help me pick a story to recommend

I'm so torn between Who Can Define Popularity and Here U Are, but since it is their bl, I guess Here U Are would be better! You can tell your friend to read Who Can Define Popularity after Here U Are!

I'm not sure if any of these would be very appealing to someone who isn't into BL tbh, but I agree that Here U Are would probably be the best choice out of all of those. May be better to find something shorter if you can though

thank youu, yeah I was torn between those stories too lol, i can only hope he'd be willing to read more bls after finishing here U are

You're so right, the thing is I'm not into straight stories either but I still did read his rec and ended up loving it so I was hoping if it could be the same with him. We recommend each other stuff even tho its not really up our alley but do end up liking it, i guess bl isn't as easy to like as a non bl reader tho, sighhh. And yeah true maybe shorter would be better, i thought about recommending
Dive
https://www.mangago.me/read-manga/dive_yeonpil/
its short and quite nice but well idkkk i wanna recommend smth really impactful like I want him to say "please rec me more like this" and I feel like short stories just aren't that impactful emotionally. Tysmm for your solid advices, i appreciate it a lott!!

i feel like Here U Are is probably the easiest one to enjoy. the pacing is nice, the characters are really likeable, and their communication feels genuine. its also pretty light, so it’s a great starting point.

i’d also recommend Sasaki to Miyano. i think It’s great for beginners too ( since my friend who doesn’t usually read BL actually liked it) It has that soft shoujo vibe, so it feels familiar and easy to get into.

well whatever he ends up reading, i hope your friend enjoys it and likes his first BL :)

I think a person who's not much into BL (and also a guy) would not like a story which is "proper" romance, you know? I don't know, maybe that's js my interpretation and pov. So my recommendation would be for you to recommend them something which has romance sub-plot whole the story in itself has more "shonen" elements, what do you think? Like, that's js my thinking. Okay, now here are my recommendations, which hypothetically I would recommend if I were to recommend it to my friend who's male.
* Global Examination.
I don't know how the manhua adaptation is like in recent chapters, I only read initial chapters and had a blast and then switched to novel. It's a banger. The romance doesn't feel forced and is very slow burn. But when it happens (and the lingering tension breaks), it's satisfying. Apart for that, it's a good dystopian game/simulation type world building. What do people call it? System? I don't know. It's a nice one. If you yourself haven't checked it out I recommend it.
* My love mix up!
This is really cute school life shonen ai/shoko. It also has a second straight couple who are super cute! The start of BL relationship is so chaotic and MC is so funny and cute. I recommend it as a light read.
* Murderous Llewellyn's candlelit dinner
I think the whole murder/mystery thing is really good read. However it does have BL elements in it too much. Like, idk how to explain, it reads as a BL. Which as a fujo, I like, but I am already in that mindset of reading BL's that's why. A person switching from reading straight/non queer manhwa to BL can be a bit big step.
*The summer hikaru died
Okay, I haven't read the manga yet, but I watched the anime, it's not BL per se as there's no romance but the MC is gay (implied QUITE HEAVILY that it's like, canon. Yeah, he's a gay high school boy) and his friend who's dead and now a monster possesses his body, that dead friend is implied to be Bisexual. (And having feelings for MC). It's horror read, so it's essentially horror with queer elements but a nice smoot gateway to BLs.
* Banana fish
I watched the anime, it broke me. It got a manga as well. So that can be recommended. It's shonen ai, but tragedy.

LMAO I can't believe I'm saying this but "Jujutsu Kaisen", that must be my personal bias but Gojo x Geto canon af! Like, they're gay for each other. Tell him that and make him watch/read atleast the hidden inventory(and probably Shibuya) arc.

While we're at it, "Night beyond the tricornered window" is also a BL. Again, same, queer elements and confirmed BL. JJK author drew heavy inspo from this while writing JJK. If he's a shonen fan he'll like this.

