Boys Love, or BL for short is a genre that depicts romantic and/or sexual relationships between men. It’s a rich genre with stunning variety in its themes and due to its popularity, the English market gets a satisfactory number of localized titles. The trends and tropes change and evolve over time, however, certain broad strokes or fan favorites remain.
The word ‘trope’ has a negative connotation among anime and manga fans, but it is merely a tool whose outcome depends on its implementation. The romance genre especially runs on tropes, but it’s either a setting or a dynamic that helps the reader decide whether to invest in a series or not. In this corner, I want to highlight 5 Boys Love VSC that share the same trope. Today’s theme is supernatural!
Dreaming of the Dokkaebi
Writer/Artist: LAPIS
Translator: JeanieS
Platform: Tappytoon (All-ages & Mature)
Ju Minchan often suffered from fevers that, according to his grandma, happened because he was cursed. He can see and interact with otherworldly beings ever since but his symptoms now manifest as seizures. To alleviate his pain, he has to hunt spirits continuously. One day, Minchan is told that he can put an end to his seizures by capturing one strong being, and he’s determined to do whatever it takes to feel better.
Dreaming of the Dokkaebi is an ongoing series by LAPIS, a two-person team that consists of ANA and Puput. ANA’s two other works, Love Me, Doctor! and The Most Ordinary Relationship, are already licensed in English. However, this series seems to be Puput’s first commercial work. The series is wrapping up its first season this week.
Dokkaebi are similar to goblins in their extraordinary strength and they can either be helpful or play tricks on you. The strong being Minchan has to lure out from a 1500-year-long imprisonment is a dokkaebi named Bihwan. However, this deity continuously calling Minchan “Seoho” and cursing him for abandoning him signals that something more complicated than just hunting a spirit is at play.
As the story progresses, we delve deeper and find out that both Minchan and Bihwan are suffering from tragic pasts, and as things stand now, they have to rely on one another to survive. I can’t help but admire the muted color palette, and while sometimes the characters look anatomically off, overall the art style is quite pleasant.
I’d recommend Dreaming of the Dokkaebi to readers who love magical realism where mythical creatures mingle with the modern world, stories with a gloomy air to them, and enough spice to burn their tongues!
Paljae, Child of Winter
Writer/Artist: Gabaemari
Localization: Manta Comics
Platform: Manta (Older Teen)
Munryeong is a blind Taoist priest who lives on a secluded, wintery island. He finds a demon on the brink of death and gives it a chance to heal. Unexpectedly, the demon manages to survive and takes on the form of a young boy named Paljae. Munryeong cannot find it in him to turn away this gluttonous, cheeky, but beautiful boy after long years of solitude.
Without exaggeration: prepare to lay your eyes on one of the most beautiful webtoons ever. It took me a while to get into Paljae, Child of Winter despite how gorgeous it is, as it was dense when it came to the mythological names and explanations. This can slow your reading and introduction to the fictional world. But I assure you, it’s worth the effort.
This will be a long journey of learning what it means to be human, of many meetings and partings, making sense of the world as we discover how Paljae and Munryeong came to be. It’s one of those series where you have to take the plunge and experience for yourself as no amount of explanation could do it justice.
Paljae, Child of Winter would be interesting to readers who love danmei, Chinese Boys Love novels, enjoy delving deeper into Korean myths and folklore, and can endure the slow burn on the romance part.
Wind Beneath My Wings
Writer/Artist: Hongda
Platform: Lezhin (All-ages)
Windborns inhabit the Forest of the Wind, and zephyrs serve them. Hearth is a zephyr at the servitude of Shane, who will inherit the forest as its lord in the future. During an attack, and despite Hearth saving his life, Shane sustains a light injury on his arm. Thus is Hearth banished from the forest, having to be reborn as a human and spending three lifetimes to prove his virtue. If he can, he’ll be allowed to return.
