JBL Express Expands with Japanese BL Series on GagaOOLala
Summer Campaign Connects Manga Adaptations, Cross-Border Remakes, Tokusatsu Stars, Idol Fandoms, Music and Global Streaming
Duty First, Kiss Later | The Servant Prince | My Summer of You | Are the Sexy Buttocks Not Good? | Your Sky | After Moving Seats, The Boy Behind Me Has a Crush on Me | Popular Serizawa Acts Weird Around Me | Hold on, Harutora-kun
Japanese BL no longer reaches international audiences through television alone. Manga creates early reader communities, recognizable actors connect productions with adjacent fandoms, music provides additional points of discovery, and international remakes allow successful stories to move between Asian markets. Licensed streaming then brings these titles to viewers across languages and territories.
This summer, the Global LGBTQ+, BL and GL Streaming Platform GagaOOLala brings these routes together through JBL Express, an expanded campaign featuring eight Japanese BL series. The lineup includes manga adaptations, a Japanese remake of a Thai BL hit, tokusatsu and idol-group casting, youth romances, workplace relationships and stories designed for both established fans and viewers discovering Japanese BL for the first time.
Rather than entering international markets through a single premiere, these titles can be discovered through manga readerships, casting announcements, music releases, television coverage, fan communities, cross-border adaptations and global streaming.
Duty First, Kiss Later: Tokusatsu Rivals Turn an Interrogation into an Unexpected Kiss
Kamen Rider OOO star Shu Watanabe and Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger actor Ryusuke Saito play two contrasting police officers whose heated interrogation-room confrontation ends with an unexpected kiss. The series combines an established manga property with tokusatsu casting, workplace comedy and an assertive younger-man romance.
The Servant Prince: An Idol Leader Becomes a Fallen Former Prince
BUDDiiS leader Fuminori Ogawa takes his first leading television role as a privileged former school “prince” who loses everything, only to reunite with the classmate he once treated like a servant. Ten years later, their social positions have completely reversed, while BUDDiiS extends the series into music by performing its opening theme.
My Summer of You: A Film Pilgrimage Brings Two Classmates Closer
Tomoya Oku and Kazuto Mokudai star as two high school students brought closer through a summer journey to locations connected to their shared love of film. Adapted from Nagisa Furuya’s manga, the series combines youthful romance, cinematic nostalgia, selected scenes shot on 8mm film and a new mix of Masaharu Fukuyama’s ballad “Hotaru.”
Are the Sexy Buttocks Not Good?: An Age-Gap Workplace Romance with Structured Intimacy Production
Sho Sakai and Yuki Kimisawa lead a workplace romance between two men separated by 17 years. Adapted from Tama Hatoya’s manga, the production also formally credits intimacy coordinator Momoko Nishiyama, introducing structured communication, performer boundaries and physical choreography into the filming of intimate scenes.
Your Sky Hare Nochi Koi: A Thai BL Hit Receives a Japanese Reimagining
Premiering August 2, Your Sky Hare Nochi Koi is a Japanese remake of the Thai BL drama that became a major domestic and international success in 2024.
Kind-hearted Hinata is forced by a domineering upperclassman to confess his feelings, only for the cold and distant senior Sora to suddenly intervene and claim that they are already dating. What begins as a false relationship may gradually become something real.
Isshin Aihara and Ayuta Fukuda bring the familiar romance into a new cultural setting, demonstrating how successful BL properties can travel between Asian markets through local adaptation.
After Moving Seats, The Boy Behind Me Has a Crush on Me: A Hidden Confession Becomes Impossible to Ignore
Premiering August 6, the eight-episode series follows high school student Haru Mayama, who discovers a handwritten confession on a worksheet passed around the classroom. The message comes from Kosei Asamiya, the handsome and popular student who has recently been seated behind him.
When Haru confronts Kosei, he receives an immediate and unwavering confirmation that the confession was meant for him. As Kosei’s intense affection becomes more direct each day, Haru is swept up by the relentless attention of someone who has hidden his feelings for far too long.
Adapted from the Grand Prize winner of the inaugural BL Short Manga Awards, the series stars Eito Konishi and Gennosuke in an intensely devoted school romance.
Popular Serizawa Acts Weird Around Me: A Popular Boy Reveals a Different Side
Popular Serizawa Acts Weird Around Me adds another youthful school romance to the JBL Express lineup. While Serizawa appears cheerful, confident and socially effortless around everyone else, his behavior changes whenever he is alone with one particular classmate.
The series explores the contrast between a carefully maintained public image and the awkward, unexpected emotions that appear around the person someone truly likes.
Hold on, Harutora-kun: A Dormitory Romance Breaks Through Emotional Barriers
Directed by Our Youth director Keisuke Shibata together with Masaki Kishida, Hold on, Harutora-kun stars Tsubasa Nakagawa and Masaya Sakuragi in a tender and bittersweet school romance.
After his sexuality becomes known to his classmates, second-year student Sui Kishida begins hiding his expressions behind a mask and playing the cheerful target of jokes in his boys’ dormitory. His carefully protected world begins to change when he becomes roommates with Harutora Kurobe, a younger basketball player whose direct kindness leaves little room for avoidance.
The more Sui tries to conceal his feelings, the more openly Harutora expresses his affection. Their shared dormitory gradually becomes the setting for a romance about vulnerability, trust and finding the courage to be seen.
A Broader Cross-Media and Cross-Border Model
The addition of Your Sky is particularly significant. While manga remains a major source of Japanese live-action BL, the remake shows how successful stories can travel between Thailand and Japan, creating new interpretations for audiences familiar with the original property as well as viewers discovering it for the first time.
Together, the eight titles offer different entry points into contemporary Japanese BL, ranging from police comedy, status-reversal romance and nostalgic summer stories to school crushes, dormitory relationships and mature workplace intimacy.
The JBL Express campaign features eight Japanese BL series:
Duty First, Kiss Later
The Servant Prince
My Summer of You
Are the Sexy Buttocks Not Good?
Your Sky Hare nochi Koi
After Moving Seats, The Boy Behind Me Has a Crush on Me
Popular Serizawa Acts Weird Around Me
Hold on, Harutora-kun
Availability varies by title and territory.
Further Reading
The JBL Express: The Newest Japanese BLs to Watch This August