Day 6 of Niji Nights: A More Inclusive World

Have any of you noticed a trend in Anime lately? No, it’s not about how anime is becoming mainstream, or that there’s repetitive plotlines. We’re actually talking about representation! Not just in the LGBTQUIA2S+ visibility but in the characters of color way too! It’s interesting how anime is evolving with the times by including queer and colored characters as main characters. Not to take anything away from supporting characters but it’s about time we see them in the main cast. So without further ado, let’s get to getting on day 6 of Niji Nights!

So, the world of anime is becoming more inclusive. That was established in the opening paragraph. This was something briefly touched on in this post. But the funny part is…back then when writing it I had maybe two or three things to reference. Cue a year later and there’s so much content. It’s been pretty miraculous actually to see LGBTQUIA2S+ representation in anime of all kinds–which is kind of wild to me. No longer do we see only BL or GL couples specifically in BL/GL/yaoi/yuri labeled titles. No, we get to see those couples in different forms–sports shounen anime like Birdie Wing, action sci-fi for a shonen demographic such as Sabikui Bisco. Multiple trans characters (or other people on the queer spectrum like Femboys) are represented and not used for humor in big titles such as One Piece (or literally anything). The world truly has opened up exponentially. While that still doesn’t mean that LGBTQUIA2S+ is fully supported in anime (or even Japan for that matter), we do see anime taking strides in the right direction to normalize and represent in a way that will make people feel seen and not tokenized or used as a joke or stereotype.

Characters of color have been shafted so many times. It is rare that they are center stage. So you can imagine our excitement when we found characters that were in the spotlight. Like Yasuke and Don’t toy with me Miss Nagato. Honestly, it’s refreshing to see characters of color in different genres as well! At least in the main cast–there are so many characters that have been back-seated as the support to the point where they don’t receive an onscreen backstory. But I’m happy to say that we can list more than one anime a year, let alone a season with a character of color in the main cast, like Visual Prison or Ancient Girl’s Frame.

At the end of the end, all we can truly say is that we can see the difference between anime back in the day and anime now. From LGBTQUIA2S+ characters to characters of color, there’s so much more representation–and so much more meaningful representation. I hope creators make things even more normalized in the future. And I hope you all tune in tomorrow for day seven of Niji Nights!

xoxo

AishteLOVEru

Luna & Star