Ohtori Revisited: My 18 years with Revolutionary Girl Utena
“Once upon a time…” Those first words of the opening monologue of Revolutionary Girl Utena captivated me. And every time it repeated itself, I learned more about how stories have power.
LGBTQ+ Tag
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Catherine, Trans Identities, and Representation in Japan
The inherent transphobia written into Erica’s character is reflective of Japanese society, as conformity is part of the social constructs within the country itself. Erica is the product of misinformation about lifestyles that were not visible, and still remain somewhat invisible, in a conservative society.
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DEVILMAN crybaby, Legacies of Queerness, and Diversifying Remakes
What do you do with a series that features sympathetic representation while also roundly killing its queer characters off, and does it make a difference that everybody is dying?
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Land of the Lustrous, singular “they,” and the politics of subtitles
Land of the Lustrous made minor waves by deciding to refer to almost the entire cast with neutral “they/them” pronouns. In an industry that has historically chosen binary pronouns for characters who aren’t gendered or are gendered ambiguously in the original text, this marks a small but important—and most crucially, conscious—shift.
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How Yuri!!! On ICE helped me understand myself
Last year, Yuri!!! On ICE took the anime community by storm. Whether it was from the passionate portrayal of figure skating, the queer romance, or the sincere way it cared for its characters, it resonated with many. I’m no exception.
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Persona 5 and the Abandoned Misfits
Persona 5 presents itself as a game about misfits and about exposing the unseen evils underlying Tokyo. Yet these misfits adhere to the same norms and assumptions as the oppressive adults the game claims to challenge.
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Escape from Yuri Hell: FLIP FLAPPERS’ critique of the Class S genre
In FLIP FLAPPERS Episode 5, Cocona and Papika are thrown into a world that combines Class S, a genre of sweet yuri romance, with horror. Now, what in the world could that strange combination be trying to tell us?
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The challenges of a queer immigrant and the shortcomings of A Certain Marriage
A bitter-sweet story, A Certain Marriage delves into the beauty of gay relationships and the discrimination LGBT people experience. The story, however, ultimately fails to delve into the challenges queer immigrants from Japan face living in America.
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The Quiet Revolutions of Contemporary Japanese Queer Novels
As a Southeast Asian, there are days when I wonder if my feelings are real and worth caring about. Where I live, videos blare about what it means to have a family and to be proper husbands and wives. Heterosexual families are the default unit in Asian societies, and going against them is considered not just sexually deviant, but morally wrong.
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Why We Call it “Yuri”
“Yuri” is a complicated word and a complicated genre. Complicated, because words often change shape after they have been coined and exceed their roots, sometimes even completely changing their meaning to the opposite of their original intent.
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Fanservice, bawdy comedy, and sexuality in Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid
To break a bit from the usual “Versus” model, I wanted to explore three different kinds of sex-focused narrative models—exploitative fanservice, bawdy comedy, and honest explorations of sexuality—all found in a single show: Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid.
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An Analysis of Magical Sex-Change (TSF) Manga
Transsexual fiction/fantasy is a genre of stories featuring the transformation of the main character from one sex to another, usually through coercion or by accident. While these stories can often resonate with trans viewers, they can also feature a variety of problems.
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How Girl Friends reflects a real queer experience
When I found the manga Girl Friends, I was not only excited to see a yuri that seemed made for me and other queer women; I also felt as though I related to the girls on a very intimate level because of the authenticity presented in their relationship.
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“Trapped” by Fandom: The very real harm of calling “trap” a genre
Referring to a person who dresses and passes as a woman as a “trap” is extremely dangerous. The idea that trans women are traps implies that they cause harm to (cis) men and women, which perpetuates the fear-mongering that allows society at large to defend people who murder trans women.
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Consider the Lilies of the Field: The case for yuri manga
Yuri manga is an entire genre of comics about girls and women falling in love. So why is it so often overlooked by queer and feminist fans?
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From Eroica with Love is the 1970s gay thief caper you never knew you needed
Eroica is often recommended based on its delightfully out-there narrative elements, but none of that quite compares to getting to see a gay protagonist star in a comedic spy thriller.
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Love in the Time of ClassicaLoid
ClassicaLoid may be first-and-foremost a wacky comedy, but it’s also proven itself adept at quietly challenging cultural norms about gender and sexuality. Guess it’s true you should never judge a book by its cover—or a series by its goofy premise.
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Masaki C. Matsumoto shares his experiences as a queer and feminist activist
Masaki C. Matsumoto gives us his insights into the experience of being a queer activist and self-identified feminist in Japan.
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Straight Guys!!! on ICE
In episode 7, Yuri on Ice directly connected Victor to famous gay skater Johnny Weir. Meanwhile, members of the anime fandom are digging their heels in about whether Victor throwing himself lips first at Yuri was actually gay.
