Libre (publisher)

Libre Inc. (株式会社リブレ, Kabushiki-gaisha Ribure), formerly known as Libre Publishing (リブレ出版株式会社, Ribure Shuppan Kabuki-gaisha) from 2006 to 2016,[1] is a Japanese publishing company owned by Animate. Libre primarily publishes yaoi and teens love manga and light novels, which are run in their magazines Magazine Be × Boy and Be × Boy Gold. The company was founded on May 8, 2006 after Biblos closed in April 2006, when their original parent company, Hekitensha, filed for bankruptcy.

Libre Inc.
Native name
株式会社リブレ
Kabushiki gaisha
IndustryPublication
GenreManga, Yaoi
Headquarters
Japan 
,
Japan 
ParentAnimate
Websitelibre-inc.co.jp

History

Biblos was originally formed under publisher Hekitensha in 1988 for publishing yaoi content, including magazines such as Magazine Be × Boy, Be × Boy Gold, and Junk! Boy. In 2006, Hekitensha declared bankruptcy, which caused Biblos to close in April 2006. All publications under Biblos were put on indefinite hiatus until they rebranded as Libre Publishing in May 8, 2006 with Animate as their parent company.[2] Several magazines previously owned by Biblos were transferred to Libre, including Magazine Be × Boy and Be × Boy Gold. Other magazines and anthologies, such as Junk! and Zero, were later relaunched under different names; the anthology B-Boy LUV became B-Boy Phoenix.[3] In 2016, Libre Publishing renamed their company as Libre.

Aside from print media, Libre publishes audio drama CDs under the labels Cue Egg Label and Melty Drop. Cue Egg Label was originally launched by Biblos and acquired under the rebranding; the label features audio adaptations of Libre's yaoi manga.[4] Melty Drop is Libre's original label featuring adult-oriented otome situation drama CDs marketed to women.[5]

English-licensing partnerships

In 2010, Animate USA announced that they would release some of Libre's books on the Amazon Kindle format,[6] and in September of that year, Libre sent cease and desist notices to several scanlation groups.[7]

In October 2011, the American 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.[8][9] In June 2016, Libre Publishing terminated their partnership with Digital Manga Publishing.[10][11]

Controversies

After the closure of Biblos in April 2006, Libre gained the licenses for former Biblos titles.[2] Central Park Media, who held the English license for North American publication with Biblos, continued to publish their former Biblos titles, and in 2007, Libre described CPM's continued publication of their titles as "illegal", saying that they needed to renegotiate licenses.[2][12] Central Park Media stated in December 2007 that Libre had "refused to discuss" the issue with them, and that they regarded their licenses with Biblos as still being legally binding with Libre.[13] After Central Park Media filed for bankruptcy in April 2009, Libre released another statement stating that they 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.[12]

On October 11, 2015, Libre issued an apology on their official website to manga artist Harada for publishing her dōjinshi in a special issue of B-Boy without her permission.[14]

Publications

Magazines
First publication Final publication Magazine name Status Frequency Notes
1993 N/A Magazine Be × Boy Active Monthly Acquired from Biblos; first launched in March 1993[3]
1995 N/A Be × Boy Gold Active Bi-monthly First launched in 1995 by Biblos;[15] relaunched under Libre in 2006;[16] more explicit contents and short stories[3]
2008 2015 Junk! Boy Defunct Semi-yearly Originally titled Junk! by Biblos; relaunched in 2008 by Libre under the title Junk! Boy. Titles transferred to Magazine Be × Boy after final issue[17]
1994 N/A Shosetsu B-Boy (小説ビーボーイ) Active Monthly First launched in 1995 by Biblos;[18] relaunched under Libre in June 2006 as special issues in Be × Boy Gold;[19] novels[3]

Digital magazines
First publication Final publication Magazine name Status Frequency Notes
1994 N/A Kurofune (クロフネ) Active Semi-yearly First launched in 1994 by Biblos under the title Zero;[20] re-launched in May 2008 as Kurofune Zero (クロフネZERO) under Libre; stories are all-genre with focus on the fantasy and science fiction genres.[3] The magazine entered a joint partnership with Pixiv Comics in October 2012, where it is distributed digitally under their platform since then.[21] The magazine was renamed Kurofune on November 24, 2016.[22]
2011 2018 B-Boy Cube (b－boyキューブ) Active Semi-yearly
2017 N/A Chocolove (ショコラブ) Active Monthly Teens love; first issue released on February 23, 2017
2019 N/A B-Boy Omegaverse (b-boyオメガバース) Active Monthly Originally a series of semi-monthly anthologies focusing on omegaverse; first issue released on June 20, 2019[23]
2019 N/A Vanilove (バニラブ) Active Monthly Teens love; first issue released on November 28, 2019

