Yeah, but I referenced Lapidot for a reason. It wasn't a "crack pairing" by any stretch; the two characters (Lapis Lazuli + Peridot) did have a very close and special on-screen relationship that a lot of Steven Universe fans interpreted as romantic but ultimately was not, despite signs being there. While I doubt we will ever get the same type of clarity in terms of an official statement with the Black Moon Brothers, one can't assume romance is involved unless it is demonstrated.
If only Ikuhara had a Twitter so we could go straight to the source himself and ask what his true intentions were lol.
That can be the case (much like having a "special friend" in the US can mean), but isn't necessarily the case. There is at the same time also a growing trend to treat any "bromance" as a an actual romance and a devaluing of genuine same-gender friendship and non-romantic relationships in favor of romantic ones. People have overcorrected from "why can't they just be friends?" to "there is no way she's 'just a friend.'
Close opposite sex relationships get it even worse I would argue as there’s still a certain subset of the population that believes that men and women can’t
REALLY be “just friends.”
There’s still way more heteronormativity than there is “homonormativity.”
Look at
Inuyasha’s Sesshomaru and Rin, they were completely platonic companions in the original, had less hints/subtext between them than 90’s Demande & Saphir ever had, yet come the sequel Yashahime they’re suddenly now a couple. Why? I can only think the reason being because they were two close friends of the opposite sex so of
course it has to inevitably lead to romance in the future! /s Heteronormativity at it’s finest.
You’ll still never see a gay ship be so quickly confirmed and openly made canon in comparison, even when the straight ship is still far more of a leap.
Plus, if Ikuhara did inject same-gender romance into it, then it's just that - an injection of something that shouldn't be there. Didn't Saphir compare his love for his brother to Petz and her love for her sisters? That would indicate there is a blood relation unless you think all of the sisters are just sworn-sisters.
If you want to interpret Saphir and loving Demande in a romantic way, that's your choice, but I don't believe it's there.
No, the bond between all the Ayakashi sisters is definitely just sisterly,
(Though even they may not be blood related as they also look too vastly different from each other to be full-blooded siblings, each has different elemental powers too) I wouldn’t take the comparison Saphir was trying to make so seriously, it was obvious he was just trying to get her to understand so used an analogy that would be appropriate. Your opinion is totally valid ^^ I just believe there’s more than enough ample subtext there to be read between the lines.
Another thing I noticed that might be a delivery pattern. Each season of the 90’s anime seems to feature at least 1 gay character and/or couple. Classic has Zoicite & Kunzite, SuperS has Fish-Eye and Stars has Lead Crow & Siren. S admittedly doesn’t have any queer characters in it’s villain roster, but Haruka and Michiru are still the primary focus of the season so I believe it still counts.
Considering this pattern of each season featuring at least one prominently gay character it’s actually much more likely that Saphir’s feelings for Demande
are meant to be interpreted as romantic, because if not R would be the one odd season out that doesn’t feature any queer characters and that doesn’t seem likely considering there’s a clear pattern the anime has established. I suppose you could point to Fiore but I’m not sure he counts considering the movies aren’t really canon and don’t fit properly into the continuity so I’m more inclined to count Saphir as the season’s designated “gay representation.”
