Some of the most popular shōjo manga of the era were produced by a group of female manga artists that would later be called the Year 24 Group. Female manga artists began producing a new type of shōjo manga that featured beautiful artwork, complicated storylines, romances between same-sex couples, characters who challenged their gender or sexual identity, and other narratives that had a powerful and long-lasting influence over many burgeoning manga creators and readers. Starting in the 1970s, manga featuring same sex or queer relationships began to see mainstream, commercial success within shojo manga. Internal conflicts take precedence over big action, so the struggles faced by queer characters over their own gender and sexual identities fit perfectly into this setup. Moto Hagio's The Heart of Thomas is an excellent example of this as it features lush artwork, lyrical prose, and primarily focuses on the relationships between young male students. With its heavy focus on romance and drama, shōjo manga focus more on interpersonal relationships, drama, and emotions.
(For more information, check out our "A Beginner's Guide to Manga"). Shōjo refers to manga developed specifically for female readers. Her work was very popular and directly influenced the development of both shōjo and yuri manga in the decades that followed. Japanese author Yoshiya Nobuko wrote novels about female same-sex love and relationships during the 1920s. However, this has not stopped queer writers and artists from producing queer works of art, nor has it stopped readers from consuming it. While everyone has a right to love and be happy, sometimes anime creators take things a little too far.Although homosexuality in Japan was never criminalized to the extent it was in countries such as the USA or the United Kingdom, members of the LGBTQ+ community still face discrimination on a cultural and social level with very limited legal protection. To add to the weirdness, a surprisingly large number of multi-generational anime relationships form between relatives. The widest age gaps to be found in anime involve relationships between adults and (often prepubescent) minors.
As the world becomes increasingly less tolerant of power imbalances that invite coercion, it's difficult to find these types of stories cute. While some people enjoy the forbidden thrill offered by these narratives, others are simply disgusted. Japan isn't the only country that produces tales of relationships with cringe-worthy age gaps there are plenty of unfortunately paired couples to be found in Western media as well. If the couple is composed of two consenting adults who just happen to have been born in different generations, that can be acceptable, but when a show features a relationship between an adult and a child, warning sirens should be going off. This is especially true of anime couples with big age gaps, as their relationships rarely feel consensual. Even though they're works of fiction, many anime relationships are alarmingly unhealthy. Sadly, it's not uncommon to find anime lovers who are 10 - or even 20 - years apart from one another.