embracing messy queer anime representation.
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- Опубліковано 22 сер 2024
- A vidi essay on embracing the messy, the problematic, in queer anime representation.
Series discussed: Loveless, Dear Brother (Oniisama e), and Turn A Gundam.
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/ pyramidinu
Music in AMV segments by Black Dresses.
I've always found media with messy/problematic queer characters fun to watch. Not necessarily because they perfectly reflect every queer experience but because it makes characters feel more like people, more real. Obviously there can be non-messy queer characters in media, but I feel like some writers are scared to have more of a balance. The fear of not having good queer rep, so they end up writing simple good queer characters, if they write them at all.
I've seen people saying media with a toxic queer relationship is promoting the idea that queer relationships are toxic, which is absurd.
Yeah queer people are just normal people who happen to also be queer. Once I imagined a psychopathic villain OC and he happened to be gay (and he had a lot of fucked up goals, but he always supported queer rights) but his queerness isn’t part of his villain nature. He also likes cats, liking cats isn’t part of his villain nature either so same goes for his queerness.
Honestly, people really should accept that art *will* be messy instead of wipe it all away as "problematic" (Is Loveless problematic? Absolutely! But it meant a lot to a lot of people for a reason!) or go the other direction and call it shallow, toothless fluff (the idea that "good rep" is boring). Things that are "good" will have elements that are bad. Things that are "bad" will have elements that are good.
Oh hey nice to see you commenting, I like your videos. :)
Evaluating whether or not something is good based on whether or not its "problematic" is probably my most hated criteria regarding media criticism.
It's just a lazy and dismissive way to say something was morally disturbing without actually engaging with that emotion and considering it in the larger context of the work, and it often overemphasizes incidental details that aren't actually plot or thematically relevant.
I enjoy the film "Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins" which contains Joel Grey, a Jewish actor, portraying the Korean mentor to the hero. There is no way I can excuse this decision, and I do find it embarrassing, yet I don't completely reject the film. If the character had been portrayed negatively or as a buffoon, that would have taken it over the line to the point I would not watch it. But the character is witty and charming and portrayed as superior to the main character, so I can still find enjoyment in it, while recognizing that an Asian actor should have been given the role and that this casting practice is something I never want to see happen again.
I think you make a good point, and this is a realization I’ve come to myself over the years. I’m straight, cis, male, white and upper middle class, and as such I don’t have first hand experience as a part of literally any marginalized group, so I try my best to listen to people who are affected by representation when it comes to forming my own opinions. That being said, I’m generally not a fan of the somewhat robotic way that art is analyzed and criticized, or more accurately, I don’t like the idea of “rules” necessarily. I think I would point to the “bury your gays” trope as one example. It’s a simple fact that not enough stories are centered on LGBT+ characters, and there is an abundant void of stories where they get happy endings. That being said, the knee jerk reaction people sometimes have to a story where gay characters die, or exhibit another historically problematic trope, seems like an over correction to me, and that’s because art is complicated. If there was a healthy amount of literature centered on queer characters, this trope wouldn’t be a problem becauee those queer characters would exist as their cis and straight counterparts do. Sometimes they would win and be happy, sometimes they would lose everything, and a lot of the time, it would be something in between. We don’t live in that world, but if we want to get there, I’m not sure how helpful it is to make rules restricting queer characters from dynamic storylines or complicated and tragic circumstance.
True but I think what story tellers should realize is to try not to make some of these bad things seem OK. Like yea tbh a lot of stories nowadays do seem like some psa instead of trying to give a story more substance. Along with how back then and a lot of the times now especially in anime they mainly end up giving the impression that the normal or average queer person mainly because there probs aren't that many or just one in the story to be a stereotype. Where they are seen as predators, pedophiles, and while it's OK to show queers being sexual it just shouldn't look like this strange alienating thing in the sense that it gives people the impression that queer people are bad and are just walking pornography as well cuz it seems worrying on how ppl really perceive and decide to show others that affect their view on them and their characters shouldn't just be about sex tbh while sexulity would be the main focus it shouldn't be all there is to them. I think there should be some middle ground between the two that don't glorify those really problematic traits I don't have a problem that it's shown cuz it could be used for the development of the character and the world and society the characters live in but it shouldn't be shown as something that's alr, fine and ok when it's not and that's the problematic stuff that I'm pretty sure people have a problem with and don't wanna see and if a story is just gonna be sexual and explicit then that's when it'd probs should be considered porn
Problematic, messy gay rep almost always speaks to me more than sterilized, "appropriate" representation because queer life is messy! My life is messy! I experience my life as problematic and messy interactions with other queer people and that's okay. Great video that reminded me to get back into Gundam
It's really too bad about Loveless. I kept checking up on the manga for years, hoping to see Soubi start to develop a sense of self, discover his real desires, and maybe finally find his way to having more balanced relationships.
All the characters wore their emotional damage so openly, I felt like I'd found a manga that saw the world the way it was for me in 2006. I saw myself in both Ritsuka and Soubi. Ritsuka puts up with having to constantly negotiate boundaries with Soubi because it's worth it to have just one person who understands certain things the same way he does. It's not ideal, but nothing in his life is. Soubi doesn't know how to live for himself because he has always been a thing belonging to someone else. When he asks Ritsuka to order him, it's not because he wants to do Venus in Furs stuff, it's because he truly feels helpless to make his own decisions sometimes. It's too bad the manga focused on introducing more evil hot guys instead of developing those dynamics.
Off topic. Why some people thinks being belonging equates to being objectified?
@@davidarvingumazon5024because belong or belonging can be associated with ownership, property, etc.
_Put that phone down; it doesn't belong to you._
_You left your belongings in my garage; please come get them_
You can own objects, but most people would, rightly, say you can't own people.
You wouldn't see people say:
_Come get your belonging from the daycare_ in reference to a child.
When someone uses language that's normally used to refer to objects to talk about a person they are treating them like an object or objectifying them.
Really interesting video, i love talking about older queer stuff before 'good rep' became the yardstick for quality.
Flashing lights at around 24.00 for about a minute. Flashing images at 36.00 for less than 30 seconds.
put : between the numbers. 24:00 and 36:00
i got very excited when i read the title. i find that, nowadays, i tend to gravitate towards art that feels messier or has deeply seeded issues with its writing or presentation. especially irt lgbt stuff. mainly because i find it rewarding to slowly digest something that requires a lot of analysis on my end. but also because i find some of the more frustrating elements in "bad queer rep" to echo feelings or personal experiences i've had. so, oftentimes, it's a counterbalance to the feeling of fantasy i get from other "representative" media. admittedly, i understand how juvenile that sounds. i guess it's a kind of rebellious/transgressive way of approaching it.
that bit where you made a point of how a lot of these works are focused on _being_ transgressive or exciting, though, really solidifies that idea for me--the appeal i find in stuff like this. i really enjoy that aspect, especially at this current point in my life. great vid!
