BL Fantasy/Supernatural Manga Selections

I’ve been kicking around the idea of a list covering favorite BL fantasy and/or shoujo/BL fantasy manga ever since I started my blog. But I always dismissed it as not very useful. What changed was that I actually felt like reading some new fantasy BL manga. So I peeked at those genre searches on MU/MAL and was met with a cesspool of horrific manga (most of which I already knew about). That’s no good. So installing a filter should prove somewhat useful to fish out any gems you might have missed hidden in that sludge.

Just like my previous lists, this is stuff that I like, so it’s not all inclusive (thank god). It’s a mixed bag: there’s old and new titles, popular and obscure, translated and untranslated. Some are new, possibly passing fancies while others are definitely tinted by rose-colored glasses. But even those titles are part of the experience, so if you skipped one, think about going back to see what it was about. I had to poke my fuzzy memory and ran out of patience while creating this baseline list, so it’s somewhat incomplete. I’ll add to it as I read, discover, and revisit more relevant manga. Particularly that last one–sometimes I just don’t remember titles or if I actually liked them. I’ve also been wanting to renew my hunt for good fantasy BL manga and this will let me record the stuff worth the paper it’s printed on.

So here’s some recommended fantasy/supernatural BL manga in no particular order. Unless I’m modding on MAL, I don’t bother differentiating between the two: if it’s weird shit that can’t happen in real life, it’s fantasy to me. There’s so little high fantasy stuff that it’s a moot point. So you’ll find angels, demons, dragons, magicians, spirits, and supernatural phenomena all listed below. Titles, artists, and a tidbit of information are given for each manga. If one catches your attention, begin your hunt for more information or feel free to ask questions here that Google can’t answer.

Shiny New Releases: Aka no Sekai

The josei magazine ITAN is releasing their first round of books on 7/7.  They all look interesting, but Bikke’s cover of Aka no Sekai is the most eye-catching.  I wish I could add onto my existing orders ;_;

Aka no Sekai stars Regulus, a cool, introverted young man forced to participate in a summer camp by his mother.  While outdoor activities and trips are fun, it also forces students to interact more, making Regulus rather nervous.

Despite trying to stay on the fringe, Regulus is caught up in trouble when a classmate paints a room an eerie, deep crimson color, sparking a huge disturbance.  ITAN is marketed as an imaginative magazine that breaks genre barriers, so we’ll see if it lives up to the claim of the story’s stormy atmosphere turning into unpredictable plot developments.

January 2011 Manga Recommendations

Here’s 10 manga of varying type and vintage that caught my fancy for the month of January. I’m technically aiming for the end of each month, so it’s a tad late!

January Manga Recommendations:

Shiny New Releases: Sparkly Bikke Cover of Kabe no Naka no Tenshi

I’m going to have to place a small order sometime this month.  Not much excites me more than a release under the Edge Comix imprint (from Opera magazine) and this cover by Bikke from her work Kabe no Naka no Tenshi begs to be added to my flock.  One can never have enough manga.  Ever.  I will test this hypothesis most enthusiastically.