‘Sasaki and Miyano’ Is Our Winter Slice-of-Life BL Anime Pick
With BL (Boys Love) titles like Given, Banana Fish and Yuri!!! on Ice having generated sizable fanbases, BL anime has become more and more popular. Sasaki and Miyano is one of the more recent BL anime to pique our interest, currently airing as part of the Winter 2022 anime season.
Sasaki and Miyano is an adaptation of an ongoing manga that started in 2016. Sasaki and Miyano is a slice-of-life BL anime available on Funimation focusing on the relationship that develops between Sasaki and Miyano, two high schoolers who themselves form a bond over BL manga.
Miyano is a high schooler obsessed with BL, and he spends his free time reading it. But Miyano’s BL stories become a reality when he stumbles upon another student being bullied. He wants to interfere but his fear gets the best of him as he watches on. Sasaki, an older student who is somewhat of the stereotypical delinquent, sees Miyano watching and steps forward to interfere himself.
Sasaki eventually asks Miyano what kind of manga he likes to read as a way to get to know him. Miyano is reasonably embarrassed by the question, but he takes one of his BL manga out of his bag and hands it to Sasaki, who promises to read it. Sasaki does read it, and he comes to school with some humorous questions about BL for Miyano.
What makes Sasaki and Miyano different from a lot of other BL anime is the fact that it’s just a light, slice-of-life show. It doesn’t have the soul-crushing ending of Banana Fish or the tragic backstory that lingers throughout the plot of Given — not that there’s anything wrong with those kinds of stories, but sometimes you just want a lighthearted romance the way straight couples get in other slice-of-life anime.
Sasaki and Miyano focuses on the slowly developing relationship between its two leads and avoids a lot of the more problematic tropes that are popular in anime, especially in BL.
Sasaki and Miyano is so light and cute. Sometimes that’s what we need, especially when BL anime can make it seem like a happy ending is a rarity.
