YAOI NEWS: Farewell BLUMANGA
It's a sad, sad day. I don't know who broke the news first as I saw it all over Twitter when I jumped on today so I'll just point you to this article by Anime News Networks that confirms TOKYOPOP will be shutting down it's North American operations effective May 31st and the personal message from TOKYOPOP founder and CEO, Stu Levy. What does this have to do with BLUMANGA? BLUMANGA is the boys' love imprint for TOKYOPOP so if the parent company shuts down, then the imprint will as well if it has no new financial backing. I shot off an email to TOKYOPOP's PR person to confirm but as of yet I have received no answer. I don't expect to hear any good news but I will update this post if I do receive a response.
What does this all means for us? It means we will no longer see new volumes of Junjo Romantica, Love Pistols, You Will Drown in Love or new releases like Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi. There are also TOKYOPOP favorites like Hetalia, Togainu no Chi, Silver Diamond and Vassalord (although there is hope Hetalia V3 will still be released in May). It's too early to know what they will be doing with their licenses or if another company will pick them up but for us boys' love fans, there's really only one company left that could possible step in. That would be Digital Manga and their two boys' love imprints, June and 801 Media. I highly doubt they'd pick up long running series like Junjo or Love Pistols this late in the game though, and they may not pick up any at all. Clearly if a powerhouse like TOKYOPOP can fall, so can smaller boys' love publishers so they need to watch their own bottom line.
EDIT: Here's is another longer message from Stu Levy and more interestingly the very 'direct' comments left by some not-so-happy fans. Ouch.
EDIT #2: I received an email today from Mike Kiley, Senior Vice President of TOKYOPOP that BLUMANGA will indeed close.
EDIT #3: Rightstuf has confirmed that titles releasing after May 4th are being canceled.
EDIT #4: Both the TOKYOPOP and BLUMANGA sites are now closed down.
Feel free to comment, say your goodbye's or just cry over another loss in our very small boys' love publishing world… If there's a certain title you hope gets picked up, say it hear. You'd be surprised who may be listening.




WTF? …Seriously? WTF?! I almost want to believe this is a joke.
Maybe end times are really upon us with all these never ending flows of bad news popping up? -____-
But all joking aside, I think I just died a bit inside.
Lots of my favorite series are licensed under TokyoPop
Loveless (which hasn’t seen a new release in the USA since 2008)
Vassalord
Trinity Blood manga and novels
Sex Pistols
And BluManga is finished?
I’m speechless.
Nothing brought me greater joy than holding the books of my favorite series in my hands. (I am not a fan of the digital reading stuff) Just looking at the colorful covers, having that paper smell which each turn, seeing them collect on bookshelves… I just don’t know what to think. This is terrible. Everyone finds happiness with some hobby, and having my manga from TokyoPop and Blu brought me so many laughs and tears.
I’m a huge, hardcore fan of BL too, to think that this could start a domino effect until no Boys Love books are published just brings a feeling of utter loss in my heart.
Please. Please let someone continue the stories that the fans love.
And with that I’d like to vent: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGH!!!!! WHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY? Dear Sky Gods?! WHHHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYY???!!
…That is all. =[
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i’m devastated.. TT.TT how can they just give up like that? ever since, i have been a great fan of manga(s) and i have been buying them to support my favorite mangaka(s).. so much for dreaming on having a large manga collection in the future.. TT.TT i still have other titles unfinished.. i hope that the other companies will pick them up and translate them for us, manga lovers ><
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Khrystaline Reply:
January 6th, 2012 at 10:44 PM
I have to agree completely. I’m absolutely heartbroken. I’ve waited through all the releases of Love Pistols waiting and waiting and waiting to finally see their relationship bloom and now they’re saying it never will! I never complained once and now I’ve got nothing but unfulfilled expectations TT.TT I’m going to be royally ticked off if no one picks it up. I don’t even care if the story changes a bit, as long as it keeps going !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111
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I can’t live without Junjo Romantica! It’s my favorite series ever…I hope it gets picked up by someone…
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NOOOOOOO!!!! i do not want to believe this and i will not accept how can they do such horrible thing to tokyopop fans and especially to those thousands of yaoi fans….i must admit i love yaoi however i am more angered by that finances won’t back them up until at least they have completed ongoing manga such as junjo romantica and silver diamond. come on i was eagerly awaiting for new series Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi this can not be happening
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*faints*
…well, I think my heart just sank. In fact no…it plummeted towards the center of the earth. Honestly i’d love to know how this all happened, might make me feel a little less depressed X’D
I BLAME THE ECONOMY! D’: (I probably hit the nail on the head with that one)
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NOOOOO!!!
