History of LGBTQ characters in animated series
Gender has always been a component of animation, with scholars Harry Benshoff and Sean Griffin writing that animation has always "hint[ed] at the performative nature of gender."[1] They specifically cite the example of Bugs Bunny wearing a wig and a dress, acting as a female rabbit in drag. Building off the early years of anime, from 1917 to the 1950s, starting in the 1960s, LGBTQ+ characters in animated series came to prominence first through Japanese anime and manga. For manga, this manifested in the yaoi genre that focuses on same-sex male relationships, and yuri, that focuses on relationships between women, with wide-ranging representation of gay, lesbian, and gender non-conforming characters and related themes.[2] Some LGBTQ+ characters in animation are derived from graphic art works and video games. At the same time, some argued that the Walt Disney Company played with gender stereotypes in the past,[3] featuring effeminate or "sissy" characters,[4] or those coded as gay,[5] which occurred while the characters were comedic and kept at arms length. From the 1960s to the 1980s, LGBTQ+ representation was mainly confined to Japanese animations. In the 1990s, Japanese anime favorites, like Revolutionary Girl Utena and Sailor Moon premiered while gay characters appeared in Western animations such as South Park, The Simpsons, and a few others. In the early 2000s, LGBTQ+ representation remained steady in anime, but increased in Western animation, culminating in GLAAD's "Where We Are in TV" report in 2005, even as representation in such animation was scattered and disparate. It would not be until the advent of shows like Steven Universe and Adventure Time in the 2010s, that LGBTQ+ characters in animation would gain more of a prominent role, leading to shows such as Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. This page will show this progress by building off the lists of animated series which contain these characters.
For fictional characters in other parts of the LGBTQ+ community, see the lists of lesbian, gay, trans, bisexual, non-binary, pansexual, asexual, and intersex characters.
The early years: 1917-1950s
Japanese animation is generally recognized as beginning in 1917,[6] with the release of Namakura Gatana (Blunt Sword). This was three years after U.S. and European cartoons were introduced to Japan,[7] inspiring Japanese creators like Junichi Kouchi and Seitaro Kitayama,[8] both of whom were considered the "fathers of anime." Many early animated Japanese films were lost after the 1923 Tokyo earthquake, with artists trying to incorporate traditional motifs and stories into a new form.[9] While Japanese anime was costly to produce,[10] Disney Cartoons overshadowed it and influenced future animations.[11] In 1919, Nobuko Yoshiya wrote Yaneura no nishojo (Two Virgins in the Attic), a semi-autobiographical lesbian fiction,[12] and fictions she wrote following it,[13] popularizing many of the ideas and tropes which drove yuri manga for years to come.[14]
Through the Second World War, Japanese artists created animations for the Imperial Japanese Army,[15] such as Maysuyo Seo's film, Momotarō: Umi no Shinpei or Momotarō’s Divine Sea Warriors which focused on Japanese occupation of Asia.[16] In the post-war years, Japanese media was often influenced by the United States,[8] leading some to define anime as any animation emanating from Japan after 1945.[17]:5 While anime and manga began to flourish in the 1940s and 1950s, with foreign films (and layouts by American cartoonists),[18] influencing people such as Osamu Tezuka,[19] on July 27, 1940, Bugs Bunny premiered in the Warner Brothers Cartoon, A Wild Hare.[20][21] Bugs Bunny would later be described as the "first animated drag queen"[22] due to the character's propensity to cross-dress in women's clothing in at least 40 cartoons.[23] The creators thought the cross-dressing was "funny," with the cross-dressing positively received by audiences.[24] Even so, the Hays Code was still enforced in the United States, which banned curse words, forbid interracial relationships to be depicted, and had a "puritanical view of sex," replaced by a film rating system in 1968, with many of its "arbitrary moral guidelines" persisting for decades.[25]
In the 1950s, anime studios began appearing across Japan. Hiroshi Takahata bought a studio named Japan Animated Films in 1948, renaming it Tōei Dōga,[10] with an ambition to become "the Disney of the East." While there, Takahata met other animators[26] such as Yasuji Mori, who directed Doodling Kitty, in May 1957. However, for the Japanese public, it wasn't until the release of Panda and the Magic Serpent in October 1958 that Japan fully entered into world of professional animation.[11] While animators began to experiment with their own styles, using Western techniques,[15] Tezuka Osamu began drawing shonen manga like Rob no Kishi (Knight of the Ribbon), which later became Princess Knight, trying to appeal to female readers, while also pioneering shoujo manga. Around the same time, Japan had a so-called "gay boom"[28] with the appearance of magazines such as Amatoria which focused on homosexuality.[29]
