As we get ready to make 2025 an even more successful and exciting year filled with tons of great manga, we still wanted to look back on our favorite BL of 2024! That’s right, it’s once again time for our BL Staff Awards!
This time we have the usual Ames (hello), Sou, and Yomogi from the localization team, and then the wonderful Pochi, Snow, and Ann from our sales and marketing teams! So if you want to see what we enjoyed having the opportunity to work alongside this year, please read on!
Same as last year, we have the following categories:
Feel free to click on each category to go directly to that section, or you can meander through from start to finish to get that full 2024 BL experience! We also decided everyone only had to fill out the sections they have an actual response for, so just know you’re getting our true recommendations!
The Renta! BL team wanted to do a Christmas special again this year, and we were racking our brains on what we could possibly post. Last year’s Christmas BL rec post was actually shockingly time-intensive (two whole 10+ hour work days on top of my regular workload…), so I didn’t have it in me to do it this year. And a manga like A Gift From Santa Claus only comes once a lifetime, and I obviously wasn’t going to review it twice. We spent about an hour in the BL meeting just going in circles—BL recs based on Christmas songs? How about based on popular holiday foods?
But then the glorious Sou was like “well… how about which BL characters will get coal in their stocking?” And thus the “Naughty x Nice” Christmas BL Special was born! For this, the Renta! BL team got together and thought of three recommendations for the following four categories:
・Nice Seme x Nice Uke ・Nice Seme x Naughty Uke ・Naughty Seme x Nice Uke ・Naughty Seme x Naughty Uke
Some boys will be getting a lump of coal and a spanking (😘) this Christmas season, so to see who’s on Santa’s shit-list and who’ll be getting exactly what they asked for, read on!
Sometimes you see a cover and you’re just like “yeah, I’m gonna like that series.” Just one look, and you add it to the cart. You don’t read the description, you don’t read the tags, you don’t look at the reviews—you don’t need them. You just know this specific book was made for you. And that’s how I felt the second I saw The Top-Ranked Omega Doesn’t Believe In Destiny.
First of all, the redhead bottom—Aka—is just so extremely My Type. The art is beautiful and the linework is so soft and clean. The coloring is stunning. The contrast between the two character is also extremely eye-catching and instantly speaks to their personalities: Aka and Soei’s colors contrast brilliantly, Aka in intense fiery red with Soei in soft, calm blue—as does their level of undress with Soei fully clothed in a suit while Aka only has open shirt and collar, not to mention the difference between Aka’s look of sensual arrogance, while Soei looks serious and concerned. I knew without even reading a single page I was going to love both of these characters as well as their dynamic.
And, sure enough…! So if you, too, are interested in seeing what’s so intriguing about this top-rated omega and his elite suitor, read on!
As you may have gleaned from our previous publisher showcase on KiR as well as our Citrus Con panel about the ins and outs of BL localization, when it comes to manga, paying attention to the publisher (and the publishing lines within) matters not just in terms of the type of content on offer, but also how easily a license request can be fulfilled. Different companies have ties with different publishers, either through long-standing relationships and trust building, or simply because they may be the subsidiary of a larger company. So it’s useful to pay attention to what publishers a localization company already has in their roster, because if they’ve licensed from them once, chances are the process of doing it again will be much smoother.
As I mentioned in the KiR showcase, we’ve had a long relationship with them as a publishing line, and frequently release their content. But another publisher we have a good relationship with is Brite Publishing, the larger company behind the two BL lines Tulle and B.Pilz . Our long-standing relationship with Brite Publishing is a major reason we’re able to bring you guys so many of their wonderful titles.
As you canmaybetell, we at the RentaBLog love Brite Publishing and the mangaka who release stories under them. I’ve discovered many of my more recent favorite mangaka through getting to work on Brite Publishing stuff through Renta!, and it’s made me really want to help push their BL out to a wider audience.
One of the things I love about Brite is that, as a medium-size publisher, they work with a great mix of established and newer, lesser-known mangaka. This not only means getting to experience lots of new art and writing styles, but since the artists are newer to the scene, they bring a fresh new take on established tropes and stories. Because of this, you might see a lot of youth culture references (which also makes them fun to translate—we live for the challenge!) or themes that previously didn’t show up in BL much. It makes it so there’s always something new and exciting releasing under Brite!
For that reason, we (me, and our newest BL Team member Yomogi) decided we’d showcase a handful of our Brite Publishing favs! (Aside from, you know, the many, many, many we’ve reviewed on the BLog already… hehe★)
I was first introduced to this manga when my friend who worked at Coolmic said “you’ll love this series; you have to read it.” And while I usually take his recommendations, since he knows me well, for some reason I put off reading it—maybe because my “to-read” list is already massive, or maybe because I’m usually not that into megane characters. But, his recommendation aside, I kept seeing it in the trending and top rankings of the various online bookstores I go to for intel, and I eventually was like “FINE, JEEZ, I’LL READ IT!”
