#well i exist in the context of all the yaoi in which i live and all the yaoi which came before me !!

[wisteriagoesvroom]

*gently pokes you with a stick til you write this*

Is there a plot, or just vibes... like what is going on in this universe... okay... *rolls sleeves up* lemme try to headcanon it a little:

Oscar is a rising star in product engineering, and was hired based on a prototype he was developing in his Imperial College dorm room. Barely settled into his new office gig, he is told to present a demo of said product on the mainstage of his tech company employer's next big conference, where they announce their latest product rollouts for the year.

Oscar really hates public speaking, and has never been very good at it. Enter Lando - deputy head of marketing and charmboy extraordinnaire - who is assigned to get him up to scratch.

Other universe details that probably only I care about: Adam Norris is the new CFO who brings his son into the picture. There are definitely two overworked interns on both their teams who have to manage all their weird quirks and Lando's idiosyncratic JIRA board hygiene. Surely there must be an ugly conference t-shirt. No wait– Oscar sleeps with Lando at the conference rehearsal, but the first time is kinda unexpected, and also Oscar spilled red wine on himself the previous night which necessitated him going up to Lando's hotel room for Plot Convenient Reasons (sex). Morning after, Oscar has to borrow one of Lando's t shirts and it ends up being a neon prototype that was manufactured as an error. And Oscar's like "you cannot expect me to walk out like this", and it's like. "Well either that or you walk around the city shirtless sorry mate." (Oscar takes the L, but he really hates green highlighters from that point on and nobody really knows why. Lando thinks it's hilarious and buys him copious amounts of hot chocolate to make up for it even though it was never his fault. He just likes buying hot chocolate for Oscar.)

There is also definitely an icebreaking joint activity that they both do, like indoor rock climbing, in order to get to know each other. Except Lando is like, spectacularly good at it, and Oscar (a) lies about his competency in rock climbing (b) is deathly afraid of heights. But Oscar refuses to be a wimp so doesn't say a single thing until he reaches the top of a really challenging wall and Lando is like: woah you did so amazing! Now let go and come down! and Oscar is like: I can't! Lando: wdym?? Oscar: I hate heights. Like "my sisters used to lure me to the roof with a ladder and then take the ladder away", hate heights. Lando: BRO.....your PRIDE.... (but he's also secretly going insane because Oscar clearly just wanted an excuse to spend the morning with him.)

Their first kiss is after Lando belays Oscar safely to the ground, obviously. Adrenalin, and stuff.

[bentosandbox]

Lappy fancam animatic blogging/production notes

now that wolfgirlyaoi is out on global its rambling time about my powerpoint presentation

Concept

Originally I wanted to do an (Tex & Lapp) animatic with the boss theme (broken wall/Signore dei Lupi .mp3) ever since the event dropped but I thought 1) by the time I finished anything someone else would have probably already done it first (lol, lmao even) 2) I remembered the song exists and how much i looped it then while listening to the group's new album drop and thought the lyrics fit Lapp a little too well and also doesn't end abruptly like the boss theme + was shorter so yea

initial stickman storyboard where i put down the lyrics with event dialogue/happenings that i felt would fit nicely together > hastily scribble the images that form in my head

storyboards were basically what i wanted to see (same rule as my comics) lol especially if they weren't shown in the event CGs, eg. there's a CG of the truck crashing into the courtroom so I didn't do that but they didn't mention her physical acting in that scene + the song I used has a bow/salute at that exact part in their live choreo with the very similar line so I wanted to do a homage even though-

-I was like it's going to be such a pain to figure out an economical hand twirl and bow but I have to do this I need to transplant the image in my brain onto the screen because official media did not do a—

Honestly still don't know if its a common phrase and action combo because I was having so much trouble finding external references that wasn't just scrubbing the live video over and over anyway

part of the storyboards were 'recycled' from comic drafts I did (of the chocolate scene because ofc) when the event was running on CN

Originally I wanted to draw Lapp feeding Texas for The Girlyaoi Funny but I wanted to reference the plaque you get which is a Creation of Adam reference right but I also saw people saying it's referencing the scene from Silence of the Lambs lol so...peel the layers to your liking!!

(The chocolate flavour choice was from asking my Columbian friends what the worst chocolate flavour they ever tried which was white coconut)

my sorry attempt at colour keys > final spreadsheet to keep track of progress and paste all the dialogue i put in

Art Direction

A bunch of shots/colour schemes are references to Måneskin's stuff or other media tehepero I'll just put a few here

At first I was going to limit red/blue to tex/lapp respectively but since Omertosa is blue I just did away with that rule and lapp gets to have both (and more!) these two colours have pretty obvious emotional readings I think but also

red = self blue = society Siracusa or: red = yaoi & blue = yuri

for the others:

Purple = Alberto/Saluzzo, its not orange like the fruit he keeps holding because see below; I needed the colour for something else LOL Also the Saluzzos are iirc nobility or whatever and they have purple hints in their clothes so I think it was a good fit anyway

Yellow/Orange = Its supposed to be representing the last word in the story which apparently, yostar went with 'Savagery' which is Correct I guess but (laments again about how nuance is lost in localisation because imo savagery has a more derogatory kind of connotation while I think 蛮荒 in context of the story also has a 'nature/untouched by civilisation' side to it) which is why Texas setting the house on fire was not (entirely) red but orange (and it complements the blues both visually and thematically) and it's yellow at the end when they're frolicking(?) in the wilderness lol

(these colour rules don't apply to the penglog shot and technically a few frames like the shot with shocked penance, the one right after and 'im just lappy' because...i forgor my own rules lol)

The greens/teals were just a reference to the shades in the 3DPV I think

The silhouette/general style was inspired from the 3D teaser thing they had at the beginning of the 3.5 anniversary stream and the card suits that I..forgot to move to the other layers which is why only the green one had them (supposed to be 1 per set 💀)

The clash bit is basically the same as the event CG but with a flipped camera/POV sorry for world's worst screenshot lmao. Couldn't imagine the poses in my head so I ended up posing 3d models in CSP pretty good posing practice

These shots got rendered extra because..they were the first frames I started on and I was still figuring out how much to simplify lol

I also posed the chairs shot for some inexplicable reason…my file was lagging so bad

Headcanon part (kind of)

The childhood flashback scene is probably the part I took the most liberties (headcanon) on since it's not explicitly canon like the rest...the sequence/how I connected the scenes itself to fabricate a timeline of her childhood was kind of inspired by some weibo post musing about how (iirc) texas's sweet tooth maybe came from when she was being fostered at casa Saluzzo and Lapp treating her like a pet essentially and giving her a lot of treats since...you know what happened to her actual pet hehe except maybe texas offered her a stick first and then Lappy just reciprocated endlessly because its one of the few 'acts' she knew that wasn't violence haha yeah this section was basically a stealth doujin sorry

It's mentioned that she was brought up as the ideal Siracusan or whatever and she does the cute doodle in the 3DPV so I thought she probably had the Forced Music Lessons as a kid (The music sheets are Bella Ciao and of course)

The bow choreo was the one thing i really wanted to animate but the music sheet segment (based on that one split second shot above) ended up being my favourite part even though compositing the motion was a mini hell on it's own (ended up compiling a long png to scroll by with the red doodles layered over)

Other things

I will never live down my (self-imposed) shame of misspelling the title (I fixed the title on youtube but its why the ending shot in the upload says ZittE e Buoni instead of ZittI e Buoni) don't rush your fancam in 10 days 😔

I didn't look through the entirety of the EN loc but Idk why they had Lappy say 'Then go.' to Texas when it's supposed to be more like 'Let's go.' as in, 'let's go together' as opposed to 'alright off you go to the greyhall alone' lmfao also her saying goodbye forever padre when addio is right there

I don't think I'm insane enough to do another ppt soon but man this pair really makes the 'imagines a whole music video while listening to music' part of my brain go wheee like first it was Starset's Manifest then Signore de Lupi then this and while working on this one i was thinking how Måneskin's Torna A Casa would be another good track

ok ty for reading #GIRLYAOIREAL

[saezurumurmurs]

Hey!!...how are you??. I just wanted to ask you about what do you think about Alice Osman words about bl/yaoi. From my point of view, she sounds quite pretencious, because I dont feel "heartstoppers" is that great , and she just from be british she has the opprtunity a big plattaform as netflix oppen their doors, so she cant imagine what is been an asian author and how actually his work is BL.

Taking Advantage of A Fandom

I watched the show, and haven’t read the comic. However @absolutebl posted a terrific commentary on this issue a while back:

From my perspective, BL and by extension, yaoi, is a uniquely Asian sub genre of erotic romance.

Alice Osman is a British creator who wrote a young adult LGBT+ romance comic. So the comparisons made seem ‘convenient’ for ‘marketing purposes’.

I personally resent the accusations lobbed against fujoshi of fetishisation, because it’s rooted in anti-woman rhetoric and I won’t have my tastes dictated to me. Everybody has opinions, but not all of them are valid.

BL is full of problematic tropes, just like regular M/F romance… and I’ve been reading romance and erotica for forty odd years. But these tropes are part of romance as a genre, and these tropes reflect our lived context. To single out BL/Yaoi as unique is nonsense. The tropes exist because the reality exists. Storytelling exists to allow us to find empathy for one another.

There are some good academic pieces out there, that debate this far better than I can. What I can tell you is that the internalised and externalised misogyny regarding BL content, is quite painful to me. Somebody always gotta rush on to tell women what they can and cannot enjoy. Dictate their sexuality and shame them for their pleasures.

We literally can’t have a damn thing nice, without some bozo trying to make us feel bad because we like it. Chile, I’m too old for that shit. We are allowed to like what we like, and enjoy problematic media just like anyone else. We are people too!

And lest you think otherwise: homophobia and transphobia’s roots are in anti-woman thinking and policies. That women do it to other women… well, it’s nice to be somebody’s favourite pet isn’t it. You get a padded cage, and the best kibble.

Osman benefits from the BL label, even though her story isn’t in my opinion BL. But criticising and alienating potential readers within the BL fandom seems to be a bit of a sport across ‘BL’ as it’s being broadly defined here. Because throwing shade on fans happens too much… by too many creators both Asian and Western.

Which is interesting, because the global market consuming this content is HUGE. You don’t understand the numbers of people reading Painter of The Night. I believe last year, it was more than all the people who bought romance novels in the West COMBINED. So if you think the Western authors don’t know the market for their stories are pale compared to what BL is doing on a global level, I should encourage you all to get interested in the business of BL. There is a lot of money and soft power in it.

But because it’s a FEMALE audience interested in SMUTTY stories, well… it’s a PROBLEM. Even in the countries of origin.

I get that we should analyze the problematic tropes in BL/Yaoi, but that’s what storytelling is for. I’m not for false equivalencies, because I personally disdain most Western content… and where do you see these types of stories in profusion from Western creators? No place. That’s where.

Maybe Osman has feelings because her story is no Painter of The Night. Maybe somebody asked her one too many times about our smutty stories… and what we got was shade and salt.

I did watch Heartbreaker on Netflix, and it was cute but I don’t feel compelled to rewatch it, the way I do say KinnPorsche or Love In The Air. I haven’t been moved to hunt down the comic to find out what happens next, the way I did when I watched that last scene of Twittering Birds Never Fly: The Clouds Gather.

Chile… Osman could NEVA.

[swallowerofdharma]

Yes, this is exactly why I have been collecting these quotes here, in a blog mostly dedicated to the analysis of two different manga, two different visual stories, that have something in common: the depiction - in images and words, of states of mind and actions - of trauma: from the event/events that caused the wound or fracture to the condition of living with it and through it, dramatically changed by it. Because these aren’t real people, it is possible for me to look at this pain without feeling that I am prying on someone else’s, someone too real. Where the writers took the inspiration I can’t know and don’t need to know, but through their sensibilities they show that they have access to an understanding of pain and trauma and through art they transform reality into representations and narratives accessible to me to look at. How these manga are created, with a primary author that has to work within margins of freedom of expression - very limited censorship for example - yet within the reason of readability by people who belong to niche cultures - can lead to a particular kind of language in which expressions of pain and discomfort haven’t yet been suppressed or absorbed into various current ideologies that surround and influence our understanding of pain and trauma.

Casca is someone who doesn’t exist yet I can read about her, see her, because an artist imagined her and used her to express a number of things: how to live in a female body and be part of a group of mercenary men, how to fight for more than survival and how to become used to violence and war, how to trust and dream and how to be betrayed, how to get to have a little glimpse of the possibility of being accepted and loved both in mind and body, only to have that experience used against her. The types of horror and fear she experiences, the exploitation of her vulnerabilities are especially crude, but I don’t detect a form of misogyny in her representation, rather a form of exploration of the horror and fear of bodily harm, of sexual assault, of loss of autonomy or loss of self equally experienced by all of us, women or young men quite similarly. Reading yaoi to understand the context of the production of other stories within the same medium, and going back to Shōjo manga during transformative times like the 1960s and 1970s, I have noticed that many women mangaka would rather use male bodies to explore that type of narratives around trauma and/or sexuality. In some of the stories that followed, that we indicate as yaoi manga - the exploitation of male bodies - in the complete absence of representation of female bodies - can became gratuitous the more they try to replicate a model that sold well but without the same authenticity or inspiration, if you want. But this is an open world of possibilities.

