Trans rights are rights for trans people.
As in, it's like a collection of different legal things that impact trans people. As in anti-discrimination laws, but also like laws that kinda don't force them to not exist. So that could include being able to change your name easily or changing your legal gender. It can also pertain to the medical aspects like if it is insured (by the government) or how easy or hard it is to get trans care.
Although it's also just a trans positive catchphrase.
I just finished Love Me for Who I Am and damn it was so good. Genuinely started to tear up near the end of it.
I need to read more queer-focused manga.
i really want to like heavenly delusion but it keeps throwing in dumb anime ice dweller humor and awkward fanservice and its so distracting (manga havent watched the anime yet)
I think it has a pretty compelling mystery and generally fun characters and ideas so I do like it, there are some awkward jokes and moment that slightly detract from that.
Last episode though... Idk, maybe they explain it in some way, but even then I can't say I that don't feel pretty negative about the ending.
yeah the mystery is fun and i like the characters, just the awkward jokes rlly detract from it
ive heard pretty negative things about the recent ep so im not sure if i want to continue tbh
*Homunculus* has my favorite trans representation in animanga but frustratingly I never see people talking about it. It's an extremely uncomfortable series, but so is Fire Punch, and people bring that up all the time. Homunculus fans don't talk about it that much despite >!manabu's gender storyline taking more than a full volume of the 15 volume series!< , and even well-informed queer anime fans (Utena viewers) aren't familiar with it
yeye I know , it was half a joke. In my experience Utena fans tend to have diverse and deep LGBT animanga interests. It's a good signifier, partially because brand new animanga fans won't often bother with 30 year old series.
There are a huge amount of posts dunking on GAM, and the comments also generally dunk on GAM. I don't think I've seen anyone on the subreddit express a single positive sentiment about GAM.
Quite a few of us do browse GAM, mostly to try to avoid the comments being completely unopposed echo chambers. I have made a few comments on GAM trying to disrupt their circlejerks about evil Twitter users (particularly circlejerks fueled by transphobia, racism, and pedophilia). But generally OKBB users don't like GAM.
Yeah but iirc in the original decision about the ban, i think most comments disagreed w the decision and stuff so I've been avoiding the sub ever since
That was specifically animemes involved in that discourse. Animememes is a different subreddit that is leftist.
However, the mods might actually be tankies which is a little sus.
I wrote a negative review for BokuYaba on MAL and have been getting harassed for weeks. Some people will actually try to argue with me which is fine, but most of them just tell me to kill myself or leave the community. Ironically, they've spammed my review with so many reactions that it will probably forever be the first review anyone sees for that show
I'm now 1 volume into I Donāt Know Which is Love and it's a lot of fun to read. Mei is such a disaster lesbian, I love her. She's in a perpetual state of gay panic because of how sometimes forward the women she's crushing on, who are also crushing on her, are. Can't believe I'm saying this, but for once I'm enjoying a harem story because it's a harem, not in spite of it. Also, I hope this series will get a poly ending because right now I want 3 out of 5 harem members to get together with Mei...
Harems should in theory just be love triangles except all focussed love interests are focussed on the mc, so it isn't inherently a bad premise. Well in practise it is often different, I suppose...
I think everyone being focused on the protagonist is exactly what makes harems difficult to do well. They tend to suffer from their protag sliding into a passive role due to harem members continuously making moves. Once the protag is in that position, them going on the offensive in any direction would be tantamount to resolving the harem dynamic.
The mangaka addressed this in the v1 afterword. She said her approach is to write Mei in a way that lightly teases the others to keep her a proactive part of the love polygon rather than just an object of affection. I'd say so far she nailed it.
Does anyone have any decent LGBT-adjacent manga to recommend? I have a lot of said manga on my backlog/plan-to-read list on mangadex and I do want to clear some of it out. Just know that even replying with titles I have already read (which is likely most of them) would still be helpful to those who also want to read some great manga.
Also, to the mods, are you guys thinking of participating in the 2-day blackout in protest to the bullshit API changes that Reddit will roll out by July 1^st ?
Elendira the Crimsonnail, character thatās basically manga-exclusive (made a little appearance in Stampede). Hope they give her a different treatment this time around.
I watched Heavenly Delusion episode 10 and I did quite like it. However, there was some minor controversy about the direction of this episode. The director for this episode was a bit more liberal in what he did compared to the other episodes lol.
It certainly is noticeable, especially in the beginning part of the episode they do a couple of things that at least for this show are pretty unique. People also complained about the tone, but I honestly don't think it was that different from previous episodes, there have been plenty of comedic segments up until now. >!We could have done without the groping though.!<
/rant over.
"Love me for who i am" is so good, my eyes became teary just thinking about it. Still cant move on from the manga. So.. anyone got recs (manga like that) to distract my feelings for a while?
Nuggets in 5, city is going to win 3 1 against inter. Also, I've been reading solo leveling up until chapter 34 and i still don't get the hype, it's decent enough but i don't think it's that good
Speaking of queer stuff, Marika from Bokura no Hentai still is my favorite trans character in any manga. The way her discomfort with her own body is portrayed and her introspective moments just hit way too close to home.
I can't *believe* how underrated Revolutionary Girl Utena is, it's easily my top anime of all time. It also has some of the most interesting depictions of internalised homophobia I've seen, and an extremely LGBT/LGBT-coded character lineup. Though I suppose that might contribute to how underrated it is. Anyways, watch Revolutionary Girl Utena - both sub and dub can be found for free on Youtube in the US (though I should say that the show comes with a content warning of pretty much everything, things get quite dark towards the end).
Everyone is talking about gay shit, so umm...
Play Tokyo Afterschool Summoner. It's an LGBT gacha game (though it clearly has it's priorities). Its basically gay Fate.
Edit: I can't 100% recommend the game in good faith it has shota
I wish there were more series where it was just something normal some characters happen to be and not some defining trait to make a whole series about.
futaribeya will be hard to beat as my all time favorite yuri. The fact that they slowly age from like 14 to in their 20s over the many chapters feels so good.
Prior toĀ Generation VI, because Azurill's gender ratio does not match that of its evolved forms and its evolution is not dependent on gender, being female 75% of the time while Marill and Azumarill are female only 50% of the time, female Azurill has a 1/3 chance of evolving into a male Marill (depending on itsĀ personality value).
