The world of manga and anime has many genres to pick from, including BL manga or Boy’s Love genre. Many people hesitate when it comes to yaoi manga, but in all honesty, the whole genre is more than just boys’ love. The genre is often considered very wholesome, although it can also be spicy for those wanting to read something more intense.
It revolves around the idea of men loving each other, but just like many things, it is only one of its foundations, not a decisive aspect of the genre. Thus, it can be enjoyed by many! On the other hand, it can also be a great way to know some of the men’s struggles with their sexuality and teach many lessons about the field.
That is why, for those interested in the genre, I want to share a list of the best BL manga titles of the current time that cover many emotional aspects, from love to wholesome stories to even ones filled with drama and serious topics. With that said, let’s begin with a title that can be enjoyed by anyone that loves wholesomeness!
Best Boy’s Love & Yaoi Manga Recommendations (2023)
1. Our Dining Table by Ori Mita
The story of Our Dining Table focuses on Yutaka, often considered a dull person, who hates eating with other people because of remarks he has received in the past about how his mere presence would turn mealtime dull and food terrible tasting. Thus, he has decided to eat his meals alone whenever possible.
One day, however, he meets a couple of siblings with a considerable age gap, Tane and Minoru, and ends up sharing some of his food with Tane. Liking it so much, the small kid manages to convince him to teach them cooking since, according to him, it was the best rice ball he had ever eaten.
Unable to reject the children’s petition, they end up meeting regularly. The relationship between the two brothers brings bad memories back, and things become even more complicated as the elder brother and the main protagonist become closer.
2. The World’s Greatest First Love: The Case of Ritsu Onodera by Shunguki Nakamura
Ritsu Onodera quits his job as a literary editor due to the jealousy and claims people make because of his father’s renown. He eventually joins a new publishing company, ending up in a position he didn’t want, the department for shoujo manga.
Considering the idea of quitting because of his new boss, whom he finds very obnoxious and insupportable, he decides to keep doing his best due to the boss’s remarks about him being useless.
The boss’s name is Masamune Takano, and Ritsu learns he’s actually the guy he confessed his feelings to when they were in high school. The thing is, Masamune is still in love with him and makes a declaration of war, claiming that he will make Ritsu love him again. Thus, the story of these two people begins.
This is among the most popular boy’s love manga series you will see in this list, if not the most popular one, mainly because it is often considered one of the classics since it started in 2006. The World’s Greatest First Love: The Case of Ritsu Onodera is a perfect place to start if you are a beginner in the world of yaoi manga!
3. Sasaki and Miyano by Shou Harusono
Miyano, from Sasaki and Miyano manga, is secretly a fan of BL manga. He’s very passionate about his hobby but hides it from others because of what people might think of him. That is until he meets Sasaki, an upperclassman who he befriends.
Poor Sasaki knows nothing about the world of “boy’s love” but is willing to learn more about it for the sake of his new friend. Of course, the situation leads to many things, including a deeper relationship flourishing between the two.
A fraction of the manga has been adapted to anime. More specifically, 2 of its volumes have been recently adapted into an anime. The manga series has 9 volumes in total, so I recommend reading the manga if you want more content! Of course, you can always enjoy both anime and manga and compare the differences, an activity many manga and anime enthusiasts enjoy.
4. Seven Days by Venio Tachibana & Rihito Takarai
Yuzuru, a third-year student, is pretty popular among girls but never manages to hit a long-lasting relationship. Apparently, he never acts the way they expect him to. Thus, they eventually break up with him.
We also have Touji, a first-year student who is also very popular among girls and always goes out with whoever asks him. He, on the contrary, breaks up with them after a week when he feels no feelings have developed on his side.
The story of Seven Days starts when Yuzuru jokingly asks Touji to go out with him to see if the rumors are true. Touji accepts, but Yuzuru doesn’t know that things will go unexpectedly between them, even after the first week has passed.
5. Junjou Romantica by Shungiku Nakamura
This yaoi manga, Junjou Romantica, is a little unique since it involves three different couples in three different series, titled the Romantica, Egoist, and Terro, each focusing on a different aspect of the genre.
For instance, Romantica is about Misaki and Akihiko. These two people have a very conflictive relationship as tutor and student, a relationship which, of course, improves over time and develops into something else.
The Egoist is about Akihiko’s childhood friend, Hiroki, who has always been in love with Akihiko, although things never worked out for him. Hiroki meets a young man who asks him to be his tutor, and as you might have expected, things go further than just a relationship between tutor and student.
Lastly, the Terrorist focuses on Hiroki’s coworker, You Miyagi, who is constantly harassed by Shinobu Takatsuki, who is the little brother of his ex-wife and the son of his current boss.
