Ho Yay / Samurai 7

• Kambei and Kyuzo in Samurai 7. Make Kyuzo an actual girl instead of a Bishōnen, and it'd would probably be considered a canon tsundere romance. Both are fixated on fighting each other: Kyuzo only goes with the team to keep Kambei alive so they can fight again, and Kambei keeps apologizing to him for not finishing the job fast enough in order to have their fight.
  • Their memorable first meeting where their skills are equally matched and their swords become deadlocked in combat:
  Kanbei: I think I'm in love...
  Kyuzo: What?! (He kicks away breaking the stalemate)
  Kanbei: With your skills, that is.
  • Not to mention Kambei's initial response after the fight is concluded.
  Kanbei: (Watching Kyuzo walk away, smiling.) I want him.
  • Later Kyuzo takes it upon himself to search and destroy assassins sent by Ukyo to kill Kambei because Kambei is his to kill.
  Kyuzo: (Before attacking) "Don't touch Shimada Kanbei!"
  • Their dramatic final scene together when Kyuzo is dying after accidentally getting caught in gunfire from the shell-shocked Katsushiro:
  Kyuzo: I'll be waiting for you in the village.
  Kambei: Wait for me in the afterworld... I'll be there soon.
  Kyuzo: Don't take too long.
  (Kambei actually takes off his glove, and tenderly closes the eyes of a dead Kyuzo with his bare hand. He then takes Kyuzo's sword as one of his own.)
• Kanbei's also got his "wife" (that is, "right hand man") Shichirouji. He holds an umbrella for Kanbei during the planning of the final defense.
  • Historically, homosexual relationship were rather relatively commonplace among the Samurai class.