Gay animated series

Its distinctive café setting adds a unique twist to the familiar workplace comedy premise, making it worth a watch for fans of the genre. First season villains Zoisite and Kunzite’s romantic relationship was at least kept intact, but the pretty boy Zoisite was rewritten as a female character to straighten it.

That got rectified in Seasons 3 and especially 4, in which the two became best friends and their relationship took center stage. Attending Ohtori Academy boarding school, she enters into the underground Rose Crest Duels, a sword-fighting tournament for the hand in marriage of the demure Anthy. 6' (2011)

Directed by Kenjin Nagasaki

While Kenji Nagasaki is best known for directing the anime classic My Hero Academia, a little-known anime, No 6., could be considered among his best works, and stands to be re-discovered for fans of LGBTQ anime.

As part of the so-called “yuri” subgenre of manga, Sweet Blue Flowers takes its vast material and condenses it into a 11-episode love affair that really spoke volumes, especially in the late 2000s.

Sweet Blue Flowers follows Akira Okudaira, a young girl who is walking into the scary world known as high school at the Fujugaya Girls Academy.

Set in a 23rd century where animals have mutated into intelligent talking creatures and gone to war against humans, the series from Radford Sechrist and Bill Wolkoff sees titular hero Kipo team up with a wide variety of fun, memorable characters. The romance between Adora and Catra is particularly noteworthy, culminating in the pair declaring their love and sharing a kiss in the season 1 finale.

Several queer relationships are depicted throughout Steven Universe, as are numerous genderqueer characters. “Revolutionary Girl Utena” (1997)

A dense work flush with symbolism and allegory, “Revolutionary Girl Utena” is one of anime’s most confounding and rewarding experiences.

The anime adaptation of Naoko Takeuchi’s magical girl manga featured a large amount of queer characters, but the English dub from Dic Entertainment infamously erased them all. The show isn’t by any means the first gay anime (there are three others from beforehand on this very list!), but its straight-baiting was a massive shock, and helped the series become the first queer anime in ages to really obtain mainstream prominence.

In many ways, Harley Quinn and Ivy's relationship is the healthiest depicted in the animated series. Seasons 1 and 2 barely developed the dynamic between Korra (Janet Varney) and her future beau Asami (Seychelle Gabriel), in favor of an airtime-sucking and extremely irritating love triangle between the two and their eventual mutal ex, Mako (David Faustino).

There are numerous examples of cartoons that have deftly incorporated LGBTQ+ representation. The show is smart about how it handles Todd’s evolution and eventual embrace of his identity, as the label allows him to grow into a more stable adult without ever defining him, and his eventual trials dating as an ace person leads to one of the most unambigiously happy endings any of the dysfunctional cast manages to get. 

9: “Yuri on Ice” (2016)

You just had to be there; “there” meaning on Tumblr in Fall 2016, when “Yuri on Ice” initially premiered.

Shows like She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Steven Universe, and The Dragon Prince showcase diverse families, gender identities, and sexualities, normalizing LGBTQ+ characters. While the main romantic relationship of the show is between Bertie and her adorably square boyfriend Speckle (Steven Yeun), Tuca is very much an out-and-proud bisexual bird, flitting around from romantic partners of all genders and species.

The best season of the show, Season 2, features Tuca entering a relationship with Kara (Sasheer Zamata), a seagull nurse.

Queer characters abound, from the gay dads of Willow to nonbinary coven leader Raine, but the show’s heart and soul is the bisexual Luz’s relationship with girlfriend Amity, which pushes both to become the best versions of themselves.