One of the more current BL anime with huge promotions going on in Japan, Super Lovers is an anime adapted from a manga with the same title by Abe Miyuki. In summer five years ago, Kaidou Haru visited Canada to see his mother and for the first time met his adopted brother, Ren, who was extremely rash and anti-social, and grew close to him. However, because of an accident that killed his dad and his stepmother, Haru currently had no memory of that summer. When Ren comes to Japan to find Haru and claim that he is Haru’s ‘brother’, Haru learns to adjust his life and grow closer once more to Ren, and just maybe, find love.

Like Junjou Romantica, Super Lovers has the classic Boys Love genre feel to it—the main couple lives together, which makes it a great watch for people who likes slice-of-life domesticity atmosphere with a touch of romantic comedy. Like Misaki and Usagi, Haru and Ren are also a couple with a notable age gap. Super Lovers also deals a little bit with themes of coming-of-age characters, especially as we follow how Ren learns to be make more friends. The same studio that worked on Junjou Romantica, Studio Deen, delivers Super Lovers in cute pastel colors that would remind you of Junjou Romantica, and the seiyuu line-up does not disappoint either—from Maeno Tomoaki, Minagawa Junko, Matsuoka Yoshitsugu to Terashima Takuma, Super Lovers would please your ears.

Speaking of classic BL anime such as Junjou Romantica, one would definitely remember Murakami Maki’s Gravitation series. Adapted into a 13 episode anime and aired in 2000 after getting a previous 2-episodes OVA, Gravitation follows the story of Shindou Shuichi, the aspiring singer of a band named Bad Luck, who falls in love with a popular romance novelist under the name Yuki Eiri despite almost getting off at the wrong foot with him. In doing his best to reach his dream to be a big star singer in Japan and thawing Yuki’s cold heart into accepting him wholly as a partner, Shuichi embarks on a lot of hilarious shenanigans, heartfelt introspections, and discovers Yuki’s dark past as well.

If you love series that focuses on how celebrity couples face society over their relationship, then Gravitation is a must-watch. Both main couples live together, have a notable age gap, and both couples involve a grumpy, rather cold character who works as a novelist. A lot of the arc in both series centers on insecurities over their relationship, and, just like Junjou Romantica, presents Misaki the many problems of Usagi’s family that frustrates and sometimes baffles him, Gravitation gives Shuichi the many problems of Yuki’s family (plus in-laws). As Gravitation is a classic that Studio Deen delivers before Junjou Romantica, the animation does look much older, but it doesn’t take the enjoyment out of it! Plus, Gravitation has really good music and seiyuu; Kotani Kinya sang most of Bad Luck’s songs and the ending song, and you could hear Inoue Kazuhiko, Seki Tomokazu, Orikasa Ai and even Yamaguchi Kappei bringing the characters to life. If you rarely ventured to older BL series before Junjou Romantica, Gravitation is a good choice to start!

Bell Liberty Academy, aptly abbreviated as BL Academy (we can hear you snorting), is an elite boys-only educational institution that only accepts extremely special and talented people. Which is why Itou Keita is floored when he gets the invitation to attend such prestigious academy when he is just a normal, no-talent student! Nonetheless, Keita slowly develops close friendships with the brilliant students of BL Academy—from the “King” in the student council, Niwa Tetsuya, and the “Queen” of the school Saionji Kaoru, the flamboyant captain of Tennis Club Naruse Yukihiko to the cyclist who placed third in the National Tournament Taki Shunsuke—Keita adjusts and learns the dynamics of life in BL Academy. He is also, however, very much drawn to his first friend in the academy: the kind-hearted but mysterious Endou Kazuki, who seems to know more about Keita than he lets on.

Gakuen Heaven is a romantic comedy adapted from a PC game with a harem theme first released in 2004. The best thing about Gakuen Heaven is that it combines school and dormitory shenanigans, and, like Junjou Romantica, it is filled with pretty boys. Also, Kazuki and Keita might seem like your usual high school couple, but the plot twist later reveals that just like Usagi and Misaki, they also have a notable age gap between them. While Gakuen Heaven is quite a light-hearted and fun series in general, it does have a more serious theme towards the end. Several seiyuu who worked on Junjou Romantica also appeared in this series as well, such as Misaki’s seiyuu, Sakurai Takahiro, and several others such as Morikawa Toshiyuki and Okiayu Ryutarou.

