Sasaki to Miyano – 06

「気持ち。」 (Kimochi.)
“Feelings”

I really do hate that Sasaki to Miyano decided to go with the idea that gay, heck pansexual people even – just don’t exist. But, if we put all of that aside, the series is kinda cute on how it’s developing its romance between the two titular protagonists. Sasaki and Miyano both exhibit appealing qualities that really push this series forward. Furthermore, the slow-paced romance that is surely meant to keep viewers hooked is certainly working. Things have not been completely confirmed by both parties, in fact, there still exists a lot of uncertainty. But the fact that things could happen is surely synthetic. However, the fact it’s not acknowledging LGBTQ+ or queerness as a whole is saddening and brings down this series to merely fujoshi bait. Sasaki to Miyano is a great story, it’s wonderfully rich with character and laughs throughout. It’s just despondent to viewers that wished to see themselves represented in yet another yaoi that fails to do so. And instead fails to allow itself to utilize the proper language that would bring clarity to those still seeking themselves in a world that wishes to shun them down.

Now let me make the case for this series, and try to give it the language it needs that both yields to understand and properly utilize.

Sasaki is pansexual and it was made clear in today’s episode, what frustrates me the most is during the conversation they both had at top of the footbridge, Miyano blatantly asks Sasaki if he’s into guy’s. Sasaki responds that he isn’t, that he’s just into Miyano. That he just finds Miyano cute and he doesn’t see anyone else in that light. I bet that hit some heartstrings with Miyano, but Miyano responds the same way, that he has never liked a guy before and liked a girl in middle school, so that makes him straight. And well this is just some BS right here.

It’s unrealistic – unfortunately. However, there are little conversations out there about what it means to be a fudanshi and at the same time not like boys. So it’s hard to talk about this topic without giving it some type of western lens, and proper bias. We are seeing their relationship develop but our macho-driven culture mocks the idea that a guy can like media wholly aimed at women. However, developing a taste for such media as a guy comes with some type of baggage, because otherwise it’s largely ignored. Yaoi really is about fulfilling a large fantasy, the series has even acknowledged this fantasy several times. It’s a women’s compulsive interest. And when women like something, men run with their heads between their legs.

So the fact Sasaki and Miyano not only connected over BL, gush about it constantly, and built their relationship on top of it, finds me a little uneasy when their romance might fall apart at the seams only because both of them fail to acknowledge their own sexuality.  

But – Sasaki is just dumb and doesn’t know what pansexual is… You say as you delve deeper into this article and realize it’s not about the episode but rather gay politics.

See – I don’t buy that. Sasaki is smart, he’s smart enough to study, he’s smart enough to keep his calm when an intimidating guy asks him about why he’s reading BL. He has book smarts and street smarts. And you’re telling me he never looked at Google to learn more about why he liked another guy. He never stumbled upon the English for pansexual or heck the Japanese equivalent 全性愛 (zenseiai) That’s just idealistic.

And instead, I think the series is falling under the umbrella of wish fulfillment for the original mangaka. It’s the fetish that two straight men, who deny their queerness in order the maintain the status quo of Japanese society of not standing out or being different. All just covered in a plastic case of wholesome vibes.

It’s not about making a parade, for the sake of putting on wigs and doing drag. It’s not about lollygagging. being fag, and making a fuss just because you wish to disturb the status quo. PRIDE is about making sure the society that constantly pushes us down knows that we’re pushing back. Know’s that we’re here and that we want to be heard, that queer people also deserve a voice and also deserve romance that doesn’t involve the constant need to assert a somewhat fake heterosexuality.

It’s about not lying to ourselves – and that’s exactly what Sasaki to Miyano fails to understand and grasp, forgets to utilize, and properly represent.

Full-length images: 36.

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