BL Timeline

The timeline here was updated from that published in June 2008 at DruPagliassotti.Com. It primarily deals with yaoi in the U.S.

  • 1980s – Western fans circulate a fan translation of From Eroica with Love through amateur press associations (article 1, 2).
  • 1996: Aestheticism boys’ love fanzine starts
  • 1997: Aestheticism.com goes online
  • 2000: Gundam Wing, an anime canonical for a large number of yaoi fan fiction and artwork, was first shown on North American TV via the Cartoon Network.
  • 2001: (October) First Yaoi-Con held in San Francisco
    • 2001 – Viz publishes Banana Fish and X/1999, two important bromantic/BL-lite/BL-scented series. At this time there were no BL-proper series published in the US.
  • 2002:
    • (Month?) Ariztical Entertainment releases first two episodes of Kizuna OVA. Its website calls it “the first gay male Anime to be released on DVD in the US.”
    • (May) Sin Factory Comix releases Sexual Espionage #1 by Daria McGrain. First OEL boys’ love comic book produced for sale in comic book stores (?).
    • (June) Bishounen & yaoi articles created on Wikipedia.
    • (August) Shonen-ai article created on Wikipedia.
  • 2003:
    • (February) Tokyopop licenses and releases Gravitation 1 in the U.S.
    • (March) Scanlation group MegKF forms.
    • (May) Tokyopop licenses and releases Fake 1 in the U.S.
    • (September) Scanlation group mochi*mochi forms
    • Scanlation group Nakama forms.
    • Scanlation group hochuuami forms.
  • 2004: The commercial yaoi publishing boom takes off in the U.S.
    • (February) Scanlation group Beautiful-Soup forms.
    • (May) Yaoi Press founded (OEL)
    • (June) Anime18 Corporation, a label of Central Park Media, announces Be Beautiful imprint. First publications: Kizuna 1 and Golden Cain.
    • (August) Kitty Media‘s BoyBoy line releases Skyscrapers of Oz.
    • (November) Digital Manga Publishing announces Juné imprint.
    • (November) ICV2 reports that 3 of the top 5 graphic novels sold in the U.S., as tracked by Amazon.Com, are yaoi
    • Scanlation group Countless Time forms.
  • 2005:
    • (February) Publishers Weekly reports layoffs at Central Park Media and a decrease in titles from about 80 to 12-to-15 per year. The smaller number is to emphasize yaoi.
    • (March) Juné allows fans to vote on whether it should license the BL novel, Only the Ring Finger Knows; in September, Juné announces it will publish the novel.
    • (May) First Yaoi North held in Canada as “mini-con” under Anime North
    • (May) First Yaoi Press title released.
    • (June) Tokyopop confirms distribution of BLU label
    • (June) DramaQueen founded this year; releases first volume, Brother
    • (June) – First release of Dangerous Pleasure scanlation group
    • (October) Tokypop showcases BLU line at Yaoi-Con. It is to be dedicated to more adult boys’ love titles.
    • (September) First English publication of a ‘reversible’ title, Embracing Love (Haru wo daiteita). (Wood, Andrea. “’Straight’ Women, Queer Texts: Boy-Love Manga and the Rise of a Global Counterpublic.” WSQ Volume 34 Issue 1 & 2 (2006):394-414.
  • 2006:
    • (January) NetComics begins publishing manwha, including among its first three releases youth-oriented shonen-ai series Boy Princess and Let Dai.
    • (February) Iris Print founded (OEL)
    • (March) Tokyopop releases its first licensed/translated BL novel, Gravitation: The Novel.
    • (March) JAST USA releases first yaoi game licensed in U.S. — Enzai: Falsely Accused.
    • (June) Publishers Weekly reports additional layoffs at Central Park Media; they are attributed to the bankruptcy of the Musicland store chain.
    • (June) Category:Yaoi list created on Wikipedia.
    • (July) Yaoi Press licenses three Italian boys’ love graphic novels
    • (August) DMP’s owner Digital Manga, Inc. announces 801 Media sister company. It is to be dedicated to more explicit boys’ love titles.
    • (October) DMP announces it’s working on OJEL (original Japanese English language) yaoi manga releases, created by Japanese mangaka for the American market before being released in Japan.
    • (October) 801 Media launches at YaoiCon, announcing among its titles Ichigenme… The First Class is Civil Law, Love is Like a Hurricane and Bond(z).
    • (December) Shi-ran scanlation group shuts down.
    • LiquidEros scanlation group forms.
  • 2007: The commercial yaoi publishing boom declines in the U.S., as does manga publishing in general (article).

