Forum - View topicWhat's So Gay About Yuri!!! on Ice?
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AnimenexuS
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Thinking manga or anime that is homoerotic. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure kinda is. Gryo Zeppeli posing awhile Johnny Joestar sitting down next him Johnny hands rapped around Gryo legs. One hand 1/2 inch awhile from Gryo's crotch
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Kileymik
Posts: 11 |
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A show is ruined for you because people like to make gay pairings? Thats really ridiculous. Theres plenty same-gender friendships in basically every show. I think you may be the one with delusions If you cant see how obviously Viktor and Yuuri are not straight. |
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vonPeterhof
Posts: 729 |
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Seriously though, physical contact isn't all the same, and there are certainly types of physical contact that would be viewed with suspicion when done between two males. Walking hand in hand is definitely that, as seen in the video linked above. Kissing your old coach on the cheek during an emotional goodbye, like Viktor does in ep.2, is more acceptable (and I would argue that still pushes the lines of believability - more about that below), while leaning into a guy's face so that your foreheads touch, while holding his chin and rubbing his lips, like Viktor does in ep.4, definitely isn't. Not to mention all the verbal hints, or the wolf whistle in ep.3. And lastly, unfortunately Russian acceptance of male-to-male physical contact appears to be on the decline. Greeting friends you haven't seen in a long time with three kisses on the cheeks is pretty much dead and gone - these days it's just one kiss, and only between two women, or a woman and a man (and even then you're not actually supposed to kiss the cheek, just do an air kiss in the general vicinity of the cheek). While Viktor is only supposed to be a year older than me, I don't think any guy of my generation would actually kiss an old friend goodbye like he did - certainly not in public. |
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Parsifal24
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Magical Girl Raising Project's portrayal Weiss and Nana's relationship is how if you are going to include a Lesbian or Homosexual couple I like to be written it's simply there it is part of the fictional universe and it doesn't feel like it's pandering to the fan base much like Haruka and Michiru in Sailor Moon.
It's unobtrusive it doesn't feel like your pandering to a sector of the fan base or using it as a political cudgel Aoi Hana also would be a mention of a fictionalized representation of Lesbianism I enjoy. Of course I also end up being "double minded" about representations of Homosexuality and Lesbianism in media as I can enjoy a well written character while not approving of the relationship or sexuality portrayed given my sexual ethics. the type of thing that happens in Sound Euphonium has always bugged me because on one hand it feels like the story is padded while it also can have an tendency to derail any conversation about the series into discussions about favorite parings and only favorite parings. I also have a problem with the fact sometimes this kind of implication makes for an overly monochromatic emotional landscape for lack of a better term perverting a close emotional relationship and making a friendship only romantic or subtly about the sexuality of the characters. Two people of the same gender can say they love each other and that does not make them Homosexual or Lesbian and this kind of implied same sex attraction just damages the emotional landscape of the characters and the fictional universe in my opinion. While at times it can also sometimes lead to a kind of entitled attitude form the fans as if they are "owed" their Homosexual or Lesbian relationship in the series by the creators. While portrayals of Homosexuality I've seen are mostly limited to a handful of Yaoi series and those always strike me as inauthentic or at least the admittedly limited amount of titles I've seen and read. A particularly bad example would be the OVA Osakana wa Ami no Naka. Of course I also kind of feel like the odd man out in a lot of these conversations being straight and holding to rigid traditional Christian sexual ethic. But this a conversation I think needs to be had in Anime Fandom and as long as "cultural hegemony" for lack of a better word does not set in and derail any kind of conversation or a sense of fan entitlement sets in I think it will always be a conversation worth having. While metatextualy in conclusion the appeal of this all goes back to humanity's fundamental sexual brokenness in a world this side of The Fall of Adam Total Depravity truly is total. |
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hatachi
Posts: 6 |
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B-b-but I'm lesbian and I love sakura trick. I feel like you're painting LGBT people with a pretty broad brush in this article.
