Hey in some of ur recent tags you said Black Butler’s main issue is racism, and I was wondering if im missing something? I def think it does have some, mainly with Soma/Agni and relying on long-standing stereotypes and orientalism (also present with Lau) But I was wondering if there were other things as well? (Also, while I think pitting the axis of oppression that are uncritically regurgitated in media against each other is usually an unhelpful way of examination, I’d argue Black Butler’s most prominent bigotry is against transfeminine people. Regardless, the wider point your tags were making still stands!)
I think the way it handles Soma, Agni, Lau, and Ran-Mao covers a lot of it- which isn't to say that I'm not fond of all of these characters (I love Lau and Ciel's dynamic a lot, the mutual trust that saved Ciel's ass in Blue Memory is really special to me even if its under the guise of business), or that the writing doesn't have some positive points (the Indian population of London wasn't responsible for the crimes being framed against them, for instance, as it was that rich white guy who was the mastermind). I also personally like that Sebastian, as our in universe supernatural touchstone, validates the existence of religion that isn't psuedo-Christianity (his genuine comment on not knowing there was such a powerful goddess to be aware of in India, his respect for Agni as well/Agni being an equal to Sebastian) but I think that the overall framing/introduction to their Hinduism was, awkward, at best.
However, an additional point is Bard's backstory regarding the American frontier. Part of this is probably that as an American, I would be more sensitive to it, but his whole family getting killed largely unprovoked is kinda like... the worst way to have this happen/explained. As an American soldier during the time period, Bard fighting Native Americans is like, accurate I suppose (that's been his backstory for 20 years so I guess it couldn't be changed), and he does come to realize that he certainly isn't a Good Person for doing this (of the Phantomhive household, I honestly find him the worst person morally, which is really at odds with the rest of his portrayal/makes me wonder if Yana fully is aware of the weight/implications his backstory has) but the whole thing, as sort of glossed over as it was, really felt... bad in a way that I don't think was intended.
Bard being an ex-soldier and someone who lived for vengeance for awhile gives him Ciel parallels with vengeance, which I can see as a solid writing choice. He also realizes that the colonists are a nightmare upon the indigenous people already there, but there had to have been like, a better way to do it? I think it bothers me most that Bard was framed as being idealistic and peaceable and then, for no real reason (except really understandable lack of trust) his family was killed in an attack and then he went off the deep end. The whole thing paints the Native Americans in question as irredeemable villains and then flat victims and nothing else for a white guy's backstory.
So, there's that. I've only read that portion once so I may be missing details.
To go back to the others/Soma and Agni in particular:
Some of it is less Yana's writing and more about the anime lightening darker skin tones over time (industry-wide problem in Western media and anime) or the like, Really Indian music that plays when Soma and Agni are onscreen especially in S1 that feels like an audio version of a sepia filter (and I have to assume S2 although I haven't watched it in full/idk that you could pay me to). I'm actually really hopeful that, given somewhat recent developments in the manga's timeline (me sobbing, crying, throwing up about it) that Soma in particular will get to have more of a nuanced, interesting character.
Since Soma is a foil to Ciel, I don't even mind that we have someone who is idealistic to contrast to Ciel's pessimism, but I'd like him to be more developed, yanno? Like, Mey-Rin, Ran-Mao, and Lau have all gotten to shine more as of late in Blue Revenge so I'm hoping for Soma to also get some long-deserved spotlight and move out of his Idealistic Sheltered Prince mold.
Anyway, looping back to the ask, I also agree/don't think that trying to gauge which is "worse" is helpful either. People clock the stuff with Grell a lot more often than the racism, but that doesn't mean much to me:
Because as for prominence, the Indian Butler arc was Way more uncomfortable to watch for me imo because of how overtly racist some of it comes off, and maybe online discussion involving people outside of fandom is more Grell focused because not as many people outside know of Soma and Agni- but part of that issue is that fandom is racist too, so not as many people are gonna talk about the racism when there's a white trans character to talk about instead.
It's just as prominent in the media imo, but not discussed as much.
I am glad Grell is here, since she was one of my first exposures Ever to the concept of being transgender, but yeah, we got a lot of negative stereotypes. Again, I'm also still fond of her despite the issues and I'd rather have a character be unique/loud/memorable than like, sanitized and bland, but I get why people would be uncomfortable.
Black Butler has a lot of flaws, though I wouldn't be here if I didn't see the merit too. It does make you question whether or not you'd rather have flawed rep or no rep. I generally vote for flawed, so that at least the conversation can be started and people aren't invisible. There's quite a lot of Victorian-era England media without any people of color or queerness anywhere so I'll take what I can get and critique it.
It does show how someone can do quite a lot of research (Yana is very well-read regarding England and Victorian English history/culture and apparently continues to keep learning) but can still have biases either of their own come through in their work or imparted by the industry (again, some of Soma and Agni is a team effort here with the anime orz). As a writer, I try to learn from even my favorite writer's mistakes/flaws/oversights regarding my own work.
Also, as an end note, the above does reflect how fandom treats people of color and I'd hope that fandom in general, not just this fandom, can be more receptive to issues about racism and colorism in fandom/general fandom responses to stuff (see: Sinners or Black Panther and people fixating on the One White Guy lmao).
TL;DR: In addition to individual character portrayals, Bard's backstory is also really racist. Also, the trans-misogyny isn't necessarily more prevalent, people just aren't going to talk about racism as much because fandom itself is racist.
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