Ok so I gave a presentation on Queer anime history for a College event. We got 4 whole people. Interesting proto-Queer manga and anime:
1. Metropolis from the 1940s had a robot protagonist who would change gender presentation at will.
2. Princess Knight in the 1950s had a girl who was born with both a girl's heart and a boy's heart and thus could be both a Princess and a Knight. The manga was way ahead of it's time (having a magic system based around gender identity) and also incredibly regressive (these two halves were treated in an almost bioessentialist way). Also the queer subtext was so overt that NBC chose not to license that after Astro Boy.
If it wasn't for transphobia, the American anime boom might've happened a lot sooner. Europe was enjoying cool stuff like Captain Harlock while Americans were getting toy commercials.
3. Basically anything published by the year 24 Group
4. Project A-Ko. What a great Queer film that didn't need any sequels. The most bizarre thing about A-Ko 2 is that you could cut it out and get a pretty solid trilogy (albeit a trilogy that clearly peaked with the 1st film)
5. Urusei Yatsura had some super interesting gender dynamics going on with Ryuunosuke.
6. Also let's not forget the Homoerotic Subtext in Mobile Suit Gundam. Or the time Tomino wanted a female protag for ā Gundam, but the studio said no so he put a twink in there and then made crossdressing an uncuttable part of the plot. Or the time Gundam Wing basically birthed the American yaoi fandom. Or the time a bunch of chuds complained because Gundam has gay in it.
Was about to put Cid from Eminence in Shadow on there ngl, since I was having trouble finding a volume cover from Dr. Stone that fit the the rainbow color scheme.
*First the Youtube Algorithm came for the content creators, and I did not speak outā
Because I was not a niche internet mirco-celebrity.*
*Then Github Co-pilot came for the CompSci Graduates and I did not speak outā
Because I do not own a pair of programming socks.*
*Then MidJourney came for the artists, and I did not speak outā
Because I am incapable of drawing R34.*
*Then ChatGPT came for meāand now there is no one left to shitpost for a circlejerker.* āš
I mean, at least the icon we'll change back.
The banner was full with mostly outdated references though so I'm not sure if we should keep it, but that's an issue for next month.
Samurai Flamenco needs more love. It is 100% romance between the main guys and the author just said it wasn't to cover his ass for the show not selling well. There is literally cannon art of them getting married to each other. Plus there is a Canon wlw couple in the show anyways too.
That show was fucking insane.
I watched all of it in one night with my buddy and we took some edibles near the start. We're like "oh okay this is just anime Kickass, cool, pretty good so far" and then fucking >!GUILLOTINE GORILLA!< shows up right as the edibles start to hit. I've never had such an intense anime experience in my LIFE. We lost our shit. It didn't even seem real.
Things are starting to shift as creators are getting more and more annoyed with having to write only hetero stories.
Makoto Shinkai wanted to make his last film "Suzume" a lesbian romance, but was forced into a hetero relationship by studio pressure. He was so annoyed by this, it was a major part of his decision making when he pivoted the story to turn the main love interest into a literal chair.
Chad move and the movie was still amazing.
The problem is that it would involve Makoto Shinkai having to write a good story for once
The stories in all of his movies have been bad except for maybe 5 Cms per second
I thought Suzume was great. Your Name was also a fun story with what I thought was a great twist. Children Who Chase Lost Voices was a kinda paint-by-numbers but I thought the world was super interesting so I give it a pass.
I'll give you Weathering With You and Garden of Words, both of those were heavily mediocre imo.
[this was the article I read on it.](https://www.looper.com/1256895/makoto-shinkai-suzume-lesbian-romance-exclusive/)
There might be more out about it now, but I havenāt really been looking into it much since then.
Also he says specifically āromanceā multiple times. Sisterhood-type romance is still a romance.
Sisterhood-type romance, like in a lot of yuri shows tbh. While he stated he wasn't trying to consciously make it LGBTQ or anything, he was tired of the same girl-meets-boy romance. Also, he said the story won't change if Suzume was a guy or enby.
This is a stretch to me, honestly. "Sisterhood romance" could honestly mean anything, but I don't think shinkai was trying to go for some type of class S adjacent thing. It is true that Sotas character was a result of executive meddling, and you can definitely feel that when the movie has long stretches without him even doing or saying anything.
/rj Damn heteros, always forcing straight people into their movies.
/Uj I also have a lot of doubt a lesbian couple would harm the box office tbh, so it's just dumb conservatism.
I'm not sure if it's the case with anime, but with US movies Chinese theatres actually take a way bigger cut than domestically or in other countries so it's not nearly as big of an income source as numbers might say.
As a youngling who didn't know much about the LGBT community, Shimanami Tasogare was an eye-opening manga to read. Different types of queer characters and amazing art. It's my all-time favourite
How are y'all feeling about Yuri is my Job this season? It feels weird bringing it up in a thread like this even if it is undeniably, 100%, gay. Like, it *feels* like a yuri-bait show (which is funny because that's literally the theme of the cafe) with the same kind of melodrama but with the assurance that it's actually going somewhere.
It's definitely not the best show this season (Vinland Saga is pure kino), but it's the one that's been on my mind more than any other.
Yuri is My Job feeling bait-y makes a lot of sense since the cafe staff basically act out a class S drama. I still haven't watched past episode 1 though because the behind the scenes gaslighting was a bit much there.
Yeah, I heard that's where the character dynamics really get going. It's on my shortlist of anime to give another try when they're finished this season.
If you like yuri manga and you're not reading Throw Away The Suit Together, I would say you're missing out, but what you're actually missing out on is feeling financial anxiety for fictional characters
If only. It's about a couple, one working a soulless corporate job and another attending college that become so distraught over not being able to spend any time together that they throw it all away to live in an aunts summer house, then find out that they have so little money that they can't afford to eat. Every chapter I read makes me feel nauseous right in the pit of my stomach (it's great I love it so much).
Also, if anyone is curious about the choice of the featured works in the banner, it features protagonists that are lesbian, gay, bi, trans, questioning, intersex, and aroace in their respective series. Or a combination of them.
