if you, like me, are asexual or acearo - I cannot recommend enough “Is Love The Answer?”
It’s a shojo manga by Uta Isaki. The space imagery, the artwork, the lovable characters, the explanation of a sexuality, and the relatability of it all made me cry by page 11.
It feels good to finally get some explicit representation of myself in anime/manga.
All the people erasing ace and aro rep because "asexual people can have sex"' and "aromatic people can want romantic relationships" is giving the same vibes as "they just haven't met the right person yet" or "I can change them"
(Quick edit: I want to make it clear that I do support ace and aro specs I just hate non-aroace specs who are just aroace being erased)
zolu is maybe one of the easiest ships i've ever liked. they're dating, except when they're not, they're best friends even when they're kissing and they're still captain and first mate when they aren't. they hold hands, they hug. they have sex. they don't.
Luffy can hold Zoro's katanas and Zoro can hold Luffy's strawhat and no one bats an eye. one says "You're so cool!" and the other says "You're strong" and it's just another way to say "I see you, this is why I follow you/this is why I trust you". it's not seeing each other for a long time and still knowing how the other's steps sound like against wood and sand. the captain runs and the first mate follows. it's always "Zoro and the others" and "Where's Luffy?"
if they're just friends, if they're something more, if they don't have a label for it, at its core, it's just about how they get each other. they understand how the other's mind works. however you view them, it doesn't erase they fact that they love each other in a way they don't love other people.
I love queer people who define themselves in unconventional ways. I love queer people who define themselves very specifically. I love queer people who refuse to define themselves at all. I love queer people who feel their definition of self has changed and will continue to do so. I love queer people who don’t know how to explain their identity, whether they want to or not. I love queer people who love other queer people and support their journeys no matter how different from their own.
this is a reminder that these wonderful websites exist:
aroworlds.org - aromantic stories and stuff, mostly by K A Cook. aroworlds is also on tumblr
digitaltransarchive.com - well, digital trans archives. yeah. you can read old documents, look at pictures of trans people from before. all the way to like 1700s. For example browsing by topic (they have a long list of them)
azejournal.com - aro/ace/agender multimedia journal. there are some interesting formats. but above all it's a nice way to read reflections about aspec people (do agender people usually get included in aspec? Uhm now they do I suppose).
alternativeto.com - it's just kinda neat. a useful website for finding alternatives to whatever website or app
I also have a decent list of coding related ones if anyone's interested (just send an ask or something)
and a decent list of Norwegian websites and apps. which yeah, send an ask or something.