Keiko Takemiya's pioneering Boy's Love manga finally released in Italy

J-POP Manga has released Keiko Takemiya's "Il Poema del Vento e degli Alberi" (The Poem of Wind and Trees) in Italy for the first time outside Japan. The series, set in southern France, follows Serge and Gilbert at the Lacombrade boarding school. Originally published in 1976, it is considered the first commercially published Boy's Love manga. Takemiya co-founded the "Magnificent Group of Year 24" collective to push for creative freedom, introducing themes of gender, female sexuality, and depression. The complete series is available as a box set from November 22, with individual volumes starting in December. Georgia Cocchi Pontalti of J-POP Manga explained that the publisher worked directly with Takemiya at Kyoto Seika University, where she served as director of the Manga faculty.