Cherry Magic!

It has such a fun premise: the ability to read minds, but only upon physical contact! Beyond that, the characters are mature enough / not stupid.

Shoutout to Isekai Office Worker for quickly becoming one of my favourites. It is airing this season, and has a unique-enough premise too: dude got isekai-ed, but is such a corporate slave that he volunteered to do his usual job of accounting.

Started watching this one because I love to hate on the tropes in terrible isekai, but the characters are competent and it threw me off how refreshing that was 😅.

I was several episodes in before I realized there were no women and realized the target audience was other than I. It's good!

https://anilist.co/manga/128799/Odayaka-Kizoku-no-Kyuuka-no-Susume/

That's gonna be a tough one. I'm split evenly between Brave Bang Bravern! and The Summer Hikaru Died. I think Bravern just barely edges it out for me, but it kinda depends if you want action/comedy or horror.

I still regularly listen to both the OP and ED of Bravern. Incredible show from top to bottom.

I still regularly listen to both the OP and ED of Bravern

They're some of the most-played songs on my workout playlist. Currently trying to memorize the lyrics for karaoke.

Incredible show from top to bottom

I agree; the main characters were both great!

There's some great chemistry around hideyoshi in baka to test.

Does black butler count?

I'd say the best one is love stage. 🥰

https://anilist.co/anime/20520/love-stage

Cherry Magic also had a very good JDrama adaption. I saw that first and honestly prefer it to the anime.

Can't decide between Banana Fish, The Summer Hikaru Died, and Cherry Magic

I have an enduring soft spot for Antique Bakery, although more the manga than the anime. (Isekai Office Worker is probably better, though.)

What is BL?

Boys' Love

How did I miss this post?! I have a duty here as a fujo/dan. *rolls up sleeves*

1. Doukyuusei: This one is a movie. It was the first BL anime that I watched and actually liked. Devoured the manga after.

2. Given (Season 1): This was a turning point in my relationship with BL. Before this anime, I had only really read/watched old-school rapey BL, so I thought it was always like that (with the exception of Doukyuusei, which I thought was a one-off). This series showed me that BL was much more than that, even though it gets a bad rep.

3. Yarichin Bitch Bu: What can I say 😅 It's definitely not for everyone, but I enjoy it because of how crazy and ridiculous it is. Plus it helped me find my #4 pick...

4. Saezuru Tori wa Habatakanai: The quality of this adaptation is actually not that good, imho. It's carried by the story and vibes, which were more than good enough to capture my attention and spur me on to seek out and read the source manga.

That being said, there aren't very many good BL anime, because it's niche and so whenever there's an adaptation (which is relatively rarely), the resources it gets assigned are usually low, and so production is subpar. Manga is where it's at.

Anyway, gonna go rewatch Doukyuusei.