The Anime States that Guys can Be Princesses. Do You Agree?

The Japanese anime genre Magical girl (aka mahō shōjo) includes such shows as Sailor Moon  with girls and maidens represented as super heroines. It is particularly popular among LGBTQ+ fans.

And now such fans have another reason to be happy. A recent episode Hugtto! PreCure, which is a part of the popular franchise Pretty Cure, contained a scene, where the show heroines support a boy, who is fond of cross-dressing.

A recent episode under the title ‘How Exciting! A Flash Debut on the Podium!?’ presents a schoolboy Henri, who is fond of wearing dresses. He invites the main heroines to take part in a fashion show with super heroes. One of Henry’s classmates Masato insists that only guys can be heroes and mocks at Henry for cross-dressing.

However, Henry objects to Masato, saying ‘I dress the way I want. It is the waste of time… and life to impose restrictions on your heart’.

It is not the only statement of this kind in the episode. When the main monster of the series comes, it catches Henry, when he is still wearing a dress. A team of Pretty Cure girls come to his aid. ‘Hey wait, am I a princess in this situation?’ he wonders.

One of the heroines Nono Hana responded to him, saying: ‘Everything is alright! Guys can be princesses, too!’

It is not for the first time, when PreCure franchise expressed support to LGBTQ+. Two heroines were in love in the previous series KiraKira PreCure a la Mode. One of them was presented as a transgender person.

Although the very presentation of LGBTQ in a children’s show has a tremendous effect, the episode ‘Guys Can Also Be Princesses’ from Huggto! PreCure had another immediate consequence. Ike no Taira hotel proposes topical rooms for children in the Pretty Cure style. Initially, they used to be promoted as rooms for girls. And Kamen Rider used to be presented as rooms for boys.

However, the hotel stopped promoting Pretty Cure rooms as rooms for girls in a couple of days after the episode presentation, referring to negative notes from their clients. Also, they offered their deepest apologies to the offended clientele for the one-gender promotion of the Pretty Cure rooms and promised to stop the practice immediately.