Really glad you enjoyed it!
Yeah, tbh my current attitude on this stuff took me a while to fully formulate. I was as neurotic as anyone during the Tumblr 2010s culture wars about consuming "good representation". I still don't think I have a silver bullet answer to questions around rep, except that I've accepted where I'm most comfortable: the muck of database-ey, anime fanculture. If I could say anything to early-20s-me about this (and a lot of) stuff it would be: chill.
@@pyramidinu9449 well put. i feel like most of us had _that_ period back in the day haha
Real talk, most "good queer rep" is super unrelatable.My history is painful and messy and uncomfortable, and seeing the only "good rep" be clean and pure is very alienating in the same way allosexual characters are. We aren't far enough along to embrace all of it yet, but I look forward to the day this stuff can be celebrated as being just as valuable as what mainstream people herald.
As someone who has grown to seek out very messy and problematic queer stories (usually not completely canon such as will graham and hannibal lecter in Hannibal, dan cain and herbert west in re-animator, and billy loomis and stu macher in scream to name a few) I had felt a sense of shame in loving "evil" queer characters since I found a lot of people online will call you awful for liking such dynamics. I found this video to help alleviate some of my shame, you put it so well into words ^_^
As the local Genderfluid Gay(tm) that saw Junjou Romantica when I was much too young to see it, identified heavily with Misaki and wanted the cute, androgynous look he had, I can already tell this video is gonna hit hard for me.
Yeah 1990-2000’s era BL and yuri were filled with extremely toxic, shitty tropes, but as a confused teen trying to make sense of my self and the world around me, there was such a comfort in these stories. They reflect a sort of edginess that adolescence just brings out of you. I cannot recommend Junjou Romantica in good faith (even if I still think Junjou Egoist is my guilty pleasure), but I can’t deny that those funky abusive gay dudes helped me figure out a whole lot about who I am.
Ohh, I feel you. I watched both Junjou and Sekaiichi back when I was 13 (I'm 20 now), and I know how messed up is but they are kind of part of who I am now, mainly Sekaiichi. I genuinely don't think I should had watched Sekaiichi and all that shit when I was a preteen, I'm kind of glad I was mature enough to realize through the months how messed up Junjou and Sekaiichi were honestly. It happens that I had my first love during that time, it was my best friend at the time and then I spent years of my teen years "waiting" for her. I was just a gay girl projecting enough into this messed up gay fictional anime men though 😋, there was literally a point where I hated them so much I couldn't even watch the show because it reminded me of her.
Well now as an adult nfnfm it's kind of fun thinking about that. I watched both of them again with my best friend (an actual best friend) and... I liked it. I found Junjou to be so ridiculously over the top that I couldn't take it seriously, then I read the manga and... They grew. I could never defend how it started, because it's horrible. But somehow the arc where Misaki comes out was so real it genuinely touched me, I genuinely wanted to cry because of how close I felt Misaki's experience to mine while coming out to his brother, his family. I can't really even explain how this freaky yaoi ass manga managed to have one of the best coming out arcs that I've ever seen. They feel like, real people. SOMEHOW!?
Sekaiichi is not left behind, and I'm not going to lie but I was scared of coming close to the thing once again... But I liked it too, I enjoyed it once again for what it was as an adult. Onodera confessed his love (finally), the chapters before it happened felt like I was watching an actual couple. I wasn't as touched as I was reading Junjou but... I felt like I grew up while reading it. I suddenly felt all the differences between myself at 13 and myself now at 20 years old. But yeah, these guys are inevitably a part of what I am now... They aren't models, neither healthy, but they grew up with me and somehow helped me to figure out I was a lesbian.
@@tea_funz For REAL, the fact that Nakamura started Junjou as a formulaic “fucked up rich seme has his way with main chara” story but, with lots of time and development, made a legitimately heartwarming meditation on what it means to love someone and the casual horror of being outed before you’re ready is… Absolutely insane, but incredibly welcome. I think it just perfectly illustrates how these authors aren’t bad people for writing these trashy romance novels. I already believed it was unfair to judge the moral character of an author based on weird shit they write, but the delicacy in which later Junjou/Sekaiichi handles their couples is criminally overlooked.
Yokozawa/Kirishima is the perfect couple to highlight this shift- Yokozawa started as the prerequisite love rival for Onodera, someone who fell for Takano during the years when they were separated, and he was a mean, toxic bitch as bitter love rivals tend to be. … Then the Kirishima OVA, which was much later in the story, happened. Kirishima adds SO MUCH to Yokozawa it isn’t even funny: Getting over a lost love, learning to be kinder and softer for the sake of others, letting yourself accept happiness, DOMESTIC DADS…. It’s slow, it’s arduous, but it’s SO sweet and tender. It’s better constructed than some of the “morally good” BL I tend to see get recommended!
I like to think Nakamura’s shift from catering to the erotic, shock market to actually wanting to explore these characters and their relationships started with Misaki and Usagi’s confrontation in the Ferris wheel: Usagi outright admonishes himself for taking advantage of Misaki and believes it is Misaki’s right to leave him should he want to. Would a perfectly logical and “moral” series have Misaki leave here? Honestly yeah probably. But, life is messy and complicated and unpredictable, and sometimes we do end up falling for people who aren’t great. I’ve always really been fascinated by that scene, it reads like Nakamura wanting to acknowledge the bad start the duo had and have them face it head on. I don’t… love how Misaki essentially excuses Usagi by victim blaming himself, saying he could’ve left if he really wanted to. But, on the other hand, knowing Misaki’s series-long conflict with accepting sexuality, I am also totally willing to buy into a reading where Misaki stayed because he had latent sexual attraction and fascination for Usagi. Morbid curiosity sort of deal that became softened as he figured out Usagi’s crush on his brother.
It’s not rational, it’s not idyllic, but it’s extremely human.
@@Cosplaybuddygiraffes OHH YOU UNDERSTAND IT SO WELL. What's exactly what I feel, their relationship grew so much from over the top, ridiculous and borderline creepy to something sweet, deeply messy and overall human. They feel fear, they have problems, they misunderstand each other at times... But they talk about it, they solve it and they trust each other. It's genuinely heartwarming. I like to refer to this changes as the "Nakamura's exorcism" lmao, it's not hard to tell how after the Ferris wheel scene things go gradually less over the top and erotic to something that genuinely deserves to be watched/read. I'm literally praying for a fourth season!
And yes, I think the most charming thing about couples like Yokozawa/Kirishima and Egoist it's just how... Mundane they are. How simple, yet sweet they are. Yokozawa, Kirishima and Hiyori are a family, they face the simple problems of a family and of course some of the deals of being an homo-parental family, such as when they are going to tell Hiyo that they are a couple or Kirishima asking Hiyori to tell other adults that Yokozawa is his "special someone" if they ask why Yokozawa is taking care of her. And Egoist it's just seeing a long-life couple living together, they fight over simple things sometimes, they're frustrated because they don't make it home at time to be with each other sometimes... It's so simple and so warming at the very same time.