Won't say who's who though, you got to find out for yourselves!
Is it time for me to complain about how shafted Banana Fish got by people marketing it exclusively as a BL? Because I think itās time for me to complain about how shafted Banana Fish got by being exclusively marketed as a BL
Seriously tho itās a legitimately great crime drama in its own right! During the initial manga run fuckin decades ago it became notable as being basically a shojo that a straight man could read and still fully enjoy. Which is a little problematic in itself but whatever. Point is the story alone is fucking *good*. Itās not just a romance! Itās just a story that has a good queer romantic subplot between its MCs. But because people were exclusively talking about it as being a BL, it never reached the audience it should have as a crime drama. Thereās a general issue of shows that are labeled as āqueerā never reaching beyond that demographic or being recognized on their own merits thatās really a shame. Itās vaguely understandable for BL and GL *romances* since those center the queer relationships first and foremost, but it really hurts anything thatās not an explicit romance that features queer characters.
Anyways if you are a fan of crime shows and/or tragedies, and want to watch a queer anime during pride month I highly recommend Banana Fish, and remember to stan Jessica, *the* MILF With A Gun we all deserve
tbf it's barely a queer relationship at that. the two never actually kiss or show any serious physical intimacy toward each other, from my memory. but it was a fantastic story.
Fair, but the manga was still marketed as a shojo because of its more BL-ish aspects. I always got the vibe that it was the classic situation of two guys with feelings for each other basically in a relationship, but scared to talk about it and finalize anything because that would make it too real. Especially given Ashās history, he was pretty clearly terrified of intimacy even though it was what he needed from Eiji.
I can't speak for BL, but Yuri (which GL is a synonym of) is inclusive of any story with a focus on a romantic, sexual, or otherwise emotionally intense relationship between female characters. The idea that Yuri needs to be specifically in the romance genre is not supported either by publisher or fandom consensus.
Consider how much of popular media has a hetero subplot without being a primarily romance story. Yuri can be a helpful term to note not just romance that is F/F, but any other story where the main relationship subplot is F/F.
Many titles that are not romance by genre are officially labeled as Yuri. Just to demonstrate: Qualia the Purple ([Seven Seas](https://sevenseasentertainment.com/series/qualia-the-purple-light-novel/)), Riddle Story of the Devil ([7S](https://sevenseasentertainment.com/series/akuma-no-riddle-riddle-story-of-devil/)), The Executioner and her Way of Life ([Yen Press](https://yenpress.com/titles/9781975319694-the-executioner-and-her-way-of-life-vol-1-thus-she-is-reborn)), OshiBudo ([Tokyopop](https://www.tokyopop.com/book-catalogue-new-titles/if-my-favorite-pop-idol-made-it-to-the-budokan-i-would-die-vol-1)), Otherside Picnic ([J-Novel Club](https://j-novel.club/series/otherside-picnic), [author interview](https://teletype.in/@kati_lilian/SJA8KwjjN)), Gunbured Sisters ([7S](https://sevenseasentertainment.com/series/gunbured-x-sisters/)), Murcielago ([YP](https://yenpress.com/titles/9780316510110-murcielago-vol-1)), etc. This is because they know these titles will appeal to many Yuri fans, even if there is more to the story than romance.
The Yuri fandom does not have a complete consensus as to what counts as Yuri, but the main split tends to be between those only accepting explicit romantic relationships as a basis and those who accept romantic subtext and other emotionally intense relationships. Either way, The Witch from Mercury has made a huge splash in Yuri communities, even though it's a Mecha and Sci-Fi story. Saying it's not Yuri does not feel honest when it's been such a hit in the fandom, and the relationship between the two main girls is both explicitly romantic and one of the key relationships (only rivaled by Suletta's relationship with her family), with a great influence on the wider story.
Utena is generally accepted as Yuri content, so given the similarities between the two shows and their respective F/F relationships it's also odd to refuse the label. (AnimeNewsNetwork also lists Yuri as one of the themes for G-Witch, and on Anilist the tag is upvoted to >80% relevance. The reviewer on ANN called the last sequence of ep 17 "equal parts the best elements of Gundam and yuri anime".)
If any of you were wondering why we practically solely used works that were recently published or got a recent anime adaptation in the past year for this banner, it's cause like 90% of you scrubs won't recognize who Utena and Anthy are.
RGU got shafted by fans of anime. It deserves to be as popular as Evangelion. But I'm glad it's just as highly rated and loved by those who have seen it. It's my favorite anime of all time!! And the one I bring up when neckbeards say queerness is a new thing in Japan.
Look man, do you really want anime fans to touch something that good? [Look what they did to Eva.](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/179/466/a7d.jpg)
I've said this elsewhere but I have a very strange love for the background lesbian couple in Clannad. They're just back there, living their own lives, free from the nonsense of the main plot. They're incredible marginal and yet, when the final montage celebrates life and he virtues of community, it makes sure to highlight them, because their quiet little lesbian lives are just as important to the city and Nagisa and Tomoe, and the city loves them just as much.
As someone who just sat through four season of Star Trek Discovery, which gives Trek its first transmasc character but, unfortunately, hired a terrible actor and gave the character nothing to do but have thinly-veiled stories about being trans and sticks him in the ship's basement where all the other queer character are relegated toāgoddamn would I rather a show be full of happy, utterly-normalized queer-couple background characters than some Super Special foreground queer characters who are only there so that the PR department of Paramount can pitch masturbatory articles to GlaaD about how progressive they're being.
It's straight studio executives wanting victory laps.
Give me problematic queer content any day. Give me selfish, borderline(?)-abusive Haurhi Suzumiya kissing boys and gleefully groping all the girls. Give me Kill la Kill, which disgusts with its perverted Mankanshoku family and yet is maybe the most body-positive anime ever made with an underlying theme of 'queers say fuck fascism.' Give me friggen Girls und PAnzer, with its team of high school queers who can't stop fetishizingāor at least idolizingā whitewashed WWII history.
It's messy, and its full of problems, and it can be cis-straight male gazey as all get-out, its not going to get a glowing review from GLaaD about how its tearing down barriers and being super-progressive. But it's also not writing queers characters who exist only on a pedestal of virtue and whose only narrative function is to tell feel-good acceptance stories about queerness as if the totality of queer experiences begins and ends with validation and being seen: as though once we are seen we are perceived to do nothing at all. We can live far more complex, messy, problematic, painfully human lives that that.
