The Cartoons That Made Us Gay
Added 2021-09-22 04:54:42 +0000 UTCEdit: Please do make suggestions but specific episodes are much more helpful than recommending entire shows.
So we are getting ready to make our 10-episode, Patreon-exclusive mini-podcast about LGBT themes in classic cartoons. Before we finalize our episode list, however, we thought we’d give you, our supporters, all a chance to weigh in on what you’d want to see. After all, our pick for the gayest possible episode of the following shows might not be yours.
So what would be your pick for the episode we should do from the following shows?
- Jem & The Holograms
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- Batman: The Animated Series
- Street Sharks
- Gargoyles
- Sailor Moon
- Strawberry Shortcake
- G.I. Joe
- The Smurfs
- Thundercats
Or, if you think all of our picks are garbage, what would be your big pitch for something you’d be more interested in hearing?
Comments
I'd love to see you guys cover the Ranma 1/2 episode "Am I... Pretty? Ranma's Declaration of Womanhood." While the show's gender politics don't entirely hold up, I know so many folks who had their queer or trans awakenings thanks to Ranma and how it explores Ranma's gender-bending, and this episode in particular really resonates with experiences of transitioning and gender dysphoria and euphoria in how Ranma describes their newfound (albeit undone) epiphany about their womanhood. I'd also love if you were to ever cover an Urusei Yatsura episode about the character Ryuunosuke. Urusei Yatsura was Ranma 1/2 creator Rumiko Takahashi's first series and one of the most hugely influential anime franchises of the 80s, jumpstarting the careers of several talented animators including Ghost in the Shell director Mamoru Oshii, who directed the first half of the series and its first two movies. In many ways the character of Ryuunosuke, who is a girl who was raised to be a man by her father and is trying to embrace her femininity, was a prototype for the character and stories found in Ranma 1/2, as a gender-bending, trans-coded character struggling to have her gender identity respected by her father and the people around her. The episodes I would most recommend would be #68 "The Muco Flower's Name is Ryuunosuke," in which Ryuu is offered to be sex-changed into a man to wed an alien crow princess and the series' protagonist Ataru is accidentally changed into a girl instead, #96 "Shine! The Blessed Bra," in which Ryuu passes as a man to pretend date her friend Shinobu to get her stalker to back off, leading to some very queer tension between them, and OVA #5 "Nagisa's Fiance," in which her dad tries to marry her to the child of his friend, who at first appears to be another woman but who actually turns out to be a very effeminate man raised as a girl by his father in reverse of her situation. Urusei Yatsura is my favorite series and the character of Ryuunosuke means a lot to me, so I'd love for you to check out the series sometime, even if only as a reference point for a potential Ranma 1/2 episode! As for the shows on the suggested list, I'd love to see any of those shows tackled, but I'll echo other folks' sentiments that I'd love to see you cover Sailor Moon and episode 106 in particular!
LumRanmaYasha
2021-10-02 04:15:02 +0000 UTCI was also a 10-year-old girl who was obsessed with the Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles. I had a dozen or more of the action figures, I had a TNMT themed birthday party that mostly involved throwing my Baxter action figure off my roof over and over again, I would walk for 20 minutes to the nearest arcade cabinet to play the video game, I somehow wound up getting a copy of the player's manual for the TMNT tabletop RPG, and I watched the cartoon obsessively, but I'm not sure what was queer about it, other than the fact that it was a boy thing that I was way way into. The live action movie drove a stake into my fangirl heart, though, and my love for the TMNT mythos never recovered from that hideous monstrosity. Now that I think about it, I think the queerest vibe I remember from that show is the episode when Krang gets his muscle man body. Not sure which one that is, though.
Mirabai Knight
2021-09-26 04:40:04 +0000 UTCYou know I'm gonna vote for Strawberry Shortcake. Impossible to overstate the impact the Peculiar Purple Pieman of Porcupine Peak had on my burgeoning sexual identity as a gazebo-obsessed cringe swish villain. For episodes, I think you either want Big Apple City or Housewarming Surprise.
Mirabai Knight
2021-09-26 04:35:34 +0000 UTCI think the Batman the Animated Series Episodes “Feat of Clay Parts 1&2” would be interesting to talk about. I think Clayface can definitely be read as a closeted actor, which is interesting considering how they portrayed the character recently in the Harley Quinn cartoon. I also think its not as on the nose as the Harley and Ivy episodes, since they are a cannon couple that’s widely known about.
Brandon
2021-09-25 16:45:41 +0000 UTCGreat list! Regarding specifics - I think there’s two really great episodes in the third season of Sailor Moon that would work out - 106 “The Bond of Destiny: Uranus’ Distant Past” or 96 “Coldhearted Uranus: Makoto in Danger”. However, the entire season tbh is pretty gay thanks to Uranus and Neptune lol.
Oscar Cardoza
2021-09-25 00:50:57 +0000 UTCYou guys must do right by the late Sir Ari Gold (RIP), who I believe sang the role of Banee (which is interesting casting from a 2021 perspective. I believe he does feature in the very last ever Jem & The Holograms episode (I forget the title, but last song is appropriately “This is Farewell.”) I would also strongly recommend the Jem & The Holograms episode “The Day The Music Died” which features everyone in the cast apart from Jem/Jerrica doing asides to the camera, and the episode’s plot is a bit more complex and sharper.
Aaron Julius
2021-09-23 08:19:47 +0000 UTCBatman TAS 301 "Bane", or 110 "beware the creeper"
Stephen
2021-09-22 19:24:20 +0000 UTCNot on your list but X-Men the animated series episode S1E9 "The Cure" would be a great addition in the future. Classic X-Men story line about curing the mutant gene (as adapted into the terrible third movie)
Aaron Jorgensen
2021-09-22 18:38:58 +0000 UTCthank you
Drew Mackie
2021-09-22 16:10:35 +0000 UTCEpisode 35, Zoisite's death, and/or anything involving Uranus and Neptune, especially episode 106.
Joshua Sisco
2021-09-22 15:54:56 +0000 UTCOkay but what episode
Drew Mackie
2021-09-22 15:31:56 +0000 UTCI'm cool with that entire list, but especially Sailor Moon!
Joshua Sisco
2021-09-22 15:31:37 +0000 UTC
