News
Amazon Pulls Some Yaoi/BL Manga from U.S. Kindle Store (Updated)
posted on by Gia Manry
The North America publisher Digital Manga announced via its blog on Tuesday that the online retailer Amazon removed several of its yaoi/boys-love manga titles from its Kindle e-book store. According to the post, the titles include Weekend Lovers and King of Debt from the company's explicit 801 Media line, as well as The Color of Love from its Juné Manga imprint. Additionally, the company reports that Amazon rejected its volume The Selfish Demon King.
The Yaoi Review fan blog further reports that the North American original boys-love comics publisher Yaoi Press has had both manga and prose fiction removed from the store, and that publisher Yamila Abraham stated that the company will alter its works for sale on the Kindle device. A Digital Manga Publishing representative informed ANN that they have no plans to alter content in order to comply with Amazon's policies, and commented that "Amazon does sell the print editions of these titles, which seems to make [removing the e-book versions] a contradiction to their business practice."
The Comic Book Resources website's Robot 6 blog notes that other explicit comics featuring heterosexual encounters remain on the site, along with a wide variety of erotic prose.
At press time, volumes published on the American Kindle store by Japanese manga publisher Libre Shuppan and retailer Animate are still available, including explicit titles such as Play Boy Blues and Cigarette Kisses.
According to Digital Manga, customers who buy books will still be able to access these books from their account later, even if they are officially removed from the store in the meantime.
Amazon's guidelines for Kindle content prohibit the sale of pornography and "offensive material" (as determined by the retailer). Apple's rival iTunes App Store and iBookstore have already implemented similar content restrictions.
ANN is awaiting comments from Yaoi Press, Libre Shuppan, Animate, and Amazon.
Thanks to The Yaoi Review for the news tip.
Update: Added official comment from Digital Manga Publishing.
this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history