To start off, I supposed I’d call myself a fan of BL. I have read quite a few BL manga and watched some of its anime and live action adaptations, but I wouldn’t say that I’m someone who obsessively consumes every piece of media that stars a romantic or sexual relationship between two men. By that I mean, I’m not a fujoshi and I absolute DESPISE the terminology surrounding BL. Uke, seme, fujoshi, fudanshi, it’s all very reductive and has a lot of uncomfortable baggage attached to it that I really don’t enjoy. Same thing with the actual content, there are lots of tropes and isms in BL that make consuming it difficult for those who do so critically. And though it’s not entirely impossible to enjoy it while still being critical of its content (you can enjoy some BL simply as trashy, erotic schlock), the portrayal of the central relationships are more often than not very toxic and unrealistic and end up making BL an unwelcoming genre to those who simply want to enjoy romantic stories between two men. The representation of innocent, pure love is also rather lacking in the works that get adapted to animation. But that's where Sasaki to Miyano comes in. After finding it while looking through the list of seasonal anime, I watched its trailer, which wasn’t exactly stunning, but still managed to capture my interest nonetheless. Because of this, I didn’t go into it with a lot of expectations and mostly grew curious through my personal interest in the genre and the way the story and characters were hyped up by a lot of its fans. This hype can’t be understated. It was often touted to be a BL story without the bad, reductive tropes of its ilk, or more often as an “unproblematic” BL. Seemingly, its supposed “unproblematic” nature was, for many, part of its appeal and didn’t detract from the story in the way that the “problematic” nature of some BL often did for these fans. For them, Sasaki to Miyano filled a hole within the genre, a portrayal of innocent, gay love without any of the baggage associated with its contemporaries. In this instance, its representation was an important factor for those who enjoyed it.
But I’ll be honest when I say that Sasaki to Miyano ended up feeling like a waste of my time.
While I could fully go into every issue I have with this anime from a visual standpoint, I think it really speaks for itself. The actual presentation in Sasaki to Miyano was clearly not a priority and although that isn’t odd in this genre, it really shows in this particular instance, especially in the animation. Jerky, stilted movements or little to no animation at all; animation that doesn’t match the intensity of the performance; still frames that last far too long; awkward, claustrophobic or really odd framing; and of course, what feels like the cherry on top, the overuse of floating shapes to cover up for the lacking animation. Like I said, I could go further into exactly why I think these things are bad and give examples of them, but as I have already made clear, my interest in this anime particularly lies in its representation and the discussions had about it. Because, besides these rather surface level flaws, the real problem I have with this anime is that it’s boring. REALLY boring. From its set-up to its ending, the relationship between Sasaki and Miyano was rather unexciting and grew stale very quickly, despite the fact that that’s the whole premise of the anime; watching their relationship grow and develop. None of the dialogue was particularly interesting and while I wouldn’t exactly say that the characters are flat or have no personality, they by no means feel unique or exciting. Even the whole ”fudanshi” angle ended up feeling really inconsequential. The inciting incident, being Sasaki defending Miyano’s friend from a group of bullies, is very disconnected from the overall plot, only really seeming to be for the purpose of replicating shoujo aesthetics. But it doesn’t feel like a subversion or a parody and it is so disconnected that it ends up being kind of a bad inciting incident. It also ended up feeling so confused with the “fudanshi” plot. Nothing really connects the two and, at the end of the day, it feels more like shallow set dressing for the sake of comedy or maybe even relatability. I just don’t find any enjoyment out of a rather plain depiction of high school romance with a shallow twist, even if that depiction is of a type of relationship that only occasionally gets the spotlight. However, there are many defenders of this anime that SWEAR by the merits of its “unproblematic” and “realistic” representation, saying that it’s better than something wild and exciting, but with unhealthy, unrealistic dynamics. I’m not entirely against this perspective or even necessarily disagree with it, but I really have to question if this representation is as good as it supposedly is or if good representation is even such an important factor in the quality of a piece of media, particularly a BL such as this. Would representation really save what is otherwise an unexciting, bland romance story or would it falter regardless?
