Is JJBA gay?

[Zombiethederg]

So, Im a big fan of JJBA (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure) and I constantly see people talk all the time about how the show is very gay. I recently watched a decent video essay on the topic, and I realized there is ALOT of nuance to the topic.

I am of the opinion it is sub textually in many ways, but I want to know, for any fans within this forum, what do you wall think? Is it? Is it not? Im very curious to see what you all think? (If you haven't engaged with JJBA PLEASE read or watch it pretty pleaaaase its so good)

[Memory]

The question confuses me - how can an anime be gay? Do you mean are the characters gay? I don't really understand what this means.

I watched the show a long while ago, there are a couple of explicitly gay/bi characters (DIO, Pucci, Sorbet & Gelato) but I don't think any of the characters orientations were the focal point of any of the plots to my recollection.

[bugholder's epiphany]

It's a common running joke due to the heavily masculine nature of the show and the fact that a good chunk of the characters are shown to be... well, if not directly stated to be gay or bisexual, atleast heavily implied or inferred. It doesn't necessarily mean that the show is gay, however. If anything, I think it's more of a joke people make about it.

That being said I wholeheartedly headcanon a good chunk of the characters gay.

[ThunderPerfectWitchcraft]

The show has certainly some gay undertones, and showcases some emotional charged male-male relationships. The same is, by the way, true for many other classic shonen (Legend of the galactic heroes, Fist of the North Start, Dragonball!). Doesn't make the show gay, but surely somewhat attractive for a gay audience  .

[garystu]

The show has many flamboyant male fashions, and a focus on male relationships. Its no wonder it attracts a gay audience.

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A reoccurring motif in the series is that "weird people just exist some times, and that's ok". Its usually pulled off with a supernatural twist. Its not directly a queer thing, but its a narrative with obvious appeal to a marginalised audience.

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Canonically, almost all relationships shown in the series are heterosexual. the series just doesn't do good romance, its no wonder shippers want to fill that perceived void. I'm not into shipping and I dont care if the canon romance is crap. I'm not here for a love story!! Also, the series is kind of bad towards its female characters. So misogynist its gay, many such cases in media.

[kringle]

jojo is one of my favorite shows so i've actually thought abt this a lot 

i would agree it's a bit of a stretch to go Jojo Is A Gay Show but it borrows from pop culture in the same way a lot of underground queer communities do, like how a lot of the poses are references from real fashion editorials and how some characters will be homages to pop culture icons, like prince and clint eastwood. It also has a really strong sense of camp, which is a sense of aesthetics that can often be over-extravagant, a bit strange, or have a heightened sense of reality and comedy.

the jojo fandom even had almost a sort of parallel evolution with the vouging scene with how they then tried to emulate arakis poses- which are themselves fashion editorial poses. tho obviously with jojo fans it's wayyy less developed and nuanced.


garystu is also right to point out that the actual plot-premise of jojo can have a queer reading in it of itself. the idea that there is something 'othering' about you that separates you from most people, and that only other people like you can understand it, is something that a lot of queer people can relate to. and honestly so is the idea that "stand users attract other stand users", us gay people, are usually drawn towards our fellow gays! like gaydar is real LMAO.

so i think jojo can be called a "gay show" derogatorily by people who only see flamboyant and/or feminine men, but it could be also called a "gay show" to celebrate how it can reflect and relate to the queer community.



  also as an avid shipper i can confidently say the shipping scene is not what Makes jojo gay, as discussed male on male shipping usually exists in most shounen fandoms like naruto, dragonball, and even non anime IP's like the DC and Marvel universe. but i would not call any of these properties gay the way jojo is gay. the sad truth is people who ship characters will naturally gravitate twoards ones with more in-depth writing and, statistically, that is usually the male cast.


so basically, JJBA is written with a very camp sensibility, and has things a lot of gay/queer people can appreciate and connect to, and whether or not it was intended by araki jojo's deff been a bit claimed by the gays. personally as someone with a pro-gay, pro-"make my media gayer" bias i think that's rly cool