What I have observed about Casca and other female characters in Berserk is the tenacity of the author to have characters who represent experiences differently and cooperate with the main character, a wounded man, and offer him insight into a world that isn’t exclusively male and made of fights and violence, of prevarication and conflict. Guts and Casca both survived the graphic violence of the Eclipse: rather than only seeing Casca as a disempowered victim, rather than understanding the choices about her characterization as bad writing, bad choices or an attack or general misogyny, I am looking harder to maybe find out if Miura was doing something that women mangaka showed him: the representation of horror and fear and in this case the representation of the fractured self and regression and loss of autonomy that the main character can’t have, because he needs to continue the story, and at the same time the impossibility of being able to fully represent the trauma in a body that is our own, so we use the “other”. Guts needs to understand how to stop the cycle of violence to have some form of success in the economy of the story and Miura surrounded him with women and girls like Schierke and Farnese and men and boys like Rickert, Serpico and Isidro and bright magical creatures, and a changed Casca, a woman that can’t give him any reward, especially of sexual nature, can’t give him something back nor can have his back in violence anymore, although they would reminisce about the past. Casca has been given a different role as a child herself and mother to a lost child, a woman who finds comfort in the company of other women, so different from when she was the only one, alone in a world of men. She was the one who had to adapt, now Guts has to adapt to her. How that will go? we can only hope that Miura left a solid indication to work with, now the story is told by someone else. And this can be disappointing to women who read the story and see a representation of gender roles that appear to be backwards, when in fact the story wants Guts to learn to be more of a person than a beast, to learn from the experience of others who are different from the people he grew used to, violent mercenary men who will always have the same response to trauma: more violence. Men that can’t fathom the possibility of showing the effects of debilitating trauma through silence or insanity or withdrawal or unconventional but non violent behavior and the need for compassionate people who won’t reject you and still value you.

Casca and Guts to me in various moments are the same character, what Miura couldn’t show through Guts he showed through Casca. A male writer, addressing a mostly male readership as his primary audience and mostly picturing themselves in the story, artist and readers: he isn’t catering to the wishes and psychological needs of a female readership. That’s freedom of expression too. Women can write and have written fictional characters and stories that have been using male bodies to show, understand and exorcise their fears and desires, often times completely disregarding the possibility of representing themselves or their physical bodies in the story. I am just fascinated by these forms of expression and I want to treat them as sources for reflection rather than for some intended or unintended recreational purposes. Misunderstandings and recriminations or manifestations of anger or disappointment, complaints and insults are just part of those recreational practices when we talk about media, visual media especially. I can occasionally see the point of that, but mostly I want to be able to understand artists and their expressions better, when they caught my attention like this.

Virtually every survivor of trauma, whether or not they experience diagnosable post-traumatic stress, returns to the regular world and quickly recognizes that things are not as they were. People behave differently. There is an element of strangeness, a sense, often uncommunicated, of being marked by a kind of scarlet letter, even if one has not violated any moral code. In fact, in these situations, one’s degree of innocence or complicity in events can seem almost beside the point, as if one’s luck or simple fate is what is at stake. Often this change of perception is expressed in physical, spatial terms, as if the scope of what has transpired is so vast that it serves to alter one’s material position in the world.

David J. Morris, The Evil Hours

[sophiapathic]

Sk8: The Infinity - A Take on Love

Because my six unfinished assignments can wait until I throw this into the void, scream for five hours and after my voice gets hoarse, I resort to watching the beach episode on loop until next Saturday.

This was entirely sparked by the recap episode, which really pressed the reak havoc and theorize button in my brain. I am truly losing my grip on reality. Help. I apologize in advance, creatures of Tumblr. 

Me right now:

Anyways... 

I saw people mention here and there screaming that “we need canon relationships and they will get trust issues if a romance isn’t confirmed by the end of the series”. I think that mindset is harmful to have in this case. You can’t really avoid being disappointed if you get into the series expecting it to deliver on your wishes of gay romances. So, this might be controversial, but stay with me please. The anime and manga are both confirmed to be based primarily about the characters themselves and of course the sport -skating. I was hoping to take a closer look at what the series intends to do with certain dynamics and relationships according to yours truly. I also want explain my reasoning behind it not being queerbaiting, though it being inherently queer-coded, through the current lense of the canon.

Sk8: The Infinity is unquestionably a love story.

We need to state the genres this series is in, because some of us tend to forget. It is in fact not a shounen-ai, not a yaoi, not a romance, not even a josei. Say it with me it is a series in: COMEDY and SPORTS.

(Source is the official US Sk8 website.) The spotlight is udoubtedly on skating and what it means. Another important highlight of the show is how the definition of the sport relates to the characters, and how vastly different they are from what we expect. For example, when we see Shadow first, we pigeonhole him into this vulgar indecent rock and roll persona, only to find out later that he is actually a stweetheart at a flower shop. Joe is another very good case study. When we first see him we think of him as a womanizer muscle-head, later we find out he has a heart of gold and is very emotionally intelligent. We’re also quick to judge Miya as the cold, unfeeling prodigy then we discover how lonely and normal he is on the inside. And so on and so on. 

The show continues to defy our expectations of what each character should be like. In a way it is about breaking the conventional stereotypical roles we subconsciously assign to certain looks. We see that even in anime, multifaceted characters can exist without distrupting or damaging the delicate dynamics of a traditional sports anime. We successfully established the second focal point of the series as disproving stereotypes and presenting strong, diverse and unexpected personalities.

How about the defition of skating? What does it mean in the context of Sk8: The Infinity then? Where does a love story come into the picture? Skating is repeatedly described as a ritual of love within the anime, an idea that our villian, Ad*m, is obessed with. In a sense skating is a language of love canonically.

Then skating itself is love. Throughout the series we see varied styles of skating therefore different ways of expressing love, affection. We get to experience several metaphorical ways of “being in love” through characters skating with each other. Each dynamic shows us a type of love. Healthy, disfunctional, outright abusive. 

The way Reiki teaches Langa to skate can be interpreted as a direct metaphor for someone learning to love again after losing a person close to them. Langa’s father has died and Reiki literally brings him out of his shell again. It can also be interpreted as a queer kid’s experience of a world of romance that feels similar to his previous one, that being snowboarding, yet it still being new and different. Skateboarding. When due to Reiki Langa’s potential is discovered and his hunger for more and more develops, especially next to Ad*m, Reiki’s main frustration stems from them not being well-matched or on equal footing anymore. He feels like he cannot give Langa what he needs anymore. Which would obviously go againts the literal description of a healthy romance. Two people with mutual respect who both bring equal assets to the table. He feels like he needs to catch-up to be with Langa again. The only thing he doesn’t consider is Langa’s deep appreciation of him and the fact that literally he was the one who helped Langa experince the feeling of love again.

Kojiro and Kaoru’s relationships, to me, is very much representative of two people  wanting to be in each other’s presence, but due to their different language of love, miscommunicating horribly. Them bantering and insulting each other is the only way they know what to do with the other. The only way they can ensure the other’s attention and eyes are on them. This has worked so far. They are literal opposites, but both have a very clear definition of their form of love. To Joe skating, or love itself, is about the feeling and going with the flow. Being spontaneous. Whereas for Cherry, every move needs to be calculated and executed perfectly in order to be “efficient”. Their frustration comes from both wanting different things from the other, but not communicating their need properly. Despite this, they stick together due to a magnetic pull they obviously feel towards the other. The attraction is there, the trust is there, they are even well-matched in skill as we see them neck-to-neck constantly. They could give each other what the other wants. Only if they could express themselves well... This is why Joe pushes Reiki towards reconciling with Langa. he wants them to not fall into the same trap of not stating their  needs and thoughts properly.

Now Ad*m and Langa are obviously problematic and I don’t really want to have to explain, honestly guys. I really don’t  (since I have trauma regarding this subject), but I need to go into this a little bit. This is a textbook toxic predatory relationship. Where the older, twisted, damaged person, has an obsession with a young, outstading child. He wants to lead him into “Paradise” and show his “Eve” what love is really about. (Ain’t that disgusting you guys...) His form of love is inflicting pain, so I really can’t imagine a scenario where he and his “Eve” live happily ever after and everything is fine and dandy. He needs someone who he can torture. He literally is looking for someone who can handle his way of expressing affection, his “love hug”, who has the same type of crazy eyes for adrenaline and danger. His Eve. In his distorted mind, this all makes sense and Langa is that someone he was looking for thoughout the years. The problem is, he disregards Langa’s side where the relationship becomes problematic.

Cherry and Ad*m during their younger years seems to be a very innocent infatuation on Kaoru’s end. It is a one-sided relationship where someone is in love with the idea of a person long gone. They were discovering the world of skating, or the world of love together with Ad*m taking the lead. Cherry immediately became infatuated with him, wanted to learn his love language, wanted to be at the same level he was. It probably started very innocent. At first, Ad*m being gentle, because that’s how Tadashi was with him too, then after whatever happened between those two, Ad*m, disappointed in the way of love, or skating, Tadashi showed him, returned to what his aunts taught him. Maybe after injuring Kaoru with the “love hug”, therefore eliminating him from being his potential partner, started looking for his “Eve”, gradually became more agressive in love as in skating. Kaoru was distraught and wanted the Ad*m he originally learned love from back. Holding out some hope even years after. Trained to get used to his “love hug”, to literally condition himself to be able to get close to him. Ad*m, however showed Cherry brutally that he truly cannot handle his way of love.

Ad*m and Tadashi. *sighs* As of this post, I don’t really have enough information to give you a good overview of what I see this relationship representing. As far as I can tell Ad*m was abused horribly and to ease the pain and make him forget, Tadashi showed his another way of expressing affection. Skating or love. Basically a first love gone horrible bad, scarring an already abused child and turning them into a monster. Tadashi himself reinstates this during one of the episodes. It was his fault that Ad*m turned out the way he did. Their love slowly became strongly abusive throughout the years. Tadashi is stuck in it because he feels like he deserves it. This is a metaphor for  dangers of an emotionally and physically abusive relationship, where one person feels responsible and the other is using power. Tadashi’s guilt keeps him next to his master and he even endures abuse, now he is trying to break out and show Ad*m he messed up and I think this could potentially be a good representation of how difficult that process truly is. 

As far as Reiki’s, Miya’s, Shadow’s skating goes. Their main arc relating to love is first and foremost learning to accept themselves and aprecciating their uniqe way and style of skating. Only after can they become people who can truly be accomplished in love/skating (in Miya’s case I’m obviously talking about platonic feelings). Each of them had a preconception of their persona in love/skating, which gets questioned heavily throughout the series. Miya gets defeated, Shadow’s soft side gets discovered, Reiki... well. I get sad. :c Even though he taught someone to love again, to appreciate life again, he ended up discovering how dissatisfied he truly is with himself... These three all need to learn to love every aspect of themselves to reach fulfillment and to really experience healthy human relationships.

Sk8: The Infinity is unquestionably a love story, without explicitly being a romance, meaning that it is a tale about love, both romantic, platonic and everything inbetween through a queer-coded lens, showing both dysfunctional, abusive and healthy relationships, ways to express emotions and even delves into self-love and the idea of nature versus nurture in the villian’s case.

That is why I, personally don’t scream for a canon couple. To me, the show gets its main point about affection and love across, without making any of these relationships explicitly stated. Not to mention that it does justice to both of its assigned genres. Comedy and Sports as well. Yeah sure, I wouldn’t complain, but I think these dynamics are more than satisfying to watch, and much deeper than bishounens wanting to bang each other, which is, in my opinion, inherently sexualized. If they want, yeah they can confirm, make it canon without forcing it to be a center storyline. Hell, I would even be happy about it. I would clap with all of us. BUT, as the series currently is, I really see it taking the other route because of the above. This way audiences who want a yaoi or ikemen going at it, won’t be disappointed with the series when they find doesn’t revolve around that, straight viewers will just find it flamboyant, and people who look for subtext and want to read between the lines will certainly do that with the amount of crumbs and hints the writers gave us. 

