Arama They Didn't

My interest, personally, isn't in that they should be one thing or another, I just wanted them to be happy. :)

So the things that worried me -- they actually did not stop cross-dressing when they find their princess, in the manga, so it's suggested that perhaps they do this normally. When they find Kakyuu and put on their clothes from home, it's men's clothes, and their figures are still drawn in a triangular shape without curves. You can also check the notes about them in the Materials Collection Art Book, which suggest cross-dressing may be a normal interest of Taiki ("Taiki is 200% Takarazuka!" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takarazuka_Revue), and also makes a comment sounding like Yaten is uncomfortable with femininity. Maybe I'm mis-remembering but I think Seiya uses "ore" even in female form as Fighter, and the same in the manga... which is way more masculine than anyone would need to say, if they didn't want to. They're also still attracted to women. So, you can see why I'd get worried about them, if I'm checking them for signs that they have survived the gender switch emotionally ok, right? ::shrug:: Maybe Naoko has in mind they'd actually be emotionally ok, and just thought it would be cute to make them "be men", but I actually could not tell. So of course, I was worried for them, as the context here is that they're deities which are specifically spiritually male, and seen as inherently masculine in the same way you would consider Venus as inherently feminine... (like if she made Venus be born male, and Venus kept wearing women's clothes I wouldn't necessarily assume it's just a joke, you know? If that happened, I'd feel much better about her emotional health to hear it confirmed that the change was ok, if that makes any sense.)


"I actually think the anime changes were done more to avoid controversy than to show them respect. Seiya and Usagi have a semi-romantic relationship, and in the 1990s a woman who dresses as a man falling in love with another woman wasn't exactly easily accepted."

That's a good point. I think they know the preference of those deities, but it also could be the case they didn't want to deal with the social ramifications of drawing two females? They did already have Haruka and Michiru drawn that way, so I guess they have shown they *were* willing to film it, but, it is possible they were getting hate mail or something, I have no idea.