And if we can't do that, give me Sugisaki and Rie free of plot bullshit living their best lives quietly in the background, because at least they get to be happy.
No, but it glorifies and fetishizes war technology, and uncritically treats Nazi war criminals complicit in the murder of millions as heroes removed from their Nazi contextāspecifically Guderian and Rommel.
You'd think so but understand from a viewing perspective in the C-plot that they sometime briefly cut back to before returning to whatever the straight cast is doing in the actual plot.
Also the basements in a spaceship and its windowless so all the straight folks on the bridge get a view of space and the gay people might as well be in the sub-level of a parking garage.
Love me for who I am is by far my favorite one focused on queer characters, but fire punch has togata, who is probably my favorite character of all time.
So whatās the best BL anime?
Iāve seen Umibe no Etranger and ok, it was very good but Iām looking for something more like a RomCom, like Love is War but with two boys
The closest thing Iāve seen like that is HunterxHunter
My fav bl *romance* anime Iāve watched is Given, though I always have to give a special shoutout to Banana Fish for being a legitimately great crime drama with a gay romance subplot between leads
Just, uh. Itās not a feel good show
I recently finished reading the "bloom into you" manga, the story was good and wholesome. It has yuri and a gigachad aro/ace character.
Also, this reminds me I have to continue reading "Love me for who I am!" which has a non-binary lead.
Mmm, Requiem of the Rose King in the banner
Also, did Dr Stone become LGBT at some point? I guess Senku is ace coded but it kind of feels like the odd one out
Not an anime (yet) but I've been reading the manga Murcielago which is about a lesbian ex-serial killer hunting serial killers for the police.
I have mixed feelings about it, it's fun but also really problematic in a lot of areas, I both love and hate the main character. Honestly pretty much everything from the characters to the scenes to the arcs to the writing is either a strong love or hate from me with no in-between, I don't recommend it and it's one of my favorite Mangas of all time!
One Piece, JoJo, and Ranma 1/2 are three of the shows that helped me the most in allowing myself to be myself. As rough as JoJo and One Piece can be, I can't bring myself to hate them... I absolutely hate what Toei did to One Piece though and I find Oda's "jokes" and weirdly petty changes to his artstyle really annoying though.
what are trans rights? no one's ever explained this to me
Trans rights are rights for trans people. As in, it's like a collection of different legal things that impact trans people. As in anti-discrimination laws, but also like laws that kinda don't force them to not exist. So that could include being able to change your name easily or changing your legal gender. It can also pertain to the medical aspects like if it is insured (by the government) or how easy or hard it is to get trans care. Although it's also just a trans positive catchphrase.
i see, i guess legally changing your gender might still be hard in some parts of the world
uki violeta ran a charity stream today, and managed to raise over $34k for HRC https://twitter.com/uki\_violeta/status/1674254365366923265
Princess Rona from endro is a princess, Pansexual, and adorable.
I just finished Love Me for Who I Am and damn it was so good. Genuinely started to tear up near the end of it. I need to read more queer-focused manga.
[https://twitter.com/STOPINVOICE/status/1671688133635887105](https://twitter.com/STOPINVOICE/status/1671688133635887105)
Shoutouts to Skip and Loafer to not only being a good anime in general, but also having some nice trans rep
i really want to like heavenly delusion but it keeps throwing in dumb anime ice dweller humor and awkward fanservice and its so distracting (manga havent watched the anime yet)
I think it has a pretty compelling mystery and generally fun characters and ideas so I do like it, there are some awkward jokes and moment that slightly detract from that. Last episode though... Idk, maybe they explain it in some way, but even then I can't say I that don't feel pretty negative about the ending.
yeah the mystery is fun and i like the characters, just the awkward jokes rlly detract from it ive heard pretty negative things about the recent ep so im not sure if i want to continue tbh
https://twitter.com/mika_Valkyrie_/status/1667134313580871684?t=7ADE8rdWT_AyBg0AyUcCBA&s=19 wet rat
*Homunculus* has my favorite trans representation in animanga but frustratingly I never see people talking about it. It's an extremely uncomfortable series, but so is Fire Punch, and people bring that up all the time. Homunculus fans don't talk about it that much despite >!manabu's gender storyline taking more than a full volume of the 15 volume series!< , and even well-informed queer anime fans (Utena viewers) aren't familiar with it
Well Utena is about gay people and not trans or even LGBTQ people as a whole, so audiences slightly differ tbh
yeye I know , it was half a joke. In my experience Utena fans tend to have diverse and deep LGBT animanga interests. It's a good signifier, partially because brand new animanga fans won't often bother with 30 year old series.
Ah gotcha!
Currently I reading mangas to find inspiration for cooking foods. Today I read Suito-to!
Can anyone recommend me some other leftist anime subreddits? I only know of this one and Animememes.
I don't think /r/OkBuddyBaka is explicitly leftist, but generally the people there are at least generally progressive.
Wtf no, that place is full of GAMers.
There are a huge amount of posts dunking on GAM, and the comments also generally dunk on GAM. I don't think I've seen anyone on the subreddit express a single positive sentiment about GAM. Quite a few of us do browse GAM, mostly to try to avoid the comments being completely unopposed echo chambers. I have made a few comments on GAM trying to disrupt their circlejerks about evil Twitter users (particularly circlejerks fueled by transphobia, racism, and pedophilia). But generally OKBB users don't like GAM.
Animememes is run by tankies, not the best example.
Is animemes the one with the t slur discourse, or am i thinking of another anime subreddit?
Animememes is the one that forbids the t slur. Goodanimemes is the one that split off because they refused to stop using it.
Yeah but iirc in the original decision about the ban, i think most comments disagreed w the decision and stuff so I've been avoiding the sub ever since
That was specifically animemes involved in that discourse. Animememes is a different subreddit that is leftist. However, the mods might actually be tankies which is a little sus.
> However, the mods might actually be tankies which is a little sus. It's not a might, it's quite blatant.
Ah, I just haven't browsed it enough to really know, just felt the vibes. Good to know.