Adapted from a rather popular manga with the same title written by Hotaru Odagiri, the series, commonly abbreviated as UraBoku, follows the story of Sakurai Yuki, a teenager who was abandoned at birth and is raised in an orphanage. Yuki possesses a mysterious power that enables him to see others’ pasts and emotions when he touches them. Aspiring to grow as an independent man such as his childhood friend Wakamiya Kanata whom he admire, Yuki’s life turns complicated when he bumps into Zess, who claims that he’d protect Yuki, and Yuki’s adventure in the centuries old, never-ending war between Zweilts and Duras.

If you love Junjou Romantica for its cast of gorgeous bishounen, then you will love UraBoku as well. Despite its rather supernatural, fantasy themes, Yuki is actually a main character whose personality is similar to Misaki—while they both don’t seem strong, they are actually hard workers, caring towards others, makes friends very easily, aren’t easy to give up, and stubborn when it comes to the things they treasure. Zess, on the other hand, is rather similar to Usagi in the sense of how they distance themselves from others, and how they have and outwardly cold demeanor that melts whenever they see their significant others. The cast for this anime is also amazing, you get to hear Hoshi Souichirou, Ishida Akira, Sakurai Takahiro, Miyano Mamoru, Fukuyama Jun, and even Kamiya Hiroshi and Ono Daisuke. If you like a shounen-ai series with a very shoujo-fantasy feel to it, then UraBoku would suit your taste!

Another one from the same studio that brought you Junjou Romantica: Princess Princess is an anime adapted from a manga by Tsuda Mikiyo—another pen name of Zaou Taishi, one of the most widely known doujinka and BL mangaka, who also illustrated the widely popular BL series Love Stage!!. Set in a boys-only school, Princess Princess focuses on the story of Kouno Tooru, the clueless, beautiful transfer student who is suddenly scouted by the merciless student council president to be one of the school’s Princesses. In order to boost the morale of a boys-only school students, the school implemented the Princess System, in which very pretty boys are scouted, dressed up in various lolita dresses as the school’s Princess, and work to support and encourage the students in their daily lives. Along with his fellow Princesses, Shihoudani Yuujirou and Yutaka Mikoto, Tooru’s glittering life as a Princess admired by the all male students begins.

From the summary above, you could probably guess that this series is more shoujo comedy than romance. Like Junjou Romantica, Princess Princess is full of bishounen characters, extremely interesting supporting characters, and hilarious shenanigans—from crossdressing problems to manipulative student council members, from the pain of wearing high-heels to learning how to use their power as the School Princesses—every episode would give you a good laugh. However, it also does give you heartfelt episodes filled with bromance, especially with Tooru and Yuujirou, and while the series isn’t officially a shounen-ai genre, it doesn’t shy from giving you a lot of shounen-ai innuendos and fanservice. You can also look forward to the superb cast for this series: Fukuyama Jun, Kakihara Tetsuya, and Paku Romi take care of the three Princesses roles, but the supporting characters’ seiyuu are top names too, including Hoshi Souichirou, Kamiya Hiroshi, Toriumi Kousuke, Nojima Kenji and Takeuchi Junko!

It’s impossible not to put another one of Nakamura Shungiku’s popular series in a recommendation for similar anime to Junjou Romantica. While the previous article recommended Sekaiichi Hatsukoi series to you, are you aware yet that this series has a movie? Yokozawa Takafumi no Baai is originally published as a novel illustrated by Nakamura Shungiku, which focuses on Yokozawa Takafumi and the romantic relationship he’s building with a single father Kirishima Zen, whose daughter Hiyori adores Yokozawa so much. Set in the same timeline as Junjou Romantica, this movie expands the universe of Sekaiichi Hatsukoi, and offers you the adorable domesticity of a ‘found’ family of three: Yokozawa, Kirishima, and Hiyori.

As Yokozawa Takafumi no Baai is originally a light novel and hasn’t been licensed to English yet, this movie is really a lifesaver for us Nakamura Shungiku fans who have little to no Japanese language ability. There’s a nostalgic feeling to watching the movie—of course, not only because we get to see Sekaiichi Hatsukoi characters, but also because Kirishima Zen himself had appeared in Junjou Romantica. The movie has a good balance between romance and humor, as well as characters’ internal conflicts and relationship insecurities that really reminds you of Junjou Romantica’s storytelling. Studio Deen, again, is the one who delivered this movie to us, and of course the series’ production team isn’t holding back in bringing big name seiyuu to complete the pleasure of this movie: we have Horiuchi Kenyuu coming back as Yokozawa, this time paired with Furuya Tohru as Kirishima, and the movie also brought back the cast of Sekaiichi Hatsukoi, including Konishi Katsuyuki, Maeno Tomoaki, Okamoto Nobuhiko, Midorikawa Hikaru, Nakamura Yuuichi and Kondou Takashi.