LGBTQ Representation in Anime/Manga

Eh, there were enough flags against Tai/Fu that I was expecting either him and Touma or No Romantic Resolution.

Namely, the fact that his imagined future with her was also one where he buried his dream of owning a game shop, the fact that she thought that going to the college of her choice would make him break up with her, and the fact that he never expressed sexual interest in her (and she noticed that he didn't) compared to Touma.)

Yeah people suspected Toumas baseball teammate if he entered a relationship after High Schooll For me I let some of those slip me by because I actually liked the idea he was romantically attracted to her, even if he wasn't sexually attracted.

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Apr 7th 2020 at 7:26:42 AM

Now that there have been a couple days, I'm starting to reflect on why it is that Touma/Taichi caught so many off-guard when I thought it was so logical.

I think it comes down to the way we as readers are trained to read media. I was first recommended this series as a deep look at the plight of LGBT teens in Japan, and came at it as someone who's read more than my fair share of girls' and boys' love (plus yuri and yaoi) works. So from minute one my perspective was, "this is the series where the gay couple has an equal chance, what is in favor of it?" And from that perspective, Taichi/Touma had more going for it than Taichi/Futaba. (By contrast, I considered Futaba/Masumi to be doomed from minute one, because Futaba had no hints about repressing her sexuality like Taichi did).

But most readers, considering that it's a shonen romance on Mangaplus that had a guy and girl as the main ship for most of it, had it mentally slotted into their "straight romance" headspace. They never considered the idea that Taichi might choose Touma over Futaba, because in 99% of romance series the guy choosing another guy over the girl just isn't done. So all the moments that were (in hindsight) blatantly highlighting Tai's bisexuality—like him zoning out while staring at Touma's chest, or repeatedly flashing back to being told that boys shouldn't hold other boys' hands—were immediately written off as fanservice. Not because that (most) fans dislike the idea of an m/m endgame ship, but because ever series they'd read before hammered in the idea that m/m teases are just bait for fangirls and to be immediately discounted. The idea of the male lead in a romance manga deciding to marry a guy over a girl is just as unexpected as the hero of a fighting manga deciding to give up on his dreams early and become a tailor instead: it just isn't done, so most fans would never even consider the possibility.

Edited by IniuriaTalis on Apr 9th 2020 at 9:48:44 AM

Okay by this point I'm convinced that The Witch's Servant and The Demon Lords Horns is most LGBT friendly manga I've ever read

Which makes reading comment sections' hard because they uh, aren't as LGBT to say it slightly

Care to elaborate on why you think those two are the most LGBTQ friendly?

x3 👏 👏 👏

That's it. The fujobaiting has made it impossible to tell when it's just bait and when they really will have such a relationship, especially as shonen where guys are allowed to be closer emotionally than the girls despite getting together with the girl in the end.

^^Its single manga, that was just really long title with "and" in title.

But basically it has several chapters which are basically just explaining about how sex and gender are different things and just read it yourself so I don't have to write whole essay about what I mean since its hard to sum it up in one sentence

Edited by SpookyMask on Apr 12th 2020 at 9:53:27 PM

Pity it seems to be going stright into the chopping block, then.

In Stars Align, Yuu says that they're maybe non-binary... according to the English subs. According to the dialogue, I am pretty sure they actually said "x(-gender)", which is a similar but different gender identity.

Speaking of Hoshiai, I remember there was an entire interview bit with the director about episode 8's themes and Yuu's gender specifically, see if I can find it if anyone's curious.

Edit: here

Edited by unfortunatezorua on Apr 25th 2020 at 2:16:06 AM

I found a manga from last year called BREAK THE BORDER, but it's hard to find English info on it. At least, the artist has a Pixiv. It's a basketball manga about a girl's high school team (which is rare enough). The protagonist is a trans boy.

I like the character designs and art. It'd be neat if it was released in English. Sei reminds me of Hinata from Haikyuu.

I need someone else to read The Witch's Servant and The Demon Lords Horns so I can discuss it For something that starts with silly gross demon lord scenario, it really goes into detail about lgbt issues

Edited by SpookyMask on May 2nd 2020 at 10:34:55 PM

I mean, you haven't said anything about it besides that it covers an unspecific LGBT topic, so it's hard for me (and presumably others reading this thread) to know if it's something I'd be into.

I recently discovered Boys Run the Riot, a manga series by a trans man about a trans boy. I have only read the first three chapters, but it looks promising and the main characters are likable. I hope the series gets an article on this site. Here's a translation of an interview with the author.

