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BL First Crush Anthology: Five Seconds Before We Fall in Love
Whether it's between best friends, co-workers, classmates, or total strangers, those first moments when hearts flutter are always special. This manga collection features twenty-nine short Boys' Love stories from a variety of hit manga artists, including the creators of BL Metamorphosis, Manly Appetites, I Think I Turned My Childhood Friend Into a Girl, and more!
188 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 20, 2021
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172 people want to read
About the author
Various
455k books1,338 followersVarious is the correct author for any book with multiple unknown authors, and is acceptable for books with multiple known authors, especially if not all are known or the list is very long (over 50).
If an editor is known, however, Various is not necessary. List the name of the editor as the primary author (with role "editor"). Contributing authors' names follow it.
Note: WorldCat is an excellent resource for finding author information and contents of anthologies.
If an editor is known, however, Various is not necessary. List the name of the editor as the primary author (with role "editor"). Contributing authors' names follow it.
Note: WorldCat is an excellent resource for finding author information and contents of anthologies.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
May 12, 2024
Books that make you realize there should be more BL anthologies
May 19, 2024
The thing I don't like about BL as a genre is that it's a gigantic umbrella. It just means m/m stories, which can cover any actual genre of storytelling: romance, high school, college, workplace, yakuza, isekai, supernatural, shapeshifters, sci-fi, sports, omegaverse, hardcore yaoi...if you can think of it, it's probably had at least one BL published.
That of course isn't a bad thing; I love that there's a huge variety of these kinds of stories, so anyone can find anything they like. But it also makes it harder to filter down to more specific preferences. Even when you have an anthology like this one, which most of the author notes mention as intended to be "light BL," there is a surprising amount of variety and even tone. Some of them weren't particularly on theme; it's supposed to be a "first crush" collection, but by the last handful of stories, that idea seemed to get thrown out the window.
Was the worn out sex robot a first crush? Or the two married coworkers who were in love with each other (but hadn't quite crossed over into infidelity yet)?
I actually liked the art and storytelling of that second one ("On the Evening Breeze" by Tsutomu), but it felt jarringly out of place. This is really more of a mixed bag to introduce you to lots of different BL tropes all at once, which has its own benefits, I suppose. I think people who are actually new to the genre, though (particularly reading this from a Western audience), will be startled by some of the choices.
I wasn't sure for a while if this would be a keeper, because, again, anthologies can be pretty hit or miss. If I only loved a couple stories, is that worth the shelf space? I usually have two goals with anthologies: make sure I like enough of the collection for it to be worthwhile, and mark down any authors whose other (full length) works I want to check out.
To that end, I took 7 pages of handwritten notes as I read, and I won't transfer over my thoughts on all 29 stories in this collection. But there were seven stories I loved enough to definitely want to try more, and six with a question mark that means I need to look into the authors' other works to decide. So that's not too bad. And the stories that I did love are ones that I'd like to keep and revisit, even if I don't end up reading or enjoying longer-form works.
There were a few odd duds in here, with authors who seemed to be trying out BL for the first time and didn't quite know how to get there, and some with art that wasn't to my taste, but overall it's a pretty decent collection. Since I prefer reading physical English licenses, there weren't too many names I was already familiar with, but I was very pleased to find that I loved the Nmura story - "Strawberry Dark Chocolate" - because I have two of their series/one-shots preordered and had been wondering if those were good choices. The same goes for "Looking at the Same Moon" by Shoko Rakuta. I'm really excited about my preordered series of theirs now!
Then there's "It's a Secret" by Ken Homerun, which was one I didn't particularly like...and I was amused to look them up and realize I'd just cancelled my preorder for one of their works a few days ago, while going back through my list to decide if there were any that didn't really fit me. (Sometimes I get overexcited during preorder sales and throw a bunch of things in my cart, some of which I regret later). So that was a good choice, and also a pretty decent marker of how much you can tell about an author from a 4-page format.
