LGBTQ Representation in Anime/Manga

The former is getting licensed for North America at least.

Edited by Moth13 on Oct 25th 2019 at 8:44:58 AM

I'm following those two. While I like them, I feel like they can be a bit too preachy. It's also a complaint I share with similar LGBTQ+ focused manga.

My Son is Probably Gay is probably my favorite LGBTQ+ focused manga at the moment. It's just a cute comedy about an open-minded mom and a son who's trying (really badly) to hide his sexuality.

I'm happy that I can now buy a copy (and hopefully it'll get even more fans now).

Mogumo is one of the best enby characters I've seen in any media. They're so relatable and I hate it.

Coming Out Stories are always preachy. It's why I have a hard time reading LGBT Young Adult books: I've grown past being interested in the "coming out" portion of queer narratives.

Edited by Pichu-kun on Oct 28th 2019 at 8:43:21 AM

Can't help but agree. I understand why people like the narrative of the trans girl who is cuter, shorter, and more traditionally feminine than all of the cis girls in her class, but when that's 90% of the stories about trans girls that you read you almost wish for something more angsty...

That said, I love My Son Is Probably Gay just because of how much it defies all of the normal narratives about the Transparent Closet. The son isn't obvious because he has feminine interests, it's because he's a teen who can't keep from getting all blushy over the guy he has a crush on.

What Did You Eat Yesterday? is one of my favorite manga about male/male couples. I'd hoped for an anime but it recently got a j-drama adaptation instead. I guess that's fine since it's so down-to-earth that it works as a Live-Action Adaptation.

I just discovered a manga series by Kii Kanna called Umibe no Etranger, about a boy, Mio, who's grieving the loss of his parents, and an older gay novelist, Shun, trying to come to terms with himself. At one point, Mio moves away from the island, but comes back three years later once he becomes an adult, and the two reconnect. The manga's art is soft and beautiful, the story is genuinely heartwarming, any sex scenes are short and actually advance the story rather than detract from it, and the characters are a delight...except for Shun's ex-girlfriend, Sakurako. Hate her. The manga's being made into a movie come next year, and I'm excited for it. Umibe is only one volume long, so it's a short, pleasant read. Check it out if you can. It's really nice.

It does have a longer sequel, Harukaze no Etranger, that focuses more on their issues and Shun's estranged family, but I'm personally conflicted on it for a lot of reasons, namely the shoddy way some conflicts are resolved, Sakurako's machinations, and how Shun never seems to get any support from anyone, and wouldn't necessarily recommend it.

Edited by TwilightPegasus on Oct 28th 2019 at 10:49:18 AM

In Yack Fest it was mentioned that Magmel of the Sea Blue has a transphobic scene in episode 9 involving a trans hairdresser.

On a separate note, Stars Align has some positive non-binary representation. It's the only sports manga/anime I know with explicitly LGBTQ characters.

I am a heterosexual male fan, so feel free to correct me if i'm wrong, but...am I the only one who feels like you guys thought LGBTQ representation in manga never happened before today?

cause, like, yaoi and yuri works have been around for ages. the works of CLAMP had LGBTQ themes since day one and, even before that, in the 70s, you had the rose of Versailles with its cross-dressing female protagonist falling in love with marie-antoinette. there's even that manga that i don't remember the name of about a couple of gay secret agents with the guy that looks like the led zeppelin singer. not to mention the huge homoerotic undertones of classic shonen works like saint seiya and especially jojo. hell, sailor moon had an actual lesbian couple that DIC turned into kissing cousins in perhaps the most ridiculous censorship blunder ever! and what about ranma, whose entire schtick is changing gender almost at will (well, by falling into hot and cold water, but you know what I mean.)

hell, devilman's plot is about trans Satan destroying the world, in part because the man he loved (akira fudo) didn't swing his way!

so yeah, I dunno what the fuss really is all about with LGBTQ representation in manga and anime when Japan, despite being a very backward society, have been doing this years before it became the it thing to do here, in the West.

sorry if I accidentaly triggered anybody with this post or seem misinformed. i'm just an heterosexual man trying to understand you guys and gals, how you see things, etc.

I… don't think anyone here implied that LGBTQ themes didn't exist in old manga? It's just that young readers are more likely to have read recent ones.

Notice how those examples you give are from old works? I'm not sure what exactly happened, but LGBT+ characters in Japanese manga/anime have went downhill since.

Yeah, BL and yuri works are still around, but they're niche genres, not aimed at mainstream audience. Plus, they're more like idealizations of m/m or f/f romance rather than representations of actual LGBT people.

