Also known as shounen-ai or Boy’s Love (BL), these animes are characterized by having a romance between two men as the focus of the plot. But Yaoi’s options go beyond romance. It has mystery, comedy, action, science fiction, drama, school dating. But, of course, all with love stories that leave the viewer rooting for the couple in every scene. Check out 16 options to start watching right now!
1. Umibe no Etranger (2020)
Genre: drama, boy’s love
Format : film
Shun Hashimoto is a writer whose youth was marked by the abandonment of his parents, after he assumed his homosexuality. Mio Chibana is a young orphan who has been living with her relatives since her mother’s death. When the two meet on the small island where they live, the bond is almost immediate. As they grow closer, however, Mio reveals that she is moving to the city.
After three years, Mio returns to the island and decides to assume her love for Shun. But will this never-before-revealed love survive the three years apart? What has changed most in their lives? This anime brings the story of the growth of two young people who are still trying to discover love, and is an excellent option for those who enjoy romance.
2. Given (2019)
Genre: boy’s love, school romance, drama
Format: series (11 episodes) + 1 movie
Available: Crunchyroll
Uenoyama is a high school student who is also trying to invest in the band he has with some older friends. When he meets Mafuyu in a school stairwell, Uenoyama is surprised by his extremely shy way and his great desire to learn to play the guitar. The friendship between the two grows and Mafuyu also gets closer to his new friend’s band members.
It won’t be long before they discover Mafuyu’s talents, but the young man also seems to carry something very heavy in his past that seems to close him off from the world. Gradually, Uenoyama also realizes that what he feels is more than friendship, but deciphering Mafuyu isn’t easy. A love story, lots of music, losses and overcoming, this anime was one of the great successes of the genre and won a live-action version in 2021.
3. Heaven Official’s Blessing (2021)
Genre: boy’s love, fantasy
Format : series (12 episodes)
Available: Netflix
This series is from the same author of the manga that gave rise to the anime Mo Dao zu Shi. The plot follows Prince Xie Lian, who was banished from the heavens to the mortal realm and given the mission to exorcise ghosts. A talented young man, he tried several times to ascend to heaven, but he was always expelled again.
After 800 years, the prince meets a mysterious man who is responsible for controlling the kingdom of ghosts. A union between them can lead to the discovery of great secrets of the heavenly gods, but also to a new adventure.
4. Mo Dao Zu Shi (2018)
Genre: Fantasy, Action, Mystery, Supernatural, Boy’s Love
Format: Series (35 episodes)
This Chinese anime brings a fictional world of Xianxia, that is, inspired by Chinese mythology. In this world, humans have learned a way of cultivation that allows them to reach a state of immortality, known as Xian. Unfortunately, after a series of problems, the protagonist and war hero Wei Wuxian strays from this conventional cultivation path. He creates the Mo Dao, known as the Demon Path.
Wei Wuxian is killed by his closest ally, but 13 years later he is reincarnated in the body of a man seen as a lunatic. In this new chance at life, he teams up with a former classmate named Lan Wangji. The two fight together to discover the supernatural mystery that threatens all clans. But friendship soon reveals new feelings also in a battle that unites them definitively.
5. Yuri!!! on Ice (2016)
Genre: sport, romance, boy’s love
Format: series (12 episodes)
Available: Crunchyroll
An anime that will make you fall in love with ice skating – and the main couple! The plot follows the young Japanese skater Yuri Katsuki. After a big defeat in the final of an important competition, Yuri leaves skating aside and dedicates himself to his studies. Five years later, graduating from Detroit college, he returns to his hometown in Japan. when visiting his childhood friend at the skating rink where the two once practiced so much, he performs the choreography of his idol, Russian figure skater Victor Nikiforov.
What he didn’t expect was for someone to film him at the time and post the video online. Much less that Victor saw his video and showed up in Japan wanting to train him. Back in heavy training, Yuri seeks to find his identity again in skating, win the championship and make his coach proud. But the contest will not be easy, with 15-year-old Russian Yuri Plisetsky being his main rival. And new feelings can also get in the way.
