What is BL?
BL stands for boys' love: romance stories about men falling for men. Here is what the label covers and how to find your way in.
The short version
BL is a genre of romantic fiction centred on relationships between men. It began in Japanese girls' comics in the 1970s and is now written and drawn across Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Thailand and beyond. Its creators and readers have historically been mostly women, though the audience today is much wider.
BL is a genre with its own conventions, the way romance or mystery is. It overlaps with LGBTQ+ fiction but is not the same thing: some BL is grounded and realistic about queer life, and some is pure fantasy.
The forms it comes in
- Manga from Japan, usually sold as print or digital volumes.
- Manhwa and webtoons from Korea, usually full colour and read by scrolling on a phone.
- Manhua from China, also mostly colour and published online first.
- Novels, including Chinese danmei and Korean web novels, which are often the source for the comics and dramas.
See Manga, manhwa and manhua: what is the difference? for more on the formats.
How explicit is it?
It varies a great deal. Some series are sweet school stories suitable for anyone. Others are rated 18+ and are sexually explicit, and some deal with dark subjects such as coercion and violence. Our title pages show an age rating wherever the publisher gives one, and Browse can hide 18+ titles.
Older words you may see
Yaoi and shonen-ai are older terms that English-speaking fans used for explicit and non-explicit BL. Publishers and readers now mostly just say BL.
Where to start
The Essentials Shelf has 50 well-known series, each with a line on who it suits. If you want something gentle, try the beginner recommendations. The glossary explains the vocabulary.