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INTEREST: Free! Swimming Anime Unveils 2 Female Characters, New Visual

Apollo-kun wrote:

lloydz wrote: No sale. Can't have females interfering with the BL. Was seriously almost convinced that this anime would have an absence of women until today. I also don't follow news on it that closely either though. Y'know, that makes you look almost (not as, but almost) as intolerant as the guys complaining about shirtless dude fan service. Not all men are gay, and expecting the entire cast of a show to be so just to tickle your fancy is unrealistic, and it further fetishizes and others people who are attracted to their own sex. As a big supporter of the LGBT movement, i despise the homogenizing and fetishizing of gay men and lesbian women. So there's straight romance. So what? You deal with it in real life, so deal with it in a slice-of-life show. Variety is, after all, the spice of life.

Thank you! As a straight female who is also a supporter of the LGBT community I agree 100% with this. My main problem with most yaoi/yuri is the fetishizing aspect of it.

I wasn't really that interested in this show before when it was just all males, but know that there are going to be some female characters to help balance out the cast a little I may check it out.

I wasn't really that interested in this show before when it was just all males, but know that there are going to be some female characters to help balance out the cast a little I may check it out.

While well-intentioned and appreciated, the several admitted straight people in this thread who find the idea of works with multiple same-sex couples inherently offensive or exploitative are off the mark. As someone who actually is LBGT, I'll thank you not to dismiss yuri and yaoi so readily. These genres serve as an invaluable outlet and sanctuary for LGBT people.

You're right Apollo-kun, we sure do have to "deal with" heterosexuality continually being shoved in our faces in real life, but that doesn't mean we should have to in our fiction, not all the time. There IS a place and a need for media with exclusively gay and lesbian themes, which people (of any sexual orientation) can turn to when they want a space just for that, and away from the 24/7/365 endless blaring party heterosexual people are having about their own preferences.

Dismissing yaoi and yuri works just because some of them are sleazy and tasteless? You wouldn't discount all het romance for that reason though, would you? You're only focusing on one facet. Both yuri and yaoi have many tasteful, thoughtful and well-written works on what it means to be in a same-sex relationship - and yes, there are many such works that happen to feature multiple same-sex couples.

The point is, sometimes LGBT people really do get tired of having to "deal with it", tired of having to act like we're getting thrown a treat when there are one or two token LGBT couples in works with loads and loads of het. Sometimes we want things that are indeed aimed just at us, just for us. We're grateful for your support, but broadly attacking yaoi and yuri does not serve our interests.

With that said, as a gay guy, the one thing that I hope the show won't do is have gay leads that eventually "grow out of it/become straight." Just have them be straight from the get-go, or own their queerness like manly men. None of that gay-chicken shit.

NefariousPlatypus wrote:

With that said, as a gay guy, the one thing that I hope the show won't do is have gay leads that eventually "grow out of it/become straight." Just have them be straight from the get-go, or own their queerness like manly men. None of that gay-chicken shit.

If you are expecting actual homosexual characters as the leads in Free, you are bound to be disappointed. On the other hand, if you think that the presence of a younger sister and female teacher means there will definitely be heterosexual romance in play, you will be equally disappointed.

In a show about "friendship between guys", there are bound to be people excited about the possibilities of hooking them up, just like there would be just as much interest in a show with a predominantly female cast. It doesn't make it a BL show, but it makes it relevant to the interests of BL fans.

I'm curious, people keep referring to this show as BL. Has there been even the faintest hint of this show being anything of a BL, or are we just pulling things out of our asses?

I'm curious, people keep referring to this show as BL. Has there been even the faintest hint of this show being anything of a BL, or are we just pulling things out of our asses?