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 we have stories with doctors!
Doomed Brothers
Writer & Author: Bulgama
Platform: Lezhin (Mature)
Seungdo always had one thing and one thing only on his mind, protecting Yegeon. They grew up in the same orphanage and Seungdo witnessed firsthand how smart and capable this little kid was. He deemed his position in life to be Yegeon’s big brother, to shield him from whatever filth that life may throw his way, even if that means using his body to make ends meet. Yegyeon returns Seungdo’s efforts by becoming a brilliant doctor everyone looks up to. Now that both of them are adults, their dynamics are bound to change. And for good.
Bulgama is an established VSC creator whose most works have made it into the English market! Before Doomed Brothers, there’s Mature-rated Hands Up, You’re Mine, also available on Lezhin. Then there’s The Absolute Threshold, available on Tappytoon both as all-ages and mature. However, Doomed Brothers is the only BL work among the licensed ones, and it’s a short, completed story with 11 chapters, including the side stories.
Doomed Brothers caters to a very specific mood: horny. Considering the main story is only five chapters, it does a fairly good job of providing a background for the characters and portraying what their relationship has been like for all the years they spent together. However, the rest is pretty straightforward and is mainly spent on a bed with lots of fluids spurting around. It’s all about the fwop and thwop.
And as you can gather from the summary, it caters to a very specific reader as well. Yegeon and Seungdo are neither blood-related nor brought up as siblings by an adoptive family, but being brothers has been the role they’ve chosen for themselves growing up. If you don’t vibe with that, or drug abuse, or non-consensual sex, Doomed Brother will not work for you.
I, however, appreciate that it commits to staying toxic until the end! Plus I can never say no to a tattooed, pierced, older bottom being taken advantage of!
Ordinary Men
Writer & Author: Lesh
Platform: Lezhin (All-ages)
Everyone in the hospital, including patients, shares this sentiment: Nurse Jiyeon and Doctor Seok-hyun should get a room! They, in fact, live together due to Jiyeon’s mother springing Seok-hyun on her son. They know each other from high school and share a troubled past, but they’re grown people now, right? Except, Seok-hyun is relentless in his pursuit of Jiyeon but the chances of them ending up together according to a colleague, is the same as Hxnter X Hxnter finally ending.
Ordinary Men is the only work of Lesh‘s that’s translated into English, and it’s a completed, relatively short VSC with 36 chapters in total.
When I first started reading this series, I wasn’t sure if it suited my taste. Tsundere characters who cannot be honest about their feelings are more of a miss than a hit for me. In the initial chapters, the dynamic between Jiyeon and Seok-hyun resembles that of a golden retriever and a black cat whose personal space is constantly invaded. It is made clear from the beginning that Jiyeon likes Seok-hyun back as well, so I wasn’t exactly thrilled for his stern denial accompanied by the internal conflict to stretch for 30+ chapters.
But I was pleasantly surprised after sticking around for 10+ chapters that the main concern of the story isn’t when will Jiyeon give in and finally accept Seok-hyun’s feelings, but when will he heal from the past relationships that left him scarred. So I highly recommend you keep reading even if the early chapters don’t agree with you.
One self-aware moment that made me giggle was in one of the extra chapters, the creator drew 4 coma strips with Jiyeon and Seok-hyun in various circumstances. In one, their jobs as nurses and doctors were reversed and in the end, nothing changed because there’s very little content in the story regarding the job itself!
I’d recommend Ordinary Men to readers who love the “healed by love” trope, the golden retriever x black cat pairings and medical environment as the backdrop!
Love Me, Doctor!
Writer & Author: ANA
Platform: Lezhin (Mature)
Choosing peace over conflict, and partly due to embarrassment, Hyuk hides the fact that he has erectile dysfunction from his girlfriend and avoids intimacy. He musters up the courage to visit a urologist under wraps, only to end up getting caught. His relationship doesn’t last, but at least Doctor Han is doing wonders with his long, slender fingers. He stops at nothing to get to the bottom of his condition, which makes Hyuk wonder. Are all urologists this attentive? Do they offer their patients drinks and listen to their worries? How about inviting them home for food with some medical advice on the side?
I have previously highlighted another series where ANA was one part of the creator duo LAPIS on my Supernatural BL list. Here, ANA is the sole creator and Love Me, Doctor! is a completed series with 55 chapters in total!
Love Me, Doctor! depicts a doctor-patient relationship in which Doctor Han breaches ethical boundaries by using his position as Hyuk’s physician to get close to Hyuk. While this isn’t portrayed as a sinister, manipulative act, and Hyuk’s slowness in catching up with Han’s obvious flirting plays a role, but Han’s sexuality and his interest in Hyuk are made clear from the start, and this interest plays a role on his medical decision. So you can give this series a chance depending on how uncomfortable that breach would make you feel.
For the remaining curious, let’s dive a bit deeper. Since Hyuk is a healthy and fit young man, Doctor Han opts for administering prostate massages regularly, further offering advice on changes Hyuk can implement himself. At first, Han simply finds Hyuk cute, while Hyuk sees a confidant in Han and is shocked by how good this treatment feels. The more they spend time together in and out of the clinic, the more they feel drawn to each other.