Thank youu, I'll keep in mind to recommend him Sasaki to miyano if he does wanna read more. And I hope he likes his first bl too, thank you again

You're so right i totally agree with your thinking!! And altho I was almost gonna recommend him Here U are cuz a lotta ppl said so, after reading your comment i ended up recommending him Global examination, thank you soo much for that. I hadn't read it so ofc i read a few chapters before recommending and its absolute peak fr and yeah romance is small of a sub plot that he'd be fine with it or atleast i hope so. Its perfect!!!! tysmm, also can you send me the novel link? I'd love to read it, and do you think i should catch up with the latest manhua chapters first or start with the novel?
Your other recs are absolutely amazing as well, I'll keep them in mind if he asks me for more recs!! And i totally agree with your opinion on Murderous Llewellyn's candlelit dinner, I was keen on recommending this too but true, the romance isn't subtle so it'd have been definitely a big step for a non bl reader. As for the summer hikaru died, I've yet to read it but i do know it's peak, ugh i love all your recs they're perfect. Ik banana fish is tragedy hell i couldn't bring myself to watch it so i def wont be able to recommend it to someone else lolol but again, real peak so i get it.
LMFAOO I BELIEVE STRONGLY IN SATOSUGU TOO ITS ABSOLUTELY CANON FRRR ILYYY and he watches the anime and believes they're canon too lmaoo
Oh my god i can't believe I found a watcher of the night beyond the tricorenered window ITS SOO UNDERRATED OMGG IM SO HAPPY YK IT AND YES ITS PEAK FRR ughh how did i not think of this one, I'm def recommending this one to him later!! ALSO WHATTT GEGE DREW INSPO FROM IT??? THAT MAKES SM SENSE omg yk what, this confirms even more that satosugu was canon heh. i read your bio (sori #stalker) and omg my friend loves shutline too!! Yk sm ball, I'd love to talk to you more, is it alright if I add you to this really cool discord server of me and my other friends who read bls? its alr if you don't wanna, I'd still love to just follow you and talk more

Hey, glad you enjoyed my recs! I don't have the link for global examination novel I have a PDF of it and I don't know from where I downloaded it. T_T. I guess the link to downloading the pdf was posted in r/DanmeiNovels reddit somewhere, but I may be wrong. If you search it up on google, you can find it.
And so based and true for a guy to see that satosugu are DEFINITELY CANON (like how can you explain their actions with any heterosexuals explanation is beyond me lmao). And yes, gege himself said in an interview that he reads the works of "Night beyond the tricornered window" author and their works inspire him alot. Yes gege is our #fudanshi icon! Also, he has drawn fanart for the NBtTW author's other work, I forgot the name of that work. The KFC breakup scene is heavily inspired frame-by-frame from NBtTW scene. Your friend knows peak bc SHUTLINE does it like no one else. It legit was such a moment. Yes ofcourse you don't need permission to follow me haha, I'll give you a follow as well. And sorry, I am not on discord. I'm chronically online only on mgg lmao. Can't believe my most active socials is mgg. Apart from that I'm on pinterest. (My alt account is @lotusofswanlake and if you go to the people I'm following with my alt account(I'm only following 1 person there) you'll find my main acc as well if you want to see haha. Not sharing my main bc the handle is literally my name T_T). Apart from that I'm not on any social media (except yt ofc) so yes, sorry I can't be added on discord.
And girl you need to get on TSHD it's peak! The horror elements are so good, you feel the whole eerie vibe going on + MC's conflicted feelings. Like being gay highschool boy in a haunted countryside village during summer gotta be the worst place to be in fr they don't let a man be T_T. Also, there are heavy implications that MC's dad was GAY too, and liked the dad of MC's friend who he has feelings for. And his dad also ended up dying on the mountain, MC's friend also ended up dying but monster posesses him and he comes back. It's such a eerie tone to it.
I hope your male friend likes Global Examination. You can recommend him TSHD afterwards, maybe. Generally guys don't enjoy romance, and if they do they still fw a good shonen vibe (I mean, who doesn't).
Oh, and you can recommend him "Link Click" as well. It's a Chinese anime/donghua. The main couple is lu guang x cheng xiaoshi and they're also not canon in show but I'm pretty sure it's bc of Chinese censorship. The animation studio of that donghua retweeted a NSFW art of cheng xiaoshi x lu guang I don't know if it can get more canon than this T_T. Imagine MAPPA retweeting satosugu kiss/say gex art T_T. It's equivalent to that. Except Link Click is not a novel or manhua so the story is an ORIGINAL and not an adaptation. So take it as gege + mappa joint account retweeting nsfw art of stsg lmao that would be WILD! apart from that ,"link click" is an amazing interesting scifi mystery story, basically, "two gay men and a lesbian with a bob run a photoshop that makes them time travel and help people get some information of consolation. the duo(LG x CXS) has established two rules: let the past be past, and let the future happen without question."
spoiler: without spoiling much, LG will break this rule. he will want to change the past and go back to time again and again. i rec it, it's a good watch.

