Sarah T. // サラ @PhD in fujoshing

"This first volume is a captivating start to a Chinese-flavoured fantasy BL manga which is bound to appeal to danmei fans, especially because of its attractive art."- 9/10⭐

Thank you @animeuknews.net for the beautiful review of our newest BL release - A Howl of the Heart!

that’s it for volume 2, and I thiiink I didn’t have anything to highlight from volume 3, but I have some good ones from volume 4 that I’ll post once it drops!!

then there’s this, which I changed during the editing process. supika is a fixed shipper with a set top & bottom, so she doesn’t want anyone who ships those characters in reverse interacting. I HAD to make her little warning “do not interact” (DNI for short) à la fandom profiles

we also learn more about the fujoshi character supika (aka me irl), and there’s a great moment where she laughs like “fu fu” but it’s written with the “fu”joshi kanji 腐. our translation “laughing in fujo” was originally just me joking with minami… and she put it in her TL lmao

in this volume we find out that school hunk chihiro actually has almost illegible handwriting, which is hilarious. and was letterer @brandonbovia.bsky.social up to the challenge of handwriting chihiro’s name in roman letters? yes he was!!

(2nd screenshot is from my chat with @sakaimii.bsky.social)

sooo this is an overdue mini thread on some parts of this volume that I loved / had fun editing!!

got into the witch hat atelier stage event at anime japan!! but not the medalist or magic knight rayearth ones 😭😭

yeah! I have too, in many contexts. it’s just sooo not appropriate for work/addressing coworkers… 😭

was going through past chats with @sakaimii.bsky.social (I will post what I was looking for in a bit) and… help. “not to be hashibami but” 😭

imagine using anata with coworkers….. I would die. especially because japanese people rarely correct you, so they’d just be like “……” internally while you continue to sound ridiculous (clueless at best, pompous at worst, especially if you’re somehow convinced you’re using it correctly)

Thinking of JP pronouns, there was convo on the other site about "anata" and how it can mean "darling" in connotation, with people veering sharply in the other direction to say that in normal life, anata is actually very formal and you use it with coworkers. I am here to say both sides are wrong.

wanting to match the feel of existing danmei series also informed the title logo design! ballad of sword & wine (one of my favorites) for comparison again

fun fact: we sized up our english print edition to better match existing danmei print series so it would look right at home next to them on a bookshelf! you can see how the JP manga was a smaller size and ours is bigger (pictured next to Ballad of Sword and Wine and MDZS manhua!)

and thanks to our incredible team:

translator: Melanie Kardas
letterer: Bianca Pistillo
cover designer: Yang Kim

excited to finally get to announce (well, confirm) that I’m the editor for this series!! as a longtime fan of danmei, I was super excited to get to work on a chinese BL-inspired title like this one! it’s a really fun ride and the art is gorgeous, so please check it out!!

Happy #InternationalWomensDay from The First Lady of Immaculate Uppercuts – Maria! 💪👸 (via Always a Catch!)

Guy looks like an ultimately minor but really annoying Ace Attorney witness named Laiken Subscribe

what’s this twin peaks bar you were at?

@hackintimseeley.bsky.social

I actually hadn’t read this article yet because I saw excerpts of it that annoyed me so I was avoiding it, but my boss (who refuses to watch heated rivalry btw!!!) mentioned today that cherry magic got a shoutout in it, so I had to finally go read it

cherry magic mentioned

www.vulture.com/article/heat...

If you’re a fan, it’s a good time to let them know you won’t pay for AI translations

sevenseasentertainment.com/about/contac...

Fix your hearts or die.

ANNOUNCEMENT 2
As you are likely already aware, @starfruitbooks.bsky.social founder and publisher Matt Haasch passed away last September.

In line with his wishes, I have been working with Matt’s mother and the rest of the Star Fruit Books team to ensure a continuation to their publishing work.

When you meet your childhood friend again, but a lot more has changed than you realized (1/6)

now that I’ve read it, I see what you mean!! the eternal struggle…

Posting the Japanese version of this comic here for now. Will post the English in a few days or so (want to get it done within the month)

(1/5)

btw, I hear y’all about wanting bonuses like papers, bookmarks, acrylic stands, etc—I want them too! (I do typically try to include the JP ebook bonus page in our EN print editions)

I have no idea how feasible any of it is, but I’ll definitely be looking into what’s possible!

the highlight of the year was definitely the otaku love connection 01 winning best translation! and then minami and I getting to have a meeting & dinner with the mangaka and editor in tokyo in november! just the hugest honor and I’m still so proud!!

better late than never, here’s my 2025 manga wrapped! (everything I edited that published in 2025)

28 total volumes!! pretty much the same as last year, but lots of new series got underway and a few wrapped up! more new series to come in 2026…