Libre Publishing
Encyclopedia
Libre Publishing is a Japanese boys love
manga
publishing company. It was founded on May 8, 2006, and is the successor to Biblos (1988-2006), which folded due to the failure of its parent company.
The bankruptcy of Biblos's parent company, the publisher "Hekitensha" provoked a chain reaction and one month later in April 2006, "Biblos" also declared bankruptcy. All publications were put on indefinite hiatus until "Animate" acquired Biblos in the same year and renamed it "Libre Publishing". Some magazines were kept identical like BExBOY or BexBoy Gold, others took much more time before re-appearing like Junk!. Zero re-appeared in May 2008 under the name Kurofune Zero and the anthology B-Boy LUV became B-Boy Phoenix.
There are also bimonthly anthologies:
And novel magazines, with female yaoi authors also providing illustrations for these:
continued to publish its former Biblos titles, and in 2007, Libre described CPM's continued publication of Libre titles as "illegal", saying that CPM needed to renegotiate licenses with Libre. CPM stated in December 2007 that Libre had "refused to discuss" the issue with CPM, and that CPM regarded its licenses with Biblos as still being legally binding with Libre. After CPM filed for bankruptcy in April 2009, Libre released another statement stating that CPM and Libre had not been in a business relationship for some time prior to this, and that Libre expected new titles to be released by their new US publishers. In 2010, Animate USA
announced that they would release some of Libre's books on the Amazon.com
Kindle
format.
In October 2011, the Amercian manga publisher Viz Media
launched the BL imprint SuBLime in collaboration with Libre and its parent company Animate
to publish English-language BL for the print and worldwide digital market. Although the first slate of books announced under SuBLime are Libre titles, the imprint will potentially offer titles from other Japanese publishers in the future.
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...
manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
publishing company. It was founded on May 8, 2006, and is the successor to Biblos (1988-2006), which folded due to the failure of its parent company.
The bankruptcy of Biblos's parent company, the publisher "Hekitensha" provoked a chain reaction and one month later in April 2006, "Biblos" also declared bankruptcy. All publications were put on indefinite hiatus until "Animate" acquired Biblos in the same year and renamed it "Libre Publishing". Some magazines were kept identical like BExBOY or BexBoy Gold, others took much more time before re-appearing like Junk!. Zero re-appeared in May 2008 under the name Kurofune Zero and the anthology B-Boy LUV became B-Boy Phoenix.
Magazines
- BExBOY, monthly, started March 1993
- Be-Boy Gold, bimonthly with more explicit contents and one-shot stories
- Junk! Boy, biyearly
- Kurofune Zero, biyearly. Focused on the fantasyFantasyFantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
and science fictionScience fictionScience fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
genres, stories' contents were milder with boys love innuendo.
There are also bimonthly anthologies:
- B-Boys Zip
- Be Boys LUV
And novel magazines, with female yaoi authors also providing illustrations for these:
- Shôsetsu BExBOY, monthly
- Shôsetsu BEaST, quarterly with more explicit content
Closure of Biblos and English licensing
After the closure of Biblos in April 2006, Libre gained the licenses for former Biblos titles. Central Park MediaCentral Park Media
Central Park Media was an American multimedia entertainment company based in New York City, New York, that was active in the distribution of East Asian cinema, television series, anime, manga and manhwa titles in North America prior to its bankruptcy in 2009...
continued to publish its former Biblos titles, and in 2007, Libre described CPM's continued publication of Libre titles as "illegal", saying that CPM needed to renegotiate licenses with Libre. CPM stated in December 2007 that Libre had "refused to discuss" the issue with CPM, and that CPM regarded its licenses with Biblos as still being legally binding with Libre. After CPM filed for bankruptcy in April 2009, Libre released another statement stating that CPM and Libre had not been in a business relationship for some time prior to this, and that Libre expected new titles to be released by their new US publishers. In 2010, Animate USA
Animate
is the retailing arm of MOVIC and is the largest retailer of anime, games, and manga in Japan. The first and headquarters store of Animate opened in 1983 and is located in Ikebukuro, a district in Tokyo, Japan. Currently, there are 38 Animate stores in Japan, and two in Taipei, Taiwan...
announced that they would release some of Libre's books on the Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
Kindle
Amazon Kindle
The Amazon Kindle is an e-book reader developed by Amazon.com subsidiary Lab126 which uses wireless connectivity to enable users to shop for, download, browse, and read e-books, newspapers, magazines, blogs, and other digital media...
format.
In October 2011, the Amercian manga publisher Viz Media
VIZ Media
VIZ Media, LLC, headquartered in San Francisco, is an anime, manga, and Japanese entertainment company. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ Media LLC, which is jointly owned by Japanese publishers Shogakukan and Shueisha, and...
launched the BL imprint SuBLime in collaboration with Libre and its parent company Animate
Animate
is the retailing arm of MOVIC and is the largest retailer of anime, games, and manga in Japan. The first and headquarters store of Animate opened in 1983 and is located in Ikebukuro, a district in Tokyo, Japan. Currently, there are 38 Animate stores in Japan, and two in Taipei, Taiwan...
to publish English-language BL for the print and worldwide digital market. Although the first slate of books announced under SuBLime are Libre titles, the imprint will potentially offer titles from other Japanese publishers in the future.