Oh,i think you can start with the novel. But if you have problem imagining things, as it's a world building stuff, i rec you manhua. I don't know I didn't read the manhua after like 10 chaps as people were RAVING abt the novel so I switched to novel and started from scatch. I personally felt that manhua chaps are small, so it breaks the flow of reading. However, art is def peak. I don't think it leaves our alot of info while adapting, but it might leave out some basic subtle gestures and feelings. That is js how it happens in novel→comic adaptation that's normal. Ultimately, once you pick up the pace of the book, it's quite a fast easy read (unlike some intricate danmeis which are based in ancient China eras, like QJJ. i have heard qiang jian jiu(ballad of sword and wine) is peak but i js can't start the plot is so thick it's confusing). The MC and ML both are so OP and MC always be clocking ML haha! they're power couple. and don't worry you can stalk my profile i am an attention seeker b*tch i love when people compliment my #based_fujo tastes XD! i stalk people's profiles too, who reply to me lol.

No worries, I found the link for global examination! Ive caught up with all the manhua chapters and i swear to god im so glad I read it, the world building is insanely peak i can't thank you enough for recommending it. My friend said he found it boring? Fuck him honestly, i think he just doesn't have the brain cells to comprehend the story like you gotta be smart to understand just how good the story is, i seriously can't get enough of it and I'm gonna start reading the novel that too from the start cuz i wanna experience the build up all over again. And also i recommended it to another guy friend and he was absolutely hooked so well atleast someone other than me liked it lolol.
WOW i gotta check out the interview where gege said that, and omgg i need to see the fanart too!! gege is a fudanshi frr lolol. I can't remember any NBtTW scene like the kfc breakup scene, guess it's time to rewatch heh, but that's crazy frr ughh satosugu is soo real!! I've yet to read shutline cuz i don't touch ongoing stories (global examination became my exception heh) but apparently the author went on an indefinite hiatus? Im scared, i hope it doesn't get discontinued or smth
Ah, that's alrr, I'll just follow you on mggo then, lol i was most active on mggo too, until my mggo friends made a discord server then i became more active on discord. I don't use pinterest as much so I'll just text you and follow you here.
Omgg i love the way you described TSHD, like i said i don't really start ongoing stories so maybe I'll read it once it's completed or maybe my curiosity might get the better of me and I'll end up reading it while it's ongoing? who knows lol I've wayy too many stories already on my list so yeah gotta go through them too, but thank yeww I'm definitely looking forward to reading TSHD!!
Wow i didn't know link click was an original anime, i thought it was adapted from a novel. Again i loveeeeee your explanation!! ALSO WHATTT not even normal ship fanart but straight up NSFW!!?????! WOWWW omg i knew about the anime but I was kinda discouraged to watch it cuz I heard it wasn't a bl lol but omg this motivates me to watch it heh. Thank yew soo much, the plot sounds real interesting!!

Yeah true manhua chapters are def small but I feel like they adapted really well like you said, nothing feels missing compared to how novel adaptations usually feel like yk? All the details are included, well regardless I'll be starting the novel. I haven't heard of qjj so I wouldn't know what that's like. As for the mc and ml being op, do you mean for qjj or global examination? lol cuz global examination sure has it, i LOVEEE power couples a lot!!! Also heh ty for letting me stalk you, you've peak tastes frrr!