After the brief introduction, the story starts with Hearth living his life as Seoha on earth, deciding to move into his grandmother’s house. He has trouble touching living beings due to a past incident, and he’s understandably confused when a stunning man with wings visits him, claiming he’s “Hearth’s” master and Seoha belongs to him now. They end up living together, and Seoha is once again a helper to Shane despite his protests.
Wind Beneath My Wings is a VSC with rebirth and ‘fated to be together in every timeline’ tropes as its central themes. It’s always fun reading about a celestial being trying to navigate life in the modern world! This series seems to be Hongda‘s first commercial BL and even though I’m not even halfway into the available chapters, I wanted to recommend it as it’s light-hearted (for now, at least), fun, and a very, very beautiful comic!
I’d recommend Wind Beneath My Wings to people who love the cool-headed, capable, older servant and temperamental, pampered, younger master dynamic, and to anyone looking to invest in a supernatural BL that could be considered a hidden gem.
The Boy Who Stole From the Fairy Lake
Writer/Artist: Sudong
Translator: Dayoung
Lettering: April Fools
Platform: Tapas (All-ages)
Hyosin is from a well-off family, but now he’s on the run from them. Trying to make his way through the woods and managing to shake off wild dogs, he comes across a lake, surrounded by beautiful women and a captivating man bathing in it. The whole scene looks like it’s out of a painting, and Hyosin standing there in a daze with the guy’s clothes in his hands marks him as a thief.
Turns out, the women around the lake are fairies, and San, the bathing man that Hyosin couldn’t take his eyes off, is a half-fairy who guards the area. Solely because the fairies request San take care of Hyosin, he is obliged to share his house with this hot mess of a person. However, it’s safe to say that he is not happy. Not one bit.
You guessed it right: it’s our good old friend, forced proximity! The Boy Who Stole from the Fairy Lake is, like the other series on this list, pretty art style-wise. However, the charm of this series lies in its great comedic timing which is further supported by switching to super simplistic faces/bodies when the rest of the panels are quite detailed. A lot of the jokes are anachronistic or self-aware, so Sudong‘s work only draws details from history or mythology in broad strokes and plays with these details however they like.
I’d recommend The Boy Who Stole from the Fairy Lake to readers who are looking for a completed, extremely funny series where opposite characters have to live under a roof. The first 30 chapters are free to read, too!
Bailin and Li Yun
Writer/Artist: Jayessart
Platform: WEBTOON (Link)
Deep in the Arctic, Li Yun is on a trip for research. He comes across a never-before-seen merman shot by a harpoon, the merman seems to be in pain. His offer to help is met with resistance at first, but he lets the researcher treat the wound. Even though the two can’t communicate verbally, they spend the rest of the researcher’s time in the Arctic together.
Li Yun names the merman Bailin, meaning “white scales.” And while their parting is hard on both of them, Li Yun knows Bailin will be turned into a spectacle if he were to take the merman with him. I’ll just let you know that Bailin finds a way to go to Li Yun and leave you to figure out how.
I discovered Jayessart’s Bailin and Li Yun and The Reaper and the Waiting in the Canvas section when looking for interesting romance VSCs to read. I was so happy to see this one finally among WEBTOON’s Originals! The chapters are short and our main characters are so cute that you find yourself breezing through the series.
Bailin and Li Yun would be perfect for readers looking for a series that’ll make them say “One more chapter, and I’m off to bed,” but end up losing sleep. Mermaids/mermans are more common in manga than VSCs as far as I’m aware, so if this is the flavor of supernatural you prefer, don’t miss out!
Boys Love: ‘Tis the season to take that leap of faith!
There are more popular BL VSCs out there such as Wolf in the House, DEAR DOOR, Fate Makes No Mistakes, or Haunted by Desire, to name a few. I definitely want to highlight them in the future, but for this week, I tried to pick titles that might have escaped your radar. Here’s to hoping you found something that piqued your interest this October, and don’t forget to let me know your favorite spooky VSC in the comments!
Catch up with previous entries in K-Comics Beat’s Boys Love for Life series by clicking here!
