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My thoughts on shounen-ai and Gundam Wing.A lot of people are against yaoi because of the obvious unwritten law "boys fall in love with girls, not with other boys." Fortunately lots of GW yaoi can be found, but many Gundam fans are against it, especially males. What else are going to do when you have 5 bishounen teenage pilots who almost completely ignore the few females in the series? Not to mention the obvious chesmistry between some of them. As I see it, in the GW TV series these relationships are possible but never actually explored, as there are difficulties (i.e. Relena) in the way. Fanfics are not always true to form as meny take place in alternate universes or completely ignoring an event that actually took place in the series. Quite a few fics stray very far from the original characteristics of the cast, and since many aspects of the pilots were not fully explored in the series, much is left to the imagination.
You can also note that two of the boys usually found in these pairings--Quatre and Duo--are mysteries in themselves. Quatre is very feminine--and with reason, as he is the only male in a family of 29 sisters--and is often targeted as being the "gay, compassionate one," but when he is placed in a relationship with Trowa the homophobic fanboys go insane. Duo's feminine good-looks and his long chestnut hair automatically target him, despite his very masculine appearance from the neck down. Duo is also very friendly, with the other pilots but especially Heero, but (other than Quatre) he's barely met the others anyway. Duo's a kid at heart that needs attention, and he likes to bug Heero to get it. There is also some evidence in the series that he is thinking of Heero and wondering when he'll see him again.
What is it that's so interesting about a relationships between these five pilots? I don't know if anybody knows. It's surprising in itself to find a show where there is so little female interaction, and doubly lucky to see friendships as deep as the ones hinted at in GW. I don't know. Maybe it's the bishounen, maybe it's the way they look at one another, maybe it's just because it feels so much more right than Heero eloping with Relena.
As if that's ever going to happen.