Other standouts: "Beloved Annin Tofu" by Kannu Ogi, "Sugar Salt" by noji, "The Last Match" by Akihito Sato, and "I Want to Draw You" by Mito, who wrote the Manly Appetites: Minegishi Loves Otsu, Vol. 1 series, which I own and enjoy.
"This Prank is Real" by Toworu Miyata got a star by it not so much for the story itself, which was sweet but which I've seen in that exact format in other BL, but because their other listed works sounded pretty interesting. Conversely, there were some, like "The Target of Takanashi's Affections" by Machi Suzuri, which were super fun as one-off stories, but I wasn't entirely sure if I'd like the author's other works.
But really, everyone's going to draw different experiences and different favorites from this collection. I liked the way it was set up, with each story concluding with a brief author's note, a link to their twitter (now kind of broken since all the URLs were redirected to "X" a week after this came out in English print), and 1-2 other titles listed for you to look up if you liked.
I looked nearly all of them up, even for the stories I didn't particularly enjoy, just to see what they were like and if anything caught my interest. Some will definitely be on my reading list for later, and maybe by the time I get around to trying them, more will have physical English licenses so it'll be easier to get my hands on the stories.
That of course isn't a bad thing; I love that there's a huge variety of these kinds of stories, so anyone can find anything they like. But it also makes it harder to filter down to more specific preferences. Even when you have an anthology like this one, which most of the author notes mention as intended to be "light BL," there is a surprising amount of variety and even tone. Some of them weren't particularly on theme; it's supposed to be a "first crush" collection, but by the last handful of stories, that idea seemed to get thrown out the window.
Was the worn out sex robot a first crush? Or the two married coworkers who were in love with each other (but hadn't quite crossed over into infidelity yet)?
I actually liked the art and storytelling of that second one ("On the Evening Breeze" by Tsutomu), but it felt jarringly out of place. This is really more of a mixed bag to introduce you to lots of different BL tropes all at once, which has its own benefits, I suppose. I think people who are actually new to the genre, though (particularly reading this from a Western audience), will be startled by some of the choices.
I wasn't sure for a while if this would be a keeper, because, again, anthologies can be pretty hit or miss. If I only loved a couple stories, is that worth the shelf space? I usually have two goals with anthologies: make sure I like enough of the collection for it to be worthwhile, and mark down any authors whose other (full length) works I want to check out.
To that end, I took 7 pages of handwritten notes as I read, and I won't transfer over my thoughts on all 29 stories in this collection. But there were seven stories I loved enough to definitely want to try more, and six with a question mark that means I need to look into the authors' other works to decide. So that's not too bad. And the stories that I did love are ones that I'd like to keep and revisit, even if I don't end up reading or enjoying longer-form works.
There were a few odd duds in here, with authors who seemed to be trying out BL for the first time and didn't quite know how to get there, and some with art that wasn't to my taste, but overall it's a pretty decent collection. Since I prefer reading physical English licenses, there weren't too many names I was already familiar with, but I was very pleased to find that I loved the Nmura story - "Strawberry Dark Chocolate" - because I have two of their series/one-shots preordered and had been wondering if those were good choices. The same goes for "Looking at the Same Moon" by Shoko Rakuta. I'm really excited about my preordered series of theirs now!
Then there's "It's a Secret" by Ken Homerun, which was one I didn't particularly like...and I was amused to look them up and realize I'd just cancelled my preorder for one of their works a few days ago, while going back through my list to decide if there were any that didn't really fit me. (Sometimes I get overexcited during preorder sales and throw a bunch of things in my cart, some of which I regret later). So that was a good choice, and also a pretty decent marker of how much you can tell about an author from a 4-page format.
Other standouts: "Beloved Annin Tofu" by Kannu Ogi, "Sugar Salt" by noji, "The Last Match" by Akihito Sato, and "I Want to Draw You" by Mito, who wrote the Manly Appetites: Minegishi Loves Otsu, Vol. 1 series, which I own and enjoy.
