bro, kissanime, i love your site, butĀ wtf is this???
*ahem* I suck at putting my thoughts in an eloquent and coherent manner but Iām going to try my hardest to do so without sounding totally assholish and stuff. Please forgive me if I soundĀ ābitchyā or overreacting to this topic but this is something I feel the strong urge to address.
Iām not gonna lie: I use KissAnime for my good olā anime needs. Yes, I know I should be watching it legally, but thatās a discussion for another day. I came here to rewatch episodes 7 and 8 of Yuri on Ice because, as the entire fandom knows, these episodes were very impactful (7 with the kiss scene, 8 with the #PrayForMakkachin).Ā
So I scroll on down, going past season 3 of Haikyuu!!, smile at the fact that Yuri on Ice is now ranked #2.Ā
āGenres: Shounen Ai, Sportsā.
Okay, okay, sports is understandable. After all, thatās exactly what it is - a sports anime. Figure skating falls under the sports category, just like volleyball for Haikyuu!! or soccer for Days or rugby for All Out!! Itās pretty self-explanatory.
But thisā¦this other tag? The Shounen Ai tag? Now that piques my curiosity, heh, because, ya know, Yuri on Ice is to shounen ai as Code Geass is to romance. It is so completely far from shounen ai (and, to an extent, yaoi) that I am failing to comprehend why the mods tagged it as such.
If I were to describe shounen ai to someone who couldnāt tell the difference between that and yaoi, I would say this:Ā āShounen ai focuses on the more romantic relationship between males while yaoi, as you know, is the lustful, sexual aspectā (If any of you have a better explanation that my crap one, lol, feel free to give one). KissAnime describes shounen-ai asĀ āanime whose central theme is about a relationship (or strong affection, not usually sexual, between two boys or men. Shounen ai literally means āboy loveā, but could be expressed asĀ āmale bondingā.ā Anime that is considered shounen-ai on KissAnime (and by a lot of people, I guess) are Junjou Romantica, Loveless, Gakuken Handsome, Sekaiichi Hatsukoi, Papa to Kiss in the Dark, DRAMAtical Murder, and Gravitation (out of all of those, Iāll admit that Iāve seen some of Junjou Romantica and Sekaiichi Hatsukoi, and Iāve watched all of Gravitation and I own all of the Gravitation manga]). Iāve also read my fair share of manga that are considered shounen-ai or yaoi, so I like to think that Iām fairly educated within this subject. I may not be able to go super in-depth with it like someone who likes this genre could, but I know enough.
I also know that what I am about to address has been addressed many times already by people who can talk about this way better than I can. There have many a people who have beautifully discussed why Yuri on Ice isnāt a shounen-ai, and my points are more or less the same. But, there are still people who still say otherwise (and some of them have been more than a bit rude about it), so I will be glad to restate and add-on to these points and spread more awareness.
Yes, Viktor and Yuuri kissed. Iām still geekinā out over that - the whole fandom is, too. Itās not really because everyone is a bunch of crazed fangirls and fanboys, but because we realized just how fucking important that kiss was. We all know about Japan and its view upon homosexuality. We all know about its strict censorship laws and the more conservative thinking it has, and we definitely all know how homosexual characters are treated in anime (for those who donāt, hereās a hint: itās not that good). Honestly, homosexuality is something that is joked around with in anime, and Iām sure plenty of you know what Iām talking about: the ones that are in denial about their sexuality until the pretty female lead comes along and sets them straight (no pun intended); the ones whose homosexual tendencies mean that they are weird and strange as fuck; the ones who harass those of the same sex for shits and giggles. Yeah, there are many who seen that type of anime or read that type of manga. Those are tropes that, when I was younger, I didnāt think much about, but now, I know that even though itās for the sake of so-called ācomedyā, those are tropes that are impressionable and can produce harmful effects.Ā
And we also know about the tropes that happen in shounen-ai or yaoi. I can hear some people now saying,Ā āBut shounen-ai has gay characters in a gay relationship and Iām 10,000% sure that is Yuuri and Viktor so????ā And youāre right - shounen-ai does have gay characters in a gay relationship, but that relationships in shounen-ai and yaoi, unlike Yuuri and Viktorās, have a tendency to be not fucking healthy. Iām not sure if thereās a shounen-ai manga or anime that portrays a normal, romantic relationship between the two male leads, but I sincerely doubt, because the things that keep the fangirls cominā back for me are seriously messed-up. Once again, yāall should know what I mean: the wholeĀ āHe treats me so coldly and says emotionally scarring things to me but I know hat deep down inside he totally loves me!