Here at RentaBLog, we sure do love our special calendar dates — so far, we’ve covered Good Meat Day, Cat Day, Cat Day Part 2, and even Twink(ie) Day. Last week on 11/11, BL fans and shippers around the world celebrated Pocky Day across social media, which was pretty exciting to see (so much great fanart!). But there’s one more day this month I’ve been looking forward to in particular. No, it’s not Thanksgiving — but I am very thankful for the cornucopia of BL I associate with it.
That day — today, November 22nd — is none other than いい夫婦の日 (Ii Fuufu no Hi), meaning “Good (Married) Couple’s Day” or “Good Spouses Day.” It’s a day for couples to show appreciation for one another, and to celebrate the special bond they share.
While the Japanese word for “married couple,” 夫婦 (fuufu), uses the kanji for “husband” and “wife,” the term can be used to refer to same-sex couples as well. Still, some on social media have taken to the M/M-specific term, いい夫夫の日 — here “fuufu” is pronounced the same, but uses the kanji for “husband” twice, to make it “Good Husbands Day”! I always enjoy scrolling my feed on this day, as it’s bound to be full of adorable BL and ship art tagged “#いい夫夫の日”.
Since I have a soft spot for sweet, married-couple vibes BL, I just had to take this opportunity to introduce some series on Renta! that you can read to enjoy “good husbands” all year round! 🥰
Without further ado, here are five BL series centered around married (or basically married) couples that will soothe your heart. From domestic newlywed bliss to the trials and tribulations of a long-term relationship, these manga have it all! 👨❤️💋👨
Maybe We’re Newlyweds by Chishanomi
I had to start the list off with this one — I’ve written a bit about this series before (notably when we took a field trip to the author’s special anniversary manga exhibition at Manga10), but since then we’ve released volume 3 on Renta!, and I want to introduce as many people as possible to this wonderfully funny and sweet series about two dorks helplessly in love.
Yukari and Mashiro are best buds, who met in college and became roommates. When their landlord refuses to rent to two single guys, they figure the easiest workaround is to simply… get hitched and become a couple! They’re both intelligent men who take a rigidly logical approach to life, and marrying your bro is clearly the most rational choice, as far as they’re concerned. With that, they become a married couple on paper, and their life together continues as usual for the most part… until they start having horny thoughts about each other, and jerking each other off — under the pretense that it’s only logical to get off with your spouse when you’re both in the mood, right? Nothing weird about it at all. Just two bros, fucking each other’s brains out for the efficiency and convenience of it all… no feelings involved here. (Spoiler: there are very much feelings involved here.)
There are currently 3 volumes out on Renta!, covering the various stages of Yukari and Mashiro’s “newlywed” life and beyond. It’s heartwarming to watch them grow closer as a couple and overcome the challenges that arise in their new life together. Plus, it’s such a whacky and humorous story that you’re bound to laugh out loud in between the more dramatic parts. This series will surely brighten your day and maybe just restore your faith in the power of love 💒
An Impossible Marriage & An Impossible Marriage 2
by Makoto Itsuki
This next one has a bit of an enemies-to-lovers edge to it, and paired with an arranged marriage trope, it’s a heart-pounding take on marriage of convenience.
Momoki and Chikage are suddenly forced by their families to get married, due to an old tradition by which a couple consisting of one person from their respective home villages must be formed, or else both villages will be cursed. Momoki’s (understandably) not thrilled about having to marry a stranger — and a guy, at that — even just for show. So he’s absolutely shooketh when, after the wedding ceremony, he learns that the ritual isn’t complete until the pair has consummated their marriage! Before he knows it, he’s been sent back to Tokyo to live with his younger new “husband” Chikage, and can’t dip out until they’ve done the deed! Unfortunately for them and their villages, though, they don’t get along at all. Will they put aside their differences just long enough to complete the ritual and then go their separate ways? Or, will something genuine bloom by the time they get into bed together…?
I suppose it’s a bit of a spoiler to reveal that this story has a sequel currently being released on Renta!, but I think it’s worth sharing that our seemingly hapless couple have a promising future together (just look at the contrast between the two covers!! Now that’s what I call progress!). If “An Impossible Marriage” is about a couple married in name only, you can rest assured “An Impossible Marriage 2” is about a more well-established pair finding their footing in truly married life. Plenty of love and laughs to enjoy here!
Eat Me Up, My Husband by yukiharu
If you’re in the mood for a sexy read featuring a MILF-coded older bottom with impeccable tiddies, look no further than this series dripping with sensuality (and mutual horniness).
Mizuki and Kotaro have been married for a year, and all is going swimmingly… until Mizuki starts to notice that Kotaro hasn’t been initiating sex as much. Worried that his much-younger husband has grown tired of him, the dutiful “wife” vows to win him back over with his sexy body. But, on their anniversary night, after a passionate lovemaking session, he’s hit with a shocking proposal from Kotaro… to abstain from going all the way!
Thus begins our romcom about a lovey-dovey couple having misunderstandings just because of how much they love each other, and then INTENSE makeup sex full of affection and desire. Also, if you like your bottoms on the THICC side, well, Mizuki’s got Tits and Ass for days. I’ll forever be in awe of how yukiharu-sensei manages to depict the softness of a muscular male body (and grateful that I got to hear them talk live about their passion for muscles at ChillChill Festival earlier this year).
Divorce Me, Mr. Alpha by Runa Konjiki
If you’re up for a bittersweet love story set in the Omegaverse, I can’t recommend this one enough 😍
From the title and (very beautiful) cover alone, you might think there’s more animosity between the starring married couple than there actually is… so why is divorce on the table, you ask? Well, in this interesting iteration of Omegaverse, there exists a drug that can actually undo a bond between alpha and omega. Just a few months into their pairing, Rei, the omega in the relationship, suddenly declares to his elite alpha (and childhood friend) Tensei that he’s taken such a drug — and that if Tensei can’t “give him what he wants” by the time the drug has completed its bond-nullifying effect, they’ll get divorced. Rei’s true motives behind this ultimatum, and Tensei’s desperation not to let him go, are both a mystery to each other at first, and it’ll take some serious communication between the two before they’re able to come to an agreement they’re both satisfied with.
As we delve into the pair’s past together, and the social hierarchy of the Omegaverse they exist in (whether they like it or not), this story of a so-called “fated pair” becomes a tearjerker and (digital) page-turner that you won’t get enough of. The passionate sex scenes between the couple also really hammer in just how compatible they are, regardless of what fate and the Omegaverse has in store for them.
Making My Little Fox Mine by Henrietta
Closing out this list is a dreamlike fantasy BL featuring pretty fox boys and plenty of fluff (both literally and figuratively)! 🦊
San’s an unassuming fox living in the mountains with his clan. Having spent his life ostracized due to being the only black fox in the clan and deemed a bringer of misfortune, he’s not surprised when a minor slip-up leads to the other foxes demanding that he be cast out of the clan entirely. Everyone, including San, is surprised when the pack leader, handsome and revered white fox Kanae, then appears and offers to save San by taking him as his spouse. San’s at first bewildered and appalled at the arrangement — not because he dislikes Kanae per se, but rather because he can’t understand his motives, and a lifetime of being shunned has left him distrustful of others. But, Kanae’s determined to teach him the joys of unconditional love and acceptance.
Henrietta-sensei’s gorgeous art is just one charm of this emotional, feel-good story of two souls that were meant to be together. Oh, and in this world male black foxes can get pregnant… so there’s that, too 🥴
These are just some of my personal faves, but there’s more married life BLiss in store for you! Check out the “Marriage” BL tag on Renta! to find your next ii fuufu to squee over! 💕
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