Boys' love
Boys' love is a genre of fiction centered on romantic or sexual relationships between male characters. It originated in Japan and is also known as BL.
Shōjo manga: Japanese comics marketed primarily to girls and women, often emphasizing emotion and relationships. Boys' love developed within the readership and publishing world of girls' comics.
Seme and uke: Japanese terms for the conventionally dominant and receptive roles in some male-male romance fiction. These roles often organize BL couples, though many works complicate or discard them.
Bara (genre): A category of Japanese media featuring male-male desire, often created by and for gay men. Bara is often contrasted with BL because its creators, audiences, and portrayals can differ.
Boys' love film: A film whose central romance or sexual relationship is between male characters and draws on BL conventions. Live-action adaptations carry BL narratives into performance and reach audiences beyond comics.
Year 24 Group: A group of women manga artists who transformed shōjo manga in the 1970s. Their work helped make room for complex male characters and same-sex romance in shōjo manga.
Romance novel: A fiction genre centered on the development of a romantic relationship and its emotional resolution. BL often uses romance's relationship-centered structure while focusing on male couples.
LGBTQ fiction: Fiction that depicts lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or other sexual and gender minorities. BL overlaps with LGBTQ fiction but follows distinct commercial histories and audience conventions.
Boys' love anime: Japanese animation depicting male-male romance or sexual relationships, often adapted from manga or novels. Anime adaptations make BL stories accessible through voice, movement, and visual direction.
June (magazine): A Japanese magazine launched in 1978 that published male-male romance and related fiction and art. June helped establish a dedicated publishing venue and audience for the genre.
Manga: Comics and graphic novels produced in Japan or in a Japanese-influenced style. Manga is a major medium through which BL conventions and visual storytelling circulate.