| I get the impression that people bash on Free the most for having "queer baited" the audience, but all Free ever does in marketing-content is to show hot dudes in water. That's not baiting because it's true, it's a show about hot swimmers. The show has never been marketed as queer so it can't have queerbaited anyone. If anything, Nagisa and Makoto are most likely queercoded. Queercoded means the author created a queer character somewhere in the LGBT+ without making them say they're queer. Nagisa, the most obvious example, is an excitable, soft-spoken ray of sunshine very evidently queer. If you ever had a classmate like Nagisa, well, you were most likely right to assume that the majority of guys who behave like that are either gay, bi or gender-queer (which means they can have any sexual orientation, but won't act like you "expect" guys to act because they won't express their gender in traditional ways). Makoto seems extremely gay to me. He doesn't stand out because of the way he acts (like Nagisa), but definitely comes across as gay because of how infatuated he is with Haru. Rei is very awkward and the things he says sound gay, but I don't think he means it that way. Nagisa does seem to like Rei because he's always the one to approach him, similar to how Makoto is always the one to approach Haru. Haru is the straightest guy I've ever seen in my life. Rin seems straight to me and his obsession with Haru is well explained, plus in the following seasons he drops that obsession, and hardly ever acts queer in general. There are more queercoded examples in the following seasons and I think you know the characters I'm talking about. I don't think this show is trying to bait or to fool the LGBT+ crowd. I'm bi and I love how all of the friendships in Free look like cute anime girls bonding even though they're hot dudes. It defies gender roles and that's great, we need more content like that in anime. Some of these friendships seem to have unilateral gay feelings to me (Makoto, Nagisa), but I don't think these feelings need to be expressed either, because the only character who ever talks about love is Momo (S2-S3). All of the other characters don't care about love and are too concerned with swimming, which makes sense for a bunch of genius swimmers and socially awkward dudes. In conclusion, I don't think Free is queerbaiting because it actually has queercoded characters. It's not bad if an author doesn't want to confirm if a character is queer, specially if the story is not even about love. They're still acting queer for you to notice it. Queercoding still counts as representation because queer people will notice queercoded characters, subtext, undertones. It's a part of us and we will know when it's there. And the people who don't need it won't see it. So it's fine, you know? |
RojasebAug 11, 2021 9:53 AM
| Nah fam. I see you and get you, but I disagree. Queerbaiting is the scene where they hyped up Haru giving mouth to mouth and then it never happened. It is shown to viewers to titillate them into thinking oh these pretty boys might make out. Constant intense glances and jokes about how intense their relationship is. It is done to draw in viewership. They promise shit that won't happen because it sells well. Yuri is Ice, to go for another show that has a lot of fujo fans, on the other hand, isn't queerbaiting since the relationship is the main focus of the show. It's queercoding since they couldn't show anything really between them. It's better to watch shows that don't queerbait and actually fulfill the promises made, like Sarazanmai or Fairy Ranmaru. |
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-Flaky- said: My brain couldn’t understand this lol It's just about how some viewers come into Free expecting an openly gay experience even though the anime studio never marketed that. "Queerbaiting" means the creators of the show wanted to fool the LGBT+ crowds into watching the show because they advertised it as queer but then didn't deliver it (so they lied). KyotoAni doesn't do that because this anime certainly has a few obvious queer/gay characters who don't need to be confirmed because that's irrelevant to the story. In real life you don't need to know if your friends are LGBT+ and the same logic applies to queer coded characters. They'll tell you if they're struggling or want to open up, but those are not issues Free deals with, so Makoto doesn't have to tell Haru he's in love with him, for example. He's still acting gay so it's not bait. |
RojasebAug 11, 2021 8:23 AM
| Those people are stupid lmfao, Free is more so aimed towards girls. Just like how theres countless anime with a cast primarily consisting of really cute girls, that are directed towards boys. Case in point Keijo. This may be a shocker to some but girls like to self insert as well you know lmfao |
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maha_thecat said: Queerbaiting is the scene where they hyped up Haru giving mouth to mouth and then it never happened. It is shown to viewers to titillate them into thinking oh these pretty boys might make out. Constant intense glances and jokes about how intense their relationship is. It is done to draw in viewership. They promise shit that won't happen because it sells well. I remember this scene though? Do you mean they showed it in ads like it was a romantic kiss? The comments about how intense their friendship is is never a joke either. It is intense. And when it feels like it's "more than that" it's always from the same characters, Makoto, Nagisa, and so on while Haru, Rin, Souske (etc) always act in a "straight" way. The contrast between some characters and others is one of the ways in which the queercoding comes across. Not all queer coded characters have to be as perfectly done as Yuri and Victor. Free doesn't have the writing quality that Yuri on Ice has so you can't expect them to do smart queercoding. But it doesn't mean they're being malicious either. |
Rojaseb said: maha_thecat said: Queerbaiting is the scene where they hyped up Haru giving mouth to mouth and then it never happened. It is shown to viewers to titillate them into thinking oh these pretty boys might make out. Constant intense glances and jokes about how intense their relationship is. It is done to draw in viewership. They promise shit that won't happen because it sells well. I remember this scene though? Do you mean they showed it in ads like it was a romantic kiss? The comments about how intense their friendship is is never a joke either. It is intense. And when it feels like it's "more than that" it's always from the same characters, Makoto, Nagisa, and so on while Haru, Rin, Souske (etc) always act in a "straight" way. The contrast between some characters and others is one of the ways in which the queercoding comes across. Not all queer coded characters have to be as perfectly done as Yuri and Victor. Free doesn't have the writing quality that Yuri on Ice has so you can't expect them to do smart queercoding. But it doesn't mean they're being malicious. What is malicious queercoding in your opinion then? Just so I can get an idea of your viewpoint. |
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maha_thecat said: What is malicious queercoding in your opinion then? Just so I can get an idea of your viewpoint. The mechanic in Gurren Lagann was insulting as fuck to me |
All I know, is that Makoto is one of the best looking guys in the show, and like you said, he's definitely not straight.  I believe that Nao Serizawa is also gay. He reminds me of Makoto personality wise, but Nao is more feminine, which is nice. Nao's English voice actor even sounds gay.  |
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