Gay anime has often been off licensors’ lists or didn’t explicitly show the romance between its characters. When it comes to romance anime, there are a lot of choices. Well, especially when it comes to straight couples. That said, manga and light novels have many same-sex relationships and trans representation with series like Restart After Coming Back Home or Boys Run the Riot, respectively, with entire publishers dedicated to gay and, more broadly, LGBTQ+ stories.
That said, anime has been slower, especially regarding official releases in the United States. Thankfully, there have been many recent gay anime series and some classics worth revisiting. While most of these are romances, they aren’t all focused on that one aspect. Additionally, this list omits feature films like Classmates or Stranger By The Shore, and Look Back (that is a gay anime love story, fight me).
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My New Boss Is Goofy
Director: Noriyuki Abe
Studio: A-1 Pictures
Mangaka: Dan Ichikawa
Synopsis: Momose has left his previous job due to harassment from his boss. Fearing his new boss, Shirosaki, will be just as terrible, he begins his first day feeling anxious. As he nervously awaits the introduction, Momose tries to calm his queasy stomach. But the minute Shirosaki walks in, his worries are gone! Unexpectedly, Momose’s new boss is a total airhead who loves goofing off.
Why To Watch: Okay, so this one isn’t explicitly a gay anime romance so much as it’s a wholesome and thoughtful exploration of interpersonal relationships. The series also explicitly uses standard rom-com tropes and settings from anime and manga to bring to life a bromance at its core. From blushing and vows to protect each other, our leads, Momose and Shirosaki, are a couple by any other name.
That said, the series also features a positive representation of bisexuality, not just in a character and his comments but the comfort that his friends give him when he comes out to them. So gay anime or not? You can be the judge, but the inclusion of this side character is a step forward in talking about romance in the medium as a whole.
Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?!
Director: Yoshiko Okuda
Studio: Satelight
Mangaka: Yuu Toyota
Synopsis: Adachi’s 30th birthday as a virgin came with the oddest gift—the ability to read the mind of anyone he touches. Pondering what to do with this mysterious power, he gets a lead when he accidentally reads his colleague Kurosawa’s mind. Turns out the handsome hotshot of the sales team has a thing for him! How will Adachi respond to overhearing these affectionate thoughts?
Why To Watch: While My New Boss Is Goofy may not be the gay office romance you want, Cherry Magic! is—only this one has a superpower. This thoughtful narrative is about learning to accept your feelings and allow them to blossom despite the societal pressure of romance. Adachi and Kurosawa are a pair whose romance is grounded in respect and making the other comfortable. The only catch is that Asachi can hear Kurosawa’s thoughts, which gives him a leg up in processing his emotions and communicating with his new crush. We watch the couple as they navigate awkwardness and inner thoughts to build a relationship that will last.
SK8 The Infinity
Director: Hiroko Utsumi
Studio: Bones
Synopsis: High school students Reki and Langa are hooked on one thing—a dangerous, top-secret, no-holds-barred downhill skateboarding race called “S.” When Reki takes Langa, a transfer student, to the mountain where “S” is held, Langa finds himself sucked in. These colorful skaters will take you through a thrilling story of skateboard battles and unlimited possibilities!
Why Watch: Another anime that doesn’t directly show explicit romance between queer characters, and the first of the sports anime on this list, Sk8 The Infinity may land itself more in bromance than Shounen-ai or BL. That said, from beloved director Hiroko Utsumi, fans celebrate it as a gay anime series-and it’s merited! Focusing on friendship, competition, and building resiliency by leaning on other people is extremely potent. And the animation is out of this world on top of it all.
Adachi And Shimamura
Director: Satoshi Kuwabara
Studio: Tezuka Productions
Mangaka: Hitoma Iruma
Synopsis: Adachi spends her days skipping class until she meets fellow delinquent Shimamura, and the two become friends. Cutting class together deepens the bond, but unexpected emotions blossom. The two travel this sea of emotions and learn each other’s feelings.
Why To Watch: Adachi and Shinamura is a lesbian love story that captures a romance as it builds from friendship. Delinquents, the two are just together because they’re cutting class. Then their friendship turns to sharing hobbies like ping pong, opening up about their lives, and then it turns into something more. The series captures the complexity of falling in love with your best friend and how romance can build from the intimacy built by simply being allowed to be yourself around someone.
