Cuteness Overload: “A Lonesome Wolf As Sweet As Honey”

Read on Renta!:
A Lonesome Wolf As Sweet As Honey by Dozaki

Japanese:
はちみつとオオカミ
Hachimitsu to Ookami

Links:
Dozaki Twitter
Tulle Twitter (Publishing line)

One day in the Renta! office, my colleague was excited to share that they were working on a very sweet and fluffy BL. Because it had been a while since I read a wholesome BL manga, my curiosity was piqued, and I just HAD to find some pockets of time between tasks to find out what all the BUZZ🐝 (bees… honey… get it?) was all about. And, as you might’ve expected, it didn’t take long for me to fall in love with this beautiful story.

This BL is the epitome of cuteness overload. I felt a light tugging at my heart with every chapter. Not only are the characters’ emotions depicted with subtlety, the story also struck a chord for me as someone who found himself quite lonely in high school due to his sexuality. So, if you’re looking for a series that features the themes of loneliness, friendship, and romance, read on.

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ChillChill Awards 2025!

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! 🤭

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