Anime comes into its own: 1960s-1970s
In the 1960s, the unique style of Japanese anime began forming, with large eyed, big mouthed, and large headed characters.[15] At the same time, manga began creating fantasy worlds where characters of the other sex were "completely removed from reality,"[30] a trend continued in later years. At the same time, Astro Boy, created by Osamu Tezuka, premiered on Fuji TV on January 1, 1963.[10] It became the first anime shown widely to Western audiences, especially to those in the United States,[31][32]:31 becoming relatively popular[11] and influencing U.S. popular culture, with American companies acquiring various titles from Japanese producers.[33]:95 While Tezuka released many other animated shows, like Jungle Emperor Leo,[8] anime took off, studios saw it as a commercial success, even though no new programs from Japan were shown on major U.S. broadcast media from the later 1960s to late 1970s.[32]:33
By the time Princess Knight premiered on Fuji TV, black and white anime had begun to ebb while color productions had swept in.[34] This anime, which began airing in April 1967, wasn't meant to be revolutionary but influenced other works such as The Rose of Versailles,[35][36] Revolutionary Girl Utena,[37] Sword of Paros, and Sailor Moon.[38] This anime followed the introduction of comic magazines aimed at girls beginning in the early 1960s, with many women artists entering the field. In the anime, Princess Sapphire, would be introduced as a genderqueer character. She would be raised as a boy by their father since women are not eligible to inherit the throne,[39] but would be born with both a male and female heart, and later fall in love with and marry Prince Frank.
By the 1970s, censored Japanese animation were shown on U.S. television. One example of this censorship was transgender characters in Gatchaman ("Battle of the Planets").[40] Although the LGBTQ+ movement began to gain supporters and followers,[41] LGBTQ+ characters largely appeared as stereotypes on U.S. television shows. This was because the Hollywood Production Code (1930–1968) and the Code of Practices for Television Broadcasters (1952–1983) indirectly discouraged depictions of homosexuality.[42] In the 1970s and 1980s, some shows began to show gay characters in a more positive light, although often only for a single episode. In Japan, yuri manga first began appearing, but due to the fact that pornographers used the term, Japanese lesbians rarely used it.[43] In 1972, Ikeda Riyoko began writing The Rose of Versailles which would later become a popular manga and anime.[44] In the late 1970s, yaoi, also known as boy's love, an offshoot of shojo, manga was published [45] by young female illustrators, cementing themselves in the manga industry,[46] with this genre later becoming "a transnational subculture."[47] While anime increased its popularity, especially outside of Japan, new animations focused on science fiction[48][49] after the release of Star Wars in 1977.[31][50]:3 Even with the new animations and toy promotions attached to animated shows,[11] the anime industry came to a standstill. Those who watched hentai, and cartoon violence within the shows themselves, had given anime a bad name,[33]:95–6 leading to censorship in the United States and Western countries.
In this environment, Rose of Versailles aired on Nippon TV and Animax from October 10, 1979 to September 3, 1980.[51] It would have a lot of influence for years to come. This anime was an account of the French Revolution from a young woman, raised as a soldier, who dresses and behaves as a man, named Oscar François de Jarjayes.[52] Oscar would have a love interest in one of the series protagonists, Marie Antoinette.[53] and would have a relationship with Andre,[54] a childhood friend, but is only can share one passionate night with Andre. The anime would include a number of other LGBTQ characters. For instance Queen Marie Antoinette would enter a political marriage with King Louis XVI of France but falls in love with Count von Fersen and is considered a love interest of Oscar, a genderqueer woman.[53] Even so, their relationship never quite goes beyond master and servant.[54][55] Then there was Rosalie Lamorlière, the adopted daughter of Nicole Lamorlière.[56] She would later swear to kill her mother's murderer and would try and kill Oscar's mother.[57] However, Oscar would stop her, and she would become Oscar's apprentice, earning Rosalie's admiration and love, as she opens Oscar's eyes.[56][58] She later ends up marrying Oscar's friend, Bernard Chatelet. The series enjoyed success among many female fans who noted the "slippage" between sex and gender,[59] while often depicting "same-sex romantic feelings."[13] This anime influenced American anime fans, although it was unavailable in English for years, and throughout Europe, giving "more strength and equality to women" than shows like Princess Knight, in the view of some critics.[60]