And something great about later chapters of Sekaiichi is how it starts to aknowledge the consequences of Takano's mistakes with Onodera. There's this scene were they are about to have sex, but Takano is mad and he Is being too rude, leaving his hands marked on Onodera's wrists... He of course doesn't enjoy it, and for like four chapters later they don't do anything and the marks on Onodera's wrists still there, because it hurted. Of course Takano feels guilty over it and asks forgiveness, he aknowledge his own bad actions... Wich, of course, It's surprising to see in a work like Sekaiichi itself. After this, it's there is nothing ambiguous on their relationship, Onodera wants to say "I love you" but Takano doesn't Let him unless his confession ends up being dramatic like in a shoujo manga. And it's so sweet after it, it doesn't seem a borderline unilateral relationship full of doubt but a fully reciprocated one, even if we knew already it was like that, it Is so refreshing to see it on their actions. Of course Onodera's confession it's just the climax of all this conflict on the messy nature of their relationship.
I could talk hours talking about the other couple's as well. Everyone here it's so, so messy yet somehow so human at the end to a surprising point because of how Nakamura's work it's often reduced as that "toxic problematic yaoi I saw at 12 years old" when It's so much more than that. An example of a couple that is problematic and extremely messy it's the Terrorist, oh they are creepy... And then you learn that Miyagi was in love with his teacher when he had Shinobu's age and he had to literally introduce him TO HER GRAVE in order to be with him!? It's just an story about a repeating cycle of abuse and it's so fucked up I can't. You can make a whole ass analysis on each couple trying to scrutinize on their dynamics, changes, grew and reasons to be if you want. I would never recommend Junjou and Sekaiichi to someone, but if they watch it I truly hope they can see beyond the creepy early writing of both.
I think too, that people forget that we aren't consuming this in a bubble. I grew up reading a lot of prize winning scholastic kids books (island of the dolphins, etc) as well as books with often subversive but healthy romances. (Tamora Pierce, Enchanted Forest Chronicles, The Damsel and the Dwarf).
So when I hit the age where I was consuming yaoi and so much of it was messy...well so was like Elfen Lied and other "straight" edgey relationships in anime. It wasn't like I thought that was exactly normal or okay. But I could look at Loveless and think "well I get why having an older love interest would be appealing" and could on some level recognize that even if the kid held the reigns, he wasn't the one in control of the relationship.
At the time it felt taboo and erotic and fun. To just have the space to explore it in all its messiness. It normalized gay relationships. It normalized...that teen and adult relationships tend to be messy, it wasn't just people in my life, or that it was glorified drama. It didn't romanticise it in the sense that I *wanted* those problematic aspects. It was just romantic in the fantasy sense of the word. "Beautifully tragic". But in the ether, not in my reality.
I think if I grew up with perfect sterile gays I'd have been as turned off by them as I was at the time, and sometimes still am, the stereotypical hetero romances and animes out there now.
Queer mess is needed just as much as queer joy. Loveless has it's problems, and I've outgrown it, but it was still a part of me discovering my identity through the years. During it's time that was some of the only ways you could find queer rep. Questionable and messy, but oh so poignant. I won't defend it, but it served it's purpose in a way.
Lovely video 💕 From one queer anomaly who felt like a total mess growing up, a lot of these anime or manga really spoke to me. Even now as an adult, I've found myself drawn back. From Nana to Revolutionary Girl Utena, it's a beautiful mess.
in this video you perfectly articulated something that i've been feeling for years without the vocabulary to describe. honestly i just thought i was being edgy for gravitating towards so-called "problematic" queer rep, but i think you hit the nail on the head by saying that this sort of representation feels less sterile + more susceptible to analysis. lovely essay!!! i'll be thinking about this for quite some time
I have come to feel that there are a number of aspects of human experience and interiority to which more "reckless" works of art can speak fluently where more carefully considered or socially responsible works often struggle, in part because there is a certain transparency to the fiction wherein the desires and fears which animate it, however unflattering or uncomfortable they may be, are drawn into focus in such a way that the audience may lock eyes with the artist and form a tacit connection over a shared understanding. Thomas Ligotti spoke about a subset of this in his essay "The Consolations of Horror", wherein he first articulated his conviction that what draws people to horror fiction above all else, whether author or reader, is the desire to feel that they are not alone in fearing certain things. I feel that this is applicable to so many alienating emotions, this desire to imagine a community sharing in this vulnerability of saying, "I, too, have felt this way," and I suspect that the fear of such imagined communities between members of an audience is what really drives moral panics over art, whether over genuinely shocking and transgressive work or something so harmless as a picture book about two male penguins raising a chick together. Across that spectrum, art can heal and transform, particularly if one is a marginalised person who sees little of oneself as a type in art and less of one's own interiority, complexity and messiness as a living human being. Say, watching a video essay where another non-binary person confesses that the androgyny of anime catboys in a dubious BL series gave them a vocabulary for gender euphoria in the same way such aesthetics have done for you. Eyes meet in passing. For a second, I am not alone.
!!!!! Ligotti Mentioned. I think his story Purity, which I'm a little obsessed with, has a lot of utility here. Thanks for the lovely comment :)
@@pyramidinu9449 Thank you! ^w^ Lovely to learn that you're a Ligotti aficionado as well. I'd love to hear your thoughts on "Purity" sometime, as I've always found that one perplexing, although all told, it's been a *long* time since I last read it and I'd probably get a lot more out of it now. (Perhaps it speaks to my own curious sentimentality, but the first story I ever read of his remains among my favourites: "The Music of the Moon". I was twelve years old at the time; now I am thirty-two. Twenty years! Time is very, very strange.)
Inu, this video was a lovely introspection on queer anime and queer representation. Especially with anime I already love ^^
I feel like the idea of 'good representation' is such a difficult topic. On the one hand it feels like a response to older media where the only gay or lesbian rep came from queer coded characters that were either a gag or a villain, but on the other hand it feels so limiting to make and consume media that only shows THE BEST THE GROUP CAN BE, etc, etc.
I like the idea of more representation, over the nebulous 'good' representation. Like, no one really balks at heteronormative couple drama in media because there are SO many versions of that couple that exist at all levels, from pure to detestable. The sheer amount, and variety in there makes it easy to have a 'problematic' stories, as people say. It feels like it's easier to nitpick at queer media because it can't compete numbers wise, if that makes sense. (It's also interesting that all of these anime are made by straight creators/teams, as far as I know) But like you said there is something of value in all of these and what they say about not only queer people, but the way that queer media is made and consumed.
