Considering how important the fight for LGBT rights has become around the world, the community is severely underrepresented in anime and there is a trend of negative representation. Censorship rules and viewership limitations have affected the depiction of LGBT people in the media in Japan. In the past, there have been subtle hints at LGBT themes in 20th century animes but this topic remains largely prohibited. However, recent examples like ‘Yuri on Ice!!’ and ‘Wandering Son’ have worked towards putting forward a more positive depiction of LGBT people and relationships. Similar to Hollywood, LGBT representation in anime has evolved over time.
LGBT representation started in 1967 with the series ‘Princess Knight,’ created by the legendary Osamu Tezuka who also created ‘Astro Boy,’ known as the first popular anime. ‘Princess Knight’ is about a character called Sapphire who has the heart of both a boy and a girl, but presents as a boy in order to inherit a territory where women are not allowed to rule. Over the next few decades, anime series about girls with weapons who wanted to be princes were popularized. For example, in the 90s, ‘Revolutionary Girl Utena’ became inspirational for featuring a protagonist that had a strong-willed mindset and wore tomboyish clothing – completely different from other female anime characters who always dressed femininely. Throughout the course of the narrative, Utena tries to win over Anthy Himemiya, a mysterious girl known as the “Rose Bride.” They share a passionate kiss at the end of the movie ‘The Adolescence of Utena.’
The hugely popular 90s anime ‘Sailor Moon’ was the first anime to truly flesh out LGBT romance, featuring two LGBT couples. In the manga, Zoisite and Kunzite are originally straight men and are meant to be suitors for the four inner Sailor Soldiers. By contrast, in the anime, they serve Queen Beryl and are a couple. However, when ‘Sailor Moon’ aired in the US, the same-sex couple was censored and Zoisite’s gender was changed to female. Sailor Uranus (Haruka) and Sailor Neptune (Michiru) are also a fan-favorite lesbian couple. Their relationship was similarly censored in the US and they were portrayed as cousins instead. Censorship laws overseas silenced the LGBT community and made LGBT characters largely invisible because of the problematic mindset that portraying these couples on screen could influence the young audience that the show was aimed at. This is also evident in children’s shows which in the US do not traditionally portray LGBT relationships.
Following ‘Sailor Moon,’ there were different kinds of LGBT relationships depicted in anime. By this time, the boys love genre that featured gay relationships was already a rising subgenre of shoujo anime, which is aimed at a female audience. In 1998, in ‘Cardcaptor Sakura,’ two male characters, Touya and Yukito, were romantically involved. From the 2000s onwards, a few series featured LGBT characters, although it was not widespread. In ‘Ouran High School Host Club,’ the protagonist Haruhi’s father would cross-dress and displayed a kind of gender fluidity that was not commonly shown in anime at that time. Although this character was presented as being funny, it showed that not everyone has to identify with gender norms. Furthermore, in the main storyline itself, Haruhi pretended to be a male host and she was comfortable not conforming to gender norms.
In the past decade, more and more series have prominently featured LGBT relationships or themes. ‘Sakura Trick and ‘Love Stage!!’ both portrayed the blossoming romance between two boys. In 2016, ‘Yuri on Ice!!’ became a sensation. Even though the relationship between Yuri and Viktor was not the main theme of the show (it focused on ice skating, camaraderie and competitiveness), their relationship was beautifully portrayed. Over the course of their relationship, Yuri and Viktor learned to work together and understand each other’s values. While the couple’s kiss is implied in episode 7, it is censored in the visuals. The anime became one of the top trending topics on Tumblr and blew up in popularity.
‘Wandering Son’ is the first anime to depict what it is like to be transgender. It features Shuichi, a girl who was assigned male at birth, and Yoshino, who is in the opposite situation. It does not portray the transgender characters in a comedic way and covers the issues that young transgender people go through.
Although recent anime featuring LGBT characters and relationships seems to point towards more positive representation of a marginalized and silenced community, many LGBT characters still remain ambiguous. This highlights how Japan still has a rocky relationship with the LGBT community, as LGBT rights remain limited. Nevertheless, the evolution of LGBT representation in anime clearly shows that there is more positive representation now compared to a few decades ago.
