Anime Talk - Is My Community Trending?
If you only read the anime talk series, you might not know this. I believe I have only mentioned it in my Jackie in Japan series, but I actually have a disability. I am visually impaired, having 8% sight on one eye and 0% on the other, and I am considered "socially blind" within the blind community. This means that my disability mostly impairs me in social situations.
Well, enough about me. You're here to read my thoughts on anime!
What leads me to talking about my disability is that anime has been lacking in good representation of blind people. Most are either incredibly useless or insanely overpowered, and none of them are leading roles. That's until this year (2026).
In Winter 2026, an anime called Toumei Otoko to Ningen Onna: Sonouchi Fuufu ni naru Futari (The Invisible Man and his Soon-To-Be Wife) in which we follow the titular invisible man, who is seeing, and his human soon-to-be wife who is blind.
This season (Summer 2026), we have Toumei na Yoru ni Kakeru Kimi to, Me ni Mienai Koi wo Shita (Love Unseen Beneath the Clear Night Sky). This is about a seeing freshman at university who meets a blind girl, who is also a freshman, and through her, he learns that even if you can't see, life can still be bright.
Because these titles are incredibly long, I'll call the former Fuufu (married couple), and the other Yoru (night).
Both of these are love stories, of seeing men and blind women, and both these series are very good at portraying the struggles of the blind while simultaniously not making them seem completely helpless. Both series are also very accurate in their portrayal of what it's like to be blind. For Fuufu, I have just one issue. While blind people use a speedy voice over, I don't think they listen to their audio books like that. As for Yoru, I have only watched 2 episodes so far, so I can't say anything about that yet.
Shizuka (from Fuufu) and Koharu (from Yoru) are very different people. Shizuka was born blind and Koharu was born seeing. Their approaches to blindness are also very different. This is not completely due to how they were born, but there are differences. Shizuka is drawn with her eyes closed all the time while Koharu's are open at any time when it's natural for seeing people to keep theirs open. In terms of personality, Shizuka is the type to think about things and worry about social interactions while Koharu seems to live by "nothing ventured, nothing gained". Both value independence, but they have different ways of showing it.
As for the men, there is Akira from Fuufu and Kakeru from Yoru. They also have very different approaches to their blind love interest. Akira is curious about Shizuka's blindness and very open about his feelings. As he is invisible, it is something he has always had to be. To Shizuka, his invisibility makes no difference. Everyone is invisible to her. Kakeru, on the other hand, is curious, but very hesitant. He always wonders what is acceptable to do or say. In episode 2, he wonders if blind people have better hearing because they can't see, and he wants to ask, but holds back because he worries that it might be rude. Then a friend asks just that question, and Koharu doesn't treat it like a rude question at all. What Akira and Kakeru have in common is that they are both very kind and very willing to help.
From my experience, Kakeru is the more realistic portrayal of the outsider looking in at the blind people. At least in my culture, many are scared that they might ask a rude question. I encourage everyone to ask me anything about my disability. You're not rude. You're curious, and I'm always happy to answer. I always make sure to let people know of this.
On the other hand, I believe Shizuka is a slightly more realistic blind person, but on this I might be biased, as I myself am more like her, and my friends are more like her too. I do know of people who are similar to Koharu, who dreams of launching fireworks. Rumor has it that someone I used to know actually did that, and she was fine afterwards.
There is another anime that came out this winter, featuring a blind main character. It is called Majutsushi Kunon wa Mieteiru (Kunon the Sorcerer can see). But I disliked the first impression I got of the way they treated blindness in that series. For one thing, being blind was treated as if it was the end of the world, and for another, what blind child can't find their way around their own house? I know no one who wasn't able to do that. It doesn't matter that it's a fantasy story. Being blind is not the end of the world. I could only watch the series for five minutes before I got so pissed off I had to stop, and that's the first time I've rage-quit an anime.
So, with 3 anime this year alone with blind people in the lead, what will happen next?
My hope is that blind people will be portrayed more realistically in fiction in the future, even if it's a side character. It would be wonderful if blindness isn't treated as the only weakness of the overpowered character or the thing that makes the helpless character even more helpless. It would also be cool, if they start including characters who are not quite blind but definitely not seeing either, but as that's far harder for seeing people to grasp, I realize this will take far longer, and might not ever happen, except in the anime called Breakers (an anime on parasports, in which the stories are more or less based on true events, including the story of the visually impaired girl in the third arc.
Well, that's it from me. Thank you for reading. Is there any community you think lacks representation in anime, or in fiction in general?
In case you were wondering about the thing about blind people's hearing: I don't think it's that we have better hearing. It's more so that we rely on our hearing more, and therefore can use it better. I hope that makes sense.
Also, if you have questions about visual impairment, don't hesitate to reach out. I'll be happy to answer whatever I can.
