June is the designated month for honouring the LGBTQ+ community in a variety of ways, even though love that transcends the strict boundaries of gender should be celebrated every day. The period, also known as Pleasure Month, is dedicated to remembering the difficult battles the LGBTQ+ community had in their pursuit of equal rights and highlighting the diversity of people who took great pride in their genuine sexual orientations.
Hollywood and other major film and television studios have created a substantial number of works about the LGBTQ+ population. The same is true with anime.
The genre of LGBTQ anime is not new. However, a lot of works in the genre don’t concentrate on the difficulties that members of the LGBTQ community face daily. However, some anime, whether as a backdrop or a significant narrative aspect, respectfully emphasise gender identification, LGBTQ relationships, or sexual preference.
Here are the Top 6 Anime Adaptations Where The LGBT Themes Were Phased Out. Without further ado, let’s see the different recommendations. If you love to watch LGBT themed, then you must check it out.
1. Yuri Kuma Arashi
Yuri Kuma Arashi, by Revolutionary Girl Utena author and director Kunihiko Ikuhara, is set on a planet populated by intelligent bears that want human flesh. Therefore, mankind constructs enormous walls to isolate itself from the outer world. Bears are still able to breach the barrier and feast on people. One of the bear assaults results in Kureha’s mother being killed, and Kureha decides to get retribution. Kureha quickly develops feelings for her classmate Sumika, but the romance is short-lived when Sumika also perishes in a bear attack. Lulu and Ginko, two girls, transfer to Kureha’s school in the meanwhile, but there’s more going on than what first appears to be the case. When describing the struggles LGBTQ people in Japan experience, Yuri Kuma Arashi frequently use metaphors and allegories. Through Kureha, we can observe how someone who deviates from society’s expectations is rejected and despised. In addition, the show is rife with visual significance, from the wall between humans and bears to the usage of flowers to symbolise the anime’s lesbian protagonists.
2. Wandering Son
One of the most popular LGBTQ anime series is Wandering Son. The show centres on Shuichi, a timid preteen boy who changes schools. At the desk next to him, he encounters the tomboyish Yoshino. They quickly became close friends and learn they have something in common: they are both transsexual. The two students develop a strong friendship and learn how to deal with issues like acceptance, relationships, and transsexuality as they get older. The fact that Yoshino and Shuichi’s trip handle gender identity issues through both of these characters, serves to inform viewers about gender identity.
3. Revolutionary Girl Utena
The LGBTQ undertones in Revolutionary Girl Utena have garnered a lot of attention, but the show goes much further than that. A wandering prince comforts Utena after the passing of her parents and presents her with a ring with an odd rose emblem. Utena is moved by the gallantry of this unknown prince and makes a promise to one day become a prince herself. After a few years, Utena enrols at Ohtori Academy and wears a boy’s uniform to school so that she might emulate the prince she once met. Along with challenging gender norms, Utena engages in a perilous struggle for Anthy Himemiya, Rose Bride, and her extraordinary abilities. She now has to defend her friend’s safety and unearth the sinister secret the Academy is hiding as she draws nearer to Anthy. In every sense of the term, Revolutionary Girl Utena transformed the anime business. The show examines a variety of subjects, including feminism, gay issues, and the genre of prince fairytales.
4. Sweet Blue Flowers
The narrative of Sweet Blue Flowers centres on Fumi Manjme, a shy, intelligent adolescent girl going through a difficult breakup, and Akira Okudaira, a freshman in high school. The two females get in touch again after ten years. Together, they make an effort to support one another as they navigate love relationships and establish their sexual orientation. The series has the outside appearance of being your regular lesbian anime, yet it lacks the clichés of the subgenre. Instead of concentrating just on the protagonists, the series focuses on the interactions between all of its characters, including secondary characters. The possibility for viewers to see genuine childhood friendships—as opposed to the sort that is generally utilised as a means for the protagonists to fall in love—as well as romantic relationships is provided. Also uncommon for a yuri tale, various male characters play a part in the lives of the protagonists. All of this contributes to Sweet Blue Flowers’ relevant and accurate depiction of contemporary relationships.