6. Given by Natsuki Kizu
Given manga series involves the world of music, mainly through the eyes of the members of the band known as The Seasons. The main protagonists are Mafuyu, who becomes the singer; Ritsuka, the guitarist; Haruki, the bassist; and Akihiko, the drummer.
It all starts when Ritsuka becomes a guitar teacher for Mafuyu, and he quickly notices that the apprentice has a lot of talent for singing, so he eventually joins the band. Mafuyu, however, has a very traumatic past that he ignores, and things become complicated as they grow closer.
On the other hand, there’s also the relationship between Haruki and Akihiko, with one having feelings for the other and the other having a very experienced background in romantic relationships.
Personally, this is one of those boy’s love manga stories that become deeper as you read them since it introduces more characters with similar situations but different personalities and emotional aspects, providing different contrasts of what you can expect from the genre. I generally recommend this one for beginners.
7. Go For It, Nakamura! by Syundei
Being young involves many struggles, including hiding your sexuality from society because of all the issues it might cause. This is the challenge Okuto Nakamura deals with on a daily basis, especially since he developed special feelings for one of his classmates, Aiki Hirose.
Things are even more complicated for Nakamura because he has never talked with Hirose. He challenges himself to create situations where the two could get to know each other, but things never seem to work, and the outcomes can be rather comedic. Of course, it doesn’t mean that Okuto will stop trying!
8. The Summer of You by Nagisa Furuya
A lot of BL manga involves the beginning of a relationship between two characters and the development until both characters end up together. In the case of The Summer of You, the relationship is already a thing because the two main characters, Chiharu Saeki and Wataru Toda, are close friends.
Saeki is a very handsome guy and pretty popular among the ladies. Still, he keeps rejecting their proposals to become their boyfriend by telling them there’s someone he already likes, who happens to be his friend, Wataru.
They share a deep love of watching movies, so they go to movie theatres together all the time and take turns choosing the movies they should watch. One day, Saeki confesses his feeling for Wataru but tells him it’s okay if he doesn’t feel the same way. In exchange, Saeki asks Wataru to travel with him over the summer to tour all the famous locations of their favorite movies. How will this journey affect the relationship of these young guys? You’ll have to read this fantastic yaoi manga to find out!
There’s also a sequel to the series titled The Summer With You that is as amazing as this one. You should probably read that too!
9. I Hear the Sunspot by Yuki Fumino
The story of I Hear The Sunspot manga is pretty simple, but it showcases one particular aspect that is barely touched in the world of both manga and anime – deafness.
Taichi Sagawa, a college student, learns that one of his classmates, Kohei Sugihara, is deaf. To help him out, he decides to take it upon himself to take notes of the classes for him. They, of course, become close friends, and this friendship eventually leads to stronger feelings.
10. Koimonogatari: Love Stories by Tohru Tagura
Like many others, this boy’s love manga revolves around two high school students, but the story is not as simple as just that. Yuiji accidentally learns that Yamato, a classmate of his, is gay. He also notices that Yamato likes another classmate, one that is unaware of the fact that Yamato likes him.
Even though Yuiji learns about it, he decides to keep the secret only because Yamato is a very nice guy and wants him to be at ease with his situation. This course of events gets them to become close friends, but they might start getting closer as the story progresses.
I consider Koimonogatari: Love Stories to be a very wholesome manga, and since it’s relatively short, you can pretty much finish it in a single day if you binge-read it. A personal favorite of mine, so I highly recommend it!
11. Seaside Stranger: Umibe no Etranger by Kanna Kii
Being homosexual likely brings problems your way, and sadly, this is the case for Shun, whose parents decided to disown him because he’s gay. For that reason, Shun decides to move with his aunt to a coastal town on one of the islands near Okinawa.
There, he coincidentally meets Mio, who is struggling with the loss of his parents with only the help of the sea. They become close to one another and slowly open their hearts until Mio brings the news that he’s leaving. Three years later, he returns to confess his feelings for Shun, but Shun is not sure he wants to be in a relationship with him. Thus, a story of progress begins!
12. Love Stage!! by Eiki Eiki & Mikiyo Tsuda
Love Stage!! was a rather popular BL manga series, mainly because its anime adaptation became really acclaimed by the community. Even then, there are some differences between the manga and its anime, as happens with many titles, so I would still recommend reading the manga. If you know nothing about it, you can always consume the two and see how they differ!
Izumi dreams of becoming a manga artist, but his parents, who belong to the entertainment industry, want him also to be part of the business. Even then, Izumi is not interested in the slightest. But as a child, he had to be a part of a wedding ad where he played the role of a little girl alongside another child actor known as Ryoma.
