In Celebration of Queer Anime: Its History, What to Watch, & What’s Next
Photo Courtesy of MAPPA
Queerness in Japan has a tumultuous history. At one time, long ago, Japan had fairly open attitudes towards gender and sexuality. Same-sex relationships existed in the culture, and if you consider male Kabuki actors presenting as female in their everyday lives, as the famous Kabuki actor Yoshizawa Ayame did, there was at least a conversation to be had about transgender identity. Japan’s more recent history, however, is of a country that took a sharp turn towards conservative values. During the Meiji Era of the late 19th century, Japan made a concerted effort to emulate Western attitudes of the time. The country would become critical of homosexuality and literature featuring queer themes, seeing queer life as deviant.
The country remains conservative to this day, still not recognizing same-sex relationships and doing little to secure LGBTQ rights. But anime has long been a place where queer expression flows freely. In many cases, anime has been the medium of choice to protest dominant political ideologies, championing queer characters through LGBTQ anime series in a society that refuses to acknowledge their existence.
At a time when queer media is being threatened by out-of-touch senators and pearl-clutching Republicans across the United States, and continues to exist precariously on the fringes of Japanese society, this Pride Month, let’s talk about some exceptional queer stories in anime.
The Early Years
In the 1960s and 1970s a counterculture was starting to form in Japan. Protests against conservative institutions and the rise of women’s liberation groups created an audience for more openly expressive manga and anime. Many of the works that would begin to challenge heteronormativity and play with gender identity were written by a group of women known as the Year 24 group.
Started as a manga by Keiko Takemiya in the 1970s, but airing as an Original Video Animation in 1987, The Song of Wind and Trees is one of earliest examples of what would now be considered a Boys’ Love anime. The story is set at a fictional all-boys boarding school in the south of France. The star-crossed lovers at the center of the story are Serge Battour and his roommate, the mercurial Gilbert Cocteau. What is immediately apparent is how impossibly beautiful these boys are. Compared to their classmates, Serge and Gilbert stand out. Drawn with feminine features, and in particular, the glittering, saucer-like eyes much more commonly seen on female characters of the time, Serge and Gilbert are prototypical examples of the bishonen, or “beautiful boy,” in anime. Occupying a space between male and female, the bishonen embodies all things beautiful and cares not for any notion of a gender binary. The bishonen operates with a fluidity that defies classification. This goes back well into Japanese history, when young men known as wakashu were considered to be Japan’s “third gender”, and continues in manga and anime today.
Stories like The Song of Wind and Trees feature, at their core, queer romance that is often tragic. Gilbert is a boy who has been abused, and continues to be used as a sexual object. Serge tries to save Gilbert, but faces harassment and bullying from his classmates for doing so. Their relationship is fraught with obstacles. Yet, despite this (and a short 60-minute run time), their love does shine through. The anime doesn’t shy away from depicting male-on-male romance and has a palpable sexual tension running through it. Anime (and manga) like The Song of Wind and Trees were dramatic and liberating. They fought against a conservative culture that valued the nuclear family and heteronormativity above all else. This was also a time when the envelope was pushed by some groundbreaking women.
The Lost Decades
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