June (manga magazine)
Encyclopedia
was the earliest yaoi
(BL) magazine, which began in 1978 as a response to the success of commercially published manga such as the works of female artists Keiko Takemiya
, Moto Hagio
and Yumiko Ōshima
. Other factors that influenced the founding of June were the rising popularity of depictions of bishōnen
in the dōjinshi
market and ambiguous musicians such as David Bowie
and Queen
. June was meant to have an underground, "cultish, guerilla-style" feeling – most of its manga artists
were new talent. Frederik L. Schodt
describes June as "a kind of 'readers' magazine, created by and for the readers." Very early on, Keiko Takemiya became the editor of a section called "Manga School", which instructed readers and amateur manga authors. June magazine ceased operations in 1979, but was relaunched in 1981. Azusa Nakajima ran a contest in the magazine for readers called "Shosetsu dojo" ("Novel School") which was an important platform for aspiring writers.
June magazine was named after the French author Jean Genet
, with "june" being a play on the Japanese pronunciation of his name. Digital Manga Publishing
has an unrelated BL imprint which is also called June. The magazine's name became an early name for what is now the BL genre, as June published male/male tanbi 耽美 ("aesthetic") romances, stories written for and about the worship of beauty, and romance between older men and beautiful youths using particularly flowery language and unusual kanji. Essays about the characteristics of the June genre were published with the manga in June. In 1982, Shōsetsu June ("Novel June"), a sister magazine to June began publication. Its content is text-only stories with male romance.
In 1991, Sandra Buckley noted that June was increasing its coverage of gay culture in response to its gay readership, and she credits the magazine with "playing a role in the construction of a collective gay identity" in Japan. As of the mid-1990s, Shōsetsu June outsold June. In 1996, there were four June magazines - one called June, in a "large format" with many photos of youths, Roman June ("Romantic June") which contained a mix of stories and manga, intended for an older female reader, Shousetsu June, and the original manga magazine, retitled Comic June, for general fujoshi
audiences. Circulation of June was 40,000 in 1998. As of 2002, June was still running, although the target audience's ages had widened and the style of stories had changed from being "soft love" to occasionally being more overtly "pornographic". The magazine is still popular. In April 2006, Koi June was launched, which published 3-4 issues per year. Creators associated with June include Tomomi Kobayashi, Kaoru Kurimoto
(both as an author and as a critic), Keiko Takemiya
, Mizuki Kawashita
and Akimi Yoshida
.
June magazine is a toko zasshi, a magazine which mainly publishes unsolicited manuscripts with a small honorarium
.
In June, stories are not required to include a "love scene".
Yaoi
In careful Japanese enunciation, all three vowels are pronounced separately, for a three-mora word, . The English equivalent is . also known as Boys' Love, is a Japanese popular term for female-oriented fictional media that focus on homoerotic or homoromantic male relationships, usually created by...
(BL) magazine, which began in 1978 as a response to the success of commercially published manga such as the works of female artists Keiko Takemiya
Keiko Takemiya
is a Japanese manga artist. She is included in the Year 24 Group. She resides in Kamukura, Kanagawa Prefecture. Takemiya was one of the female authors who in the early 1970s pioneered a genre of girls' comics about love between young men; in December 1970 she published a short story, "In the...
, Moto Hagio
Moto Hagio
is a manga artist born on May 12, 1949 in Ōmuta, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, though she currently lives in Saitama Prefecture. She is considered a "founding mother" of modern shōjo manga, especially shōnen-ai. She is also a member of the Year 24 Group...
and Yumiko Ōshima
Yumiko Oshima
is a female Japanese manga artist and a member of Year 24 group.She made her debut in 1968 with Paula's Tears in Weekly Margaret.She received the 1973 Japan Cartoonists Association Award for excellence for Mimoza Yashiki de Tsukamaete...
. Other factors that influenced the founding of June were the rising popularity of depictions of bishōnen
Bishonen
is a Japanese term literally meaning "beautiful youth ". The equivalent English concept is a "pretty boy".The term describes an aesthetic that can be found in disparate areas in East Asia: a young man whose beauty transcends the boundary of gender or sexual orientation...
in the dōjinshi
Dojinshi
is the Japanese term for self-published works, usually magazines, manga or novels. Dōjinshi are often the work of amateurs, though some professional artists participate as a way to publish material outside the regular industry. The term dōjinshi is derived from and . Dōjinshi are part of a wider...
market and ambiguous musicians such as David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
and Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
. June was meant to have an underground, "cultish, guerilla-style" feeling – most of its manga artists
Mangaka
is the Japanese word for a comic artist or cartoonist. Outside of Japan, manga usually refers to a Japanese comic book and mangaka refers to the author of the manga, who is usually Japanese...
were new talent. Frederik L. Schodt
Frederik L. Schodt
Frederik L. Schodt is an American translator, interpreter and writer.Schodt's father was in the US foreign service, and he grew up in Norway, Australia, and Japan. The family first went to Japan in 1965 when Schodt was fifteen. They left in 1967 but Schodt remained to graduate from Tokyo's American...
describes June as "a kind of 'readers' magazine, created by and for the readers." Very early on, Keiko Takemiya became the editor of a section called "Manga School", which instructed readers and amateur manga authors. June magazine ceased operations in 1979, but was relaunched in 1981. Azusa Nakajima ran a contest in the magazine for readers called "Shosetsu dojo" ("Novel School") which was an important platform for aspiring writers.
