MangaPlaza brought Boys’ Love (BL), Girls’ Love (GL), and romance lovers together at Anime Expo 2026 with an interactive panel hosted by content creators Daniel Dueñas and Laura Neuzeth. The session celebrated queer romance through trope discussions, quizzes, and audience participation.
Shouting Out Favorite Tropes
The panel kicked off with audience engagement as attendees called out their favorite romance tropes. The most popular responses included:
- Enemies to lovers
- One bed
- Friends to lovers
- Office romance
These led into discussions of popular titles on MangaPlaza, including Keeping You in Sight, I Don’t Need This Ring Anymore, Satan on Parental Leave and His Fake Hero, and Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko.
Trope Voting and Quiz
The hosts narrowed down their top three tropes and invited attendees to vote by applause. Enemies-to-lovers won, prompting Daniel to joke that this meant the audience was “a healthy bunch and obviously great at communicating.”
The quiz portion challenged attendees to guess the next line in manga panels shown on screen—a segment Daniel and Laura called their favorite part of the panel. The audience answered with ease and speed, demonstrating their deep manga knowledge.
Giveaways and Coupons
The panel ended with two lucky winners receiving colored prints of an original illustration from the author of The Ogre’s Bride. “If you need to feel again, you need to read The Ogre’s Bride,” Daniel encouraged. All attendees received a 100-point MangaPlaza coupon.
Booth Highlights
MangaPlaza’s booth was packed throughout the weekend. Fans posed at the The Ogre’s Bride photo spot in celebration of the anime’s July release and explored the reading corner to discover new titles.
Best-sellers included:
- The Seduction of the Deep Sleeper – first to sell out (complete three-volume set)
- Kurosaki Wants Me All to Himself – sold out
- Dinners with My Darling – only one copy remained
Attendees also showed strong interest in Pardon the Intrusion, I’m Home! (Full Color), a MangaPlaza original with an anime series, which drew crowds to the booth and panel.
MangaPlaza’s panel and booth presence made for one of the most engaging romance-focused experiences at Anime Expo. With exclusive giveaways, a trope-focused community event, and a packed booth, the publisher successfully connected with fans who live for the genre. All titles mentioned are available on MangaPlaza.
Want to read about our first-hand experience at the MangaPlaza BL/GL panel? Check out our live recap here:
Source: MangaPlaza
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