×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Forum - View topic
INTEREST: Idolm@ster Voice Actor Shiki Aoki Comes Out as Transgender Man


Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3

 Note: this is the discussion thread for this article
Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
BlueOla



Joined: 08 Feb 2016
Posts: 161
PostPosted: Sun Mar 08, 2020 12:31 pm Reply with quote
tomdean wrote:
DJStarstryker wrote:
since it would affect their career and popularity.


Actually maybe they allowed him to talk just to boost his popularity. They lose nothing if the move goes wrong, but huge gain if more people becoming his fans - think of all those fujoshis


I'm sorry but how the hell are fujoshi related to his coming out as a trans man?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
FinalVentCard
ANN Reviewer


Joined: 28 Oct 2018
Posts: 521
PostPosted: Sun Mar 08, 2020 2:48 pm Reply with quote
Very happy for him. I'm glad he can be his true self.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Hellsoldier



Joined: 21 Jun 2013
Posts: 766
Location: Porto,Portugal,Europe,Earth,Sol
PostPosted: Sun Mar 08, 2020 5:26 pm Reply with quote
Sakagami Tomoyo wrote:
More likely, the number of LGBTQ+ people (or proportion of them in the population) remains more-or-less the same, it's just that more people are being open about it. Or conscious of it, for that matter. Either way, it is good that there is more media that addresses it positively.


Well yes, that's more or less what I meant to say. With at least 10% of the population being LGBTQ+, the real number of famous people who are part of the community is surely larger than the known number.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Bonham



Joined: 20 Nov 2010
Posts: 419
Location: NYC
PostPosted: Sun Mar 08, 2020 6:34 pm Reply with quote
Really happy that he was able to come out. And while it wasn't unfortunately as easy as it could have been, I'm glad that he had support from the teacher and his friends about this, as well.

In the big picture, while he may not be a massive celebrity, this can only be helpful for other trans people trying to figure out their identity, and being able to come out and receive the love and support they deserve.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Horsefellow



Joined: 01 Jan 2020
Posts: 262
PostPosted: Mon Mar 09, 2020 1:15 am Reply with quote
BlueOla wrote:
I'm sorry but how the hell are fujoshi related to his coming out as a trans man?


Fujoshis are generally hated by the LGBT community because of the way they fetishize being gay/trans and how most Japanese media about those subjects panders to them. A common complaint is fujoshi "invalidate" transmen by attributing them as just being butch women who are the seme/top in a yuri pairing, or the bottom/uke in a yaoi relationship and treated no different than a girl. I guess that poster is saying they think the franchise can market this in a similar fashion.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
SilverTalon01



Joined: 02 Apr 2012
Posts: 2404
PostPosted: Mon Mar 09, 2020 6:06 am Reply with quote
BlueOla wrote:
I'm sorry but how the hell are fujoshi related to his coming out as a trans man?


I think he is suggesting that fujoshi might be interested in and supportive of him playing roles as the token more effeminate guy in a yaoi series. Fujoshi fans do throw out a lot of money and can prop up series just as well (if not better than) other anime fan demographics. I'm not really sure I agree with the other poster's logic that he would actually be more popular than anyone else with that demographic though... I mean maybe more than female VAs? But I wouldn't be shocked to hear that a lot of characters in yaoi stuff are voiced by female VAs just because female VAs voice a lot of younger male characters.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Oggers



Joined: 29 Nov 2017
Posts: 368
Location: Ontario, Canada
PostPosted: Mon Mar 09, 2020 6:51 am Reply with quote
Horsefellow wrote:
Fujoshis are generally hated by the LGBT community because of the way they fetishize being gay/trans and how most Japanese media about those subjects panders to them.


Plenty of fujoshi are LGBT themselves, so I wouldn't generalize that much.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
omoikane



Joined: 03 Oct 2005
Posts: 494
PostPosted: Mon Mar 09, 2020 9:02 am Reply with quote
The "coming out" aspect of Shiki's video seems a bit overblown. Feels more like he is practically out irt to people he cares about, and due to his job, announcing it in a youtube video is a way for him to connect with his fans. It is also a big topic his fans want to know more about, given the background (naturally).

DavetheUsher wrote:
zawa113 wrote:
It must be hard to have a career where a voice change could negatively affect roles and such


There's more to being a seiyuu than the voice acting though, especially in an idol franchise. Will Aoki still feel comfortable wearing a matching dress like the rest of cast during concerts? What about acting overly cute and girly at live-performances that idols are expected to do? What about fan meet ups and handshake events? It could lead to awkward situations. Lots of factors to consider with something like this. The seiyuu is usually meant to be a real life representation of their character.

None of these are a problem today. Highly recommend you watch some of Shiki's performances and see how that will unlikely ever be an issue. Idol franchises are pretty broad-minded and will hire accordingly. Shiki was already x-gender when he got Asuka's role.

I think also, please watch Shiki's video when you can, he explained some of this as well.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
#HayamiLover



Joined: 22 Jul 2018
Posts: 799
Location: Eastern Europe
PostPosted: Tue Mar 10, 2020 1:15 pm Reply with quote
@omoikane Well, although Asuka's “canonical” sexual or gender identity will not be established for obvious reasons, I want to say that the character herself has never been particularly girly. In addition, Shiki-san, as far as I know, said in the video that at the moment the female body is not a problem for him. So, everything is in fine.