This is the worst news ever! How can this happen!
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Carlie Reply:
May 3rd, 2011 at 10:11 PM
*dies*
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…really? No, I mean. REALLY?!
Man this blows! What will happen with all of those unfinished series? I’m not just referring to yaoi titles, but non yaoi titles like Trinity Blood. If the economy is what nabbed TokyoPop, I hope it does not reach out and crush other manga distributing companies
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[...] The Yaoi Review – “YAOI NEWS: Farewell BLUMANGA“ [...]
SERIOUSLY….
no wait.
SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*sniff*
SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME THIS IS A JOKE!!!!!!!!!
PLEASE!!!!!!!
*cries*
I DONT BELIEVE IT!!!!!~
WHY WOULD THEY DO SUCH A THING!!!!!!!!!!~
I MEAN….. BLUMANGA IS THE GOD OF YAOI PUBLISHING!!!!!!!!~
JUNJOU ROMANTICA IS ALSO PUBLISHED HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHY WORLD!!!!!!! WHY!!!!!!!
TT^TT
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Yukina Mikaella Reply:
May 5th, 2011 at 2:43 AM
AND ALSO HETALIA?
i now feel that my heart is rotting inside………. WHY IS THIS HAPPENING!!!!!!!~ WHO IS DOING THIS!!!!!!!!~ *bashes head on keyboard*
THIS. IS. NOT. HAPPENING!!!!!!!!!!!!!~
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No no no noooo!! Someone has to keep publishing the Junjou Romantica series!!!: { I just bought them all and.. nooo !!! They can’t do this!!!:’ ( This series really has to keep being published I love it so much!:s
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Jennifer LeBlanc AKA Asami's Girl Reply:
May 6th, 2011 at 2:37 PM
Unfortunately that series won’t be picked up but on the bright side, I think there is only one more volume before it finishes. You’ll just have to get that one in Japanese.
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Person from Denmark Reply:
May 8th, 2011 at 11:20 AM
Really!! Only one… Okay, that kind of cheered me up a little;D… _a little_
aww.. it’s such a shame :/ but thanks!:D Do you know if the Sekaiichi Hatsukoi / First love manga has been dropped too?:’ { Sorry to ask you, but I kind of couldn’t find the answer on the net, so if you knew and would like to tell me I would be really happy. :3 Thank you!
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Jennifer LeBlanc AKA Asami's Girl Reply:
May 10th, 2011 at 8:16 PM
Never mind, it appears there is a 14th volume.
As far as Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi, no one has picked it up as of yet. ALL titles licensed by BLU are dead. The company is closed.
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No…NO! This is a joke, it has to be! NOOOOOOOOOO!!
What about Junjou Romantica?! I’ve still got to collect them all, not to mention Love pistols, LOVE MODE, AND LOVELESS!! WERE AT LIKE THE FREAKING CLIMAX OF LOVELESS! WHY HAVE WE NOT GOTTEN THE 9TH MANGA? D:< …OH GOSH! And what about Sekai-ichi? I thought the manga was coming to North America in July…NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
I refuse to read manga online! It's just not the same, I want to support the amazing yaoi mangaka's out there! GAAAAAAAAAAH!
I've…I've got to stock up while I can!
Thank goodness the next anime convention I got to is in two weeks. I'M GOING TO RAID ALL THERE YAOI!
…I've got to get a hold of myself…GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
T_T…CRAP! DARNIT NO! WHAT ABOUT MY REGULAR MANGA AS WELL?! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
.- . …I jus- …The jobs… JOBS WILL BE LOST! HOW COULD THEYYYYYYYYY! D:
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Sigh. We only have to hope for someone to save as amny titles as possible, from both Blu and Tokyopop. If Junjo has only one volume left it would have been nice to get that out. I’m hoping Digital Manga has long life as it is the mothership of June
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NOOO!
