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NEWS: Utena Director Kunihiko Ikuhara's Sarazanmai Anime Unveils 2nd 'Linked' Promo

CardamonPastel wrote:

But the LGBT side of the fanbase are rather ignorant as well, considering they think its some sort of godsent anime that treats the couple " realistically " given the setting which I'd have to argue is untrue. No one in the show treats the two becoming a couple as " weird " ( Which I'd say is the most unrealistic thing about it ) and it's not as fetishized as normal BL couple, but the treatment of Yuri and Viktor was far from realistic.

Speaking as a gay man, the appeal of Yuri on Ice to me was the realism with Yuri and Viktor as both people and a couple, not how realistic the worldbuilding was. No one batting an eye at them becoming a couple may not be "realistic", but I don't see how that's a bad thing? There are plenty of works out there that tackle how hard it is to be LGBT, so I find Yuri a refreshing change of pace in that regard. Not to mention, escapism is part of the appeal of fantasy. Their world not working like ours is part of the appeal!

For me personally, the downside was that while Victor was a more or less realistic anime guy, Yuri was too cartoonish and stereotypically feminine.

Personally, I found Yuri relatable. I also thought the show subverted the feminine uke thing by having him become increasingly dominant with his displays of sexuality throughout the show. The show never pigeonholes them into the cliche uke/seme stereotypes the way most BL/yaoi anime are guilty are.

But getting back on topic, I still think it's possible for Sarazanmai to appeal to gay men even if fujos are the target demographic. Periphery demographic are a thing in media, and Ikuhara has already shown he knows how to make them work. (like how Utena was able to capture an adult male audience and a female LGBT audience despite being a shojo aimed at young girls)

It's a shame that this is true for both sides of the sea. In the west, in the media and even in cartoons now, you see an overwhelming number of the female side of LGBT being represented but not the male side. I guess they think it's safer if they do the female side and doesn't trigger the moral guardian audience as much, though introducing a prominent mlm couple in the mainstream media would be more controversial but necessary at this point.