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Forum - View topicWhat's So Gay About Yuri!!! on Ice?
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Яeverse
 Posts: 1147 Location: Indianapolis |
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Harbor a directly sexual relation to each other? What episode was Yuri's proclamation indicting he felt that way?
Victor comes off as joking about it, so Im not convinced this is truly as canon as the writer mentions. |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 24205 |
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Incredibly interesting article. I didn't bother sampling Yuri!!! on Ice because I'm not huge on sports shows in general and figure skating as a sport is way down on my list of interests. If I do watch a sports show it helps if it's about a bunch of cute girls. However, looking at the gifs that Jacob provided and seeing the steller animation quality, I think I'm going to have to give this a shot. I had read in the Fall Preview Guide the animation was great, but it's one thing to read that and another to see even brief snippets of it. Not gonna lie to you - if this had been about female figure skaters, I would have been all over it. So I'll give this a shot, but I KNOW there is no way it could be better than the immortal Ginban Kaleidoscope (which had a Canadian co-lead, yo)!
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Hawkmonger
Posts: 440 |
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Is it not possible to be flirtations in a jokey way AND have genuine feelings behind it? I certainly think so. Yuri! On Ice has turned out to be the big surprise hit for me this season. |
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RestLessone
 Posts: 1426 Location: New York |
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@Яeverse
Jake makes note that the characters shy away from textually declaring attraction and that it could stumble off that path. Right now, he's going under the assumption that the series will follow through with what it's doing. Anyway, great write-up! Very interesting and covers a lot of the issues I have with LGBT+ representation in anime/manga. I'm hoping YOI doesn't veer off, but I have reservations based on previous experience. One minor thing, though. It felt kinda weird to read the Free characters as "asexual creatures." I think I know what you meant--that the boys of Free aren't really "real" people in general. But asexuality is an orientation too, and asexuals may be viewed as less human, so it was a bit striking to read the phrase in this article. Again, I know what you meant and it's not a huge deal, but I felt inclined to comment for future reference 
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EnigmaticSky
 Posts: 750 |
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I'd recommend reconsidering your stance on sports shows. Really any kind of show can be good, and the natural competition a sports show has can make for some really interesting character studies. I'm not big on the shows that are just a fighting anime, but with super powered sports moves instead of attacks, but stuff like Ping Pong and Cross Game are so damn good. I do hope this article isn't too preempitive. Whole lot left of the season, so I'll wait and see how Yuri on Ice turns out. |
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JacobC
ANN Past Staff
 Posts: 3728 Location: SoCal |
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Right. Yeah, that's definitely what I meant, but I can see how it could be taken in a more negative way, my bad.  I'll change it to "asexual beings."
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Vaisaga
 Posts: 13242 |
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Due to some unfortunate experiences I have an automatic negative reaction to baity type shows. When I see that sort of thing I can't help but think "Oh great, now I'm going to have to deal with those extremist yuri fans who'll insist it's irrefutably canon."
Sure, that kind of thing goes for all shippers, but yuri/yaoi shippers have something extra in their arsenal: "You don't think they're a gay couple? You must be a homophobe!!!" So now I become some kind of evil bigoted a-hole because I don't think Kumiko and Reina want to bone each other. I'm not a fan of yuri, but I appreciate it when such subject matter is handled well. Not too vauge for the sake of being baity, and not just some quirky comic relief trait. Midori from Tamako Market and Miku from Symphogear being examples (though Miku's feelings do become gag material in the specials). I also appreciate it when lesbian couples are allowed to be overtly sexual. Not for titillation's sake, mind you, but there's this mindset that yuri couples are all pure and innocent compared to 'vulgar' men dominated relationships. But shows like Kanamemo and Cross Ange allow the girls to have physical needs as if it were something perfectly normal (which it is). I only speak of yuri because by comparison I'm rather benign to yaoi. Yaoi baiting doesn't bother me nearly as much as yuri baiting, but since I still prefer women I usually skip sausage fest shows. I need something like Free which had at least 2 prominently featured female characters. |
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Jedai
 Posts: 11 |
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Very interesting article, articulating some of the distinctions and thank you for the list of shows that depict LGBT relationships more realistically.
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SciasSlash
Posts: 120 |
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Kumiko and Reina don't have canon love interests. Taki has no interest in Reina, and Kumiko's never once expressed interest in Shuuichi in the actual show.
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Vaisaga
Posts: 13242 |
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But the fact remains that Reina is in love with Taki. It's not something you can just ignore because you want Kumiko and Reina to hook up. |
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SciasSlash
Posts: 120 |
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Yeah. I never denied that? But to me, a 'love interest' is something that has an actual potential to be fulfilled. Reina's crush on Taki is absolutely a thing, but 'love interest' is a bit of a misleading word. |
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Vaisaga
Posts: 13242 |
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Well, that's a matter of semantics. Still, Jacob's point is that, at least in Reina's case strictly going by the anime, there's proof that she's not actually a lesbian. |
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quaton
Posts: 45 |
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Those must've been really irrelevant characters then because I don't remember either of them despite my good memory. No way I'd watch a whole series for characters that are bland and one-dimensional enough for me to forget their existences. |
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SciasSlash
Posts: 120 |
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[quote="Vaisaga"]
She could easily be bisexual, though. |
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Brakus
Posts: 130 Location: Virginia |
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There's a big elephant in the room: Tiger & Bunny.
Let's set aside Fire Emblem for a moment. Even though he is a successful businessman, he still comes off as an "okama" style character in the TV series, especially toward Rock Bison. Fire Emblem does get some great and long-overdue character development in The Rising movie, however. I always considered Tiger & Bunny very relatable to me as a gay otaku, especially with the way Kotetsu and Barnaby got along -- very rocky at first, and then as the series went on, and Barnaby leared to trust Kotetsu, it became extremely hopeful and positive for viewers like me to see them together. And when Kotetsu takes the hit in Episode 24, Barnaby's reaction is almost heartbreaking. I really believed that Kotetsu and Barnaby, by the end of the TV series, had developed feelings for each other. Even though practically all of it was in the subtext, I knew it was there. Producer Masayuki Ozaki has stated that whatever the viewer's interpretation of their relationship is correct. Again, setting aside Fire Emblem, do you think Tiger & Bunny was a step forward in gay-positive or gay-relatable characters and situations in anime? |
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