fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2595 ]

[ SECRET POST #2595 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2595 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 04 pages, 078 secrets from Secret Submission Post #371.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

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Isayama got fanmail asking about Hange's gender, his reply was "if you can't figure it out yourself, I won't even bother telling you" (= peeved that his drawings didn't make her gender clear enough. Fandom took this comment to mean Hange is trans/agender/genderqueer/whatever and some people went apeshit with it

You forgot the part where Isayama instructed the publishers to not use any gendered pronouns for Hanji, because he wants people to see Hanji as an individual with their/her/his own unique personality, not a representative of any gender.

I have no idea why is everyone so hell-bent on forgetting this.

Yeah, that's not what he said at all.

Here's the comment he posted on his blog:
この質問を受けてそのキャラの性別は明言しない方がよさそうだと確信ましたｗ

Here's the actual translation:
"After receiving this question, I've decided it'd be better not to declare this character's gender lol"

He's basically giving everyone the leeway to believe what they want.

no that still sounds like "if you have to ask, you'll never know"
I'd be pissed if a character I was trying to draw as female had people asking me what sex she was too.

Okay, well, at least I corrected the misinformation you were providing so that everyone may come to their own conclusions.

No. He said the same thing about Armin. If you honestly believe that Armin is supposed to be a girl/agender/whatever, then you need help. The guy is making fun of the stupid fans.

YES this, why everyone forgetting this?

Could someone link me to where Isayama says that?

Wasn't that just him getting annoyed at someone and telling them to think what they wanted?

I don't know. Is that what it sounds like to you? A fan asked about Hange's gender, and that's the answer he gave. No more, no less.

Here's the post. It's a little above the last embedded video where he says that:
http://blog.livedoor.jp/isayamahazime/archives/4388712.html

So, unless he said something else elsewhere, I'm pretty sure people are just fabricating their own beliefs on Isayama's motivations and intentions regarding the matter.

Ah. Well that sounds like the kind of dickish comment Isayama is capable of making.
To be honest, I don't really know what his position is on the perceived gender of his characters. I thought he also made a comment, in response people thinking that Armin was a girl, that if you wanted to see Armin as girl it was the your choice, and the gender of his characters doesn't really matter.
But at the end of the day, I don't think he intentionally made any of his characters agender, so in a sense you could say he is 'baiting' the fans that want to see more non-binary gender representation. But I also doubt he is aware that he has a fanbase that is looking for this representation, and is purposely doing things to "laugh" at them. So not sure if I'd really hold Hajime Isayama up to this one

I doubt that Japan has an equivalent of Tumblr (thanks God). Tumblr is one of the few places with people obsessed with these things, I'm sure no one in Japanese fandom cares about agender representation.

2chan, maybe?

But seriously, Japan is so behind with gender/sexuality issues, I doubt most people even know what agender is, so I can't see it being a big fan issue.

Interestingly enough, I have seen quite a bit of fanart for Hanji on pixiv that has portrayed her as trans or agender.

yea it's so weird they don't even know what agender is when most people in the west are totally caught up with all that. it's almost like japan is in a whole different country or something lol

when most people in the west are totally caught up with all that. it

You actually believe that?

(no subject)

republicanism - 2014-02-10 01:01 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2014-02-10 01:37 (UTC) - Expand

Wait did he really say that about Armin too? Because that's absolutely hilarious.

I'm swear I read that on Tv Tropes, so take from that what you will. (Aka, who knows if that's what Isayama said or not, or if I'm even remembering correctly)

Wait, I found the actual quote
http://ouranghostclub.tumblr.com/post/74237004097/hajime-isayama-on-a-question-of-nanabas-gender

(...So either he actually supports differing interpretations of the gender of his characters, or he's just sick of people asking what gender his characters are.)

Lol, this is great. Can Pixis being a girl be the next Thing?

(no subject)

applemagpie - 2014-02-10 07:44 (UTC) - Expand

Non-binary gender isn't really a concept that exists in Japan. Everyone who has decided that his remarks mean that Hange or Armin must be non-binary are projecting a Western viewpoint onto what was pretty obviously a dig at his fans who couldn't tell whether he was drawing a man or a woman.

it's not really a western thing either, outside of pretty niche communities

bullshit. it's always been a part of japanese culture and society. it just doesn't take the same form as in the streamlined anglo-american gender-discourse. Sadly, people tend to confuse that with it being nonexistent, and keep up their teleological idea of "progressive" gender interpretations, which is really just exporting a white, anglo american cultural concept to everywhere in the world.
I live in a european country, I've always been "boyish" and I'm really annoyed how american gender discourse messes up our local interpretations of what you are, when you are somewhere on some sort of genderscale. It's not like the UK or US are the best place to be evah for non-binary people, so how come they get to preach? right, because their discourse dominates academia. See? Dominates. We're the poor subalterns. I'll shut up now.

uh, citations please, because i have lived in japan and worked with japanese people for years and have yet to hear anything about non-binary gender come up.

hell, lgbt stuff is still kept mostly under wraps. it's not persecuted per se, but it's still viewed as something outside the norm and therefore something to be hushed and ignored. the majority of people just turn a blind eye to it and act like it doesn't exist and if you ARE gay you definitely don't admit to it openly.

unless you're confusing okama and okama culture for being some sort of gender thing rather than just that: a culture. their use of lavender linguistics is a cultural thing rather than something indicative of gender identity.

I bet you got your facts from Tumblr.

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