#Hidamari ga Kikoeru

[randomlonelymusician]

Queer manga I'd like to see adapted

So there's definitely a lack of queer anime out there, so I wanted to talk about three that I think would make good anime. (Note: I realized all these are mainly centered around mlm relationships, so... take that as you will!)

Blue Flag

Blue Flag is one of my favorite romance manga that hasn't been adapted into an anime, and I think it seriously deserves one. It's honestly a love triangle, but one of the only series I've seen that actually does a triangle instead of an angle and does it well. It follows Taichi, a high school third year who is growing apart from his childhood best friend, Touma. Things sort of change when Futaba approaches Taichi due to her crush on Touma. The two become closer, and unbeknownst to them, Touma is gay and in love with Taichi. And as a bonus, Futaba's (female) best friend Masumi is in love with her, too!

Blue Flag is ultimately about navigating those confusing feelings of love in that weird transition between childhood and adulthood. While it's not a complicated premise, it's a beautiful, full tale of romance and friendship that would make an incredible anime if adapted fully. This is one I truly hope will get an adaptation someday.

Go For It, Nakamura!

I know this is kind of a weird one to think would fare well as an anime, but with the success of Komi Can't Communicate and anime with similar structure, I think this one would do well! Go For It, Nakamura! follows Nakamura, a shy high school boy who is completely in love with his classmate, Hirose. It's an episodic comedy with many elements that parody BL, all while celebrating other elements of it.

Nakamura is such a lighthearted read, and if it were a bit longer (another volume, maybe?) it would make a great episodic comedy anime. I honestly think it may even open up the BL genre to people who would've never considered it before. (Such as my brother. He would like this one!)

I Hear the Sunspot

Okay, I know this one got a live-action movie adaptation, but when I read it I just kept thinking of how pretty it could be animated. It follows Taichi (I know), a cheerful college student, and Kohei, who struggles with hearing loss. Taichi is able to break through Kohei's shell, and the two of them start this more than friends less than lovers relationship.

Besides the fact that it's a great manga and it's always nice to have more disability representation in anime, I think it would just look so pretty as an anime. I kept imagining a softer color palate with lighter animation, similar to something like Sweet Blue Flowers. I just think it would be so pretty.

Bonus: They should adapt Harukaze no Etranger (continuation of Umibe no Etranger), especially since the best character doesn't get introduced in what was in the movie, and I want to see him.

So that's all I had on the top of my head. Please give any titles that come to mind that would make great anime! (I will use these as recommendations...)

[absolutebl]

BL recs (from any country) that don't have any s*x scenes? I'm too ace to enjoy them at all. Happy ending preferred, angst v welcome:)

BLs Without Sex Scenes

Oof, this is a hard one. Is a dead fish kiss okay? I do have a heat sorting on the spreadsheet of doom, and there are some with no kissing at all, but a dead fish kiss is in most of the HEA ones.

BLs with No Kisses

21 Days Theory (Thailand, YouTube) - the only thing I didn't like about this pulp was the fact that they don't kiss, so... yeah, this is my first pick for you. Very YA first love angsty, fantastic queer rep and side characters. RECOMMENDED

My Esports Genius Brother (China, Gaga?) - it's hella odd censored bromance but enjoyable. No real angst tho.

HIStory My Hero (Taiwan, Viki) - basically a BL with no sex or kissing, but also body-swap so is it BL? I can't remember the end but I think it's happy?

Silhouette of Your Voice AKA Hidamari ga Kikoeru (Japan, ????) - this 2017 yaoi adaptation is a full on BL just no kissing at all. The source manga (I Hear the Sunspot) is a favorite of mine and the casting was decent. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for you (but not in general). Grey only.

Love of Siam (Thailand, ????) ALL THE ANGST, I'm pretty sure the most they do is hug, I could be v wrong though because too sad for me to ever rewatch. Very formative to the Thai BL industry.

The Lover (BL cut) (Korea ????) sometimes you can find the BL cut on YT, it has slapstick comedic sexualized moments that are maybe a little homophobic (or something), no actual sex or kissing, but no angst at all. (Korea's working some shizz out with this early offering.)

Kabe Koji AKA Kabesaa Doujin Sakka no Neko Yashiki-kun wa Shounin Yokkyuu wo Kojirasete iru (Japan, Viki) - I watched this and I was excited about it before it aired, but I seem to have expunged it from my memory and kept no screen caps in annoyance, so that's all I got.

Love in Spring AKA Spring of Crush (Korea, ????) - a crossdressing historical that flew utterly under the radar. I decided it just wasn't really BL, but it has BL aspects and it's kinda a little queer... or something. Grey only.

Evening Cafe (Thai pulp, YouTube) - No heat and no kisses, but a decent lead pair, about a boy who works in a cafe and the new employee who has a crush on him. That’s it, that's the whole story.

A Shoulder to Cry On (Korea, Viki) - Has no kissing and many people found it really good as @isisanna-blog reminded me, thank you). It certainly has ALL THE ANGST. (I did not like it at all, but I'm a terrible judge of this kind of BL.)