"This Prank is Real" by Toworu Miyata got a star by it not so much for the story itself, which was sweet but which I've seen in that exact format in other BL, but because their other listed works sounded pretty interesting. Conversely, there were some, like "The Target of Takanashi's Affections" by Machi Suzuri, which were super fun as one-off stories, but I wasn't entirely sure if I'd like the author's other works.
But really, everyone's going to draw different experiences and different favorites from this collection. I liked the way it was set up, with each story concluding with a brief author's note, a link to their twitter (now kind of broken since all the URLs were redirected to "X" a week after this came out in English print), and 1-2 other titles listed for you to look up if you liked.
I looked nearly all of them up, even for the stories I didn't particularly enjoy, just to see what they were like and if anything caught my interest. Some will definitely be on my reading list for later, and maybe by the time I get around to trying them, more will have physical English licenses so it'll be easier to get my hands on the stories.
June 1, 2024
This was a nice assortment of BL shorts. There are a total of 29 stories in a manga that's less than 200 pages, so many left me wanting more, but I enjoyed most of them. Most are lighthearted with a few bittersweet ones mixed in. My two favorites are "Careful I'll Eat You Up" about an idol group, and "Sugar Salt" about childhood friends, which I've already reread a couple times.
July 6, 2024
This is the first manga anthology that I’ve genuinely enjoyed. Usually my main issue with manga anthologies is that they feel too short and incomplete. This entire time I’ve believed the solution was to make the stories longer but this anthology proved me wrong. The trick is actually to make the stories incredibly short.
All of the stories featured in this were only four to six pages long. That may sound too short but it didn’t feel that way. As a reader you get a quick peek into the love lives of these characters and then you can move on without getting too invested.
That’s not to say that I don’t think any of these could be longer stories. Some of the stories in this collection I would totally read if they were a full volume, like “Strawberry Dark Chocolate” or “Careful, I’ll Eat You Up”. The difference is that none of them felt like they needed to be full length.
The other great part about this anthology was that the vast majority of the stories were super cute. There’s a wide variety of relationship dynamics represented so there’s something for everyone. I’m glad the theme was so lighthearted and steered away from the problematic content that is rife in the BL genre. There were still two borderline problematic ones, but since the stories were so short I didn’t feel like I was suffering through them. They were quickly forgotten after moving on to the next story.
This collection is also a perfect way to discover new stories in the BL genre because there are twenty-nine stories each done by a different artist. After each story there is a list of works by that mangaka so you can easily go searching for them. I recognized some of the mangaka’s in this anthology and seeing their familiar art made me want to go back and reread some of their previous works. I also discovered a lot of new mangaka’s though and now have a good resource to use for when I want to read something new.
With each story having a different artist the anthology became even more appealing to me because I was always looking forward to seeing what the next story would look like even if I ended up not liking the art style. Luckily there were only a few artists whose style I didn’t enjoy, for example Hiromasa Okujima’s, but that just means I know to avoid their work in the future.
I’m rather happy that I finally discovered a manga anthology that works. I would highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a quick read and enjoys BL and cute romances.
All of the stories featured in this were only four to six pages long. That may sound too short but it didn’t feel that way. As a reader you get a quick peek into the love lives of these characters and then you can move on without getting too invested.
That’s not to say that I don’t think any of these could be longer stories. Some of the stories in this collection I would totally read if they were a full volume, like “Strawberry Dark Chocolate” or “Careful, I’ll Eat You Up”. The difference is that none of them felt like they needed to be full length.
The other great part about this anthology was that the vast majority of the stories were super cute. There’s a wide variety of relationship dynamics represented so there’s something for everyone. I’m glad the theme was so lighthearted and steered away from the problematic content that is rife in the BL genre. There were still two borderline problematic ones, but since the stories were so short I didn’t feel like I was suffering through them. They were quickly forgotten after moving on to the next story.
This collection is also a perfect way to discover new stories in the BL genre because there are twenty-nine stories each done by a different artist. After each story there is a list of works by that mangaka so you can easily go searching for them. I recognized some of the mangaka’s in this anthology and seeing their familiar art made me want to go back and reread some of their previous works. I also discovered a lot of new mangaka’s though and now have a good resource to use for when I want to read something new.