Also, nearly all anime romance is infantile and based on misconceptions of what romance is. In fact, real life romance is the same. That's why it's so relatable, and these infantile concepts of romance are ones that we desire to attach ourselves to because they're not stressful, they're fun, and they're easy. When people want to see something realistic in a romance anime, that romance is going to be a drama. It's going to involve heartache. It's going to involve tears. Sure, it'd be nice to have a yuri drama anime, but it would suck to miss out on fun silly ones like sakura trick just because it's "not realistic". That said, need I remind you, the author, anime is fiction. Much of it is idealistic, and thus won't conform to reality. |
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Triltaison
 Posts: 750 |
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Antique Bakery is relatable? But this is a real thing in the show:
He does have some nice moments story-wise, but the recurring gag of him being "the gay of demonic charm" is really distracting and I found it a little insulting. The joke's most pronounced in the first episode, but it feels really out of place in the world and no different than flirtatious queen stereotypes. |
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Fipse
 Posts: 74 |
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Don't be silly! Next you will tell us that anime is a commercial product and tries to pander towards their audience to increase sales! |
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meruru
Posts: 473 |
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Good article and everything, but I'm still skeptical of how Yuri!!! on Ice is handling it, where the article seems to be very positive about it. I know their are LGBT people out there that feel the same misgivings too, since I watched with my friend who identifies bi who had the same problem with it. The problem we both had with Yuri!!! on Ice is that Victor doesn't just appear to be coming onto Yuri, he physically touches him in very sexual ways, in circumstances in which people would NEVER, EVER do in the real world (or at least I hope not!) And furthermore, Yuri acts uncomfortable about it. Even if it's not a matter of non-consent, Yuri might (probably?) be shy more than not wanting it, his body language is still obviously uncomfortable, and Victor keeps doing it without asking for consent, and I'd at least hope people in the real world would pick up on this and either not do it in the first place, or stop, or talk about it, or SOMETHING. So with that break from how people actually behave, honestly it still felt kind of queer-baity to us. Or maybe a wee bit predatory. Or both. We haven't seen the latest episode yet though. Who, knows, maybe we'd change our minds if we watched farther in.
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Shenl742
Posts: 1524 |
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Excellent article Jacob. I'm a gay anime fan myself, and I really think this succinctly and nicely puts into focus a lot of very complicated feelings I feel.
On the matter of subtext and "baiting". Honestly, I don't think there's anything wrong with these in a vacuum, but in regards to homosexuality, when that kind of undefined portrayal feels like the over-whelming norm, it can feel extremely frustrating. There's a certain power in clarity. |
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Roxas4ever
 Posts: 152 |
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Great article.
 I shared it on my Facebook feed for my anime friends and my non-anime LGBT friends to look at. Now I'm just waiting for the inevitable "what is this gay stuff?!" comment from someone's distant relative 
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chaccide
Posts: 295 |
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Nothing personal, but your experience and idea of how people behave isn't the sum total of reality. In fact it's not close to reality for a lot of people. Predatory is your judgement call, though I just see him as aggressive in a non-threatening way. But non-realistic? Lol. |
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FloozyGod
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Keijo!!!! also has a psychotic predator lesbian, Mio Kusakai. She hypnotizes girls with her boobies!!!
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AnimenexuS
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I'm not sure that really counts as psychotic predator lesbian |
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Keichitsu0305
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That's some extreme stretching you're doing! You must an Olympic gymnast with that much flexibility. So, I'm not a Russian 20+ male but, I have seen 20+ American men in my life interact with each other and the closest thing I've seen to "physical embrace" is either a fist bump or a 30 sec glomp while watching football. No heterosexual man, even the most flamboyantly macho man, will ever get close to another man to the point of nearly kissing him. Maybe while drunk or for some ulterior motives but, never so casually. Also, Jacob meant the Free! characters are asexual in the sense that they never openly expressed romantic or sexual desires with...anyone not that the 7 main boys (I'm excluding the Mikoshiba brothers since they both outwardly like Gou) are literally within the Asexual or Aromantic orientation. There's no way in hell that being a Russian foreigner translates to "gently caressing the lips and being 2 cm away from another man's mouth". Not too mention the teasing/flirting (#wolfwhistle #ErosYuri) in episodes 2 & 3, Yuri blushing like a 1000 watt lightbulb when Victor holds Yuris hand while both are buck naked, and the fact Yuri never wants Victor to pretend to be anything other than himself. In episode 4, Victor outright gives Yuri the option to pick what "role" to play to motivate him including being his lover. They could have taken the easy way out by having Yuri say yes (lord knows, all the fangirls cried tears of blood when he said no) but, that's precisely why Jacob is right that Yuri's sexual/romantic development is interwoven with his final figure skating career. (EDIT) Episode 5 just declared them canon...sort of? (0_o) Last edited by Keichitsu0305 on Wed Nov 02, 2016 3:39 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18268 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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While I don't know that I'd call her psychotic, "predator lesbian" definitely fits, and the boob hypnotism (which, BTW, is not an exaggeration) really has nothing to do with that. |
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