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The List - 5 Best Boys-Love Anime

As for the obscured kiss, I don't have the links right now but Yamamoto has basically stated that she had to fight really hard to keep that scene in the episode, so the obscured version is probably all that they allowed her to do. And I think the fact that she fought so hard against homophobic broadcast standards deserves a different reception than the deliberate bait-and-switch pulled by something like Sound! Euphonium.

As for the obscured kiss, I don't have the links right now but Yamamoto has basically stated that she had to fight really hard to keep that scene in the episode, so the obscured version is probably all that they allowed her to do. And I think the fact that she fought so hard against homophobic broadcast standards deserves a different reception.

Gosh can we please STOP propagating this myth that there are laws preventing anime from showing gay kisses? There aren't, watch any BL anime that aired on TV, clearly that's not a problem, and Yoi aired in the late night (2 am?) slot anyway. It has nothing to do with "broadcasting standards". It's just that it was an original anime and the production committee was greedy and they didn't want to allow the creators to show something that could potentially drive away normie audiences because more people watching obviously means more ¥¥¥ and they were afraid of losing that extra revenue.

Let's just be honest about it - Sayo really did her best but she was stopped by people higher in the hierarchy, that's all, you don't need to invent nonexistent "broadcasting standards", just tell it how it is.

Is there an actual link to this interview Sayo Yamamoto comments on about being censored or is it something that's always taken as truth and nobody is ever able to track down the original interview? It is also possible if she did in fact say it that she was misquoted and meant a specific time-slot on a specific network had different regulations, since it's not an actual country wide standard to my knowledge as you say and same sex kisses are in a lot of anime already.

Is there an actual link to this interview Sayo Yamamoto comments on about being censored or is it something that's always taken as truth and nobody is ever able to track down the original interview? It is also possible if she did in fact say it that she was misquoted and meant a specific time-slot on a specific network had different regulations, since it's not an actual country wide standard to my knowledge as you say and same sex kisses are in a lot of anime already.

The Go Yuri Go fanbook, released in June 2017. Talking about the kiss scene:

Truthfully every side wanted to completely stop this at many points, but this was an episode I forced my way through. I had confidence that they would understand once they saw the completed work.

Nothing specifically about the arm, but about getting the kiss in period. Btw, the people who this would probably involve would be Avex and TV Asahi, who were higher on the production committee than Mappa, so they are who she would have to fight. Just because it's not broadcast standards doesn't mean it's not censorship. If she tried to get it in and they (the tv station airing it and Avex) were fighting her, that's censorship.

The reason some other anime have had uncensored m/m kisses has a lot to do with context. If something is BL and is marketed as such, of course it's going to be allowed. If the kiss is a gag or a joke, it will be allowed. If it's a pair of side characters? Same. And YOI didn't even have the excuse of 'it was in the original material' (like No. 6 did), so of course it was going to be much harder to get through. And... that's still censorship, or at least an attempt at it.

There are a few other comments that allude to similar things, from Sayo and also from producer Manabu Otsuka. I know Otsuka talked multiple times about being worried about the reaction to the series, and knowing that a specific subset of people were going to be upset about it. Context made it pretty clear exactly the kind of people he was talking about.

Here's one from Anime Midwest 2017 where he says Sayo wanted to create a romance (he used 恋愛 btw, a word that indisputably cannot mean anything but romantic love), but other studios would not accept that.

Anime writers, directors, and producers are notoriously cagey about stuff like this, because they don't want to say something they shouldn't about their employers and lose their job. A female director like Sayo would probably be especially concerned about this, but even then, she's made it known she had to push for the kiss as it was AND the romance period. Sayo had an idea and stuck to her guns, refusing to compromise, and I really admire her for that. Making a skating anime was her dream project, and she refused to alter the story she wanted to tell just to get it approved.

We'lll never know if the show would have been just as successful if she had full creative control to put as much gay content as she wants, but we do know the show we got was extremely successful.

Btw, the people who this would probably involve would be Avex and TV Asahi, who were higher on the production committee than Mappa, so they are who she would have to fight. Just because it's not broadcast standards doesn't mean it's not censorship. If she tried to get it in and they (the tv station airing it and Avex) were fighting her, that's censorship.

And I think we need to just maybe say in terms of BL, simply having a gay relationship, even the main relationship being such, doesn't mean it is BL. Or, stepping into controversial topic of if Avatar is anime, The Legend of Korra is a yuri anime (although clearly it has a lot more stuff). Yes YoI is even more so about the gay couple, but you could read the same with Amanchu, that had an entire episode of one of them trying to stop anyone else from kissing her "friend".

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If Yuri on Ice isn't gay romance to you, IMO you have blinders on that blot out the sun and spend too much time in the weeds in pedantic, angry internet communities. It's #1 on our list of boys' love anime because it's a beautiful and touching romance between two men.

Being so uptight about categorization is pedantry - it has almost nothing to do with the show itself, mostly it's about whoever is complaining the loudest about exact terminology is trying to establish themselves as the person you're supposed to listen to and follow, rather than going with what your heart tells you is right.