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With a title like My Ex-Boyfriend Loves Boys’ Love, you’d almost expect the manga series to perhaps touch on same-sex relationships or have romance immediately as a major plot point. However, Square Enix’s series from Mugiimo goes in a bit of a different direction for the first volume. While there does seem to be the suggestion of a relationship between the leads Momo Akado and Suzuya Katakura, in a possible Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku kind of way, it feels more like we’re seeing the two finally connecting after reuniting after years and a more grounded relationship starting based on a solid friendship over fandom in the manga instead.
Editor’s Note: There will be minor spoilers for the manga My Ex-Boyfriend Loves Boys’ Love below.
Momo loves boys love manga and anime series. So much so that she also acts as a doujin creator of her own, making both original series and items based on her favorite fandom. While at a bookstore going to pick up a volume she was waiting for, she sees a man shopping in the BL section of the store. Since she considers this something of a rare sighting, as it seems he would expect a male fan to be more into bara, she starts watching. It’s then that she realizes it is Suzuya, her high school boyfriend.
Here’s where My Ex-Boyfriend Loves Boys’ Love gets interesting. Initially, there’s some awkwardness. On his part, it is because he keeps his love for the genre secret and nobody knows. He usually buys books and items online, but when to the store since it was out of stock otherwise. Meanwhile, Momo feels guilty since, when they dated in high school, she left a volume of that kind of manga behind at his house one time.
The thing is, their high school dynamic shown was bad. The two sort of dated because everyone was and never made a true attempt to open up to one another or get to know each other. She never even admitted liking manga to him, and he didn’t know how to talk to her about things. The way Mugiimo tells the story, it’s a second chance for the two to connect and develop a real and genuine relationship of sorts over the shared fandom.
Which is another reason the first volume of the manga My Ex-Boyfriend Loves Boys’ Love gets so good. There’s genuine support for Suzuya, who turns out to work in the same building as Momo. She doesn’t judge him and instead her and one of her fellow BL-loving coworkers joins them for a new, regular friend group who’s meeting and talking about manga and events. It’s a completely supportive dynamic. To the point that in the first volume of the manga, we see Momo and Suzuya learn more about each other in the span of days than they did did dating for a few weeks as kids because of the shared fandom. It even closes out this first part of the story on a note that makes it seem like there’ll be continued positivity and an even bigger possible friend-group.
My Ex-Boyfriend Loves Boys’ Love is a manga that focuses on the more positive elements of belonging to a fandom. We see people coming together and celebrating what they love. They find acceptance and connection. It also means an opportunity to open up again in a way they didn’t before. Does it also seem like there could eventually be relationships between primary cast members like Momo and Suzuya? Sure. But the initial focus feels like it’s on building a foundation based on shared loves and friendship instead.
Volume 1 of My Ex-Boyfriend Loves Boys’ Love is available now and Square Enix will release volume 2 of the manga on December 15, 2026.
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