What Did You Eat Yesterday? (Japan ???) - this is such a lovely show, very warm and comforting and slice of life. There is very little angst, they too old for that shit, but little to no sexual content either. It's very warm and loving. A safe extremely yet queer show - and oh boy do we not get many of those. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Censored Bromances

So No Kisses (TM) for the gays but the hets might do stuff I didn't pay attention to. All these from China. Some happy, most not.

The Untamed

Word of Honor

Guardian

SCI Mysteries

Stay With Me AKA Addicted 2.0 (I never watched this so there may be rough play)

Mr CEO Falling in Love With Me

The Fairy Fox

Youth in the Breeze

Precise Shot

Advance Bravely

His Cat AKA His Cat Boyfriend

The Male Queen: Han Zi Gao

The "Ghost Boyfriend" series

Past Youth

I Go To School Not By Bus (Hong Kong short)

Recommended Shorts with no kisses, but cute & fun

The 8.2 Second Rule (Japan YouTube)

One Last Order (Korea, Gaga)

Love Advisor (Thailand, YouTube)

BLs with Dead Fish Kisses (maybe? only one, if any)

His the series: I Didn't Think I Would Fall In Love (Japan ????) - (NOT His the movie) this one has all the angst you could want in your whole life. ALL OF IT. Japan wins at emo, it's their THING.

Cherry Magic AKA 30 Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard AKA 30-sai made Dotei Da to Mahotsukai ni Nareru rashii AKA Cheri Maho (Japan ????) - there's sort of some bed tussling and implied sex but you could imagine them just being snuggles for the mains, the sides have dead fish kiss. In general there's some angst but not much. It's fluffy and great. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Bonus: overt ace representation for one of the side characters.

Meow Ears Up (Thailand Viki) - sides may kiss? I enjoyed this pulp especially at the start, the premise is fun. I think my biggest complaint was lack of kissing.

My Love Mix Up AKA Kieta Hatsukoi (Japan Viki), a case could be made for a demi seme in this BL. So much frenetic angst around bisexual identity crisis. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

My Ride (Thailand Gaga) - my favorite Thai BL pulp the sides have a good kiss and the mains do kiss but it's v dead fish, not at all sexual, and it comes at the very end. Otherwise extremely chaste, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this BL, queer and complex and engaging.

I Want to See Only You AKA Kimi no Koto Dake Mite Itai (Japan ????) - This is a beautiful piece of cinema well acted, about two boys who are opposite personalities and grew up together. The only kiss is the one pictured above, v dead fish. Full review here.

Nobleman Ryu's Wedding (Korea WeTV) - 12th Night goes BL in this cross dressing historical that ended up feeling like a Cinderfella fairy tale, lightly dramatic and utterly charming. Full review. There is one dead fishy kiss at the end but it's otherwise aggressively pure.

If you like this last style of KBL (with a kiss at the end being okay, I have quite a few more to recommend). Until 2022, most KBLs only had one dead fish kiss in them, so you are pretty safe with pre 2022 KBLs. They tend to be quite chaste and de-sexualized. Other good examples: Wish You, Light on Me.

That's all folx.

Some of the above I may be misremembering (since I don't rewatch this kind of BL and my memory is shit). And I may have forgotten some too, so I hope comments with jump in.

Others to consider:

(source)

[hatsumishinogu]

Hidamari ga Kikoeru -Shunkashuto- Vol.3

[spirit-of-anime]

Hidamari ga Kikoeru (I Hear the Sunspot)

[sasuga-whump]

Whumptober 2023: Day Seven - Radio Silence

Hidamari ga Kikoeru movie

Kouhei gets a bout of tinnitus

"I can't hear Taiichi's voice..."

[bentomodachi]

Cover for Hidamari ga kikoeru - four seasons - volume 2

[kazutakas-pinch]

koi is one of my favs bc of the wholesome friendships and realistic portrayal of queerness. any recs that are similar, in these trying times of waiting for the next chapter?

HELLO these are my favorite queer manga that lean on the realistic side and have wholesome friendships:

Hidamari ga Kikoeru

A young man struggles with his hearing disability in a world that has shunned him. Another young man with a bottomless stomach and a particularly loud voice.

Restart wa Tadaima no Ato de (sequel: Restart wa Onaka wo Sukasete)

A friendly outsider in a rural village meets an estranged son who has returned home after trying to find himself in the big city.

Crescent Moon and Donuts

A young woman who struggles to maintain a front of normality seeks to befriend her studious and aloof coworker.

Matsuki, Niwatsuki, Ooyatsuki

A young woman who decides to swear off love after several failed relationships meets her new roommate who is exactly her type but also has a not-so-secret that complicates their living situation.

You and I Fell in Love With the Same Person

A sullen boy and an earnest girl are best friends and both find themselves falling in love with the sunny smile and perpetual optimism of their classmate.

