The revelation that Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury is predominately gay may have brought about some jubilation, but it is also far from being the most startling discovery that can be discovered.
Since Char and Amuro’s time, the melodramatic writing of the franchise has produced situations that, on a subtextual level, felt heavily queer. Nevertheless, this premiere is one of the rare sequences that are as overt and audacious as it is.
Auletta Mercury was victorious in a duel against Guel in the first episode of “Witch From Mercury,” which was fought for the sake of the Marine’s honour.
Auletta was determined to save Miorine’s honour even though the rules of the school required her to marry Guel. Marine had been required to marry Guel.
After the battle, Marine revealed to Suletta that, as a result of his triumph over Guel, Suletta had just become her new groom without his knowledge.
Is Gundam Gay?
Many members of the fanbase have drawn parallels between Witch From Mercury and Revolutionary Girl Utena in their responses to this thrilling debut, and we are pleased that the majority of these responses have been favourable.
This is indeed a daring analogy that gives the impression of putting oneself in a position to fail; nonetheless, it is quite appropriate in describing the vibrations that it emits.
Because it is such a blatant admission, there is no way to avoid the fact that the series is portraying itself in a homosexual light.
They even go so far as to spell it out by having Suletta tell Marine that she is a woman. This is the most egregious display of ignorance regarding the fundamentals of human sexuality that has been seen in any media since Shinji from Evangelion told Kaji, “I’m a boy.”
It’s not even like the situation is supposed to be funny or even an inconvenience for the characters in the issue. Even while this doesn’t explain much about the situation, it is clear from Miorine’s demeanour that the new arrangement is a vast improvement over the one she had before.
But she goes out of her way to assume Mercury must be more conservative, noting the evident fact that partnering with someone of the same sexual orientation is frequent, which is the equivalent of declaring “gay people exist Suletta…”
The moment is handled in an indisputably romantic manner, and as a result, homosexuality, which is typically shown in the subtext, is now presented overtly.
Fans who have been waiting for a more direct depiction that doesn’t leave an opportunity for it to be refuted, as is frequently the case with other forms of media that have queer readings, will find this fact alone to be quite exciting.
What Exactly is a “Queer Reading,” Anyway?
A “reading” of a piece of writing offers a certain manner of ascribing meaning to it based on an overall evaluation of the work as a whole, which takes into account a variety of different motifs that appear repeatedly.
These interpretations aren’t always considered canon, but one of the most enjoyable aspects of media analysis is looking at the same phenomenon through a variety of perspectives to discover how the meaning shifts.
The examination of subtext, which refers to the unspoken messages included within a piece of art (for further information, please refer to our analysis of FLCL’s narrative), constitutes a significant part of the analysis.
If a person is reading a book or watching a movie and they have the thought, “is this gay?” it is usually because of the overall subtext of the movie that they are having that reaction.
Ben From Canada, who posts videos to YouTube under the moniker “Ben From Canada,” created a video titled “2 Fast 2 Furious” in which an established queer reading of the film was dissected in great detail.
In effect, the video referred to the movie as a bisexual love story. In it, Ben elaborates on the point that the point of contention about subtext is whether the viewer was looking for subtext and projected meaning or whether the film earnestly created that reaction.
Ben says that the question comes down to whether the viewer was looking for subtext and projected meaning or whether the film itself earnestly created that reaction
It’s easy to brush off as “fans shipping” the vast majority of queerness in a culture that isn’t sanctioned through an outright confession or a kiss between two characters.
Shipping can be the greatest enjoyable activity ever or the source of all the world’s problems, depending on who you ask.
The simple assumption that queer readings are nothing more than the ramblings of shippers can make it difficult to get analysis in that realm to be taken seriously. This is even though the culture is far from ideal.
When it comes to anime, it is not very common to see a significant amount of LGBT representation. But could it just be that Japan hasn’t reached a point where it’s completely comfortable with queerness yet? Or, might it be that there are sufficient numbers of outspoken individuals inside fandoms who are willing to criticise any concept of LGBTQ+ inclusiveness?
A Concise Overview Of The History Of Denial
When Yuri on Ice first debuted in 2016, there was a lot of spirited discussion over whether it was genuinely homosexual or merely queerbaiting. Looking back, it should have been clear from the very first episode, but anime has queerbaited fans so frequently that viewers had become used to disappointment.
Since they were so daring, the early episodes don’t get the recognition they merit. Even the cute female friend of Yuri was revealed to already have a husband and children in the first episode, thereby ruling her out as a potential love interest.
Victor was all that remained, and by episode 3, Yuri had successfully tapped into his “eros” and his love for Victor to find the inspiration he needed to perform at his best.
There were still many people who insisted it wasn’t canon despite all of that. To avoid being restricted on Japanese television, Yuri and Victor proceeded to kiss before announcing their engagement wedding.
The Gundam heroes getting married in episode 1 follow a comically obvious wedding proposal without using the word wedding.
It can be frustrating when there is frequently so much pushback at even the smallest representation because progress can be sluggish and for many fans, this will inspire anything from exhilaration to a simple “hmm, neat.” However, for some fans, it can be incredibly rewarding.
This past summer, Guilty Gear Strive published a DLC with Bridget, a beloved series character who has been verified to be transgender and who identifies as a girl.
She had complicated lore explanations for being a female-presenting male for years, and everyone adored her. Now, though, she is the same but identifies as a female, upsetting some.
The internet couldn’t wait to present a variety of usual defences, such as that the localization crew in the west made a mistake in the translation.
Many individuals tried to disprove her coming out by using the “Japanese perspective,” while others asserted that she only did so during the “poor” conclusion (which frankly is woefully telling of those that shared that lie).
Since Arc System Works certified that she is, in fact, transgender, the argument was moot anyhow. This should explain the opposition queer people typically get if anything gay occurs or a character turns out to be trans, perhaps.
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Conclusion
As was previously discussed with Yuri on Ice, there is a lot of internal dread and worry that the show would fail, not commit, or that it might turn out to be disappointing. Wonder Egg Priority garnered a lot of attention for its storytelling only a year ago, but for those who persisted, the ending and several dubious writing decisions nearly tarnished it.
However, it was quite satisfying to see Gundam start strong in its first episode by keeping its two stars together through an arranged marriage in the most beautiful and sapphic ending scene. And happily, given the history of the brand and how amazing the community is as a whole, many Gundam fans appear to “understand it.”
This was never intended to be a fandom-wide call to action, and, to be honest, any homophobic comments wouldn’t have called for a response in a piece like this. This was simply a chance to discuss how small gestures like these may greatly please many fans of Gundam or anime in general.
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