Recently, Brevard County in Florida has caught the attention of the otaku community, and in this place the manga “Sasaki to Miyano” (Sasaki and Miyano) has been on everyone’s lips, and through the respective networks of Jennifer Jenkins, a member of the school board, it was reported that the yaoi manga “Sasaki to Miyano” will be out of the district’s school libraries for its “highly inappropriate content”.
The manga “Sasaki to Miyano” may influence your orientation.
The argument attacking the popular manga “Sasaki to Miyano” is that it revolves around a relationship between two boys and that one partner being of the same sex is unacceptable. In addition, it is said that “sexual orientation should not be encouraged, suggested or implanted in young people.” Another relevant comment was that “Children would be ‘exposed to obscene, explicit and age-inappropriate content’ and that ”there is no value in making homosexual books available in school.”
Apparently, another committee member asserted that this content can influence and confuse the orientation of young people and the banning of the manga “Sasaki to Miyano” not only generated controversy for its allegedly racy content, but it was reported that the chairman of the board could not understand why a “Japanese” manga should be read from right to left.
The Florida board gave other alternatives that could be included in the library, manga titles include: To Your Eternity, Sailor Moon, A Silent Voice and even Chainsaw Man among others. So after discussion, the Boys Love manga “Sasaki to Miyano” was banned because of its explicit content and its Japanese reading format which is from right to left.
The manga of “Sasaki to Miyano” first saw the light of day online via Pixiv Comic since 2016, subsequently the series was collected in a total of ten volumes by the publisher Media Factory from October 2018 to March 2020, The work has an anime adaptation made by the animation studio Studio Deen which premiered on January 9, 2022 with 12 episodes, 1 special chapter and a movie that premiered in Japan in February 2023.
The story of “Sasaki to Miyano” has as its main character Miyano, a young man who is a lover of Boys Love manga and who has many complexes with his physique, because although he is a boy, he has delicate and even a little feminine features. On the other hand, we have Sasaki, a student older than Miyano, who one day manages to save him from a fight with some bullies.
It is from that moment on that Miyano’s love for Bl manga will take a leap in his life and as a result of that incident both characters will form a beautiful friendship that eventually may become something more, it is only necessary for both to be honest with their feelings to take the first step.
“Sasaki to Miyano” presents us with a very tender story that tells us about identity and self-acceptance, it also shows us qualities of respect, interest and determination especially coming from Sasaki’s character who is interested in Miyano and is willing to learn about the tastes and interests of the boy he likes, always being attentive and we must not forget the friends of our characters, who being aware of their relationship accept and respect it.
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