And, boy howdy, am I glad I did. I feel like you’ll see my experience replicated in the reviews for the series on Renta! as well: almost everyone who reads this reports being kind of blown away by how enjoyable it is. It’s cute. It’s funny. It’s very sexy. So, what exactly is the magic of Unexpectedly Naughty Fukami? Let me explain.
The story follows Kaji. Loved by his coworkers, admired by women on the street, and just overall seen as the pinnacle of capability and manhood, Kaji seems like a great guy. In reality, however, Kaji’s a total piece of shit. He’s arrogant, callous, and incredibly calculating. He fakes his Nice Guy™ personality at the office while looking down on his coworkers, thinks lowly of anyone who isn’t appropriately “attractive” by his standards, and gives every man he sees a score from 0 to 100, judging their worth on their status, style, and looks above all else.
Granted, all of these aspects of his personality are because he’s desperately hiding his sexuality from those around him and trying his best to keep people from ever knowing him on a deeper level. If he’s perfect, no one will ever question him. Still, this has left his personality completely twisted to the point where he sees everyone around him as objects to fit his needs at any given time.
Enter Fukami, a coworker from the tech department at Kaji’s company. Fukami is frumpy, unsociable, and bland, hiding behind uncut hair and thick glasses. Thus, when he’s paired with with Fukami for an overnight business trip to clear up a bug in another prefecture’s system, Kaji’s incredibly judgmental. While they’re on their business trip, Kaji secretly leers at Fukami and rates him a “total 0.” However, at the hotel that night, Fukami walks out of the shower and—he’s stunning!??? Dressed in the skimpy hotel nightshirt, bare legs in full view, and hair finally out of his face, Fukami is incredibly, 100% Kaji’s type—from 0 to 100 in an instant. So shocked, Kaji drops his phone—leaving the gay hookup app he was previously browsing in full view.
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! 👨❤️💋👨
When I was lucky enough to attend the ChillChill BL 2024 Awards Ceremony and meet up with the head of Futekiya, they told me their coworker often attends little business seminars put on by ChillChill. This was the first time I’d heard of such a thing—business seminars specifically catered to people looking to spread the gospel of BL manga? Sign me up!
These seminars, aptly titled Fujoshi Marketing Kenkyuujo (or “Fujoshi Marketing Lab”), are run by SANDIAS, a BL marketing research firm associated with ChillChill. SANDIAS’s aim is to understand fujoshi and BL culture, and as such, they host seiyuu events, assist with the BL Awards, and help push other types of content (oshikatsu, idols, etc.) that might appeal to fans within that realm. The seminars can be watched via their YouTube channel as well. I highly recommend them if you can understand Japanese—they’re honestly fascinating, especially if you’re the type of dork who loves to look at the figures behind the things you love. Also, since ChillChill is one of the most well-known BL sites and is trusted and beloved by the BL community, it’s a bit easier for them to get interesting and varied stats from their surveys.
That being said, I wasn’t able to attend one until earlier this month, which we definitely had to set aside time for: Foreign Fans and Japanese BL Manga. ChillChill surveyed over 600 BL fans, half of which were English-speaking (EN) and the other half Chinese-speaking (CN), both from a multitude of different countries, and asked questions about their tastes and interests in BL, as well as their reading and spending habits. Originally, I wasn’t going to write a BLog post about it, but there was some information presented that I found really interesting, so I wanted to share that with our readers.
I’ll only be sharing a few of the slides to make my points, since I want to make sure ChillChill and SANDIAS get all the proper credit for their work. However, you can actually request the full presentation on their downloads page for free, along with previous seminar materials. For those who want to see all the data, please make sure to check that out! One video for the presentation is linked above, but be sure to check in on their YouTube channel regularly (and maybe even drop a sub) in case they continue to post content from this seminar as well as other interesting content in the future.
Last time we had a sale on ShuCream POP, it seemed like many of our Twitter followers were well-versed in the publisher’s content. And I can see why—ShuCream consistently releases great stories, from silly, sweet comedies like Red-Light Trouble to dramatic, heavy stories like Pain, Sweet Pain. Most anything you could be looking for in a BL manga, ShuCream has it in their catalogue somewhere!
We’ve recently started releasing a handful of newer ongoing titles, however, that are all really fun and cute and I’d thus like to introduce here. This doesn’t include long-running series like omegaverse classic What We Do When The Curtain Comes Down—that one deserves it’s own long-form review one of these days—but some of the newer ones we haven’t had much of a chance to push yet.
