#milo and kida are totally one of my otps

[ennaih]

Every Film I Watch In 2023:

129. Atlantis: Milo's Return (2003)

[epickiya722]

Random ask....Do you think anime like Free, Sk8, Jeweler Richard and Yuri on Ice are queerbaiting or at least have semi canon couples? I mean I love those anime series and my fav otps are from those series, but what do you think? Also, why do you think shounen series like bnha, haikyuu, and naruto has the largest shipping fandom compare to canon romantic BL series?

Hmmm...

Okay, off bat, I'll say that "queerbaiting" is a lose term to me. People use it so much that most of the time I feel like they say it just to say it. (Not directed at you, Anon.)

And I actually never watched Jeweler Richard. I've heard of it, but I didn't watch it... because I forgot about it. I also, never watched all of Free!

Now to answer the first bit... I'm leaning towards "no" here.

Queerbaiting to me is if the promise of some queer rep happening is marketed just to draw in the audience and then the people who made said show switches it up at the end like "oops sorry, actually these characters are totally straight and they're dating people of the opposite sex" and erase all that rep or just never touched on it.

Yuri On Ice, I wouldn't consider it queerbaiting because we get some same-sex romance. It happened. Even if the gay romance in there was used in marketing, it still happened. Sure, it did lure in the audience, but promises were not broken. Yuri and Viktor are a thing.

Same for SK8, I don't consider it queerbaiting either.

BONES never promised us that Reki and Langa were going to be a thing by the end of season 1. We also gotta remember that SK8 isn't a strictly romance. It's a SPORTS anime just like YOI. So the show focused more on skateboarding and the purpose of it for the characters than actual romance because it's not necessary.

It's why I really disliked how some people treated the ending as if it was the worse thing in the world. Maybe it's just me, but I didn't get mad at it because I just wanted my boys happy and skating together again.

Just because Reki and Langa didn't kiss, it didn't mean that we were queerbaited. They weren't promised to be a couple. Surely implied, maybe yeah, but explicitly promised? No.

Also, just because a couple doesn't kiss at the end doesn't mean they're not canon. A ship doesn't have to kiss to be canon!

Kida and Milo didn't kiss at the end of Atlantis: the Lost Empire, but guess what? People were aware they're a couple by the end of it. They held hands and that was it.

Kissing isn't the only romantic gesture. There's hugging, cuddling, holding hands, words and even jumping in front of someone to protect them.

And just like how all that can be romantic, it also can be platonic, too. It depends on the context of how that action or those words are being used to show romance or just platonic feelings.

We really don't know if a relationship is a canon romantic one unless it's confirmed.

Back to SK8, at best, the relationship between Reki and Langa is an explicit close one. They trust each other, they want to skate together, they're comfortable around each other, they are friends.

And with a season 2 apparently coming, Reki and Langa may just happen. It was probably built up the way it was for a chance to make it canon, just in case they could do a second season. But just in case they couldn't, they ended it on a safe note, let the audience interpret how Reki and Langa feel about each other but made it clear that they are indeed close.

Now for the second part!

I think those animes have the largest shipping fandoms over BL series because they are some of the most popular animes. A lot of romantic series slide over the radar because series like BNHA and Naruto have a wider reach. There's games, cons where the VAs show up, movies, collabs, etc. They're also the "less risky" series.

People wouldn't clutch their pearls if someone says "Oh this anime is about superheroes" or "this anime is about ninjas".

However, if you say "Oh, this is about a romance between two boys", you're probably going to get someone homophobic.

I also figure because even without gender or sexuality involved, people don't care for an actual romance anime. With a romance, it's like... because it is a romance you know who is going to be with who. You can be happy with the choices, but maybe the thrill isn't there. You know the clichés and whatnot. The characters are the same characters you see in any romance.

However, let's say with BNHA. There's a thrill to shipping... I'll take DabiHawks off the shelf for this. There's a thrill because DabiHawks, it's a variety to it. You don't get the "boy next door" or "the better guy but not the choice". You get two enemies that fans turn into lovers in their fics. People dig the enemies to lovers trope and characters like Hawks and Dabi have fans drawn into the series. They're "cooler" than the male love interest of a romance.

And fanworks are there to create something that you can't possibly get in canon.

Some people may feel this: what's the point of writing a fic of a ship that is already canon?