It's funny, there is this specific thing we anime obsessives do when we talk about anime like Loveless: we acknowledge that it's 'trash', and then continue to engage with it and even recommend it. I do it too! It's this little cultural/verbal shorthand to express "we know this has 'moral' problems, but we enjoy this media and invite you to experience it too." And like you said, sometimes it's that media that helps us understand ourselves. To me that will always have value, and I like how you expressed that with your backstory, so thank you for sharing ^^
Before this comment gets out of hand, I just want to say I am still so glad you were able to watch Dear Brother, and I loved being able to chat with you about it. The symbolism and visual threads that go through dear brother are one of my favorite aspects about it! You mentioned the birds and the stained glass, but I also love the things like the apples turning rotten and falling into the ocean as the club dissolves. Same goes for the lionhead fountain and the rose garden, it's visual poetry. The connection you make with directing styles between Sirk and Dezaki is so good! Seeing both next to each other really clicked with me, and I love how you presented that. And yes, Mariko gang represent! I'm also dying at the way you called the men all Ken dolls in this show, that's so funny and accurate XD
I've never settled my feeling on Tomino as a director. Some of his habits are my favorite, and his other traits blindside me. I also think the way he'll frame or edit a scene will unintentionally crack me up. Like it comes off as so campy it's hilarious, even though no jokes are actually expressed. I think I also need to just watch more works he has directed before a solidify an opinion. During my watch of Turn A, I had no spoilers, so Guin's turn in the end surprised me and it suddenly recontextualized all of his former interactions with Loran in that moment to me. Like an 'oh? ... OHHHH' moment. It made me think it was a tossed in idea towards the end, but then when you look into it, and it seems like that is indeed a main point to his character.
Loved this one, and I can tell how much effort you put into it, and I enjoyed this so much. Really a great job and a fun watch ^^
Ahhh, thanks so much for this comment, Val. I find your perspective on this stuff really invaluable, so I'm glad it went over well with you.
I agree, there's so much more going on visually with Dear Brother. Another thing I could have gone into in the video is the way Rei's cigarette that Nanako holds onto is used. Initially a sexual symbol that eventually becomes one of grief.
And you're very right about Loveless. What I would really like would be for someone to do an equivalent to Hazel's video on Elfen Lied for the series - something sympathetic while critical that goes into why the manga worked for so many people. (I think its slightly too ambitious a project for me though, at least right now).
Agreed re: Tomino. For me, there's something about his odd writing style that makes me think about his characters endlessly, and part of it is th way it's not always initially apparent what he's up to with his character elements.
Thanks again for all your support ^^
@@pyramidinu9449 AW thats so kind of you to say! I really appreciate how well you articulated all your points, and the amvs you made/integrated into it are just so so damn good~
great vid, dezaki, kouga and tomino are a killer combination.
this reminds of a coversation i had like a decade ago, a friend who was full into yaoi asked me if i knew about something she could like watching and i told her "just go watch gundam" to what she replied with "but how can robots be gay?" lmao
Saw the notification for a new pyramid inu video and out loud said "oh fuck yes"
Love your works as always, didn't know you were nonbinary! But that tracks, 90% of my homies as deep into gundam are NB and/or trans. I always joke I missed the memo because I didn't get into Fallout new vegas.
Fantastic video as always! Love the deep dive into contextualizing the-perhaps out of pocket-weird ending of Dear Brother, something that always seemed peculiar to me and suspected there may have been some standards and expectations of the time to steer it into something heteronormative in spite of everything, but never knew too much of the specifics, and your various articulations here for why that may be the case were fascinating! Bringing in The Master and having another dedicated section to Gundam on top of sharing more Dear Brother love caters to my niches so well, great stuff.
Only ever had a passive understanding of the kind of intersecting BL & emo stuff of the 00s from an outside perspective as one who wasn’t really immersed in it myself at the time, so it was cool to hear all that more intimately described personal history you had with it too, very insightful!
Thank you for the lovely words as always!
Do you realize emo and homosexuality are two completely different things?
@@eriksigalraven8340 Weird comment. Specifically said "intersecting" - learn 2 read.
@@pyramidinu9449 dont see intersection either save for homophobic stereotypes "he is neat, he is stylish, he is emotional must be gay then'. I know many emo boys as well as many gay boys, guess what - never met any gay who was into emo culture and never saw emo who was gay. Most gay people I saw were pretty average, same as straight people, they dont have any difference aside from sexuality. All gay men I saw were very ordinary and wasnt interested in emo, and all in all were mundane people with mundane interests just like most heteros
0:32 such an iconic manga panel tbh, I still remember people posting and editing this specific depiction of Ritsuka online, some for shock value "oh no u got hard for a guy", other for this specific aesthetic, Ritsuka looks so vulnerable and yet confident in his partial nudity, get a guy who can spread his legs like this and yet look so unbothered and innocent...
Happy Pride!
Seriously one of my favorite video essayists on UA-cam! Queer themes in Gundam and contemporary literature with a healthy dose of nuance and grace. Thank you!
I like to think of Guinn as one side of Char, particularly the one burdened by his position in life as well as by his own blind ambition to the detriment of others. A lot of people say Harry is the Char clone of the series, but really Turn A splits up Char into Harry and Guinn, continuing that duality motif you covered in your last video. Let’s not forget that Char groomed Quess and Lalah too. Harry, on the other hand, got Char’s sense of style and honor on the battlefield, though perhaps the similarities extend further than simply the mask and mech piloting skills, the superficial similarities build expectations that then are subverted by the progression of Harry’s fidelity and honor.
Tbh I think it's important to remember that "Class S literature," which is often described as "proto-yuri," portrayed sapphic relationships as passionate platonic experiences teenage girls go through. Fleeting experiences as one transitions into adulthood where they'll enter a regular heterosexual relationship. These influences dictate how stories like Oniisama E were written at the time. It was a way for lesbian experiences to be depicted whilst still being "acceptable" in 1930's Japan
Is really s*cks to think of it that you may have girl on girl relationships in your teenage years. Only for said girl leaving you to marry stereotypical sexist homophobic man, one of those who claim:"women are not people/if we didnt rape children wont be born" etc
I kind of want to defend Loveless especially because Negative Legend's video is pretty bad.
it just lists what's problematic about the show and doesn't really engage with what it's trying to say. Yes Loveless romantises Ritsuka and Soubi's relationshp but framing something as "romantic" doesn't mean it's framed as good. I think this is not just about romance as a genre but as historical concept. Romanticism as an artistic movement is about nature and uncontrolled emotion. it explores the mystic and unknowable side of human psyche. It's anti-rational and more about instinct. As you said it's about unfiltered Id and I think Loveless deserves more credit about capturing that.
