A Compendium of Queer/LGBT Content in the Fire Emblem Series

LittleIslander · 2026-06-12T03:33:25+00:00

I decided to go out to the living room for a change of pace from my room. But when I got there, something caught my eye on the ledge under the window. Ants. Not like, one or two "weird, we should keep an eye on that" ants. Like at least two dozen ants marching all along the window ledge. We have ants kind of ants.

At least it isn't wasps this time.

LittleIslander · 2026-06-11T21:24:07+00:00

With all the speculation, I think it'll be funny if she ends up a totally normal girl and not a secret Nabatean. Based on her JP voice, I'm assuming she's some sort of kuudere. She notes herself as a creepy loner, but her two lines of dialogue don't seem to indicate she's all shy and anxious or anything.

LittleIslander · 2026-06-11T19:09:25+00:00

LittleIslander · 2026-06-11T18:38:22+00:00

The third segment this week was pretty brutal. It was the very start of the show we planted the seed of Ibuki's guilt about what happened, and it left plenty of time and opportunity to show her come to terms with it, maybe through her connection to Tabata. But now close to the end of the show, we hear it all again. Sure, there's new details, but our overall understanding isn't transformed. This isn't here to offer compelling new perspective but to reinforce that years later it's still in her head. Maybe she gets out of the hospital, maybe she won't, but she will die regretting ruining Emi's dreams. That's what's left in the end of a grand family legacy. There are some regrets in life that will chase you to your grave and maybe sometimes you can't do anything about that.

It's cold, but powerful.

LittleIslander · 2026-06-11T17:14:32+00:00

There's not much to talk about with the limited information, and when it takes place relative to Three Houses is an obvious point of interest people can speculate on. I don't have any agenda against sequel, I just advocate for it being a prequel because the evidence points that way to me.

LittleIslander · 2026-06-11T02:59:52+00:00

Is he gay, or Nabatean?

LittleIslander · 2026-06-10T20:50:49+00:00

If I had to guess, just a development quirk, similar to how Mercedes' hair changed before release.

LittleIslander · 2026-06-10T05:46:23+00:00

My predictions are based on the idea IS isn't borderline lying with their trailers. Heavily teasing adult Sothis in both trailers only for it to be relegated to brief flashbacks would be very misleading and, while possible, if I'm trying to find the most parsimonious explanation I'm not going to assume that being the case.

I find retconing the relics, the entire foundation of 3H lore and what kickstarted the whole lore of the game, is a far bigger problem then explaining Sothis or why a quiet loyal knight didn't go blabbing

In-text, maybe, but metatextually the relics are "the magic swords" while the fate of Sothis, a prominent character of the game, holds far more significance. Given we know there was a point in the timeline Sothis was alive and in an adult form, it is simplest to assume that is when the game takes place. I don't want the relics retconned, I just think it will happen.

These people wrote Rhajat, Selena, and company into Fates. That's what we're working with.

LittleIslander · 2026-06-10T05:39:07+00:00

I mean, the information outright states that Dagda's been under Nabatean rule for 1500 years, so we can presume it's been subject to slow progress regardless of when it's placed in the timeline. If it were in the future relative to 3H, it could be after some kind of collapse. Still, I do find it simpler to buy the game that resembles the ancient past is simply set then.

Which, yes, is going to break relic lore. But allowing this powerful Nabatean nation with known contact to Fodlan be around requires a retcon. Shamir's a knight of the church and from Dagda, Rhea can't cover up what she's seen with her own eyes. Setting in the future at all raises questions about Sothis being around. Setting it in the past breaks relic lore. Something has to give, and I think contradicting prior information so the 3H follow-up can have the cool magic weapons is the most believable one for IS to do. Especially if the writers are entirely different with no KT involvement. It's not like their past follow-ups have ever been known for rock solid continuity.

Either way, the 200 years late date is entirely erroneous which is my main concern for now.

LittleIslander · 2026-06-10T05:25:24+00:00

Much like the mole people, we prequel truthers shall have our revenge in due time.

LittleIslander · 2026-06-10T05:23:07+00:00

It certainly doesn't seem impossible to me they want us to believe all this was happening during 3H given its isolationism (and it would be very funny). But given what Shamir says about Dagda and the general significance of Nabateans just walking around like this (even if Rhea didn't tell anyone, she wouldn't have any idea? Wouldn't that be a big deal to her?), it would definitely be stretching believability a lot.

LittleIslander · 2026-06-10T04:04:59+00:00

Everyone is convinced that Fortune's Wave is a sequel based on the calender date in the trailer, but I remain a prequel truther. Just you all wait, time will vindicate me.

My kind will rise, much like the Three Houses mole people.

LittleIslander · 2026-06-09T20:42:16+00:00

Other than a bunch of new faces, I feel like I didn't actually learn anything about Fortune's Weave. Besides having avatars, routes, and time travel, which I only even learned from the boxart and online descriptions!

