LGBTQ Representation in Anime/Manga

Boruto is where Orochimaru ended up explicitly defined as agender, right?

I thought the whole "psychotic murderer" thing could strain her relationships a little bit, but what do I know.

Interesting. I wonder if working with Kodachi might have influenced Kishimoto to introduce a non-binary character in Samurai 8…

Wow… Orochi has become pretty chill.

Edited by Lyendith on Aug 13th 2019 at 9:52:18 PM

Ive only seen the anime, not read the manga but this is how they deal with it there:

Given that this also involved body hijacking, that's a fairly literal statement of past behaviour, though.

x3 It's worth noting that Chiyo herself is the daughter of a Yakuza boss, so she likely doesn't care that her girlfriend is a government assassin.

Let's not forget that Orochi is a big Karma Houdini that shouldn't have been given redemption, since he didn't earn it.

I say give praise to Oda for introducing Kikunojo, who is a pre-op transwoman.

Edited by firewriter on Aug 13th 2019 at 2:58:13 AM

Is it redemption? Last time I looked it was less "redeemed" and more "great, we have no idea how to actually KILL THIS GUY... whatever, so long as he's staying out of the way now".

It's been a while since I finished Tokyo Ghoul but I think it's pretty damn unambiguous about Tooru being a transman. I can't imagine people disputing it unless they don't understand trans people and/or they're just prejudiced.

That being I think the way Ishida treated him ended up being kind of bad, but at least he manages to get better by the end.

I've heard the series in general is pretty good about having LGBT characters. Half the cast are psychotic, but that's kind of a given.

I've only read the first volume of Tokyo Ghoul Re:, but I've heard nothing but bad things about how the series handles Tooru.

Yeah, let's just say a completely normal and positive example of a transgender man was given Rape as Backstory, and turned into a psychopathic sexual predator whose gender issues are just the result of "C-c-crazy!"

I know he turned into an animal killing yandere, or something. I don't particularly mind as long as Tooru being trans is unrelated to him being morally ambiguous. Positive LGBTQ villains and anti-heroes are always needed. Too many leak into Depraved Homosexual, Psycho Lesbian, etc.

Problem is the trans thing is just eventually made into "Tohru is a rape victim who was just confused."

From what I've seen, he was pretty confident in being male at the start but started getting confused after he was kidnapped.

It's revealed the reason Tohru didn't like being female was rape, really strongly implied by the flashback with his father, in addition to Tohru's discomfort with the male gaze

There's Unfortunate Implications there, but I've seen decent trans characters who "become" trans (such as being Raised as the Opposite Gender), despite that not being how it works.

Never seen the work, but there's no denying that Rape and Switch has a special level of negative connotations and history, compared to "becoming" trans some other way.

Rape and Switch is a bad trope that seems like it should have died out years ago. It's not always easy to tell which examples count - for example, some consider Celie fron The Color Purple this but I've always viewed her as a lesbian who was abused, rather than someone who "became" lesbian because of abuse - but Tooru sounds like he counts.

I've seen LGBTQ characters in mainstream shonen (and to an extent kodomo anime) discussed a bit more lately.

Most of the "big" (mainly battle shonen) works have little-to-no LGBTQ characters aside from gags. MHA is a bit more queer-friendly than older works like Naruto or Bleach. I guess it's comparable to what's happening in American cartoons: LGBTQ characters were rather taboo but they've become more mainstream in the 2010s.

YMMV on how well executed they were, but Bleach actually has a fair share of LGBTQ characters: Chizuru, Tatsuki, Isane, Unohana, Sui-feng, Lisa, Tesla, Loly, Charlotte, Szayel, Giselle and Bambietta. Plus Hikone and Aura from the novels.

Tatsuki? Unohana? When were they shown as LGBT?

Edited by Lyendith on Aug 23rd 2019 at 12:40:32 PM

Tatsuki was more Ambiguously Lesbian than outright gay, and idk with Unohana.

Tatsuki was attracted to Rangiku to the point that she was angry at Ichigo for never telling her about this beautiful woman and even though there were more pressing issues, like her being hunted by Aizen. Though it could admittedly be a case of Even the Girls Want Her, since Rangiku is stated to be beautiful enough to charm men and women alike.

Side material stated that Unohana and Isane had an intimate relationship. Kubo used it as an explanation for how Isane knew about Unohana's secret and her scar. There were a few hints in the manga, like the two sleeping in the same room or Unohana telling Kenpachi how no man could ever make her happy.

Oh. I didn't remember that… So yeah, that makes a lot of L's and B's.

Why do most of them sound like girls' names? Probably just a coincidence.