Sometimes, all it takes is one simple title to get you interested in a new series. Many of the best manga in recent years have very memorable names, from The Summer Hikaru Died to Orb: On the Movement of the Earth, but others prefer to go the more descriptive route. That’s certainly the case for Suki na Onee-san ga Ore no BL Kaiteita (The Older Girl I Like is Drawing BL of Me), which is basically exactly what it says on the tin.

Yuuto Ukeno is a normal 20 year old guy who has had a crush on his next door neighbor Sumi ever since they were kids. He hasn’t gotten around to telling her that fact, however, much to the chagrin of his other childhood friend, Teruyoshi Seme. They’re discussing this situation in line for an event that is almost certainly supposed to be Comiket when female otaku around them start fawning, and not just because Teruyoshi grabbed Yuuto’s face in a very intimate manner.

Obviously, the reveal at the end of chapter one is that Sumi draws a popular BL (boys’ love) doujinshi based on Yuuto and Teruyoshi, with this year’s Comiket carrying the sixth volume of said series. It just so happened that the two characters were even in line for Sumi’s booth, explaining why their interactions came under so much scrutiny from the people around them. No shipper worth their salt would be able to contain the excitement that comes from a real life version of their favorite pairing.

The plot of chapter one really is that simple, so I went ahead and checked out chapter two as well for this column. You can imagine my surprise when it was not only more of the same, but actually shorter than the initial story. Even though the new feature has been described by creator Kou Natsume as a “concentrated series” on X, that surely means that each page needs to be used in a more efficient manner.

What makes The Older Girl I Like is Drawing BL of Me interesting is how it plays with potential audiences. On the one hand, the dynamic between Yuuto and Teruyoshi definitely feels like a proper pairing, but the way that fans react to them doesn't exactly paint female otaku in a positive light. There is a world where this story ends up attracting a similar amount of male and female readers, with the former taking pleasure in the parody aspect. That rarely happens with anything with “BL” in the title.

At the same time, I have a confession to make: this situation literally happened to a buddy of mine once. In high school, we found out that a mutual friend had written fanfiction about him and another guy that was then circulated via text file. Part of me wants to believe that this was a joke, but the effect that shipping has on the brain definitely needs to be studied. I can say this because I’m just as much of a victim as Sumi and her fans.

In any case, I do have a morbid curiosity as to where this story ends up. Will Yuuto get the girl, or will Sumi’s fictional world end up bleeding into reality? Here’s hoping that the denouement is as intriguing as the title.

Chapter One Club is a weekly column that aims to spotlight the latest in new series and one-shots from across a wide variety of different demographics and publications.