Eastern Men Analysis [Keith (VLD) - Zuko (ATLA) - Yamato (Digimon)]
Ok, so I noticed one thing in all my favourite leads. Keith has always historically been Japanese but even if that's not true VLD, he's not American, he's of some kind of Eastern background. Zuko definitely is Asian and Yamato is Japanese.
An interesting thing I noticed is the difference between how they treat male characters and how they treat females. Keith smiles at Shiro, he smiles at Lance, he even smiles at Hunk. I'd add Rolo but I think Keith was smiling at Pidge and Beezer playing more than Rolo because he doesn't smile at strangers but either way he's more open with male characters hence why he's commonly typecasted as gay.
Keith seldom smiles at Pidge who is 15 so he may class her in the kid category and he seldom smiles at Allura. He's also a lot more awkward with the women in the group, rarely raising his voice more than once or twice and even then its more at the situation then at them. And honestly as much as I love her, Allura is really stubborn and can get them into a bad situations sometimes aka the fake Alteans so she does test Keith yet he's still patient with her. And before someone points out that he taunted her about Lotor, ever hear a little thing called jealousy? He's jealous she got so close with Lotor. And he still apologised for it.
Zuko is open around Mai - kissing her, being all touchy when she's his girlfriend. But he doesn't even look at her properly when she isn't even when she saves him. It isn't till they get back together that he smiles at her. But Zuko never smiles at Katara or Toph. He looks out for them, he's affectionate and I think he briefly smiles at Toph when talking about his Uncle but again she's a kid. Zuko smiles with Sokka, he also smiles with Aang and even though they're still shy smiles, its more open than he is with the girls.
Yamato smiled at Sora once throughout all of season 1 and that was when he and Jou saved her from the darkness and he was relieved. Yet, he shows signs of caring - running after her, telling Tai to let her cry and even trusting her to take care of Takeru, someone he's very protective of.
Now with the guys?
Keith hugs Shiro openly. He's more relaxed in Hunk's hug. He smiles more easily.
Zuko smiles at Aang. He hugs him when the war ends. He returns Katara's brief hug similar to how Keith returns Allura's one.
Yamato holds Taichi's hand. He cradles him in his arms and cries, begging for forgiveness. He blushes while apologising to Joe.
Most people will go: See, proof, these guys are all gay or bi or whatever perverted stuff your mind comes up with.
No, they're just not Western. Eastern men are typically more comfortable with the same gender, even going so far as to make dirty jokes with each other that they would never make around females. They can even swear around males but not females.
In the West, if you hug your male best friend as a guy, people start thinking you're gay. You can openly flirt with females. Queerness is very very open in the West. But in my country, if two men hug, its considered brotherly. If they kiss their girlfriend, they might be arrested by the police. Not saying Japan is the same just that Eastern culture is not as open as Western culture especially with the opposite sex/gender.
