Some of these titles fall into the shounen-ai anime genre, while others are more explicit in nature. Yaoi, also known as boys' love (BL), is a genre within anime and manga that features romantic relationships between male characters. Simply put, it's the male equivalent of yuri anime. So naturally, fans of yaoi in the Ranker anime community have voted on their favorite series below. Yaoi anime may at first seem strange to audiences not familiar with the genre, but some of the most popular anime in recent years are yaoi anime.