Would you explain why kirishima is considered a gay coded character in Japan? I’m curious.

unbreakable-red-riot:

Oooo good question anon! I will try to answer this as best I can!

So in American culture, the most common gay male stereotype is a man who is extremely feminine. This is probably because of our heteronormative culture — if a man enjoys receiving gay sex, then this makes him “like a woman”. But in Japan, the most common gay male stereotype is a man who is extremely masculine. I don’t know why this is the stereotype, but perhaps it has to do with this “obsession with the masculine” being a sign of also wanting masculine/male partners.

So, when Kirishima calls everything good and honorable “manly”, especially anything done by his male classmates, and when he does this all the time… To a Japanese person, this might come off as being, well, pretty fucking gay. A sign that he wants male partners and not female partners. Which leads me to my next point.

Probably the most telling sign of Kirishima’s possible LGBT status is in his character page. This is in Volume 3 of the manga. In the official English translation, it says that his favorite things are “hard-liners” and “tough guys”.

…… And, the ‘tough guys’ is not a mistranslation. At least, not entirely. If anything, it doesn’t even begin to cover just how fucking gay it actually is.

In the original Japanese text, it says here that one of Kirishima’s favorite things is “Kouha” (硬派), literally “the hard school”. This was a youth subculture in the Meiji Era (1868-1912 for reference), categorized by male students who dressed in tough clothing and honored the masculine so much that they “engaged in male-male sexuality since they believed that relationships with females would feminize them and make them ‘soft’.”

Y’all. I couldn’t make this up if I tried.

So there you have it! That’s how, in Japanese culture, Kirishima might be gay-coded. This is what I know on the matter, but I am no expert, so if anyone else has additions or corrections, please feel free to leave a reply to this post!