So, I'm looking for a BL / GL manga or novel which takes a more realistic approach towards homosexual relationships. Now, don't get me wrong - I love happy endings in my romances as much as the next girl - but sometimes I want something more...believable.

What I seek is one of these three scenarios;

1. Reciprocated love that remains unconsummated
   That is to say; they both love the other, but due to either being unsure of each others' feelings or even though they know, recognizing the difficulties of such a relationship and realizing that they don't have the courage to pull it off, nothing ever happens between the two.
   Examples - Boku wa Sakana, The Visitor and "Tiger Lily" from the short-story collection Otome Cake. Boy, do I love those stories or what!
   In a way, I guess So wa Reirei no Yuki ni Mai works too - but in this case it really depends on your perspective.

2. Unrequited love that remains unrequited throughout the story
   Meaning, the straight person does not change her/his mind all of a sudden and decide to be "gay only for you". Also, I wouldn't mind a scenario where the other person is actually not straight...but just not interested in the protagonist.
   Examples - Golden Days, Aegis, The Love Letter, Gunjou, Cantarella, "She's Missing" from Yes, It's Me

3. Requited love that takes a very long time to be consummated
   At least two or three volumes must pass by before they even get to first base!
   Examples - Sasameki Koto and Girl Friends (This kind of thing is more common in GL, I think)
   1001 Nights and Mirage of Blaze (novel) are two rare BL that fit.
   The novel series Nightrunner (Lynn Flewelling) also takes it fairly slow.

But there should definitely be romantic love involved - so manga like Komatta or Silver Diamond (which are really only subtext) don't count. Also, these relationships must feature the primary protagonist as the 'injured party', so no side character scenarios, please! (For example, Seimaden and Horror Collector don't work because the person who fits scenario 2 is not the MC)

Please don't recommend yaoi manga. Yuri is okay, but only if it isn't very graphic or smutty (the level of sexual content in Gunjou is tolerable, but nothing more than that)

Also, nothing that qualifies as hentai, smut, adult, ecchi, gender-bender, shota or loli is acceptable.

Sorry for the long-winded request!
Anyone?

Blue (I'm pretty sure I recommended this to you once before, but you haven't listed it here...), Claudine...! and the one-shots Love Letter and Winter-tinged Thoughts from Kawaii Anata fit scenario 2 perfectly.

And on the BL front there's Bishounen no Koi and one of my favourite shounen-ai one-shots; Pokerface. (Both for no. 2)

GL tends to be at least slightly more realistic than BL when it comes to unrequited love and the like - maybe because most of them are written by straight women?

Oh - and I just adored The Visitor and The Love Letter! We seriously need more BL like those! But I bet they wouldn't be popular because everyone wants sugary-sweet happy endings...

Oh, boy! How the heck did I forget about Blue and Claudine?! They're two of my favourite GL!

I'll check out the others, thank you.

GL tends to be at least slightly more realistic than BL when it comes to unrequited love and the like - maybe because most of them are written by straight women?

I've noticed that too! I guess women tend to wish for the happiness of male characters, but not for that of the females. Pretty cruel if you ask me 🤣

We seriously need more BL like those! But I bet they wouldn't be popular because everyone wants sugary-sweet happy endings...

So true. It's sad how ridiculously unrealistic and cheesy most of these BL are. Oh, well! There are still a few gems out there...at least one or two mangaka still seem to have the guts to try something original. But even they will soon succumb to the temptations of the money monster, no doubt.
Kimi wa Machigatteiru and King's Prophet are perfect examples for the kind of different BL that no-one seems to like.

King's Prophet had the most unexpected ending! I was like... 😲 ...but in a good way. That's what really happens to hapless little boys who fall for jaded, power-hungry men!

The real downside to KwM is the art; while the romance bit was a tad predictable, the ending's worth its weight in gold. The mangaka left off at just the right time.

I found another title which fits that I can't believe I didn't think of before; Antique Bakery (scenario 2). I don't really like this manga, though - so don't consider it a recommendation.