We don’t need outright, written in black and white gay representation in Sk8 to experience very real types of love. The queer theme is secondary to me, just like queerness is, in most people’s lives. Yeah sure, it is a big thing, but not the only attribute a person has. My life doesn’t revolve around my queerness. I rarely talk about it. If I was a main character this would be a side-arc. Just like Sk8 doesn’t revolve around the characters coming out. It’s just them living their lives and possibly being queer while doing so. If you look at it this way, it is almost normalizing attraction between same-sex people by just showing it as regular love. If you can, why not interpret it this way, so it can be a liberating experience instead of a disappointing one.

Please don’t attack me! I am fragile and this is only my opinion. c:  *crawls back into her hole*

[mangacapsaicin]

are you okay with girls liking yaoi?

i really don't think the framing of questions like this (or like "is it okay for men to like yuri" which is another question i've gotten on this blog which caused...a bit of controversy) are helpful. it doesn't encourage critical thinking about why people engage with certain genres or behaviors wrt the media they consume, and it's too broad to be useful.

fetishizing and commodifying mlm/mlm relationships is undeniably harmful, and there's absolutely no denying that women can be intensely homophobic in their treatment of gay men, and this is absolutely reflected in and influenced by their relationship to the media they consume. but—as i said about men liking yuri—the mere act of enjoying gay romance isn't wrong or unethical no matter who you are. it's more a matter of how you view your relationship to that media, e.g., the homophobic notion that consuming romance between two men is weirder or more shameful than consuming heterosexual romance, or trying to conceptualize the lived experiences of real gay men through the fantasy lens of BL. so whether or not you "like" something often isn't enough to go on when assigning a moral value to it. it's more useful to talk about how you perceive yourself (and others) in relation to it, whether you can engage critically with it and are open to understanding the cultural context and social dynamics in which it exists.

i will also say that BL attracts women for different reasons than yuri attracts men; the gender dynamics are different, so they aren't just two sides of the same coin. for example, i got an ask on my main a while back where i wrote a little about how BL often serves a particular purpose for wlw (mostly bi women ime, but i know some lesbians as well who are into BL) to explore homosexuality at a "safe distance" from their own lived experiences. this logic also applies more broadly to why women, including straight women, are attracted to BL in general though—the fantasy of a romance unburdened by patriarchy (of course, in real life, gay men often have a much more complicated relationship to patriarchy, of which heterosexuality and gender conformity are still essential components). all of this has been written about by a lot of people way smarter and more knowledgeable on the subject than i am, though, so i don't wanna speak too much on it.

speaking of, i do wanna give a shoutout to @fujoshimenacecw which is a new project working to examine the cultural underpinnings and sociopolitical context of BL. if you're interested in critical consumption of BL media this is definitely something to keep an eye on.

[rebellionbeach]

The Usami brothers and whole family as a whole are really interesting characters.  Due mostly by the fact of how different Haruhiko and Akihiko are yet similar in many ways as well.  Let’s start with rabbit boy.

Not only is this man extremely sexy but he’s also one of the most popular novelists in Japan believe it or not (not in real life guys)  Akihiko is the presumably biological son of Natsuko and Fuyuhiko and younger brother of Haruhiko Usami.  Growing up, he had always yearned for the attention of his parents, wanting to impress them and make them happy.  Haruhiko had actually been introduced to the Usami household at the age of 12 so Akihiko was 10 at the time and significant development seemed to grow from this change.  As shown from volume 21, everyone had been cheering Akihiko on as the legitimate heir of the Usami family meaning to take over the family business however he had never gotten this support from his parents before.  As a young child he had believed that if he just tried harder and became good at everything, then his parents would finally recognize him.  However, this wasn’t the case unfortunately as shown in the same volume once a young Akihiko came home from school gaining full marks on a test, eager to show his father when he caught him telling Haruhiko that he truly intended to make him the heir of the family business.  This impact was further felt once his mother, who had also witnessed this, declared that she should have never bore Fuyuhiko’s child which in the eyes of a young child must have been completely shattering.  An important seed was planted however and I believe that it was at this moment that Akihiko had started to evolve into the person he is today.  He poured all his emotion, pain, loss, suffering into his notebooks, his stories, proclaiming it to be his entire world.  Overtime we see that Akihiko grows to be very adept at the talent, being one of the top-selling authors from debut which occurred while still in high school and becoming a full-fledged novelist.  Doing this, he completely rejected his family and any connections he might have had to take over the business.  

Looking as Akihiko today it is very clear the type of individual he is, independent and self-serving, he’s his own boss and does only the things he wants to do.  From the first episode of season 2 we see this as there is a key event that takes place between the two Usami brothers in which a confrontation between two escalates into a full-out argument over Akihiko coming back to, as I assume, take over the lead of the Usami company and or serve there.  I will note later on Haruhiko’s tone and content of his language but it’s Akihiko’s response which truly stuck out to me as he stated that he had no inclination of going back to that house and if that Haruhiko truly didn’t like being there then why doesn’t he just leave as well.

This point may seem entirely irrelevant but I actually believe it highlights an essential part of Akihiko’s character that not only serves as his strength but also a blind spot in that of his independence.  Akihiko is the type of person who is able to do the things he’d like to do and encourages the people he cares about, basically Misaki, to do the same such as in episode 2 of season 3 where he is actually the one who encourages Misaki to enter into Marukawa after Misaki dismisses those thoughts as just a fantasy.  This is a thing for his relationship with Misaki as he allows the man a different perspective and in a way allows him, or at least encourages him, to be more selfish.  However this can also be seen as a flaw of his character as it can be interpreted that the only reason he has this lax and independent personality in the first place is because of his more well-off family and the fact that he’d had connections from the start.  In all honestly though, this part of Usagi-san’s personality is one of the main reasons why I actually enjoy his character, along with his thoughtful nature, as I believe that it’s a pretty unique and well-suited trait.

Let’s get into Harry Potter or the eldest brother of the Usami residence, Haruhiko.  Haruhiko isn’t Akihiko’s direct brother as stated before but rather a product of an affair that Fuyuhiko had with his mother.  For the first 12 years of his life, Haruhiko had actually been raised by his single-mother whom he loved very much.  During these times he had been seen to be much more happy despite living in poorer circumstances.  This is a large aspect that is pretty big onto why he is the way he is today.  After his mother tragically passing on, Fuyuhiko took him into to live in the Usami residence.  Now this in itself is absolutely devastating, living with a father-figure that had never truly been there for you with a new mother-in-law that despises your every existence because you’re the proof of the infidelities of her marriage and a new younger brother who seemed lifeless from the rest of this.  Top it all off with the devastation from losing the only person you truly loved and was there for you and damn I’m surprised that Haruhiko didn’t full out lose it.  

Now going back to the scene originally discussed with Akihiko’s backstory, let us switch perspective onto Haruhiko during this situation.  Your new dad just stated that the person he had truly loved in his lifetime was your dead mother and that he intended to make you, a 12 year old child, the heir of their family company that you had just learned about.  Not only this but everyone around you is your enemy as shown through all the people cheering on Akihiko to become the true heir and saying that Haruhiko stole his position.  There is basically no one there to support you, similar to Akihiko, and unlike Akihiko he actually was not used to this new circumstance making the situation even worse. 

I’d like to discuss the scene stated before during episode 1 of season 2.  Here, Haruhiko is visibly angry as Akihiko’s lack of care for his role in the Usami residence.  This is something we’ve never actually gotten to see ever since with Haruhiko barely showing any emotion at all.  However, if you take in the full context of his upbringing and circumstance to that point, you can see a fuller picture of what the man has gone through to become the stoic chosen one we know today.  Akihiko, after being hoisted by Isaka to finally start publishing his works, his entire being, finally achieved success independent from the Usami residence, marking himself finally as an individual allowing him to finally see that he only needs himself.  I think this is what caused Akihiko to cut most connection from his family, despite the occasional visits, and totally puts himself away from the idea of succeeding and become the heir of his family’s company.  This leaves Haruhiko with the burden of shouldering the entire Usami company’s future, something he never truly wanted to today with architecture being his main priority.  What he see’s in Akihiko is this lazy, selfish person who only thinks of himself, abandoning all his familial duties to a brother whom he barely batted an eye to during childhood.  This is what he hates in Akihiko, but also envies.  A very interesting point that season 2 makes with the connection between the Usami brothers is the inherent jealously Haruhiko feels toward Akihiko, with him trying to steal things from him during their upbringing together according to Akihiko.  Even Misaki finally has this revelation during episode 8 I believe when he was distracting him from Kaoruko.  I think his jealously mainly stems from the fact that Akihiko got his independence while Haruhiko is still confined to the Usami gates.  With all of Akihiko’s absent-minded behavior and to quote Haruhiko, “having the eyes of a dead fish”, Akihiko in the end still achieved that sense of independence that Haruhiko could only dream about having.  Add onto the fact that everyone around you hates that you got this position, lobbying for your younger half-brother who barely gives in the effort to succeed you, then baby that’s a recipe for childhood resentment if I’ve ever seen one.  

So what does this all mean, well nothing since this is an over-analysis on a yaoi manga but in a reality I think it comes to show the clear dynamic Haruhiko and Akihiko have on one another.  In recent chapters it is shown that Haruhiko is more and more aspiring in his own pursuits in architecture, even accepting his position as lead of the Usami household and accepting the fact that he’ll never get Misaki, wanting to stay as his ally instead (which is a lot more than I can say for a CERTAIN manga author).

I love Haruhiko AND Akihiko, they both are really great characters and I’d think it would be nice if in the future they could perhaps reconcile their relationship and kind of start to get along.  The Usami household fucked up a lot of kids but they are still going strong and who knows, maybe Haruhiko might get a lover in the future (AKA Todo)

Thank you and now I implore you to go listen to Nelson’s After the Rain album, 10/10 made me cry.

[yisanged]

i picked the option to make this go for a week without meaning to whoops. might as well milk it a bit i guess. it's funny. context is a reblog from the yaoi poll:

and below the cut are some facts about both that may sway your opinion one way or another. or just random trivia that means nothing

kim dokja: gay, transphobic but mostly gets over it, only reads webnovels, has gotten reported on forums for repeatedly trying to get people to read his favorite webnovel which he read for 13 years even though it sucked and no one else would read it because it because it sucked, commented on every single chapter of said novel (all 3149 of them), did contract work without a real job before the apocalypse, adopted several children, beat up a guy as part of a trade once, established a monopoly on food in a place where people were struggling to get by, many other instances of arguably unethical business deals, wants to live in a big house with all of his friends, has little problem with killing and lying, actively worked against existing higher powers and established his own place amongst them

yoo joonghyuk: also gay but in denial, genderness but in denial, explicitly canonically stated "pro gamer", died like 2000 times trying to achieve the same goal, wants all his friends to stay alive, is an unemployed terrorist at some point, good at cooking, astronaut, admirable older brother figure, widely accepted to be one of the strongest fighters in the world, drinks tea but evidently only herbal, has gotten spanked actually in novel, often threatens people with physical violence, gets hit on as in romantically/sexually multiple times in the story, also gets hit and hits others as in like physically attack multiple times that's just normal for him, on and off depression, also has little problem with killing and other crimes, actively hates the higher powers and goes against them

[my-artblog-is-ssjumi]

16, 19 and 22?

16. A fic you're very proud of?

overall i’m proud of pretty much anything i consider good enough to upload it for how well it satisfies a specific aesthetic itch i couldn’t get scratched elsewhere.

i mean, ofc it varies greatly how long i will stay satisfied with it but. even if i’m not particularly interested in rereading it again a couple years down the road, there’s usually always something i will stay proud about in one way or the other.

like.

there are a few older stories i wouldn’t consider well-written anymore nowadays but i still very much like their concept and some of the scenes.

other stories i... also wouldn’t wanna recommend based on the quality of the writing alone but on the context of which fandom i posted them in in what, uh, fandom climate at the time? like that “Seto/MarySue BUT ALSO Ati/Seto” fanfic i posted in the mids of the “straights vs yaoi fans - fight!” times on the respective German fanwork archive.

or that one more recent story i posted in RPF fandom about how RPF fandom would have probably ruined the very thing it liked to imagine if that thing had been real. and all the other stories to that fandom where i was trying to make a point of how the dudes our characters are based on are just flawed human beings who fuck up all the time and not ppl to be put on pedestals and either worshipped or hunted for sports with no in-betweens.

and then there are stories that i almost forgot about until i get a comment that tells me i did my research well or at least really nailed a specific emotional aspect of something that i should’ve done more research on in retrospect so maybe in that particular case it’s more like. relief??? XD’

idk

it’s a complicated question lol

i just like writing and filling in gaps that i feel others haven’t filled to my satisfaction yet and. somehow stories happen XD’ if i don’t like the result i don’t post it, so pretty much everything by me you can find online is something i’m still either proud of or in some other way find. hm. necessary to exist in the fandom space it’s in.