ā andĀ āWe may have had plenty and sex and we admitted our love and affection to each other but eh, Iām still not sure about this???ā andĀ āWeāre two dudes that happen to kiss and do other romantic things but it doesnāt really mean anything honestly - whoops, looks like Iām in love with I think I guess lolā and, most especially, āIām going to be so servile to his every whim and overly-fucking-emotional and heās like, barely emotional and is obviously the dominant one because thereās no such thing as being equal but it doesnāt matter because he loves me!!!!ā That last one Iāve seen in a lot of uke-seme arguments, which basically goes asĀ āSaki cries a lot and he overreacts so much while Tsuya is stuck in nonchalant mode but sometimes he hugs Saki after refusing to acknowledge his existence for months on end so obviously Tsuyaās the dominant and their ship name should be Tsuki!ā (Saki and Tsuya are Names I Made Upā¢). And yes, I was one of those people, and hell, Iām guilty of writing things involving some of those very tropes as recently as my junior year of high school (Iām currently a senior). But I have since made an effort to stop all of that because Iād realized that a normal, meaningful relationship is where the two people are shown as equals, not whoās submissive and whoās dominantĀ (which is why idgaf whether or not someone complains if I put MikaYuu or YuuMika or USUK or UKUS and Iām going to stop there because thatās going to lead to my thoughts about ship names).
Basically, the point is that shounen-ai is full of these tropes and points that do not accurately show how a true homosexual relationship works, looks like, etc. They usually pander to fangirlsā (and hell, I guess the authorās) fantasies or whatever. As many people have said before me, Yuri on Ice is taking all of those tropes and kicking them out the fucking door. Itās true, it really is true. Take a moment to reflect on how Viktor and Yuuri have treated each other, how they have interacted with one another, how they have shown their love and respect for one another, and compare it to the tropes that Iāve mentioned (and the other points that other people have made but I did not mention here). Do they look like they fit what would normally make a āgoodā shounen-ai story? Do they really have that kind of toxic relationship to you?Ā
All of their growth and development are not representative of your stereotypical shounen-ai story. Nothing is rushed, nothing is idealized. Viktor and Yuuri care for one another, they treat and view one another as equals. If one makes a mistake and accidentally hurts their partner (as we all seen when Viktor made Yuuri cry), then they realize the mistake theyāve done and takes the time to hear how their partner feels instead of shutting them up with a magical kiss that will make everything all better. Yuri on Ice does not solely focus on romance, which is usually the case with shounen-ai. Itās a fucking figure skating anime with all the fucking figure skating terms and stuff that just so happens to have a nice, refreshing, developing, and well-portrayed romantic relationship between two characters that happen to be male. The main focus is Yuuri winning the Grand Prix.Ā And that āmale bondingā KissAnime mentions is fucking vague. At this point, Haikyuu!! is a shounen-ai. One Punch Man is a shounen-ai. FMA, Code Geass, Rurouni Kenshin, Black Cat, Inuyasha, Erased, Attack on Titan, One Piece are all shounen-ai Ā because they all have male bonding. Wow, who wouldāve known that?!
This brings me back to their kiss, that kiss that gets me fucking grinning every time I think about it. Just because they kissed doesnāt automatically make it shounen-ai, and itās so fucking weird the genre was added like that when it is simply not the case. To mark Yuri on Ice as shounen-ai will produce a certain reaction to those who have never seen, and frankly, that reaction will most likely not be good. Yuri on Ice isnāt the first anime to portray a healthy and normal relationship - apparently No. 6 is (now, I havenāt seen that anime, so Iām not going to talk much about it). But it doesnāt matter whether or not itās first, second, third, whatever - itās the fact that Yuri on Ice basically saidĀ āFuck youā to all of the harmful tropes that so many have grown accustomed to seeing in anime. They are literally making history, and Iām just so fucking proud of MAPPA and the director and the writer. Until the day Kubo and MAPPA come out and saysĀ āYuri on Ice is shounen-ai!ā, then it shouldnāt be identified as such.
I doubt the tags will change; the mods on KissAnime have a tendency to be really iffy characters. But I hope they change it. Iām sorry for this rambling mess, but I felt as though it was something that needed to be said. Feel free to add-on or give your own thoughts. Now if you donāt mind, Iām going to continue my original goal of rewatching those two episodes and being proud.
Cheers to Yuri on Ice for making history.
