Summary
Boy’s Love (BL) manga is a unique genre that tells stories about same-gender relationships. Among this genre are various sub-genres ranging from action and fantasy to slice of life and pure romance. While BL can be known for its sexualized storylines and racy themes, the genre provides fans with an assortment of stories, many of which don’t contain such content.
The best manga in this genre represent a mixture of different sub-genres and age-ratings, and offer something for everyone. That being said, it’s difficult to pinpoint “the best” anything, so some favorites might be missed here. BL fans can expect some timeless classics, as well as some new faces, among these recommendations.
Updated on July 02, 2025 by Rie Takumi:Readers can look forward to moreEnglish-licensed boys love mangaas more English publishers outside Yen Press, Seven Seas Entertainment, and J-Novel Club bring even obscure titles to English-speaking markets. The BL sub-genres are also diverse, as BL fans are getting action, romance, isekai, iyashikei, drama, and horror, among other genres.
New official English-published BL manga and BL manhwa are also more easily accessible digitally. Tapas and similar webtoon sites help authors get their work across, while some Japanese doujin (self-published) authors use social media and Pixiv for their works. Some physical copies of BL books also have fun extras for fans who want their fix in the flesh.
18+
No. Of English Volumes
1
Linksis another Natsuki Kizu BL manga that follows the lives of multiple couples that are allinterlinked with one another. It uses flashbacks prompted by the line, “Do you want to hear my story,” in order to show how each couple was linked in the past, while also showing how the couples relate in the present.
This slice-of-life manga mixes sub-genres and themes like music, yakuza, school life, and home life. It’s a beautifully told one-shot for those looking for a quick binge.
3
Japanese Title
Youichi Arikawa’s living the good life at university. His grades are fine, his friends are fresh and flowing, and his girlfriend Minami is good for him. But chance encounters with Shouta Misaki lead Arikawa to have romantic dreams about the man, even if he couldn’t recognize him without glasses.
Only the Flower Knowsfollows Arikawa as he learns more about Misaki and realizes that he has truly fallen for him. Though it falls for some BL tropes, like Misaki attracting unwanted physicality due to his feminine looks, it’s a sweet story about boys drawing each other out andcoming into bloom.
Chiharu Saeki and Wataru Toda love movies. So much, in fact, that they go to the theater almost every weekend to catch a flick. Their mutual love of movies tides them through Chiharu’s love confession to Wataru, as he assures Wataru that he doesn’t need to return his feelings, as long as they go on their summer trip to tour filming locations.
My Summer of YouorThe Blue Summer and Youis a cute story about boys digesting their changing feelings for their friend. Chiharu and Wataru’s journey through Japan, their evolving relationship,and cinephiliaare packed into summers from high school to college and make for a comforting read.
Kenshiro Mido is a teenage boy who loves makeup. Luckily for him, he’s got sisters to practice his art on. When he gets the urge to practice on others, his childhood friend Hiura Mihate agrees to be his practice makeup dummy. The experience changes them: Hiura discovers a love for cross-dressing, and Kenshiro finds out that he might like Hiura as more than a friend.
The first run ofI Think I Turned My Childhood Friend Into A Girlin English was subject to controversy. Seven Seas Entertainment’s translator initially misgendered Hiura as a trans woman despite Hiura explicitly identifying as a man. Subsequent releases corrected this, with the latest volume slated for release in 2025.
Mealtimes for Yutaka Hozumi are complicated. On his own, he’s fine, but with others, he’s awkward and plainly uncomfortable. Four-year-old Tane Ueda, in all his innocence, unknowingly ignores Yutaka’s discomfort when he finds the salaryman eating alone at the park.
Yutaka gives Tane a rice ball, the most delicious that the kid’s ever had. The fateful onigiri leadsTane and his brother Minoruto ask Yutaka to teach them how to cook. Through their cooking lessons, Yutaka works through childhood trauma associated with mealtimes and finds kinship with Minoru over loneliness.
7
It’s a story familiar to many LGBTQIA+ folk: queer folk keeping their feelings for their friend a secret to avoid jeopardizing their friendship.Kimi ni wa TodokanaiorI Cannot Reach Youflips the premise a little by having Kakeru realize that his childhood best friend Yamato may be deeply in love with him.
His hunch is nearly confirmed when Yamato nearly confesses to him after Kakeru gets close to agirl at school. Yamato backs off out of fear, but the stage is set for Kakeru to think about their friendship, and if he feels the same way for his friend.
Crossplay Love: Otaku x Punk’s story can be gleaned from its Japanese title: It’s troublesome when a gloomy (nekura) kid and delinquent (yankee) who crossplay (cross-dressing cosplay) fall in one-sided love with each other.
The gloomy kid, Yuuma, works at a cross-dressing cafe where the punk, Shuumei, sees and falls in love with him. Since Shuumei’s too scared to approach Yuuma, who he believes is a woman, hedecides to crossplayas a girl to hang out at the cafe. Yuuma starts to fall for Shuumei too, except he also thinks the other boy is a woman.
Yuuma and Shuumei’s struggles with keeping up their appearances have gone on since 2018. The comedy of errors has seen progress between the two, along with the side characters, but they’ve yet to cross the threshold and get together.
Akira Minato’s had enough of city life. He quits his job in Tokyo and legs it back to his hometown. As the new proprietor of his grandfather’s coin laundry, he meets all kinds of new people. One of them is Shintaro Katsuki, a teen who doggedly pursues Minato after he accidentally reveals he’s gay.
Minato’s Laundromat or Minato’s Coin Laundry is a slice-of-life romance BL focused on Minato and Katsuki’s age-gap romance. The manga takes pains to have Minato deny Katsuki’s advances, shifts focus on the characters’ introspection about their emotions and choices and takes time to sketch out Minato and Katsuki’s individual conflicts.
It’s a slow burn without eroticism, though it’s still best suited for an older audience that can work through its themes and messy LGBT experiences. It also has a fairly well-received live-action adaptation with two seasons.
2
Kentarou is a literal dogman with a face that can scare off kids. But his regular human boyfriend Inukai can see through his stoicism, mostly because of his expressive tail. The fluffy couple are as sweet as can be, even through Inukai’s clumsiness and Kentarou’s sensitivity.
Their cute dynamic and sweet daily life form the basis ofMy Boyfriend is a DogorInukei no Kareshi, a manga where human andBeastars-like animalsco-exist. Kentarou and Inukai are a perfectly sweet adult couple, while Inukai’s workmates, the human Nekomiya and tiger Shimada, are adorably argumentative.
16+ (with adult scenes)
Even So, I Will Love You Tenderlyis a spin-off fromNo Touching At Allthat features side characters Ryo Onoda and Harumi Deguchi. Deguchi is three years older than Onoda, and they don’t have much in commonoutside of work. But they unexpectedly hit it off outside work, starting by watching a football game at a pub through a mutual friend.
Now, the jaded Deguchi has to choose between being a jaded, freewheeling bachelor or risking his feelings and friendship to make it happen with Onoda. Author Kou Yaneda’s signature angst shines through her paneling and illustration of Onoda and Deguchi’s will-they-won’t-they dilemma. Onoda and Deguchi’s development is a slow burn, with a lot of emotions at stake.
