Queer Anime

LGBTQ in the anime community

We have come along way since the 1980s and 1990s animes

I’m 27 years old and have been watching all kinds of anime since I was a young child. Do the math, I’m a mid-1990s baby. With that being said, we have come a very long way in regards to authentic representation for the LGBTQ community. I will not be discussing “sex anime” (aka “hentai”) in this article.

Sensui and Itsuki from Yu Yu Hakusho

Let’s be real, in the 1990s and before, there was not a lot of good, authentic queer representation. We had some heavily implied relationships (such as shown above, Itsuki and one of Sensui’s personalities in Yu Yu Hakusho), or crossdressers (such as Kamatari from Kenshin). We sometimes had relationships that got “straight-washed” by changing the romantic relationship to familia relationships (such as Sailor Moon with Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune).

Meg from Burst Angel

For the 2000s (2000–2009), we had some improvements. Meg, from Burst Angel, is a lesbian. She has become partners with the bounty hunter, Jo. While the manga is a bit more explicit, this is still fair lesbian representation within anime. Envy…