With each story having a different artist the anthology became even more appealing to me because I was always looking forward to seeing what the next story would look like even if I ended up not liking the art style. Luckily there were only a few artists whose style I didn’t enjoy, for example Hiromasa Okujima’s, but that just means I know to avoid their work in the future.
I’m rather happy that I finally discovered a manga anthology that works. I would highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a quick read and enjoys BL and cute romances.
May 27, 2025
3.5 rounded up. The stories are all flash-fiction, which in a few cases is a bit unsatisfying, but the variety is good and all of the stories are very sweet. It's not the Eclair anthology series, but still really charming.
(Yes, I know Eclair is GL and this is BL, but there's a real lack of BL anthologies in English to compare it to!)
(Yes, I know Eclair is GL and this is BL, but there's a real lack of BL anthologies in English to compare it to!)
July 14, 2025
3.5 stars rounded up ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
These are super short, flash-style vignettes by a variety of mangaka. Each one is somehow tied to the “first crush” theme, but some execute it better than others. I did find a few new-to-me creators who I would be interested in seeing more from, but unfortunately many or maybe even most do not have anything available in an English translation. Several seem to only be published in Japanese manga magazines, which just aren’t available to me.
So fun, but less useful than most anthologies (in terms of finding new authors) because of the lack of translated manga for English speakers.
These are super short, flash-style vignettes by a variety of mangaka. Each one is somehow tied to the “first crush” theme, but some execute it better than others. I did find a few new-to-me creators who I would be interested in seeing more from, but unfortunately many or maybe even most do not have anything available in an English translation. Several seem to only be published in Japanese manga magazines, which just aren’t available to me.
So fun, but less useful than most anthologies (in terms of finding new authors) because of the lack of translated manga for English speakers.
November 24, 2024
Check out my full review of this manga anthology on Well, Are They? A Queer Media Review Site
https://wellarethey.blogspot.com/2024...
https://wellarethey.blogspot.com/2024...
February 28, 2025
All of the stories in here are so sweet, fluffy, and wholesome! I absolutely loved every one of them even though they were so short! Definitely recommend!
April 6, 2025
Absolutely loved the cute, fluffy stories
August 11, 2025
SUPA CUTEEEEEEE (If we ignore like 2 of them ....). It's a crime that each story only has about 5 pages and not a full volume.
December 30, 2024
The stories were quite good, but a few of them did feel like they didn’t come to a conclusion. With the page count given for each though it’s quite impressive.
November 28, 2024
I haven’t read as many manga as I've read in previous years which is sad because I love reading manga since high school. I really loved this, I found myself giggling to the cuteness of all the stories, and lots of them have the potential to be their own individual work.
July 31, 2024
This was cute. It's kind of a sampler for a lot of different bl artists and it was nice seeing who I've read from previously and who I want to check out in the future. It's about 4ish pages per author. All fluff bl. There were two questionable ones from authors who like shota... so side eyeing those. But otherwise I enjoyed it. There were some stories I wish I could read more of and felt like they could be part of a larger story.
I was expecting a little more from this, but it did what it set out to do and I liked it.
I was expecting a little more from this, but it did what it set out to do and I liked it.
July 16, 2024
The title is perhaps a bit misleading, the stories in this collection don't all follow the prompt. There were some stories and art I loved here and some I hated, but this is a sort of BL sampler.
It may help some BL fans find new artists, Seven Seas included QR codes after each story to find each author on social media, which is a nice touch. This would be something fun to read between larger series, or when you are short on time.
It may help some BL fans find new artists, Seven Seas included QR codes after each story to find each author on social media, which is a nice touch. This would be something fun to read between larger series, or when you are short on time.
May 30, 2024
I wasn’t sure how to rate this one, because they are some actual gems and others that made me go 😑
My favorites were So-So, Beloved Annin Tofu, Sugar Salt, A Friend’s Declaration, and An Embarrassing Love Whenever it Appears💕
I could do without the Tapir human, sex dolls, and awkward cousin thing…..