Also Soubi and Ritsuka's relationship just feels like a dynamic two damaged, traumatised individuals would have. yes it's inappropriate but that's what makes the emotional storytelling more conflicting and intense.
this is just something that grinds my gears but Negative Legend says stuff like"if you still read Loveless you are a bit too comfortable with grooming" about the manga's female fans. I think that's kind of insulting honestly. as if women are too stupid to understand how sexual violence works irl
Having "inappropriate" content in a story isnt inherently bad, it only becomes an issue when its glorified. The argument that Loveless is an analysis of a toxic abusive relationship has a lot of weight, but then you realise that it is to a certain extent glorified. The story is trying to have its cake and eat it too.
@Tuvella1 I like how you try to frame negative legend as sexist under a video abt an nb's experience with loveless
Oh yeah to be clear I don't agree with this "if you still read Loveless you are a bit too comfortable with grooming". I need to finish reading the manga to fully decide how I feel.
@@pyramidinu9449 yes of course. sorry if my comment came across like you agree with them on that. your vids are really well thought out so I thought you wouldn't. your arguments are really well put together too. while I disagree with the beginning a little the rest of this vid is really excellent
If you loved Dear Brother you need to watch Ikeda's only other work to get an anime, Rose of Versailles, which is a masterpiece and queer as all hell what with Oscar basically being a trans man. The fact that she was an active member of the Japanese Communist Party really comes through in her portrayal of the French Revolution and Robespierre as Based, Actually. Also her manga Claudine about a depressed trans man (because ppl wont affirm his identity) is supposed to be great but I haven't got around to reading it yet.
She was a communist??? ??
There hasnt been any transmen back then, there wasnt HRT and gender affirming surgeries. And it was very patriarchal time period. No wonder she wanted to be man it was desire of any normal woman who lived in such womanhating society It had nothing to do with modern first world transmen
pyramid inu confirmed catte
OH MY GOD! I have never heard ANYONE discuss Oniisama E and that shit was FORMATIVE for me in learning that queer media and stuff in anime existed!! Holy shit! I screamed out loud and grabbed my boyfriend the second you mentioned it.
Alright after finishing the video just wanted to say, what a great essay! Really gave me a lot to think about, enjoyed the whole thing start to finish. Thanks for all the work you put into sharing your thoughts on queerness and sexual identity in anime and manga. I've enjoyed everything you've put out and as ever this one just makes me eager to see what you'll have to share with us next time.
God this is THE video of all time. Going to be thinking about this for a while. And now i have a whole new bunch of shows to check out.
Mentioning BPD here made me feel so validated somehow lol, like im not alone. Somehow, it tends to be people with BPD like myself who are drawn to these "romanticized" depictions of "taboo" topics that are close to gothic/emo in nature somewhat? It's like what they say, with art sympathizing with the disturbed or however that saying goes.
Anyways, it's great to see people who also align with the way i think about the kind of media i enjoy/enjoyed consuming. There are subject matters in them that we all agree are bad or problematic, but i like to see these sorts of things for myself through a profound sense. These things depicted in fiction we dont like to see are things that happen in real life, and sometimes there's value in realizing it rather than just looking away. That's why my favorite yaoi manga to this day is Yatamomo by Harada, and why i love psychological horror
Ive completely veered away from the topic, but yeah lmao
I love that you've tackled this subject! As a queer person, and especially as a queer person raised in a conservative, non-affirming household that heavily controlled the media I watched, these "problematic" anime were my first steps into seeing myself represented. Grell Sutcliff is a problematic representation of a queer woman, but she was the first lesbian and trans woman I ever saw on screen. I hope that more people will realize that we can acknowledge problematic elements of media without pretending these works don't exist/are inherently bad.
What's a queer? honest question
@RubenPalacios-qg1zd A queer person is someone who is gay (a person who is attracted to someone of the same gender), trans (someone who is a gender different from their biological sex), bi/pan (someone who is attracted to people of many genders/regardless of gender), asexual (someone who does not feel sexual attraction), aromantic (someone who does not experience romantic attraction), intersex (someone who is born with both biologically male and female traits), and any other person/group who is looked down upon from society for not fitting in with "traditional" gender and sexual roles (although queer people have existed and have been well-documented in many cultures spanning thousands of years). You might see some heterosexual/allosexual/cisgender people that are considered part of the community if they have different gender expression from the "norm" (e.g., a man who primarily wears "women's" clothes, even if he identifies as a man and is attracted to women). The term "queer" was originally a slur, as it's a derogatory term for "different". However, in recent years, people have reclaimed the term to embrace their differences. :) Hope this helps!
Great point. Char absolutley envies Amuro's position of a federation dog. Throughout Zeta Char is constantly complaining about responsibility and having to be a leader when he would rather just be flying around killing people.
finally got the time to smoke this and aaaah, i love the way you talk about those pieces of art. cause i feel like too many times do people gloss over them, condemning them as "wholly bad" when really there's a lot of very special and incredibly prescient writing, feeling and thoughts poured into each of them.
First time ever seeing one of your vids and i can tell these are going to be a new obsession. The little flashcuts you make when offhandedly referencing stuff were quite telling. Seeing aku no hana right next to funeral parade of roses was a shock
favorite pyramidinu yet? is it possible?? INCREDIBLE job, gonna be thinking about this one for a while
you're one of my fav voices on youtube currently and this did not put a single doubt on my mind about that.. been thinking a ton about the contents of this one but in relation to stuff like chainsaw man and eva.. loved this !
BLACK DRESSES NEEDLE DROP???? you are the absolute GOAT i hope you know that. also i'm adding every anime and movie you talk about here to a watchlist.
This video is absolutely incredible. You see parallels and draw inspiration from media I've never even heard of.
Watching this video broadened my horizons in a way few video essays have managed to do. Thank you.
Just listened to Black Dresses for the first time a few weeks ago, lovely coincidence hearing them here ❤
I've been eagerly waiting for days. Completely unrelated I was watching the negative legend video on Loveless just the other day.
Oh, I'm surprised to see a video essay section on Loveless! I also read Loveless back in 2018-2019 in the in-between phase of my 1st and 2nd years in college, where I was budding into ny queerness on a conscious level, and it also had a huge impact on me, but it is in no way defensible unfortunately. I also stopped where it has basically ended (no hope of seeing more content at this point, it's been years) because I identified too much with Soubi (in the sense of trauma he has) and I'm deeply afraid he will turn into the type of person he was traumatized by. I really wanted for him to get better but I'm afraid that wasn't/isn't going to happen, and for someone who dealt with the type of abuse he went through, who hopes and hoped for better for myself, I would have been devastated by the message that our past creates our future, that we'll turn into what we hate, like an ouroboros of hell. That said, I also still identify with the aesthetic and the general vibe of the work, not so much the story and messaging.
Problematic and harmful queer representation deserves to be called out but queer people who find solace in that media shouldn't be judged for it. Sometimes the crappy gay stuff is the first time someone feels seen.
