Ask John: Is Anime Obsessed With Lesbians?

Question:
Is anime obsessed with lesbians? I mean I can name Sailors Neptune and Uranus (Sailor Moon), Tomoyo and Sonomi Daidouji (Cardcaptor Sakura), Kaorin from Azumanga Daioh, Haruhi Suzumiya herself said she’s bi-sexual, the Major from GITS is bisexual, and at least one of the girls from Lucky Star, according to creator Kagami Yoshimizu, is lesbian, and so is Chizuru Honsho (Bleach). That’s just the confirmed ones that I can name off the top of my head. And that’s not getting into yuri series like Kashimashi, Candy Boy, and Aoi Hana, nor is it mentioning characters like Yomiko Readman and Nenene Sumiregawa (R.O.D The TV) who may or may not be.

Answer:
The presumption that characteristics and trends present in anime reflect priorities or circumstances found in Japanese society or culture is, at times, a pleasant and rewarding thought. But it’s not always accurate. Considering the total number of female characters in anime, those that seem unusually attracted to other females don’t constitute an especially large number. But by comparison, American pop culture film and television is almost void of female characters who seem to have romantic interest in other women. So even if female anime characters with seeming “yuri” tendencies aren’t a majority, they’re still more common in anime than in equivalent American entertainment media. However, these anime women probably say more about anime creators than Japanese society at large.

Japanese society adheres to an unspoken policy of tolerance for personal eccentricities so long as those personal tastes stay personal. While homosexuality is tolerated in Japan, it’s not especially respected or embraced. Several years ago comedian Razor Ramon gained national Japanese celebrity for his public displays of his fictional alter-ego “Hard Gay,” a shamelessly egregious stereotype of black leather clad male homosexuality. It’s difficult to imagine an American celebrity pulling off a similar gag without being assaulted by charges of homophobic insensitivity (although actor Sascha Baron Cohen did come very close to creating an American equivalent to “Hard Gay” with the film Bruno). In effect, the casual acceptance and normalcy of lesbian tendencies exhibited in anime isn’t especially representative of actual real-life Japanese society. Rather, the commonality of lesbian or bisexual girls in anime, or girls that are obsessed with other girls, but may not have sexual attraction, like Sanae Nagatsuki’s attraction to Ika Musume or most of the soeur relationships in Maria-sama ga Miteru, probably reflect the liberal perspectives of Japanese artists.

Tied to their nature as creative artists, manga and anime creators are naturally interested in diverse character personality traits and may naturally lean toward perspectives and tolerances that are more liberal than mainstream or conservative Japanese social values are. Homosexuality and ambiguity of gender roles has long been characteristic of certain aspects of Japanese philosophy. Samurai sometimes preferred homosexuality so as to avoid the influence of femininity. Japanese theater including Noh and Takarazuka employ men playing female characters and women playing male characters. While these traditions may not be prominently influential in contemporary mainstream Japanese society, such influences may be more prominent in Japan’s art community and in the minds and attitudes of contemporary manga and anime creators that perceive attraction itself as a natural tendency to be encouraged and nurtured opposed to socially acceptable attraction that exists within preordained gender and social structures. The presence of gay characters or characters who follow their hearts regardless of external social obligation or expectation serve as a prime example of anime’s common goal of depicting an idealized, liberal Japan that mirrors the comfortable and functional present reality while offering greater opportunity for individuality and self-expression.

Typical anime depicts modern Japan the way manga and anime creators wish it was. Of course, I don’t mean war-torn or monster infested Japan. Otaku seem to long for a Japan that’s familiar and functional, but also one in which the possibility for surprise, adventure, and cataclysm exists; a Japan in which young people are able to enjoy their youth and live freely instead of being burdened by responsibility and expectation from parents and educators; a Japan in which people are free to love whomever they are attracted to rather than a society that insists that men should only be attracted to women, and women only attracted to men. Much of Japan does not share this perspective. Mainstream and conservative Japan is comfortable and satisfied with status quo and the quiet marginalization of the “aberrant,” including homosexuality. (Arguably, the same can be said of America.) It’s the dreamers, the artists, the revolutionaries, the liberal, and the otaku in Japanese society that wish for an encourage a more tolerant, receptive, flexible, and diverse social order.