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BL: Cherry Magic is Soft Comfort Food for Office Romance Lovers [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-05-06
Cherry Magic! is a sweet story about finding yourself and getting comfortable in your skin. It follows Kiyoshi Adachi (I will use given name first for characters, although he is called Adachi by most in the series) who is a normal office worker at his job until he turns thirty (the full title is actually Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?!). He learns a popular urban legend is true, that if you avoid having sex for thirty years you gain magical powers! Confused and nervous about his new powers more than anything, he very quickly learns that his coworker Yuichi Kurosawa has been hiding the fact that he’s madly in love with him. So why does virginity give this man special powers?
This idea originated in forums in Japan as told by Know Your Meme, it eventually became a joke in anime series which is how it came to be a common concept in anime and manga. A lot of time the concept is used for jokes about men who aren’t experienced at sex, but in this particular case the author decided to take the concept seriously and apply it to gay men. The author Yuu Toyota was imagining what sort of magical power would be the most helpful for someone with little experience in love and landed on mind reading.
The end result is a very saccharine story about two men who might have been only ever been coworkers if not for the Adachi gaining magical powers. The emotions they go through are universal and they are lovable enough that any romance lover would enjoy watching these two goofballs try to navigate speaking their feelings. There is also a second couple in tandem with them where Adachi’s friend Masato Tsuge pursues a delivery man on his mail route who loves his cat, Minato Wataya. I like them too but I am obsessed with the potrayal of Adachi’s growth and his discovery he is gay, so I am going to focus on that this time.
This story ended up being a smash hit with Boys’ Love fans to the point where it got a Japanese live series, a Japanese animation, a Thai live action series, and the comic book has 15 volumes out! Let’s take a look at what made it resonate so much.
Our mission statement This regime wants to erase LGBQT people from public life and eliminate access to information, resources, and cultural heritage for our youth. Most LGBQT adolescents never see stories about people like themselves enjoying love and romance. In our current reality, watching a Boys’ Love series or movie might be the only means for young people to see models of how their own relationships could start, develop, and successfully grow. It’s also an act of subversion … so watch an episode, share it with others, and resist!
The Beginning of Our Tale
Kiyoshi Adachi, the hero of our story.
Yuichi Kurosawa, the romantic lead opposite our hero.
Adachi is a fairly regular guy. He is competent and straightforward but also lacks self-confidence. He learns about his powers on the subway when he bumps into someone else. He on the fact that he doesn’t touch people that often because he isn’t confident. When he gets to work his coworker Kurosawa is by the elevator. Adachi remarks he hates how crowded elevators are (internally he thinks how it’s extra bad with his new powers) and Kurosawa suggests they take the nearby stairs together.
In the office, women are gossiping about how cute Kurosawa is which makes Adachi think about how he must have a girlfriend and probably has never had trouble being intimate with people. Before long Adachi brushes against Kurosawa, finding out in no uncertain terms how much this man adores him. He assumes that he must be hallucinating because there’s no way a cool guy like Kurosawa would like him.
Adachi tries to go about his business gets saddled with some extra work to complete that night and Kurosawa offers to help. While they work, Kurosawa notices a mole on Adachi’s neck and it convinces him that the feelings he heard weren’t hallucinations. They tackle it together and manage to finish it that night.
It has gotten later than they realized and Adachi may not be able to make home due to train schedules, so he asks if he can stay with Kurosawa for the night. They bond over the comic books Kurosawa has and Adachi is very self conscious about Kurosawa’s feelings for him, worrying over the things Kurosawa does like offer him a beer. They both go to bed anxious, Kurosawa because Adachi is here and Adachi over being unsure how to respond to someone liking him.
Kurosawa prepares breakfast for them before Adachi even gets up, then it’s back to work. The boss thanks them for their hard work and gives them a gift card to a restaurant he wants them to use together. Adachi is embarrassed at the thought of them sharing a meal alone, but also feels like it would be rude to refuse. To make matter worse, the gift certificate is expired and they end up having to pay. Adachi left his card at the office and Kurosawa says he doesn’t mind covering it, but Adachi goes to an ATM because he doesn’t want to feel like he’s imposing on him.
