Rhetorical Empathy and Queer Affect in the Fandom of Anime and Manga

Anime and manga have gained global prominence and foster strong parasocial bonds betweenviewers and characters. Yet an intriguing paradox was noticed in the fandom of One Piece: au-diences with queer-phobic views sometimes express intense affection for a queer-coded character.This study examines that contradiction through a qualitative analysis of 116 public commentsacross four Instagram reels featuring Bon Clay (Mr. 2) from One Piece, an ‘Okama’ (a Japanesetrope of flamboyant gender nonconformity) whose arc is comedic, transgressive, and profoundlyheroic. We identified a central pattern of queer exceptionalism, which is the conditional acceptanceof one queer-coded character while rejecting queer identities in general, supported by four sub-themes: Exclusivity, Earned Respect, Dissonant Affection, and Rejecting Queerness. We draw onparasocial relationship theory, cognitive/vicarious dissonance, and rhetorical theory, and proposea phenomenon called Rhetorical Empathy: a mechanism in serialized storytelling where sustainedexposure to prosocial story beats cultivates emotional attachment and temporarily contains under-lying prejudice. We discuss implications for anime/manga studies, queer media representation andoutline limitations and future directions to advocate acceptance and empathy.