BL or Boys Love is a unique genre that features the romantic relationship between two men. A BL story can be further categorized into sub-genre, one of which is School Life BL. As the name suggests, these storylines revolve around the experience of characters in their school life. After all, it’s the peak time when people are most curious about their love interests and relationships.
There is much good Manga/Manhwa/Manhua available in the School Life BL genre. While many of them have an overall cliche plot, there are some unique BLs with an amazing storyline, ranging from a delinquent losing his memories to Agents working undercover in a school. This list won’t contain your mainstream BL stories with cliche plots. Instead, here, we’ll talk about 10 of the best School Life BLs with unique and diverse plots. This isn’t a ranking article, so the order doesn’t have any significance.
1. Caste Heaven
The story of this School life BL takes place in a school where all the students play a caste game. No one knows when it started or by whom. Everything in this school is decided through a game of cards. The one with the lower position is not allowed to go against the person with a higher position. An empty card box on the table of the lecturer signifies that the caste game has started in a particular class.
It’s like a Scavenger hunt within the school boundaries where people have to find a card, and this card will decide what role they will play in their respective classes. For instance, a kid who picks up the card of the King will be treated as the person with the highest authority, while whoever picks up the Joker will become the target. Besides this, anyone who doesn’t play the game or disobeys rules will become the target as well.
In the caste game of grade 2 group 1, Azusa has remained the King for a long time. Azusa is a typical good-looking guy with a righteous and unbreakable attitude. Being a king means that you’ll automatically get more friends and more authority over everyone. Azusa also had a loyal dog Karino, who’d do anything that Azusa said, no matter how ridiculous it might be. In this grade, the target was Kusakabe, a pushover and timid boy who was bullied because of his rank. Soon the executive committee of the Caste game announced the beginning of the game for the 1st group of 2nd grade.
When the game started this time, Azusa sent Karino to find the King card for him by any means. As he was walking down the stairs, he was pushed from behind and went unconscious. When he opened his eyes, he found that he was being assaulted by none other than his loyal dog Karino. As it turns out, Karino found the King card and kept it for himself, and brought back the Joker card for Azusa, which means he is the new target now. On the other hand, the previous target Kusakabe successfully got the card of Jack this time. After being betrayed, will Azusa get his revenge now?
2. False Memories (Lee Gpiee)
False Memories, illustrated by Lee Gpiee, is one of the most underrated School life BL. Lee wan is a timid high school boy who is often misunderstood by people because of his face and a scar below his eye. He recently got transferred to a new school. However, everyone around him thinks that he is a delinquent and wants to pick up a fight, although he just wants to make friends. On the first day of his school, he was simply walking around, and suddenly a guy fell on him. This was the first person who didn’t get scared of Lee Wan and even thanked him for saving him from the fall.
Later in the class, Lee Wan finds out that the guy from before is Cha Ha-Woon. A popular, good-looking guy with a cheerful personality. Cha Ha-Woon declared that he wanted to be a friend of Lee Wan, which was a big deal for him. Throughout his life, he was treated like a monster, but for the first time, someone was trying to befriend him!
Cha Ha-Woon invited him to a warehouse at the school to introduce him to his friends. After reaching the Warehouse, Wan noticed that all the kids in the warehouse looked like delinquents. Soon another guy shows up who betrayed Cha Ha-Woon by being an informant to someone who’s been paying him to keep an eye on Cha Ha-Woon. Instead of fighting himself, Cha Ha-Woon ordered Lee Wan to hit him instead. This was his chance to make a friend by hitting his enemy, but he couldn’t raise his hand to someone else. Thus Ha-Woon took matters into his own hands and beat the other guy mercilessly.
Soon, Ha-Woon started showing his true colors and told everyone that Lee wan had to quit his school because he was an outcast. Later on the same day, Lee wan chased after him to clear any misunderstanding, but when they were talking, the guy who was ridiculed in the warehouse appeared out of nowhere and struck Ha-woon’s head. This caused him to lose his memories. However, due to the memory loss, he seemed to be an entirely different person. The only person who knows that he lost his memories is Lee wan. How will the relationship shape up after this incident?
