no no no. no holy shit, this is such a big deal. ok, as a japanese speaker i need to talk about this. i’m a little bit drunk right now, and i’m always an emotional person, so i apologize if this may be hard to follow. if you don’t speak japanese, btw, i really need to communicate how fundamentally unequivocal mariya ise’s response is when asked if killua is romantically in love with gon in that otakon 2022 panel, ok? it is SHOCKING. it is not ambiguous. it is CLEAR. there is NO room for justifying from homophobes.
she says 愛してるだもん！ (aishiteru da mon!)
ai is such a loaded word!! im sure any anime fan knows this. ai (愛) is a VERY serious, VERY heavy word for love that encompasses EVERY KIND OF LOVE, and in this context, IT WOULD UNAMBIGUOUSLY INCLUDE ROMANTIC LOVE.
not only that, but the translator translates EVERYTHING THE QUESTION ASKER SAYS. including at the beginning when the question asker says, “this is a personal question to me, and my fiancé and i are the same gender…”
there’s a moment after that particular sentence (TO BE EXPLICIT, “MY FIANCÉ AND I ARE THE SAME GENDER…”) is translated where you can see mariya ise makes eye contact with the asker, smiles and says 素敵！(suteki!) which in this context means something similar to “that’s wonderful!” or “good for you!”. in that moment? she is explicitly expressing allyship.
so the question leads in with the context of being gay. and japanese is a context based language.
i ALREADY KNOW that homophobes, or even, in my experience, queer people who have been traumatized by queerbaiting from stories they are invested in, queer people who are scarred and hurt and are afraid (you don’t know it but you say all the same things. and my heart aches for you. oh my heart aches for you), when confronted with this video, might say, “aishiteru can also sometimes be used for family members, maybe she meant killua loves gon as a brother.” but the question leads in on the subject of being gay. japanese is a language where word meaning depends on context. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?
the word ai is used in the context of a discussion about being gay. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?
THERE IS NO WAY TO INTERPRET THIS ANSWER OTHER THAN THIS: MARIYA ISE BELIEVES THAT KILLUA IS ROMANTICALLY IN LOVE WITH GON. YOU CANNOT POSSIBLY INTERPRET IT ANY OTHER WAY. THERE IS NO WIGGLE ROOM, THERE IS NO JUSTIFICATION, THERE IS NO “BUT ACTUALLY MAYBE.” OKAY? YOU CANNOT HEAR THIS ANSWER ANY OTHER WAY.
DO YOU UNDERSTAND. DO HOMOPHOBES UNDERSTAND? THERE IS NO! PLATONIC! EXPLANATION! THERE IS NO! PLATONIC! READING! THERE IS NO! NARRATIVE YOU CAN CONSTRUCT! NO! MENTAL GYMNASTICS YOU CAN PERFORM! TO MAKE IT SO THAT SHE IS NOT SAYING THAT KILLUA IS GAY! DO YOU UNDERSTAND!
and her answer. her answer. she says 愛してるだもん！ (aishiteru da mon!)
rough translation: of course he’s in love with him!
maybe even something like duh, he’s in love with him!
obviously, he’s in love with him!
it’s been obvious the whole time. i mean— she’s right! isn’t she? if killua were a girl! if we lived in a world where homophobia and heteronormativity didn’t exist! of course he’s in love with him! of course it’s been obvious the whole time! to anyone who’s watched the series, OF COURSE IT’S OBVIOUS! OF COURSE IT’S BEEN OBVIOUS THE WHOLE TIME!
OF COURSE HE’S IN LOVE WITH HIM!