*

19. Where do you write?

at home w my laptop on my lap. i used to mostly write in bed bc i only had a bed, but now i have a living room and a couch XD

*

22. Favourite part about writing fanfiction? 

getting to read it afterwards and basking in how perfectly i catered to my own taste :,)

[gascon-en-exil]

@capriciouscorvid said

how can anon forget about all the Ike/Soren drama… there were a lot of familiar cries of “gross yaoi fangirls”

Ok, but… has the definition of gay content shifted when I wasn’t looking?? What happened to subtext? Queer people thrive out of sight, in coded language. Seeing stuff out in the open is nice, but come now, it can’t be the end all, can it? Are we just gonna start assuming people must be proven without a doubt to be gay?? That seems like it would reinforce the idea that straight people are default.

Anon did respond clarifying they meant explicit content, which must translate to Avatar S ranks if Fates is being counted as the start of that.

I’ve reconciled myself to the reality that I’m in the minority when it comes to finding value in FE subtext. It irks me when people laud the Eagles as the “gay house” or conversely dismiss Dimitri as straight when Faerghus is the only nation in Three Houses with a distinctly developed culture that incidentally also suggests a unique model for same-sex desire between men. The various queer relationships among the Eagles and related characters (Manuela, Jeritza) all may as well exist in a vacuum, as none of these half dozen or so pairings tell us anything by their similarities anything about the culture of Adrestia, except perhaps the association (common in a number of real world cultures) between thespians and more relaxed ideas about sex, whether that be in their choice of partners or in the commercialization of their bodies. And even then, what does Dorothea and Manuela’s behavior say about any of the rest of them? Granted that kind of content is easier to slot into modern AUs, hence the love of Avatar S ranks where there’s also a self-insert wish fulfillment element, but it’s just about useless for worldbuilding and in a way can even hamper it, ex. popular fanon having everyone getting married because Fòdlan just has marriage equality, when that’s highly unlikely to be the case. Dimitri and Dedue get to be this remarkable exception where they live and die together even as Dedue’s presence is explicitly disrupting the homoromantic traditions enshrined in Faerghus legend, but Caspar and Linhardt have to abandon their positions and travel the world because Ike and his boyfriends did it and Hubert and Ferdinand likely only get to be publicly involved as two very high-profile bureaucrats in the Imperial capital because anyone who might raise an objection to them promptly disappears and is never heard from again. And I can’t even begin to figure out what we’re meant to glean from any of the Avatar S ranks, because Byleth is such a non-entity and exists entirely without context except whatever the player opts to gives them.

The thing about well-written subtext is that it can enhance the world and the characters to whom it applies when the developers don’t want to go all the way with creating fully fleshed-out queer content. The “S ranks or it didn’t happen” attitude is not especially helpful to anyone.

[dangerliesbeforeyou]

HIStory’s ranked (no one asked, but here i go)

so i was sittin here, talkin to myself about the HIStory series’ and was like ‘hey, i should rank them’ (which i’ve seen a few other people do, but mines a lot more rambling than there’s because i can’t shut up lol) 

so here’s my views lol (ordered from worst to best, imo):

6) My Hero (HIStory1) -

probably universally acknowledged as the worst episode, and i’d be inclined to agree with the masses on this lol... not only is the tone and humour of this series so weird and disjointed, but the entire story line literally makes no sense lol?? it’s unclear who the audience should be rooting for (especially as it goes out of it’s way to paint our protagonist as really unlikable lol, not to mention the love interest is the dullest character ever conceived like ???), as well as this the ending feels completely unrelated and bizarre... 

i think this concept /could/ have worked if the guy the woman was inhabiting (which sounds weird without context, but like she’s dead lol) was somehow also inside his head? or if she got to see his memories or whatever & tries to adjust her personality to match the guy’s, causing love interest!dude to fall in love with the guy... (like i could go into more detail, i basically hav an entire au written in my head lol, but yh...)... that way, her letting go of him in the end would feel so much more well set up? especially if she was generally more understanding and likeable.. 

i think overall this series just fails in telling a decent story lol... & the cringe is even beyond what i can handle lol

5) Obsessed (HIStory1) -

people might be surprised to see this one so low down, especially since i know a lot of people really love this series (& if u do, no hate to u btw, ur allowed to like whatever u want idc), but i realllllly don’t like this series... like at all ...

the plot is weird anyway, which isnt inherently a bad thing, but then u add on the really bad couple and it’s just...... bad lol... like everything about their relationship is built on lies and deceit, and even more so than that it’s built on a lack of mutual respect and fundamental trust for each other! tall guy (i don’t know names soz) feigns memory loss in order to get closer to short guy (btw, the scenes with them being domestic were really sweet, & i firmly believe this could have been an alright series for the actors if the story line wasn’t so bad), short guy’s whole existence in that universe was a lie lol (like i know there’s no easy way to tell someone ‘lol well i’m technically from the future’ but still), then there’s the whole resolution at the end & it’s just so ??? frustrating lol!

nothing bugs me more than seeing conflict in relationships (on screen or irl) that could be solved simply by TALKING TO EACH OTHER GODDAMNIT & isnt lol... my other issue with this series is the fact tall guy 100% forced himself upon short guy in the tent & like we’re just supposed to accept it cos ?? he’s saying no and pushing away but actually he wants it because he loves tall guy ?? like fuck no i’m not accepting that lol! 

basically, bad & bizarre story & characters, & gross tropes just makes this hard for me to watch and enjoy lol... i think, like in my hero, this could’ve done with being a different story altogether lol... (maybe tall guy actually did lose his memory & he falls for short guy all on his own with no predatory intentions?? idk something like that)

4) Right or Wrong (HIStory2)

this one & my number 3 are very much tied tbh, but this one is just slightly lower just because i’m not as big into the couple as i know a lot of people are... & it’s not necessarily the age gap, cos i dont actually mind age gaps in pairings (just as long as the younger one isnt a minor, obv... and also i think any gap that’s 30+ years is a bit weird lol..).. i think my big problem with this is i dont really see why younger guy (again, i have no idea of any of these characters’ names lol) would fall for the older guy? like the older guy is obvs going thru some issues, and hasnt been taking care of himself or his kid properly because of them, but like we dont rly see a lot of why he’s a great guy? like we get the sense young guy is attracted to him, but like love is more than just thinkin they’re hot lol... idk lol this might just be me tbh i just couldnt see why he’d be interested lol

i did like the whole family side though, and showing how a man who was previously with a woman can still end up with a guy (bisexualityyyyy (or some variation of that thereupon)) is something you dont always see in media, so i thought that was pretty cool! (even if the ex-wife thing was kinda lame lol...) 

i think overall i see what this series was going for, and that it actually did an alright job in some parts... the biggest problem is that it’s kinda just forgettable lol... maybe that’s why people like obsessed so much lol? maybe it was a train wreck but ohh boy at least u wont forget it in a hurry lol!

3) Stay Away From Me (HIStory1) -

i’m a bit torn about this one, cos there are parts of it i actually really like (them going from rivals/enemies to being good friends to being more), and other parts i really didnt (the stereotypical squealing yaoi fangirl friend)... & tbh, i kinda wish this had just been a show about the budding friendship between the 2 guys... it almost feels too forced to me that they’re made to ‘fall in love’ when i actually think them both becoming less selfish and learning to respect each other as step brothers & friends is actually already a really great story (& i know that it doesnt fit with the whole ‘HIStory’ thing, but stories of platonic brotherhood/’bromance’ are just as important as gay representation... isnt a /substitute/ for representation, don’t get me wrong, but it’s always so beautiful to see decently portrayed non-toxic friendships between guys... ok this is a rant for another day tho shhh)

i think maybe why i like this one more than the other HIStory1′s is because kinda nothing happens lol... it’s not overly complex with weird unexplained magic things happening, it’s just a simple story lol... is it still tropey as hell? of course lol! but i think the ‘realism’ of the world really helps, and i def think this was incorporated more into HIStory 2, which i’m really glad about...

overall, this is a relatively harmless series & is actually quite sweet at times... the kiss is awkward as fuck tho (there, i said it lol...)... it suffers the same forgetability as right or wrong tho... 

2) Crossing the Line (/Boundary Crossing) (HIStory2) -

ok, so here’s a series i 100% love & totally agree with the hype around lol! i hav no interest in volleyball (or any sports tbh), but the way this show handles the friendships and dynamics between the characters is really well done, especially for a series that’s only 8 episodes long! i also really love that none of the characters really fall into any stereotypes (which is a great improvement from HIStory1 i can tell u lol), and are given the space to actually have some growth & nuance at times?! 

(nuance? in MY HIStory series?? it’s more likely than you think!)

the main couple have really amazing chemistry, and the way they get together doesnt feel too out of place or that it’s going to fast, it just sorta flows really nicely... even the side couple are pretty well done (though i wasnt that big into them on my first watch, just cos the whole overbearing older brother thing was kinda annoying... i liked them more as the series went on tho...)

i kinda dont have any major complaints? which is bizarre cos i always hav complaints about things lol... maybe my complaint would be that they all look way too old and attractive to be whatever teenage age they’re supposed to be lol... (but tbh that doesnt take anything away from the story so i’ll forgive them lol...)... i think maybe i wouldnt consider it my favourite because the story line didnt grab me like the number 1... but i really cant fault it in terms of what it delivers lol, legit such a well put together series!

1) Trapped (HIStory3) -

lol i think anyone who’s been following me for the past few months aren’t in the slightest bit surprised this is my number one... i just love it too much lol!

from the incredibly well written and well acted characters, to the interesting and engaging (even if a bit ridiculous) plot, to the beautifully told romance , it really has it all doesn’t it!!! & i think even if this wasnt an enemies to lovers thing (aka one of the most godtier of all fanfic tropes), there’s so many things going for this series that make it worth watching! i have a few complains about editing choices and a few bad trope plot points which were just unnecessary (plus the fact we missed out on a lot of background info on some major characters lol...), but like despite everything this series rly struck a chord with me deep down in my soul lol

i could go waaay more into detail (and maybe i will one day lol... tho not rn, i’m v tired), but the gist of the matter is: i really love trapped lol

(conclusion)

Even though i’ve complained quite a bit here, i am so grateful for the HIStory series’ for bringing really interesting, and a little mad, stories with gay characters and story lines, with a big emphasis on happy endings! there are so many lgbt stories/characters in things that end up dying or just have bad endings, which just sends this horrible message that lgbt people aren’t worthy of having happy endings, which is completely untrue! 

So i look forward to future HIStory’s, even if some of them are gonna be bad (& maybe none will live up to the trapped!shaped bullet firmly lodged in my heart lol)

fin~

[azurowle]

all right, I told myself @nerdylilpeebee i had a thought or five about this Very Interesting If Totally Wrong Comment, so I might as well get it out of the way.

“women supporting pedophilic relationships or age gaps”

I have yet to see any series in which fujoshi “support” a pedophilic relationship. Literally the only one that comes to mind for me is Boku no Pico, which was created by a man for men. Might just be my very extremely sheltered ass but in terms of series portraying pedophilic relationships in a positive or romantic light - or fujoshi accepting it as positive and romantic - I’m drawing a complete blank.

Age gap discourse is bullshit if both parties are over the AoC and consenting, but I give this person credit for distinguishing age gaps from being pedophilic, because while age gap ships do run the risk of exploitation and power imbalance, if they’re over the AoC it’s not pedophilia.  Even if one or both of the parties is under the AoC Romeo and Juliet laws exist for a reason.

They’re pictures, friendo. They’re not real. They are not a living, breathing person. 

“seeing actual real men and going ‘[extremely outdated and exaggerated characterization of fujoshi here that i can’t be fucking arsed to type out]’”

Name one actual instance where you have seen this happen in this day and age. This sounds like something I did when I was like, fourteen or fifteen. Aka, yes, assholeish behavior, but nothing I wouldn’t expect from a goddamn teenager.

If they are a teenager, you educate them on why what they’re doing is wrong. If they persist, yeah, read ‘em the riot act.  But having been a fourteen/fifteen year old teen whose only positive gay representation was in smutty fanfic, and being a new atheist after having lived years as a Roman Catholic (which is patronizing towards LGBT+ folks at best), most will either grow out of their behavior or be willing to correct it.

There’s already a name for adult women who do this: Homophobes. Not fujoshi.  As has been explained ad nauseam, they are not synonymous terms.

“people supporting toxic relationships”

This is either Killing Stalking or one of the other rare generic yaoi out there that’s being addressed.

The fan content I see produced very explicitly addresses and does not portray abuse in a positive or good light, which is more than I can say for a lot of mainstream fiction.  Which...antis aren’t terribly fond of going after for some reason. Probably because it’s easier and more satisfying to bully and break unpaid content creators who make free stuff for their fandoms than it is to go after a multi-billion dollar company who could care less about you.

Again, they’re drawings, friendo. AKA, NOT REAL PEOPLE.