Anthologies
First publication Final publication Title Status Frequency Notes
2006 2009 B-Boy Phoenix Defunct Semi-yearly Published from July 20, 2006 to October 1, 2009 with a total of 20 volumes.
2010 2013 Citron Defunct Semi-yearly Published from 2010 to 2013.[24]
2012 N/A X-BL Active Semi-yearly Explicit yaoi manga anthology series marketed towards women 18 years or older; includes Pink Gold series[25]
2016 2019 B-Boy Omegaverse (b-boyオメガバース) Defunct Semi-yearly A series of short stories focusing on omegaverse; first series was published digitally from August 18, 2016 to June 15, 2017 with a total of six volumes.[26][27] A second series titled B-Boy Omegaverse Phase 2 was published digitally from October 19, 2017 to September 27, 2018 with a total of 7 volumes.[28][29] A third series titled B-Boy Omegaverse Mercury was published digitally from October 18, 2018 to April 18, 2019 with a total of 7 volumes.[30][31] The anthology was later relaunched as a monthly digital magazine.
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References
  1. Ota, Toshiko (May 8, 2016). "【お知らせ】社名変更とコーポレートサイトオープンにつきまして" [(Notice) Company name change and opening of corporate website]. Libre (in Japanese). Archived from the original on October 3, 2016.
  2. Cha, Kai-Ming; Reid, Calvin (March 29, 2007). "Japanese Publisher Claims CPM Infringes". Publisher Weekly. Archived from the original on October 17, 2007. Retrieved February 27, 2020.
  3. Demars, Anne (2008). "Les éditeurs de boys love". In Brient, Hervé (ed.). Homosexualité et manga : le yaoi. Manga: 10000 images (in French). Editions H. pp. 12–16. ISBN 978-2-9531781-0-4.
  4. "【ララの結婚】キャスト写真＆インタビュー&試聴＆コミックス2巻の書影が公開！　ドラマCD&コミックス２巻発売は11月9日(土)". Libre (in Japanese). October 11, 2019. Retrieved April 15, 2020 – via PR Times.
  5. "「らぶえっちなカレのおねだり＆いじわるCD」第3弾のジャケ写公開". Animate (in Japanese). May 21, 2017. Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  6. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-04-07/animate-to-bring-more-libre-manga-to-kindle-in-april
  7. http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2010/09/japanese-company-stops-american-scanlators/
  8. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-10-22/viz-launches-sublime-boys-love-manga-line-with-love-pistols
  9. Balistrieri, Emily. "SuBLime: Everything We Know About VIZ's New Boys' Love Line". Crunchyroll. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  10. Hodgkins, Crystalyn (June 18, 2016). "Libre Ends Publishing Agreement With Digital Manga, Inc". Anime News Network. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
  11. Hodgkins, Crystalyn (June 23, 2016). "Libre Publishing Comments on Termination of Agreement With Digital Manga Inc". Anime News Network. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
  12. "Notice on Unauthorized Translations by Central Park Media". Libre Publishing. Archived from the original on July 14, 2008.
  13. CPM speaks on manga license dispute Anime News Network
  14. "ＢＬ漫画誌「特濃ｂ－ＢＯＹ」　作者に無断で作品を改変掲載　ＨＰで謝罪". Sankei Sports. October 11, 2015. Retrieved March 12, 2020.
  15. "ビーボーイゴールド ビブロス [編]" [Be × Boy Gold (Biblos version)]. National Diet Library (in Japanese). Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  16. "ビーボーイゴールド" [Be × Boy Gold]. National Diet Library (in Japanese). Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  17. "Junk! boy = ジャンクボーイ". National Diet Library (in Japanese). Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  18. "小説ビーボーイ : 小説b-Boy ビブロス [編]" [Shosetsu B-Boy (Biblos version)]. National Diet Library (in Japanese). Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  19. "小説ビーボーイ" [Shosetsu B-Boy]. National Diet Library (in Japanese). Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  20. "ゼロビブ ロス [編]" [Zero (Biblos version)]. National Diet Library (in Japanese). Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  21. "クロフネZEROが「ZERO」と「百」2つのWEBマンガ誌に". Natalie (in Japanese). October 10, 2012. Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  22. "リブレ発、pixivで読めるWeb雑誌2誌がスタート！新連載は計9本も". Natalie (in Japanese). November 24, 2016. Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  23. "b-boyオメガバース 2019年6月号". Libre (in Japanese). Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  24. "Citron = シトロン". National Diet Library (in Japanese). Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  25. "X-BL | 女子による女子のための18禁レーベル". Libre (in Japanese). Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  26. "b-boyオメガバース vol.1". Libre (in Japanese). Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  27. "b-boyオメガバース vol.6". Libre (in Japanese). Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  28. "b-boyオメガバース phase2 vol.1". Libre (in Japanese). Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  29. "b-boyオメガバース phase2 vol.7". Libre (in Japanese). Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  30. "b-boyオメガバース Mercury vol.1". Libre (in Japanese). Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  31. "b-boyオメガバース Mercury vol.7". Libre (in Japanese). Retrieved April 15, 2020.
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