The last Japanese DVD of Kobayashi-san's Dragon Maid included a postcard showing Kobayashi and Toru's wedding:

While I personally see nothing wrong with it (and I'd be glad if the series ended just like this, whatever the clothing) I've come across an article titled How anime can distort the reality of certain collectives in Koi-Nya, a Spanish otaku website that recently ceased operating, that criticizes the clothing choice as an ideological matter. Since the article is obviously in Spanish I have translated the paragraphs talking about it. What do you think of the issue?

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https://www.koi-nya.net/2017/08/10/como-el-anime-puede-distorsionar-la-visibilidad-de-ciertos-colectivos/

While this illustration was made public yesterday, I'd like to start by clarifying that it isn't an isolated representation. If you have even a minimal interest in the fandom circle you will surely remember fanarts or fanfics of women getting married with the typical male dress. What's more, the very production companies and studios have already played at yuri bait by marrying their characters with strong male-female roles. I mean the Kobayashi-san chi no Maid Dragon illustration is the excuse for this article, not its raison d'être.

With this said, let's tackle the matter in question: why there's a damn need of drawing a male representation even in a clearly lesbian-intended illustration? And here's the power of image and ideas in the media at heteronormativity's service. Isn't it generating the idea that even in a female relationship there always has to be a male rol? Why not draw both characters in female clothes? I'll tell you why: this way the only justification for two women, in this case in the world of anime, to have a romantic relationship would be lost. It would stop being a fanservice play to represent a collective and give it a voice.

In koi-nya we have mentioned many times the importance of knowing to differentiate these toxic representations from the ones that really are showing the reality of the LGBT+ collective, and this tendence of drawing women in tuxedo for the simple aim of generating fanservice belongs to the first group.

Now then, in the specific debate of Kobayashi-san chi no Maid Dragon it has been said that Kobayashi, due to her personality y clothing choice, would really choose this dress, and I agree. Through the series we see that Kobayashi doesn't posess a feminity we could describe as "classical" (though the correct term is "sexist"), there exists a clear contrast in this sense between Kobayashi and Toru, even though the second is a freaking dragon. And personally I believe that characters like Kobayashi who don't fit in the typical sexualized female construction in anime are very important to define women in a plural way.

However, while Kobayashi possesses characteristics worth celebrating, I insist, her raison d'être doesn't perspire such an intention to represent a certain type of women, as feminine as any other. Her personality and way of being exist in the series to create a contrast with Toru and foment the anime's message: together, they form a family. But while we may be before a lesbian relationship, this family couldn't be more heteronormative, as while Toru (with ample breasts, a sweet voice and clearly feminine gestures) cooks and takes care of the house Kobayashi goes to the office in trousers to work and pay the expenses of her "wife and daughter". Ultimately Kobayashi-san chi no Maid Dragon doesn't pretend to show the reality of a collective (in fact, Kobayashi doesn't even feel a romantic atraction for Toru), but parody the idea of family using classical male-female roles.

In short, would Kobayashi get married in tuxedo? Maybe, but she would do it because she is constructed upon a male role within the context of the story and not because she represents a style of feminity. And this subtle difference leads to clarify a detail that could be misinterpreted in my words.

All this discourse could be seen as a generalized censure of the women who decide to get married in tuxedo, a negation of the butch movement and a defense that women "must dress as women". Evidently a relation, regardless its character, possesses countless shades and everyone is free to choose how to express herself through clothing, or even choosing that she'd rather not express herself at all. Therefore, and while asking for this in an Internet article borders naivety, I'd like to plead that my words aren't misinterpreted: I'm not censoring any woman's esthetic decisions, I'm critizing the heteronormative ideas in certain messages in this audiovisual genre. Because a character doesn't take a choice to attend her wedding in tuxedo or bridal gown, but is put in a fictional situation to convey a specific ideology or message, whether it's intentionally or not. (...)

In short, let's support that women may dress in tuxedo, that men may dress in bridal gown, and that audiovisual projects are realized where this reality is shown so it is visible, but enough of creating and fomenting messages that only feed the urge for fanservice within the comfort zone of a heteronormative audience.

last edited at Sep 11, 2018 8:27PM

It gladdens my heart that someone can be so angered by something like this to write a thesis exploring the topic.

This is the kind of person that only watch mainstream shows, so this picture is the only excuse they could find for this article, if an illustration is enough to make them this angry I don't want to see how they would react to Kiniro Mosaic S2:
https://my.mixtape.moe/ibhnhn.webm
It moves.

^Obviously fake, Alice will definitely be wearing a kimono for their wedding.

Looks like somebody mixed huffing glue and the internet again. Come on people. Surely we should know better by now that these two drugs don't combine well.

Cute illustration.

last edited at Sep 12, 2018 2:41AM

Koi Nya is about to close btw, I like their articles, they made a good one about Bloom Into you and many others but articles such as these and another where they blamed the White Heterosexual Male for the current state of yuri made me cringe... People were seriously concerned and they edited the white male parts later.

Today I learned "one person with an opinion on the Internet, writing for a site that has absolutely no influence on the culture at large" qualifies as "heavy criticism".

Today I learned "one person with an opinion on the Internet, writing for a site that has absolutely no influence on the culture at large" qualifies as "heavy criticism".

It's just a description of the criticism in the article, I didn't intend it as in there being an outcry about the matter. But I guess you are right, I should have noticed that it could be misinterpreted.

I mean I can almost understand why someone would see a lady in a tuxedo about to marry a lady in a dress and think there's an air of heteronormativity (because on some level I suppose there is, as it can't escape the wider culture even if it pushes against it hard) but I can definitely understand why the site seems to have gone defunct