[ANIME] South Park goes yaoi in special Japanese anime-themed episode

It’s a fast rising subculture in Japan, and it has certainly made its way to other countries as well. We’re talking about Japan’s fast-growing and yaoi-loving fujoshi subculture, which has influenced so many people around the world, including a certain controversial long-running American animated series known as South Park.

In the episode titled “Tweek x Craig,” South park, known for tackling various issues, took a look at the world of Boys’ Love as the children of South Park Elementary School gather to promote awareness for the matter.

Well yeah, they pronounced it as “Yowee,” but student council president, Wendy, tried her best to promote it. In her speech, she described Yaoi as:

“…a blend of emotion and beauty, involving two people whose love is looked down upon. The art tries to show that all love is magical.”

The yaoi awareness drive is actually part of the town’s push to become more socially accepting of other people like homosexuals, and the two people used in the artworks are actual South park characters, blond-haired Tweek and permanently hat-wearing Craig.

When the yaoi fanarts of Tweek and Craig were shown in front of the entire school, everybody showed their support for the relationship, however, the only problem is that the two of them weren’t gay at all. Soon, the town was in Tweek x Craig hysteria and artworks featuring the two were found everywhere. Let’s just say that the issue was blown up in typical and controversial South Park fashion.

And as this yaoi fever hits South Park, Stan has been led to ask one very important question:

“What makes the Asians decide who they’re gonna make gay?”

After consulting his father, they come to this misguided conclusion:

“Japan, of course, is who does the yaoi to make people gay.”

“I used to think that being gay was a choice, but you don’t get to decide. Japan picks who they pick and that’s that.”

Remember everyone, this is South Park where anything goes. Most affected by these events are of course, Tweek and Craig, who decided to “break up” (even if they were not in a relationship in the first place) to stop having themselves labeled as gay and stop all the artworks. That plan however did not go over too well.

Some yaoi fans actually treat these kinds of things as welcome signs that the gay relationship between two people are actually budding, and that hate and love are just two sides of the same coin. However, the gloom of the “break-up” seems to affected the rest of the town, most noticeable in some of the actual couples.

According to Rocketnews’ Casey Baseel,

The episode never really picks a side in the debate over whether yaoi art is a positive form of expressive entertainment or the result of obsessive delusion. Instead, in typical South Park fashion, it drops jokes on both sides of the issue, making comedy its first priority and social commentary a distant second. Still, it’s clear the show’s producers have an appreciation for the subject matter, as evidenced by the wide variety of art styles on display.

Well, it is South Park and all, right?

Source: Rocket News 24