Firstly, It definitely avoids the more common isms of its genre. No assault, denial of male attraction or uncomfortable power dynamics. This is in part due to the seeming self-awareness of the author of those particular tropes and their deliberate attempt to try and subvert them. The story and characters also go out of their way to show the audience that it doesn’t just not use them, but actively refuses to. Authors of BL manga often tend to make one of the men in the relationship small and feminine so the audience can project onto them easier, but that has been (rightfully) criticized for conflating masculinity with physical and emotional dominance and femininity with physical and emotional submission, which isn’t necessarily true. It also ends up feeling a little heteronormative, because not every relationship, especially between two people of the same gender, has to have that dynamic. In some, both are masculine, both are feminine or it fluctuates. The same goes for their position in bed. Despite the fact that Sasaki and Miyano look like they have that kind of typical masculine/feminine dynamic, Miyano doesn’t like being seen as or presenting himself as feminine. Many characters later on in the anime even comment on how Miyano doesn’t have a feminine build anymore, which clearly speaks on how the majority of teenage boys grow out of their more feminine or androgynous build and how unrealistically convenient it often is in BL that the “uke” never does. Sasaki even says that he would still love Miyano if he became more masculine. Additionally, after his confession to Miyano, the audience sees how, unlike most “semes” in BL, Sasaki wants to give him the physical and emotional space that he needs to figure his feelings. In most BL, denial or rejection is more often met with one forcing themselves on the other. This dismissal of autonomy is then shown as “passionate” and “romantic”, even thought it really isn’t and the story of Sasaki to Miyano doesn’t romanticize it for that very reason. Now, this would’ve made for a great, subversive story, but this is purely what it presents on the surface. The moment you dig deeper, it feels rather shallow.
Miyano disliking his femininity was intriguing at first. The way his peers denied his masculinity and maleness and how it affected him felt realistic. It wasn’t just him saying “but I’m a boy!” and pouting, like every other BL tends to do. Even so, his mannerism and dynamic with Sasaki still feels very familiar. Sasaki is still more masculine, dominant and taller than Miyano and he’s still the one who is actively pursuing the relationship. Even if these dynamics are open to change in the future, they are still the way that they are and don’t even remotely change by the end of the anime. Just because the story admits to having this typical dynamic, romantic not sexual, doesn’t mean that it’s suddenly exempt from any criticism that may come along with it. And while the author purposefully (at least, I assume) used that familiar dynamic to then subvert it, they don’t follow through. The way the characters describe Miyano having become more masculine is either not visible at all, like Hanazawa saying that his shoulders are broader than a girl’s, even though they don’t change throughout the anime and are really narrow, or completely counteracted by Sasaki’s comparative size, like Miyano’s old classmate saying that his hands have become bigger than hers, even though his hands aren’t nearly as big as Sasaki’s. While the subversion doesn’t fall completely flat, it feels incomplete. Like I said, it feels as if the author goes to subvert the dynamic, only to hesitate and not do it, either in fear of alienating their audience or just not really being that interested in the subversion in the first place. And while Sasaki is, by far, much more respectful of his love interest’s boundaries than most guys in BL are, it’s only comparatively so. Even after he agrees to letting Miyano figure out his feelings, he refuses to stop flirting, being very touchy with him or being possessive of him. The more egregious but not the only cases of this being; him suddenly pulling Miyano away when his classmate merely goes to compare her hand to his in episode seven; aggressively grabbing and hugging Miyano at the end of episode eight and him pushing Miyano against a wall and moving his lips really close to his in episode eleven. But this isn’t shown as kind of uncomfortable and a little invasive, it’s shown as Sasaki “enduring” being close with and to Miyano. In a weird way, it portrays him as being respectful for not just jumping on Miyano and having his way with him, like in most BL. When the audience hears the inner thoughts of Sasaki in episode five, when Miyano is sleeping alone in the student council rooms, it seems very clear that the author is saying that touching and especially kissing him (even through a cloth mask) while he’s sleeping is inappropriate and I entirely agree. But showing that to be some kind of difficult level of constraint is weird, because that’s just a REALLY low bar to clear when it comes to respecting another person’s personal space and autonomy. Sure, Sasaki is giving Miyano all the time in the world to figure out his feelings, much longer than I would’ve had patience for, and that’s good! But this constant portrayal of “constraint” ends up feeling like the author is saying that Sasaki is being really, really respectful of Miyano’s autonomy, even though he is still shown to not respect the physical and emotional space one would realistically need to figure out their romantic feelings for the other and being really possessive of him despite them not being in a relationship yet. Miyano doesn’t vocally oppose this and as the audience we can hear his inner thoughts, which also don’t oppose it, but that still implies that there’s some kind of implied, divine consent. We know that Miyano doesn’t oppose it, but Sasaki doesn’t know that. To avoid a full-on discussion on implied consent, I’ll just say this; though it's normal for romantic anime such as this to have these kinds of isms, it does feel a bit odd for something touted to be a "unproblematic BL anime" to contain implied consent.