“Blatant transphobia by making a trans man overly feminine for a heteronormative ship and calling it ‘progressive’”

This is edging very, very close to both truscum/transmed AND trans-exclusionary radfem ideology (more to trans exclusion than truscum but I’m seeing elements of both here). If that’s the line anti-fujoshi want to try and walk they better have good fucking balance.

I AM A FEMININE TRANS MAN. IT DOESN’T MAKE ME LESS OF A FUCKING MAN. I suppose I’m blatantly transphobic, then, just by existing? Good to know.  Thanks.

It would really be nice if anti-fujoshi understood the concept of “context” and “nuance” they were harping on me for apparently ignoring a few days ago.  Whether or not something like this is “blatantly transphobic” means taking a critical look at the author’s tone, the surroundings in the story, the characters themselves, the structure and flow of the plot. In other words, it means actually putting some thought into the thing you’re reading, which doesn’t seem like something these people do when it comes to yaoi - it’s either all bad or “no that’s not yaoi the representations too positive”.

THEY. ARE. PEN. AND. INK. DRAWINGS. OF. FICITONAL. CHARACTERS. THEY ARE NOT REAL.  THEY CAN’T BE FUCKING HURT.

“enjoyed can be stretched here”

Which is certainly a thing this person did. 

I mean, for me, “enjoy” means “indulging in a piece of fiction that allows me to escape the utter loneliness and discontentment that has become my life over the past thirty-one years”. Shockingly enough, it usually ends up being tender smut, nuanced and complexed stories, or one of the few kinks that I have. I immediately back-click if there’s evidence of graphic CSA, rape, or abuse, even if it’s not portrayed in a positive or fetishizing light. Which in my current fandom, has been...about .00000000000000000000000001% of the time, at worst.

I’m a fudanshi and refused to be ashamed of it. Because once upon a time I considered myself a fujoshi based on what radfems and anti-fujoshi said. It’s the worst feeling in the world.

[mcl-mia]

Wizardess Heart Boys and the Relationships Between Them

//it's 4 a.m. as i'm starting this, so you know what that means! more ramblings about wizardess heart because i can't seem to sleep.

so, as many people in the WH+ fanbase know, solmare likes to do a lot of group events. like, a LOT a lot. these days, only some of the most popular characters tend to get their own events and spin offs (still waiting for azusa and leon's birthday events, solmare). most often though, solmare likes to do group events in pairs and forces the players to choose between one ending/one character. in all honesty, this isn't necessarily a bad thing! it's really good for developing relationships between characters that exist in the universe. but... the problem is that solmare just doesn't go through with all that they could, or are even ridiculously repetative with what pairs they go for. so, let me just express my problems with a few notable ones that come to mind, and give solmare some ideas on what they COULD do (it's unlikely that anyone from their HQ will see this anyways, but a girl can dream).

to start off, let's start off with the ones i'm not too pleased with.

Elias and Joel: look, i really like the idea of these two interacting. the whole tsundere/brutal honesty pairing is not a bad idea at all, but their relationship is executed so awkwardly. EVERYTHING revolves around them being rivals or competing for liz's affections. not only is this extremely tiresome to see at this point (especially when it seems as though joel apparently has no friends whatsoever), but it's hilariously inconsistent. on joel's profile, elias is the one introducing joel, and elias states that he LIKES joel. when i saw they were being paired for the first time in the overnight field trip event, i was excited to see them get along! but nope. for some reason "unknown", they pretty much hated each other. can't y'all just let joel have one friend without him being a jealous pissbaby, solmare?

Serge and Cerim: solmare, you could have done so much good with these two. you have cerim, a sheltered boy who knows nothing of the outside world and desperately wants to explore it, and serge, who has literally travelled the world... and all you think of doing with them is pairing them for ronny/taffy antics. that's it, that's all their ever paired for (maybe for pastel aesthetics sometimes). they just never DO anything with cerim and serge themselves, it's always overshadowed by ronny and taffy and how much they love their masters. they have SO much potential to be great together, but nooooo.

Guy and Leslie: this one just kinda pisses me off because we're never really given any context OR content for it. in leslie's route, guy states that he and leslie are "more like brothers", but why? WHY are you two more like brothers, and how did you get to be so close? and why is this "closeness" never shown? i know that everybody sucked leslie's dick in his route, but they should at least back their friendship up in event stories (they are together in the 3rd anniversary story, which is a decent start, but give us MOOORRREEEE).

Elias and Luca: the most yaoi bait couple of all yaoi bait in wizardess heart. don't get me wrong, i'm still a fan of their dynamic and what they represent for each other, but ohh my god i wish that they had more time together. these two have an interesting rivalry, and it's honestly such a shame that solmare almost never does anything with them. just... just ONCE i want for them to just chill and say "you're not as bad as i say you are". in luca's route, elias is shown to still care for luca and his wellbeing, but elias never gets a chance to even say it. likewise, luca never really gets a chance to say that he doesn't really hate elias per se, but is rather just more annoyed due to his own insecurities. as others have pointed out, elias and luca has what each other needs (in the sinplest way possible, elias needs to relax more , and luca needs to be a little more serious), and it's such a shame that the relationship between these two is pushed aside. especially when they have one of the most interesting dynamics in the entire game (and has the potential to be a healthy rivalry).

Klaus and Elias: (man, a lot of these involve elias, huh?) as someone who has two older sisters herself, klaus and elias' relationship disturbs me at times. on several occasions, elias mentions how cruel his brothers could be to him at times, but klaus is most often named as the perpetrator (well, technically klaus is the only one who can be named, since we still don't have the name of the eldest goldstein brother). klaus has been mentioned AND shown to have crossed some lines (at one point elias has mentioned how klaus left him stranded on a mountain for two days in order to force him to learn how to ride a broom, and don't even get me started on the mess that was the performing festival), which often makes elias appear to be afraid of klaus. not only that, but klaus is also shown to be a mentor figure to elias; someone who elias looks up to (and even puts him on an unreachable pedestal in a way). klaus will often comment on what problems he has with elias' spells, but the way he comments on them makes them come off as more as insults rather than pieces of contstructive criticism. sure, you could write that off as klaus not "sugar coating" things, but there's still a definite line between giving someone a critique and insulting the way they do things, and klaus tends to lean more towards the latter. he'll say "you need to be more creative with your spells" to elias, but he leaves it at that (which is especially hard for elias when the boy has lived his whole life by textbooks). he doesn't offer tips to help someone improve, he just says what's wrong with what they're doing. THAT is what can be so damaging to elias. do i think that klaus doesn't care about elias? absolutely not. i just think that klaus doesn't realize how much he's really hurting elias with his words and actions (granted that elias doesn't really tell klaus this, but how can he?). i really, truly wish that we could get more genuine moments between the two where elias can be upfront with klaus about how he feels, and for klaus to completely recognize elias' strength and hard work. i really, REALLY want their relationship to be healthier than it is.

now that that's all said and done, let's give solmare some ideas for pairs, because goddamm solmare you need to give us new pairs already.

Sigurd and Serge: you CANNOT tell me that sigurd not only doesn't know serge, but also isn't bros with him. tell me sigurd's side of the story about the real randy's death. more specifically: how much he was involved, more about klaus' reaction/ways of coping with the situation, and how he views the situation as a whole (i.e. does he think serge is to blame, does this damage his relationship with him, did he want to console serge as well but never got the chance, etc.).

Sigurd and Elias: listen. i crave a desire to see sigurd act like a big brother to elias and baby him to all hell. give me this, solmare. DON'T LIMIT ALL OF SIGURD'S INTERACTIONS WITH THE GOLDSTEINS TO JUST KLAUS. DON'T DO THAT TO ME.

Azusa/Serge and Leon: this are pairs that i have been wanting for so long. i put them in the same category because their context is still the same: azusa and serge are deeply connected to unicorns and leon himself is a unicorn. i wanna see leon getting an attachment to serge because leon can feel something special about him. give me leon roasting azusa for being "weird and suspicious". SOMETHING along those lines, solmare.

Joel and Vincent: YAOI BAIT NUMBER 2 ELECTRIC BOOGALOO. but for real though, i want to see more interactions between joel and vincent that don't really include liz. they had really great chemistry in the gedonelune costume party event, and i would really love to see more of that, but they're almlst never paired together. >:(

Guy and Glenn: i've expressed this before, these two are connected by one really big asshole in their lives, and i just... really want them to talk about it. they were both abused by the same person, and i think it would be great if they got a chance to do some serious talking about it.

Luca and Joel: a more fluff-based pairing, these two can have some of the best witty banter, i can feel it. joel is a complete savage and luca is a little shit, it's a match made in hell.

Yukiya and Leon: also a more fluff pairing, but LET THE TWO FURRIES PUREST BOYS IN THE SERIES BE FRIENDS GODDAMMIT. they're so chill too, and i just want them to like go on a picnic or something and be surrounded by all the wildlife like the true disney princesses they are.

Klaus and Azusa: not going to lie, i really want to see how the most popular boy and the least popular boy interact with each other. grump vs. grump. only one will survive.

Azusa and Glenn: okay, to be honest, i really want these two to interact in the form of a magic battle. not one to the death, but i really want to see how glenn's staff and azusa's symbols match up. but if we really want more story stuff, having glenn and azusa talk about their younger siblings (and how they both lost them, although glenn eventually got his back) would be really great.

Yukiya and Sigurd: these two boys both come from big families (and are the eldest child), so i would love for them to trade stories about their younger siblings. maybe they could do some holiday shopping and recommend gifts to each other.

Mel and Yukiya: these two boys give no fucks whatsoever, and i would really love to see them out do each other in that department.

Cerim and Vincent: kind of in the same vein as cerim and serge, but without the familiars doing all the talking. vincent could tell cerim all about his adventures (or at least the ones that aren't top secret), and could maybe even get cerim to loosen up a bit.

so... yeah. there's my super long post about relationships between the boys. here's hoping that solmare will do some of these in the future.

but you know what would also be cool? an event that's just about the boys and their relationships with each other. no liz, no thinking about liz, no being jealous of each other, just wholesome boys content. give me that, solmare. i'd sell my soul for that (and i'm sure many others would as well).

[aishicc]

How To Train Your Ghost Rider

How To Train Your Ghost Rider

This was my first non-One Shot in the AOS Fandom as well as the QuakeRider one so I was pretty nervous. Most of what I write is Anime, and Yaoi/Shounen-Ai/Slash at that so while AOS is not exactly as out there as some Anime it is made with Western mindsets not Eastern. All that aside I had a few goals with the fic.

1. Get the charters down, a bit OC/AU but still recognizable and not complete OOCs.

2. Show how Robbie and the Team regard each other now vs first impressions.

3. QuakeRider

4. Team-building/bonding

5. Don't piss off the Fandom.

Now 1 got easier after watching season 4, when I learned all those clips and MVs I had been watching that made me finally binge this show were in context like 99% of the time. Some of the cheeky talking in meeting number 2 is used in a legit playful manner, which fits with their relationship by the end so it's cool. Reading some reviews is the easiest way to see how you are doing with this. I have yet to get a review challenging my voice so I am content I have them down by now.

2 was also pretty easy and bits and pieces are scatter throughout the 5 chapters. On the show we see Team Coulson and Robbie slowly form and understanding and he worked just fine with them by the end. Other fics of mine focus on this more or less but many have some passing comment even if it is just Daisy.

3 is a main focus of the 17 AOS fics I have posted on AO3 and FFN so far. Battle Friends, partners, banter buddies, love interest, the whole range. In this one ii is mainly friends to lovers route, no sex scenes though.

4 made it into my Christmas prompt inspired collection of One Shots and is a weakness of mine. The Team is a family and Robbie is the new dmamges foster kid not sure if he blongs, they want you Robbie stay!

5 well I have gotten no negative reviews so counting it as a win.

Now you can read the entire fic on AO3 or FFN, as well as chapter 1 of the sequel and over a dozen other QuakeRider fics I personally have done. Please enjoy this little 'clip' from chapter 1 before making up your mind about whether you will give it a read or not. If you have any questions, ect, feel free to Ask Me them if you do not wish to do so in a review/comment.

 Robbie sighed softly, a hand resting lightly against his chest confused him but Daisy's voice was clear. Tilting his head at her he turned his gaze to her hand stuck inside his jacket before looking up at her, "Worried my heart stopped?"

Daisy pulled her hand free looking away, knowing her cheeks were at least a little pink and he knew it. "Oh please you don't always even have a heart to stop." Joking about the Rider she glanced at him to see if she had hit a nerve, God she had to learn to curb her tongue now and then.

Robbie pushed himself up on his elbows, not really motivated to get up entirely, "Good one E.T. light."