Anime renewal and U.S. television in the 1980s
In the 1980s, anime started to go through a "visual quality renewal" thanks to new directors like Hayao Miyazaki, who founded Studio Ghibli in 1985, Isao Takahata and Katsuhiro Ōtomo.[8] Anime began to deal with more nuanced and complex stories, while Boy's Love continued to impact cultural norms, taking root across East Asia, as countries such as South Korea, Thailand, and China ingested these Japanese pop culture exports.[61][50]:3
This period, often called the "Golden Age of Anime," brought about various famous productions. Shows were shifting from a focus on superheroes to robots and space operas,[15] with original video animation (OVA or OAV) coming onto the market in 1984, with a range in length.[11] Home videos opened up the floodgates, introducing viewers, especially those in the West, to anime films.[31] Although anime was widely distributed through international piracy in the 1980s and 1990s,[33] before the days of online piracy, it continued to survive. Anime recovered in the U.S., becoming more of Japan's television exports as the country became the "world's leading authority" in entertainment.[17]:19–20 While Masters of the Universe aired in the U.S., having characters like Prince Adam/He-Man that some speculated were asexual,[22] shows such as Fight! Iczer One and Bubblegum Crisis had openly LGBTQ+ characters.[62][63] Both series entered the Japanese market as OVAs. Specifically, Cobalt and Sepia, Iczer-1 and Nagisa Kanou were lesbian couples in "Fight! Iczer One," a classic of "early anime,"[64] while Daley Wong would be a sympathetically presented gay character. There were a number of other shows shows aired on Japanese television with LGBTQ+ characters. For example, Stop!! Hibari-kun! had outwardly transgender characters[65] while Patalliro! had a gay and genderqueer character.[66] Even Dragon Ball featured a canon gay character named General Blue, who is a Nazi and series antagonist,[67] having an entire saga focused on him. He also makes an appearance in Dragon Ball GT. One series, Ranma 1/2 featured a trans girl as the protagonist who is attracted to Akane Tendo in the anime, despite a rocky start to their relationship.[68] She is also attracted to Akane in the manga the series was based on.[69] Akane also rejects advances by Ryoga, a rival of Ranma.[70] Another series, Urusei Yatsura featured Ryūnosuke Fujinami, a tomboyish girl and protagonist who she goes out on a date with an alien girl Ran, who thinks that Ryūnosuke is a lesbian after she says she has no interest in boys, and a protagonist of the anime.[71] In the OVA, titled "Nagisa's Fiance," Nagisa Shiowatari becomes her fiancé, a guy who was raised as a girl, meaning he behaves and crossdresses as a girl, implying that she may be bisexual. Her character was later used as a prototype for Ukyo Kuonji in Ranma ½.[72] Then there is Dirty Pair. In the August 26, 1985 episode, "Love Is Everything, Betting Their Lives On Elopement", Yuri and Kei are sent by a rich business owner to find the son he claims was kidnapped by a terrifying woman. However, it soon becomes apparent that this is all a setup and the rich guy's son, named Clicky Goldjeff, and the woman, Joanna, are actually lovers who want to elope. One of the core reasons why the father hates Joanna is that she was assigned male at birth. The son, naturally, doesn't care, and Yuri and Kei see this transphobia as incredibly old fashioned, claiming that one in 10 people have transitioned.[73]
This contrasted with Western animation. On December 17, 1989, the first episode of The Simpsons featured a gay character, Waylon Smithers, named after openly gay puppeteer Wayland Flowers,[74] would appear on a U.S. animated show.[75] However, like other shows at the time, The Simpsons approached the subject gingerly, not drawing much attention to the sexuality of Smithers,[76] as he remained in the closet, officially, until 2016.[77] The Simpsons was not alone. Erika Scheimer, daughter of Filmation founder Lou Scheimer, Erika had a role as the Assistant Recording Director for She-Ra: Princess of Power and voicing various characters, she ended up shaping "one of the biggest animated gay icons of all time": She-Ra, and felt comfortable working as a lesbian at Filmation.[78] In a July 25, 2020 Comic Con panel with other LGBTQ comic writers, Noelle Stevenson, the showrunner of the reboot series, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, argued that He-Man and She-Ra were gay icons in the original She-Ra series.[79] She also stated that Netossa and Spinnerella were implied to be in a lesbian relationship and said that she saw gay themes throughout the series.