Yuma’s been yearning for his older childhood friend Akito ever since they had an encounter in middle school, and when his chance finally comes, he’s shocked to realize Akito’s actually the bottom. In all his fantasies he’d imagined he’d bottom. Still, he’s happy to take on any role as long as it means he can be with the man he’s loved since childhood. Unfortunately for him, it seems Akito is having a hard time getting over his previous boyfriend, who he lived with for years. Even after Yuma starts living with Akito, Akito can’t seem to throw out his ex’s things. Is Yuma really going to be able to put aside his own feelings to live with the ghost of Akito’s ex if it means he gets to stay by Akito’s side, even if it’s going to cause him tremendous pain in the process? A BL manga about what it feels like to be the “rebound” and try to support your partner through their previous breakup while also having to acknowledge and respect your own limits. Yuma makes some bad decisions, but will he be able to prove his love for Akito before it’s too late?
Hiroyuki meets his distant cousin Wataru at their grandfather’s funeral. Beautiful but flippant, and annoyed by Hiroyuki’s innocence, professional model Wataru arrogantly comes on to him and offers to “buy” his virginity. A senior in high school, Hiroyuki’s been desperate to figure out how to pay for his upcoming college expenses after his father’s bankruptcy, so a popular, stunning, wealthy model offering to “buy” him is a chance he can’t possibly pass by. But Hiroyuki is still an incredibly sweet, kind young man, and so he doesn’t want to just fuck Wataru and get it over with—Wataru is beautiful, after all, and there’s a deep sadness within him that Hiroyuki can’t help but be intrigued by. As he finds himself more and more attracted to Wataru, however, it becomes harder for him to accept that once he gives Wataru his virginity, they have no reason to ever associate with each other again. I have to admit, Wataru is absolutely my type, so I’m with Hiroyuki here—I can’t wait to learn more about him and see him open up to Hiroyuki as the story unfolds!
Both Sou and I are obsessed with this series. Kou is a hard worker, but he can seem a bit cold and standoffish. However, office prince and salesman extraordinaire Eito is up to the challenge of befriending him. While at work they seem like perfect enemies, with Kou constantly nagging Eito to fill out his expense report right, as soon as they leave work Eito is actually one of the only people who knows Kou’s secret: he’s gay. As Kou slowly learns more and more of Eito’s secrets, too, the two become almost inseparable—but as Eito wants to continue getting closer, finding himself more and more attracted to Kou, Kou isn’t willing to let himself see Eito as anything other than a coworker and incredibly precious friend. Is there anything Eito can do to make Kou see him as a potential partner, or is Kou’s past trauma around dating straight friends going to get in the way of deepening his relationship with the man who loves and treasures him the most in the whole world. Kou and Eito’s personalities clash, but at the end of the day they complete each other so entirely that it’s impossible (and so incredibly painful) to imagine them not ending up together.
Rui’s the most popular groomer at his pet salon—with the dogs, at least. When an incredibly stylish man, Joji, comes in with a Siberian husky, Rui can’t help but be struck by how handsome and cool they look together—to the point where, when he sees the dog out wandering the streets later that day, he knows exactly who the owner is. He takes the dog into his apartment for safe keeping, in bliss at having a wonderful furry friend around (in his no-pets-allowed apartment). When he’s woken up in the middle of the night by a loud noise, however… Joji is in his apartment?? And he’s naked? And where’s the dog? Not to mention, Joji claims being intimate with Rui is the only way he can learn to control his urges and, thus, his body’s tendency to revert to his dog form. Rui is incredibly cute, and I just love how lovestruck Joji is, so I can’t wait to see how this one will continue to unfold—Rui seems to have trouble accepting his attraction to Joji, so how with Joji convince him they’re meant to be? And what’s this secret Joji seems to be hiding?
Have you read any of these yet? We’d love to hear what you think! Let us know your thoughts (or any personal ShuCream POP recommendations in the comments or on Twitter!
Iyada’s Dear My Killer Tune first caught my attention the second it was brought to Renta!—not because of the great art or the eye-catching cover or the intriguing description. No, when it was brought to Renta!, Sou sent me a screencap of one of the main characters, Haru. “This looks like something you’d like,” they said, referring to his pretty face and giant floofy hairstyle. And they were right.
Dear My Killer Tune is the story of Harutaka, a 26-year-old hair stylist who’s been obsessed with the rock band The Lazy Rats since he was a child. He’s in their fanclub, and he goes to every show. And, while he loves all the members, he’s particularly obsessed with their guitarist, 43-year-old Himemiya. So when, the day after their concert, Hime suddenly shows up at the salon where Haru works, Haru can barely handle it—especially since, while Hime was originally there to have his hair done by Haru’s boss, he ends up asking Haru to do it for him. Pleased with the haircut and enamored by Haru’s skill, enthusiasm as his fan, and awkward allure, Hime can’t help but continue to think back on him every time he touches his hair. As fate continues to push the two together, though, as much as Haru is ecstatic to be closer to the man he’s idolized for years, he can sense his emotions for Hime taking a turn for the more intense—and more greedy. But public figures belong to all their fans, so what is Haru supposed to do?
rentaBLog 