Daisy rolled her eyes but gave him a bit of a grin at that, if she could tease him about his literal demon then he could tease her about her alien DNA, fair was fair. "I wouldn't call YoYo that."

"Elena has Mack to annoy in his sleep she has no need of me," Robbie reminded the mouthy young woman as he sat up. Reaching up he finished unzipping his jacket to fully reveal a faded hunter green shirt.

Daisy watched an ungloved hand as it moved to unzip the infamous jacket, the faded green a nice contrast to his skin tone. It seemed fitting he was back from Hell and wearing green, back among the living and all that went with it. "Oh like she wouldn't."

"I'd wake up to her wearing my jacket if she was that curious about it, Elena is about as scared of me as you are." Robbie knew he weirded a few of them out still, not surprising when he was walking proof Hell existed. However they might feel about the Rider they were mostly comfortable with having just him around. It seemed being Daisy's pet project earned him a trial spot on the team, one some of them wanted to be more permanent.

"Well it isn't stealing if you are just borrowing it," Daisy agreed tapping a fingertip off her chin a few times. "I think it would look cute on her." Elena had become one them easily once she stopped thinking of S.H.I.E.L.D as shady government bad and more MIB good. It did not surprise her the two snarky Latinos got along, and since everyone knew it was strictly friendly there was no jealousy to worry about.

"Se veria aun mas lindo en usted," Robbie said with a hint of his smug smirk, his jacket may look cute on Elena but it would look better on Daisy, at least he thought so.

Daisy frowned at the Spanish, it sounded like a compliment to her, and that smirk was his teasing one she rather liked. "You better be able to repeat that in church Mr. Reyes." When Robbie blinked before actually laughing she blinked startled for a moment before joining him as she sat down on the bed. She had only really heard him laugh once, a few soft chuckles were not the same. May was like that, all smirks but few laughs.

"No eres espia, aprender espanol," Robbie snarked back as he checked to make sure his gloves were still in his jacket pockets.

"Or," Daisy started as she leaned close, arms folded, "here's a thought, you could just speak English while basking in my glory?"

Robbie snorted looking up, shaking his head at the mock preening, "You truly are something else girl."

"Thanks I like me too," Daisy grinned, it felt so good to banter with someone again. Robbie knew her demons better then anyone else, his had seen hers with Its own eyes. The idea of a demon judging her and leaving her not only alive but willing to work with her was faltering really. Angels were all about redeeming and saving souls while demons were all about corrupting and claiming, though the Rider was all about claiming the already past saving. It made her wonder what It would think of Ward, no doubt with Robbie's influence It would ash her former crush.

Robbie rolled his eyes at the false ego, thought she didn't hate herself anymore at lest and he was grateful for that, "I wasn't gone that long this time, did I miss some sort of head trauma?"

"Ha ha, very funny," Daisy drawled as she reached out lightly rapping his chest with her knuckles, his shirt was very soft. "I'm surprised you didn't portal jump right home and crash on your couch or something."

[recentanimenews]

Anime in America Podcast: Full Episode 4 Transcript

  Hi, you may have noticed that this week's Anime in America podcast is all about the 18+ topic of Hentai. *Takes a long drag of a Virginia Slim*. Well, buckle up, because this is the full transcript! 

  The Anime in America series is available on crunchyroll.com, animeinamerica.com, and wherever you listen to podcasts. 

    EPISODE 4: YES I DO, HENTAI TOO

Guest: Jacob Grady

  Disclaimer: The following program contains graphic material and language not suitable for audience members under the age of 18. Discretion is advised.

  [Lofi music]

  Just like with most things in anime in america, hentai got its start with Osamu Tezuka. In the twilight of Mushi Production’s years, having already sold the anime that would be localized as Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion to NBC, Mushi produced a series of three animated films called “Animerama,” A Thousand and One Nights, Cleopatra, and Belladonna of Sadness which were commercial failures that likely contributed to the studio shuttering its doors in 1973. All the same, they were revolutionary for their time as “adult” animation, riding on the heels of Japan’s wave of live action “pink” sexploitatoin films gaining popularity during the same period.

  While there are surviving animated hentai from as early as 1932 such as “Suzumifune” the content was illegal in Japan during that period. Imagine their surprise, seeing Japan now. The Animerama films were legally produced for theatrical release and popular consumption containing nudity, erotic themes, and even rape during a period where anime was in its infancy, with Mushi and Toei competing to produce almost exclusively child appropriate programming.

  I’m Yedoye Travis, and this is hentai in America.

  [Lofi music]

  So, back to America. Animerama’s second film Cleopatra was licensed by the American Studio Xanadu and released for limited theatrical screenings. While the movie itself contains erotic themes and a LOT of topless women, Xanadu promoted the film as “porno,” localizing the title as Cleopatra: Queen of Sex. Very creative. It hit theaters April 24th 1972, missing the being “The first X rated animated film to be released in America” by just six days to the American film Fritz the Cat… or that would be the case if Xanadu had actually submitted their film to the MCAA for an official rating. They’d self-assigned the film an X rating, which I don’t think is allowed. I don’t think that’s… I don’t think that’s legal. But they did it to push the pornogapraphy angle.

  This ended up backfiring as many customers demanded their money back when they realized they were watching a serious film. An actual movie.

  Speaking of which, this seems like a good opportunity to talk a little bit about umm… why? Why hentai? Why- why is it a thing? Anime originally crossed the Pacific out of a need for cheap animation to fill air time on America’s growing menu of TV channels. The demand for porn will always exist but, if you’ll excuse the turn of phrase, we didn’t exactly have any holes that needed filling. Especially after America’s sexual revolution, our proud nation has become one of the biggest porn producers in the world. Unsurprisingly...

  Grady: For me, Western pornography it’s like, almost like corney, in a way. What I don’t like about Western pornography is it’s very rarely a realistic scenario. You know, it’s always like “pizza delivery guy comes over and you know ‘Oh! It’s my dick in the box!’” or something like that, and then- as opposed to like a relationship developing and some sort of scenario happening based on that. So the appeal of hentai for me is that I get to invest myself in the story and take part in the story and feel for the characters more than I would in a Western pornography. And it’s very rare for any Western adult material to take that route, where they’re actually creating a plot or a story, and I wish more did because I think that that would be very appealing to a lot of people. 

  That was Jacob Grady. He’ll become important later.

  To add to his, um, his point. Just as anime has found a popular appeal for its unique aesthetic and storytelling, the case is also true for the um… for the not safe for work stuff. Where the U.S. has more of a clear cut separation between what is porngrpahic and what is not, Japan is more of a sliding scale. What would normally be considered pornographic material to an American audience can exist within the context of a greater narrative. I’ll give you an example. So Yasuomi Umetsu’s Kite and Mezzo Forte [trailer for Mezzo Forte plays] were both originally released in the U.S. as grim, high production OVAs [Original Video Animations] featuring battles between assassins, an evil drug ring, and a protagonist overcoming intense childhood trauma. And they all became cult classics in the anime community. [trailer ends]

  Later on, both got new Director’s Cut releases that included sex scenes you might find under the “hardcore” tab on certain websites that SHALL NOT be named. PornHub. They were hentai the whole time, but made a name for themselves purely on the production and the story. Whi[laughing]- Which is crazy. Imagine that in American… uh, well, anything. The safe for work cut of Kite is on Crunchyroll right now, actually. So you can check it out and tell me it’s not incredible. And this is just the stuff that involves actual sex. There’s a whole genre of “ecchi” and “eros” content that has sexual themes without including actual sex or even nudity. So while Kite may be an outlier based on the raw quality of its production alongside the, umm, intensity of its adult content, it is not exactly an outlier for the amount of story surrounding the sex. Many hentai have very involved plots spanning from comedy to tragedy, featuring scenarios and characters much more sophisticated than a pizza delivery or a plumbing problem.

  When people are telling you they watch hentai for the plot, they… might not be lying. As much as it pains me to say. They might be- I mean they still could be, I don’t know. But the plot definitely exists.

  It’s also a much more respected art form in Japan, even outside of contextless black and white photography. Studio SHAFT, one of the most respected and stylistic studios with one of the most ridiculous names in this context, built their reputation entirely on their immediately recognizable visual style. This was an intentional move by founder Hiroshi Wakao who built the studio’s trademark on the work of director Akiyuki Shinbo, who SHAFT hired almost directly out of making hentai under the pseudonym Jyuhachi Minamizawa. SHAFT has Shinbo’s touch all of its work to make sure they keep with his avante garde style. Shinbo himself was also the impetus behind the creation of Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

  [Clip from a Puella Magi Madoka Magica commercial plays]

  Many hentai have found considerable acclaim for their artist’s merit alone or as genre pieces within the genres of romance, science fiction, and even horror. And we will be touching on a few titles as we go.

  [Lofi music]

  It wouldn’t be for another 14 years that the first real hentai would make its way to American shores in 1986. Although hentai manga had already been around for a while at this point, no American publishers had bitten quite yet. Localization was still the realm of major studios and broadcast networks, although the proliferation of VHS would allow smaller companies to get into the game with direct video release. The first American license of a manga, First Comic’s release of Lone Wolf and Cub wouldn’t be ‘til the next year. 

  Instead, the first hentai release in America would be a direct-to-video VHS release of the second ever erotic OVA made in Japan, Cream Lemon. Why the second? I dunno. The first was called Lolita Anime and I’ll leave it at that. Excalibur Films dubbed and localized 3 episodes of the 16-part miniseries and released them into the area behind that black curtain that says “18+” in comic shops and video stores across America under the bizarrely chosen title “The Brothers Grime,” hopefully not to be confused with the children’s anime “Grimm’s Fairy Tale Classics” that came out the next year. The literal next year.

  In 1990 the first hentai comic would make its way to comic store shelves in the extremely questionable publication “Anime Shower Special” which was basically a magazine that cut shower scenes out of hundreds of different manga that I am pretty sure it did not have the license or permission to use. It’s Canadian publisher, IANVS, would later become part of Protoculture Inc., which produced one of the earliest anime magazines, Protoculture Addicts. Protoculture would then be acquired by Anime News Network in 2005 so I guess you could say they technically got into hentai. Technically. 

  And that’s not me shaming them or anything like that, just about every company in anime has touched hentai at some point. Central Park Media had Anime 18, Manga 18, and Be Beautiful Manga labels to print hentai anime, manga, and yaoi manga respectively. Media Blasters got their start with hentai, their first title being Rei-Lan: Orchid Emblem and later created Kitty Media to manage their 18+ products. Then there was ADV’s SoftCel Pictures and RightStuf’s hentai label Critical Mass which is just a visual that… that the imagination takes care of, I’d say.

  Legitimate companies dealing in hentai was a big risk, both when it came to American promiscuity laws and the popular misconception that all anime is cartoon pornography. So, there’s that. America’s uh, kinda fucked up. Here’s an example: In 1999, Jesus Castillo, a clerk at Keith's Comics in Dallas, was accused of promoting obscenity for selling an issue of the Demon Beast Invasion manga to an undercover officer. He was fined $4,000 and sentenced to a year of unsupervised probation after the original six-month prison sentence was suspended, which is insane. First of all, the heft of that sentence; but second of all, the levity we have with what we perceive as sexual crimes. It’s a very confusing balance of things. But, you know, it’s 1999 I guess. 

  So why risk their reputation? I mean, the obvious answer why everyone risks their reputation in America: uh, because it’s profitable. Kitty Media’s president John Sirabella claimed that, by 1998, 30-40% of anime’s total revenue in the U.S. came from hentai. 40%! And it was cheap. It was, it was super cheap. You know, you don’t exactly market pornography with billboards or commercials or expensive activations. So they were spending almost nothing on advertising, but hentai VHS and DVD were among their first products to sell out on the dealers floor at anime conventions every time. 

  So moving on, in 1993 hentai finally made history in the U.S. Central Park Media’s Anime 18 division [Legend of the Overfiend trailer begins] dubbed and released the now infamous Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend in limited theaters on March 11th, [Tailer ends] making it the first animated film to receive the MPAA’s NC-17 rating which had just replaced their old X rating three years earlier in 1990. The film would reach a legendary cult status among porn, science fiction, and horror fans alike. It was also umm, a lot of Americans’ first introduction to umm… [whispered] tentacles. You know- you know tentacles. You’re familiar. The squid? [Whispering ends]

  Okay. 

  [Lofi music]

  This is unfortunately the part where we talk about tentacles...

  To understand tentacles I gotta tell you a little bit about um, about censorship law. This is a, yeah, this is a legal matter. I don’t know what else to tell you, I don’t know how else to prepare you for this. It’s a, it’s a legal matter, so bear with me. I will start by saying tentacles have a long history in Japanese pornography. You may be familiar with the famous “The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife” woodblock print featuring a lady and an octopus doing the thing. It was created around 1814 by none other than legendary Japanese artist Hokusai… you know, the guy who drew that wave that you see everywhere, on all the Uniqlo tee shirts? You know the one. Hokusai’s Wave. If you Google those words, you’ll find it. Anyway, they were far from mainstream but let’s just say they existed in the popular subconscious.

