Danica Davidson
September 3, 2024 
Sasaki and Miyano volume 1, a BL manga rated Teen, has been banned by the Brevard County Public Schools Board in Florida in a 3-2 vote, though the committee recommended keeping it. Reasons given for this ban include the fact it’s a love story with a gay couple — and because it reads right to left.
A complaint filed against Sasaki and Miyano referred it to as pornography (though if that were the case, it would have been rated Mature or 18+, not Teen). The complaint says, “I object to the entire series of Sasaki and Miyano because sexual orientation should not be encouraged, suggested, or implanted in our youth.” The complaint proposed more appropriate titles, including Chainsaw Man, To Your Eternity, The Seven Deadly Sins, and Sailor Moon. This includes some ironies, like the fact that there’s a prominent gay couple in Sailor Moon.
The complaint further called the manga “obscene” (which it spelled wrong) and said that it and books like it can lead to “compulsive masturbation.”
Here is a video of the whole board meeting. The part about Sasaki and Miyano starts at 47:21 minutes into the meeting. Shortly thereafter board member Megan Wright complains about the book reading right to left after calling the characters’ relationship inappropriate. “You start the book, you read it backwards, you read it. . . I mean, literally, when you start reading a book, which we’ve been teaching our kids from day one, you start at the beginning and you read from left to right, bottom to top,” said Wright. “Not that book you don’t. And so, it’s just to me, I’m going Nope.”
Book bans are up across the country, and sometimes that includes banning manga titles.
Yen Press publishes Sasaki and Miyano and gave this description for its plot:
It all started like a typical old-school boys’ love plotline-bad-boy senior meets adorably awkward underclassman, one of them falls in love, and so on and so forth. But although Miyano is a self-proclaimed boys’ love expert, he hasn’t quite realized…he’s in one himself. Which means it’s up to Sasaki to make sure their story has a happily ever after…!
Source: Tokyo Weekender, Brevard Public Schools YouTube
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, and its sequel, Manga Art for Intermediates, with professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
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