing company. Translated by Soyoung Jung. (cw: homophobic slur, physical abuse, sexual content, student/teacher)
Black-winged Love(2008)
This is a collection of seven moody shorter comics, heightened by effervescent backgrounds and contrasts, the title chapter taking its name from a particularly masochistic young man’s concept of his fetishes. Several other chapters revolve around family from different perspectives and being gay, along with youthful summer love, two friends of twenty years finding their relationship with each other coming to a head, and experimenting through a glib male escort. Translated by Soyoung Jung. (cw: homophobic slurs, violence, blood, terminal cancer, sexual content, mention of suicidal thoughts, rape)
The Digital Manga Guild initiative was a beleaguered project of its likewise parent Digital Manga Inc. (Don’t get me started.) However, I would be remiss to not mention among the catalogue the following two titles released back in 2012. (Again, if you know Japanese both further have BLCDs).
I Want a Love Story(2008)
A tender collection of four comics using a lighter touch, the title story concerning a man who unexpectedly finds his feelings reciprocated leading to the start of a first romance. Additional chapters have a lost love seen through a man’s niece, a belated valentine’s confession, and a gay man who unintentionally finds out his salaryman crush is a serious masochist. Localized by group Defiant Endeavors LT. Localized by group Defiant Endeavors LT. (cw: homophobic slur, sexual content)
Yes, It’s Me(2009)
Delivering a varied collection of six comics in a sketchier style, the funny title story featuring a narcissistic vice president of a company realizing he has room for more than just himself when it comes to love. Other chapters run the gamut from art students and first love, the cruel jealousy overflowing in a young man joining his secret crush in a search for their absent female classmate, two musicians in an orchestra one who teases the other towards a love confession, likes and dislikes between two people, and a piece on gender and sexuality. Localized by group Sinister Hands. (cw: homophobic slurs, rude questions about being trans, mentions of rape, possible death, suicide)
In 2015 Sublime Manga, the premier boys’ love publisher in English, nabbed the global digital license to the longer paranormal comic series The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window (2013-2021). With 2021 seeing multiple adaptations of this work, I earlier this year did a full-length post here.
For 2021 digital BL subscription service Futekiya added three volumes of Yamashita’s comics, two based on new editions to their library. (Lists of the localizaton credits are available on their site where you can also read the first chapters for free.)
Illumination (2007/2018)
This collection of five comics revolves around friends or classmates from different perspectives and attraction with a theme of distance and separation. The title comic presented in alternating three parts with a lonely man who meets a gay bartender while hung up on his oblivious childhood friend. It also notably includes Yamashita’s debut, the yakuza story ‘God’s Name is Night’. Offering a window on the kinds of interesting composition of the comics Yamashita can produce. (cw: alcohol, bullying, homophobia, blood, death, grief, sexual content, mention of car accident)
Je t’aime, café noir(2009/2015)
Another fine collection, the title chapter features the myriad dramas of patrons and employees at a cafe. Six further chapters contain co-workers with seemingly mismatched personalities, old classmates encountering each other resurfacing hurt and feelings of the past, a timid gamer trying to articulate a love confession and apologise for a sudden drunken kiss, the pleasure and love in cooking and sharing meals with someone special, an eccentric gay neighbor who hasn’t completely let go of the man who left him, and a people watching train conductor startled by the appearance of his first love. (cw: bullying and homophobic slurs)
Snip, Snail & Puppy Dog Tails(2012-2013)
An affecting and uniquely charted nonlinear one-volume friends-to-lovers comic showcasing little moments in the lives of its two working adult protagonists and their indistinct relationship. Yamashita’s art shines here too in its softness, even quiet panels expressing so much. (cw: brief sexual content)