3. Nevermore
On the surface, James Jung is a normal college student and the deputy class rep. And Samuel Gyo is a cheerful Homeroom teacher. But in reality, both of them are working as undercover agents in Ozoh High school. It’s an elite school operated by the Ozoh group. James is a top agent of the Secret intelligence agency Hawk, sent to this school to protect the principal who’s targeted by Samuel, an executive member of an Underground organization. But neither of them can be caught in the action by the students or other teachers. So they both are after each other’s heads, but they need to follow the rules.
The principal himself allowed Samuel to work here even after knowing his true intentions as a form of mockery. But for Samuel and James to stay in this school, they had to follow three major rules. Firstly, neither of them can reveal their identities. Secondly, they can’t harm any other students, and lastly, they cannot use explosives and firearms. This story starts as something funny and ironic but later on, things start getting darker and twisted. All because of the principal, who used to be Samuel’s ex-boyfriend but now is eyeing James. Would this shape into a love triangle or just a bunch of strategies to defeat each other? This School life BL takes more of a mysterious turn in the story.
4. Never Understand
This might be the only mainstream School life BL on this list. Jaerim is a hard-working and Willful person with just one single flaw. He is extremely ugly! (Though actually, he is super cute, they wanted to depict him as ugly, so… Can’t be helped.) Jaerim applied to be a part of the student council. However, initially, he was rejected only because of his looks. While he felt frustrated with their decision, a good-looking guy stopped him just to troll him for no reason. This person turned out to be the Vice president of the student council, Yuri. He is an egoistic boy who hates ugly people because of some incident that took place in the past.
On the same day, Jaerim was called by the President of the Student Council, who decided that Jaerim could be an additional member of the council. After hearing this, Yuri got annoyed and started overburdening Jaerim with lots of paperwork. But Jaerim took this as a challenge and worked with all his might. So much that he fainted after a few days of constant paperwork. After he was told to get proper bed rest, Yuri visited him and talked things out. They slowly started getting closer, but Yuri started feeling a different type of connection with Jaerim, while Jaerim was clueless about everything.
5. The Best Smell
Kanggo is a high school student with a strong power of smell, not just normal things but also their feelings. Kanggo can smell others’ fear, anger, happiness, etc. One day he was simply sleeping in the music room like usual, and in the middle of his sleep, he felt that someone kissed him. Although he was so sleepy that he didn’t even try to catch the person, later, when he got fully awake, he tried his best to find this person and teach him/her a lesson. With the power of his smell, he tried to look for that person for days. And one day, he finally caught the boy who kissed him, Although he refused to accept that he did it (in reality, he did kiss him.)
After being confronted for the same thing twice, Kamin got flustered, and out of fear that people would hear Kanggo, he punched him without even realizing it. And they got into a fight. Even while fighting, Kanggo could smell that Kamin likes him. After this fight, they start talking, and Kamin accepts that he has feelings for Kanggo, but he gets rejected by him. After which, he starts pestering him every day. This annoyed Kanggo so much that he started looking out for Kamin’s weaknesses. Soon, he discovered that Kamin was secretly a fan of Sprout man, a childish television show. The main question that stands is what will he do with this new information now?
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6. For Your Love and Form of Sympathy
Both of these School life BL are illustrated by the same mangaka and are connected. “Form of Sympathy” is a sequel to “For your love,” featuring the love story of the side characters.
For your love
Having multiple clubs for extracurricular activities is common for every school in Korea. One of these clubs in a certain school is the Travel planning club. Usually, the club activities are meant for 10th and 11th-grade students, whereas 12th-grade students are expected to focus on their studies. In this travel planning club, there are only three club members, Yohan and Junseo of 11th grade and Park Moogyeong of 12th grade.
Park has a one-sided crush on Junseo, but he makes it obvious that he has feelings for him. Yohan has always been quick to read people, and so he figures out everything. In his experience, one-sided love is useless. Since he is a forward person, he went straight to Park and asked him if he was gay. After being caught by Yohan, Park felt embarrassed and punched him as a reflex. Later on, he apologized and explained his situation, agreeing that he liked Junseo. Yohan thought extremely lowly of people with one-sided love, but who would’ve thought that he’ll fall for someone himself?!