i meant for MC and ML of global examination to be OP, although QJJ couple is also very powerful couple, they have gay sex on a horseback lmao. i wanna read QJJ solely for that scene. and yes gurl, you need to get on TSHD i js completed the anime today itself it's only has S1, so now maybe i will jump to manga, but please watch anime of TSHD it's really peak. and link click is banger i mean the story and mystery is so good, and the whole dynamic between LG and CXS is so good, banter yet yearning from LG's side as well. LG is our little tsundere boy while CXS is sunshine bubbly extrovert. it's a yin/yang hair duo so you know what's gonna happen T_T. we are DOOMED in every universe. call me charli xcx the way im addicted to sniffing yinyang doomed yaoi cocaine lmao. it happened with ivantill, satosugu, asheiji, shiguang, and yoshikaru (and narusasu as well if you look at it). what's with this doomed ass sad gay men? T_T. I miss satosugu like a mf everyday you don't even know what pain is like until you get hit with stsg lore and now your world is collapsing T_T. you can ask your friend what kind of genre he likes and what kind of stories bc BL is js a niche thing. it got alot of other genres as well. we got horror BL like TSHD and NBtTW, psychological BL like killing stalking, sci-fi like global examination, then there's cult/religious mystery like "SANCTIFY", so there are alot of genres in BL as well. if he wants romance BL there are a lot and i know you might know lots of romance BLs as well so you can recommend accordingly. global examination is peak bc it gives equal weightage to plot and mystery as well as the budding chemistry. the couple is so powerful couple, read it. you will see their love story is so peak like again and again despite everything, despite the whole system being against them they choose each other no matter what happens to them. they come back to each other again and again bc no one else understands them like the other one. (stsg feels yk? except they're not doomed THANK THE LORD.) stsg canon i will die on this hill anyone who says otherwise i js don't even engage with them bc they're clearly blind and dumb for not seeing the OBVIOUS. like why are you as a man calling another man "your one and only". and it's the subtle but bold nature of hints gege gave like do you even know what gojo said in japanese when he said "his one and only"? he said, "boku wa shiinyu dayo, *tatta hitori no ne*" here shiinyu carries more meaning than "tomodachi" which js means friend, shiinyu means someone closer than it, so a "best" friend (like no one else). tatta means "only/just" means it shows the rarity, and hitori means "one person" again. so it shows that no one else, only that person. *no ne* means, no→connecting word, so it connects that "just that singular person" to speaker (gojo), and ne→isnt that right/you know?
so literal transln. is → he is(was) my [close] best friend, the only singular person i ever had, you know?
here, gojo doesn't refer him in past tense, so he doesn't use "was" he uses "is", bc despite all, despite him LITERALLY killing geto, he IS still gojo's only singular person he ever had.
now why would you as a man, call another man this unless you're head over heels in love with that guy so bad that you can't think of anyone else? T_T.
there are so many other instances and hints as well, when it comes to original japanese to transln. there is so much that gets lost in translation. i love stsg analysis from original japanese bc they somehow are EVEN GAYER than they feel in dub/eng sub transln.

HORSEBACK??? LMFAOO istg if i had a dollar for everytime a bl couple had sex on horseback, I'd have 2 dollars why traumatize the poor horse like that lmfaoo I'll let yk my reviews on TSHD and Link click whenever i decide to watch it <3 also omgg i love yearning characters, my friend in the server loves yearning characters too, you'd have gotten along so well with all my server friends (~￣³￣)~ AND YEAH YIN YANG = FUCKING DOOMED YAOI LIKE WHYYYYY the only one who beat this curse was mignon and yuri on ice, sighh other than that, ALL DOOMED LIKEEE KMS what's even the point of making them so gay just to make it doomed, and girl yk all peak yin and yang ships love that for you!! tbh i can't with doomed yaoi at all like i genuinely lose it once it becomes doomed. I stopped watching jjk after i finished school inventory arc of the second season and omg the jjk movie 0 absolutely broke me too, i genuinely love geto so much, and I JUST KNOW when he was dying and there was this scene where gojo says smth to him but we can't hear but hearing that makes geto smile, I KNOW HE CONFESSED HIS UNDYING LOVE FOR HIM ughhh god i hate doomed ships sooo much like satosugu is probably the only ship I've ever cried like crazy over, literally bawling my eyes out every time i see an edit of them together. fuck gege akutami man FUCK HIM. I get your pain girl I GET ITTT!!! Also oh my gosh, ily for analysing their Japanese dialogues and ily for telling me about it, THEY'RE SO FUCKING CANON MAN, THEY'RE IN LOVEEEE JJK IS A YAOI MANGA!!!! Also, after gojo said that line, he still hadn't gotten rid of geto's body, he left it with shoko, he kept it and that's how kenjaku was able to get a hold of his body, IT SHOWS HE DIDN'T WANT TO ACCEPT HIS BOYFRIEND DIED, HE WANTED TO KEEP HIM WITH HIMSELF man I'll cry just typing this fmllll. Id totally wanna look into more sentences exchanged between them that lost their meaning due to the translation but also i can't do that cuz I'll get back into my depressive satosugu era sigh. Also yes omg i really don't know how to thank you for recommending global examination, i don't think i said it well the first time, I'm genuinely in love with the story and omg they choose each other again and again frrr likee wow both amnesiacs BUT BOTH END UP TOGETHER AGAIN that's so romantic and the world building is insanely peak and gosh i love plot heavy stories soooo much with romance as a subplot, and i love the way chekhov's gun concept is used in the story, like if something is shown, it'll be explained later on as to why it was crucial to the plot like the tattoo thing on that pregnant lady, that was amazing. As for what my friend likes, honestly I give up, i feel like I'm forcing him to read and he isn't actually interested. I'd rather recommend stories to ppl who genuinely want recs, and I'm just grateful that out of this whole thing, i got to meet you and got to read global examination heh. Oh also i followed you! ;D

