AKA School Trip: I Happened to Join a Group of Cool Guys aka Shugakuryoko de Nakayokunai Group ni Hairimashita

And also I Cannot Reach You aka Kimi ni wa Todokanai (full review here). Inspired by an ask from @oatmealmin

Your resident BL sommelier reporting for duty! Okay, let's define that dynamic first, shall we?

Strong seme/uke with a pining thirsty seme

Aggressive "court him, date him" obsessive component

Uke, while confused, is not upset or repulsed (no blushing maiden)

BOTH Characters treat each other with integrity & compassion with regards to romantic feels (if not physical needs) especially after The Confession

Good all around chemistry

School setting and younger characters not mandatory

Classic yaoi style

Lighter hearted fair

A nice pay off

Since anyone who loves these 2 shows has similar taste to moi I have only included BLs I rated over 8/10

Top 12 Suggestions

(Where there is more than one couple in the BL, only the main couple is in play)

1 Secret Lover

(Taiwan 2025 Gaga)

A relatively simple friends-to-lovers story about a boy who fell in love with another boy when they were kids, but got friend-zoned for most of their lives. Until, in university, it becomes too much for him and things escalate. A very domestic, very pretty, high chemistry, Taiwanese take on some ultra-classic BL themes, archetypes, and tropes.

Basically a combination of two of my favorite BLs, I Cannot Reach You and We Best Love - two great tastes that tasted great together. I dithered a little, because this is a quiet show that fell to the wayside during our collective summer 2025 fever dream (thank you China), but eventually decided that for me this is a damn near perfect BL.

I like but do not need my BLs to be original. This is exactly the kind of show I love best. Yes it is quiet and simple but it is not bland or boring. This is a classic, like perfectly prepared Taiwanese chicken and rice. Sure, we all love a spicy curry, but sometimes, when the world is going to hell, we just want chicken and rice. And this was the BL equivalent. They embraced the genre and served it warm and sustaining when I needed it most.

2 Old Fashion Cupcake

(Japan 2022 Viki)

This show had me from the moment they broke the egg yolk with the chopsticks in the opening credits. It’s about a younger man with a long cherished crush on his boss (ten years older and going through a mid life crisis) who decides to save and seduce said boss with pancakes.

It’s a wholesome, comforting, sexy, and very necessary narrative about still having hope, interests, and openness to affection at any age. It’s a stunningly filmed late-in-life coming of age/queerness story packaged in a subtle critique of expectations around masculinity, love, and loneliness… and it’s beautiful.

3 Takara-kun to Amagi-kun

(Japan 2022 Gaga/Viki)

I gnawed on my knuckles and squealed a lot with this show. Reserved cool kid must learn to communicate to keep the tiny disaster nugget he’s madly in love with. It is beyond charming: soft and gentle, packed with cuteness and high school angst, thirst, & yearning.

Was there plot? Not really. Was it emotionally tense and paced well enough for me not to notice? Absolutely. Did I enjoy the hell out of it? Oh yes.

4 Cosmetic Playlover

(Japan 2024 Gaga)

I love this little show. It's a classic office BL about the older workaholic who loves his job and the younger upstart who unexpectedly loves his boss.

It’s a hyung romance where everybody is extremely earnest and sweet and pretty about everything. Except our seme, who is slightly unhinged and a little obsessed in all the ways one likes best from Japan. Utterly charming unexpected gem of a show. What fun!

5 Cherry Blossoms After Winter

(Korea 2022 Viki)

Korea took on early Japanese sweet yaoi but gave it their signature softness and precise production with a STUNNING color palette (beautiful pastels, sun-saturated over-exposure), manga framing style, some traditional BL character archetypes, that tiny edge of bullying roughness and out-of-control seme, plus FINALLY a palatable take on the stepbrothers trope and it was, in a word, classic.

Sophisticated and understated, CBAW is not slow it’s just subtle. It's dream-like and atmospheric, as if the whole thing took place under cold water on a warm spring day. Is there plot or peril? Not really. Do we care? Also, not really.

Look, I can’t help it, I’m old school and so is this show. I grew up reading sweet yaoi, and this was THAT YAOI just on my screen. There’s no objectivity with me and this show. It’s a beautiful pastiche and I loved it for how it made me feel and what it reminded me of. It’s not flawless, but it is a wonderful experience.