6. Doukyuusei (2016)
Genre: boy’s love, school romance, drama
Format: film
Hikaru Kusakabe is a carefree student who divides his time between school, friends and his rock band. During the summer, your entire class needs to rehearse a song to perform at the school festival. At one point, however, Hikaru discovers that shy classmate Rihito Sajou is having a hard time with the song. Although he is known for his excellent notes, Rihito can’t quite get the music right.
Hikaru instead enchants this other side of his classmate and decides to help him with getting ready for the festival. The time they spend together, however, brings an unexpected closeness and new feelings, even though the two are so different. this anime rescues the purity and emotions of first love in a school environment.
7. Gravitation (2000)
Genre: Comedy, Boys’ Love, Music
Format: Series (13 episodes)
Shuichi formed the band Bad Luck, with his best friend Hiro, with the dream of following in the footsteps of his idol, Ryuichi Sakuma and the band Nitle Grasper. However, the young man had been struggling to finalize the lyrics of his songs, under pressure from his new label. Hiro even suggests that he needed to get a girlfriend for inspiration.
That night, while walking through the park, Shuichi ends up bumping into a stranger and knocking his unfinished letters to the floor. The man is none other than the famous writer Eiri Yuki, who sees Shuichi’s lyrics and claims that the musician has no talent. Motivated by anger, Shuichi manages to finish his songs with the goal of one day confronting Yuki again. But a new feeling can be born from this initially conflicted relationship.
8. Banana Fish (2018)
Genre: Thriller, Crime, Boys’ Love
Format: Series (24 episodes)
Available: Amazon Prime Video
This breathtaking anime follows young Ash Lynx. He is a fugitive who grew up under the care of Dino Golzine, known as the godfather of the New York Mafia. At 17, Ash already leads his own gang of teenagers in the city, while sharing his care with his older brother Griffin. During the Vietnam War, Griffin mysteriously lost control of himself and shot his own squad. At the time, the boy was only able to say the words “banana fish”.
After new clues about the mysterious Banana Fish emerge, Ash decides to investigate what it really is. However, this will start a war between the young man’s gang and Dino Golzine’s, who try to stop him at all costs. With lots of action scenes, we follow the development of the relationships between the characters in an anime capable of making us nervous, but also emotional.
9. Hybrid Child (2015)
Genre: Period Romance, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Boy’s Love
Format: OVA series (4 episodes)
This sci-fi anime tells a few different stories about the relationship between humans and the so-called Hybrid Children. These android species created by artisan Kuroda are hybrids of humans and robots that develop strong sentimental bonds with their owners, but need love to stay alive.
In this context, we follow the swordsman Seya learning to love again with the help of his hybrid son. Young Kotaro, on the other hand, gains another understanding of responsibility when his hybrid child’s life is in danger. Finally, we discover Kuroda’s story and what’s behind the artist’s motivation to create the Hybrid Children.
10. Love Stage!! (2014)
Genre: boy’s love, comedy
Format: series (10 episodes)
Available: Crunchyroll
Izumi grew up amidst her family’s stardom. Her mother is a famous actress, her father is a renowned producer, and her brother pursued a career as a rock star. Although everyone expected the awakening of an artistic streak in the young man as well, the only time he did anything in this field was as a child. As a boy, Izumi participated in a commercial in a wedding magazine, in which he wore a wedding dress.
At the time, he starred in the campaign alongside a young man named Ryouma, who was enchanted by Izumi’s eyes, not realizing he was a boy, given his more delicate features and unisex name. Ten years after the campaign, the magazine invites models to return to reprise the commercial. To Izumi’s surprise, Ryouma’s feelings are just as strong. But what is the future of this relationship?
11. Tight Rope (2012)
Genre: boy’s love, mafia
Format: OVA series (2 episodes)
Ryunosuke Oohara and Naoki Satoya are childhood friends, but since their youth they have shown feelings for each other. As an adult, Ryunosuke is destined to take charge of his yakuza family, which is in the midst of a possible concrete development of a relationship with Naoki.
