Author of Anime’s Performativity: Diversity through Conventionality in a Global Media-Form, Stevie Suan identifies manga through “practices of panel layouts, common conventionalized facial/bodily expressions, as well as character design styles and narrative content” and for anime, the addition of “voice acting styles, background, world-setting and sound designs,” and the more nuanced “techniques of animation, styles of movement, narrative structure and pacing.” (Suan, 64) The formulaic narrative and visuals of anime lends itself to fast production and high demand. Manga is Japanese style comics, which anime is commonly adapted from. Brenner suggests the origins of anime reach as far back as kabuki theater in terms of styles of storytelling, but when Japan became influenced by Western comic strips and cartoon reels in the early 20th century, the country began to develop its own modern visual media: manga, and then anime. Popular anime in Japan are distributed to the American market, either translated with English subtitles or dubbed with English speaking voice actors. A Brief History of AnimeĪnime is characterized by hand or computer drawn animation originating and produced in Japan. In order to understand how and why this censorship occurs, one must first take a step into Japan’s history with anime and sexuality. I believe drawing awareness to this underrepresentation is one of the steps in bringing positivity to a marginalized community. There have been a few positive improvements, like the somewhat rare No.6 (2011), but a medium with over 400 animation studios has an unacceptable trend of negative queer representation.
#NAME A TRANSGENDER OR GAY ANIME CHARACTERS CRACKED#
Anime rarely represents queer individuals well, and though newer examples like Yuri!!! On Ice (2016) come close, they still fall into the same closet kept only slightly cracked by studios and networks. Queer anime is kept in the closet and the closet contributes to the marginalization of queer individuals. Such censorship is harmful to fans of anime, and it reflects a societal ideology situating same gender romance as profane. Aoi Hana portrays a relationship between young queer girls coming to terms with their sexuality. Neither Japan or the United States have official codes against representations of same gender romance in anime, but the actions of studios and networks reflect a generalization of profanity as seen with Sailor Moon (1991) and Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995). Censorship in this case can be cutting funding for an anime after backlash, English dubbing that fails to translate same gender attraction, editing animation cells to hide visuals of queer romance, and more. The biggest contributing factor is censorship by Japanese studios and American networks. The community is often overtly sexualized in anime, but more often than not, we are made invisible. Much like with queer individuals (Note: In this analysis, I will refer to “queer” as an umbrella term for non-heterosexual identities), queer representations in anime have been and are currently still kept in the closet. This was around the time little me brought anime into the closet along with my sexuality where I would not proudly reemerge until my adult years. American cartoons, like Looney Toons, were apparently acceptable to the adults in my life, despite the material of such being arguably raunchier. Sailor Moon is a popular Japanese animation of the 1990s that teaches lessons of acceptance, feminism, and friendship. I had drawn a picture of anime heroine Sailor Moon fighting villains, and the question was whether this was acceptable material for a child to be emulating. It was the day five year-old me was brought in for a parent/teacher conference regarding my interest in anime.
Yet there was another incident in my kindergarten career that kept me in the closet, one separate but unexpectedly linked to the topic of my sexuality. My bisexuality was not necessarily revolutionary, but exhibits of same gender attraction were definitely unwelcome. Surely this experience is not unusual for American children, particularly those having grown up in small towns before the liberation of queer youth in the 2010s. I kissed a girl at recess and was scolded by my teacher, “girls shouldn’t kiss other girls on the lips.” (Note: If you read my name and are confused, this was 15 years pre-transition from female to male.) In contrast, the kisses I planted on boys at recess were acceptable. I was five years-old when I first entered the closet. Queer Representation in Anime Yuuri Katsuki in Yuri!!! on Ice ( source)