There are great Queer anime shows and movies about LGBTQ people and what it’s like to be queer.
One of the best things about anime is that it tells different kinds of stories.
Do you want to watch a fantasy show?
You can read a story.
Ninja?
You, too.
Who kills demons?
Yup. Not into action or scary stories?
Don’t be afraid.
There are shows about high school volleyball teams, people who move to another world, and people who fall in love at work.
It’s not too much of a stretch to say that there’s an anime for everyone, no matter what they like.
There is a lot of anime about LBGTQ people and the gay experience. This is because there are so many different kinds of stories.
To be clear, anime has more than its fair share of problematic depictions, like cross-dressing tropes that aren’t questioned, homophobia and transphobia that isn’t questioned, and comedy that makes fun of a gay character.
But these things don’t just happen in anime, which is a shame.
Even with these problems, anime has some great shows that look at the LGBTQ experience in different settings and styles.
Updated June 19, 2024, by Shagun Singh: In line with Pride Month, the Spring 2024 season features a handful of anime that subtly explore LGBTQ+ themes.
Here Are Some Of The Best Queer Anime
16. Welcome Home
Coming to screens in the Spring 2024 season, Welcome Home is set to be a delightful introduction to the captivating Omegaverse.
This manga-driven collective takes place in a unique universe that explores the concept of gender classes.
There are different classifications for humans, such as Alphas and Omegas.
Alphas have the ability to impregnate both men and women, while Omegas can become pregnant regardless of their gender.
The concept embraces the fluidity of gender, while also providing a platform to delve into the important themes of discrimination, prejudice, and acceptance.
15. Paradise Kiss
When their book came out in the Winter 2022 season, Sasaki and Miyano took the boys love field by storm.
The show is about a gay relationship that is growing, but it is also about how much boys love manga.
Pretty meta, right?
Even by non-queer measures, most people think it’s a perfectly done romance.
When you watch this, you should be ready for some real chemistry.
14. Sasaki And Miyano
When their book came out in the Winter 2022 season, Sasaki and Miyano took the boys love field by storm.
The show is about a gay relationship that is growing, but it is also about how much boys love manga.
Pretty meta, right?
Even by non-queer measures, most people think it’s a perfectly done romance.
When you watch this, you should be ready for some real chemistry.
13. Tomo-Chan Is A Girl!
Even though Tomo-Chan Is A Girl! is mostly about a straight couple, no one can deny that Tomo is a thirst trap for both men and women.
Even girls who seem to be straight can’t help but like this wild redhead. If Tomo ever decides to try some new things, Jun could have a lot of company.
Shane from The L-Word is famous for making people question their sexuality, and Tomo does the same thing without meaning to.
As a result, she attracts a lot of fangirls and boys without even knowing it.
Her scene with Prince Charming is the best of the best and gives Tomo a much-needed confidence boost.
Being loved for not fitting into gender stereotypes pushes her over the edge into self-acceptance.
This is a beautiful story about how meaningless many gender-based social norms are.
12. Carole & Tuesday
This Netflix original anime focuses on music and is a bittersweet step forward for the Queer anime community.
Even though the show has one of the largest groups of LGBTQ characters in a single anime story, many of the bad guys are not straight.
Some people might find this insulting, but a few bad apples shouldn’t ruin the bunch!
Desmond, Flora, and Dahlia are (to a certain extent) more respectable newcomers to the group, and they are all praised for what they’ve done to help Carole and Tuesday do well.
Desmond is a great example of how gender can change over time.
Even if his experience was caused by the radiation in the air on Mars messing with his hormones, the famous singer-songwriter loves and accepts themselves fully. Desmond says it very well:
“Did you know that embryos don’t have a gender?
That’s why I feel like I’ve returned to my original form.”
11. Heavenly Delusion
Heavenly Delusion, which comes out in the spring of 2023, plays around a lot with the idea of gender, to the point where watchers never know for sure what gender any of the characters are.
But what’s more important is that these differences don’t seem to matter, and people who have a big “gender-reveal” moment don’t suddenly change their personalities to fit with what stereotypes say they should be like.
Kiruko and Tokio are the first to drop bombshells, showing that you can’t judge a book by its cover.
Maru’s response to the fact that he has a crush on a boy is sweet and heartwarming, even if it is sometimes a little creepy.
He won’t let go of his feelings for Kiruko, no matter what she is. The Nursery, on the other hand, has its own goal to hide the truth.
