First-Love BL Shows with Popular ML and Oddball ML

This is still airing, but so far, I love it. Kosei is the handsome, popular guy who has a crush on nobody-special Haru. Kosei confesses that he likes Haru by writing "I like you" on an answer sheet. Haru cannot wrap his mind around the fact that Kosei likes him. Kosei is serious and straightforward about his pursuit, but Haru's self-esteem is in the toilet, and he can't comprehend why anyone, especially Kosei, would like him.

Yamato and Kakeru have been friends since childhood, and pretty much that whole time Yamato has been harboring romantic feelings for Kakeru. Kakeru is a regular guy goofball, and Yamato is a handsome and popular, but also a loner. Kakeru has a core group of friends, but Yamato only likes to interact with Kakeru. The way Yamato yearns for Kakeru is enough to make you cry. He wants to keep his friendship, but he is so in love with Kakeru he finds it difficult to keep his emotions from spilling over. So much angst, and a rocky road to love, but when they finally reach each other, it's lovely.

I generally dislike misunderstanding/wrong-identity tropes, but this story gets a pass because it's so cute. Aoki has a crush on a girl, who lets him borrow her eraser. The eraser has a name on it---"Ida" with a heart. Aoki is heartbroken that his crush likes someone else, but then Ida, who sits in front of him, sees the eraser and assumes Aoki likes him. Aoki doesn't want to embarrass his crush by revealing it's actually her eraser, so he just lets Ida make assumptions. (Later on, we find out Aoki's girl crush isn't into Ida at all.) Ida is a cool-headed, handsome guy and Aoki is a walking bundle of chaotic anxiety. Even though it starts out as a misunderstanding, these two guys end up liking each other. There's not a lot of physical affection, but the emotional connections are solid.

Technically, this story opens when Segasaki and Yoh are young men living together, but they met in college. The flashbacks to their university days are necessary to tell their story so that's why I'm putting it on this list. At their university, Yoh finds Segasaki to be so beautiful, he sketches him over and over again. I think Segasaki finds Yoh interesting, especially after he finds out Yoh is sketching him. One day, Segasaki falls ill and it's Yoh who takes him home and cares for him. He even cooks a really bad pork curry that Segasaki eats, crunchy carrots and all, because it's the first time he feels like someone cares for him. They both really like each other, but they're terrible at communicating their feelings openly. It makes the yearning they have for each other cut deeper.

This is still airing, but I love it so much. Suzuki, a loner student is secretly writing a BL with Serizawa, a handsome, popular kid in school, as the seme (the dominant partner). Suzuki accidentally leaves his plot book in a classroom where Serizawa picks it up. Of course, Serizawa reads it, but he's completely cool with being a seme in Suzuki's book. He admit he reads BL, too, and says, "I see myself as a seme, too." (Hello, are you listening, Suzuki?) He becomes Suzuki's first reader and brings him into Serizawa's friend group. Serizawa is oddly affectionate (has Suzuki sit between his legs and lean against his chest to read the book on Suzuki's phone) and he's possessive. There's a scene in a diner where Serizawa's friends are like, "Hey, he's our Suzuki, too," and Serizawa is like, "No, he's MY Suzuki." I wish this would air faster. Waiting for episodes is excruciating.

Hioki is your average high school kid who doesn't have a lot of friends. When students create groups for the upcoming school trip, he's invited to join the four most popular boys in school. He's utterly confused by this invitation, but what he doesn't know is that the handsome Watarai has been crushing on him for a while. The way Watarai just yearns for Hioki makes your stomach hurt. A lot of school BLs keep physical affection to the minimum, but Watarai is not shy about kissing Hioki.

Jang is a free-spirited artist whose lack of participation in a group project irritates computer-science major Chu. So Chu removes Jang's name from the project, which trashes Jang's plans to graduate and go study abroad. Jang decides to get revenge by messing with Chu. But Chu is difficult to upset. As someone on the spectrum, Chu's emotional reactions and thought processes strike me as autistic. Eventually Chu gets fed up with Jang's constant harassment, but then they have to work on an assignment together. Jang falls first, but it takes a lot of processing for Chu to realize he likes Jang, too. But once he figures it out, he's all in.

In this Japanese BL series, popular, cold Takara has a HUGE secret crush on sweet, goofy Amagi, so imagine his surprise when Amagi confesses first. These 8 episodes are filled with so much first-love angst. There's not a lot of physical affection, but the heartfelt yearning to be with each other gets you right in the feels.

Teerak is a happy-go-lucky university student with a marshmallow heart. (I mean, this guy is the sunshiniest sunshine to ever shine.) He never wants to hurt anyone's feelings so he never says no to anyone, not even the rich red-flag chasing him. Muenfah is a handsome standoffish popular university student who owns the Your Sky club with his friend. It's in Your Sky where Teerak gets into trouble because Red Flag drugs him and tries to take advantage. Muenfah rescues Teerak from the situation by announcing that he is Teerak's boyfriend. After this incident, the two agree to a fake relationship, which will protect Teerak and get Muenfah out of all those love confessions he doesn't want. I watched the Uncut version and it has some spice here and there. Overall, I liked the show a lot.