Our titular couple is open with each other. Their relationship builds as they open up about their vulnerabilities, accept their emotions as individuals, and begin to show them to each other. The series turns into one of the best shojo-ai series out there.
Sasaki And Miyano
Director: Shinji Ishihira
Studio: Studio Deen
Mangaka: Shō Harusono
Synopsis: Miyano’s world of Boys’ Love manga turns to reality when chance leads him to Sasaki. Now, Sasaki wants to spend every opportunity with him.
Why To Watch: Wholesome to its core, Sasaki and Miyano is a shonen-ai series that shows the titular pair’s blossoming romance. From kohai and senpai to boyfriends, the couple navigates their friendship as it turns into something more. While Saski is steadfast in his crush and open about it from the beginning, Miyano is scared. While he is a fudanshi, he isn’t comfortable with the idea of falling in love with Sasaki, primarily because of how hard he has tried to push back against bullying from other students about this “cuteness.”
This anime also highlights how BL differs from blossoming relationships and can be a lifeline for teens learning about their queerness, even with its tropes. The series doesn’t shy away from engaging with some problematic elements usually shown in gay romance in anime. Still, as one of the most recent gay anime romances, it tries its best to show awkward teen romance with the same earnest attention that its straight shojo romance counterparts show young love. This is one title to watch with an accompanying feature film and a planned sequel manga series set in college. This is one gay anime that is paving the way for following relationship as the character age and that’s exciting to see.
Banana Fish
Director: Hiroko Utsumi
Studio: MAPPA
Mangaka: Akimi Yoshida
Synopsis: Ash Lynx, a 17-year-old boy, is the boss of a street kids gang in New York. One day, a man who was murdered before his eyes entrusts him with something. And the last words uttered by that dying man was the phrase, “BANANA FISH.” That is the word his brother, Griffin, often mutters. Ash has a destined encounter with Eiji, a kind Japanese boy who comes to New York as a cameraman’s assistant.
Why To Watch: The saddest entry on this gay anime list is Banana Fish. This is a depressing one, but one that’s necessary to watch for those looking for gay stories in anime. Adapted into an anime by MAPPA, this series is a cornerstone in BL because of the depth of the dramatic storytelling, the emotional connection between Ash and Eiji, and its ability to tackle substantially difficult subject matter. While the manga is on a whole other level than the anime, this is one to watch if you’re rounding out your knowledge of same-sex romance and stories in the medium. While the series is depressing, and the couple deals with the harsh and terrifying realities of their surroundings, the heart and emotion in this series make it one of the best.
Bloom Into You
Director: Makoto Katō
Studio: Troyca
Mangaka: Nio Nakatani
Synopsis: Yuu has always dreamt of receiving a love confession but feels nothing when a boy gives her one. Confused, she starts her first year of high school and meets Touko. Will Yuu’s heart finally skip a beat?
Why To Watch: What happens when you desperately want to fall in love, but when it finally happens, you feel empty? That’s what Bloom Into You handles, and it does so beautifully. Yuu has an ideal vision of what romance will be for her life. She wants it so deeply that when she finally gets a love confession but feels apathetic, she can’t help but think that something is wrong with her.
The series captures the tender realization of who you like and what happens when you have to reconcile with it being different than you expected. But with Touko, Yuu gets to be herself in a way she never has before. While BL anime has been growing in licensing here in the US, there are still few GL stories, but this is one of the best.
Blue Period
Director: Koji Masunari, Katsuya Asano
Studio: Seven Arcs
Mangaka: Tsubasa Yamaguchi
Synopsis: Yuu has always dreamt of receiving a love confession but feels nothing when a boy gives her one. Confused, she starts her first year of high school and meets Touko. Will Yuu’s heart finally skip a beat?
Why To Watch: Blue Period is on this list because of one of its secondary character and their storyline in the series. With few trans anime characters that are dynamic and not just jokes that are grounded in bigotry. Instead, the audience is shown Ryuji Ayukawa, or Yuka’s, life as she navigates her genderqueer identity and what it all means. Both for her to feel free through art and also in relation to the stigmas and abuse she experiences from her family. The audience is first shown her life through the protagonist Yatora, and his misunderstanding and meanness to Yuka.
