What Is BL? A Beginner's Guide to Boys Love

So you keep seeing BL everywhere and you have no idea what's going on. TikTok is obsessed with it. Your mutuals won't shut up about some Thai drama. Someone on Tumblr is crying about a fictional man again.

Here's everything you need to know.

BL stands for Boys Love.

It's a genre of fiction about romantic relationships between male characters. Novels, manga, webtoons, anime, dramas. It started in Japan decades ago and has since taken over the entire internet. The Japanese terms you might also see are yaoi or shonen-ai, but BL is the umbrella term most people use now.

That's it. That's the genre. Two guys fall in love and it's incredibly dramatic about it.

Where does it come from?

Japan originally, but right now the BL content that's dominating globally comes from a few places:

Thailand has been putting out BL dramas for years and the production quality and storytelling just keeps getting better. If you've seen anyone losing their mind over a show called KinnPorsche or Only Friends, that's Thai BL.

China has danmei, which is Chinese BL fiction. The novels are long, the worlds are incredibly detailed, and the romance takes forever to happen in the best possible way. The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation and Heaven Official's Blessing are the two that converted basically everyone.

Korea is producing BL manhwa (webtoons) and dramas at a rapid pace right now and the range is huge, from soft slice of life to full on thrillers.

Japan still has manga and anime. Sasaki and Miyano alone has made thousands of people cry happy tears.

Who reads it?

Mostly women and queer readers, though honestly the fandom is all kinds of people at this point. There's no entry requirement. If the stories grab you, you're welcome.

Why is it so addictive?

Ask any BL fan and they'll tell you it's the emotional intensity. These stories go hard on the feelings. The pining. The tension. The slow burn that takes fourteen episodes to pay off and somehow that feels correct. The tropes are iconic and the community around the genre is one of the best on the internet.

Where do I start?

Anime: Sasaki and Miyano. Easy, sweet, slow burn school romance. Perfect first BL.

Drama: My School President (Thai). Funny and warm and very easy to watch.

Novel: The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation. It's long and it will change you as a person.

That's it.

You're ready. The rabbit hole goes very deep and your to-read list is about to get out of control. We don't make the rules.

At Bright Tide Media Studios we publish BL, GL, and danmei-inspired fantasy romance. If you're writing in this space, we want to hear from you at agent@brighttidestudios.com.