[choujinx]

HIDAMARI GA KIKOERU (2013-2014) by fumino yuki

[frobby]

Babe are you okay? or did you start thinking about hidamari ga kikoeru and Kohei signing 'taichi, I love you' before taichi knew sign

[lilspotofsunshine]

a rather belated translation of the under-the-jacket extras for limit v3 and four seasons v1 😅

masterlist so far

[absolutebl]

so, i really enjoyed earthmix in moonlight chicken and i get the vibe gmmtv wanted to build on that and give them another 'mature gays' type series/ie at least sth non-school based. im all for that on principle but sadly ossan's love sounds like.. not my cup of tea at all (unless they go slice of life/serious on it i suppose). my question is: which jbl in the vein of older/messy queers would you have handed to earthmix instead (if forced lol)?

Which JBL IP should EarthMix have gotten?

Double Mints?

HA! I kill me.

Cherry Magic?

snerk.

Lemme think.

Fujimi Orchestra

Honestly? They's be fucking BRILLIANT in this one. OMG it suits them so well. But Thailand doesn't really have it in them to do a full orchestra BL so they'd need to move it into an office or something. Not sure if that would work for this IP.

But the personalities and the egos and the battle of wits and talent and ANGST = chef's kiss!

Candy and Kiss

This is a lot softer, but the setting is fun and Thailand (the land of malls) has yet to do a BL set in a mall.

Just take over Icon Siam... you know you wanna GMMTV.

The product placement opportunities ALONE.

However, you wanted messy?

Jack o'Frost

But it's not my style. Still EarthMix would have a ton of fun with it.

Can I pick a manga?

The Finder Series (#1 = Target in the Finder) by Ayano Yamane.

Kinky and graphic (so actually it's more Domundi's style than GMMTV but EarthMix could hack it)

Mafia boss with very questionable morals and lots of fetiches picks up a student photographer and for various reasons, a lot of them involving handcuffs and rope, they end up dating.

Honestly, you know what I'd REALLY love?

A Thai take, with a happy ending, staring EarthMix of Taiwan's brilliant but super flawed Dark Blue and Moonlight.

How's that for a long pull?

On a different note can I PLEASE hand over:

Silhouette of Your Voice AKA Hidamari ga Kikoeru

better known as:

I Hear the Sunspot

To Gem4?

Pretty please?

They would be utterly amazing and it would be brilliant and I am gutted that Mix-up was given to them when this BRILLIANT little IP is just LANGUISHING.

Who's with me?

[hatsumishinogu]

Hidamari ga Kikoeru -Shunkashuto- Vol.2

[spirit-of-anime]

Hidamari ga Kikoeru

[emy-bemy]

I need Hidamari ga Kikoeru and Keita Hatsukoi animes… I know they both have live action dramas but I want an anime 😭😭

[bentomodachi]

illustration from Canna’s twitter to celebrate the hidamari series having sold a total cumulative amount of over 1.75 million copies

[nyx-b-log]

ngl it's been a rough reading week but i'm back on a saturday! go me for having my shit together.

i finished two things this week, skulduggery pleasant and hidamari ga kikoeru (i hear the sunspot) and enjoyed both!

the audiobook of skulduggery pleasant is really good, and the actual text holds up surprisingly well from what i remember when i read it as a kid. it's not perfect (all the stuff with beryl and co is a bit ehhhh even if it evolves later) and i'm looking forward to carrying on with the series!

hidamari ga kikoeru was an easy read, with some nice art and enjoyable characters. i was left a bit wanting at the end of the volume but i know there's more in this universe so i'll pick those up at some point. it didn't grab me as such, but i can definitely see why people love it.

i attempted to finish the semantic error novel but idk, i think i'll just follow the manhwa at this point. i felt like i was missing things which the manhwa makes up for in the art (which sucks cos i do want to read the novel but don't know korean). translation is hard work tho, and i appreciate the team for putting it out there for people like me to read!

also still pushing along with children of time but have had a rough week in general and it felt like a bit much to tackle atm. i'm only 150 pages in. i enjoy it when i actually sit down with it (and am very glad i'm not an arachnophobe) but it's getting over that intimidation hump that's the problem. portia's bits are the most engaging for me.

in terms of stuff i've started, my new audiobook is the martian by andy weir and read by wil wheaton, which is great. he hits all the right comic beats and makes the science sound more engaging and convincing than i remember the paper copy being (which was already pretty good). if you're gonna read it, this is the way i'd recommend. the sudden shift from first person to third is still super jarring tho.

i'm also a very short way through utsukushii kare (aka my beautiful man) and am finding the book much less mean than the drama, so far anyway. plenty of time for that to change 😅 cos hira hasn't properly interacted with kiyoi yet (i'm at the bit where he's got his first pennies). i've got all three LNs, so we'll see how it goes. it's fairly easy to read, and the art is lovely.

i'm pretty sure that's it? hopefully i finish some of these by next week and offer some more interesting thoughts!