5. Cheeky Angel
The main character of the 50-episode television series Cheeky Angel is Megumi, a stunning young woman. She is so beautiful that some even compare her to an angel. The terrible truth is that Megumi was once a male; it’s hidden behind that stunning beauty! Megumi stumbled upon a mystical book containing a genie when he was nine years old. The genie grants a single wish when blood is put on the book. The genie granted Megumi’s desire to become the world’s manliest man, but instead, she changed him into a woman. Megumi is still a boy inside, despite being a pretty high school student a few years later. Megumi’s best friend Miki, a female, seeks to transform Megumi into an elegant young woman, although Megumi is adamant about maintaining her connection to her masculine side. Cheeky Angel answers several gender identity-related queries, including what it means to be a woman or a man and how someone chooses who they are on the inside.
6. Tokyo Godfathers
The essence of love is freedom of speech. Tokyo Godfathers is a Christmas classic whose message is ageless and enduring. Tokyo Godfathers, the latest work by Satoshi Kon, is more realistic than his earlier works since it centres on three oddball homeless individuals who are trying to reunite an abandoned child with her parents. One of the homeless people is a transgender woman, who is fiercely committed to locating the baby’s biological parents despite having experienced a similarly traumatic upbringing.
7. Yuri!! On Ice
Yuuri Katsuki returned to his homeland in Kyushu, Japan, after failing to bounce back from his loss in the Grand Pix Finale. After a video of him imitating his hero, Russian figure skater champion Viktor Nikiforov, went viral, Viktor developed an interest in Yuuri and even travelled to Kyushu to see him to help the latter resuscitate his faltering skating career. Yuri!!! On Ice has showcased one of the most fascinating same-sex relationships in anime, particularly in a generally male-dominated field like sports anime. This is in addition to the stunning choreography and clever comedy portrayed.
8. Banana Fish
Banana Fish takes place in the alleyways of New York City rather than in high schools, and it has a more mature subject. The action-adventure show covers a lot of ground in only one season, including sexual assault, cryptic Indiana Jones-style quests, and organised crime. Despite the series’ gloomy subject matter, Ash Lynx and Eiji Okumura, the two main characters, manage to develop a solid friendship while looking into the meaning of the words “Banana Fish,” which have driven Ash’s brother insane since he returned from the Iraq War.
9. Classmates
The anime series Classmates, better known in Japan as Dokyuusei, is frequently acclaimed for its exquisite watercolour animation technique, which elevates the otherwise ordinary yet endearing tale of gay love. The 2016 anime film shounen-ai, or boys’ love, centres on two guys named Hikaru Kusakabe and Rihito Sajou, much like Bloom Into You. The two came into contact when Rihito, an honour student who struggles with vocal pitch, decided to hire Hikaru, a capricious teenager who is also in a rock band, as his instructor.
10. Citrus
Citrus, which is based on a well-known manga series of the same name, centres on Yuzu Aihara, a stylish adolescent determined to find love and make new friends. Her mother marries again and enrols Yuzu in an all-girls school, shattering her ambitions. Even worse, she is constantly bothered by the rigid student council president, Mei. She is also Yuzu’s new step-sister, which is a bonus. Yuzu, though, develops fresh feelings for Mei as they begin to share a bedroom and get to know one another better. Citrus’ portrayal of same-sex relationships isn’t flawless, but viewers can still identify with and sympathise with the main characters. Viewers can partially examine important issues that LGBTQ individuals deal with, such as emotional trauma, social expectations, and sexual assault, through Mei and Yuzu. Additionally, there are a lot of adorable and humorous situations throughout the series, despite its darker times. The anime combines humour and a dash of realism in an ideal way.