Form of Sympathy
This manhwa focuses on the relationship of the second couple, Kwon Yuri and Lee Sunwoo. In the previous story, “For your love,” Yuri was a friend of Yohan. Overall he was an adorable character, but he’s only been a heartless jerk in this manhwa. Yuri has always been in love with his adopted sister, but it was about time that he had to give up on her as it was her wedding day with another man. Yuri always knew this day would come, but this was equivalent to torture for him. Everyone else was cheerful and happy at the wedding. But Yuri noticed that a man who seemed familiar was crying at the back. This man turned out to be one of his teachers, Lee Sunwoo.
After getting out of the venue, Yuri tried talking to Sunwoo, but he was way too drunk to even say a word. Seeing someone so anxious at a wedding, Yuri assumed that Sunwoo might’ve been in love with his sister as well. One thing led to another, and Yuri had to take Sunwoo home since he was too drunk. During this time, Sunwoo accidentally left his Wallet and phone with Yuri. So on the next day, he had to talk to Yuri, even though he didn’t want to face him after acting like a drunkard.
While talking, they both decided to drink lightly, but Yuri’s alcohol tolerance was bad, so he got unconscious right after he drank a few sips. When his eyes opened, he found himself in Sunwoo’s apartment. He saw Sunwoo drinking more bottles of alcohol. This annoyed him so much that he asked him about his relationship with his sister. But to his surprise, he was never in love with his sister but with the man she married!! How will things turn out after this revelation?
7. Aitsu no Daihonmei
The story follows the life of Yoshida, a calm and gentle high schooler with an ugly face who recently started getting bullied by all the girls at his school. The reason wasn’t his looks but the fact that he’s been spending time with Satou. Satou is not just handsome but a person with God-like looks (and yes, that’s how much they exaggerated his looks, girls treat him like a god.) But recently, he stopped hanging out with the girls and blamed it all on Yoshida, saying that he made plans with him every single day. But in reality, Yoshida is just a cover-up. He never made any actual plans. Because of this, Yoshida started getting bullied every single day. On the other hand, Satou simply liked teasing Yoshida, so even after knowing about the whole situation, he still kept using him as a cover to avoid hanging out with girls.
One day a cute girl requested Yoshida to talk to Satou and ask him, “who’s your favorite?” Obviously, he couldn’t say no to a request from a cute girl, specifically when the whole womankind seemed to hate him. While talking to Satou, he suddenly remembered that he used to know Satou in elementary school. In the past, Satou was a fat kid because of which he was bullied by others, but Yoshida, who wasn’t even his friend, always kept protecting him. One day when the bullies were about to attack him, Yoshida came in between and got a permanent scar on his face. After seeing that Yoshida has finally remembered the past, Satou confessed that ever since elementary school, his only favorite person in this whole world is Yoshida.
When Satou had no one on his side, Yoshida was the only person who supported him. But after Yoshida got injured because of him, Satou decided to leave the school. He joined a fitness training camp so that he won’t be bullied by others anymore and Yoshida wouldn’t have to worry about him or get hurt. However, this training camp was far worse than a mental asylum, as their training methods were almost like torture. But Satou managed to make it out alive. After this, he accidentally bumped into Yoshida and started teasing him.
After spending quality time together, Yoshida also started feeling attracted to him, not to mention that he is extremely good-looking as well. The real story starts after they do get in a relationship. Every single chapter of this School life BL is filled with misunderstandings, love rivals, and, best of all, different ways in which Satou teases Yoshida.
8. Do You Know A Fairy?
In this School life BL, every single person has a guardian fairy, but they are invisible to a normal person’s eyes. Eun Ho is the only exception. He has the ability to see and communicate with other Guardian fairies. Just by observing these Fairies, he can understand if two people are having a fight, have a great bond, or even if they are secretly dating. Just like everyone else, Eun Ho also has a fairy, Hong. He claims to be one of the highest-ranking fairies among all others. There are some rules that the fairies have to follow. For instance, a fairy can’t just eat any food they like, a proper tribute or ritual is done before they can eat the food.
