User:FaithRich/sandbox

= LGBTQ Anime = LGBTQ+ themes in Anime have been prevalent since the 1960s. Currently, gay marriage is not recognized in Japan despite the large acceptance from the population. LGBTQ anime has become more popular as queer people are becoming more visible and the desire for representation is growing.

History
The first piece of queer themes in anime was created in 1967 in the show Princess Night. The series was created by Osamu Tezuka, who is widely known is "The Godfather of Manga" due to his trailblazing of the modern style of manga and anime. The protagonist, named Sapphire, has both the heart of a boy and a girl, but chooses to identify as a male so that she (Sapphire uses she/her pronouns in the series) can eventually rule her kingdom.

It wasn't until 1991 for one of the first anime to ever portray a same-sex relationship was aired. In the third season of Sailor Moon two new queer characters were introduced to the series: Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus. The characters were never officially stated as lovers, but were instead depicted frequently flirting with each other and attempting to make the other jealous. Another presumably queer character of the show was Fisheye. Fisheye was a male yet would present as a female in order to lore in heterosexual males.

Ouran High School Host Club (2008) is one of the most critically acclaimed anime to hit the market. The main character, Haruhi Fujioka, became part of an all male host club despite being a female. When first introduced to the other hosts, they started to catch feelings for her despite the fact that they believed she was a male. Once they discovered that she was actually a woman, they chose to keep her in the club and only hide her secret from their female clients, who also had intense romantic attraction towards her.

Yuri!!! on Ice (2016) is an anime about figure skating that depict two male skaters, who are Viktor Nikiforov and Yuri Katsuki that have romantic feelings for each other. In once scene they are even shown kissing on the lips. In the very last episode Viktor gives Yuri a ring, which could be interpreted as a proposal.

Public Reception
In the American version of Sailor Moon, Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus' relationship was altered to make them cousins, creating a relationship closer to incest than homosexuality. As for Fisheye, he was changed to be a woman, yet the show still left in a few scenes that depicted him shirtless. There were also multiple other cases of gender swapping in the series that was cut out of the dubbed American version to avoid controversy.

Yuri!!! on Ice was very well received and made Crunchyroll's list of top 25 anime of the decade. However, some criticism that the series received was that it was unrealistic that Viktor and Yuri's relationship did not face any sort of homophobia and that the kissing scene between them was obstructed by Viktor's arm, not giving the audience the full view of the moment.

Manga
Wondering Son (2002) followed the story of Shuichi Nitori, a transgender girl, and Yoshino Takatsuki, a transgender boy. This manga has been applauded for its representation of trans people in a way that does not make fun of them. Wondering Son explores the struggles of the protagonists in a real and sophisticated manner.

Sexualization
Yaoi, meaning Boys' Love (BL for short), is anime or manga depicting sexually explicit activities between homosexual men. It is usually created my women for women instead of actual gay males. Yaoi has helped to de-stigmatize homosexuality in Japan, however, it has also created some issue by over sexualizing LGBTQ men.