2026 has come out of the starting block full blast in terms of Yuri and I thought it would be cool to do a roundup of all the many Yuri, Baihe and GL publishers putting works out in English right now, so we can all see exactly who is in the space and what they are doing. ^_^
These are in alphabetical order off the top of my head. If you have other suggestions, leave them in the comments.
Yuri fans are so long in the habit of assuming that no one cares about Yuri, that often they simply forget to *look* and see what Yuri is out there. Many of these companies have licensing request forms, but they can’t license from companies they have no connection to. I will try and give a broad overview of the licensing relationships each publisher has if I know about it or can parse it from the site, so you have a sense of who is talking to whom and who you can ask for what.
There is a ton of Yuri and GL out there and more Baihe everyday. Yuri is a hot market right now, so don’t miss any chance to support the series you like with all these publishers!
Baiheverse is doing official translations of serialized Chinese Baihe manhua, novels and audio dramas. They have one video serial, as well.
BluPetal is a brand new publishing company with plans to bring out “Boys’ Love, Shojo, Yuri, Josei, Teens’ Love, & Gay Comics.” They’ve started with a Kickstarter campaign for doujinshi Let Me Fix You.
Crossed Hearts publishes manga, manhwa and light novels. They recently announced a GL imprint Glam Beat, with a number of licenses of Yuri doujinshi. “Crossed Hearts is a global publishing house specializing in the English localization and international distribution of Japanese manga, Korean webcomics, and Asian novels.” They appear to be working with creators directly.
An imprint of Penguin Random House, Inklore started licensing GL manhwa from Tapas (see below) including Her Tale of Shim Chong and Sora & Haena! They are still new, so we can look forward to their work.
J-Novel Club is a light novel focused publisher. They have licensed several Yuri titles in the past (Girls’ Kingdom was much better than it deserved to be) and have Unsung Epics of the Hero’s Journey coming out soon. Chapters can be read separately on their site if you sign up for their club, or purchased in volume format.
Kodansha is the US division of the Japanese publisher and is, therefore, able to access a great number of Yuri manga published by Kodansha. They also license works from Ichijinsha, the publisher for Comic Yuri Hime magazine. They are deeply committed to bringing out not just Yuri and BL, but also LGBTQ+ manga and have done some great work with openly queer titles.
Mad Cave and the Maverick imprint has quietly been adding a couple of sapphic titles, like Navigating With You and Blüdwire.
Quick Disclaimer: I work for Manga Mavericks, just to be transparent. Manga Mavericks is an independent publisher that is working with multiple smaller Japanese publishers, like Two Virgins and directly with artists. They have a distribution agreement with Red Strings, who has worked on Boyish² Butch x Butch Yuri Anthology and Aneido Anthology. They currently are publishing Horon of the Closed Country, which features an agender and nonbinary characters. Manga Mavericks has some exciting Yuri license announcements coming soon!
Manta is a Korean webcomic platform that is “connecting with creators globally.” They have a number of GL manhwa titles and a category for them on their site.
(Monogatari)
Monogatari had licensed a bunch of Baihe titles in English, but has announced that all their books are delayed. The site appears to currntly be “suspended”.
Seven Seas has always a had a pretty clear interest in publishing Yuri manga. They are licensing fairly widely these days and even stepping into Baihe and GL manhwa. I’m In Love With The Villainess continues to be a big seller for them. They have licensing connections with Futabasha, Hobunsha, East Press, and Ichijinsha, probably other companies.
Square Enix Manga and Books is the US division of JP company Square Enix , They don’t have a lot of Yuri, but they do have Otherside Picnic and they are doing a very good job of it. A few of their other titles are “queer-ish”. I wouldn’t say they are a major player, and they tend to license Square Enix works, for obvious reasons.
This webtoon platform has a GL category and has licensed at least one of their series for print publication to Inklore Books.
Tokyopop’s Love is Love imprint is adding Korean GL manhwa, Japanese Yuri manga and Global sapphic comics. They have some genuinely excellent titles, so don’t skip them. They license from Shonen Gahosha, European and Korean publishers, Line Direct and Futabasha.
Webtoons has been pretty consistent about supporting popular GL cartoons. Several of their most popular have become print volumes through indie publishing or Viz Originals, including Always Human and Not So Shoujo Love Story. They don’t have a separate category for GL/Yuri.
Viz has licensing connections with a number of the biggest publishers, including company ownership by Shogagkukan and Shueisha, and licensing with Hakusensha. They have Rainbows After Storms, and Gal x Gal Yuri among other.
The Viz Originals imprint is killing it with stuff like The Girl Who Can’t Get A Girlfriend and Not So Shoujo Love Story. The folks there are very committed to bring out good queer stuff.
Yen Press has a strong licensing relationship with Kadokawa, and some of Ichijinsha’s titles as well as a few other publishers. The success of titles like The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t A Guy At All, and Love Bullet all but guarantees they will continue investing in hit Yuri series.
Ize Press is a separate imprint for Yen, focusing specifically on Korean comic and novels. Their first (and only at time of writing) GL comic is I Love Amy, but they feature it on their page, so perhaps look for more?
