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?
This past weekend, for the first time ever Renta! was able to take part in a convention: Citrus Con 2024. In previous years we’ve been able to attend conventions as either industry or as sponsors, but never as actual panelists or participants. It’s admittedly a bit hard for us to stay on top of the convention game from all the way in Japan and with a relatively small English-speaking staff, so opportunities often come up only once they’re too late to jump on. But this year, we wanted to participate, and since the Citrus Con staff was so on top of everything and gave us plenty of time to get our ducks in a row, we were able to pull it off!
Citrus Con is a virtual 18+ convention dedicated to BL/queer media, shipping, fan works, and honoring how fan culture has grown in the past two decades.
Citrus Con is one of the few English anime/fandom conventions where BL a is not only welcome, but is actually the main focal point. Another wonderful selling point of Citrus Con is that it’s highly inclusive—fans of all types of ships, fandoms, and content are welcome and celebrated. Plus, since it’s online (and free!) you don’t have to break the bank traveling across the world to attend!
In this Citrus Con 2024 con report, we want to discuss the process of preparing for Citrus Con, all the activities that were available for the weekend of the convention, some of the panels we attended, and our final thoughts about attending as participants and panelists. If any of that interests you, read on!
Just like this bakery display case, Citrus Con is filled with many a delectable treat… (Shoutout to Citrus Con staff for providing their official graphics for us to include here…! They’re all so beautiful )
I think from my presence on the BLog so far, I’ve made it pretty clear that I love BL, tropes and all. I know a lot of people hate that BL as a genre is so trope-laden—smol uke characters with long lashes, massive seme character with pointy chins, private school boys who scream from the rooftops that they’re “totally not gay bro” while simultaneously lusting after their male childhood friend from puberty and sleeping with their dorm roommate, etc. For me, though, I like those tropes—maybe because they cater pretty heavily to my personal tastes, granted. All this to say, I’m not necessarily a BL reader who desires to read BL that are anti-trope. I love the smol pretty uke boys. Give me all of the smol pretty uke boys.
So, when I first saw the cover for The Doggy And The Fairy Prince, I originally thought that was what I would get: cute twink-y bowlcut boy on the cover with his big dudebro boyfriend. Great. Cute. “Can’t wait to see this boy get railed!” I thought to myself. However, I then realized the little bowlcut twink (hereon referred to by his name, Sho) actually tops the massive dumb dudebro (Kuniaki), to which I was originally pretty disappointed. I ended up having to spend a long time with this manga during the final editing process, however, and while I was originally disappointed I didn’t get what I thought I wanted, what I did get was actually even better: an absolute comedic masterpiece.
Sadly, I don’t have time to write a super long, full review right now, but we recently released the third volume and I want to recommend it while it’s still fresh in my mind: Sae Momoki’s “The Host with a Little Boy and His Dangerous Neighbor” series! This wonderful series has been running since 2019, and the fifth volume was released in Japan a little over a month ago.
The story is centered around the incredibly beautiful and popular host, Seiya. While most hosts have a reputation for being players and spending their lives out all night and sleeping all day, Seiya is different—because he’s a single father to his beloved son Tenma. Tenma is the light of his life and the center of his world, and he does his best to support Tenma while also being present as often as possible. When he runs into his kinda weird and massively sleep-deprived neighbor, Ibuki, he originally thinks the riffraff has moved into his nice high-rise apartment. But when he offers the man some food and a couch to nap on, he’s essentially changed the course of his life forever.
While Seiya has never had much of a sex drive nor an interest in romance, Ibuki is hellbent on getting close to him. After multiple bad first impressions, Ibuki is somehow able to weasel his way into Seiya and Tenma’s family after it’s found out that he’s the writer of Tenma’s favorite children’s book series, Booh Bear. Since Seiya’s been dealing with issues at work, and since it’s convenient that there’s someone who can look after Tenma who both has an open schedule (as a professional writer) and lives next door, he can barely refuse.
As Seiya learns that he can actually rely on Ibuki rather than always shouldering everything alone, they slowly get closer and closer until Ibuki becomes an indispensable part of Seiya’s world—and with it, a slow-building desire to be intimate with Ibuki that Seiya’s never felt before!
This book is a really obvious recommendation to those who really love BL where the couple raises a child together. Ibuki and Seiya run into a whole host (pun intended) of issues trying to build their life together, including people not understanding why Ibuki is part of Tenma’s life if they’re not blood-related, people doubting Seiya’s parenting because of his career path, and Tenma’s father wanting back into the picture. Through it all, though, there are wonderful themes of found family, and how the best parent for a child is often the person who truly loves and understand them.
Plus, it’s really sexy watching the slow build of Seiya and Ibuki’s intimate relationship as Seiya moves from someone who’s never really felt romantic or sexual desire, to someone who finds a lot of enjoyment in their bedroom romps. Overall, this is great BL for people who like lots of story with plenty of sweet and wholesome content, and juuust the right amount of sexy scenes and drama!
If the title of this post is giving you a little déjà vu, it might be because we’ve already made a “Cat Day”postthis year — on 2/22, specifically, as that’s the day it’s celebrated in Japan. But, as it turns out, August 8th is International Cat Day. And hey, you can never have enough cats, or opportunities to appreciate them, right? Plus, it just so happens that one of our latest Renta! releases, featuring a cat-human hybrid young man (who is very cute) recently caught my eye and didn’t let go till the very end. So, the timing was perfect to write a review for this BL that’s paws-itively remarkable!
What we’ve got here today is a story about a very dumb (but lovable) catboy overcoming the challenges of discrimination and a demanding job, and finding love in an unexpected way…
Last year, I made a post about censorship in BL manga, breaking down the legal restrictions and cultural precedents that have led to scribbled out assholes and light saber dicks galore in Japanese BL.
I also briefly touched upon the fact that, unfortunately for fans hoping to peep a fully rendered peeper in their BL, at the time of the post we had no uncensored manga available on Renta! due to, let’s say, ample caution (we are located in Japan, after all). However, it’s been a continuing discussion, as we’re always striving to provide BL fans with the Content they Want — and a sizeable portion of the fandom has spoken loud and clear: “Free Those Dongs.”
It’s been a long, hard battle, but internal discussions finally reached a climax, and a decision was reached that we think many of you will be pleased with: Renta! will now offer uncensored BL series!!!! Alongside the “censored” BL we’ve been dishing up since our early days, we now have a selection for the fans who’ve been wanting a little something “more” — a special treat just for overseas fans, because it’s too spicy to even sell in Japan!
And, what better day to unleash the hogs onto the Renta! sales floor than the day fans all around the world celebrate “yaoi” and all the gifts it’s given us?? I think it’s poetic, really
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