Spotlight - Male BL Manga Authors
In this post, I'd highlight a few Boys Love ("BL") titles that are written by men, in contrast to the sizable percentage of BL titles that are written by women (and/or nonbinary people). I'd like to note that, although most male BL creators featured here are publicly known to be gay (because they started out as creators of geicomi -from "gay comics", works by gay men for gay men, or have published such information) there are some with no public information regarding their sexuality. It's also possible that out there, some works are made by gay men who choose not to disclose their identity publicly, and therefore did not make it to the list.
Some notes: (i) For the sake of accessibility and respecting authors' intellectual property, this post will only feature titles officially licensed in English. (ii) this post's scope is restricted to manga (of Japanese origin) only. It also only covers works that are published by a traditional publisher and not self-published works (doujin). (iii) For consistency, I only included titles categorized as BL, as indicated by the magazines it was published in.
Disclaimer: I am not paid in any way by any of the sites I linked to, nor do I make any money from affiliate links.
So, without further ado:
Itto
Itto started out as a popular geicomi doujinka, alternating between the pen name Itto and Mentaiko, before publishing BL manga. His illustrations has a lively, youthful touch which I adore. He has one work published in Mangaplanet, That Must Be Love.
Minamoto Kazuki
Minamoto Kazuki used to draw shoujo manga depicting heterosexual relationships, but in 2018 he released a book about coming out as gay*, and since then, he has started producing BL titles.
He has two works published in English by Mangaplanet:
*) If you're interested, the book is titled 少女漫画家のミナモトさんがカミングアウトします。("Shoujo mangaka no Minamoto-san ga coming-out shimasu"). It's only available in Japanese, and it should accessible from most sites that sells Japanese books and e-books.
Matsuzaki Tsukasa
Matsuzaki Tsukasa has a long history of BL and geicomi works, however, only one of his works is published in English: Meteorite, available in Renta!. It is a compilation of a few short stories, one of which is the titular Meteorite - a modern-fairy tale of a janitor who caught the attention of his favorite celebrity. It's a volume full of lighthearted humor and fast-paced romance in a modern setting, with lots of beefy characters and spicy scenes.
Draw Two
Similar to Itto and Matsuzaki Tsukasa, Draw Two has already built up his reputation as a geicomi doujinka before debuting as a BL mangaka. Personally, among all the authors mentioned, Draw Two's art style is my favorite. His drawings have a fresh, youthful charm, and he has a knack of making big, burly men look adorable. He has two titles listed in Mangaplanet:
Special mention:
Okujima Hiromasa
Okujima Hiromasa is the illustrator for Bad Boys Happy Home, published by SuBLime Manga (the story is written by Shoowa, who is a woman). It tells the story of a high schooler who invites a homeless man he often have fighting sessions with to live with him. The art is quite unique, it has yankee vibes that reminds me more of old school shonen instead of contemporary BL.
That's about it for now, let me know if you know of other male BL authors/illustrators and their works!
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