istg gojo really did curse him the way yuta curse rika like the yutarika and stsg parallels are insane and gojo even says love is the biggest curse of them all, and it's his personal theory so he has LOVED before. he loves geto omg he loves GETO so so much T_T. so if he confessed, or smth similar to that, then essentially he did curse him. there's a line in ao no sumika S2 OP, "we'll meet again right?" and lots of people say gojo said that to geto, and they did meet again but it was a tragedy. he cursed geto to meet again and geto had no choice bc his "only one" said it so. it was fate. how cruel the fate is. the act of making them meet again only to give them more pain. and when geto betrayed kenjaku to choke him omg....like he was out there FOR GOJO from beyond the fucking grave bro...like all his atoms have gojo's name on it. kate moss' words type shii "you're in my veins, you fuck!" that's what satoru is to suguru.
and fr man it hurts bc geto has to leave he was so depressed and in jjk0 light novel gojo even thinks to himself "how can they start again?" like despite geto killing 100s of people gojo was ready to accept him he was there all the time geto js needed to come home. but geto was filled with this feeling of being inadequate, of finding meaning in meaningless world, of finding the reason of why jj sorcerers should die fighting for others.. he legit killed his OWN parents he was THAT far gone, and if he came back all of those deaths were for nothing. he couldn't come back, and gojo couldn't bring him back no matter how much he tried, but he LOVED him till the last breath. the fourth of july lyrics haunt me "and im sorry i left, it was for the best, but it never felt right" immediately burst into tears when i saw an edit of them on these lyrics like don't hurt me more than this. and the past lives movie dialogue also makes me feel like it's abt stsg, "you had to leave bc you're you. and the reason i liked you is bc you're you. and who you are is a person who leaves" like kill me now atp.
the brokeback mountain quote also, "tell you what, we coulda had a good life together. a fucking good life. had us a place of our own. but you didn't want it ennis(suguru), so what we got now is that BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (BLUE SPRING OF YOUTH)" aaagghhhhh I'm making everyone sad with this. depression speedrun 3000.
in another life, i would've liked doing laundry and taxes with you. (sorcery and teaching students with you) end me end me.

like tfym gojo died and first thing he sees is airport where he meets GETO!?!?? you gotta be kidding. he lived loving geto and died loving geto. the panel of geto with single tear in his eyes when gojo says he would've been satisfied if he were there to pat his back STFU this is suicide initiation T_T.
ok, so you know the panel where nanako and mimiko ask about gojo ? he says that he was his best friend but they fought and they haven't talked since. then the page cuts, and it goes "we love you we love you we love you", but I saw an analysis on how in jpn, it was "daisuki daisuki daisuki" and if u know, it's said mostly in 1st person basis and can be translated as "i love you". so, when the 3 panels of daisuki daisuki daisuki are shown with geto reading a book as bg it can also be interpreted as geto thinking to himself about gojo, and thinking "ily oly ily". oh god the subtext is so crazy T_T. maybe it's over analysis but text can be analysed from different lenses and it makes sense as well. stsg make me wanna kms wtf T_T.

have you watched the stsg edit on lana del reys monologue from national anthem? i rec it to another girl here she also was depressed after that lmao. but still it's so apt you need to watch it.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=S6X26hHPfTk
this will make you cry hot tears and want to puke blood it's that heartbreaking(atleast to me)