Considered a masterpiece by many Yaoi anime fans, Tight Rope follows the slow but progressive strengthening of this love that was born in youth and struggles against various obstacles in its more mature phase.
12. Sekaiichi Hatsukoi (2011)
Genre: boy’s love, romance, comedy
Format: series (24 episodes + 2 OVAs) + movie
Literary editor Ritsu Onodera worked in his father’s company, but decides to resign to avoid jealousy and criticism from co-workers, who claimed that the young man’s success was due only to his family. He gets a job at Marukawa publishing house, but not in the literature department, as he wished. Ritsu is placed in the unwanted shoujo manga department. To top it off, his boss is intolerable.
Takano Masamune is annoying and calls Ritsu “useless”, constantly criticizing his work. But it’s this pet peeve that makes Ritsu decide to stay with the company to prove himself. The story takes another turn when he discovers Takano’s old last name and recognizes him as an old schoolmate he was in love with.
13. Jie Yao (2020)
Genre: boy’s love, slice of life, comedy, gang
Format: series (13 episodes)
Cheng Ke was from a wealthy and privileged family. For this reason, he went through great difficulties when he lost everything. Due to different circumstances, he ends up renting an apartment that belonged to feared gang leader Jiang Yuduo. The landlord imposes menial tasks on him, but Cheng Ke is not good at any of them, depending on Jiang for a lot.
A relationship and bond much stronger than they could have expected is born between Chengke and Jiang. Unfortunately, their new relationship is threatened by forces from both their pasts. Gang wars, old enemies and other obstacles can tear them apart or unite them even more.
14. No. 6 (2011)
Genre: boy’s love, fantasy, dystopia, mystery, action.
Format: series (11 episodes)
For those who enjoy dystopia, mystery and lots of action, this anime is a must. The plot takes place a few years after a violent war. Now humanity has divided into six cities and districts that live in peace. At 12 years old, Shion is a boy who lives with his mother in the richest part of town, due to his excellent grades and school awards. But everything changes when a runaway boy who lived beyond the city walls enters his room.
Shion helps young Nezumi to escape. As a consequence, he and his mother are expelled to the poor part of town, losing everything they had. Shion goes to work in the city cleaning robot surveillance. Four years later, Shion is about to discover a dark secret in the city when he is captured by government agents. To his surprise, Nezumi appears and saves him. Outside the NO. 6, he will finally understand what is behind the supposed peace of the districts. And the new fight alongside Nezumi will also awaken a new feeling.
15. Gakuen Heaven (2006)
Genre: School Romance, Boy’s Love
Format: Series (13 episodes)
In the city of Itou Keita there is an elite school where only super talented students study, through a direct invitation from the institution. Having never demonstrated great aptitudes or outstanding grades, Keita is genuinely surprised to receive an invitation letter from the school. All expenses are paid by a corporation in which students aspire to work one day.
At the new school, everyone is curious about the new student. One of the great mysteries of the anime is why the director invited Keita, a young man apparently without the necessary qualifications. But in this context, we see the young person in the midst of the social power dispute between the other students. Meanwhile, he tries to understand the new feelings he has towards affectionate classmate Kazuki Endou.
16. Spirit Pact (2016)
Genre: Fantasy, Supernatural, Boy’s Love
Format: Series (20 episodes)
Young You Keika has never had much luck in his life, and his afterlife doesn’t look like it’s going to be easy either. After a life of work and poverty, the young man ends up dying in a sudden accident. You wakes up and realizes he has become a spirit. That’s when a mysterious white-haired man he’s seen before appears again. Called Tanmoku Ki, he is the 13th Youmeshi of the Tanmoki, China’s highest-ranking exorcist family.
Tanmoku makes a proposal to You: he protects You from humans, and You protects him in the spirit world, becoming a kind of spirit shadow for him. In addition to unimaginable challenges and battles against living and dangerous spirits, the two will be surprised by new feelings. A new admiration and affection becomes part of the relationship that began with a pact of protection.
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