Entering the 1990s
In the 1990s, more LGBTQ characters began to be depicted in animated series. While some Western animation like Futurama, South Park, and The Simpsons would include such characters, a few anime stood above the rest in terms of their representation: Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, and Revolutionary Girl Utena. The latter anime, one of the most important anime of the decade,[80] would have a lasting influence for years to come, even influencing Rebecca Sugar, who later became a storyboarder for Cartoon Network's Adventure Time in the 2010s and the creator of the series Steven Universe.[81]
Into a new decade: the 2000s
Anime and Western animated shows built upon the representation of LGBTQ characters in the previous decade. The 2000s brought with it Queer Duck, the first animated TV series on U.S. television which featured homosexuality as a major theme,[82] an alien named Roger in American Dad who had an ambiguous sexuality,[83] and an assortment of other shows. This included the yuri-focused Simoun and Strawberry Panic.
The promise of the 2010s
The 2010s were a decade which would change LGBTQ representation in animation going forward in a significant way, especially in Western animation. Most prominently, the show Steven Universe, created by Rebecca Sugar, began airing on Cartoon Network in 2013, building upon her work on Adventure Time in the years prior.[84][85] Apart from Steven Universe, the well-regarded Wandering Son, with an assortment of transgender characters, would air on Japanese television,[86] while LGBTQ characters would be prominently featured in Stars Align and Yuri on Ice. GLAAD highlighted LGBTQ+ characters in shows such as Archer, Allen Gregory, South Park, BoJack Horseman, DreamWorks Dragons, and Venture Bros. in their yearly "Where We Are in TV" reports. 2018 and 2019 would be particularly significant for LGBTQ+ representation. For example, the series finale of Adventure Time featured a kiss between two female characters (Princess Bubblegum and Marceline the Vampire Queen),[87] the premiere of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power which includes various characters which could be read as "fluidly on the gender and sexuality spectrum,[88] and the wedding between Ruby and Sapphire in Steven Universe.[89]
Increased representation in the 2020s
Building on the progress in the 2010s, and anytime before, the 2020s held the promise of changing LGBTQ representation in animation in a significant way, especially when it came to Western animation. This went far and beyond anything in the 1990s or in the 2000s. In 2020 alone, the Steven Universe came to an end with the final episodes of Steven Universe Future,[90] as did She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, with its final season bringing the slow-burn lesbian romance of Catra and Adora full circle with their kiss saving the world (and universe) from destruction.[91] At the same time, The Hollow,[92] DuckTales,[93] and The Loud House,[94][95] Harley Quinn,[96] and Cleopatra in Space[97] featured LGBTQ+ characters while Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts premiered with a canon gay character named Benson.[98] In anime, Asteroid in Love,[99] and My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom![100] included LGBTQ characters, as did others.
See also
References
Citations
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Further reading
Brennan, Joseph, ed. (2015). Queerbaiting and Fandom: Teasing Fans through Homoerotic Possibilities. Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press. ISBN 978-1-60938-671-9.
Campbell, Jane; Carilli, Theresa; Drushel, Bruce; Cavalcante Da Silva, Simone; Erol, Ali E., eds. (2017). Locating Queerness in the Media: A New Look. US: Lexington Books. ISBN 978-1-4985-4905-9.
Lamarre, Thomas (2018). The Anime Ecology: A Genealogy of Television, Animation, and Game Media. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-1-5179-0450-0.
McLelland, Mark (2005). Male Homosexuality in Modern Japan: Cultural Myths and Social Realities. Richmond, England: Curzon. doi:10.4324/9780203016688. ISBN 978-0-203-01668-8.
McLelland, Mark; Nagaike, Kazumi; Suganuma, Katsuhiko; Welker, James, eds. (2015). Boys Love Manga and Beyond: History, Culture, and Community in Japan. Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi. doi:10.14325/mississippi/9781628461190.001.0001. ISBN 978-1-62846-119-0.
Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. US: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 978-1-5381-0373-9.
Poitras, Gilles (2000). Anime Essentials: Every Thing a Fan Needs to Know. US: Stone Bridge Press, Inc. ISBN 978-1-880656-53-2.
Stuckmann, Chris (2018). Anime Impact: The Movies and Shows that Changed the World of Japanese Animation. US: Mango. ISBN 978-1-5179-0450-0.
Ziegler, John R.; Richards, Leah, eds. (2020). Representation in Steven Universe. US: Palgrave MacMillian.
External links
- Website of Yuricon, which aims to bring together fans of lesbian narratives in Japanese animation and comics
- GLAAD Media Institute which tracks LGBTQ (and other) representation in U.S. television shows, including animated ones
- Blog of GLAAD which focuses on LGBTQ representation
- Animation news from LGBTQ Nation