Isekai has been dominating the anime and manga world for the past decade. Meanwhile, the romance genre has been around since the dawn of storytelling, so it is only natural for the two to mix. But when the romance is between two men, the result is more interesting than many would expect.

With more and more Boys Love/isekai stories getting adapted into anime -- among other types of media -- it's worth taking a look at how the two mix together to create their own unique types of story. There are two main ways the isekai setting is used in Boy's Love (or BL). The first type is to just use a typical isekai setting to explore different story possibilities. In particular, new and wild sexual content, such as those with different species or humanoids. Think Interspecies Reviewers but for BL. 2020’s anime of The Titan’s Bride is representative of this type of story. The series starts out like many isekai titles -- the protagonist Koichi Mizuki is a normal high schooler who is suddenly summoned to an isekai world in order to marry the prince of the giants, Caius, who fell in love with Koichi at first sight.

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Since this is a BL anime distributed by ComicFesta Anime -- the company famous for bringing adult-rated short-form anime to the mainstream -- there are plenty of anatomically incompatible sexual situations in the anime, while the emotional development and world-building are both very lacking due to the short runtime.

The manga, on the other hand, goes much deeper into the background of the protagonists and the building of its isekai world. It is a much more peaceful and simpler one compared to regular isekai:  there is no level grinding, no evil witches or world-ending conspiracies; the world exists solely to serve the romance. This is not necessarily a bad thing as the difference in focus creates a different type of isekai -- one that is not set up like a typical RPG fantasy, but rather a more exotic world devoid of regular humans.

But there are also BL works that hew much closer to the traditional isekai formula. Reincarnated Into Demon King Evelogia's World, which is also getting the ComicFesta treatment soon, is a good example of such a story. Toshiaki Gozu is a Japanese yakuza transported into the world of a fantasy game that he used to play as a kid. Gozu was a fan of the final boss of the game, the Demon King Evelogia, so when he meets a pre-demon king Evelogia, he decides to help him conquer the world.

The plot of this series resembles many villainess isekai stories, which have been quite popular recently. As Gozu played the game already, he knows how events will play out, so he tries to help Evelogia reverse the course of the game and avoid being killed by the heroes. What’s quite refreshing about this story is that it reverses conventional expectations, too, and portrays Evelogia as a shy and kind young man. Instead, Gozu is the person with questionable morals (and sexually deviant) due to his criminal past, and he teaches Evelogia how to be a proper demon king.

This series is one of the better BL isekai stories. It has unique characterizations, a well-developed story and offers a different take on the traditional power fantasy as the demon king is still young and is learning to be the final boss. Unfortunately, as it's also being adapted by ComicFesta, the plot and world-building will likely be largely cut out in favor of sex scenes, so reading the manga will be the best way to enjoy this story.

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While the first type of isekai BL is much more commonplace, the second type of isekai BL has more interesting potential, both for the isekai genre and for BL. In this type of story, the isekai in question is actually the world of BL. The protagonists in these stories are usually aware of BL tropes, but as straight guys (or so they think), they try very hard to avoid ending up in BL situations, leading to a lot of hilarity, and sometimes even romance.

One of the most popular titles of this subgenre is A World Where Everything Definitely Becomes BL vs. The Man Who Definitely Doesn't Want To Be in a BL, which will soon be adapted into a live-action drama in Japan. The title says everything about the series. It is about an ordinary guy who suddenly realizes that he lives in a BL world wherein most men are paired up with other men. The protagonist is usually spared from BL situations for one simple reason: he is not handsome, so he is usually relegated to the mob position, but he still works very hard to protect his virginity from other handsome guys.

The protagonist vehemently stresses that he is straight and likes "big breasts." Unfortunately for him, most female characters in this world are faceless background characters. This is just one of the examples of the series' meta-humor. For people familiar with BL tropes, the jokes are as perceptive as they are hilarious. They point out the problematic things within BL, such as the lack of female representation and the abundance of non-consensual relationships. But at the same time, they also show why so many love to read BL -- it’s about escaping to a different world and seeing people of different strokes connect and fall in love, so the series is ultimately a loving tribute to everything BL. Additionally, it offers a new way to structure the isekai setting as a meta world, which is somewhat in-line with anime like Re:Creators, though much more comedic.

For those who love satirical commentaries but still want to see some actual BL storylines in their isekai, Fudanshi Summoning: I Got Laid by a Divine Beast on an Alternate World definitely fits the bill. It also has a mini anime series that can be watched on YouTube.

The anime is more of a promotional video than an actual series, though, whereas the manga actually takes full advantage of the isekai setting and makes its world an omegaverse, which means there is the possibility of male pregnancy. The series combines the best parts of the first type's exotic isekai setting with the second type's meta-humor with some very beautiful artwork, so it is definitely worth reading. For any fan looking to broaden their isekai horizons with some added male romance, any of these series are worth checking out.

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