#theres never anything sad or tragic about being gay - only that bancoran is forced to kill the bishounen spies/assassins/etc

[joseigamer]

Patalliro! is fascinating to me because of stuff like this. It's unapologetically gay - even within its anime which aired during primetime hours in 1982 - in a way that many later BL manga would never be, like the ones from the early 2000s which would never dare to call their characters actual homosexuals. Patalliro has actually aged quite well in this regard, there's something comforting about how campy it is.

#i still dont really understand how they got away with this kind of thing honestly #female VAs i get that - but first m/m kiss in an anime in episode THREE????? #theres also the maraich/thomas episode where they are *Both* voiced by women....advanced yuri #patalliro #i love how bancorans gender expression is pretty much explicitly to attract only bishounen #you blushed - so you must not be a girl #etc #i also love how joyful it all is #theres never anything sad or tragic about being gay - only that bancoran is forced to kill the bishounen spies/assassins/etc #when bancoran finds out that gay sex feels good after demian; in the manga he is elated. its basically a positive thing #he awakens to his true power...lol #also notable is that while bishounen youth is glorified maraich is still 18. #besides making the show more palatable; this means it portrays being gay as an adult as normal #according to the NYT japan's psychiatric body called homosexuality a mental illness until 1995 #im not going to say patalliro changed that or anything lmao but its just significant to me that banmara get to live their lives happily #especially contrasting that with kaze to ki no uta and other manga of the time (no shade intended) #yaoi #<- for tagging purposes #obviously it also got away with a lot by being a gag manga. but still! #months later edit: want to say im not intending to moralize BL manga from the 2000s either. like gen. no hate on them. #as a gay person i just appreciate when characters who act gay are considered gay textually #and its kind of disheartening how gay-as-identity was treated as something incredulous in those manga a lot of the time #even the mere suggestion of attraction to men as a whole and not just the other male lead...yknow