The history of
That includes other things like:
- Controversies.
- Social media censorship.
- Backlash.
- Prominent
anime shows. - What
anime traps are NOT.
And a ton more. The history goes back longer than most
Let’s talk about it!
What is an anime trap?
An anime trap is a crossdressing anime character found in various shows. You tend to find them in school
It’s not exclusive to crossdressing but they tend to be. And of course they’re feminine so they’re mistaken to be women.
An androgynous male is another way of describing traps in
Some romance
People confuse trap characters with trans, but that’s 99% of the time NOT what a trap character is. It’s a crossdresser or a feminine character who’s usually male.
There is no “transformation” stage where a man becomes a woman, with the exception of
Being crossdressing characters DOES allow trans fans to relate to these characters though as there are obvious similarities.
Where the history of anime traps began
It officially started with Osamu Tezuka’s
The character in this panel is a TRAP by definition, though the word was nowhere near catching on during this time in history.
The
It then continued in the year 1989. A special year for many reasons. One of those reasons is the
This
This “curse” makes it so when Ranma is splashed with water or falls into it, his gender changes, becoming a woman with red hair in particular.
You can think of it as his “other half” since this effect remains, though he can become a boy again through the same method.
You can clearly see how Ranma 1/2 is responsible for the eventual future of
This “trend” of
This police series based in Tokyo released in the 1990’s and is considered an underrated classic today.
In the
Aoi as they’re called is the definition of a TRAP. He cross-dresses as a female police officer, to the point where Aoi is referred to as a “she”.
There’s also no bias and others accept Aoi as they are. It’s not a judgmental
Rurouni Kenshin is another
The real trigger that turned “TRAP” into an internet slang term
There’s a famous scene in the STAR WARS franchise. Return Of The Jedi is the series in particular.
Admiral Ackbar, one of the characters is quoted saying “IT’S A TRAP” when discovering and reacting to an ambush by an enemy fleet.
The year was 2004.
This reaction meme obviously blew up so big that eventual sites like 4Chan, the back alley site of the internet started to share the image in relation to
That lead to the word TRAP being used in the
Social media eventually played a role in pushing that to another level after forums did the initial groundwork of blowing it up.
Anime TRAPS in the 2000’s
As the year 2000’s kicked off, some prominent traps were highlighted. One of them being Ritsu Sohma from Fruits Basket (2001).
This
She’s adopted by the Sohma family, a family of men who turn into an animal from the Chinese zodiac after being “hugged” by the opposite sex.
But this wasn’t as famous as other traps at the time.
One truly famous
During the first season of
This is because of how Haku dresses, and Haku’s long hair as well. And his feminine looks overall.
During one scene
These moments are what those words relate to.
The controversy of anime traps
At some point down the line, more so in the late 2000’s, the word “TRAP” was claimed to be a slur by the WOKE crowd on Reddit.
It’s more accurate to say the WOKE moderators of the now deleted subreddit relating to anime traps.
A site called Anilist made a similar copycat move after Reddit’s announcement.
In the era of trying to “policing” certain words that have no correlation with being derogatory or negative, “trap” is considered controversial by a loud minority who’s known for cancelling anything they don’t like, and drawing attention to things that are nonsensical.
Are Traps Gay?
This is a common question in the
Some
My take on it it is yes, Traps are VERY gay. And they’re definitely bisexual if you wanna take it even further.
What I mean by that is if a straight guy finds traps attractive (Men who are feminine or cross-dress), that either implies you’re gay or you’re bisexual.
Otherwise the attraction wouldn’t make any sense since you’re intellectually aware it’s a man crossdressing, but with feminine characteristics.
But that’s just me.
The trend of anime traps
Since 2004, the trend of
That means more and more people are using the word “anime trap” more often, they’re searching for it more often, and more fans are being exposed to the definition.
Not to mention more fans are curious as to what it means, which characters are traps, and things relating to the term in general.
And believe it or not, but the TOP 5 COUNTRIES who search for anime traps are:
- Philippines.
- Vietnam.
- Indonesia.
- Malaysia.
- Singapore.
That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re the most attracted to traps, but it means they do search for it the most.
It’s not too surprising considering these countries are also MASSIVE hubs for
They’re fanatical.
The future of anime trapp’n
As it stands the trend of
Aside from that, traps have also become favorite characters for many
More crossdressing characters will show up, and potentially
SOURCES:
- Google Trends.
- Know Your Meme.
- Wikia.
- Reddit.
- YouTube.
- Wikipedia.
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