  So, when it comes to porn, Japan had and has some pretty specific guidelines requiring what is off-limits. They put a lot less emphasis on scenario and the content of scenes, and instead they focus on the appearance of genitalia. I’m sure you’re familiar, you know they got the whole pixelated mosaic over the, over the junk and the jingles and the jangles, and pretty much anything else goes. This is in stark contrast to America where seeing those parts is basically the point of adult material, but scenario and content of scenes can sometimes get you in trouble. The one where we run into problems most is portrayal of minors. Obviously. That’s uh, obviously it’s fucked up. Japan, on the other hand, has the same age of consent as us but umm… [sigh], man, oo boy, they do not follow that in hentai. I will say no more than that. This has of course led to a very unique relationship between hentai publishers and their American licensors. Some weird conversations, it gets weird.

  Often American versions of hentai are LESS censored than those in Japan, with the American distributor receiving the cut before the mosaics are added so you see the original art in all its glory. But then they might have to go in and uh, change some other things, like umm… you know, age. Obviously. A character’s age in anime can be kinda ambiguous sometimes, so they usually get away with changing a reference to class to a reference to like a “college” course, but you know, sometimes scenes would have to be cut out if it didn’t convincingly look like two adults. Which it unfortunately does. Frequently. 

  Okay, so back to tentacles. The whole censorship thing is a problem in the hentai industry that many young innovators have tried to work around, often using objects reminiscent of uh… of- of the pe- the penis as substitutes. Along came an enterprising creator named Toshio Maeda. His solution to the uh, to the censorship problem was of course, as we have set up for the past couple paragraphs: tentacles. They were alive, they moved around, but they were not dicks. It feels weird to talk about porn this much and not say the word “dick.” I don’t- why am I using so many euphemisms? I’m just gonna say dick, wherever it feels appropriate. 

  I’m gonna paraphrase from an interview with Maeda in 2002. [Music play throughout] Quote: “At that time pre-Urotsukidoji, it was illegal to create a sensual scene in bed. I thought I should do something to avoid drawing such a sensual scene. So, I just created a creature. His tentacle is not a penis as a pretext. I could say, as an excuse, ‘this is not a penis; this is just a part of the creature.’ You know, the creatures, they don’t have a gender. A creature is a creature. So it is not obscene – not illegal.” 

  Umm… some points were made. The gender thing I feel like is probably… actually, y’know, y’know, that probably, that probably lines up, actually. Depends on how sentient you believe animals are. I guess PETA would disagree. There is- they have a sex, not necessarily a gender, I guess. Huh. Well, look at me learning.

  [Lofi music]

  Okay, as far as I can tell, the first manga to actually get an official license and distribution in the U.S. was, much like Overfiend, a hell of an introduction. Prepare yourselves as I speak this next sentence. Bondage Fairies was released by Antarctic Press under their Venus Press imprint in 1994, following the adventures of Pfil and Pamela, a lesbian fairy couple who act as sort of, uh forest police making sure animals don’t… break the forest law? Where Urotsukidoji introduced many Americans to a multitude of new uses for tentacles, Bondage Fairies was a first introduction for many as well, and I hate having to say these two words next to each other, insect beastiality. Also obviously bondage. I don’t know if that was clear in the title.

  The ‘90s also saw the first eroge making their way to the U.S., a very popular genre of video games in Japan featuring sexually explicit images, often featuring “visual novel” style gameplay where you navigate through different dialogue choices to reach a number of different branching narrative paths, often to pursue a uh, “happy ending” with one of a number of different female characters, usually with a larger overall narrative. If this is news to you, then you might be surprised to learn you’re already a fan of some of them. Eroge are a pretty common source material for mainstream anime actually, usually with the sexually explicit content removed, obviously. Popular examples are YU-NO, Doukyuusei, Rumbling Hearts, and ummm, yes, the entire Fate franchise. Although that shouldn’t have been hard to guess after the uh, mana transfer scene...

  Anyway, the hentai industry was going pretty strong in the ‘90s although that fact was not, it was, you know- it was kept under wraps. A lot of legitimate anime publishers had their hentai labels happily printing, but didn’t exactly want to brag about what proportion of their profits came from porn. Nothing good can last forever, though, because in the mid 2000s when the bubble burst, anime companies started going bankrupt and their hentai licenses along with them.

  SoftCel Pictures, which was spun off from ADV, then closed down in 2005 with many of their titles being acquired by RightStuf’s Critical Mass. Central Park Media followed in 2009, many of its licenses getting split between Critical Mass and Kitty Media. The manga side was even worse. Most hentai publishers were about as small an operation as you can imagine. One example, Icarus Publishing, was responsible for the longest running manga anthology in the U.S., called AG. And he did that all by himself. When he fell ill in 2010 he just couldn’t keep it going anymore and he closed down.

  The field was narrowing, which was really bad for anyone looking to support the industry because piracy is a lot worse in hentai and all other varieties of porn, because it’s hard to get popular advocacy or any sort of regulatory agency on your side when you’re working with stuff that people pretend doesn’t exist. You know, like what do you look like in a courtroom, just arguing for porn? You know? In the ‘90’s, of course. We’re… [exasperated] moderately more sex-positive these days. I guess. 

  [Lofi music]

  Now all this was until one man changed everything...

  Grady: My name is Jacob. I created Fakku while I was in college, it was originally like a fan website, sort of like [how] Crunchyroll originated. And from that we were able to build an audience and prove that there was a market for this type of content outside of Japan. Because before we started doing it officially, there’d been only a few poor attempts to publish hentai legally outside of Japan. I know of all of them, but almost no one does. Because you know, they, that’s how under the radar it was. So with Fakku, we were able to show our partners in Japan and the publishers and the artists most importantly, “hey, you know there’s people willing to support the stuff you’re creating. Manga, anime, comics, games now, we have, but you’re ignoring the market outside of Japan.” And you may have seen scenarios where like a Japanese publisher might block all foreign IP addresses from viewing their website, because they’re like “oh, foreigners are pirates! They’re scum of the Earth, they’re awful.” That was, that was something that we had to deal with early on, to convince these publishers “hey, no. It’s because you forced the market to this- we just want to read your comics, we just want to watch your anime. We just want to fap to this and fap to that; but because you weren’t providing it, you know, people had to find it any way they could. And if you were to provide a means for them to support officially, we think that people would be willing to do that.” So that’s the argument that we made to the publishers when we first signed our first partners, and it’s been going great ever since [Laughs]. 

  The same year Crunchyroll made the switch to a legitimate anime streaming service, Jacob started up his pirate hentai streaming site Fakku, just one of many pirate pages of the era. He’d spend his days going to school and working at a grocery store stocking vegetables thinking about what he’d like the site to look like, and he would spend long nights coding. Just coding. Think about how much coding that goes into all the porn you watch these days. The site kept growing and traffic increased until Jacob started using his student loans to pay for their server cost. It actually got so bad he almost had to shut the site down, but when he relayed this to his followers the community stepped up and donated until he was able to keep the operation running.

  Using Crunchyroll as a model, Jacob made early attempts to go legitimate. After building up a large user base, he started reaching out to the license holders of his sites’ content to see if he could buy legitimate rights, but they never replied. Eventually he would leave college to start working at Bioware and step away from Fakku, handing the operations down to his team. It’s hard to say where his relationship with the site may have gone from there, but everything changed when Jacob received a cease and desist letter from the oldest hentai publisher in Japan, Wanimagazine.

  Grady: So originally they reached out to us. So when I first went to Japan and started talking to publishers, you know obviously we were completely upfront with the history of Fakku, what we were doing, and where we came from. And they were all on board with it, which was cool. Because at first, you know the first meeting I had I think we, I was invited out there by this big Japanese publisher, and I was just like “man, are they just going to like, arrest me?” But you know, I went out there and I explained my thoughts and they were like “okay, let’s do it.” And I’m like “umm, really?” And they’re like “yeah, let’s do it.” And they signed us our first licenses, and one of the first things I said was “okay, but you gotta understand. America like, we don’t do that censorship stuff, so like all those black bars and mosaics and giant glowing penises and stuff that they have in Japan, like we’ve gotta get rid of that. Is that possible? Can you get us uncensored stuff?” And they’re like “yeah. We can get you uncensored stuff.” And I was like “REALLY?!” And they’re like “yeah.” And it turns out that with the censorship, it’s actually all produced completely uncensored originally, and the publishers will then go and add varying levels of censorship, those black bars, those mosaics, depending on the medium that the comic or anime is being distributed from, because there’s different laws in Japan. So if it’s sold online it will have some level of censorship, if it’s sold in paper it’ll have a different level, and then if it’s sold internationally it’ll have no censorship at all. So they were on board with no censorship, and I was like “okay, awesome,” but like I hate DRM, right? Like I want to be able to download the comics, read them on my iPad, read them on my phone, read them on whatever, I was like “can we get a deal with no DRM requirements at all?” And they were like “okay,” and I was like “what the fuck? Really?!”

  Interviewer: Damn!

  Grady: Yeah, so like I ended up leaving Japan with honestly the best publishing deal probably any company has ever gotten.”

  After they had seen the size of the Fakku community, Wanimagazine surprised Jacob with how receptive they were to the idea of working with him, even allowing a slow transition from pirate site to legitimacy rather than cutting out all his pirated content immediately. In 2014, Jacob made the announcement Fakku was going legit.

  Grady: They were totally on board with it, obviously. Because it was like the both of best worlds. When we started removing fan content there were people who were upset, because, you know, it’s hard to convince someone to pay for something that they’ve never paid for before. Like hentai? Like, no one had ever been saying “that thing you’ve been fapping to, those thousands of things you downloaded on to your computer, those are actually like worth money. Like that’s, like some artist created that and he’s like trying to get by in Japan, he’s trying to make a living, he’s trying to survive, and like that thing is his livelihood. So you should pay for that.” So that was an early difficulty for us, to convince people to pay for this stuff.

  It was a predictably rocky transition, but Jacob was right on the mark. Once fans knew they had a way to officially source hentai, they were willing to pay up to support the creators… and that was what Jacob really wanted.  

Grady: I think that one of the most powerful things about Fakku is our brand. Like I’ve always tried to position it as not a porn company, which sounds weird, but it’s always been important to me to not you know be running a porn company for a few reasons, but like really we wanted to create a brand that was more of a lifestyle brand, where it’s like people want to support you know whatever Fakku’s doing, and right now it happens to be a lot of hentai manga. But you know we also recently as of just a year ago started publishing our first games. And then we got into anime. And then we’re getting into original Western comics. So we’re publishing a few artists from outside of Japan, and having them create original chapters for Fakku, and adult chapters. And then we’re bringing those to Japan and saying “hey, we work with this artist. They want to have their book published in Japan, is that something we can do?” So we’re like almost reverse publishing, you know Western artists in Japan, which is cool. So we’re doing a lot of crazy things. 

  Jacob did something no one in the industry had done before, pulling hentai out of the dark shadows to build a real community. Fakku isn’t the 18+ print of an official brand, Fakku is the brand. Jacob didn’t treat being a fan of hentai as anything to be ashamed of, but something to celebrate as a community, and the fandom responded. There is a fandom. Need I remind you, there is a fandom. For hentai. And all things anime. Fakku has active social media, hosts convention panels with special guests, industry parties with DJs like Anamanaguchi, art shows, and even custom skateboards. Fakku’s kinda a lifestyle brand that, it turns out, many people are proud to represent… even if it’s in the form of a- of an ahegao t-shirt.

  He also never stopped branching out. Since going official, Jacob set up a streaming agreement with Kitty Media, the lone survivor of hentai publishers after the bubble burst and the final resting place of many licenses acquired from its fallen brethren. He also worked to acquire licenses to older visual novel ero games and Fakku even published the first ero guro manga in the west… and that, if you don’t know is like umm… it’s like a portmanteau of erotic and grotesque and umm… my description of the matter ends there. You got Google for that.

  Jacob even launched a sub-label for non-pornographic manga called Denpa Books, which I guess is a huge departure from every other company that’s ever done this, and he used that to print niche licenses like the acclaimed Kaiji and ero adjacent works such as Inside Mari, Super Dimensional Love Gun, and even Maeda’s Legend of the Overfiend manga. 

  Since going legit, Fakku has become massive. 

  Grady: Like we’ve published ourselves over 1,000 manga artists. We now work with I think seven or eight hentai manga publishers in Japan. Pretty much everyone, we work with in some manner. 