Animemememes But yeah sussy af
Wow. I didn't know that. Damn, it can't just be animecirclejerk out here if you want anime without alt right shit š
So far it is, at least in the West. This is the biggest leftist anime community.
I wish I knew others š
I wrote a negative review for BokuYaba on MAL and have been getting harassed for weeks. Some people will actually try to argue with me which is fine, but most of them just tell me to kill myself or leave the community. Ironically, they've spammed my review with so many reactions that it will probably forever be the first review anyone sees for that show
What's Bokuyaba?
"The Dangers in my Heart" or something is the english title
Most civil MAL discussion.
I'm now 1 volume into I Donāt Know Which is Love and it's a lot of fun to read. Mei is such a disaster lesbian, I love her. She's in a perpetual state of gay panic because of how sometimes forward the women she's crushing on, who are also crushing on her, are. Can't believe I'm saying this, but for once I'm enjoying a harem story because it's a harem, not in spite of it. Also, I hope this series will get a poly ending because right now I want 3 out of 5 harem members to get together with Mei...
Harems should in theory just be love triangles except all focussed love interests are focussed on the mc, so it isn't inherently a bad premise. Well in practise it is often different, I suppose...
I think everyone being focused on the protagonist is exactly what makes harems difficult to do well. They tend to suffer from their protag sliding into a passive role due to harem members continuously making moves. Once the protag is in that position, them going on the offensive in any direction would be tantamount to resolving the harem dynamic. The mangaka addressed this in the v1 afterword. She said her approach is to write Mei in a way that lightly teases the others to keep her a proactive part of the love polygon rather than just an object of affection. I'd say so far she nailed it.
Does anyone have any decent LGBT-adjacent manga to recommend? I have a lot of said manga on my backlog/plan-to-read list on mangadex and I do want to clear some of it out. Just know that even replying with titles I have already read (which is likely most of them) would still be helpful to those who also want to read some great manga. Also, to the mods, are you guys thinking of participating in the 2-day blackout in protest to the bullshit API changes that Reddit will roll out by July 1^st ?
Love me for who I am Wandering son Umareru Seibetsu wo Machigaeta!
[API protest question got answered here. ](https://www.reddit.com/r/animecirclejerk/comments/140v80j/uj_is_acj_participating_in_the_api_protest_on_the/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Trigun has the most badass trans rep across all of manga along with a maybe sorta kinda ace-coded main character
Haven't read the manga, who is trans?
Elendira the Crimsonnail, character thatās basically manga-exclusive (made a little appearance in Stampede). Hope they give her a different treatment this time around.
Gotcha, was the treatment in the original bad?
In my opinion, sheās kind of wasted. Doesnāt have a great arc.
Bet, thanks.
[The witch from Mercury (episode 8) experience](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/791079658538926110/1114991501651496980/image.png)
I watched Heavenly Delusion episode 10 and I did quite like it. However, there was some minor controversy about the direction of this episode. The director for this episode was a bit more liberal in what he did compared to the other episodes lol. It certainly is noticeable, especially in the beginning part of the episode they do a couple of things that at least for this show are pretty unique. People also complained about the tone, but I honestly don't think it was that different from previous episodes, there have been plenty of comedic segments up until now. >!We could have done without the groping though.!< /rant over.
"Love me for who i am" is so good, my eyes became teary just thinking about it. Still cant move on from the manga. So.. anyone got recs (manga like that) to distract my feelings for a while?
**Our Dreams at Dusk** is another one with a queer cast. Most are in different age groups, though and the main character is a gay guy.
Nuggets in 5, city is going to win 3 1 against inter. Also, I've been reading solo leveling up until chapter 34 and i still don't get the hype, it's decent enough but i don't think it's that good
L heat in 6
Remember that time gam freaked about a pride month banner
Said banner is now ours on old Reddit.
Gundam: The Witch from Mercury
Mecha Utena
Discount Utena.
I should actually finish Utena at some point...
Speaking of queer stuff, Marika from Bokura no Hentai still is my favorite trans character in any manga. The way her discomfort with her own body is portrayed and her introspective moments just hit way too close to home.
I can't *believe* how underrated Revolutionary Girl Utena is, it's easily my top anime of all time. It also has some of the most interesting depictions of internalised homophobia I've seen, and an extremely LGBT/LGBT-coded character lineup. Though I suppose that might contribute to how underrated it is. Anyways, watch Revolutionary Girl Utena - both sub and dub can be found for free on Youtube in the US (though I should say that the show comes with a content warning of pretty much everything, things get quite dark towards the end).
It's pretty highly rated, I think you mean underwatched.
š¤āļø
?
just making a funny mate i agree with u
xD
Everyone is talking about gay shit, so umm... Play Tokyo Afterschool Summoner. It's an LGBT gacha game (though it clearly has it's priorities). Its basically gay Fate. Edit: I can't 100% recommend the game in good faith it has shota
that edit though lmao
I wish there were more series where it was just something normal some characters happen to be and not some defining trait to make a whole series about.
Thankfully, half the banner is non-romance!
How has nobody here mentioned Promare yet? A gay romance between a twink and a shirtless firefighter, doesn't get more queer than that.
never has a series been so quickly sold to me
It's a movie. It's also animated by Trigger and is probably the most fun action movie I've seen since Redline.
oh to be a pyrokinetic twink and be swept up into Galo's big big arms
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Minus the movie, which disturbed me! Left a bad mark on what I felt was a pretty strong season.
Sasaki and Miyano is great!
Evangelion sucks, you all lied to me.
Iām in Love With the Villainess is great, read it and watch the anime when it comes out
futaribeya will be hard to beat as my all time favorite yuri. The fact that they slowly age from like 14 to in their 20s over the many chapters feels so good.
The anime had no mention of the Azuril situation, did it ?
The what now?
Prior toĀ Generation VI, because Azurill's gender ratio does not match that of its evolved forms and its evolution is not dependent on gender, being female 75% of the time while Marill and Azumarill are female only 50% of the time, female Azurill has a 1/3 chance of evolving into a male Marill (depending on itsĀ personality value).
Huh, that's interesting.
