Digital Manga has announced the 2006 release of You Higuri's Gorgeous Carat Galaxy, a side story based on Higuri's four-volume shonen-ai (literally 'boy love') historical adventure series Gorgeous Carat.  Although the new title was announced on Digital Manga's 'yaoi' Website, Gorgeous Carat Galaxy is actually not a 'yaoi' title at least in the sense the term is used in the U.S. where it indicates a more frank depiction of love between two impossibly good-looking guys.  Both 'yaoi' and 'shonen-ai' titles are typically shoujo manga, written and drawn by female creators for a female audience, but shonen-ai titles much more chaste in their depiction of the central romantic relationship and You Higuri's Gorgeous Carat series definitely falls into the 'shonen-ai' category.

 

Fans of You Higuri's work are wondering if Digital Manga will release the first four Gorgeous Carat volumes, which were published by Shuuei-sha Eyes Comics from 1999-2002.  Gorgeous Carat Galaxy, which is a whopping 248-pages long, was published in Japan last April by Gentosha Comics.  Certainly the Gorgeous Carat series could do very well here in the States, where shonen-ai titles such as Tokyopop's Gravitation have been big hits and yaoi titles are gaining in popularity (see 'Anime DVDs Compete For Space, Yaoi Trend Grows').