The World God Only Knows is an anime/manga I wouldn't come near nowadays but when I used to consume basically anything, I actually found a lot of comfort in Yui Goido and his trans coded story. It's honestly still one of the best trans representations for me, maybe because of its lack of intention. The feeling of yearning, envy, pain, comfort and joy is a part of the queer experience and why we find comfort in messy stories. We should still consume with a critical eye but I feel like queer people should be allowed to see themselves in whatever gives them catharsis without unnecessary assumptions about their morality.
.....
@@Inconstructionmaybe-x5v ????
As a fellow enjoyer of Yun Kōga's work, I think you should totally check out Akuma no Riddle (EN title is Riddle Story of Evil). Her designs for all of the characters absolutely pop off. It's also another queer title from her.
ONIISAMA E MENTIONED!!! ♥️♥️ god I’m halfway through but seeing Riyoko Ikeda’s works being talked about under a queer lens is so good! Her work whether it’s claudine or the window of orpheus is messy and not proper queer representation at all, but it works so well. It’s less about wanting proper queer representation from such but moreso watching how themes of queerness bloomed into manga and got modern works and understandings we had today.
Oh neat, I actually just started watching Witch from Mercury with a friend, so this is great timing.
Joking aside, I think it's really fascinating to look at the way Japanese works in general deal with these themes. It seems like they generally aren't super comfortable directly addressing the topic unless the work is specifically ABOUT that topic, but that discomfort doesn't seem to come from the same place you find in a lot of western works. Like, I rarely get a sense of moralistic or religious squeamishness from them. It feels like it comes more from a broader cultural distaste for nonconformity, rather than any specifically directed enmity. Which I guess is better? In a sense? It at least feels less bad on a superficial level.
Also, are you familiar with any of Jun Koga's other work? I mostly know her from Akuma no Riddle which is .... I mean, I don't know if I would call it "good" necessarily, but I also can't say I regret reading it.
Definitely plan to read Akuma no Riddle at some point :)
Oh yes, how unfondly I remember being a Young teen on the internet™ and witnessing how performatively mean and holier-than-thou some folks would get about the fact that other people were enjoying problematic media, relationships, etc. It made me feel very insecure about enjoying the yaoi garbage I was into at the time.
As you point out, as queer people we are drawn to representations of ourselves even when they're messy. We should be allowed to have bad things.
(... Plus, they make for great UA-cam video essays)
I understand how joyful, "appropriate" queer representation is important, especially when you're someone who still is coming to terms with their identity and needs assurance that being queer is fine, fantastic, and that you can find happiness living true to yourself. But as someone who has already passed that stage, I seek queer representation not as someone who seeks validation, but as someone who just wants to see people like me caught in passionate, horrific messes.
Honestly, what would be nice about queerness being normalized in society is getting to enjoy a queer trainwreck without having to fear the boogeyman of these fictional messy gays being representative of every single real life queer person.
One of the reasons I enjoy Tomino as a creator is the fact that I don't think he's CAPABLE of writing a mentally healthy character. He can't write "good rep" because I'm not entirely convinced he can conceive of a person who isn't a traumatized mess of a human who's about 70% maladaptive coping mechanisms by volume (which probably explains why I find so many of his characters relatable). And in that vein, I adore your read on Guin. My first time through Turn A I was convinced the only person who didn't know Guin was gay was Guin himself, but he really does read as a self-loathing closeted trans woman desperately living vicariously, using Loran as a living doll and extension of his own wishes. The more I sit with that interpretation, the more I read Laura Rolla as the person Guin wishes he could be deep down. But he's so repressed, I don't think he can even fully process the non-normative elements of himself. His utter refusal to even process Loran's repeatedly stated gender really is just SO telling and honestly kind of tragic. The way he's written, I really don't think he fully understands how bizarre and uncomfortable his behavior is. At the same time, I really think he was written to be a tragic figure on so many levels.
i adore your style and taste and am thankfull for your videos, but now i also love you for eternity for this black dresses edit, this is perfect
I've been having my own journey of examining and re-examining works that have stayed with me over the years, and I really resonate with your feelings about works that are, bluntly: weird and horny. Like, I was reading through Petshop of Horrors* again for the first time since I dipped my toe into it in high school (too young and self-conscously asexual** to like... Get It), and it's a fascinating horror and mystery manga sure, funny as hell often, lusciously illustrated- and I pretty much immediately thought "Oh this is a very elaborate series of fetishes" over and over until it just internalized as part of the color of the manga. It's kinky, and it's good! Many such cases, and I cherish all of them.
* Stridently queer as well, I didn't expect it to so often include subplots involving people assuming D has a male lover, or Leon being constantly sexually confused by him
** The overlap in both personal and secondary anecdote of sex-repulsed asexual people who have a love and fascination for kink, porn and sex as a subject is basically a circle in my experience. It's all Socratic dialogues about the literary merit of lactation kink, and fiber arts out here.
black dresses song mentioned this is truly peak
Did not expect the 2nd half of this to be about classic Gundam, heck yeah
Loveless is kinda horrifying, watching is now. It reads less as a love story and more a man tricking a kid into his embrace. And the animation team knew it, to some extent - I held my breath after the kiss in episode 2, because their refusal to show Ritsuka’s ears had me thinking it was actually something more.
It’s not problematic - it’s horror that we were tricked into thinking is romance, like Lolita. No wonder I was enthralled by it as a child.
Those lesbians, though. Man. They were so unbelievably gay. They were perfect. You can tell they Get It when it comes to writing lesbians.
My mom laughed a little too hard at the “she destroyed me because she made me Trans and into Gundam joke”. In my mother’s defense, my last two years of high-school were spent going on tangents about Gundam at the dinner table 7 days a week, 365 a year, so I don’t blame her.
your mom sounds cool asf im happy for you
@@WerewolfofEpicness she is I’m very lucky
Such a great vid that's made me see two of my favourite things differently:
1. I now have a very different understanding/interpretation of the ending to the Hannibal TV series.
2. My little model kits have challenging sexual undertones to them? Neat!
This was such an excellent video, in ways I cannot articulate.
I'm having a very hard time vocalizing my thoughts on this, so...thank you for making this, and I agree with what you said. They aren't perfect at summing up what I want to say in the comments, but the general feelings are similar. That this sort of messy rep is something to be embraced, not condemned. That you can just ignore the bad parts, because the good parts are real and relatable and something worth taking into yourself despite that. Edit: found my words!
Something important that's overlooked is that this was *all* we had, back then. Western shows sure as hell didn't care about making it explicit, and most of the subtext was lost on us as subtext-blind children. Media literacy tends to be a thing you get in adulthood, due to mediocre teaching in school. You're taught to follow the opinions of the teacher, and it takes time to unlearn that.