It will be interesting to see how the kids’ ambiguity affects their sexual orientations once their hormones start to kick in, since figuring out who they are as people is more important than finding a “gender-appropriate” mate.
10. Yuri on Ice
Yuri on Ice is one of the shows that got Studio MAPPA to where it is now. It takes us into the world of figure skating at the top level.
It’s about a struggling Japanese skater named Yuri Katsuki and a bored Russian skater named Victor Nikiforov, who agrees to be Yuri’s guide because he’s bored.
Even though the sport and societies of the two main characters are known for being homophobic in real life, Yuri on Ice makes sure that none of that is in the story.
With a movie coming out at some point in the future, if you haven’t seen this beautiful series yet, now is the time.
9. Bloom into You
In this love story set in high school, two girls meet by chance when they both say no to romantic confessions from male friends.
When Touko, the older girl, tells Yuu, the younger girl, that she likes her, it changes their new friendship in a surprising way.
Even though Yuu doesn’t feel the same way, their friendship grows when Touko asks Yuu to help her run for student council president and when they later work together on a school play.
Even though the original manga is more clear about the girls’ happy ending, the anime is still a realistic look at how teens learn to accept themselves and how their feelings change.
8. No. 6
In the beginning of No. 6, we meet Shion, a rich boy with a bright and hopeful future. But since this is a bleak story, that doesn’t last for long.
Shion helps a boy named Nezumi one night. Nezumi is an enemy of the state, so Shion is punished by being kicked out of the top social group because he was kind to Nezumi.
A few years later, the boys meet up again, and when they do, they find out about a huge government plot. No. 6 is the show for you if you like queer themes and crazy sci-fi stories.
7. Wandering Son
Even though there aren’t a lot of anime shows about trans people yet, Wandering Son does a great job of making up for that.
The show is about Shuichi and Yoshino, two kids who meet in fifth grade and become friends.
Shuichi is a transgender girl, and Yoshino is a transgender boy.
Wandering Son follows the two friends from elementary school to high school, showing how their gender identities change over time.
6. Revolutionary Girl Utena
Revolutionary Girl Utena, one of the most popular anime shows of the 1990s, was a crazy ride. It looked at self-identity and gender roles in the context of secret duels at a top school.
Revolutionary Girl Utena was the anime of choice for many queer feminist girls, and for good reason: the idea of a princess who would rather be a prince and save herself than be saved resonated then and still does now.
Because of this and other things, Utena has influenced some of the most popular anime shows on TV today, like Steven Universe and the new She-ra: Princess of Power.
5. Doukyuusei: Classmates
Casual anime fans may want a break from the intense stories and long-running shows that are common in the format.
Some diehard anime fans might as well!
Doukyuusei is a movie about how two high school boys who fall in love are honest and caring about each other.
All done. That’s what happened. It’s a good one, too.
4. Given
Given looks at love in high school in a different way. Ritsuka wants to be a singer, but he doesn’t enjoy playing the guitar like he used to.
And any creative person will tell you that losing your passion for what you love most can make life seem boring and uninteresting.
He’s lucky that he meets the quiet Mafuyu and hears the beautiful singing voice of the other boy.
Everyone who likes music should watch the show, even if just to look at the episode names and the songs they talk about.
In a movie that comes after the first one, Haruki and Akihiko’s complicated friendship is shown.
3. Land of the Lustrous
In Land of the Lustrous, which is set in the far future, we meet the Lustrous, who are a race of crystalline lifeforms.
They are always at war with the Lunarians, an enemy race that likes to take the bodies of the Lustrous.
Don’t forget, they are real gems. It’s not great.
The anime stays true to what the book was trying to do, and the Lustrous are referred to with the pronouns they and them on purpose.
After all, what would a solid lifeform’s gender look like?
They would have nothing in common with Western ideas of gender, that’s for sure.
2. Princess Knight
Princess Knight is a show for people who like old-school anime. It is based on a manga by the famous Osamu Tezuka.
The story is about a girl named Sapphire who has “the blue heart of a boy and the pink heart of a girl.”
When the manga was first released in the 1950s, the idea of switching genders was very new, even if some parts of it are now out of date.
Without Princess Knight, famous shows like The Rose of Versailles and Revolutionary Girl Utena would not have come out.
1. The Stranger by the Shore
Even though this movie won’t be on FUNimation until next month, the plot is openly gay and will be known to many LGBTQ people.
After Shun’s family found out that he was gay, they cut him off.
When he meets Mio, who just lost her parents, he has to deal with his past in order to move on and look forward to his future.
