Make sure to cast your vote! ChillChill Awards 2025 nominees dropped this last Friday, and boy is the competition intense. Around this time last year I wrote about the ChillChill BL Awards and why they matter so much—about ChillChill’s rise from a review and indexing site into essentially the community hub for all lovers of BL manga in Japan—so I’ll spare you from having me write too much here. Nonetheless, I still wanted to make a quick index of all the nominees from the 2025 BL Awards that you can read on Renta!
Last year we had quite a few, and thankfully this year is no different. Also, not just in regards to Renta!, this year’s BL Awards are a testament to how big BL is getting in the West because many of the nominees are licensed by a variety of other localization companies—both digital and print. It’s so wonderful to see how many BL get brought to an international audience now, not to mention so fast. It used to take much longer before BL was licensed for release in the West, and the options used to be so few and far between. It’s such a testament to Western BL fans who keep showing up pushing that BL isn’t just some niche genre—it’s got a massive and excited fanbase ready and willing to support the genre and its creators in any way they can. I love that so much, both as a fan and obviously as someone who works in the field. I can work my dream job only because of the BL fans who show up to support its creation. Thank you so much!
Another thing that’s a bit of a pride point for me is that two years in a row, now, most of our associated BL Awards nominees (particularly our own licenses and localizations) are in the up-and-coming category. That’s honestly so exciting! I talked a little bit in my post about the benefits and drawbacks of being a digital licensor about how we’re able to take more risks on lesser-known, up-and-coming talent due to the lower entry fees of digital versus print, and it fires me up every time I think I get to play even a tiny part in bringing these new artists to a wider audience. And this year’s BL Awards have a particularly good mix of super popular, established artists and rising stars!
Anyway, without further ado, here’s the list of the 2025 ChillChill BL Awards titles you can find on Renta!—including some sneak peaks into exciting upcoming licenses! π€
β₯ You Should Be The One To Come Kiss Me by Yamayade
β Also nominated for Best Up-And-Coming
β₯ Pittosporum by Shino Mikami
β₯ Cosmetic Playlover by Sachi Narashima
β₯ FANGS by Billy Balibally
β₯ This Poor Beta Doesn’t Know About Love by Yashiki Shima
β₯ Lullaby of the Dawn by Ichika Yuno
β₯ Twilight Out of Focus by Jyanome
β₯ Hit On by a Kinky Guy by bov
β₯ Dream Guy Drinks a Love Potion and Goes Wild! by Banana Nangoku
β₯ Lala’s Married Life by Tamekou
β₯ Happy Shitty Life by Harada
β₯ The Foxy Mouse’s Romance by HANASAWA NAMIO
β₯ 100dB Pouring into You by Toworu Miyata
β₯ A Lonesome Wolf As Sweet As Honey by Dozaki
β Status: releasing February 15, 2025
β₯ Same wa Sakura ni Koi wo Suru by RYO
β Status: translation complete, check complete, lettering pending
β₯ SusumuΓMinoru by Mochinokome
β₯ Divorce Me, Mr. Alpha by Runa Konjiki
β₯ All About My Two Dads by Roji
β₯ Shokuba no Ikemen Eigyou wa Risou no Kainushi-sama by nocori
β Status: translation ordered
β₯ Penetrate Me With Your Eyes by NAOMI AGA & yoshi
β₯ Eat Me Up, My Husband by yukiharu
β₯ The Monster & The Ghost by Himemiko
β₯ Chew Me Up And Teach Me About Love by Pokerou
β₯ Lick Me, Bite Me, Kiss Me by Fumizuki Kumi
β₯ I Want to Spoil You by Nobiru Hoshi
β₯ Unexpectedly Naughty Fukami by Ayaka Matsumoto
β₯ Ryousha no Ikemen Douryou wa Shikou no Playmate by nocori
β Status: translation pending
β₯ Love Song For The Defective by Akota
β₯ What if I Undress Usaka After Workβ¦? -My Hot and Cold Superior’s Dirty Secret- by Tamako Hanamori
β₯ O’Kitsune-sama no O Ki ni Iri by Asahina Mashiro
β Status: releases April 2025 (tentative)
So, who’re you voting for? The competition this time is fierce—the Best Overall section alone has four of my favorite releases from the year, so I’m not sure what to do about that. Maybe I’ll just… reread everything over and over again and the answer of who should win will come to me eventually.
Voting runs until February 9th Japan time, and all you need is a ChillChill account which is super easy to make, so be sure to support all your favorite titles and artists. For more details on voting, check the 2025 ChillChill BL Awards’ official homepage. (Reminder: you can switch it into English!) Regardless of which titles win, though, I can’t wait for another round of fanfare and excitement to bring the BL fanbase together!
rentaBLog 