What is happening to the world?! How can I get my Junjou Romantica and Sex Pistol fix when BLUmanga is closing?!
“Crying Bloody Tears!”
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I am so sad to hear this…..Junjou Romantica is the first BL manga that I have ever read and I fell in love with the characters and I started buying other titles as well. I had been hoping and praying that it will not stop but what can I do as a fan. I am literally in tears right now and feel so hopeless like loosing someone dear to my heart. I enjoy happy moments when I sit on the sofa and open one of my fave bl manga from BLU or Tokyopop.
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I don’t want to believe this…..
I think my heart just shattered….
I have been an avid fan of TP and BL since I was 12. My first ever Yaoi was Earthian. I found it in a network video store and rented it and LOVED it….then I found the manga SURPRISE it’s released under BLU. I have all the books for it was many years ago but since then I have gotten just about all the titles published under BLU.
This just CAN’T happen….where are we supposed to get the rest of our volumes of Junjo Romantica and all our other titles?
I can’t STAND to read manga online….it’s not the same…the feelings behind it is just lost. I already have a few titles that were dropped like Ragnarok; it was at the height of the story and just Nada….no more it SUCKS let me tell you. I didn’t buy any manga for a while after that.
Tokyo Pop publishes just about 80% of every manga I own and love. I had even pre-ordered Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi at Amazon and received my e-mail today saying it was no longer sold and my order was canceled. I immediately looked online to find out why and I find this….I cried. All I can say around this lump of sorrow is that I pray to all the little and big gods that someone take pity on all of us avid fans and pick up where BLU and TP left off.
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Carolina Reply:
May 29th, 2011 at 11:35 AM
aww that’s sad..please if anyone’s reading this..pick up junjou romatica and sekai ichi hatsukoii please…for the sake of all us readers! D:
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I’m so angry! How can he just dump the company like that?! I swear, ALL of my manga is either TokyoPop or Blu. How I am supossed to buy any of the manga I was saving up for? And Loveless!!! I will never hold Loveless 9….. I’m so sad!!! **dies inside**
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Such sadness… I really hope someone picks up Silver Diamond and Love Pistols.
I’m not that surprised TokyoPop is going under but I’ll miss them, especially BLU. Now I’m going to find a corner to cry in….
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I’m not surprised this is beginning to happen to Manga and anime companies since it’s so easy to just download or read-online volumes/episodes today. Not that I would give that up but it’s probably going to happen to more companies since fewer people are into anime now days.
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Shin Reply:
May 19th, 2011 at 6:07 AM
I agree with the easiness of reading online-manga but i still like to read from paper. My computer chair sucks and rigth now i don’t even have table so i’m sitting on floor. Not to mention some people may not have internet acces. Anyway, it’d be nice if more people would start to support artists by buying their works. Respect what they do. Respect people who draw, who edit, who organize and so on.
And online manga has that side that all of them are not properly edited or translated. That’s not even the point in those.
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Well…..it seems like we all will have to take Japanese as our second language ;P hehe. I intended to do so at some point, so this is a good opportunity ;P Hey! Maybe after learning we all can start our BL publishing company! ^_^
Think they can beat us yaoi and BL fans???? Hell no!!!! We won’t let them! ;P hehe
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Person from Denmark Reply:
May 28th, 2011 at 2:47 PM
Haha!! Well said!!X’D
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Carolina Reply:
May 29th, 2011 at 11:33 AM
whyyyyy!??? i was reaaaaaally looking foward to sekaiichi hatsukoi being licensed in english! DDDD: i’m not a big fan of reading manga online since it’s not the same as holding a book and fangirl-ing over it, staring at the artwork, and hugging the book…online its like bleh…don’t get me wrong though….internet’s great!
but awww…that’s too bad…
DD
and yesh i totally agree! yaoi fans FTW!
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Annabelle Reply:
August 31st, 2011 at 2:24 PM
I’m in…i’ve always wanted to learn japanese so i dont have to watched sub-titled anmie
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When I read this my reaction was much like everyone else. I just pray Junjou ad so many other series will be picked up and that the titles don’t go the way Deux publishing. Perhaps when these hard times lift they will see the wisdom of re-opening. Or there will be a group started to save the dwindling world of Yaoi English Translated Publishing.
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But it is still being published by Kadokawa right??
