Gay anime watch
For years, romance anime has ruled the hearts of anime viewers. And Boys Love anime, also famous as BL anime, is a special sub-genre in romance that explores love-related relationships between male characters as the central plot. While the BL anime genre has been widespread in Japan for many years, it has recently gained popularity around the world.
And that’s thanks to its portrayal of the LGBTQ+ community, offering compelling stories, memorable characters, and heart-warming relationships that fans adore. If that’s what you are looking for, you have come to the right place, as we list the 30 best boys love (BL) anime shows and movies you should check out.
We have compiled the most popular BL anime shows and movies adapted from manga, manhwa, Donghua, and light novel series, which are celebrated by the fans. That said, let’s dive right into the list:
1. Banana Fish (2018)
- Title: Banana Fish
- Author: Akimi Yoshida
- Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
- Episodes: 24
- IMDB/MAL: 8.2/8.5
If you’re looking for a distinctive BL anime that’s different from the norm, Banana Fish is the right pick for you. Banana Fish is an anime adapta
The 20 Best (Healthy) BL Anime on Crunchyroll
The yaoi genre, also known as Boys' Love (BL), has taken off in popularity over the past not many years. It's had a cult accompanying since it was first established in the 1960s, but now it's far more out in the open than it's ever been. Popular anime streaming services all contain at least some BL anime, and manga can be found in any bookstore shelved beside shōnen and shojo series. With this amount of attention, however, comes a clearer view of the genre's biggest problems.
A lot of BL can be uncomfortable to consume because the relationships too often fetishize predatory, non-consensual, harassing, and even abusive interactions. Popular BL like Dakaichi and The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window suffer from this, as well as classics like Junjou Romantica. As a result, many are seeking BL that don't strongly adhere to the shared, and often toxic, tropes that take charge the genre. Crunchyroll has a handful of anime that portray a healthier relationship than the BL standard, arranged from lighter shōnen-ai that hint at yaoi content to full-on mature series.
Updated on May 12th, 2025 by Chelsea Steele: BL is a niche genre of anime From my memory, it always felt appreciate BL anime existed as a genre for as extended as I can remember. Before BL dramas or movies became mainstream, BL animes and mangas were like the first frontier, depicting male romances in fiction even when it was taboo in society. In anime, the BL genre is closely associated to yaoi or shounen ai, which are labels that describe a very similar type of story. Yaoi is more explicit, shounen ai is more innocent, and BL tends to be the best of both worlds. This genre is a popular niche among certain demographics. I don't love using the term fujoshi, which has somewhat negative connections. Let's just say that people with fine taste usually observe BL animes! Despite its long history, there is surprisingly not a lot of anime to monitor in this genre. Trust me, I've done my investigate on this topic, searching high and low for some BL anime recommendations. You'd be amazed and disappointed at how little the selection there is compared to all the other genres. And since the selection is so compact, this makes it even harder for a good anime series to appear along. As exceptional as they may be, there're still some excellent options. BL Watcher has consumed them all and