Once I ran out of live-action LGBTQ+ series, I gave a chance to anime and cartoons,
to see if I could find anything interesting. I didn’t have much experience, having mostly watched animated series on Netflix, though I had an anime phase in high school, so I’m not averse to this kind of content. Anime are usually Asian (mostly Japanese) animated series for multimedia. I usually watched these on Anime Dao, though other options are also accessible by a quick Google search.
After a long search and multiple failed seasons I have four animated series I would happily recommend.
RIN: Daughters of Mnemosyne
This series is my personal favourite despite the plot being so complex I had to re-watch each episode to figure out what was going on. The basic premise rests on the fruit of a mysterious tree which, if consumed by a woman, grants her immortality. This is how our main character, Rin, became immortal. Rin has been running a private detective agency for several lifetimes now and is solving the strangest cases with her
assistant, Mimi, all the while an angel is trying to get them assassinated because of their immortality. It’s incredibly well designed and what I appreciated the most is that the story wasn’t some dumb teenage high school stuff, but was instead full of strong female characters with actual motivations and goals.
Otherside Picnic
This is one of my newest experiences: the story is about two girls, Sorawo and Toriko, who can commute between their own world and the ‘Otherside’ by a gate. Here Japanese urban legends come to life, the more bizarre the better of course, and the two main characters live up to the challenge surprisingly well. Rich tech-genius Kozakura pays the heroes fortunes for objects brought back from the ‘Otherside’, so each episode
tackles a new urban legend and a new ‘hunt’. The main characters are very funny, the story is (in my opinion) unique and not dumb.
Trese
Netflix’ anime selection is also getting progressively wider, and from those with a female main character Trese is probably the most worthy of attention. This Philippine anime is based on the local mythology, where – after the death of his father – Alexandra Trese is tasked with keeping the balance between the underworld and the mortal realm. Trese’s English dub is provided by Shay Mitchell from the masterpiece that is Pretty Little Liars. Exciting, interesting, has strong female characters and also looks neat.
Q-Force
This one is a bit of an exception, since it’s not an anime but a cartoon, also on Netflix. We start with Steve Mayweather, star talent of spy school coming out as a gay man, which means his career as a spy dies before it could have even begun. He winds up in West-Hollywood, where he builds his squad full of LGBTQ+ members, and after several idle years they finally land themselves a real mission. This series is delightfully funny, a ray of sunshine in my life, unfortunately it ended far too soon, but I’m hoping for a new season!
Translated by Zsófia Ziaja