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Carolina Reply:
May 29th, 2011 at 11:34 AM
this settles it…i need to learn japanese o.e
oh and yeah..i mean of course the seires is gonna continue…it’s just that we won’t see the manga in english…unless another company picks the animes up….i guess
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D: …….. D’8 NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Oh God, NOOOO! Please! Tell me this isn’t happening!!! Please! Anyone!!! If you have the slitest hint of a humane soul, save these manga series! Have mercy upon them! Save, Junjo Romantic, Love, Pistols, Hetlia, and all those series we all adore and love! Save them for all future genration manga lovers! Please! Please! PLEASE!!!!!
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What. A. Friggin. NIGHTMARE!!!!!
Without Junjou Romantica, what am I supposed to do? Someone has GOT to continue it. I can’t die happy until I obtain the last volume of it in English!
BLU Manga was absolutely wonderful… R.I.P.
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l Reply:
June 13th, 2011 at 2:58 PM
.
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OMG !!! im so SAD TT^TT ive been going around online everywhere to find out if there is any word of anyone picking up especially the boys love manga that are now going unfinished and nothing >..< how can something this horrible happen now!!!! i do hope ANYONE will pick most of the these series whether it's online or a differ publishing company, any effort to keep these series alive and strong will be GREATLY appreciated. Worst comes to worst i will go and take Japanese lessons and teach my self how to speak and read Japanese and read and buy them in RAWS -_-"
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… TT-TT I didn’t even get to start my collection </3
I'm so depressed. Yaoi's the only thing nowadays that takes me away from my shitty life and makes me smile. Dammit.
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Ash Reply:
August 6th, 2011 at 3:36 PM
i know how you feel T^T
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I really, really hope another company picks up Sekaiichi Hatsukoi… I was looking forward to it being published in English so I can buy the books and everything… :[ Oh well, I’ll just hope for the best.
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I am a die-hard manga fan, and I really hate what’s happening to it right now. I’m broken-hearted over the demise of Tokyopop. know a lot of people are upset over this news. But blaming Tokyopop is unfair, I think. TP has popular series, so what happened to the cash from those sales? They should be doing well, many of us think.
Here’s the thing, though: it seems as though the cash from many of the books we’ve been buying from Tokyopop distributors (such as Borders Group) has not being getting to the company. Bankruptcies and licensing shenanigans from companies who had contracts with Tokyopop made it so that the company rarely got paid for their products in the past couple years. Yes, the series may be popular, but if the publishing company isn’t getting the cash from its sale, they can’t continue to publish. And online manga theft seems to be the true culprit here. Though many of us buy our favorite series, even more people just download these licensed works for free on the Internet.
All of this puts less money in the hands of the publishers, who then get screwed over when their distributors go out of business (because people aren’t buying manga from booksellerxyz when they can read it free) or lose their contracts to bigger publishing houses (sales figures look low due to the online theft and the publisher gets blamed) until only a handful are left. And that handful will die out, too. Unless people start paying for their manga. Digital content, sadly, seems the way to go to make certain that the publishers and mangaka get the money for the work that they do. The problem with digital manga is for many people the pricing and not getting an actual book to hold and keep. For those reasons, I’m worried about the future of digital manga as well.
This all goes to show us that nothing in this world is truly free. There is always a price to be paid somewhere, and we are all paying for “free” manga and anime downloads with the death of the very thing that we love.
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OMG i pray that DMP will oick up Junjou and Sekai ichi hatsukoi ;_; when geneon closed some of there titles were picked up. please let them pick it up :c if they were going under they should’ve asked the fans to help, im sure others would’ve donated. I would’ve :c makes me sad
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THIS SUCKS! Omg, i’m so sad. I don’t want this. ):
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Nooooooo my lovely manga I want to read junjou romantca , sekiichi hatskoi and Silver Diamond nooo
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i just found out that all of this was going on. i’m really upset considering the only english published manga by my favorite artist is “calling” by ootsuki miu. which was published by blu. so i’m hoping that this whole incident doesn’t cease the english release of many of this artists other works as well.
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But…OMG !! Why did they close?? i just dont get it? was it the budgets or something else?
ooohhhh nooooo…….no more JR?….Loveless?…Love Pistols?
…this is the worse year of my life (T^T)
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Cant another company translate it instead???
