| I think you're getting the meta confused with the backstory. The creators of the show had an extremely difficult time getting sponsors for the character of Fire Emblem, because companies didn't (initially) want their logo on a flamboyantly gay character. Perhaps they later added this into his backstory, but in the CD Dramas I've listened to (most of them) and the guidebook I read, none of that is mentioned. He owns his own company, yes, but there's no mention that he had to start it ground-up to get a sponsor.
I was initially turned off by Nathan/Fire Emblem as well, but over time he really grew on me. For all his feminine characteristics, they do make him an unequivocal badass. If you watch the scoreboards in the first episode, he's in the #3 spot right behind Sky High and Blue Rose, and the supplementary material claims that he has always been in the top three. What's even more interesting about it is that, in order to be successful in the Tiger & Bunny universe, you also have to merchandise. Which means there may be kids in Stern Bild with Fire Emblem posters on their walls and Fire Emblem action figures.
Which is the thing that finally won me over on his character: nobody cares that he's gay. Sure, Barnaby is a bit of a jerk to him in the first half...when he's a jerk to everybody, and Blue Rose is initially weirded out by his inclusion in the girls' club, but both of them are over it by the second half - and for the most part, he's just treated like one of the team. I'm all for having less of the effeminate gay man stereotype in anime, but there are effeminate gay men in real life, and I don't mind having them depicted in as positive light as Fire Emblem is in this anime.
|