6 Jun and Jun

(Korea 2023 Viki)

A delightful office romance about an ex-idol who joins cubical life only to find his new boss is his first love. Other boys are sniffing around too. Operative word being "sniffing" as much of this romance involves smell.

With a snappy (sometimes even raunchy) script, enjoyable sides, a pretty as peaches cast, and decent chemistry this show made up for in style what it lacked in substance.

I like fluff. I loved this. I smiled every moment I was watching. My only caution is this is for fans of the BL genre only, I don’t think it’ll work for anyone else.

7 Ball Boy Tactics

(Korea 2025 Gaga)

After retiring from gymnastics a gold medalist, painfully shy Jiwon struggles to survive university. He gets adopted by a group of jocks and falls in love with campus heartthrob and basketball star JeongU.

I loved it. Of course I did. It’s great! It's charming, well executed, and prettily acted (especially from the actor playing JeongU who comes to us from the stage and you can tell). Can’t go wrong with this one, I smiled the whole time I was watching.

8 My School President

(Thai 2023 Viki)

GMMTV gave us a classic high school set Thai BL with tropes like messy boys singing their feelings that made this one Love Sick for the modern age with all the gentle sweetness and pining ache, but none of the dated damaging tropes or issues.

Yes, we’ve seen it all before, but I still ADORED this. And there is a lot to be said for the classics being re-executed perfectly.

Who let my BL be this wholesome and funny? This show was fantastic, it’s only flaw was the singing (and that’s my baggage). My favourite Thai high-school BL offering to date. And yes, I've watched them ALL.

9 Cherry Magic (Thai remake)

(Thai 2024 grey)

A soft charming warm hug of a show about crushes and mind reading and self worth that really worked for me. With no-fuss execution from a consummate team (at GMMTV) and an OG lead pair (proving why they remain eternal and deserve to grow up).

Look, here’s the thing, Cherry Magic is a great Thai BL in its own right - not comparing it to any other iteration. But even when I do compare (and I've seen all the Cherries and read the manga) it stands strong. I, personally, like the Thai BL slightly better than the Japanese live action yaoi, but I think that’s because I just really enjoy Thai BL's style and I LOVE TayNew.

Also all the kissing was both present and better in this version. As it should be from Thailand.

10 We Are

(Thai 2024 iQIYI)

I loved show. It was slow to find its stride (I didn’t get into it until ep 6) but I’m so glad I gave it a chance. It’s a soft ensemble piece with multiple couples and very little plot, but I didn’t care because it’s not trying to be anything more substantial.

Essentially this was a series of vignettes covering one year of uni for a queer friendship group finding love, new friends, and laughter. It’s not being harsh with us or it’s characters the way some offerings of this ilk have been (side eyes Friend Zone and Only Friends) nor did it tumble into Gen Y chaos.

In fact, this reminded me more than anything of a refined and elevated Love Sick - just with older characters and occurring within a genre that has matured too. It has that close queer friendship group meets earnest gentleness that made me adore Love Sick and Make It Right so much.

In other words, this was Thai BL at its finest, finding it roots again 10 years on, but also stretching upwards and showing us what it could do with that original seed. So? I adored it. Did it blow my mind? No. But it left me smiling and made me belly laugh quite a bit.

11 My Magic Prophecy

(Thai 2025 YT)

Paranormal suspense-ish story about a prophetic fortune teller and a hot doctor. I think JimmySea are a solid pair who have been given short shrift on prior shows, but this one was great for a GMMTV throw-away.

Essentially, the psychic and the doctor whose life is threatened must team up to prevent his death. There are traumatic backstories and family drama, and a tasty cop/doctor side dish (who I could’ve used a bit more from). I enjoyed all the sinister characters, mild scenery chewing and the easy to digest plot.

It was a touch simplistic but that just forced everything to lean on the romance, and JimmySea shouldered that burden with aplomb, resulting in a low stress enjoyable light meal. Everyone seemed to know this brief and satisfied it. This one isn't going to make waves but it's a solid offering, easy for me to recommend, and rewatch. (I already have.)

12 Your Sky

(Thai 2025 iQIYI)

As pulps go this is right up there with my favorite if all time, My Ride, but for different less complex reasons (and with better chemistry). This is a relatively simple yet endearingly old fashioned university set story of a fake relationship between a sunshine sweetie and an older reserved rich kid who slowly fall in love.

