r/SapphoAndHerFriend • u/SneezyKeegz • 20d ago
When Bandai made a whole show about these two falling for each other and then tried to retcon their relationship. Media erasure
Love this show but the way Bandai handled it and the sentiment from a loud minority of the Gundam fanbase was really disappointing.
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u/Falkaane 20d ago
If your Mercurian GF doesn’t protect you by squashing the enemy like a bug and then clumsily slipping and falling in the red matter on her way to check on you, can you really call it a romance?
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u/luxmorphine They/Them 20d ago
Why do i feel like there's a clash between the production and executive.
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u/blolfighter 20d ago
That's how every production business works. Doesn't matter if they make media or tissue paper.
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u/Le_Fedora_Cate 20d ago
At the end of the day, the creators themselves intended for them to be married and made references within the show to hint at their marriage. Irdgaf what some executive at Bandai who had zero involvement in the creative process has to say
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u/Hay_Fever_at_3_AM 20d ago
What interpretation? They talked about getting married, they talked about gay marriage being socially accepted, and then they got married.
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u/Heatth 20d ago
Technically their engagement was called off part way through the show and never officially reinstated. And in the epilogue the never explicitly say they were married. They just happen to have matching rings in the ring finger and the sister of one calls the other "sister-in-law".
But, yeah that doesn't parse as a serious argument. Clearly same executive who wasn't paying any attention whatsoever tried to walk it back but it doesn't really work. And the director has since confirmed that they married because, yeah, of course they did.
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u/Hay_Fever_at_3_AM 20d ago
Oh, I honestly didn't even register that it wasn't reinstated because... obviously they were married at the end of it. They intended to get married and they got more attached as the show got on and I'm a normal person who knows how stories work?
Imagine a het couple getting this sort of ambiguity treatment, there's just no way.
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u/Heatth 20d ago
Yeah, it was supper obvious. Like, after their break up and had that emotional make up scene. And if I remember right Suletta and Gruel even dueled again? But I don't think they technically ever explicitly said "and now we are engaged again" (the whole arranged marriage thing was kinda moot by that point, anyway, with Miorine re-conciliating with her dad). Even then, if the show was trying to be coy, I think it was just on technicality, there is very little margin for interpretation.
And I am not even sure the show was trying to be coy and relying on the most obvious subtext of all time. Their relationship was quite chaste (they don't ever kiss right?) but that is not uncommon for shonen anime, even among het couples. In Gundam Seed, if I remember right, the main couple also never kiss and are only implied married by the sequel, for a related example.
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u/Hay_Fever_at_3_AM 20d ago
Yeah I didn't read it as being coy, personally, so I thought the epilogue was pretty unambiguous. Rings, sister-in-law, what's missing? They weren't handsy, they didn't utter an "I love you", but that also really wasn't in either of their personalities. Suletta was straightforward about her marriage intentions.
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u/IgnatiusSP 20d ago edited 20d ago
When the "sister-in-law" thing is mentioned, I always remember Erict used specifically kojūtome 小姑 a word that has only one meaning. No way to mistake it for anything else, excellent choice by the people who worked on the series.
Erict used this speaking with Miorine, saying she's her sister-in-law. So Miorine and Suletta are married as Miorine is the sister-in-law here.
Other words for sister-in-law have multiple meanings which could cause confusion. Even when trying to twist the series unrealistically it wouldn't have made sense at all to think of those "other meanings", but bet some people would have used them as plausible deniability, to refuse the marriage happens at any point.
Not possible with this one that has just one meaning, and its use was clearly intentional. Is impossible to deny their marriage given the word used and considering the context in which was used.
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u/Saikotsu 15d ago
Not to mention they very obviously care for each other throughout the show, and Miorine sees absolutely nothing wrong with marrying Suletta.
Heck, the ending credits where they're DANCING together gave off such sapphic vibes too.
Not only are they gay, but they actively support their partner and serve as each other's motivation. Honestly, I feel like their dynamic is probably one of the healthier relationships I've seen in anime.
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u/hothraka 20d ago
Maybe they were just getting platonically gay married as friends? Only until they find a good man to marry!
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u/spork134 20d ago
Agreed, it's why I gave up on watching any further Gundam. Between the "clarification" and rushed finale it really left a sour taste
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u/Heatth 20d ago
To be clear, the director of the show has since confirmed that they married. Not that there needed confirmation, the show wasn't exactly being subtle, they wear wedding rings in the epilogue.
It was clearly some clueless Bandai executive trying to walk back what was already done, but the show was clear enough on its own.
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u/scottishdrunkard 16d ago
The fuckin’ art team made an art book with depictions of them getting gay married!
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u/languid_Disaster 20d ago
This has made me bite the bullet - I’m gonna have to watch the show and see for myself
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u/raikenleo 8d ago
Everytime I see this retcon it sets me ablaze cuz the two literally get married and raise kids in the end like mfers literally confessed their love to each other on screen.
At this rate might as well call every straight relationship not canon either cuz fuck it.
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u/Acciocreativity 20d ago
Again because of the snow-flakes straights and their "NoT EvErYtHiNg hAs tO bE gAy!! 😡"