Shounen-ai anime are full of cute characters, mild boy-on-boy action, lighthearted atmospheres, and a lot of positive vibes. This genre has recently gained a lot of popularity as a result of a very enthusiastic fandom.
A shounen-ai show can cover a wide range of topics and elicit a wide range of emotions, but what all shounen-ai shows have in common is that they are full of love and tender moments! So, shounen-ai anime are definitely your cup of tea if you want to meet hotties with prince-like manners, who are amazing lovers and can deal with their counterpart’s tantrums!
We tried to select shounen-ai and less explicit shows for this ranking. Stay with us until the end.
13. Doukyuusei
Rihito Sajou is an honour student who received perfect scores on his high school entrance exam in every subject. Hikaru Kusakabe plays guitar in his band, which performs at live events and is well-liked by the ladies. These two boys would never have met. But one day, Hikaru offers to assist Rihito in preparing for their upcoming chorus festival, and the two start talking. When the two meet after school, they bond over songs and begin to harmonise as their hearts beat in unison.
It begins slowly, but their feelings for one another grow until they both realise they are in love. Rihito is initially hesitant because Hikaru’s emotions are frivolous, pure, and direct, but he gradually opens his heart. As they support one another during this difficult period in their lives, the boys learn about each other and themselves. What do these young men discover as they try to move forward as the time to start thinking about their futures approaches…
12. Sukisho
Hashiba Sora is just getting his life back together after recovering from a mysterious accident that caused him to lose his memory. On the road to recovery, his steady progress is halted when he takes on a new roommate (who claims to be a childhood friend), Fujimori Sunao. With the appearance of Ran, an alternate personality inhabiting the same body as Sunao, their relationship becomes even more complicated! Can Sora regain his lost memories and make sense of what is going on around him when confronted with the shadows of his past?
11. Gravitation
Shindou Shuichi has a lot on his mind as a member of a musical duo on the verge of breaking into show business, especially since he writes the songs for his Bad Luck band. His life becomes even more complicated when he meets Yuki Eiri, a successful yet cynical author extraordinaire who, upon reading Shuichi’s lyrics, immediately insults them. While seeking him out to demand an apology, Shuichi notices other aspects of Eiri’s personality. Can he accept the possibility that he has feelings for the novelist who dismissed his work on their first meeting?
10. Hora, Mimi ga Mieteru yo!
Follow Daisuu, a manga artist who grew up in an orphanage and whose works are not well-known. Daisuu spends each lonely day bored, but one day he meets a young man named Myou with cat ears, and his entire life changes. Myou gets into mischief on a daily basis, but for the first time in his life, Daisuu’s heart feels “warmth.” The plot follows their day-to-day comical lives together as they slowly unravel the mystery of Myou.
9. No. 6
Sion is intelligent, well-educated, and lives a privileged life within the walls of No. 6, one of six city-states built after war destroyed the world. But Sion’s comfortable life is shattered on the eve of his twelfth birthday when he meets Nezumi, an escaped convict. Sion loses his rights as a result of his assistance in keeping Nezumi safe, and he is forced to live in the lower town, where he becomes a normal citizen. Four years later, Sion is back in Nezumi’s company, caught up in a dangerous conspiracy that leaves a trail of bodies in its wake. What exactly is going on in No. 6?
8. Hybrid Child
The plot revolves around a doll named “Hybrid Child,” which grows in response to its owner’s affection. When Kotarou Izumi, the 16th head of the noble Izumi family, was eight years old, he discovered a hybrid child at a garbage disposal site. He’s been living with the doll named Hazuki for ten years now. However, Kotarou learns that Hazuki’s life is nearing its end.
7. Super Lovers
Kaido Haru, a high school student, is duped into travelling overseas by news of his mother’s impending death when he meets a boy who claims to be his brother. Haru does his best to raise the feral and obstinate Ren, but there appears to be a mystery surrounding Ren’s birth. Furthermore, tragedy strikes just as Ren begins to warm up to Haru. Haru and Ren reunite five years later, all grown up in Tokyo, but…
6. Hitorijime My Hero
Masahiro Setagawa, a high school student, is a fairly helpless delinquent, so much so that the neighbourhood bullies use him to run their errands. When he meets high school teacher Kosuke Oshiba, a man whose fighting abilities have earned him a powerful reputation on the streets, his life changes. Oshiba develops a desire to protect Setagawa, and despite swearing that he isn’t interested in men, Setagawa becomes more involved in Oshiba’s affairs…
5. Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi
When Ritsu was in high school, he fell in love with a boy who broke his heart, forever altering his perspective on love. Ritsu, now a jaded adult, has recently transferred to the Marukawa Shoten company in the hopes of publishing literature, only to be informed that he will be working in the shoujo manga division instead. Worse, his boss is brash, rude, and appears to be interested in him! The biggest surprise, however, is yet to come for Ritsu, as he soon discovers that his boss is none other than his former lover!
4. Junjou Romantica
Misaki Takahashi has few chances of getting into university, so his older brother Takahiro’s friend, Usami Akihiko, offers to tutor Misaki as a favour to Takahiro – because Usami is secretly in love with him.
However, as time passes, Misaki realises he has uneasy and developing feelings for Usami. Meanwhile, Hiroki is a man who can’t get over an unrequited love he had with Usami in the past – and with Nowaki’s help, he might be able to learn to love again. These and other couples experience the joys and sorrows of male love under the most unlikely circumstances.
3. Heaven Official’s Blessing
Xie Lian is a gentle and kind deity who just can’t seem to get a break. As the crown prince of a long-destroyed kingdom, he has endured centuries of plagues, violence, poverty, and multiple demotions that have resulted in his expulsion from heaven. He’s reduced to collecting scrap in the mortal realm as a god with no followers.
When his banishment is finally lifted and he is allowed to ascend to heaven for the third time, his bad luck continues when his ascension destroys a heavenly palace, returning the long-suffering immortal to the mortal realm to make amends by exorcising ghosts. Xie Lian soon meets a mysterious man in red who is clearly more than he appears, and the two become increasingly close as they uncover dark secrets that the heavenly realm would prefer to keep hidden…
2. Sasaki and Miyano
Yoshikazu Miyano’s problems begin one hot summer day when Shuumei Sasaki enters his life. Sasaki saves Miyano’s classmate from a gang of bullies, and Miyano is unable to shake his eccentric upperclassman. Every time the so-called delinquent refuses to leave him alone, his silent admiration for Sasaki turns to annoyance. Miyano wonders why Sasaki wants to get close to him when he is constantly called by cute nicknames and has his boundaries ignored.
Miyano, who is shy and easily irritated, has an embarrassing secret: he is a “fudanshi,” or a boy who enjoys boys’ love (BL) manga. The last thing he wants is for other students to find out, but he accidentally reveals the truth to Sasaki through a slip of the tongue. Intriguingly, the naive Sasaki requests to borrow a book to read, which he receives reluctantly. To Miyano’s surprise, Sasaki enjoys the BL he receives and requests more, signalling a shift in their odd dynamic.
Although Sasaki appears to have a personal agenda, his feelings for Miyano become more complicated as they spend more time together. Their relationship is poised to change and grow as they now share a common interest.
1. Given
Somehow, the guitar he used to enjoy playing and the basketball games he used to enjoy have lost their allure… That is, until Ritsuka Uenoyama met Mafuyu Sato by chance. Ritsuka had begun to lose interest in music in his daily life, but then he hears Mafuyu sing for the first time. The song touches his heart, and the distance between them begins to shrink.
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