    • (January) Walmart pulls its yaoi titles from online store after Consumers Union subsidiary The Consumerist blasts it for selling “porn” (article)
    • (February) Broccoli Books announces Boysenberry line, starting with Delivery Cupid, Pet on Duty, and Sex Friend.
    • (March) Media Blasters drops shōnen and increases boys’ love titles. (article)
    • (March) ComiPress reports that Libre Publishing posted on its Web site a “Notice on Unauthorized Translations by Central Park Media” claiming that CPM’s Be Beautiful had published unauthorized translations of some Libre works.
    • (March) mochi*mochi scanlation group disbands.
    • (April) Fujoshi article created on Wikipedia.
    • (June) Yaoi Press announces Yaoi Jamboree, a new yaoi convention
    • (June) Yaoi Press announces digital publication of titles through Net Comics.
    • (June) Aurora Publishing announces Deux imprint, with licensed titles Hate to Love You, Spring Fever and I Shall Never Return.
    • (June) Central Park Media’s Be Beautiful stops publishing new titles (to present).
    • (June) Anime News Network reports that Central Park Media said it would publish eight [non-yaoi] titles from September 2007 to February 2008.
    • (July-August) Publishers Weekly reports that Seven Seas Entertainment is to launch its first yaoi titles: Nekota Yonezō’s 神様の腕の中 (2007, In God’s arms), and Tristan Crane and Rhea Silva’s original English-language Invisible. Seven Seas Entertainment’s Adam Arnold posts to a fan board that the company’s the first yaoi title will be In God’s arms.
    • (August) Category:Shonen-ai created on Wikipedia.
    • (August) Uke:Manga article deleted on Wikipedia.
    • (September) Seme:Manga article deleted on Wikipedia.
    • (September) DramaQueen stops publishing new titles
    • (September) The Pink Panzer scanlation group forms, devoted to classic BL.
    • (October) Yen Press announces yaoi titles (article).
    • (November) Iris Print cancels launch of BL Twist yaoi magazine.
    • (December) Toon Zone covers Central Park Media John O’Donnell’s discussion at the New York Anime Festival of the market for anime and home video as well as the dispute between CPM’s Be Beautiful and Libre Publishing.
    • (December) Wikipedia removes list of popular yaoi titles as it shifts to listing only notable examples.
  • 2008:
    • (January) First issue of OEL Yaoi Magazine released from Better with Boys Press.
    • (March) Seven Seas Entertainment’s yaoi titles, announced in July-August 2007, were removed from its Web site without comment.
    • (April) DramaQueen interview with Publishers Weekly announces company reorganization and release of new titles in May. In June, Boys Next Door Blog reports on a post from the DramaQueen Forums that says no new titles were released.
    • (June) Yaoi Jamboree convention held for first — and apparently last — time.
    • (June?) Yaoi Generation established, sets up website.
    • (June) Iris Print officially announces closure. (article)
    • (June) Tokyopop lays off number of staff, puts Love Mode and Gakuen Heaven on its “postponed or canceled” list. (article)
    • (August) Wikipedia merges shonen-ai into yaoi article.
    • (September) DMP lays off staff and delays publishing certain titles. (article)
    • (October) Boys Next Door Blog reports that DramaQueen says it is again publishing.
    • (October) Christopher Handley charged by the United States with possessing obscene manga.
    • (November) Broccoli USA shuts down operations, closing its BL imprint Boysenberry. (article)
    • Forever-More scanlation group disbands.
  • 2009:
    • (April) Central Park Media, Be Beautiful’s parent company, files for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. (article)
    • (April) Wikipedia renames fujoshi article into yaoi fandom.