By the way, at the time, the franchise had a gender-uncomfortable male character, but they just turned him into a feminine crossdresser guy when SideM was made.

Oggers wrote:
Horsefellow wrote:
Fujoshis are generally hated by the LGBT community because of the way they fetishize being gay/trans and how most Japanese media about those subjects panders to them.


Plenty of fujoshi are LGBT themselves, so I wouldn't generalize that much.


I do not know. Some Japanese fujoshi helped raise awareness of male homosexuality, while others came into open conflict with the Japanese gay community and stated that “BL is entertainment for straight girls,” so this supposedly should not be realistic. Similarly, the yuri community consists of both good and bad people, which is obvious and normal.

Another thing, many queer media's straight fans declare their affiliation with LGBTQ in order to abuse it as a loophole to protect against accusations of fetishizing homosexuality (for example, in my time, many shippers pretended to be bisexual for protection), but again, all people are different and it would be foolish to throw labels just because of their bias.

In other words, it is better to draw conclusions about a person in personal communication than to say "oh, you belong to this group of people, so you're bad!".

Horsefellow wrote:
BlueOla wrote:
I'm sorry but how the hell are fujoshi related to his coming out as a trans man?


Fujoshis are generally hated by the LGBT community because of the way they fetishize being gay/trans and how most Japanese media about those subjects panders to them. A common complaint is fujoshi "invalidate" transmen by attributing them as just being butch women who are the seme/top in a yuri pairing, or the bottom/uke in a yaoi relationship and treated no different than a girl. I guess that poster is saying they think the franchise can market this in a similar fashion.


Fujoshi is only partially can be “to blame” for this. Similar cliches come from traditional Japanese culture, where homosexuality is considered part of transexuality. For example, in yuri, many butch lesbian characters have many references to FtM transexuality because of the idea that lesbian women are women with a male soul. It's so common that when the screenwriter of Last Friends wanted to write a trans male character, she actually wrote a clone of Haruka from Sailor Moon.

Of course, it also serves as a closet for feminine lesbians or maleness gays, as the quasi-heterosexual dynamics of relationships creates the illusion of heterosexuality of them.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
yeehaw



Joined: 09 Sep 2018
Posts: 447
PostPosted: Thu Mar 12, 2020 6:07 pm Reply with quote
Wakazhi wrote:
"...sexual orientation and gender identity are entirely separate."
"...he thought that he was a lesbian, but it did not sound quite right to him."

If I find an anime or manga that's about a sexual relationship between a trans male and a cis female, would that be yuri or not? There seems to be some discrepancy In Aoki's logic, unless I'm misunderstaning something.


A trans man dating a cis woman is s straight couple, it's not yuri
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Ming Yi



Joined: 20 Dec 2005
Posts: 208
PostPosted: Wed Apr 08, 2020 8:56 pm Reply with quote
Horsefellow wrote:
BlueOla wrote:
I'm sorry but how the hell are fujoshi related to his coming out as a trans man?


Fujoshis are generally hated by the LGBT community because of the way they fetishize being gay/trans and how most Japanese media about those subjects panders to them. A common complaint is fujoshi "invalidate" transmen by attributing them as just being butch women who are the seme/top in a yuri pairing, or the bottom/uke in a yaoi relationship and treated no different than a girl. I guess that poster is saying they think the franchise can market this in a similar fashion.


Are you sure or are you just speaking from Western experiences? Because some fujoshi are LGBT themselves and have actually helped bring awareness to LGBT media in the East. Most yaoi/yuri authors happen to be LGBT themselves. Not to mention that stuff like yaoi are also consumed by closeted men.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
P€|\||§_|\/|ast@



Joined: 14 Feb 2006
Posts: 3498
Location: IN your nightmares
PostPosted: Sat Oct 10, 2020 11:50 pm Reply with quote
Ming Yi wrote:
Horsefellow wrote:
Fujoshis are generally hated by the LGBT community because of the way they fetishize being gay/trans and how most Japanese media about those subjects panders to them. A common complaint is fujoshi "invalidate" transmen by attributing them as just being butch women who are the seme/top in a yuri pairing, or the bottom/uke in a yaoi relationship and treated no different than a girl. I guess that poster is saying they think the franchise can market this in a similar fashion.


Are you sure or are you just speaking from Western experiences? Because some fujoshi are LGBT themselves and have actually helped bring awareness to LGBT media in the East. Most yaoi/yuri authors happen to be LGBT themselves. Not to mention that stuff like yaoi are also consumed by closeted men.

[Is reviving after 6 months considered necroposting? if so sorry.]
Whether it's speaking from a Western perspective or not, or many fujoshi identifying as LGBTQ, it seems the general consensus is that these are not important of factors as you may think. The message to take home is doing what you can to dissuade negative perceptions about queer and transpeople being spread by those fans whether they realize it or not and regardless of their national origin or LGBTQ status.

In addition, I tend to agree that even LGBTQ content in popular media that's a bit fanservicey or fetishist pandering (instead of depicting realistic situations or contemplating the hardships that queer and transpeople face in daily life) can at least increase the visibility of alternate sexuality and gender expression to a wider audience. It's just that we really can't police the actions of fans themselves when they get a bit excited in not so altruistic ways.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail My Anime
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3
Page 3 of 3

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group