Naturally, AJ thinks Paige is really into Gabby, which was actually true until they kissed before this.
Love Potion: Chantal, a Wiccan girl at the school, has tried to cast love spells multiple times on Paige, but they don't work.Another lesbian girl at the school who Paige doesn't want to date is really into riding horses too. Lesbian Jock: Gabby and AJ both compete on the school track team, which Paige gets onto pursuing the former.
Hereditary Homosexuality: Gabby is a lesbian, while her twin AJ's bisexual.In actual practice though they both just act much the same. Good Cop/Bad Cop: Paige tells AJ she should be "bad cop" to her "good cop" while looking for the school's tagger.Glamorous Single Mother: Paige's mom Angie says she chose to be a single mother, and seems to be well off, which could be chalked up to her profession as a doctor.AJ soon finds out though that Paige's first kiss ever was with Gabby, AJ's sister. First Kiss: Paige and AJ share theirs while playing ∷ Minutes in Heaven.Disappeared Dad: Paige was conceived by sperm donation, since her mom's a single mother by choice, and mostly doesn't mind but admits it was hard sometimes with just her.A Date with Rosie Palms: Paige's mom Angie offers her sex toys for this, and also talks explicitly about masturbating herself.AJ's was very low key, though her sister Gabby made a big deal of coming out at her birthday party.Paige came out pretty young as a lesbian to her mom, who's surprised but also very accepting of it.In their case however, all three girls were already aware of their sexual orientations, completely open about them and it's just the first relationship Paige or AJ has. Coming Of Age Queer Romance: Teenage girl Paige pursues fellow lesbian teen Gabby, then falls for Gabby's bisexual sister AJ instead, with the romantic complications that ensue echoing them now becoming young women.AJ, the real culprit, eventually confesses and exonerates Paige from the charge. She gets a deal to reveal the real culprit, or she'll be suspended. Clear My Name: Paige gets accused of being a tagger who has been putting graffiti up around the school which she goes to.This article will examine how 20 popular anime approach their queer characters. As the LGBT rights movement picks up steam in Japan, there's thankfully been an increase in more respectful and believable portrayals. There's also the yaoi (boys love) and yuri (girls love) genres which focus on same-sex relationships, but often in a very unrealistic and fetishized manner. Sometimes these stereotypical characters are written well enough to transcend their problematic origins, other times they can be incredibly offensive (let's never speak of "Puri Puri Prisoner" from One Punch Man). Because of this, while including queer characters is less taboo, they're often portrayed as jokey stereotypes. While there isn't the same "think of the children!" panicking as in America, Japan still has a fair deal of cultural stigma around the queer community. There's been anime for adults almost as long as there's been anime, and kids anime have long featured openly queer characters.Īs for the quality of queer representation in anime, it's a mixed bag. In Japan, however, neither of obstacles exist.
Thankfully that first obstacle started being challenged in the '90s with shows like The Simpsons and South Park, and the second obstacle's being challenged now thanks to shows like Steven Universe and The Loud House. Until recently, queer representation in American animation has faced two ridiculous obstacles: the idea that cartoons are just for kids, and the idea that it's inappropriate to expose kids to the existence of queer people. In terms of sheer quantity, there are a lot more queer characters in anime than there are in American cartoons.