Edited by IukaSylvie on Dec 11th 2020 at 12:12:41 AM

^^I'm kinda used to people complaining that I'm telling spoilers whenever I talk about series nobody reads

okay so i know i'm super late to this but i noticed some talk about hibike! euphonium earlier and i have Very Complicated thoughts on the series i wanted to get out somewhere. i'll agree with the sentiment that it seems like yuribaiting more than anything else, despite having a very strong start that could've led into an expressly lesbian story. it kind of baffles me how much of the series reads like two lesbians discovering their sexuality and struggling with compulsive heterosexuality until you get to like, season 2, and it just kind of tapers out. imagine how stressful it was originally watching the series as it aired, goodness. i'm inclined to believe part of the problem is that it's aimed at a seinen audience (as in, it aired at otaku o'clock) rather than the teenage girls that would find representation of lesbian characters their age useful.

for the record naoko yamada, the one who said "i didn't want to depict yuri, but adolescence" in regards to hibike, later went on to solo direct liz and the blue bird which is essentially hibike if it were written much more competently. the term "yuri" in japan carries the implication of "girl on girl is hot"-style fanservice rather than actual romance, which i feel like her writing for both hibike and liz reflects (she didn't have much creative control on hibike, she only got to do a few scenes). the lesbian subtext in liz still doesn't make the leap into text, but it's such an obvious depiction of a blossoming romance that i feel like it's much easier to read it as a honest depiction of adolescence rather than yuribaiting. it helps that, being released in theaters with little attachment to the existing franchise, the teenage demographic that's being represented can actually see themselves in it, without any interference from the token adult male audience. in contrast hibike kind of fights with itself before eventually giving up and deciding that the girls are straight after all, because they gotta sell that otaku merch! i would highly recommend liz if you're interested in a film with strong character and relationship writing that's lowkey and realistic, but still has stakes and tension; even if it's not an explicitly lesbian narrative, i feel like it's a story yamada really wanted to tell, and she did so with masterful elegance.

hibike! euphonium is fascinating to me more than anything else as a microcosm for how much LGBT representation has evolved in the last five years. the first season of hibike aired before gay marriage was even legalized in the US, and since then we've gotten way more stories from smaller and larger creators with explicit LGBT rep. i feel like if it'd started just a few years later it'd probably end with a deliberate lesbian romance, but as of now it's basically coasting to the finish line (the hibike! euphonium: oath's finale movie has incredibly rushed pacing and tosses aside all of the main characters except for the lead and her male love interest). as i'm discovering more anime and manga that doesn't have baiting and either openly acknowledges LGBT characters or has LGBT subtext woven into the story without cynicality, it more just makes me think of hibike as kind of a... cultural artifact, i suppose. i'll definitely be checking up on the rest of this thread for recommendations.

to avoid derailing the topic with kind of a trainwreck of a media study, i'll also throw out a recommendation of my own: the bride was a boy by chii, an autobiographical manga of a trans woman, that also goes into basic detail about what LGBT culture is like in japan. the title is her choice of words, if you're wondering. her artstyle is very charming and it touches on a lot of feelings many trans women experience, both universal and japan-specific. it hit very close to home for me, so definitely check it out if you're interested.

Edited by NoUsername on Dec 11th 2020 at 12:14:27 PM

Reading the 24th volume of Vinland Saga, I was surprised and intrigued by the character of Halvar/Cordelia who was introduced at the start of the Travel to Vinland arc.

For context, "Halvar" (the name her father gave her) was born in Ireland from a powerful warlord who intented to "raise his son on the battlefield". To spare her that fate, the mother lied to her husband and raised "Cordelia" (the name she gave her) as a girl, and she grew up identifying as one − even when her body became very, very tall and bulky. Problem is, the father (who still didn't know the truth) was coming back with a husband to marry her off, so the mom and daughter ran away on a boat. After her mother died, Cordelia ended up in Iceland as a slave of the landlord Halfdan (who doesn't know her story and treats her as a man) before she met with Thorfinn and co., who quickly realized she identified as a girl and now treat her accordingly.

This led me to some questions regarding the treatment of such issues in a setting where they would obviously have been viewed very differently (would it have been realistic for 11th century Icelanders to accept her as a girl so easily?) and more generally how distinct Raised as the Opposite Gender is from transgenderism… Like, you can't really say that Cordelia was "assigned male at birth" when it's her mother that assigned her female.

Regardless, I suppose her addition makes sense in a story where the hero explicitly wants to go against the "common sense" of his era.

Edited by Lyendith on Apr 22nd 2021 at 7:01:18 PM