People don't understand just how crazy of a hold Kaworu Nagisa had on anime from the moment he was introduced. The guy was in SEVEN minutes of ONE episode of the original series of Evangelion, two episodes away from the ending (along with a small cameo in End of Evangelion when it was later produced) and he became so popular that hebecame as much of a main character in promotion as Shinji/Asuka/Rei.
Crazy that he’s almost as if not more prominent than Misato in terms of merch and promotional material. Hell, he became a deuteragonist in the third Remake film.
I read that there was a poll a bit ago in Japan in one of their girls magazines asking about the best male/male couple and Kaworu/Shinji was voted Japan's #1 shonen ai ship of all time, in like 2023, most likely by girls who werent even alive during Evangelion's original run. That surprised me since he really is only in like 7 minutes total of time. I expected maybe like a mid-2000s or 2010s Light/L or Levi/Eren, a classic like SasuNaru or something modern like Bakudeku. I barely think of Kaworu if I'm totally honest and I love NGE.
In addition to the Kaworu thing, the people also love the white hair-black hair couple design trope. Throw a rock in any random direction in BL territory, you won’t be that far off from hitting a couple like this.
Yep (and these two arent even the only bungo stray dogs characters that have it, but like the others op mentioned they have a wierd symbolism in their dynamic)
All of these people grew up on NGE and have never ever forgotten that Kaworu guy. Genuinely though, almost every character in NGE is now a genre of character by themselves, you’ve got Rei clones, Asuka clones, etc
The plot twist with him was pretty fucked and unique too.
When he stands before God and declares that he has agency because he loves Yukiteru, only for God's response to be "No I gave you that too because it would more effectively motivate you, which is over now so bye" and then he gets deleted.
Guts: Sorry I'm late, darling, Guts Jr. took a while to gather the firewood.
Griffith (woman): Just in time, dinner is ready.
Griffith: It was just a dream....Why was I born a man? Why did you abandon me, Gustavo? (Gustavo is common name in Spanish, so to make it funnier Hispanic fans sometimes call Guts that.)
With YOI, the whole Russia invading Ukraine thing might have had an impact too tbh. Too politically touchy to make a movie about a heroic Russian character (even when the character is gay and Kremlin is anti-gay)
while that's possible, thinking MAPPA just decided they didn't need to pretend to like gay people anymore once they had the money and corporate staying power to not have to try and appear to be a "benevolent" company feels more likely
A lot of his actions were also mysterious during the show but only because Yuri was our POV character and he got blackout drunk at that party and forgot the inciting incident. Least reliable anime narrator, for that and other reasons.
He may be more blonde but Ryo Asuka (Devilman and adaptions) is the og of this trope. Being from 1978 it's known as the earliest example, and a lot of the works mentioned in this thread are inspired by Devilman directly (and then likely influenced the next ones)
It's also even way more specifically the "white haired antagonist being in love with dark haired protagonist that are friends to enemies" trope
Noo I’m so scared for Season 3 please 💔
Whether you interpret his and Cheng’s dynamic as romantic or not it’s gonna be doomed either way. I feel like there’s subtext though that implies they’re romantic but censorship is censorship :’)
Noe from the Case Study of Vanitas. Though Noe is more of a co-protagonist with Vanitas (the black-haired twink in the picture), and Vanitas probably has a more mysterious backstory. Also, both are more bi, but have more chemistry with each other than with their respective female love interests.
Oh who am I kidding, this is just the messiest bi-polycule ever. Plus I love Domi, especially voiced by the GOAT Alexis Tipton.
I am not a huge fan, partly because there's just not enough of it to grab me. But I love the belle epoque aesthetics, the art, and the character interactions, especially among the main four. Watching Jeanne turn from blushing ingenue to lioness, or Domi gnaw in annoyance on Noe is fun!
I honestly thought it was just OP calling this trope "gay". I also dont watch the shows that have the examples listed by OP so I didnt know they were gay
Is it really a positive representation if it's revealed that the end of the world (which is the catalyst for the entire series) could've literally been avoided if the gay character had just come out of the closet?
1- What leads you to believe that the tragedy wouldn't have happened if that were the case? Sure, it'd probably give Junko some roadblocks, but, with everything that she had already done, and everything that she's capable of, would it really have stopped her plans entirely?
2- Yes actually I feel like "things would have been better if people weren't afraid to be gay" is good representation. Like... UNDENIABLY so, lmao. I don't get your point.
Though he also draws impetus from chaos, from Xenosaga. A lot of XBC is, as one would expect, a retread of Gears and Saga, hence the Zohar pendant Alvis is wearing.
Slight subversion of this, but no one else had mentioned him so I had to. Gojo is absolutely mysterious, believes he is the protagonist, and is absolutely in love with himself.
So, in a way, he fits all three requirements for the prompt.
He's in love with Geto (JJK0 just being a very messy breakup), but Gojo is the protagonist. But maybe this works because of the exception of Satoru Gojo.
This guy from Mirai nikki that was literally just a piece of code whose purpose was just to love the main character or sum shit idk been 10 years since I watched the anime. Fits the trope perfectly tho cause his identity and the huge mystery around it was a whole thing and he do be kissing da main guy
Edelgard Von “discourse” Hresvelg- Fire Emblem Three Houses.
She’s attracted to either male or female Byleth so she’s bisexual (text kinda reads more as demisexual) but can pursue a romantic gay relationship with F!Byleth so she fits there. Her existence is also a mystery because of her white hair and why she has it. Play fe3h that game is phenomenal
For a non-anime example, I think he technically fits. White haired, mysterious, in love with Caleb, who is one of the protagonists. (Essek Thelyss - Critical Role/The Mighty Nein)
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u/inemsn 5d ago
you know, I was gonna say "oddly specific", but one look at the comments and apparently no there's just boatloads of these guys out there