If you haven’t been reading or watching BL for long, you probably don’t have access to one of the sweetest, fluffiest genres on the internet: Shounen Ai. Shounen Ai basically just means Boys’ Love when translated into English, but if you’re not too much into angst, heavy drama, and spicy stories, then this genre isn’t for you.
There are numerous Shounen Ai or Boys’ Love mangas out there, too many to list even, but there are certain anime movies and series like Dokyuusei (Classmate) or Given which represent the Shounen Ai genre pretty well. However, a recently released anime adaptation of a popular Shounen Ai is my personal pick if we’re talking about fluffy, sweet, and endearing.
Shō Harusono’s Sasaki to Miyano is a BL manga about Miyano Yoshikazu, a High Schooler who encountered a bully while he was on Student Discipline Committee duty. Scared to fight back, Hirano steps back and decided to call a senior instead. But just then, Sasaki Shuumei, a tall, orange-haired, delinquent-looking senior approaches him to help. We, later on, find out that Sasaki was attracted to Miyano’s beautiful physique and he approached him on a whim.
After that, Sasaki looks for every other possible way to make conversation with Miyano, and one day, he finally finds a perfect topic: BL. Miyano is a fudanshi (a male reader of the Shounen Ai genre; females are called fujoshi). He spends his time reading about two men falling in love in different circumstances. Sasaki decides to borrow one of the BL Mangas Miyano was reading, and surprisingly, he finds this genre interesting, and they talk about it for days on end.
Sasaki to Miyano is a beautiful story centering around high school romance and finding your identity. To be honest, there are a lot of mangas under the Shounen Ai genre, but most of them don’t give the genre enough representation. Sasaki to Miyano however, is different.
Reading the manga felt like going through a rollercoaster of emotions every chapter. As the journey of both Sasaki and Miyano unfold, Sho Harusono shows us how they both feel being in each other’s company. Since the plot of the story focuses more on the fluff aspect and not the drama, it creates a fun and relaxing experience for the readers as well as the watchers. Personally, I think this manga-turned-anime is the perfect story to introduce you to the world of Shounen Ai and BL.
Sasaki to Miyano’s manga is currently ongoing, however, the first season of the anime (which covers most of the published arcs) is done. Season 2 of the Anime is currently in the works. Sasaki to Miyano is available for streaming on Crunchyroll, Funimation, and MuseAsia.