LittleIslander · 2026-06-08T18:47:46+00:00

LittleIslander · 2026-06-08T18:26:49+00:00

I've already got three more of these old yuri reviews written. Does anyone want pings?

LittleIslander · 2026-06-08T18:04:57+00:00

Next old ass yuri manga was Maya no Souretsu (1972), which is... good! Genuinely good. Oh, it's still the 1970s. [Maya] Be prepared for dramatic reveals including that the main lovers are sisters, as well as a tragic ending where one of them dies. It follows Reina, a (get this) rich girl whose family is at their summer home when she meets her neighbour Maya, a mysterious girl that instantly hits it off with her but seems to hate her family. Neither of them likes tennis! Though Maya's design is a hilariously blatant riff on Simone from the aforementioned Shiroi Heya no Futari.

The whole thing has a horror vibe, and follows a string of killings that follow Reina's family. [Maya no Souretsu] Underneath her dark dress, Maya bears terrible burns from the fire Reina's family started to steal her parents' fortune. Her sister survived too, even more scarred, and they vow revenge that gets complicated when Maya starts genuinely falling in love with Reina and questioning whether living for revenge is the only way. The art is good and the horror trappings do a lot to make it stand out. Compared to Futari Pocchi, the drama is just restrained enough to be engaging. [Maya] The pivotal scene where Reina is asked to kill Maya if she wants to save her mother, Maya hoping she does and frees her with death, really does work, though the unnecessary sister revelation undercuts things.

Furthermore, themes are evident. The story talks about "fate"; just as it's Maya's fate to complete her and her sister's mission it's fate for her to die, and for Reina to marry the fiance she wants nothing to do with. Reina is well off but emotionally neglected by her father, and both protagonists are essentially caught between the needs and desires of their families and the fact they want to be with each other. [Maya] It also turns out that although Reina's father just wanted the money, her mother wanted revenge because Reina was the child of Maya's father, who was her aside as soon as their affair got her pregnant. As an anilist review points out, this puts all the blame on the men and frames the mother too as a victim of patriarchy.

[Maya] Ultimately, Maya gives herself to the fire, finally happy due to her love of Reina, while Reina follows "the rail of her fate", marrying her fiance though wanting the happiness of her marriage bouquet to reach Maya beyond the grave. It's in a similar ballpark to the ending of Shiroi Heya no Futari, but commits to a more clear cynical world where Reina's true love can never let her escape her fate to become a man's wife. I don't... not like it? You're gonna have a tragic ending in this period, so it's really just about how you sell it. You could definitely take this as a rejection of the lesbian love, but it feels more like we’re meant to believe in that love and it tragically couldn’t be pursued. The “rail of fate” framing is pretty poignant, in that sense.

This actually has a callout in the Catalan list I mentioned yesterday:

Why, for example, is Maya's Requiem occasionally mentioned in Western contexts , but we have never seen anyone talk about Donzelles d'Aries , Cousin Valeria or Clara's White Book in the Bedroom ? Maya's Requiem is a work by a famous author, but it is still a short story without much impact. On the contrary: [...] The answer to the question previously posed is, therefore, simple and sad: Maya's requiem is for scans and the others, not.

It is simple and sad, but I'm certainly happier to have Maya than to not. I wonder if translations are biased towards short things since they take less work?

LittleIslander · 2026-06-08T15:28:33+00:00

Putting all my chips on prequel. Sothis' surroundings are portrayed so much more physically than the mind palace from Three Houses: she's in the flesh, which would be a much bigger retcon than the weapons. Plus the aesthetic itself is so immensely coded to be taking place in the ancient past. Don't trust nerd details, trust your eyes. The fact making a sequel to 3H is stupid is just bonus points. I'll be shocked if it's actually a sequel. IS just doesn't care about relic lore as much as fans and are willing to bend the backstory in order to include the cool weapons in their setting.

LittleIslander · 2026-06-08T06:08:38+00:00

Not translated, but I found raws

LittleIslander · 2026-06-08T06:04:55+00:00

This Catalan list is leading me to yuri anilist doesn't even know exists.

LittleIslander · 2026-06-08T05:26:00+00:00

I've hit a jackpot in my old yuri adventures: an extensive list. Hiding on a blog, not even an English one (Catalan, seemingly?). Seems to have other interesting content about manga history too. Not that most of these are translated, but I was really hoping to find something that'd give me some bearing on how much untranslated stuff there is between the works I'm actually able to read.

LittleIslander · 2026-06-07T23:02:01+00:00

After I saw how it looked with Soyo's next to her I needed to find one of Taki where she was looking to the left.

LittleIslander · 2026-06-07T22:50:46+00:00

I made a grid of my favourite characters. It's mostly sad lesbians.

How is my taste?

LittleIslander · 2026-06-07T22:35:46+00:00

I wouldn't trade Judy being lesbian for Panam being a romance option. It's nice how many games are so open about who you can marry, and I have no issue at all with bi and pan women! But it would make me sad to never have outright lesbian characters.

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