The Utena Position.

^ It's heavily implied during some moments of the second season that Atra had started to be romantically atracted to Kudelia as well. With things like Atra gifting her a bracelet identical to the ones she and Mikazuki wear, and the wording she use in several ocasions when she references their relationship. It's almost all subtext and implication however, wich makes it open to interpretation.

I tend to think that they are, because I simply do not see what other reason thay could have to legally marry otherwise. Kudelia is massively rich and politicaly powerful, she would be perfectly capable of helping Atra raise her kid without needing to marry her. But it is very much a "Well, we're not outright saying that they are gay wink,wink" situation.

Kinda how Striker's never outright said NanoFate was a thing, except a bit less obvious this time.

last edited at Nov 21, 2022 5:58PM

The intimacy…! The casual hand that reaches out with an earbud….! The shimmering energy of undisclosed love…!

tbf, not waiting for the obvious "sure, go ahead" and reaching over with an earbud (as long as you have clean ears I guess) to share music with a friend, while discussing music, is not that intimate imo. Then again, I live in a middle eastern country and my last time hanging out with people of my own free will was back in the army.

Keep in mind the cultural context. This is written by a japanese person, so casual physical contact is more of a big deal.

^^ Literally the closest thing to anti-yuri in this episode is if you really squint while looking at Suletta searching for Elan. Like, I've seen people insisting that this is proof that Suletta is hetero and into Elan, but come on. The girl's new friend didn't show up to fulfill a promise, dropped from the face of the earth and was impossible to communicate with for days, of course she's gonna be worried about him and want to know what happened.

On the other hand, we have Miorine, who inmediately jumped to save Aerial and begged her father -who she hates with the strength of a thousands suns- for help, just because she cares about Suletta.

last edited at Nov 20, 2022 10:15AM

^^ Oh you sweet summer child. It's a gundam show, going full war drama is inevitable. Let us just hope they get to be a couple, and perhaps a somewhat happy and not too bittersweet an ending.

^^ The show has not gotten any gayer, althought the relationship between the leads has gotten a lot closer and casual, it's in a platonic way thus far. It started very "we're only interacting because of the bullshit groom/bride neither of us really wants", but by now we see them actually getting along and habging out and helping each other just cause they're friends. It's all very slow-burn on the relationship side, basically.

Honestly, I prefer this to a rushed "suddenly they are both in love with a virtual stranger" development, but it remains to see how things go when things go romantic.

That said, it doesn't look like they will go ina "suddenly hetero" direction either. Elan-4 was the closest thing to a realistic hetero romantic option, and the poor dude was "decommisioned" so quickly by his corporate masters that the whole thing could be considered straightbait.

Le petite mort

I think that part of the reason the Yuridom went crazy for these two is because how unexpected it was.

Like sure, this is not the 90's, an openly and explicitly gay couple in media is not unheard of anymore, but whenever that couple are the protagonists 99% of the time it's slice of life and their gaynes basically IS the plot. And if their gayness isn't the main plot then it tends to stay as yuribait/yaoibait.

This series seems like it will be a break from that. It feels like I will finally get to have a gay anime couple plus an interesting non SoL plot. In a franchise as enourmous and influential as Gundam no less.

Feels good.

Doesn't really work with the show's worldbuilding, since it's already been stablished that LGBT relationships are commonplace.

Still funny though.

That poor dragon will have to keep the clumsy persona long after she gets over her stage fright problem. Typecasting be a cruel mistress.

The best part is that the Web Novel confirmed that Aerial is sentient and considers Suletta their sister.

So this might as well be canon.

Wow that was fast. Then again that scenario was a perfect breeding ground for yuri fanart.

Honest comunication is the basis of a healthy relationship.

Long haired Akane is the best version there is.

"It is mostly my fault though."

Oh honey. Why are you gaslighting yourself.

Seriously what is it with this trend in manga, victimized women blaming the themselves?

It's especially jarring in this situation since the actual guilty party is clearly aware that it's her who was in the wrong and immediately declares it to be her fault and apologizes for acting like a scumbag.

And then the victim just, ignores all of that and immediately starts blaming herself? Which doesn't say great things about her mental wellbeing.

The fact that Luxis still seems enthusiastic about it is what makes it for me.

There's like, zero chances that Hinoka didn't misunderstand Tsukishi's request as a weird confession by this point. Not that it wasn't clear in the pre-serialized version, but I'm glad they didn't change in this one.

The best part is that, unlike some other Servants that also were different during their lives, Leonardo did it to herself simply because she wanted.

sometimes i find ero works of very favourite shows a bit offputting but this was awesome.

The wonders of characterization that is consistent with the original work! I wish more doujins were like this, honestly.

Gah I love these two. I've wanted the actual manga to go full blown Yuri for so long and not just a bunch of subtext lol.

It gives me hope that it's the less subtle subtext that I've seen on a long time, honestly. When one of your heroines causes the other to awaken to a new fetish just by showing a little skin, I'm not sure what point there could be in not going full yuri eventually.

last edited at Jun 29, 2022 1:53AM

^^ Somewhat oversimplified of course, but yes it's broadly accurate. The ban happened in 1936.

I'm not sure how this shit keeps surprising people. Like, at some level this same shit happened nation-wide in Imperial Japan.

Japan in the 1910s: Establishes a ton of all-girls schools.
Japan in the 1920s: Girl-Girl romantic and romantic-subtext genre explodes in popularity, almost all female authors are graduates from those all-girls schools.
Japan in the 1930s: Surprised Pikachu face, makes the genre illegal.

Seriously, you would think that people would learn at some point.

last edited at Jun 28, 2022 10:16AM

Regular MC in a romantic comedy: Struggles with the idea of being atracted to her friend for at least 10 chapters.
This MC by the third chapter: I'M GOING TO MARRY THIS GIRL!

I'm just saying, I'm loving the attitude of this girl. Here's hoping she keeps it up for the rest of the series.

I apreciate how Utena immediately starts treating Vena like an enemy to plan for without the slightest hesitation. There is no surprise at the "betrayal", she already saw them as an untrustworthy asshole, this is merely confirmation that they are an enemy she must eventually defeat.

I really don't like this trope. What did you expect to happen?

"I told you to leave, now I'm wallowing in self pity and loathing".

I remember reading a sentence somewhere that went something like, 'The moment you made the decision, you lost all right to regret it'. If she really wanted to distance herself, then she should bury all that pain and hesitation deep enough that it never shows up in her actions or on her face.

Well, it's not like she actually wants to distance herself. She just feels obligated to try anyway out of fear that she will end up hurting her otherwise because of the villainess system.

Can this manga truly be considered mere subtext at this point? Among a lot of other things, seeing Momo with her tummy exposed literaly awoke a new fetish in Yuuko.

last edited at Jun 5, 2022 12:27PM