Mind you, I’m not too bothered by these particular things or isms. I’m moreso using them to illustrate that this strive towards “unproblematic” or morally clean representation is not useful or entirely possible in the romance genre. Implied consent, the pushing of boundaries, both physical and emotional, are all part of what makes a romance story dramatic and interesting. Many BL anime (and their source manga) tend to take it WAY too far and it’s by no means difficult to create a story with healthier dynamics. The bar is in hell, at this point. But those isms are still very common in every kind of romance genre and subgenre, which are things that would, in real life, be really uncomfortable and a little invasive. Not saying that they’re beyond criticism, some romantic depictions in media push the boundaries too far, but they’re still stories and depiction isn’t the same as endorsement. Still, to imply that Sasaki to Miyano somehow is some perfect, moral representation of a healthy relationship feels a little dishonest and misguided.
Anyway, to answer the first question. The representation is fine, certainly better than other stories in its genre, but by no means entirely exempt from playing into the tropes it attempts to subvert. But then how about the other question? Well, I left that one for last for a reason and that’s because it doesn’t have a completely solid answer. But I’ll attempt to answer it anyway.
Personally, I do believe that proper representation is important. To recognize yourself and whatever aspects that you heavily identify with in media is something that can feel really validating and satisfying and even educate those who are unfamiliar with whatever is being portrayed. The value of representation in that regard is undeniable to me, I’m by no means arguing in bad faith here. However, in this instance, only really the former applies to the anime at hand. I honestly doubt that anyone’s going to watch it and be educated about the gay experience, in large part because it doesn’t exactly examine it very thoroughly. I can’t speak on that experience personally, so I hope I’m not speaking out of line here when I say that it doesn’t really seem to touch on the feelings of both Sasaki and Miyano when they realize their attraction towards each other and how pursuing it would fundamentally change their position in society. Especially because it takes place in Japanese society, one which is focused heavily on tradition and blending in. They would likely have to hide their relationship or else possibly be met with scrutiny, harassment, future workplace discrimination and all that comes along with being openly queer in Japan. The story is obviously supposed to be light and fluffy with very little angst, though, so it makes sense that they wouldn’t get into that too much. Nevermind that a story about two guys falling in love shouldn’t always be doom and gloom, there are already more than enough exploitation films about that. Regardless, I find it strange that there isn’t even a fleeting thought between the two of them, though moreso with the particularly anxious Miyano, about how their relationship might affect their social lives. Which, it doesn’t, everyone around them is overwhelmingly positive or just ambivalent. So, the representation that’s being praised here isn’t, or really shouldn’t be, necessarily about its realistic depiction of the surrounding identity, but just it being a much healthier, romantic relationship that isn’t extremely common in BL adaptations. While I would never fault anyone for valuing or enjoying that, I do have to say that that really doesn’t carry a story on its own, especially because the relationship itself is by no means as perfect as some portray it as. I would argue that the best BL adaptations, such as Doukyuusei or Given, do have much less problematic representation than is common, but I don’t think their value is entirely within that representation. The aesthetic value isn’t largely derived from the audience’s moral response and I dislike the notion that it would be. Everything that surrounds it is intriguing and has a high quality, from the character writing to the story to the presentation. Even then, I’ve enjoyed much more trashy schlock than that too. Junjou Romantica, Sekaiichi Hatsukoi, Love Stage, etc. Because despite them having HORRIBLE representation, they’re often very dramatized and exciting, even if the “romance” falls completely flat for me. Besides, while the specific anime I just mentioned do have a problem, mainly the exploitation of gay relationships for the consumption of a largely straight audience, I don’t think that every instance of “bad representation” like it makes a piece of media instantly bad. I much prefer broad representation than ONLY “good" representation. So while I can't fault those who enjoy this anime for its representation, I can't say that the representation itself could save something that, in my opinion, is rather boring and bland. Representation can absolutely detract or add to the quality of a piece of media, but it can't rely on it.
Regardless, bland, clean representation absolutely has its place, both for the purpose of education and in normalization. Personally, I would much rather have something filled with heart but messy or something exciting but with dated sentiments, but I don’t think there’s anything necessarily wrong with preferring one over the other. But I still can’t get myself to enjoy Sasaki to Miyano or believe that its representative merits somehow make it worth watching. If you enjoy it, great! But I still believe that representation, even that which is helpful or resonant, doesn’t make up for boring storytelling and I can't imagine that the representation is Sasaki to Miyano was particularly helpful or resonant anyway.
TLDR; While Sasaki to Miyano has better, healthier representation than most of its contemporaries in the BL genre, it’s still only by comparison and contains some scenes that end up feeling rather uncomfortable. The author also attempts to subvert the common tropes and isms of the BL genre, only to not really go through with them and inadvertently playing them rather straight. But besides that, the story is REALLY boring. The characters aren’t very interesting, the story progression feels strange and disconnected and the “fudanshi” angle feels like shallow set dressing. All in all, the representation ended up not feeling as realistic or as “unproblematic” as its fans claimed it was and I don’t think it really made it worth watching either. Just watch Given or something.