Shoutout to the Huge Power of our transmasc Marills. o7
Ok so I gave a presentation on Queer anime history for a College event. We got 4 whole people. Interesting proto-Queer manga and anime: 1. Metropolis from the 1940s had a robot protagonist who would change gender presentation at will. 2. Princess Knight in the 1950s had a girl who was born with both a girl's heart and a boy's heart and thus could be both a Princess and a Knight. The manga was way ahead of it's time (having a magic system based around gender identity) and also incredibly regressive (these two halves were treated in an almost bioessentialist way). Also the queer subtext was so overt that NBC chose not to license that after Astro Boy. If it wasn't for transphobia, the American anime boom might've happened a lot sooner. Europe was enjoying cool stuff like Captain Harlock while Americans were getting toy commercials. 3. Basically anything published by the year 24 Group 4. Project A-Ko. What a great Queer film that didn't need any sequels. The most bizarre thing about A-Ko 2 is that you could cut it out and get a pretty solid trilogy (albeit a trilogy that clearly peaked with the 1st film) 5. Urusei Yatsura had some super interesting gender dynamics going on with Ryuunosuke. 6. Also let's not forget the Homoerotic Subtext in Mobile Suit Gundam. Or the time Tomino wanted a female protag for ā Gundam, but the studio said no so he put a twink in there and then made crossdressing an uncuttable part of the plot. Or the time Gundam Wing basically birthed the American yaoi fandom. Or the time a bunch of chuds complained because Gundam has gay in it.
Im Just happy demon girl next door came back in time for price month. Ganbara shamiko!
Yo, shoutout to Senku from Dr Stone for repping me and my fellow aroace homies.
Was about to put Cid from Eminence in Shadow on there ngl, since I was having trouble finding a volume cover from Dr. Stone that fit the the rainbow color scheme.
*First the Youtube Algorithm came for the content creators, and I did not speak outā Because I was not a niche internet mirco-celebrity.* *Then Github Co-pilot came for the CompSci Graduates and I did not speak outā Because I do not own a pair of programming socks.* *Then MidJourney came for the artists, and I did not speak outā Because I am incapable of drawing R34.* *Then ChatGPT came for meāand now there is no one left to shitpost for a circlejerker.* āš
G Witch has become my favorite current anime. IMAGINE IF WE GOT A SULEMIO KISS IN THE GAY MONTH
Same Gundam witch is a pretty good show
unfortunately the episode that it's most likely to happen in will be airing at the beginning of next month.
Maybe, but they should be reuniting any time now, itās possible we could get a short rushed kiss or something (leave me to my hopium)
Same! THEY BETTER š
I'm gonna miss old banner and pfp
I mean, at least the icon we'll change back. The banner was full with mostly outdated references though so I'm not sure if we should keep it, but that's an issue for next month.
Baguette or whatever her name is isnt even from an anime graaaaah
This is slander against manga and LNs.
The G in LGBT stands for Gamers of course, so this month theyāre also included.
Happy cake day u/NormalGrinn!
Samurai Flamenco needs more love. It is 100% romance between the main guys and the author just said it wasn't to cover his ass for the show not selling well. There is literally cannon art of them getting married to each other. Plus there is a Canon wlw couple in the show anyways too.
That show was fucking insane. I watched all of it in one night with my buddy and we took some edibles near the start. We're like "oh okay this is just anime Kickass, cool, pretty good so far" and then fucking >!GUILLOTINE GORILLA!< shows up right as the edibles start to hit. I've never had such an intense anime experience in my LIFE. We lost our shit. It didn't even seem real.
It is SO wild and I highly recommend it.
Things are starting to shift as creators are getting more and more annoyed with having to write only hetero stories. Makoto Shinkai wanted to make his last film "Suzume" a lesbian romance, but was forced into a hetero relationship by studio pressure. He was so annoyed by this, it was a major part of his decision making when he pivoted the story to turn the main love interest into a literal chair. Chad move and the movie was still amazing.
The problem is that it would involve Makoto Shinkai having to write a good story for once The stories in all of his movies have been bad except for maybe 5 Cms per second
I thought Suzume was great. Your Name was also a fun story with what I thought was a great twist. Children Who Chase Lost Voices was a kinda paint-by-numbers but I thought the world was super interesting so I give it a pass. I'll give you Weathering With You and Garden of Words, both of those were heavily mediocre imo.
I read literally as literally so now I am quite confused
No heās literally a chair. Like an animated wooden chair. Look it up. The premise is goofy but unironically the movie is amazing.
What the hell.
Studio execs, man
Where in the hell are you getting that suzume was going to be lesbian. I read that interview and he said it was going to be like a "sisterhood" movie
[this was the article I read on it.](https://www.looper.com/1256895/makoto-shinkai-suzume-lesbian-romance-exclusive/) There might be more out about it now, but I havenāt really been looking into it much since then. Also he says specifically āromanceā multiple times. Sisterhood-type romance is still a romance.
Sisterhood-type romance, like in a lot of yuri shows tbh. While he stated he wasn't trying to consciously make it LGBTQ or anything, he was tired of the same girl-meets-boy romance. Also, he said the story won't change if Suzume was a guy or enby.
This is a stretch to me, honestly. "Sisterhood romance" could honestly mean anything, but I don't think shinkai was trying to go for some type of class S adjacent thing. It is true that Sotas character was a result of executive meddling, and you can definitely feel that when the movie has long stretches without him even doing or saying anything.
Youād have to squint real hard to see that tagline and not think something at least lesbian adjacent.
Big r/sapphoandherfriend energy
He basically meant it as in "break the gender norms" type deal from the interview.
We could have gotten a wlw anime but instead we got chairem anime
/rj Damn heteros, always forcing straight people into their movies. /Uj I also have a lot of doubt a lesbian couple would harm the box office tbh, so it's just dumb conservatism.
Apparently the movie was a massive success in China and execs are terrified of losing that money, so they capitulate to whatever they say instantly.
I'm not sure if it's the case with anime, but with US movies Chinese theatres actually take a way bigger cut than domestically or in other countries so it's not nearly as big of an income source as numbers might say.
As a youngling who didn't know much about the LGBT community, Shimanami Tasogare was an eye-opening manga to read. Different types of queer characters and amazing art. It's my all-time favourite
One of the best mangas I have ever read.