As Yuka decides to open up to him, he responds the same, baring his soul and allowing her to bear hers; it’s one of the most emotional examples of genderqueer and trans identity in anime, especially for a shonen series. Yuka uses both male and female pronouns as she explores what it means to find herself in a world that deems her as different. She yearns for femininity but doesn’t completely want to rid herself of masculinity completely. It’s a complicated look at identity through the eyes of a teen trying to find a future and using art to become whole. While this isn’t an explicitly gay anime, its handling of a transgender character makes it stand out from a typical romance.
Watch now on Netflix.
Revolutionary Girl Utena
Director: Kunihiko Ikuhara
Studio: J.C.Staff
Mangaka: Chiho Saito, Be-Papas (original story), Chiho Saito (illustration)
Synopsis: “Never lose that strength or nobility, even when you grow up.” When Utena was just a child and in the depths of sorrow, she found salvation in those words. They were the words of a prince who bestowed upon her both a ring and the promise that it would lead her to him again. She never forgot the encounter. Now a teenager, Utena attends the prestigious Ohtori Academy; however, her strong sense of chivalry soon places her at odds with the student council and thrusts her into a series of mysterious and dangerous duels against its members.
Why To Watch: One of the most important queer anime for a generation, Kunihiko Ikuhara’s take on the magical girl by turning Utena into a prince was, well, revolutionary for many fans. Myself included. It permitted us to fight for love and feel deeply for someone else, regardless of gender. Utena also reworked substantial male tropes into the genre in a way that always thoughtfully played with gender. Utena gave me the permission to embrace masculinity, fall in love, and redefine what it means to be the lead in your own story. It was my first gay anime, and that’s beautiful.
Watch now on Crunchyroll.
Yuri On Ice
Director: Sayo Yamamoto
Studio: MAPPA
Mangaka: Mitsurō Kubo (Yuri on Ice Side Story: Welcome to the Madness)
Synopsis: Yuri Katsuki carried the hope of all Japan on his shoulders in the Figure Skating Grand Prix but suffered a crushing defeat in the finals. He returned to his hometown in Kyushu and hid away in his family’s home, half wanting to continue skating and half wanting to retire. That was when the five-time consecutive world champion, Victor Nikiforov, suddenly showed up with his teammate, Yuri Plisetsky, a young skater starting to surpass his seniors. And so the two Yuris and the Russian champion Viktor set out to compete in a Grand Prix like none the world has ever seen!
Why To Watch: Yuri On Ice isn’t just a stellar romance, but it’s one of the best sports anime with one of the most iconic opening themes of any anime, not just the queer-focused titles on this list. With MAPPA’s signature attention to movement, the ice skating is gorgeous to watch, but it falls second to the push-and-pull dynamic between Yuri and Victor. A dynamic relationship is held together through mentorship at first, and the romance blossoms as admiration turns to respect, and respect grows into yearning after the more vulnerable layers of both men are revealed.
As an anime focused on a gay couple, some have chided it as not going “far enough,” but given the history of needing to use bromance to deal with censorship, the fact that the series ends with an exchange of rings is all you need to have sealed the romantic deal. Yuri and Victor admire, love, and respect each other’s talent and resiliency and that’s what matters the most.
Given
Director: Hikaru Yamaguchi
Studio: Lerche
Mangaka: Natsuki Kizu
Synopsis: Somehow, the guitar that he used to love to play and the basketball games that he found so fun just lost their appeal…That was until Ritsuka Uenoyama randomly met Mafuyu Sato. Ritsuka had started losing his passion for music in his everyday life, but then he heard Mafuyu sing for the first time. The song resonates with his heart and the distance between them changes.
Why To Watch: Given explores the complexities of first love, learning about your sexuality, and ultimately how to process grief. A gay anime that puts romance at its core, the 12-episode anime series captures the importance of processing your emotions, both negative and positive. Instead of holding it in, Mafuyu learns to let it out as he grieves the loss of his first boyfriend. At the same time, Uenoyama begins to fall in love with Mafuyu, and the two learn how to love each other, open up to each other, and see past their own restrictions.
The series also has one featured film with another in the works. This one shifts the focus to the college-aged second couple and the complexity of falling in love with your best friend and not having those feelings reciprocated. That is, until they come crashing out and cause more pain than romance.
Thankfully, more queer anime are being greenlighted for anime adaptations, which are helping people find these vital stories. While more like I Think Our Son is Gay or My Pancreas Broke, But My Life Got Better is just as deserving as adaptations as romances and bromances, we’re finally getting multiple shows each season to fall in love with.