Yeah, Antique is sorta...bleh. I dunno why I don't like it, because most people do...But then again, I'm not the kinda girl who likes stuff that 'most people' like, anyway! 😮

But really, is there nothing else? Wow, that's pretty sad. Looks like I'm gonna to have no BL/GL at all to read soon except Sasame kikoto, Cruel god, Marginal, Hana wa sakuka and Golden days! And all of them have such slow releases 😢 😐

When I think of realism, this is the first manga to pop into my head:

Zankoku na Kami ga Shihaisuru

I want to give a warning, though, that this is a very realistic manga whos main theme is sexual abuse. It won the Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize Award for Excellence so it's most definitely good, but the material is heavy and the abuse fairly graphic. After MANY volumes it starts getting into a shounen ai pairing, but it takes a long time and is not the focus of the manga at all. And, no, the abuser is NOT the love interest.

I started on Zankoku a few days back. And yes, it is excellent!

I wish the release frequency wasn't so low 🙁

GL - Blue (SAKISAKA Io), Orange Sweet Olive Blossoms, Between The Sheets, Lost Girl, Sweet Lovin' Baby, Tie Breaker, 24, 25, The Two Of Us, Mermaid Line (Yukari and Mayuko), Tear: 99, Greenhouse Dancing Club.
BL - The Cosmic Tunnel, Yuigon, Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful, The Heart Of Thomas, Subarashii Shitsuren, Seishun no Yamai wa, Sakura Gari, Age Called Blue, Kagi, Breakfast Club (volume 2 onwards couple), Touch Me Again, Illumination... Maybe some of these... Also this might help you.

Quote from cyclamen

I started on Zankoku a few days back. And yes, it is excellent!

I wish the release frequency wasn't so low 🙁

Oh, I really hadn't thought about that. I read it in japanese and I just kins of assumed it had been scanlated since it's so famous. Kinda wearid that there are so few chapters out. :/

Quote from Alexander92

Quote from cyclamen

I started on Zankoku a few days back. And yes, it is excellent!

I wish the release frequency wasn't so low 🙁

Oh, I really hadn't thought about that. I read it in japanese and I just kins of assumed it had been scanlated since it's so famous. Kinda wearid that there are so few chapters out. :/

It's not weird at all, really. Most of the good shounen-ai manga don't get scanlated. I have a long list of BL that look a dozen times more interesting and well-plotted than the ones being released in English currently, and no-one seems to be the least bit interested in doing them. If only I knew Japanese! But I just don't have time to study such a complicated language... 😢

For scenario #1, the third story of Nakamura Shungiku's Hybrid Child.
It's a heart-breaking(ly beautiful) story, be aware! :'O

@Kohai - Wow the yuri ones look great, thanks a lot! Ummm...I'm sorry if my request wasn't clear enough, but no yaoi please. I can't stand any male x male interactions that go beyond shounen-ai ^_^
And that topic doesn't work at all because I want the MC to be the one suffering from unrequited love, not to see some side character with a crush on the MC. That's been done plenty of times, and never in a good way (the character concerned is usually some kind of weird creepy bad guy). But thank you all the same.

@calstine - I feel your grief, sister! The very thought that the scanlation teams involved can't find people willing to help scanlate Cruel God Reigns, Eroica Yori Ai wo Komete and Yami no Kodou just boggles my mind, because they're simply awesome compared to the pitiful drivel that makes up 99% of the BL genre.

@AislinCeivun - Thanks for the rec, but it doesn't really fit because they

slept with each other the night before the blond guy got sent off to the war (so their love isn't unconsummated out of choice...just briefly consummated and then left off because one of them died)

And you know, I've seen so many (het) romances like HC that it didn't make a very big impact on me.

Despite my nitpicking, I'm really grateful to everyone who replied. Please keep rec'cing!

Bump!

Bump, again...

Oookay, one last time...bump <_<