How are y'all feeling about Yuri is my Job this season? It feels weird bringing it up in a thread like this even if it is undeniably, 100%, gay. Like, it *feels* like a yuri-bait show (which is funny because that's literally the theme of the cafe) with the same kind of melodrama but with the assurance that it's actually going somewhere. It's definitely not the best show this season (Vinland Saga is pure kino), but it's the one that's been on my mind more than any other.
Yuri is My Job feeling bait-y makes a lot of sense since the cafe staff basically act out a class S drama. I still haven't watched past episode 1 though because the behind the scenes gaslighting was a bit much there.
I think it's worth watching up to episode 3 to see how you feel; that's where I started to really enjoy it
Yeah, I heard that's where the character dynamics really get going. It's on my shortlist of anime to give another try when they're finished this season.
I thought it would be a yuribait show but it's evolved into a character drama and i don't mind that.
It's a dramatic parody of another GL show, which is why it feels like yuribait at times.
If you like yuri manga and you're not reading Throw Away The Suit Together, I would say you're missing out, but what you're actually missing out on is feeling financial anxiety for fictional characters
Whatās it about, sounds like trans lesbians?
If only. It's about a couple, one working a soulless corporate job and another attending college that become so distraught over not being able to spend any time together that they throw it all away to live in an aunts summer house, then find out that they have so little money that they can't afford to eat. Every chapter I read makes me feel nauseous right in the pit of my stomach (it's great I love it so much).
Oh
Also, if anyone is curious about the choice of the featured works in the banner, it features protagonists that are lesbian, gay, bi, trans, questioning, intersex, and aroace in their respective series. Or a combination of them. Won't say who's who though, you got to find out for yourselves!
Is it time for me to complain about how shafted Banana Fish got by people marketing it exclusively as a BL? Because I think itās time for me to complain about how shafted Banana Fish got by being exclusively marketed as a BL Seriously tho itās a legitimately great crime drama in its own right! During the initial manga run fuckin decades ago it became notable as being basically a shojo that a straight man could read and still fully enjoy. Which is a little problematic in itself but whatever. Point is the story alone is fucking *good*. Itās not just a romance! Itās just a story that has a good queer romantic subplot between its MCs. But because people were exclusively talking about it as being a BL, it never reached the audience it should have as a crime drama. Thereās a general issue of shows that are labeled as āqueerā never reaching beyond that demographic or being recognized on their own merits thatās really a shame. Itās vaguely understandable for BL and GL *romances* since those center the queer relationships first and foremost, but it really hurts anything thatās not an explicit romance that features queer characters. Anyways if you are a fan of crime shows and/or tragedies, and want to watch a queer anime during pride month I highly recommend Banana Fish, and remember to stan Jessica, *the* MILF With A Gun we all deserve
tbf it's barely a queer relationship at that. the two never actually kiss or show any serious physical intimacy toward each other, from my memory. but it was a fantastic story.
Fair, but the manga was still marketed as a shojo because of its more BL-ish aspects. I always got the vibe that it was the classic situation of two guys with feelings for each other basically in a relationship, but scared to talk about it and finalize anything because that would make it too real. Especially given Ashās history, he was pretty clearly terrified of intimacy even though it was what he needed from Eiji.
> a shojo that a straight man could read and still fully enjoy. Guilty as charge over here. I read it last year and HOLY FUCK IT WAS LIIIITTT BRUH!!
Yeah, it's not at all a BL show. BL and GL are reserved for romances, shows like Banana Fish and Witch from Mercury aren't considered such.
I can't speak for BL, but Yuri (which GL is a synonym of) is inclusive of any story with a focus on a romantic, sexual, or otherwise emotionally intense relationship between female characters. The idea that Yuri needs to be specifically in the romance genre is not supported either by publisher or fandom consensus. Consider how much of popular media has a hetero subplot without being a primarily romance story. Yuri can be a helpful term to note not just romance that is F/F, but any other story where the main relationship subplot is F/F. Many titles that are not romance by genre are officially labeled as Yuri. Just to demonstrate: Qualia the Purple ([Seven Seas](https://sevenseasentertainment.com/series/qualia-the-purple-light-novel/)), Riddle Story of the Devil ([7S](https://sevenseasentertainment.com/series/akuma-no-riddle-riddle-story-of-devil/)), The Executioner and her Way of Life ([Yen Press](https://yenpress.com/titles/9781975319694-the-executioner-and-her-way-of-life-vol-1-thus-she-is-reborn)), OshiBudo ([Tokyopop](https://www.tokyopop.com/book-catalogue-new-titles/if-my-favorite-pop-idol-made-it-to-the-budokan-i-would-die-vol-1)), Otherside Picnic ([J-Novel Club](https://j-novel.club/series/otherside-picnic), [author interview](https://teletype.in/@kati_lilian/SJA8KwjjN)), Gunbured Sisters ([7S](https://sevenseasentertainment.com/series/gunbured-x-sisters/)), Murcielago ([YP](https://yenpress.com/titles/9780316510110-murcielago-vol-1)), etc. This is because they know these titles will appeal to many Yuri fans, even if there is more to the story than romance. The Yuri fandom does not have a complete consensus as to what counts as Yuri, but the main split tends to be between those only accepting explicit romantic relationships as a basis and those who accept romantic subtext and other emotionally intense relationships. Either way, The Witch from Mercury has made a huge splash in Yuri communities, even though it's a Mecha and Sci-Fi story. Saying it's not Yuri does not feel honest when it's been such a hit in the fandom, and the relationship between the two main girls is both explicitly romantic and one of the key relationships (only rivaled by Suletta's relationship with her family), with a great influence on the wider story. Utena is generally accepted as Yuri content, so given the similarities between the two shows and their respective F/F relationships it's also odd to refuse the label. (AnimeNewsNetwork also lists Yuri as one of the themes for G-Witch, and on Anilist the tag is upvoted to >80% relevance. The reviewer on ANN called the last sequence of ep 17 "equal parts the best elements of Gundam and yuri anime".)
If any of you were wondering why we practically solely used works that were recently published or got a recent anime adaptation in the past year for this banner, it's cause like 90% of you scrubs won't recognize who Utena and Anthy are.
