[BL] Kono BL ga Yabai! 2020 Top 5 Novels

Here are the top 5 BL novels recommended on the Kono BL ga Yabai! 2020 list that was released about a week ago.

#1


Title: Nayamashii Kare ~Utsukushii Kare 3~ (Troublesome Boy ~Beautiful Boy 3~)
Author: Nagira Yuu
Illustrator: Kasai Rikako

Volume 1 Blurb:

Hira is a quiet high school student at the bottom of the social ladder with no friends. He falls in love at first sight with the popular Kiyoi, the king of the class who cares for no one and treats everyone with the same cool contempt. Hira is happy if Kiyoi notices that he even exists, pledging his loyalty and devotion to him by acting as an errand boy, buying lunch for Kiyoi and his group of friends. But when his faith in this absolute monarch morphs into desire…

Volume 3 Blurb:

Kiyoi is known for his beautiful looks, but his newest role as an upcoming actor is a struggling comedian!? Kiyoi has finally landed a role on a stage production headed by a director he has highly admired, but the character is completely different from his normal image, and the director keeps finding faults in his performance as they rehearse. If his beauty is holding him back, then he’ll throw it away!! Kiyoi makes the decision to gain 20kg just for the role, but he doesn’t want his boyfriend Hira to see his unattractive appearance, so he announces they will stop living together for the time being. But Hira worships Kiyoi like the gods and the stars, and he needs him!! Hira is completely shaken by this test of his love!!

#2


Title: Fusaide ~Yes ka No ka Hanbun ka Bangai-hen 3~ (Block It Out ~Yes, No, or Maybe Half? Spinoff 3~)
Author: Ichiho Michi
Illustrator: Takemiya Lala

Blurb:

Sakae is assigned as a director to the evening news his second year after joining the network. Everyone finds him difficult to work with, but the producer, Shitara, recognizes and accepts both Sakae’s talent and his personality, allowing him the freedom to execute his vision. When Sakae feels like it, he’ll drink and watch a late-night movie with Shitara and Mutsuto, a member of the design staff. The three of them share a camaraderie until one day something happens that destroys their peaceful days together. How can Sakae and Shitara bury the 11 years of pain and loss that has separated them?

#3


Title: Bon Appetit!
Author: Tsukimura Kei
Illustrator: Kinoshita Keiko

Blurb:

Arimura You has no living relatives in the world. He chooses a small neighborhood bistro as the place to have his last supper before ending his unhappy life. However, his minuscule net-worth can’t cover the full bill for his dinner. With no means to pay, the owner of the bistro, Ruka, half threatens You into working for him, lodging included. You’s new life is almost like a dream—Ruka and the people who come to the bistro are wonderful and kind, and You finds himself more and more attracted to Ruka…

#4


Title: Hanaregatai Kemono (The Beast Is Hard to Leave)
Author: Yasoniwa Tazu
Illustrator: Sasaki Kumiko

Blurb:

They had spent one night together, learning the physical pleasures of love. However, he is the king of the beastkin, and Diriya is a soldier of an enemy nation. It all should have ended between them after that single chance meeting during the war, but Diriya carries the beastkin’s baby inside him. Diriya gives birth and raises a son, Ash, hiding the secret that he is the child to a king. However, the beastkin shows up searching for Diriya one day...

#5


Title: Hai no Tsuki (Moon of Ash)
Author: Konohara Narise
Illustrator: Nashi Toriko

Blurb:

Souichi, son of the head of Motohashi Group, due to a trauma that had happened 5 years ago in an attack by a rival yakuza group, can no longer spend time alone by himself. That is also when his sexual proclivities that he had imprisoned inside of him become exposed. His taciturn bodyguard, Katou, takes care of his sexual urges for him, but one day, Souichi begs Katou to forego the toys they always use, and Katou obeys Souichi’s orders. Souichi wants to feel that intense pleasure again and asks Katou for more, but Katou refuses him, saying that women are better…

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Personal thoughts:

I've only read Fusaide and Utsukushii Kare Vol 1.

Fusaide is angst, angst, angst, but worth it for all the feels. Ichiho Michi delivers the pain and redemption in spades as usual in her stories. The sequel to Fusaide will be out in a few days, and it’s called Hiraite. I'm currently translating the first volume of the spinoff, and it's excellent, btw. Patient, devoted, strategic producer x Broken, difficult genius director.

I enjoyed the 2nd half of Utsukushii Kare Vol 1 after the twist, so I'm looking forward to reading Vol 2 and 3 with the great reception that they got. They are already on my to-read list. Timid borderline-creepy-obsessive pushover x Beautiful tsundere ice queen. (The creepy is more loser creepy, not abusive creepy.)

I've read Tsukimura Kei's novels before, and Bon Appetit sounds like the bittersweet but soft stories that she likes to write and is up my alley.

Not interested in Hanaregatai Kemono or Hai no Tsuki, but Hai no Tsuki sounds like it's a lot deeper than what the blurb says. Reading the reviews, it gives me Saezuru Tori wa Habatakanai vibes, and definitely not for the faint of heart.

 

Dammit I wanna read Hai no Tsuki! Konohara Narise is like my favourite author ever〜
Too broke to buy the book tho rip

 

Hai no Tsuki is a spinoff of Tsuki ni Warau. Tsuki ni Warau is the one I'm interested in reading... It's supposed to be painful. With all the warnings of how brutal and different Hai no Tsuki is, I think I will heed them.

 

Tsuki ni Warau is good stuffs though. Read, read! Read it, Nachte!

 

Cries in poor

 

Making my reading list grow and grow! And my shopping cart too.

 

dad gum back then there cat who post general ln top list now danmei cat make top bl list
NUF IS DOOMED!

that aside it seem good list for danmei translator reference for pick bl ln tho

 

OMG I LOVE Konohara Narise's novels! If anyone's gonna pick up Hai no Tsuki, please don't MTL it. I don't think her prose is something that MTL can work with.

 

Are any of these translated on NU?

 

Fusaide is Volume 3 of the spinoff for the Yes ka No ka Hanbun ka series. I've translated the entire main series, most of the side stories, and I'm working on Volume 1 of the spinoff. I'll eventually get to Fusaide.
Yes, No, or Maybe Half?
Off Air ~Yes, No, or Maybe Half?~
Side Profiles and Irises ~Yes, No, or Maybe Half Spinoff~

Utsukushii Kare doesn't have a translation, but you can find summaries of Volume 1 or the Drama CD if you search for it. None of the other series have a translation IIRC, but I saw someone working on #9 of the list, Aisare Omega no Shiawase Gohan.

 

Thanks!!!

 

Lots of Konohara Narise fans~ My favorite author is Ichiho Michi, and I also enjoy Nagira Yuu. Utsukushii Kare is more love comedy hijinks, but I also liked her novel Oyasumi Nasai, Mata Ashita. Really sad but lovely at the same time.