It's soft gentle low stakes leans on everything I love best about Thai BL, no damage no trauma. It’s a warm fuzzy robe of a BL that will not hurt you, featuring some of the greenest flags I have ever seen in the genre. Somehow it manages to be very much a 2025 ThBL while pulling on all the nostalgia of a decade prior.

Some other options

Some of these have steeper buy-ins (in terms of production quality or acting or slow starts, for example) or are very difficult to find or are just a little too edgy

Wish You: Your Melody in My Heart (Korea 2020 Viki) - Set in the music industry featuring a talented singer and the pianist who falls in love with him (and his music), subtle and achingly adorable. High production, low heat, short run, very tame, and Korea, so all the pretty. Slow burn and lots of pining.

Oxygen (Thai 2020 YT/VIki) - Softest seme in the universe sings his affection to the older boy at the cafe. Let the slow burn courting commence. Oxygen uses every BL trope in the playbook for one of the gentlest lowest angst BLs ever made. It’s a hyung romance (younger boy courts older boy) but very very earnest about it. Am I biased? Sure. This is probably one of my biggest comfort watches.

Lovely Writer (Thai 2021 YT) - Thailand criticizes itself and the BL industry while simultaneously giving us classic seme/uke with great chemistry in a one-two punch of “we love it, but are we supposed to? and must we think this hard, yet enjoy it SO MUCH?” This show won’t appeal or make sense to those who don’t already have at least some Thai BL watching experience. What Lovely Writer does, at heart, is reexame Thai BL has done to queerness, but in a very gentle way that has more to do with Thai BL growing up than any actual queer authenticity. It’s not parody or pastiche, but it is self reflective and trying to correct for some chronic mistakes. Whether it is ultimately successful in this matter is going to depend on the watcher’s relationship to BL and queer identity. But that’s what makes this show beautiful, interesting, and thought provoking. And I, for one, applaud the effort even if I didn’t personally connect to the characters.

ThamePo (Thai 2025 YT/Viki) - The boyband idol romance I've been waiting for from Korea, only Thailand did it instead. Quintessentially Thai and very GMMTV with good production values, great chemistry, and a solid support cast. It also was a hung romance (younger boy pursues older one) mostly driven by external conflict and a found family reunion trope, so I didn’t mind (too much) when that romance thread felt secondary. I loved it (except, of course, the singing). It's just lovely and pretty and fun.

My Love Mix Up AKA Kieta Hatsukoi (Japan 2021 Viki) - This is a slapstick and cartoonish but incredibly raw and earnest look a high school crushes and first love. Also the meme generator to end all meme generators. Completely adorable absolute chaos bi disaster muffin falls accidentally and utterly in love with his classmate, hijinx and friendship result. What’s great about this BL is that it deals with things like homophobia, asexuality, and one sided affection in an extremely gentle and palatable way. I believe this is a great show for younger audiences, particularly if you want to spark conversations around identity, sexuality, authority, truthfulness, and consent. Oh and it’s very funny.

Perfect Propose (Japan 2024 Gaga) - Adapted from Mayo Tsurakame’s manga, production team includes crew from My Love Mix-Up! and Old Fashion Cupcake. Essentially Perfect Propose was about finding hope in a person when all other hope is gone. This show focuses on apathy, and perforce is somewhat apathetic and un-engaging especially as the pacing was off (and with only 6 episodes, how?) However, this is countered by great visuals, good archetypes, and a clean story of childhood sweethearts reuniting after loosing their way in life. I landed on 8/10 mostly for a demanding younger seme and some great kisses. 

Love Mate (Korea 2023 Viki) - Features a very much openly gay older uke with commitment issues and a romantic (if arrogant) younger seme with no respect for boundaries (hyung romance). Workplace harassment much? That’s BL for ya. (Also a nonBL Kdrama specialty.) So yeah it’s questionable, but so is my taste. The ultimate premise that someone badly hurt shuts themself off to romance is very similar to Happy Merry Ending or 8th Sense but this version was more about fear than abuse or trauma. For me, this made Love Mate more relatable. However, because the denouement was driven by a late addition faen fatal, the conclusion felt rushed and forced. I can, however, see myself rewatching this one, so it falls into the general rank of 2023′s KBL aka solid high standard and emently watchable.