And for some of us, it's all we have *now*. Genderqueer, bisexual, pansexual, asexual, aromantic, hell even aroace people get pretty horrid rep. I'm going to mention asexuality here because that's what I am, and let me tell you: the rep is *horrible*. A lot of it tends to be made aroace because people can't tell us and aromantics apart, and even then, there's basically no coding. Not once have I seen a character be confirmed ace that made me go "oh, that makes sense" beyond Setsu from Gnosia. All the good rep comes from unintentional places, like Okabe Rintaro from Steins;Gate. The man is ace as hell, and! He's biromantic! Play My Darling's Embrace - one of the two writers (the writer of Kurisu and Luka's routes) really Gets It and writes a great asexual romance. Also it's far better than you think it is. The other writer does not and makes him "grow out of it", but that's ignorable.
There's also the matter of playersexual characters being treated as bisexual that greatly cheapens actual bisexual characters, but that's a whole other can of beans.
I wish we'd at least get a few good BL animes. I can't find any, only ones which tease homosexuality. I'm so tired of all the creepy, rapey fetishisation shit that I ditch an anime the moment that trash starts happening.
I would say we do occasionally get good BL anime, but they're of the wholesome sweet variety (Classmates, Given, Sasaki & Miyano etc.). For the messy good kind then I honestly think you'd have to turn to novels.
I havent read the oniisama e manga yet, but i heard the ending of the manga doesnt backpedal on the homosexuality of it all as much. Again i havent confirmed it for myself yet but if what i heard is true i kinda wanted to defend riyoko ikeda i guess?
Sorry if i missed this being mentioned in the video, ive been very sleepy and havent processed every part fully ^^;
loved the video. the AMV with Rei and black dresses destroyed meeee
messy queer anime representation made me realize I was trans, so I can't really be mad.
Loveless is my favorite shounen ai, but I dont share because its not "right".
Loveless turned out to be a defining work for its queer WOMEN than its men for me tbh and I’m so glad I’m not the only one! Sukisyo would have to be the messy work for me that I still go back to (got me into visual novels, although the anime is a LOT more digestible thank god…).
Foundational essential video. Describing the joy of experiencing this kind of art as a form of Moe is genius!
Because of thos video essay i started watching dear brother, its interesting how the first episode was able to keep me engaged despite it just being introductions
i've never seen ur channel before and im only a little ways into this video, but I would LOVE to hear you talk about Funeral Parade of Roses !!!
Would love to hear you speak more on other tomino series. Finished Turn A a bit ago, watching the first movie to see how it compares, and it really is such a good Gundam series. Playing with identity like it does, I'm struck by the ending fight between Loran and Gym where Loran stresses how Gym was once supposed to protect Queen Dianna once. I feel as if, there could be something said about how Loran embodies the masculine virtue of protecting others while embracing his own androgyny while others (like Guin) reject this possibility and hurt others through their actions. Another Good video, Inu. Thank you.
you get me so much 😍 great analysis!!!!
Laughed out loud at the Kurt Eva joke lolll
As far as the joy of reckless queer characters go, there really is nothing like a story featuring queer characters that is reckless enough to be allowed to go as far as it wants with them.
Like, I almost cheered playing Subarashiki Hibi (spoilers) at the (alternate route good end) of Looking Glass Insects when the main girls kissed. And i was absolutely thrilled when they fucked, because it's an eroge and those are allowed to do that.
However one could argue that the other route (that causes the rest of the story to happen) sours it, but i disagree. I have issue with some of the decisions in subahibi, but the sheer brutality of the looking glass insects true end just drives in the recurring theme of "live happily" even harder. The good end happens because zakuro decides to appreciate the love she has, to help them and in turn be helped, to let herself pursue happiness even at risk to herself.
But in the true route she never lets herself break out of line, never pursues her own happiness, and she meekly walks into a plot comparable to 177013 but with a good soundtrack (man the whole ost is great but i especially love the imagery in this chapter's ed, Final Smile).
And all of these really interesting themes and great lesbian romance are in the same game that spends (5? 10?) hours on a guy waffling about fucking his kid sister (i think it's thematically relevant but god i was just too bored to think lol). But that's the price of seeing a story with so few limiters, it's gonna have things that are unpleasant for a lot of people just because the author decided why the fuck not?
And don't even get me started on whatever the fuck is going on with takuji's gender, just absolutely nuclear levels of 4chan brainrot rattling around that noggin. If there's a level of combined self & outward destructiveness below 4chan egg brain he's dug a pit below even that and is wallowing in it.
I think what matters is that all these creators have good intentions in their depictions and explorations of these topics, criticize it all you want but I think that should be acknowledged
This video made me want to rewatch this anime (Iwatched it in 2022)
The messiest representation in anime title 100% belongs to Golden Kamuy
Awesome analysis, thanks!
Omg, I loved the introduction because it summarizes why I still like and hate Loveless.
I always wanted to be as androgynous as Retsuka but never wanted ever something as problematic as that kind of relationship that were presented.
I learned at that time about diversity at those time (2007-2009) because I used to lived at a small town and then moved to a big city.
Second part of 2000's was the time I questioned myself so much due to many things I consumed in anime and manga and it was important to shape my actual self.
Nice video! While I personally believe Char does have hold an ideological position in CCA, I also don't think that's incompatible with his fixations on Amuro since people can be contradictory and messy. More to the point, I also find your comparison of Char and Guin to be pretty compelling.
Also I watched Rose of Versailles earlier this year and needless to say this video got me more interested in Dear Brother than I already was haha
Everything you said about the ending of Dear Brother is predicated on a Mistranslation, one another UA-camr, Zeria has already proven to be a mistranslation.
It's easy to make a video with this title focused on old Anime, ones that are easy to convince people not to dismiss out of hand because they were influential classics or party of the adolescent Nostalgia of a lot of Anime Fans. It would be way Braver to go out on a limb for Citrus or Netsuzou TRap or Prisma Illya or Gushing Over Magical Girls, shows very much apart of the current Era of Anime.
I made a post on my Blog this month about the need for "Trashy" Yuri.
Ayyy, i defended gomg! Well, at least made a point abt male gaze with it but there's some really interesting analysis I'd love to do when it's wrapping up a couple arcs. It's got some really bad optics but is truly so interesting and really speaks to me as a lesbian who was ashamed of my horniness for a while.
I could go on for paragraphs about how interesting michiko is but the short of it is that it's basically an anti-dark magical girl story. Like, people grow up & suddenly playing pretend is treated differently. Korisu is godlike bc she's still in the phase where playing pretend is considered normal.
The main girls are in the middleground, they're not old enough to get weird looks but they are old enough it's getting all mixed up with their sexualities.
Michiko is a highly repressed adult forcing her repression on these kids by enacting real violence on them. Her arc is learning how to just play again and ignore the shame.
