#the utena from mercury

[heather-m-quigley]

[espeonkin]

in light of recent events

[bloodraven55]

in honour of lesbian visibility day please pay your respects to them

[war-is-bad-girls]

Girl revolution 🥀🍅 by @_gloomymato

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[wistfolie]

Finally, this piece is finished... I know this show has been called Utena Gundam a bunch but I just took it all the way home

Gonna be selling this print at NoBrandCon this weekend!

[mercyll]

Is Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury the first anime series to depict a married same-sex couple?

Given the rings and comments from the staff (excluding Bandai) it's pretty clear that both Suletta and Miorine are married. And looking at older anime couples I can't find another one where the characters are actually married to one another.

There are series that depict engagements and proposals (implied or otherwise with queer characters).

Some examples would be:

Yuri & Viktor from Yuri on Ice, where it's implied that they want to be engaged.

Ranma & Akane from Ranma 1/2, both find themselves in an arranged engagement but end up falling for each other anyway. Ranma is canonically genderfluid in both the anime and manga and Akane is attracted to Ranma as both a man and a woman. And this is ignoring all of Ranma's other fiances who know about their curse and want to be in a relationship with them anyway.

Utena & Anthy from Revolutionary Girl Utena, while the circumstances of their engagement are out of their control, the two of them fall deeply in love with one another despite that. And in the movie they kiss.

Other LGBT anime couples are together or in love but next explicitly depicted as engaged or married would be:

Michiru Tenou & Haruka Kaiou from Sailor Moon, they are very much together and in the Crystal series end up living together and adopting a baby.

Yukito Tsukishiro & Touya Kinomoto from Cardcaptor Sakura, who are in love with one another.

Eiji Okumura & Ash Lynx from Banana Fish, who are in love with one another. And it hurts.

Yuu Koito & Touko Nanami from Bloom Into You, who are two girls who fall in love with one another. And in the story you watch them grow and get closer.

Nezumi & Shion from No. 6, a sci-fi drama where two boys fall in love. This one also hurts.

And countless other examples, none of which I could find have the characters taking their relationship further than dating or engagement.

So, is Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury the first married same-sex couple in anime?

On a minor note, there have been several gay weddings depicted in manga.

Some examples would be:

Our Dreams At Dusk by Yuhki Kamatani, which was written by an asexual, X-gender author.

Until I Meet My Husband by Ryousuke Nanasaki and illustrated by Yoshi Tsukizuki. This manga was written by a gay man and based on his own essays about his life. The manga is auto-biographical.

I Married My Best Friend To Shut My Parents Up by Kodama Naoko, who has written several other LGBT manga, most of which are Yuri.

And there are several more!

Bonus:

Shoutout to Episode 7 of the 80s anime Dirty Pair for having a wedding between a cis man and a trans woman in one episode.

[adracat]

Shaddiq and The End of Fairytales

Shaddiq is quite interesting. His hubris is that he's a romantic at heart. He's styled as a Prince and idealizes Miorine. He dreams of being the triumphant liberator of his people, Prince of Earth itself and heir to a fallen family. It's the makings of a grand romantic story. Yet it was those delusions of fairytale grandeur which led to his downfall

His relationship with Miorine is one-sided but he pictures slowly winning her heart with patience. He refuses to intrude upon her sanctuary because it would ruin the narrative. Rapunzel needs to let the prince inside.

If Shaddiq insists he's different, a prince and not a beast, then surely she'll love him.

But then someone earned her heart the way he always dreamt. Suletta, who Miorine changed for and allowed into her castle of flowers while he's kept firmly at a distance.

It briefly incenses him that this pauper girl, someone not special from Mercury of all places, has earned his princess. He challenges her and their exchange reveals how little he thinks of Miorine's agency. The groom controls the bride. His anger deepens the moment Suletta contradicts him. As the groom, she'll believe in her bride.

During the duel he reveals his world view. Only a person with vision, someone special and destined for greatness like himself can wed a princess. He's soundly struck down because he underestimates Miorine and Earth House, factors he didn't account for while focused on Suletta.

When we next see him, Shaddiq appears oddly resigned. His hostility towards Suletta is completely missing. Yet in the context of S2, we finally understand why. Because this preserves the fairytale. Suletta is the knight who fairly won the princess' heart. He recognizes Suletta sees Miorine as something sacred; a divine beauty worthy of worship. He can concede so long as that image is upheld.

When Guel becomes holder, he doesn't react until this moment. Because he believes Guel has stained Miorine's hands with blood. She's no longer the princess in the tower. Miorine's pure image is ruined and it's entirely Guel's doing. This anger once again leads him to another downfall.

Considering Utena, this is such a clever use of the message princely/fairytale ideals are inherently nonsensical. You cannot paint yourself as a savior and disregard a person's agency. Life does not mirror romantic illusions and instead it's those dreams which blind you to reality. A child's view of the world, not an adult's. Shaddiq remains that orphan who imagined a heroic life for himself. And you can't help but pity him for it.

Ofc, whether he stays out of the game post ep 20 remains to be seen...

[tboybot]

you sons of bitches. you no good sons of bitches. I went into utena three days ago without so much of a Wikipedia entry for some lite gundam research and now Nanami is laying eggs

[ryuki-draws]

I watched the Witch from Mercury recently and all I need now is Saionji wrecking three mech suits before getting expelled to camping

[empty-movement]

Chiho Saito's 1998 covers for the two Revolutionary Girl #Utena novels written by Witch from Mercury writer Ichirō Ōkouchi, 'Twin Saplings,' and 'Verdant Hopes.'

Saito's commentary on them, roughly: Twin Saplings: "Utena's dignified in this picture, isn't it?" Verdant Hopes: "I rarely get to draw Anthy princess-like. Cute..."

Both of these novels have been translated, and are hosted in multiple formats on Empty Movement! I encourage you to check them out if you're a Witch from Mercury fan, and want a glimpse into his earlier work and the show he drew so so much inspiration from!

[adamonstro]

Oh, that anime where a girl duels a mean guy after seeing him be a douche to a pretty girl in a greenhouse, not knowing that winning the duel means she gets the pretty girl as her bride? Duels and witches and stuff? That anime?

[heather-m-quigley]

[dersacerj]

they come in pairs, do not separate

[bloodraven55]

they really couldn’t resist sneaking one more utena reference in could they?

[war-is-bad-girls]

Utena, Witch of Mercury by @_gloomymato

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[squareincube]