InsaneJournal

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apathetic

We do not live in an equal society...
Dear Kyou Kara Maou! Fandom,

For the most part, I love you. It's usually easier finding readable stuff in your corner of the Pit then say, Inuyasha, Naruto and Fruits Basket fandom, however, I now have a complaint.

My pairing of choice in KKM is Yuuri/Wolfram. Now, I love read the silly stories about everyday life in the castle, which keeps the characters fairly IC, I also like the more epic stuff if it's IC.

These more epic ones tends to showcase Wolfram's feelings with Yuuri's rejections, but it seems like you forget a few crucible detail when it pertains to those rejections. You see, Yuuri doesn't reject Wolfram just because he's naïve and slightly dense.

Yuuri grew up on Earth.

I know that he has a family that's supportive of his every adventure but he still grew up on Earth. That means that he grew up in a place where headlines speak about a man being sentenced to whip-lashing because he was gang-raped by other men, of lesbians being "correctively" raped in order to "cure" them of their lesbianism, of families of homosexuals being harassed, of people getting killed because other people think they're homosexual.

A world where gay is used as an insult. A world where most countries doesn't allow homosexual marriage. A world where the majority religion's (that gets the most press) big bosses keeps saying that homosexual relationships are a sin and that homosexuals go straight to hell.

A world where the most tolerance in history for homosexual people was "sure, do it while young, just remember to marry a woman, settle down and have lots of kids. And don't talk about it".

Any wonder that Yuuri, even if he was homosexual or bisexual, would have a hard time adjusting to it being normal in any world, much less one whose culture he must learn fast enough to be an efficient ruler to boot.

So, while I appreciate your depiction of Wolfram's frustration and Gwendal's protective nature over his younger brother, there are two people you failed here.

Murata grew up on Earth. He wouldn't think that Yuuri is being indecisive and cruel. Murata knows what Earth people thinks of homosexuality.

Conrad has also been to Earth. While he might admire the fact that he saw no wars, I hardly think that he could have avoided all bad things in our culture (like the country he's visiting had a certain place named Hiroshima where a certain incident occurred). Also, this is Conrad, while he might be torn between Yuuri and Wolfram at times, I hardly think that he would be so frustrated with Yuuri as you have him be.

Also, I don't think Gwendal would threaten violence against Yuuri, or plot against him with Wolfram. And Gwendal has control of his powers, he wouldn't make the entire castle shake just because he has a disagreement with Yuuri. Neither would Yuuri go Maou on Gwendal just because of a disagreement.

Yuuri, on the other hand is not stupid. He's naïve and optimistic, but he's far from stupid. He knows that he's engaged to Wolfram, and that his time is being eaten by Maou duties, school and family. I hardly think that he would start dating someone other than Wolfram in the middle of all that.

Wolfram, if nothing else, is Yuuri's friend. Yuuri is dense sometimes, but even he would realise that dating someone else would hurt Wolfram, or at least Wolfram's pride and reputation if nothing else. I have an extremely hard time trying to even envision Yuuri dating someone else while engaged to Wolfram.

Besides, if things starts to get out of hand, I'm pretty sure that Murata would step in and explain to Wolfram about Earth prejudice (even better, Murata could bring English newspapers back from Earth for Wolfram to read). Murata would also skilfully remind Yuuri that he's engaged and shouldn't look for other people before breaking that engagement.

Also, one of the stories I read had a being (Self-Insert/Mary Sue, most probably considering her strangely modern Earth language for and ancient Shin Makoku being) that possesses people. When she possessed Wolfram and hated Yuuri, I thought "fair, she's only seeing what Wolfram remembers". Then she possesses Yuuri, sees his soul, memories and thoughts and still thinks that everything is Yuuri's fault and that Yuuri is horrible.

Excuse me. You must have missed a few things. Like Yuuri's life on Earth for example.

One of the reasons why Yuuri and Wolfram's engagement is played as a humorous culture clash in canon is because Yuuri grew up on Earth, where homosexuality isn't widely accepted.

One of the reasons why it'll never be too deeply explored is because it's running on a children's network (the anime). It's pretty damn certain that they wont go into gay politics.

But when you decided to explore it deeply, with Wolfram being hurt instead of angry, then maybe you should also look at the other side of the coin. Yuuri grew up on Earth. Earth, not even Japan, isn't very accepting of homosexual people (no matter what Gravitation, Junjou Romantica or other BL series tells you).

Yuuri has already been bullied for helping a friend. He knows that it'll be nine-thousand times worse if he comes out of any closet. Plus, his brother is to succeed Bob, who, when not Maou of Earth, happens to be an extremely successful businessman.

Think of it this way; If Donald Trump's heir's brother is seen kissing a foreign boy who might or might not be blue blood, do you think the tabloids wont react? That judgement wont be passed on Yuuri's parents? That harassment wont occur?

Not only would it be a homosexual relationship, but it would be biracial as well, and if people believes that Wolfram is a foreign noble, it would be transcending classes as well. Wanna bet about the outcome of homophobia, xenophobia and "he should know his place!"?

Lets just add that Yuuri's mother made Yuuri crossdress when he was younger. Don't you think the other kids in the playground would mimic their parents? Can't you just hear their adorable little voices? "Faggot!" "Are you gay?!" "Trannie!" "Little Princess Yuuri!"

Let me put it this way:
If you are doing a realistic/complicated take on Wolfram's feelings. You wont get a free pass on Yuuri's origins from Earth and the conflict that would arise from that. You also wont get a pass on Murata who likes Yuuri and would step in before it gets too bad. Or Conrad, who, while he might not understand everything, would try to explain to Wolfram best he can that Earth is very different from Shin Makoku.

Teal Deer Translates: Stop bashing Yuuri for behaving like his life on Earth taught him to behave. Also, Yuuri is Wolfram's friend and wouldn't betray Wolfram. Murata also wouldn't let things get out of hand, or disregard Earth culture in Yuuri's behaviour.


X-posted @ LJ