My favorites were So-So, Beloved Annin Tofu, Sugar Salt, A Friend’s Declaration, and An Embarrassing Love Whenever it Appears💕
I could do without the Tapir human, sex dolls, and awkward cousin thing…..
August 13, 2024
The stories are really extremely short in this one, only four pages each. I do love one-shots, but I prefer them a little longer than this. Overall cute stories with a few exceptions that were kind of iffy. Some questionable choices have been made with a couple of these.
August 19, 2024
I really enjoyed every short story, it made me want so much more! I loved seeing the different styles and some I recognized right off the bat, the short stories were well put together, and I liked reading the excerpts from each author.
May 24, 2024
A decent enough crash course in BL tropes if someone is completely unfamiliar to the genre, but with each story only 4 pages long, it's more an "aborted premise" anthology than a short story one.
June 3, 2024
Cute stories, but I wish some of them had been longer. I want to know what happens!
July 3, 2024
Pretty cute. Nothing *amazing* though. Some fairly original shorts but others very standard and predictable.
July 7, 2024
I loved all the little stories!! Some make me wish there was a full volume of the story 👀
July 31, 2024
This was a cute collection of very bite-sized stories. It was hard to get very emotionally invested in most of these because they were over so fast, but I enjoyed my time reading.
July 23, 2024
I am usually not the biggest fan of anthologies; the stories always feel far too short and/or shallow to actually have any meaning -- at best I am left with wanting far more and at worst I am thinking it reading it was a waste of time.
So I was... pretty shocked, and pleasantly surprised, to find that I actually really liked this anthology.
Unlike other anthologies I've read, where the stories are about a "chapter" length of a regular manga, every story in this collection was limited to 4-6 pages, which I think really worked. I've been watching shows lately that drag out the plot to an almost maddening degree, so I've really started to appreciate the fine art of tight storytelling, and while this very limited space takes 'tight storytelling' to the extreme, I think every contributor to this collection really nailed it. Because the stories were so short, I never got invested deeply enough in each one to feel let down by them and instead I simply just enjoyed every story as it came.
Also unlike other specifically BL anthologies I've read, this is the first one that was a collection of themed stories from many different mangaka, and I think I prefer this significantly over anthologies of one mangaka's works. It was really cool to see so many different artist's styles, ideas, favorites, and interpretations of the prompt (and I even liked that some of the stories really took the prompt to places I would have never imagined; it really shows how unique everyone's ideas are) This collection almost felt like a... sampling of their works. Like I was wine tasting, and getting to see the highlights and notes from many different artists, some of whom I already knew and liked and some of whom I am now going to look into.
Ultimately, I think how much someone is going to like this collection is going to depend on how much they like anthologies overall -- but hey! I was pleasantly surprised, so others might be too.
So I was... pretty shocked, and pleasantly surprised, to find that I actually really liked this anthology.
Unlike other anthologies I've read, where the stories are about a "chapter" length of a regular manga, every story in this collection was limited to 4-6 pages, which I think really worked. I've been watching shows lately that drag out the plot to an almost maddening degree, so I've really started to appreciate the fine art of tight storytelling, and while this very limited space takes 'tight storytelling' to the extreme, I think every contributor to this collection really nailed it. Because the stories were so short, I never got invested deeply enough in each one to feel let down by them and instead I simply just enjoyed every story as it came.
Also unlike other specifically BL anthologies I've read, this is the first one that was a collection of themed stories from many different mangaka, and I think I prefer this significantly over anthologies of one mangaka's works. It was really cool to see so many different artist's styles, ideas, favorites, and interpretations of the prompt (and I even liked that some of the stories really took the prompt to places I would have never imagined; it really shows how unique everyone's ideas are) This collection almost felt like a... sampling of their works. Like I was wine tasting, and getting to see the highlights and notes from many different artists, some of whom I already knew and liked and some of whom I am now going to look into.