June magazine was named after the French author Jean Genet
Jean Genet
Jean Genet was a prominent and controversial French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. Early in his life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but later took to writing...
, with "june" being a play on the Japanese pronunciation of his name. Digital Manga Publishing
Digital Manga Publishing
Digital Manga is a company that licenses and releases, in English, Japanese anime, manga, and related merchandise. The company has several subdivisions: Digital Manga Publishing, which publishes Japanese manga, novels and instructional and illustration books in North America with multiple imprints,...
has an unrelated BL imprint which is also called June. The magazine's name became an early name for what is now the BL genre, as June published male/male tanbi 耽美 ("aesthetic") romances, stories written for and about the worship of beauty, and romance between older men and beautiful youths using particularly flowery language and unusual kanji. Essays about the characteristics of the June genre were published with the manga in June. In 1982, Shōsetsu June ("Novel June"), a sister magazine to June began publication. Its content is text-only stories with male romance.
In 1991, Sandra Buckley noted that June was increasing its coverage of gay culture in response to its gay readership, and she credits the magazine with "playing a role in the construction of a collective gay identity" in Japan. As of the mid-1990s, Shōsetsu June outsold June. In 1996, there were four June magazines - one called June, in a "large format" with many photos of youths, Roman June ("Romantic June") which contained a mix of stories and manga, intended for an older female reader, Shousetsu June, and the original manga magazine, retitled Comic June, for general fujoshi
Fujoshi
Yaoi fandom refers to readers of yaoi , a genre of male-male romance narratives aimed at a female audience, and more specifically those who participate in communal activities organized around yaoi, such as attending conventions, maintaining or posting to fansites, creating fanfiction or fanart,...
audiences. Circulation of June was 40,000 in 1998. As of 2002, June was still running, although the target audience's ages had widened and the style of stories had changed from being "soft love" to occasionally being more overtly "pornographic". The magazine is still popular. In April 2006, Koi June was launched, which published 3-4 issues per year. Creators associated with June include Tomomi Kobayashi, Kaoru Kurimoto
Kaoru Kurimoto
was the pen name of , an award-winning Japanese novelist. Imaoka also used the pen name to write criticism. She was known for her record-breaking 126-volume Guin Saga series, which has been translated into English, German, French, Italian and Russian...
(both as an author and as a critic), Keiko Takemiya
Keiko Takemiya
is a Japanese manga artist. She is included in the Year 24 Group. She resides in Kamukura, Kanagawa Prefecture. Takemiya was one of the female authors who in the early 1970s pioneered a genre of girls' comics about love between young men; in December 1970 she published a short story, "In the...
, Mizuki Kawashita
Mizuki Kawashita
is a female Japanese manga artist, best known for her work Strawberry 100%. During the early part of her career, she wrote and illustrated under the pen name . Her first public work was a doujinshi called Innocent in 1993...
and Akimi Yoshida
Akimi Yoshida
is a Japanese manga artist.Yoshida is best known for the series Banana Fish. She twice won the Shogakukan Manga Awards for shōjo, for Kisshō Tennyo in 1984 and for Yasha in 2002...
.
June magazine is a toko zasshi, a magazine which mainly publishes unsolicited manuscripts with a small honorarium
Honorarium
An honorarium is an ex gratia payment made to a person for their services in a volunteer capacity or for services for which fees are not traditionally required. This is used by groups such as schools or sporting clubs to pay coaches for their costs...
.
In June, stories are not required to include a "love scene".
Titles
- Ai no KusabiAi no Kusabiis a Japanese novel written by Rieko Yoshihara. Originally serialized in the yaoi magazine Shousetsu June between December 1986 and October 1987, the story was collected into a hardbound novel that was released in Japan in 1990. This futuristic tale is set in a world where men are assigned various...
(Shousetsu June) - Fujimi OrchestraFujimi Orchestrais a Boy's Love Japanese novel series that has also had a manga and an anime Original Video Animation created for it. Fujimi Block No. 2 Symphony Orchestra , written by Akizuki Koh , is a Japanese yaoi novel series featuring an amateur orchestra, its concertmaster and its conductor...
- Kaze to Ki no UtaKaze to Ki no Utais a shōjo manga with yaoi themes by Keiko Takemiya. It was first published by Shougakukan from 1976 to 1984 in the magazine Shōjo Comic. In 1979, it was awarded the prestigious Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen/shōjo manga. The series is widely regarded as a shōnen-ai manga classic, being one of...
- Uozumikun
- Sensitive PornographSensitive Pornographis a Japanese yaoi anime OAV based after a Boys' Love manga anthology of short stories by Ashika Sakura who also authored the seinen series Sekirei under her other pen-name, Sakurako Gokurakuin. It has one episode which is made up of two separate and unconnected parts, the title story and the...
(Comic June Piace Series) - Great Place High School
- Steal MoonSteal Moonis a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Makoto Tateno. The manga is published in Japan by Nihonbungeisha and in Taiwan by Ever Glory Publishing.The manga is licensed for an English-language released in North America be Digital Manga Publishing.-Plot:...