TOP 5 BL TITLES THAT I’D LIKE TO SEE ANIMATED

Because, you know, the industry’s DYING to know my tastes. This was a list I thought of while writing my first impressions on Sasaki and Miyano’s first episode, and because I couldn’t post a BL review yesterday, here’s my promised list of BL titles I’d like to see animated.

As the saying goes, we are going to dream BIG here! I won’t settle for anything less than the quality of 86 or Jujutsu Kaisen. I’ll pretend I’m Daisuke from the Millionaire Detective and have infinite resources so I can pour into these productions any size of budget the artists want. I’ll also refer to other series when I have a specific artistic direction or style in mind. Without further ado, here are my picks in no particular order!

CANIS BY ZAKK

Of course there are a lot of series I’d like to see moving on the screen, so I tried to limit my picks to titles I haven’t mentioned before (or a lot) on my blog. But… I’m a weak woman. Canis is a series I love, and think it’s beautiful inside and out. The plot has a lot of details that can grab your interest: a temperamental haberdasher who’s lost his inspiration, a mysterious, battered young man he finds on the street and takes in, tear-jerking past events, and mafia-like organizations; you name it!

The first time I laid my eyes on this series, the character designs screamed French but I don’t have any basis I can support my claim on this. Anyways, if it were to get Triplets of Belleville treatment, I think that’d be perfect! You can get a copy of the first volume Canis: Dear Mr. Rain from Kuma’s website.

I’LL MAKE YOU CRY BY NOZOMU HIIRAGI

I’m sorry but there will NEVER come a time where I’ll say no to cute, yankee high schoolers. Add a pink pompadour to one of them, sprinkle some sassy bottom x bigger and stoic top dynamic, you have me at your beck and call. Nozomu Hiiragi is an artist I met through I’ll Make You Cry, and gosh do I adore this series. Maki and Kou are childhood friends and they’re practically glued to each other, including the fights they get into. When Maki learns his friend Kou has erectile dysfunction because he’s been keeping his feelings for Maki hidden all these years, you’d expect Maki to be shocked but no. Kou is the least subtle person in the world and now that they are dating, we get to see how their relationship develops. 

I don’t expect much from the studio who’ll handle this series except that 1) I need them to do justice to Maki’s hair, and 2) Maki and Kou have great chemistry and I need to see that been-married-for-the-past-50-years-even-tho-we’re-15 vibe on the screen. While the anime is in the making, you can find I’ll Make You Cry in Futekiya’s library!

THE NEW RECRUIT BY MOSCARETO & ZEC

Office romances are like rice (or bread, depending on your culture’s cuisine) in the romance genre, so I had to add at least one title. I don’t think anyone would track me down and make me regret saying The New Recruit is one of the finest examples of office romances. No cap. Seunghyun has been unlucky in the love department. He was devastated because his long-time crush didn’t come to fruition and that lead to him swearing he won’t be getting involved with someone he will be in the same room for the most time. After being accepted into the internship of his dreams and an alcohol-induced kiss with his superior Kim Jongchan, Seunghyun is at a loss of what to do. 

From the summary above, it’s pretty much your run-of-the-mill office romance but I’m in awe of how excellent the writing is and The New Recruit‘s beauty is in how these tropes are handled. I won’t even use the scientific purposes card, I want this series animated purely for my own happiness and satisfaction. The mature version is still being released on Lezhin while the all-ages version is completed on Manta and it’s free on the app. It’s literally waiting for you to read it. Do it for world peace. Or the perfection that is Kim Jongchan.

ELECTRIC BONES BY HAZEL + BELL

I’m inclined to say that science fiction is not too common in BL manga/manhua, but maybe the reason is that we don’t get them licensed in English. Hence, I can find titles that venture into science fiction as comics. In this magnificently drawn comic, Lucian has been let go from work and as any other person would be, he’s pissed and is ready to let loose and relax. The happy plan is cut short the moment he comes across the person behind the very reason he’s been fired: the robot colleague he was working with. 

I came across Electric Boones when I was looking for something to read for free and I’ve been in love with it ever since. The progress is a bit slow because the chapters are short but can’t wait for the new updates. This series would be amazing when adapted, and I’d like to see some papery texture and maybe a paper lightbox feel to it. I don’t know why but I was reminded of The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack when I thought of an artistic direction. I’ll be contacting Cartoon Network while you enjoy Electric Bones for free on Tapas.

FATE MAKES NO MISTAKES BY SHIN

I’m not huge on fantasy, but I was intrigued by the poster and had seen lots of people praise Fate Makes No Mistakes, or FMNM for short, so I gave in. Boy, was I not ready for my heart shattering into pieces… Our protagonist Eunjae is in a bind. He’s been having night terrors where a being is, well, doing as he pleases with him. He’s in an awful condition and has lapses where he doesn’t remember what he’s been doing. When he wakes up from one of those lapses, he finds himself in front of a speeding truck, in the middle of a road. He is saved by a weird man in a mask, but this is just the beginning of Eunjae’s meetings with otherworldly beings like goblins, reapers, gods, and such.

I’m just so in love with FMNM’s art style and its muted color palettes! Since romance isn’t the sole focus, I think it’d make a very interesting fantasy anime with yokai. I’d like for the studio that’ll be picking up this series to take a more symbolic approach to it rather than a straight adaptation and give it a Mononoke touch if possible. Because the art style definitely allows for a modern version of that. Until I find an enthusiastic team who’ll make my dreams come true, you can find Fate Makes No Mistakes on Lezhin!

Bonus title because I have no self-control:

Our Not-So-Lonely Planet Travel Guide by Sorai mone

I’m sure you know that one of the easiest ways to get a hit tweet with thousands of likes & rt’s is to post Makoto Shinkai or Ghibli food screenshots. And I wish I was joking. Anyways, the only traveling stories we get are almost always in the fantasy/isekai subgenre and I want to see something different! It’d be amazing to see Asahi and his partner Mitsuki travel the world together while meeting interesting people and trying different cuisines in Our Not So Lonely Planet Travel Guide. The animation team would probably hate me because the detail in Sorai’s drawings are insane, but we’d be able to find a way.

What did you think of my picks? What would be the BL titles you’d like to see on screen? Let me know in the comments and see you next week!

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