Ultimately, I think how much someone is going to like this collection is going to depend on how much they like anthologies overall -- but hey! I was pleasantly surprised, so others might be too.
September 19, 2025
Bl First Crush Anthology is a selection of 29 very short (between three and four pages usually) stories about people in relationships, people wanting to be in relationships, and one-sided crushes. The mangaka range from folks Western BL readers are more familiar with, perhaps (Nmura, Mito, Ken Homerun, etc), and also features a little blurb from the author about the story and references to their other works.
As with any short story collection, quality varies widely, and I realized that I'm not personally into just super-super short stories like this - however, it gave me an idea of authors to look further into as I'm always expanding my BL palate!
There are some reviews going "ew shota boo" so when I read it I was expecting something you know, taboo or controversial, and all I found was the COMPLETELY NORMAL AND HEALTHY behavior in two stories of a small boy who had a crush on someone older. The older person in both cases didn't reciprocate or even acknowledge really the younger's feelings sooo there's that!
As with any short story collection, quality varies widely, and I realized that I'm not personally into just super-super short stories like this - however, it gave me an idea of authors to look further into as I'm always expanding my BL palate!
There are some reviews going "ew shota boo" so when I read it I was expecting something you know, taboo or controversial, and all I found was the COMPLETELY NORMAL AND HEALTHY behavior in two stories of a small boy who had a crush on someone older. The older person in both cases didn't reciprocate or even acknowledge really the younger's feelings sooo there's that!
August 1, 2025
A pretty cute quick book with many flash fics of different couples and situations. As always with collections of shorts, some of the stories were more interesting then others.
But what I really loved about this collection is that you get such a good variety and each story includes the author's information and other works, so it's a good way to find out more about a bunch of authors, or to find more works by the ones who wrote your fav stories.
Pretty fun and chill journey overall, I enjoyed it.
But what I really loved about this collection is that you get such a good variety and each story includes the author's information and other works, so it's a good way to find out more about a bunch of authors, or to find more works by the ones who wrote your fav stories.
Pretty fun and chill journey overall, I enjoyed it.
July 22, 2024
Each story was only a few pages long (around 5), so there was barely any space for anything, really. My favorites were the few that were pre-established relationships, which work the best given such a small page time, but most of them felt just lackluster and a couple made me feel weird given the subject matter.
October 21, 2024
3.6
I thought this was really cute for the most part! My favorites in order:
A Friend's Declaration by Hibari Momojiri
The Coward and the Tropical Fish by Hana Hasumi
Beloved Annin Tofu by Kannu Ogi
Careful, I'll Eat You Up by Agri Uma
Strawberry Dark Chocolate by Nmura
This Prank Is Real by Toworu Miyata
See the Snow Melt by Mitsuru Sango
I Want To Draw You by Mito
I thought this was really cute for the most part! My favorites in order:
A Friend's Declaration by Hibari Momojiri
The Coward and the Tropical Fish by Hana Hasumi
Beloved Annin Tofu by Kannu Ogi
Careful, I'll Eat You Up by Agri Uma
Strawberry Dark Chocolate by Nmura
This Prank Is Real by Toworu Miyata
See the Snow Melt by Mitsuru Sango
I Want To Draw You by Mito
August 26, 2025
This anthology is of short moments. It was a cute idea, but at 5-6 pages, these stories didn't offer much to quench the story-telling thirst. It just made it worst. There were several stories the just fell flat, but a large majority of them I just wanted more. What led to this moment, what happened after? What are these characters like?
December 21, 2025
If you just want to see a little taste of many different artists, this is a great book. I liked that part but since I'm more of a complex character lover, I'm not a huge fan of this book. Some of the stories are pretty good and I know the purpose was to leave us wanting more but it made me want to find other stories to read.
August 1, 2025
Adorable, wholesome, short BL stories. My favorites are “Drinking Together Gives the Sake Flavor”, “The Time I Went To See the Girl I Liked Ten Years Later and She Was a Boy”, “The Last Match”, and “The Unrequited Love of the Sleep Shop Tapir”.
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