In the 2020s, LGBTQ representation in animated series and animated films became more pronounced than it had in the 2010s, or 2000s when it came to Western animation. This included series like The Owl House, Harley Quinn, Adventure Time: Distant Lands, RWBY, and Dead End: Paranormal Park. Series like She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Steven Universe Future, The Hollow, and Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, which had various LGBTQ characters, came to an end in 2020, and Gen:Lock came to an end in 2021. An upcoming season of Hazbin Hotel was hinted at, while an animated adaption of Lumberjanes was in development.
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In 2020–2021 GLAAD report, DuckTales was described as featuring two dads in an episode, with some episodes centering on "an alien named Penumbra" who the episodes' director and writer confirmed as a lesbian, and the show The Owl House was noted as making headlines for a bisexual character named Luz, and her crush, Amity, who is lesbian, who have a "romantic storyline." GLAAD described The Loud House as featuring Luna Loud, a bisexual character, and Summy, her girlfriend, along with Howard and Harold McBride, "the two Dads of the protagonist's best friend Clyde."
GLAAD pointed to a few series on the platform like Harley Quinn, with Harley Quinn as bisexual and had a growing relationship with Poison Ivy, Doom Patrol which has a gay man named Larry Trainor/Negative Man and a character, Danny, who uses they/them pronouns, and Young Justice which features "LGBTQ characters Aqualad and Halo." GLAAD also pointed out that the streamer aired an episode of Adventure Time: Distant Lands which focuses "on queer couple Bubblegum and Marceline" and the announcement that an animated series based on Lumberjanes was ordered. It is worth noting that Young Justice is a young adult animation, while Doom Patrol is for adults and Adventure Time: Distant Lands is for all-ages.
In August 2021, Insider found in their analysis of 259 LGBTQ cartoon characters stretching back to the 1980s, that "only 10 out of just 70 identified people of color...had leading roles" and a significant proportion lacked "explicit racial specificity," with what the writers called a "fictional combinations of real-world cultures" and had a mix of "nonhuman racial metaphors," which young children wouldn't understand. In September 2021, Abbey White, one of the writers of the Insider article, said in The Hollywood Reporter's "Hollywood Remixed" podcast that children's animation is "arguably at the forefront of our conversations about non-binary identity and gender non-conforming identities," breaking down gender binaries reinforced in the media, and noted the animated series which are stepping up, even when it comes to non-binary characters. They also noted even adult animation has "gay, trans, non-binary characters."
Animation for adults
Adult animation series in the 2020s include Magical Girl Friendship Squad: Origins, Magical Girl Friendship Squad, Castlevania, The Hollow, Disenchantment, Harley Quinn, Duncanville, The Great North, HouseBroken, Star Trek: Lower Decks, Solar Opposites, M.O.D.O.K., Tuca & Bertie, and Rick and Morty, all of which have LGBTQ characters. However, series such as Hoops and The Venture Bros. were cancelled, while LGBTQ characters appeared in indie animations such as Ollie and Scoops and Helluva Boss. They premiered on SYFY's TZGZ, Netflix, DC Universe, HBO Max, Fox, YouTube, and elsewhere.
Magical Girl Friendship Squad and Syfy
On January 1, Magical Girl Friendship Squad: Origins entered the fray and premiered on Syfy. Six episodes of the adult animation, inspired by Sailor Moon and other magical girl anime, began airing on Syfy. The series, written by Diana McCorry who created Human Kind Of, features two women, Alex and Daisy, with the latter a lesbian who sleeps with a woman during the show.
The series appeared in a new iteration on September 26, named Magical Girl Friendship Squad, with some new cast members and longer episodes. In the latter show, Daisy is unambiguously queer as she has slept with "every barista" at the local coffee shop. In the second and third episodes of the main show, "The Cool S" and "Agony Solstice", a sticker with the transgender pride flag is shown on Daisy's laptop. She is later shown to have an ex-girlfriend in the fourth episode, "Anti-Fungal Spit Skanks," a classic-style anime character, named Yolanda, who works at urgent care center in the city. In the episode "The Real World," Pansy, who calls herself Daisy's "monogamous live-in girlfriend" is introduced, but she only exists in the dimension created by Nut's sister, Gloriana.