DNA Says Love You (Taiwan 2022 Gaga) - DNA deservesextra marks for an upbeat approach to a queer story arc that other shows have systemically mishandled with sadness (in the guise of realism). There is a twist, which I found predictable, but knowing what would happen didn’t spoil this show. However the first few episodes do require patience, it's worth it, I promise! The leads are luminous and engaging, and it’s full of queer found family representation and a ton of domesticity, plus it’s Taiwan, so the kisses are great. The last few eps really are something quite special and life/love affirming - and the ending is big-grin charming. 

My Tooth Your Love (Taiwan 2023 Viki) - Earnest dentist hottie with sad eyes who worries too much is smitten by an adorable sunshine neurotic bar owner with serious anxiety issues. They fall madly in love while courting each other with food, plushies, and naps. Then, shocker, talk about their feelings and try to actually sort out their problems so they can have an adult relationship. Bonus crumbs = 18 year old poor little rich kid in mad crush with a much older man. I really enjoyed this show, it had a unique premise, killer dialogue, there was a solid lead pair with charming chemistry, soft flirtation, delightful smiling kisses, and stinkingly cute domesticity. All that said, I wasn’t wild about some of the darker themes it explored, even though it did a good job with them. And while the sides were adorable, they were underused. In the land of May/December, baby boy kabedon is my kryptonite! Why so little of it? (Kabedon is My Kryptonite = also the name of my indie band’s first single.)

Destiny Seeker (Thai 2023 WeTV) - A darn near perfect pulp featuring 3 likable grumpy/sunshine pairings with uncomplicated iterations of enemies to lovers. At least one half of each does a decent amount of pining and there’s good chemistry, classic tropes, and excellent communication rep. It’s fun and full of linguistic jokes. Sublimely cheesy but a good rainy day offering with tons of rewatch potential.

Hidden Agenda (Thai 2023 YT) - A relatively simple and harmless old-fashioned style university Thai BL, that started out Cyrano de Bergerac style but then drifted away into forgetfulness. It felt like it could have fit into the En of Love universe, except that it was high quality GMMTV with very pretty makeup. I enjoyed it for what it was, it's just that wasn’t much.

Monster Next Door (Thai 2024 Gaga) - Adapted from the novel Godzilla Next Door by Jiwinil about an introvert who lives mostly in his room, until a loud annoying extrovert moves in next door. This was one of my top picks for 2024 and I’m delighted to say it satisfied expectations. A charmingly serene story of opposites attract, that featured good communication, patience, and genuine affection used to build a solid relationship.(I’m particularly delighted that our musician is a drummer and I don’t have to listen to him sing.) Yes it’s a tad slow but it’s very earnest and leans into the kind of sweetness that Thai BL does best. Doesn’t hurt that this starred an actor (Big) that many of us have been hoping would get a lead for years. I was pleased and comforted. This is not a kind of BL that suits everybody, but it suited me admirably.

Extras

Some I considered for a while but then rejected for variously reasons but I'd be interested to know if they worked for you under these criteria

Color Rush (Korea 2021) - review here

We Best Love: No. 1 For You, Fighting Mr. 2nd and We Best Love: Fighting Mr. 2nd (Taiwan 2021)

Until We Meet Again (Thai 2019)

Revenged Love (China 2025)

Our Youth AKA Miseinen: Mijukuna Oretachi wa Bukiyo ni Shinkochu (Japan 2025)

Blueming (Korea 2022)

Unknown (Taiwan 2024)

The Sign (Thai 2024)

Wandee Goodday (Thai 2024)

Addicted: Heroin (China 2016)

Bon Appetit (Korea 2023)

Why R U? Korean remake (Korea 2023) - but only one couple (this has a 2 lead pairs sitch)

No Dating in Boarding School (Korea 2025)

Sweet Mischief: A Kiss Kiss Series short (Korea 2025)

Notes

Original asker also said they were: Open to any and all recs from any and all countries, networks, pairings, etc. They had already seen the following that they indicated "kind of? fit the vibe:"

2gether (did not make my list)

Perfect 10 Liners (I thought about it but chose We Are instead)

Your Sky (made my list)