For #pridemonth we're celebrating #LGBTQ #animation and this week, it's #TV shows.
As we get ready to move to films, it would be remiss to not mention #anime.
Anime has a long history of featuring LGBT characters albeit in a particularly Japanese way that is not directly comparable to Western methods. The former reflects Japanese notions of gender and sexuality while the latter espouses a direct relationship between representation and societal progress.
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@admin I do worry sometimes about the BoysLove subgenre, and the fetishization of MLM couples. Representation is great, but it feels like those shows are only concerned with the longing looks, and not as much the individual complexities of two people entering and/or being in a relationship. I have not actually watched one, so I dont know. But from the outside looking in, it seems overly simplified for my taste.
@admin I will say, there was one anime that was really interesting called #Nana. I didnt get to finish it, but it seemed to be angling for a lesbian &/or bi relationship. With two well crafted characters, in a well executed story.
I do have some disagreements with how it portrays an abuse victim story (doing well, and then not well). But otherwise, I really enjoyed seeing were this story was going.
@admin I've always felt attacked when I comment how their sometimes handled.
People think I'm against it but I just felt many times it has been written poorly.
That's why I'd love for people to watch "Severance" and "Our Flag Means Death". Especially Severance, it was done so cute.. don't want to say too much because spoilers but I loved it.
@admin I remember seeing Uranus and Neptune as a kid, and thought their interactions were a bit weird for cousins, but I didnt know better at the time.
Nonetheless, some anime had scenes cut and dubs altered to remove any references to LGBT characters and relationships; including Sailor Moon's infamous 'cousins'. Other shows weren't so lucky and found themselves beyond licensing due to their themes. Ramna 1/2 was too hot to touch for any western market due to concerns over parental reaction to Ranma's gender-switching abilities.
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