For anyone who is looking for some anime with LGBT+ protagonists/themes, but isn’t fond of the Yaoi/Yuri genres.
Revolutionary Girl Utena
This show follows 14-year-old Utena Tenjou at Ohtori academy. Her goal is to ‘become a brave and noble prince who rescues princesses.’ She meets and befriends Anthy Himemiya, who, at first glance, seems to be a damsel in need of rescuing. But the reality is far more complicated than that.
This series deals with abusive relationships, sexuality, gender roles, feminism, and many, many other themes. It’s also very heavy on symbolism, metaphors, and subtle storytelling, so it’s really one-of-a-kind.
No, this anime is not about grumpy dog sitters. Although that would be cool too.
No.6 takes place in and around a seemingly Utopian city called No.6. The story follows two boys named Shion and Nezumi. Shion grew up as an elite citizen of No.6, and slowly realizes how messed up his city is. Nezumi lives in the slums outside of No.6, and has known exactly how bad it is from the beginning. They both have massively different ideals, but they agree on one thing: No.6 has to go.
Read the English translation of the novels it was based off of Here
Shinsekai Yori
Set 1,000 years in the future, where all humans now possess psychic powers. This story follows Saki Watanabe and her friends living in the seemingly idyllic town of Kamisu 66. But when kids keep disappearing, and no one will talk about them, they try to find out what’s really going on and uncover unimaginable secrets along the way.
This one is super interesting. It’s got some of the greatest world building and storytelling I’ve ever seen in anime. Also, four out of the five main protagonists are queer.
This story follows a trans girl named Shuichi Nitori and her friends through their first year of middle school. It deals with gender identity, sexuality, and just life in general.
This one is really good. I mean REALLY good. I think everybody should watch it. The artwork is beautiful, the characters are amazing, and the story is one of the most real and heartfelt I’ve ever seen.
Yeah, I know this is a yuri anime, but it definitely deserves a spot on this list. Aoi Hana follows childhood friends Fumi Manjome and Akira Okudaira through their first two years of high school as they figure out their sexualities, navigate relationships, and deal with coming out of the closet.
You’ve probably heard of this one. Set 15 years after alien creatures known as Angels attack earth, and organization called NERV recruits several teenagers to pilot giant bio-machines called Evangelions to protect earth against the next series of attacks. It deals heavily with mental illness and the protagonist is a 14-year old bisexual boy.
Unfortunately I can’t find a place where you can watch it legally. If anyone knows of one, or has another anime they’d like to add to this list, feel free to add on!
I have another recommendation – Nabari No Ou.
The story is a centered around a boy named Miharu who is apathetic about the world around him, but it incidentally turns out that his body is carrying the scroll of the most powerful secret ninja art in the world of Nabari called the Shinra Banshou. Of course he wants nothing to do with ninjas, but he ends up being a part of a clan that protects him from The Grey Wolves, who want to use forbidden ninja arts to remove the Shinra Banshou from Miharu.
Along the way, Miharu meets Yoite, an intersex character (presenting as male) who is being manipulated by the Grey Wolves to use the forbidden art of Kira against him. Yoite, in return for making Miharu the Nabari King, wants Miharu to get rid of his existence. Miharu agrees to help him, and Yoite leaves the Grey Wolves to join him, only for them to form a bond that grows closer and closer as time goes by and conflict increases.
There are also canon asexual characters and confirmed bisexual and homosexual characters/relationships. The author of the manga is even asexual! So basically, modern ninjas and queer people/relationships. It’s a very good anime, and an even better manga. It’s very sad and you will probably cry, but it’s also really funny when it’s not sad.
Sidenote: Funimation licensed and dubbed this anime so it might be kinda hard to find it online.
I haven’t seem a few of these so bookmarking this for later! I do very much heartily recommend Revolutionary Girl Utena (obvs, though again look in my tags for trigger warnings) and Aoi Hana, which is fab. I haven’t seen the Wandering Son anime (and have heard people raise issues with the ending of it) but I have read the manga and also adore that.
Edit: Shinsekai yori presents bisexuality as a thing people grow out apparently (including the main characters) among other bad things, so it doesn’t sound like the place to go for positive rep.
Okay, so, as a replacement for for Shinsekai yori:
Cardcaptor Sakura
Cardcaptor Sakura is an anime about a fourth grader magical girl tasked with gathering the magical Clow cards who are wreaking havoc in her town.
The picture above is the main cast and every single character pictured is queer. There’s also a genderqueer character later on. There is also a canon queer relationship that is a true love endgame-type thing. The character’s queer sexualities are never treated as surprising and they discuss them openly and honestly in most cases. The two main characters even bond over having queer crushes at one point, which is a great thing for kids to see.
The representation isn’t flawless, but neither are many of the anime listed- one instance of same sex attraction is given a “you were attracted to the magic” explanation that was unnecessary (two of these in the manga, but thankfully that was left out in the anime as far as I remember) but at least it wasn’t explicitly said to be the only reason for their attraction and another queer relationship involving a bi character actually DEFIED the “because magic” rule. Sakura was also confirmed bi by the creators in addition to the evidence on the show.
It’s also an amazingly sweet and gentle series with nice character development.
so yeah, recommended.
Trigger warnings and stuff here, though also plot spoilers. The manga has some major triggers that aren’t present in the anime. so don’t go in unprepared.
fadeslikewhispers 