The art style might not appeal and the way these two get together might feel sketchy to some. However, the reason why Love Me, Doctor! is still a dear comic to my heart after four years is its genuine and tender approach to an otherwise common dynamic. Han is the charismatic, casual playboy while Hyuk is the honest, lovable and straightforward young man. Han changes the most throughout thanks to Hyuk’s unflinching, selfless way of loving. And this is presented not as a one-time miraculous moment but a gradual change, a two-way interaction.
In Love Me, Doctor!, there are no cheap excuses, no deeply traumatic past lives. Just two people who have their similarities and differences, missteps and shortcomings. If you’re looking for a completed series with a compelling story and a satisfying redemption arc, look no further than this one!
Dog Under Mount Sinai
Writer & Artist: Estragon2023
Platform: Tapas (All-ages), WEBTOON (All-ages)
Sinah is a successful, highly sought-after neurosurgeon. On his first day of residency 20 years ago, a little kid severely traumatized and abused by his parents was admitted to the hospital. Sinah was involved in Noah’s aftercare as well. Although he’s startled to see the kid taken by social services before the full recovery, upon advice from his colleagues not to get emotionally invested, he puts Noah at the back of his mind. Now that he’s sitting idly in an airport lounge, he comes across a worker that brings back memories and guilt.
There isn’t much info online on the creator Estragon2023, but from what I see on their Twitter account, Dog Under Mount Sinai is their first and only comic. It is recently completed with 109 chapters.
I discovered this comic while browsing free-to-read BL titles on Tapas and I was immediately hooked. I have to warn you that what Noah has been through, and still going through, isn’t easy to stomach. His parents’ abuse and his disrupted recovery leave Noah incapable of keeping a stable job. As a result, his life is defined by poverty and insecurity. Sinah, on the other hand, is determined to get Noah back on his feet this time.
Dog Under Mount Sinai is a story of life, death and rebirth. Delves into redemption and atonement, full of philosophical questioning. It is beautifully drawn, in black and white, with unique character designs. I debated over adding this to the list since this series isn’t a vertical-scrolling comic in the traditional sense and is originally formatted as a pocketbook, but it works perfectly as a scrolling comic as well.
In the introductory chapter, the creator explains that they aren’t fluent in English and sure, the text isn’t perfect. But hopefully, that doesn’t deter you from continuing this series because what awaits you is an emotionally charged, bittersweet and evocative BL! I can’t recommend this series enough.
A Typical Relationship
Writer & Artist: 2Taek
Platform: Lezhin (Mature)
Sung-jae can heal bones or muscles but is desperate when it comes to his own heart. As a 31-year-old orthopedic surgeon, his first love in high school still haunts him, feelings deeply engrained enough for him to dream of Sae-in. He’s naturally shocked to see Sae-in again after 11 years, this time as a patient. On the surface, Sae-in is intimate, playful, and interested in Sung-jae. But the second the word commitment is uttered, he’s out the door. What will become of Sung-jae in the face of his deep-running desire?
The only work that is credited to 2Taek‘s name is A Typical Romance. The series is the winner of the 1st Lezhin Comics BL Comic Contest Winner and is completed with 50 chapters! You can read the first 14 chapters for free with 24-hour WUF.
Not sure how you feel about black and white vertical-scrolling comics, but I love them, especially when the choice reflects the dreary limbo its main characters inhabit.
Depending on your tolerance for characters who, despite trying to maintain boundaries or keeping each other at arm’s length, still helplessly gravitate to each other, you’ll either feel frustrated down to your socks or fall in love with A Typical Romance.
Sung-jae and Sae-in are the epitome of fallible. Very early on, Sung-jae openly conveys how he isn’t comfortable with a strictly sexual relationship and Sae-in makes it known that he won’t keep a man “who changes after having sex” around. But even after they decide to stay no-contact, their doctor-patient relationship forces the two to meet and get pulled into each other’s orbit again.
The character designs of 2Taek are reminiscent of earlier works in the Boys Love manga. You know, from the Junjou Romantica or The World’s Greatest First Love era where one lead’s chin is square-ish and the other’s pointy. In that sense, the series has a nostalgic feel. Still, the characters don’t look that stiff and their faces are quite expressive so it was a pleasure to read!
I can recommend A Typical Romance to readers who love series that explore a relationship that has to stay at a stalemate to exist, but as change is inevitable, the leads shift and circumstances change and the feelings eventually change as well.
Boys Love with Doctors: Cure for low dopamine levels
Maybe due to medical jargon or the need for additional research, but it seems like doctors aren’t as popular or maybe don’t get as licensed in English as other professions. Still, it was fun trying to dig and find titles for this list! It’s the flu season where I’m at despite the weather getting warm, so be careful not to catch a cold and try to catch feelings instead! The summer’s still ahead of us!
As always thank you for reading my column and let us know in the comments if you have a favorite doctor that would raise the eyebrows of the medical board and make Hippocrates shed a tear in disappointment. See you next time!
Catch up with previous entries in K-Comics Beat’s Boys Love for Life series by clicking here!