Edited by TrueShadow1 on Jan 7th 2020 at 7:16:33 PM

IMO reading something as homoerotic doesn't necessarily translate to characters actually being queer, regardless of how parts of the fanbase either ship them or joke about said homoeroticism.

Edited by Nouct on Jan 7th 2020 at 4:42:12 AM

Please don't do this.

Edited by Rynnec on Jan 7th 2020 at 6:54:34 AM

I don't know about that. The homoeroticism in old school shonen is mostly because those shonen had a 95% male cast. Is that really different from the lesbian subtext (and sometimes outright text) in today's Magical Girl and CGDCT shows?

Edited by Lyendith on Jan 7th 2020 at 1:56:50 PM

Lets cut this kind of thinking out. Japan has its share of societal issues, but so does every single country, and painting it as "backwards" is extremely othering.

Errr, yeah..it also kind of neglects the LGBT activism that's going on there now.

And none of us think LGBT representation in manga is recent. It's been around decades.

It's also odd that you say that gay rep is only new in Western works, like there hasn't been tons of that way earlier too. It's just that newer stuff is more relevant to the modern day and more fruitful to recommend than old classics that everyone's already heard of.

Besides, if you want to talk about older stuff, why not just mention older stuff? Saying that Wandering Son is good in regards to having a trans lead doesn't mean we're pretending that Claudine didn't do it first.

I'm sorry to have disturbed you. I only wanted to understand you, because all things LGBT are everywhere nowadays and, at first, I found that annoying, because every body wouldn't shut up about it and many works now attempt to cater to minorities/women/LGBT, sometimes to the point of neglecting the quality of the work.

however, Instead of staying annoyed, I've decided to make the effort of trying to understand where you come from. besides, Freddie mercury and Rob halford of Judas priest, two of my favorite singers, are LGBT people, too, so there's that.

I don't quite think you realize how condescending and classless that post came off as.

Claiming you 'disturbed' us, complaining LGBT content is 'everywhere' at 'neglect of story' (What does this even mean?) and then throwing in "some of my favorite entertainers are gay" is not really constructive dialogue.

Edited by Lightysnake on Jan 8th 2020 at 6:46:40 AM

...man, I really don't know how to communicate with people...

sorry. I'm leaving...

…Well that sure happened.

Anyway, I've wanted to check out Wandering Son lately, does the anime adapt the full story?

From what I heard, no. I also heard that the way they adapted the ending came off as kind of transphobic, but don't take my word for it; I only read the manga.

Nope. It starts 4 or so volumes in and only adapts 2 or 3 volumes. It doesn't do a very good job of it either. It's watchable but, to someone like me who has read the manga over 4 times, there are a lot of little faults. I'm especially not fond of how much the anime pushed Nitori/Takatsuki.

But, when it comes to trans rep in anime, it's one of the best works. Most trans-related manga don't get animated adaptations. I'd really like a Bokura no Hentai, Love Me for What I Am, or Kanojo ni Naritai Kimi to Boku adaptation, but they seem too niche. Manga with heavy queer themes don't get adaptations much. Yuri and yaoi love stories do, but not stuff aimed at queer readers or works that cover queer issues above "Light gayngst and taboo Secret Relationships".

On the anime's ending vs the manga equivalent. In the manga, a girl points out that Nitori's voice is breaking. Nitori has a blank reaction at that. In the anime, Nitori's reaction is more positive and she smiles. This, combined with a few other elements in the anime's finale, gave some viewers the Broken Aesop that Nitori and Takatsuki are just going through a "trans phase" that they'll outgrow. The manga makes it clear that Nitori is trans but Takatsuki has an Ambiguous Gender Identity and ends on it possibly having been a trans phase.

Edited by Pichu-kun on Jan 23rd 2020 at 5:35:30 AM

I see… I'll try the manga then.

Now for a trip in the A part of the equation, Michele Kirichanskaya of the Marysue lists 5 possibly demisexual/demiromantic characters.

Some seem legit like Yuu from Yagakimi, others like Edward are a bit of a stretch. Comments also point out Luffy as a most certainly asexual character, and I would probably add Tanjirou from Kimetsu no Yaiba based off the anime.

Now I honestly find the term "demiromantic/sexual" way too specific to be useful, even if by the definition given I might fall in the demiromantic slot myself. Seems like a way of saying "eeh, kinda aro/ace but kinda not".

Also, what the hell is "greyromantic"? >.>

I'm pretty sure that's just supposed to be headcanons, so not a very scientific thing.

That said, forgive my ignorance, but doesn't being demiromantic mean that you only fall in love with people you get to know? Isn't that...you know, just how romance normally works for everyone?

There is a trans character introduced in the latest chapter of Vinland Saga!