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Red roses are widely known as a symbol of romance, but they can also refer to romance between gay men. As CBR explains, Japan is home to a whole manga genre, written by and for gay and bi men, called Bara (薔薇, literally meaning "rose"). This contrasts with a better-known genre, Yaoi, which is aimed at a female audience.

The link between gay men and roses in Japan dates back to the 1960s, according to the book "Homosexuality and Manliness in Postwar Japan," and was started by a collection of homoerotic photography called Bara Kei, loosely translated as "Ordeal of the Roses." This association led to the creation of a magazine for gay men, called Barazoku (via John Coulthart). Meaning "Rose Tribe," the magazine ran from 1971 to 2008, publishing over 400 issues. Seemingly, these artistic efforts were made to reclaim the word rose, which was originally used as a pejorative for gay men in Japan.

Knowing all of this, it becomes a lot more noticeable that male characters in anime who're implied to be gay are sometimes shown holding a rose. Perhaps the most prominent example comes from Pokémon and the villainous duo from Team Rocket. Known in English as Jessie and James, they carry a lot of queer subtext with them and, as Gay Star News points out, James is heavily implied to be gay. He's also frequently shown holding a single red rose – something which The Gamer notes is a large part of his identity.

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