Man i could keep going but it's so good and if it goes how it looks to be it's gonna be an all timer for me
that line isn't actually a mistranslation, while the japanese line does indeed avoid using gendered pronouns (which is not unusual), the english translation isn't wrong for assuming that nanako is referring to a man given the surrounding context. almost every single yuri manga from this time ended on the assumption of life eventually progressing into heterosexual marriage and childrearing with the exception of like, futaripocchi.
love the discussion here! begging you to balance your audio better though the songs you played are so much louder than your speaking voice lol
it’s not the representation we deserved, but it was the representation we had at home :)
i feel the same about End of EVA. i have a hard time recommending it becuase of that one infamous scene. But i still love movie and the show that proceeded it becuase it gave the most raw depiction of the type of depression i was experiencing at the time
Yep. I saw the first episode and never watched it again.
My god this video is awesome. You definitely should read manhwa called "Let Dai" it's not really popular but has similar themes that connect to homoerotism
I have never seen any of the anime/read the manga of any of the titles you've mentioned (up to min10 at least), and I still LOVE this perspective.
I'm trans/nb as well, 33 now so we're about the same age if my math is right lol Have you ever watched Princess Jellyfish? If not, you *NEED* to watch it. It's curious, erotic, awkward, endearing, dramatic, and everything else you want in a YA queer story.
speaking of queer train wrecks i'd like to hear your take on kaze to ki no uta 💀
Shout-out to my favorite problematic transfem Ienaga from golden kamuy
wait what's the song at 18:36
edit : IF YOU FIND ME GONE by Black Dresses
"Down bad lesbian" Hahaha remind me of the mc of maria holic, i have never seen such a passionate lesbian and that much nose bleed too ...
got whiplash when i heard black dresses lol subscribed immediately
woooooo Inu's back! Lets GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Do you have an opinion on some newer stuff like I'm in love with the villainess that are starting to become more open and pleasant with their relationships rather than the older stuff which was more angsty and repressed?
media about marginalized people don't always have to inherently be good, positive representation imo, but the more you know your target audience (is it a wider public audience or you're creating for the sake of creating) and intent, the more that'll inform how you handle those characters.
Hazelcore is strong with this one /j
Hey could you balance the sound better if you're going to play loud, bass heavy music? It's actually an FCC regulation don't blast people's ears like that. :|
I swear I’ve watched this why don’t I remember
Being trans and into gundam is by far the funniest combo ever.
Anyways great video!!!
black dresses is phenomenal and so is this video
Hi just found your channel and just subscribed ❤
When I first watched Turn A, my perception of Guin Lineford was he took a particular ideology of techno-progressivism - which links technological advancement with social progression - as a kind of axiomatic justification for his implicit selfishness. Kind of like the Randians who demand "innovators" be adulated by society and freed from Government interference to build railways or whatever. While Guin's fetishization of Loran was both a sublimation of his closeted desires and a way of... ignoring his humanity so Guin could internally justify manipulating him for his own convenience.
However, I never really did consider him from a Queer representation point of view. I think anime's Japan-ness does somewhat alienate my judgements when I perceive a work critically. Which, may be my way of insulating myself from my far-left bleeding-heart standards with the tacit excuse of cultural differences... but part of the appeal is that lack of safeness in dealing with media with different boundaries for the stories they can tell. I don't know.
Ive always identified with tragic and traumatized androgynous anime characters.
Haven't watched the video but I'll just say based from some anime I have seem shows bad concepts, storylines. Like big age gapes, power dynamics, lack of consent, etc. The script doesn't recognize this and normalizes such issues. This also seems common on other asian media, like K Dramas, I think. That's not to say there aren't good rep, Given is awesome and I'm sure there are many others good ones. I just hope for more media made and target towards queer people.
Oniisama e mentioned?? W
I feel for me the reason why people love messy art with messy representation despite it flaws such as Helluva Boss, Loveless, or other messy media is well yeah we're getting tired of corporated reps. I love Barret from Final Fantasy and especially its remake as a black rep despite his racial undertones is that he is a flawed human being and developed in contrast to the sanitary Black Panther in the MCU.
I feel art is complicated and every artist has a piece of work. Sure yes, there is some media that shouldn't have been made such as A Serbian Film yet even if I don't like some media based on personal reasons or values art is art. After all media is made based on a person's views and their interests.
For example, I know Helluva Boss as a series isn't great at storytelling but the reason why is that Stolas and Blitzo are the best messy rep. It's not Lumity or Ruby or Sapphire. I never saw any male gay reps in cartoon media that was so messy yet so compelling. Blitzo is so bad at communication that he pushes people away. While Stolas the onw who was destined for connection but they inexplicitably gaslighted Blitzo and they valued a relationship over fixing his family.
Another example is many fanfiction and Hero and Villain marriage stories. Yes it's nonsenical and ridiculous the good guy marries the bad guy, but some people love to see more messy rep such as Hannibal. They know the gay rep between shipping Hannibal and Will is messy at best. But at least they feel happy and enjoy how the rep gives insight on complicated relationship.
You're not the only one discussing this issue. Verilyb-----ie made a video on "How Good LGBTQ Representation is boring" and Anthony Gramuglia made a video on "Enough With The Gay Rep". I feel so frustrated some reps feel one note or at best the characters are entirely innocent. Like why do studios make a happy go lucky heroine, I want to see complciated female reps like Jinx from Arcane or Mizu from Blue Eye Samurai. I have met many women that either treated me horribly and overexerted power over me. Gender isn't always one note, and as a woman unpopular opinion I want to see more female vs female stories because as a girl I met many females who either treated me like nothing.
Media is complicated and there are media thqt rightfully deserve criticism such as 13 Reasons Why. However, the more we have inauthentic representations the more it feels boring. We cannot have them be rightfully good or to be safe, because true creators want to create rep that's complicated like ND Stevenson's Nimona and the She Ra (Netflix) series. After all we want developed characters even if they're good and bad. I want to see more female villains that are unapologetically evil reps you want to see messy reps we're the same. Because the more we keep being virtuous and cancel media the more we won't get good stories.
I dont understand why couldn't they make mc like 16-17 would be problematic still but better
Finally LOVELESS FANS COME OUT OF THE SHADOWS TO DISCUSS WTF WAS LOVELESS.... I hate that it is so problematic but the storyline was so cool and beautiful artistically. I hate the weird age gap romance but LORE was so good tbh.
Another reason to perhaps take a step back from the pursuit of solely "good representation" is the question of what that term even means. Who gets to define that? If one person feels a work isn't good representation but another does, how is that arbitrated?
Let's take Kannazuki no Miko as an example. That show absolutely has problems. I won't dispute that. At the same time, I know of multiple women for whom watching it was their "wait, this is an option?!" moment. By condemning the show, doesn't that also on some level condemn those experiences with the show?
If the ultimate goal of fighting for better representation is to help people in the community, and shows with messy representation are for all of their faults an aid to people coming to terms with their identity and looking for self-actualization, then aren't they both working towards the same purpose in the grand scheme of things?