  So despite all my hesitance to engage in uh, in hentai consumption in general, and across the board, I will say that there is a legitimate audience for it, and you know, whatever is your thing is your thing. And if that’s your thing, there’s a place to consume it, and there’s a rich history behind it. Surprisingly. It’s not just tentacles for tentacles’ sake. It’s a thing that makes sense, unfortunately. You almost wish it didn’t. But it does. It does. 

  So with that, in conclusion, I leave you… with this: just you know, just like the things you like, and umm maybe, I dunno, for whatever reason do some research and look into why you like those things and why they exist. 

  This has been Anime in America. I’m your host, Yedoye Travis. Tune into the next one. 

  Goodbye!

  [Lofi music]

  Thank you for listening to Anime in America presented by Crunchyroll. If you enjoyed this, please go to Crunchyroll.com/animeinamerica to watch literally NONE of the things we just mentioned! 

  Special thanks to Jacob Grady from Fakku for joining us. And you’ve heard it before, but please leave us a review and rate the show so more people can discover it, or just share it with a friend.

  This episode is hosted by me, Yedoye Travis and you can find me on Instagram at ProfessorDoye, or Twitter @YedoyeOT. Researched and written by Peter Fobian, edited by Chris Lightbody, and produced by me, Braith Miller, Peter Fobian, and Jesse Gouldsbury. Additional research and writing by Mamoudou N’Diaye. 

  By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[fandomsandfeminism]

When Yuri!!! on Ice was first beginning, it was compared endlessly to Free! Iwatobi Swim Club, but now that both shows are completed, does that comparison hold up?

Text Transcript under the cut

Hey, so do yall remember in the build up to the Spring 2013 season when Kyoto Animation announced that THE SWIMMING ANIME was going to be a full series and the internet, particularly Tumblr, lost its collective shit? I do. I definitely do.

And I’ll be honest, I watched both seasons of Free! Iwatobi Swim Club, and I enjoyed it immensely. I’d probably enjoy the movie too if it EVER GOT A NORTH AMERICAN RELEASE. (Come on Crunchyroll, funimation. Why are yall like this?)  I liked the pretty boys and the pretty animation and the fun opening and ending and holy. Shit. the fanservice.

So when, in the build up to the Fall 2016 season, Studio Mappa announced Yuri!!! On Ice, I was pretty excited. It seemed to promise a lot of the same things that Free had: Cute boy sports anime with fanservice and pretty animation. It promised to be like Free! But the Pool is Frozen, the Boys are back in town 2.0 Winter edition. Hell yeah.

Now, those qualities don’t inherently mean that I was going to love the show. Heck, 2016 Summer’s attempt with Cheer Boys was boring as hell. I don’t think anyone even watched it.

But never, really, in a thousand years, did I think that Yuri!!! On Ice was going to be BETTER than Free. But, let’s be honest. Yuri!!! on Ice is better than Free. Much, much, better than Free.

*Please note: Spoilers ahoy!*

So here is my thesis, if you will:   Free! Iwatobi Swim Club and Yuri!!! On Ice, despite their obvious similarities, have 3 very distinct differences which cause Yuri!!! on Ice to be more enjoyable and satisfying for me personally: their treatment of same-sex attraction, the development and variety of their secondary characters (particularly women), and the maturity and realism of their emotional depth.

How the shows treat same-sex attraction. For this section, we need to talk about Queer Baiting. What it is, how to spot it, and why, as a queer fan, it kinda sucks.

So definition first. In general, queer baiting is a term used to describe an attempt by canon creators to woo queer fans and/or slash fans by hinting at LGBT+ characters and/or relationships but with no intention of actually making it canon. This is done either by introducing a character who is coded as queer in some meaningful way, or by hinting that two same-sex characters might be attracted to each other but never confirming these things. Worst yet, these HINTS tend to be explained away as jokes, as humor. Often, instead of getting same sex couples, the idea of same sex couples is made into a joke.

Now, the term Queer Baiting comes from a very western context. It is a concept developed in the West to talk about western media, and there is some debate about whether or not that specific term can be applicable to anime and eastern media. Especially since a lot of anime that engage in this aren’t trying to bait QUEER fans, but are specifically trying to bait straight women who like watching hot guys make out. (But then, that could be argued as being partly true in the west as well.) Regardless of whether or not the specific term Queer Baiting is the best to use here, or if we should go with Fan Baiting, or some other alternative, the underlying concept is the same: A show deliberately hints at a queer relationship and then never delivers in order to appeal to a wide variety of fans but lacks real representation.  

So, does Free! Iwatobi Swim Club bait? Hell yes it does. It very intentionally seems aimed at Japanese Fujioshi, Japanese straight female fans who like slash and yaoi, and, to an extent, queer fans, who are incredibly interested or invested in seeing same-sex relationships in media. (There’s a whole conversation to be had about fujioshi culture and how it objectifies queer men, but that’s for another day.)

And let me be clear: Baiting doesn’t inherently make a show bad. If nothing else, it can lead to a very vibrant fan community. And as a queer anime fan, I fall for this shit hook line and sinker every damn time. I’m basically helpless when it comes to this stuff.

But make no mistake, baiting isn’t a good thing. It isn’t progressive writing. It isn’t diverse writing. It isn’t writing that helps positive minority representation in media. The goal of baiting it to titillate fans with emotional fan service, but not actually commit to writing lgbt+ characters.

And make no mistake, anime as a whole does not have a GREAT track record with representing lgbt+ people in positive ways. There are exceptions, naturally, but as a whole, there isn’t a lot there that is positive and well done. And if you are invested in seeing that kind of representation, constant baiting can be frustrating and disheartening.

So Free! Baits. The characters flirt and look at each other longingly and splash in the water together and take random spur of the moment vacations to Australia to meet each other’s foster families and all their emotional stakes are tied to each other and nothing. Ever. happens.  

Yuri!!! on Ice though?

Yuri!!! On Ice came through for us. I think the fandom is still a little bit in shock. I’m in shock. Because like...this shit doesn’t happen. It just doesn’t happen. But here it is! It happened. They flirted. And blushed. And kissed. And rings. RINGS. YALL. ENGAGEMENT RINGS. And holy shit, the pair skate?!

We have professional figure skaters tweeting about this show and the creator talking about how Yuuri and Victor can’t live without each other for real, and how so many fans got on twitter to thank her for the kiss in episode 7 because this kind of thing just….never happens.

I...I’m sorry. It’s just so, so incredibly rare for us to get healthy positive depictions of same-sex relationships outside of the very narrow genres of Boys love (and Girls love) in anime (which can and do have their own issues). And while Yuri!!! on Ice may not always be EXPLICIT with the romantic elements of the show all the time, they are far from subtle. The repeated declarations of love, how Yuuri is skating to show his love, their love, how meeting Victor has taught him about love, how Yuuri has taught Victor about life and love, only the most hard hearted adamant could try to no-homo this pair. And since the finale strongly implied a sequel, and Kubo has said she would like to continue the story, I think it’s safe to hope for even more romantic development in the future. (Like….a wedding? Please?)

So for those of us for whom seeing depictions of same-sex relationships done well is very important, this is like, a big deal. That’s not to say that Yuri!!! on Ice has perfect same sex relationship representation and is the sole standard bearer without flaw. It certainly has pros and cons, and has it’s own place within the Japanese media landscape. But it’s certainly good, and certainly more satisfying than Free! For me as a queer fan.

But it is not all I’m going to talk about. Baiting VS canon may be the most obvious, and important, difference between these shows, it is not the only one.

2. Side characters! Are like, a thing! There are girls in this show too!

Quick! Name all the female characters you can from Free!

Who all could you think of? The teacher- Ms. Amakata, and Kou, right? Maybe you remembered that Kou has that friend, but I bet you forgot her name (It’s Chigusa). Maybe, like, the wife that Rin stayed with in Australia? Makoto’s little sister? It’s pretty scarce. 2 secondary characters, and maybe 3 tertiary ones.

And it is understandable why this is. It’s a cute boy sports anime. Any amount of time we spend giving Kou screen time is time we aren’t watching Nagisa and Rei flirt. Makoto, being total husband material, is the only one of the boys who we really see their family. Rin and Kou rarely interact. Nagisa’s family is only talked about but never seen. Haru? Was ...born from the ocean, I guess.

Amakata and Kou do have personality, and I love them. But they are only two secondary characters.  Makoto’s sister only exists to characterize Makoto. You can’t describe any of her thoughts or likes or personality beyond that relationship. The wife in the couple Rin stayed with? I can’t even find her name on the internet.

Now, name all the female characters you can from Yuri!!! on Ice.

So, there’s Minako. And Mari. And Yuko. And the triplets. And Mila. And Sara. And Yuuri’s mom, Hiroko. And Yurio’s ballet teacher Lilia. All of these characters are seen multiple times, have speaking roles, and have some thought written into them beyond just what their presence tells us about the men. Yuko was the star of the ice rink when she was young. She’s a young mother who still loves skating. Minako was a dancer and owns a ballet studio, loves drinking too much and wants to meet famous skaters. The triplets are young girls who are skating otaku, are over zealous and like being on social media. We can describe nearly all of these characters in meaningful ways without even mentioning their relationships to men.

And look, It’s not a secret I’m a feminist. I like seeing well written female characters. But more than just my preference for some female characters, a lack of women can make a story feel a lot narrower, the world less fleshed out and believable. This gender disparity doesn’t break Free! By any means, and plenty of anime are incredibly girl heavy with almost no boys. We know WHY this happens too: It’s done to more aggressively market the show to an intended gender demographic. But to see a Sports anime able to include a decent number of developed female characters, I think, is a testament to the strong writing of the show and its wide appeal.

3. The emotional maturity.

The last meaningful difference between the shows is probably the most nebulous to describe. The best I can do is this: Free! Tries to capture how emotional teeangers feel about their inner conflicts in exaggerated and juvenile ways.  Yuri!!! on Ice shows adults navigating their inner conflicts in more natural and healthy ways.

A lot of this can be boiled down to the character’s ages, and the assumed age of the intended audience, but I think the quality of the writing affects it too. So when the entire swim team has a melt down because they secretly suspect that Rei is cheating on them with the track team, or when Nagisa runs  away from home forever because his parents want him to focus on school and not swimming, or when Rin breaks down crying all the goddamn time in season 1 because of...sexual tension with Haru? Or when Rin has to kidnap Haru for a vacation to Australia to save him from an existential crisis we all kinda...roll with it, and post gifs about all our feels, and accept it because they are TEENAGERS  in ANIME so everything is really dramatic.

Now, Yuri!!! on Ice is a sports anime about ADULTS. Yuuri is 23. Victor is 27. That doesn’t mean they don’t have problems or deal with drama. But it does mean that problems are met with a sense of realism. Look, Yuuri’s dog died and he bombed his tournament and ends up crying in a bathroom stall. It’s sad, but he doesn’t try to run away and live in a tent. Macchin gets sick and might die, and Yuuri is afraid Victor leaving might make his performance suffer. But they talk about it, and Victor goes to be with his dog, and Yuuri does his best. Yuuri has anxiety that flares up, and Victor does his best to support him. When Victor is overwhelmed at Yuuri’s anxiety and messes up at being a good coach, Yuuri and him talk about it. THEY TALK. LIKE PEOPLE DO. The most emotional drama we get in the series is when Yuuri is considering retiring and cutting things off with Victor in the finale- which gets resolved by the end of that episode. But no one has to bottle up secret career ending injuries for an ENTIRE SEASON from their best-not-boyfriend because they are over dramatic high schoolers.

Ultimately this last point probably matters a lot more to me than most people. Anime as a whole is so super saturated with teenagers with hyper melodramatic emotions that having a sports show where the characters react in reasonable and healthy ways is just really nice.  

So what am I saying? What’s the point? Am I saying Free! Is a bad show? No. If you like cute boys doing sports things and can stand or even enjoy the baiting, then hell yes. Watch the hell out of it. Go nuts. Draw fan art and write fic and fight about Makoto/Haru vs Rin/Haru vs Rin/Souske (RinHaru 4lyfe).

But I think it’s important that we appreciate when a show is pretty good and pretty fun like Free, and when a show goes above and beyond. When a show has real canon representation for same sex relationships, and a decent gender balance, and well conveyed emotional depth, I want us to care. I want the difference between a 7 out of ten anime and a 10/10 anime to matter. I want us to recognize when a show makes history.

So yeah. Yuri on Ice isn’t “Like Free, but the pool is frozen.” If anything, Free is “Like Yuri on Ice, but lukewarm and tepid.’  

Thanks for watching this video! This channel is brand new, so any likes or comments are super appreciated. I’m really new making video essays instead of just tumblr posts, but I had a lot of fun working on this, and I hope to make more videos like it. If you enjoyed listening to a millennial feminist with a BA in English ramble about stuff I like for a while, feel free to subscribe. I will be trying to make more of these soon.