Roses Background Effect

In manga and anime, sometimes roses are used as background effect in panels, behind or in front of characters, and, sometimes, these red flowers are a visual pun on a romantic relationship between two guys.

• bara
  薔薇
  Rose. (the flower, not the color.)
  Gay fiction. (from the name of a gay magazine, bara-zoku 薔薇族.)

Left: Keith Claes, キース・クラエス
Right: Nicol Ascart, ニコル・アスカルト
Anime: Otome Game no Hametsu Flag Shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei Shiteshimatta…, 乙女ゲームの破滅フラグしかない悪役令嬢に転生してしまった… (Episode 3, Stitch)

For the lesbian counterpart, see lily background.

• Examples
  • Counter-Examples

Examples

For reference, some examples. Typically they occur when a third character fantasizes that two characters are gay, rather than them actually being gay.

See also: fujoshi 腐女子.

Right: Marie, マリー
Left: Lloyd Belladonna, ロイド・ベラドンナ
Anime: Tatoeba Last Dungeon Mae no Mura no Shounen ga Joban no Machi de Kurasu You na Monogatari, たとえばラストダンジョン前の村の少年が序盤の街で暮らすような物語 (Episode 9)

Left: Neville Longbottom
Right: Harry Potter
Anime: Asobi Asobase あそびあそばせ (Episode 4)

Left: Usui Kenta 雨水健太
Right: Maaka Ren 真紅煉
Anime: Karin かりん (Episode 12, Censored)

Counter-Examples

Not every time there are roses in the background there's a gay pairing in a shot. For reference, some counter-examples:

Character: Veronica Vasilyevna Vonitsky ヴェロニカ・ワシーリエヴナ・ヴォイニーツカヤ
Anime: Onigiri 鬼斬 (Episode 4)

• Context: roses, sparkles, and circles (soap bubbles) decorating a trap character (a boy that looks like a girl, otokonoko 男の娘) doing a cute pose called tehe pero テヘペロ.

Character: Mary Hunt メアリ・ハント
Anime: Otome Game no Hametsu Flag Shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei Shiteshimatta…, 乙女ゲームの破滅フラグしかない悪役令嬢に転生してしまった… (Episode 2)

• Context: roses, sparkles, and light circles decorating a girl with heart eyes, as she falls in love with another girl.