They go their separate ways with each having complicated feelings about the past day or two. This concludes the first episode and acts as a perfect introduction to the dynamics between our two leads. Adachi continuously doubts himself and his value which makes him unsure how to accept Kurosawa feelings. Kurosawa was never planning to make a move on Adachi but senses his discomfort and doubts his own worth because he can tell his crush is on edge.
This is a running theme as the next episode he tries to find out if Kurosawa has any flaws or negative habits and he can’t figure one out. He is frustrated he cannot but then he decides to help Kurosawa with a rowdy client who won’t stop acting cranky by reading his mind. He learns he does have some value and smooths over what was nearly a disaster to the point the office celebrates after work.
While playing a game where people kiss based on random chance he and Kurosawa are selected. Adachi is positively petrified at giving him a kiss in front of everyone and Kurosawa can tell, so he ends up kissing him on his forehead. Later he overhears Kurosawa’s thought that he must really not be into men if he was that scared to kiss one and Adachi tells him that he didn’t hate the kiss he has just never been kissed before.
These little touches add so much agency and purpose to Adachi’s character. A character who’s inexperienced with touch can come off as unwilling or creepily pursued in the wrong circumstances. It would be easy to make Kurosawa a straight up play boy who pursues Adachi aggressively, but by letting Adachi in on the situation we get to see the full magnitude of Kurosawa’s feeling without him being the one to constantly pursue the unsure party. It means that when Adachi decides to comfort Kurosawa by saying he didn’t hate the kiss he is simultaneously making a concerted effort to open up and supporting a friend to build community.
This is one of my favorite aspects of the story, that they managed to write an extremely shy character who is not only aware of the other’s feelings but also has to decide if he wants to return them internally with no external pressure. I love a good courtship as much as the next girl, but seeing this shy person work through his self doubt with no one pushing him at all while he slowly learns to be himself is truly touching. I will continue to mention these moments throughout the story because I think that is the secret sauce that turned Cherry Magic! into such a hit with Boys’ Love fans.
Kurosawa asks if Adachi will have trouble making the train, to which Adachi says it will be close but he can’t stay over again. The next day Adachi feels very awkward about everything from the night before but Kurosawa is not acting out of the ordinary one bit. He worries that Kurosawa might be too good for him after all but when he reads his mind again Kurosawa is thinking about how he will take his time with Adachi and not rush things.
The next episode begins with Adachi thinking about how perfect Kurosawa is again while the office is at karaoke together. He is mulling over how he is so confident and helpful while thinking about how kind one of the women he works with is. Some drunk people start harassing his coworker, Adachi resolves to help her but he doesn’t manage to scare them off and Kurosawa has to save the day. Kurosawa gingerly helps him patch up a scrape on Adachi who learns that Kurosawa is actually jealous of people Adachi interacts with more easily. This shows Adachi that even if Kurosawa comes off as flawless he still has worries and insecurities, he decides to invite him out for ice cream as thanks for his help.
I think that covers the most important parts for the reader. I could summarize the whole plot but I also want there to be more to discover and I feel like the set up is a lot of the meat of the romance. There is plenty of taking care each other while sick, learning Kurosawa is fallible man despite his polished appearance, being jealous of interactions that are innocent but get read into, and internal monologue about how much they love the other person. It is all well written and worth seeing but not exactly too divergent from other romance stories.
Although I recommend it wholeheartedly this setup is what was the most unique. I am also very shy and lack confidence at times, the way that the plot’s central conceit was used to skillfully to dig into self esteem really spoke to me. The fact that it took an idea as outrageous as an internet joke and forged it into something truly heartfelt and relatable to all sorts of people is what makes this an enduring classic in my eyes.
I hope you enjoyed reading me thoughts on gay media and I hope you’ll give it a chance yourself! They just announced a musical for the series this past December so there is even more content to come. I hope y’all are staying safe and doing something nice for yourselves every now and then. I will see y’all next time!
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