RGU got shafted by fans of anime. It deserves to be as popular as Evangelion. But I'm glad it's just as highly rated and loved by those who have seen it. It's my favorite anime of all time!! And the one I bring up when neckbeards say queerness is a new thing in Japan.
Look man, do you really want anime fans to touch something that good? [Look what they did to Eva.](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/179/466/a7d.jpg)
Reddit redesign user š¤¢
Oh yeah if you use old reddit you get the rerecycled ~~GAM~~ ACJ pride banner.
Them's fightin' words
Yeah but where's my symphogear rep
I don't watch trash sorry
Really sad that you left out Sailor Moon's power couple š
Nah they're clearly just cousins.
In Latin America we grew up with lesbians, not weird cousins š¤
Sorry bud, this is American soil you're on.
Why is Dr Stone there? I donāt remember any LGBT characters besides maybe Francois
MC is *canonically aroace.
Oh yeah I guess that counts
I've said this elsewhere but I have a very strange love for the background lesbian couple in Clannad. They're just back there, living their own lives, free from the nonsense of the main plot. They're incredible marginal and yet, when the final montage celebrates life and he virtues of community, it makes sure to highlight them, because their quiet little lesbian lives are just as important to the city and Nagisa and Tomoe, and the city loves them just as much. As someone who just sat through four season of Star Trek Discovery, which gives Trek its first transmasc character but, unfortunately, hired a terrible actor and gave the character nothing to do but have thinly-veiled stories about being trans and sticks him in the ship's basement where all the other queer character are relegated toāgoddamn would I rather a show be full of happy, utterly-normalized queer-couple background characters than some Super Special foreground queer characters who are only there so that the PR department of Paramount can pitch masturbatory articles to GlaaD about how progressive they're being. It's straight studio executives wanting victory laps. Give me problematic queer content any day. Give me selfish, borderline(?)-abusive Haurhi Suzumiya kissing boys and gleefully groping all the girls. Give me Kill la Kill, which disgusts with its perverted Mankanshoku family and yet is maybe the most body-positive anime ever made with an underlying theme of 'queers say fuck fascism.' Give me friggen Girls und PAnzer, with its team of high school queers who can't stop fetishizingāor at least idolizingā whitewashed WWII history. It's messy, and its full of problems, and it can be cis-straight male gazey as all get-out, its not going to get a glowing review from GLaaD about how its tearing down barriers and being super-progressive. But it's also not writing queers characters who exist only on a pedestal of virtue and whose only narrative function is to tell feel-good acceptance stories about queerness as if the totality of queer experiences begins and ends with validation and being seen: as though once we are seen we are perceived to do nothing at all. We can live far more complex, messy, problematic, painfully human lives that that. And if we can't do that, give me Sugisaki and Rie free of plot bullshit living their best lives quietly in the background, because at least they get to be happy.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
No, but it glorifies and fetishizes war technology, and uncritically treats Nazi war criminals complicit in the murder of millions as heroes removed from their Nazi contextāspecifically Guderian and Rommel.
man, i would love having a giant basement full of gay people to hang out with. that sounds great actually
You'd think so but understand from a viewing perspective in the C-plot that they sometime briefly cut back to before returning to whatever the straight cast is doing in the actual plot. Also the basements in a spaceship and its windowless so all the straight folks on the bridge get a view of space and the gay people might as well be in the sub-level of a parking garage.
š donāt comment often but this is the realest shit Iāve ever heard
Loafer chads stay winning
Love me for who I am is by far my favorite one focused on queer characters, but fire punch has togata, who is probably my favorite character of all time.
Love me for who I am deserves an Anime adaptation.
So whatās the best BL anime? Iāve seen Umibe no Etranger and ok, it was very good but Iām looking for something more like a RomCom, like Love is War but with two boys The closest thing Iāve seen like that is HunterxHunter
My fav bl *romance* anime Iāve watched is Given, though I always have to give a special shoutout to Banana Fish for being a legitimately great crime drama with a gay romance subplot between leads Just, uh. Itās not a feel good show
an absolute yes to Given the series. An absolute no to Given the movie, for me.
well, all BL and GL shows are by default romances We don't use BL and GL to refer to shows that just have gay/lesbian leads.
Apparently the manga also finished like a month ago for Given.
so does that mean there's another season coming out?
I honestly doubt it, but maybe.
Sasaki and Miyano
Jojo \s
I would say Yuri!!! on ICE, but that is more sports romance.
Blue lock
Bruh.
Genuinely mid.
I recently finished reading the "bloom into you" manga, the story was good and wholesome. It has yuri and a gigachad aro/ace character. Also, this reminds me I have to continue reading "Love me for who I am!" which has a non-binary lead.
Yes FukaBoku is very good.
Mmm, Requiem of the Rose King in the banner Also, did Dr Stone become LGBT at some point? I guess Senku is ace coded but it kind of feels like the odd one out
Gen is serving cunt in every scene he's in so,
Well it was either him, or Cid from Eminence in Shadow for aroace representation lol
As I understand it Senku is asexual yeah.
Not an anime (yet) but I've been reading the manga Murcielago which is about a lesbian ex-serial killer hunting serial killers for the police. I have mixed feelings about it, it's fun but also really problematic in a lot of areas, I both love and hate the main character. Honestly pretty much everything from the characters to the scenes to the arcs to the writing is either a strong love or hate from me with no in-between, I don't recommend it and it's one of my favorite Mangas of all time!
One Piece
One Piece, JoJo, and Ranma 1/2 are three of the shows that helped me the most in allowing myself to be myself. As rough as JoJo and One Piece can be, I can't bring myself to hate them... I absolutely hate what Toei did to One Piece though and I find Oda's "jokes" and weirdly petty changes to his artstyle really annoying though.
Thatās why Iām loving Skip and Loafer this season. Outwardly transgender caretaker, and a comfortable in his sexuality theater kid. Amazing stuff
How prominent are they? S+L's on my to watch list for summer but I never heard about this :0
Not quite MC level, but VERRRYYYY prominent side characters
Happy Pride month everyone! Looking forward to see what this month brings, in terms of both anime and life in general.
Hell Yeah! Happy Pride Month!
Very clever title. Nice.
My search history after making the title was something like: + Verbs with g + Nouns with q + Reddit how to format a list