I really DO WANT to buy ‘Sekaiichi Hatsukoi’ manga (the books) in English…
This is the WORST news ever – and i was about to jump into some manga store and buy the manga too >xx<
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P.s – I know that there are groups translating this manga (and you can read online) BUT nothing like collecting the original/buying the manga itself – ARH~!!!
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JUST WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?!?!
I am BIG Fan of Sekaiichi Hatsukoi….I just love it……
But, this aint fair!?!
How CUD THEY CLOSE IT DOWN LIKE THAT!?!
I just hate it that people dont respect this genre, fine , I don’t care abt them anyway….
But this onez a bit too much….
Itz for d manga release every saturday that I wait holding my breath for the whole week. And there was nothing to be heard abt Sekaiichi manga so thought that why the hell are they taking so much time. And now that I stumbled upon this article….wat the hell……
Sekaiichi was my fav of favorites……I wanna die r8n ow…I hate it
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This is so terrible!! I was wondering why the were taking so long to publish the next junjou!!!! But I’m a little happy not because tp is closing but because I come from a small town where not many people read manga let alone blu so it’s kinda nice to see so many people with a passion for it ^^
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i brought my first manga book from BLU manga and have stayed loyal to them ever since :’(
I only found the news out today after finaly being aloud to buy stuff online again (perents…what can i say?) and i’m crying.
Lovless…takumi-kun (a personal favourite)…and all the others such as junjo romantica
I guess i’ll have to settle for o0nline fan subs from now on…
still crying….. :’(
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?!?!?!?! I just started to collect Junjo Romantica, Love Pistols, and Loveless!!! And the series I already had that weren’t completely released in the U.S….. *sobs* (TT^TT)
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I’m in shock!! That they are doing this to thier Authors and {not forget}, the fans and customers, who do support them!! But if they sink so low as to do this to all of us, it just makes you wonder what they really have in mind in the long run?
Mr. Levi you need to get this fixed in a hurry, cause you do not want pissed off ppl.
We can turn very ugly.
For your actions there is shame on you that will not be forgiving even from Buddha.
May buddha curse you and yours truly.
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DUDE! WTF! They cant do this to us! THEY CANT THEY CANT THEY CANT! Were would we get our yaoi from! What would happen to thousnads of fans that LOVE yaoi and tokyopop! Whats gonna happen to all the mangaka’s and the future mangakas that want to be published!
In my opinion this will not only affect ppl in Japan but also those that work to sell those precious books over here. We have to get them back in shape ppl. I have always purchased my yaoi and tokyo pop products so i have the right to say this! EVERYONE HAS TO START BUYING TO LET YAOI ART GO ON IN THIS WORLD! T^T
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THIS SUCKS TURTLE EGGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
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It has happened like with Kizuna and Viewfinder with June picking them up. I just pray that it happens with Junjou and Love Pistols.
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[...] the beautiful arts and story It hold. Well I can’t really blame Blumanga either way since they have closed down already. I guess I just want people to realized how good that series is ! [...]
Omg I’ve been trying to find out when junjou romantica is going to release its book and now, late in the game, I find out blumanga and TPOP is closed!? WHY?! OMG WHY!? This isn’t fair, there’s so many boy’s love fans out there that this has to be a mistake. Gods this isn’t right, bring back our treasured books!!! WAHHHHHH!!! Does anyone know where to find new releases? Anyone?
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It’s very disappointing that most of my manga is TokyoPop or Blu just as you get to the good parts something always happens. I really wish another company will pick up Junjo Romantica this was the first yaoi I read and was the door that opened a whole new genre to me that I just can’t live without. And does anyone know where I can read anything passed vol.9 of Silver Diamond since that was the last one to be published?_?
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This is evil. I think if Borders bookstore was still open, people would have been able to buy these mangas and not have to go on the f–king internet because Barnes n nobles and books a million dont really sell alot of Blu manga book! I’ve waited a WHOLE FLIPPIN YEAR for Vassalord 5 to come to america and now my life is ruined!
I’m trying to make a yaoi comic series of my own and it was my dream to talk to the company of Blu manga to help me out.
I hope there is still people out there who will still make and sell BL comics for us to take home. After reading of what just happen, i had to take a moment to cry (im not joking)
Please let there still be hope for my people. Please!!!!!
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