One day, the same company that ran the ad wants to re-run it with the same actors, so they contact Izumi and Ryoma, and Izumi has to dress as a girl to play his part. However, unknown to him, Ryoma has always had feelings for Izumi, and even when he learns that Izumi is actually a boy, his feelings for him don’t dwindle.
13. Only the Flower Knows by Rihito Takarai
The story of Only the Flower Knows follows Youichi, who is leading a pretty successful life. With no problems with classes, plenty of friends, and a beautiful girlfriend named Kanami, his university life is going as smoothly as possible. One day, though, he bumps into Shouta at a train station, who loses a very important necklace in the process.
Youichi holds the necklace for him, and after bumping into him many times afterward, he becomes interested in Shouta. They eventually end up working together in a laboratory, and the interest he initially felt for him blooms into something else.
Considering Youichi’s circumstances and the fact that he’s already in a relationship, it only makes things more complicated for him to notice his actual feelings. Still, this only makes for a much more exciting story and development.
14. Mr. Mini Mart by Junko
As showcased in a couple of yaoi manga shown in this list, being homosexual can sadly bring trouble to people. This is another occasion that causes problems for the main character, causing him to drop from school and start working at a convenience store to make ends meet.
This main character’s name is Endou Hiroshi, and now being 17 years old, he has become a NEET and a shut-in who barely goes outside for anything besides work. He manages to get a job at a convenience store, but one of his coworkers, Yamai Kouhei, makes everything much harder for him thanks to his rowdy and aggressive nature.
However, Endou manages to catch a glimpse at a very kind side of Yamai, and he starts thinking that Yamai might not be such a bad person after all. Weirdly drawn by this new side he has found in him, Endou decides to get to know him better, developing a close relationship as time passes.
15. Ten Count by Rihito Takarai
Tadaomi Shirotani suffers from a condition known as mysophobia, which can be translated as a highly intense fear of germs, dirt, and anything unhygienic. His condition is so bad that even the thought of going outside causes him distress.
By coincidence, he eventually meets a mysterious man, a psychiatrist known as Riku Kurose, who acknowledges the gravity of Tadaomi’s circumstances. He takes it upon himself to heal him to finally set him free from his condition, which constantly makes his life harder.
As part of his exposure therapy, Riku asks Tadaomi to make a list of 10 things he would be the most reluctant to do. Tadaomi is suspicious and is left baffled as to why he would show such kindness to someone he has just met. And Riku is not hiding anything because he accepts that he has an ulterior motive, which he will reveal when they reach the final item on the list.
Of course, things start simple, but as they become more acquainted, feelings start to develop between the two.
16. No Touching At All by Kou Yoneda
Toshiaki has had to deal with a very traumatic event in the past, having to quit his job as a result. Over at his new job, he gets trapped inside an elevator alongside his new boss, Yousuke, who is surprisingly drunk at the moment. As you might have expected, this makes him hesitant to interact with him in the future even more because of his frivolous and irritating attitude.
Things change for the better when Toshiaki notices how much Yousuke supports and motivates him. But, because of a previous relationship he had with a coworker that ended badly and made him quit his job, Toshiaki decides to ignore the attraction he feels. Even then, Toshiaki and Yousuke develop a real friendship, and Toshiaki will eventually learn of Yousuke’s sorrowful past.
17. Restart After Coming Back Home by Cocomi
Mitsuomi is fired from his job as a salaryman in Tokyo. Thus, as his funds dwindle, he decides to return to his hometown in the countryside, a place he has not seen for over 10 years. The countryside can be rather judgmental, so he struggles to earn the trust of his family and the community he once gets in.
As he struggles, he has an unexpected encounter with Yamato, a man younger than him who was adopted by one of the nearby families. They become friends, and this friendship evolves as they interact constantly. However, things do become much more complex between the two when Mitsuomi kisses Yamato while he sleeps.
Restart After Coming Back Home is a very cute, wholesome boy’s love manga, and a relatively short one at that. This is another title I recommend for beginners wanting to read something easy to digest.
Conclusion
If you are new to the genre of BL or yaoi, or just someone who wants to wet their toes into the genre a little bit more, I believe this list contains everything you might be able to enjoy.
This list of yaoi manga not only features stories where sweet romance and love blossom between two characters but also the struggles and emotional aspects a person in the gay community might have to deal with, providing very deep yet rich insight on the matter.
You have multiple boys’ love manga to pick from, each with similar premises but unique developments to its story and characters, so you can choose the ones that appear to be the most interesting. However, as mentioned in many of them, I consider a couple of choices best for newcomers, so try them out if you are new to the world of BL manga!
Also Read: Best Yuri Manga of 2023