    • (August) Bara article added to Wikipedia.
    • (October) The main Aestheticism site goes down.
  • 2010:
    • (September) Libre Publishing sends cease-and-desist letters to “several” scanlation groups. (article)
    • (October) Mariko Hihara self-publishes Kindle BL novel With All My Loving in U.S. in English. (article)
    • (November) Media Blasters says it will restart yaoi line in 2011. (article)
  • 2011: Commercial yaoi publication becomes increasingly digital in the U.S.
    • (January) Wikipedia reaches 200 articles in Category:Yaoi.
    • (April) Tokyopop shuts down its North American publishing branch, including its BLU line. (article) (news release)
    • (May) Amazon accused of removing yaoi manga from its Kindle Store.
      • “Kindle Bans Some Yaoi Titles”, The Yaoi Review (article, 3 May 2011)
      • “Amazon Removes Some Explicit Yaoi Manga from Kindle Store”, Publishers Weekly (article, 5 May 2011)
      • Kindle Content Guidelines (Amazon.com, n.d.)
    • (August) J.R. Brown, Lillian Diaz-Przybyl, Shaenon Garrity talk about the closings of Borders, Tokyopop. (article)
    • (October) Viz Media and Libre Publishing launch SuBLime yaoi manga line; to release titles in digital and print. (article)
    • (November) Digital Manga publishing’s Hikaru Sasahara talks about Yaoi-Con’s move to Los Angeles; new digital titles; Digital Manga Guild. (article)
  • 2012:
    • (January) Bandai Entertainment to stop releasing new DVDs, BDs, manga; will shift focus to licensing. (article) (analysis)
    • (January) Media Blasters cuts staff, goes freelance. (article)
    • (January) Two exhibitions in Spain by Barcelona artist Francesc Ruiz.
      • “The Yaois” sets in motion a series of relations among images taken from the Internet, in which Ruiz mixes comic characters, artists, politicians and sports figures in homosexual scenes. Galería Estrany-de la Mota, Barcelona, until 25 February 2012. (article)
      • “En busca de la librería Yaoi” looks at Japanese culture from the perspective of London, England, via comics, gay iconography, and art. La Fundación Botín, Santander, until 11 March 2012. (article)
    • (February) US distributor of manhwa/manga Netcomics VP Soyoung Jung says yaoi is the most popular manhwa genre worldwide. (article)
    • (February 22) DMP tweets that Apple has asked yaoi to be removed from DMP’s iPad app saying “it’s an issue regarding mature scenes.” (screenshot of tweets)
    • (February 25-26) At MangaNEXT, Shinshokan and Yaoi Press emphasize digital titles. (article)
    • (March 15) DMP announces that Amazon has suspended its Kindle account. (announcement) (Yaoi Research post) On March 16 DMP announces that its Kindle account has been reinstated under the condition that “‘future submissions may be subject to additional review’”. (announcement)
    • (March 15)
      • Canadian government withdraws child pornography charges against Ryan Matheson for entering Canada with manga in return for guilty plea to regulatory offense; bail conditions over two years included no Internet use outside work or job change. (article)
      • Comic Book Legal Defense Fund publishes legal memorandum cautioning on travelling to Canada or conducting transactions with Canadian entities. (memorandum)
    • (December 27) Digital Manga announces that the next Yaoi-Con will be held in 2014, meaning that 2013 will be the first year skipped since the convention began in 2001.

     

  • 2013
    • (January 31) Digital Manga, Inc., a publisher of yaoi, closes Digital Manga Direct.
    • (March 14) JManga, which included yaoi titles, announces that it is closing and will delete all content in May. Since publications were stored in the cloud, and downloading was prohibited, consumers lost their purchased manga.