This in itself is a feat, as while the amount of gay romance in anime is anything but lacking, in general, it tends to stay as a separate, subcultural portion of the more mainstream force of modern animes, most stories remaining as mangas and never getting the chance to be animated in the first place. The animated adaptation became the first explicitly gay series to air on Noitamina, a programming block of Fuji TV reserved exclusively for anime. Now, it’s only fitting to start this series with the show that inspired it: the soul-wrenching, eleven episode phenomenon known as “ Given.” Absolutely falling into the “ beautiful” column of categorization, the original manga written and illustrated by Natsuki Kizu began publishing in 2013, and received an anime adaptation in 2019.
This series hopes to give a proper platform to those unique productions that take LGBTQ+ representation out of the comfortable shadows of connotation or fetishization it typically resides in and present themselves as unapologetically, beautifully gay. The last few years in particular have yielded some of the most refreshing and positive instances of representation within the genre. Some may think they don’t overlap, but in fact, there is a rich division of anime known for and characterized by its LGBTQ+ themes.
Graphic Illustration by Chrys Marr (She/They)