One day Eun Ho and Hong were sitting in a park. On his way home, Eun Ho felt like someone was following them. On the same night, they both discover that another fairy named Jaesuk was at Eun ho’s house. He’s been chasing them since they left the park because he fell in love with Hong at first sight. Jaesuk was originally supposed to follow Kwon Jaehwi, the human he’s supposed to guide, but he left him alone to pursue Hong. Because the guardian fairy left his side, Jaehwi started getting bad luck leading to multiple injuries and discomfort. Coincidentally, he turned out to be a new student in the same class as Eun Ho. Since Jaehwi’s Fairy Jaesuk was already with Eun Ho, he instantly started feeling at ease around Eun Ho.
Jaesuk simply follows Hong wherever he goes, while Hong follows Eun Ho. Because of this, as soon as Eun Ho moves away from Jaehwi, he starts feeling nauseous and ends up getting injuries due to bad luck. After finding comfort around Eun Ho, they both eventually start getting closer and become friends. But how would Jaesuk react when Eun Ho tells him the truth about fairies?
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9. I Like You
This School life BL is one of the hilarious manhwas out there. The whole story is based on misunderstandings. The story takes place in an All-Boys school where Andy Goh is constantly bullied by other boys and is treated as an errand boy. One day after he bought cold drinks and other edibles for his bullies, he accidentally witnessed something that he shouldn’t have seen. On his way up to the class, he saw Jesse Baek, the top delinquent in the school confessing to the math teacher. But the teacher seemed to reject Jesse. Andy got stuck in the position because of the shock, and obviously, Jesse noticed him. In order to protect himself from getting punched by Jesse, He got hasty and just screamed, “I like you.”
Punching someone who just confessed to you a second ago would be too heartless. After getting confessed by someone he barely knows, Jesse felt embarrassed, but he rejected him. After which, he took the cold drinks from his hand, because of which Andy got anxious since he’d have to go back again to buy new ones. But in Jesse’s perspective, it seemed like he was anxious because he was rejected by him.
In a separate incident, Andy was hiding from the bullies that ordered him to bring drinks. But he couldn’t deliver them to them because of Jesse. The bullies found him and started asking for the reason why he didn’t serve the Dinks. Coincidentally Jesse was passing by, and defending himself. Andy shouted that Jesse took the drinks from him because those were his favorite. Jesse, who was passing by, was astonished since those were his favorite drinks. After this, he started changing his mind regarding Andy.
Jesse often saw his teacher flirting with other boys. Thus, he concluded that in order to move on from that teacher, Jesse needs to get into a relationship with someone else. And who’s better suited for that role than Andy? He went straight to Andy and agreed to date him. But Andy has no intentions of being in a relationship!! But he is still scared of Jesse. There’s no way he can refuse to date him after confessing. What’ll happen once Jesse finds out about this?!
10. The Story About You x Me
The story of this School life BL starts with Gu Ze and his friends infiltrating the Dean’s office while he went to the toilet. The purpose was to clear the files containing their names as the defaulters, and the mission was successful. However, because of their timing, the Dean came back to his office before their predicted time. Gu ze managed to hide, but he noticed that Ye Ruchuan, the vice president of the Student Union was sitting in the corner of the room from the beginning.
In the end, the Dean busted Gu Ze to save him. Ye Ruchuan told Dean that this was all a prank pulled by him and Gu Ze. But instead of saving him from work, he added more workload. He said that Gu ze came to the Dean to get his punishment days increased so that he could help around for a longer time.
This time his punishment was to work with the Class Union for 300 days straight. However, none of the students in Class Union were ready to assist him since Gu Ze is too scary. But Ye agrees to be his supervisor himself. Though Gu Ze has clearly no intention of working, so he decided to fake an injury. However, he made it too obvious by walking around properly with a broken leg. Thus, even after trying hard not to work, he was dragged by Ye Ruchuan.
They both did school duty together daily, which brought them closer together. After forming a good bond, Ye Ruchuan reveals that he had known Gu Ze before college and wanted to see him again. This sparks curiosity in Gu Ze to know when they met and what his intentions are now. Just out of curiosity, he ends up knowing many things about Ye Ruchuan. As it’s a slow burn BL, seeing their relationship slowly graduate from rivalry to friendship to love is interesting
