no no no. no holy shit, this is such a big deal. ok, as a japanese speaker i need to talk about this. iām a little bit drunk right now, and iām always an emotional person, so i apologize if this may be hard to follow. if you donāt speak japanese, btw, i really need to communicate how fundamentally unequivocal mariya iseās 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 ęćć¦ćć ććļ¼ (aishiteru da mon!)
ai is such a loaded word!! im sure any anime fan knows this. ai (ę) 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, āthis is a personal question to me, and my fiancĆ© and i are the same genderā¦ā
thereās a moment after that particular sentence (TO BE EXPLICIT, āMY FIANCĆ AND I ARE THE SAME GENDERā¦ā) is translated where you can see mariya ise makes eye contact with the asker, smiles and says ē“ ęµļ¼(suteki!) which in this context means something similar to āthatās wonderful!ā or āgood for you!ā. 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 Ā in, queer people who are scarred and hurt and are afraid (you donāt 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, āaishiteru can also sometimes be used for family members, maybe she meant killua loves gon as a brother.ā 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 āBUT ACTUALLY MAYBE.ā 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 ęćć¦ćć ććļ¼ (aishiteru da mon!)
rough translation: of course heās in love with him!
maybe even something like duh, heās in love with him!
obviously, heās in love with him!
itās been obvious the whole time. i meanā sheās right! isnāt she? if killua were a girl! if we lived in a world where homophobia and heteronormativity didnāt exist! of course heās in love with him! of course itās been obvious the whole time! to anyone whoās watched the series, OF COURSE ITāS OBVIOUS! OF COURSE ITāS BEEN OBVIOUS THE WHOLE TIME!
OF COURSE HEāS IN LOVE WITH HIM!
