There has been a rise in LBGTQ couple rep in recent years, not only in "adult" films and TV, but in media aimed at children. Animation especially has embraced the Pride Flag openly and with glee, for both young and older audiences. This is brilliant, of course. We need good news like this! More please!
The most prominent LGBTQ representation, however, are F/F couples, because we still have a collective phobia of anything considered effeminate, and of penetration, I guess. Or at least the privileged straight people at the top, like out-of-touch executives and censorship men who have no clue what they're doing, yet who control a lot of what we consume, do. I don't want to believe that the preference for F/F content is due to patriarchal fetishization, and society's unconscious bias towards lesbians and other queer women, who are for some irrational reason viewed as slightly less harmful than male gay relationships.
But until we get over that, here are my personal favourite fictional queer female couples that have achieved mainstream success, or are well known within their respective mediums, genres, and communities.
They're famous! They're positive! They're healthy! Being adorable and sweet doesn't hurt, either.
They have to be canon, however, and explicitly queer. No queerbaiting, no will-they-won't-theys, no "like sisters" platonic relationships, no "gal pals" here. Also it is my Top 10 list. You are free to make your own list, as well.
Here we go!
10. Ruby and Sapphire from Steven Universe - I admit I haven't watched this show in years, but from everything I've heard - the good and the bad - Ruby and Sapphire appear to be the only healthy same sex pairing in the entirety of Steven Universe (though are Gems genderless? Does that remain a confusing, contradictory and inconsistent topic?). Not to mention they're cute and substantial. Ruby and Sapphire's marriage in the final season (it had to be in the final season, typically) is one of the first same sex weddings ever featured in children's television. An awesome milestone. Or mile-Gem?...I'll shut up and move on.
9. Utena Tenjou and Anthy Himemiya from Revolutionary Girl Utena - A very complex and complicated relationship that isn't always the healthiest, to put it mildly. But it is one of the first canon same sex romantic and sexual pairings in anime, back in 1996. Their queer love is more explicit in the grand and awesome mess that is the film, Adolescence of Utena (which is debatably a sequel to the series, and some smart and well thought out theories support this). They love each other, even if they can live without the other. A beautiful and chaotic and even apocalyptic relationship. What precious, dreamy roses they are!
8. Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum and Marceline from Adventure Time - One of Cartoon Network's first LGBTQ successes. Bubbleline - a well developed relationship literally spanning centuries - from fangirling (?), to meeting, to dating, to breaking up, to gradual and reluctant friends, to back to loving and being a couple again. What a ride! It's all told naturally and understatedly in ten seasons, and beyond. Pink and purple/grey go well together, don't they? Now if only they could get over themselves once in a while, and Bubblegum get over her narcissistic tendencies.
7. Undyne and Alphys from Undertale - A video game inclusion, not technically animation. But it's colourful and adorable enough, so on the list it goes. I mostly know Undertale from hundreds of YouTube vids, but the obviousness of Undyne and Alphys's natural opposites-attract pairing is a joy to see, and in a game so profoundly and immensely popular and beloved at that. Fishy love FTW!
6. Harley Quinn/Harleen Quinzel and Poison Ivy/Pamela Isley from DC comics and its properties - No introduction needed. Well done, DC, and companies that branch from DC: you do some things right, after all. I don't always like how these two bad ladies' relationship is handled and executed, or how the start of their relationship is handled and executed - often it's written bafflingly and terribly - but that they're a couple at all now in practically every medium they appear in is itself a triumph. Bi lady love FTW! (Now know how to write bisexuals properly, TV and comic book writers, please).
5. Korra and Asami Sato from The Legend of Korra - The ones who started it all. 2014 doesn't seem like such a long time ago, does it? (Wow time flies way too fast). Remember how excited everyone on the internet was? It happened. Korrasami wasn't explicit, it had to be annoyingly subtle due to network censorship at the time, and it had to be confirmed to be canon by the cocreator in an online post. But it was unmistakably there. Korra and Asami helped to pave the way for more open LBGTQ representation in animation aimed at young people, arguably before Steven Universe. Their importance in LBGTQ media history cannot be underestimated. Regardless, they are great girlfriends together. My reviews of the comics go into further detail about them as a couple. They're both bi, they're both POC, and they both escaped a toxic love triangle by dating each other. Nuff said.
4. Sailor Uranus/Haruka Tenoh and Sailor Neptune/Michiru Kaioh from Sailor Moon - THE go-to when it comes to lesbian and same sex romantic couples in anime and manga, because it was the first one most anime fans ever experienced (nobody was fooled by them being "cousins" in the first English dub; I mean, come on, hardly anything was actually edited and censored!) These "opposites" - the masculine Haruka (often mistaken for a man) and the feminine Michiru (who's a cheeky minx, do not be deceived by her elegance and ladylike airs) - work so well together. They are in perfect, harmonious sync, in both their civilian lives and their Sailor Guardian duties. Their love and adoration for one another brings to shame most fictional heterosexual couples. Their sly banter, full of innuendos, in the anime is funny and noteworthy. While not really adults, they are mature and independent, and they know what they're doing, and what they want. They may appear to be antagonistic, hostile and callous in their first appearance, but as it turns out, they are friends and comrades. Helping out when they can. Together. Never apart. Haruka and Michiru are a joy.
3. Vi and Caitlyn Kiramman from Arcane: League of Legends - The newest addition, when it comes to F/F couples from animation aimed at older audiences. They are definitely a canon pairing - just because they haven't kissed yet doesn't mean that there isn't any sexual tension present. They're not dating - what with everything else going on - but their attraction towards each other is explicit, and bizarrely, kind of warm and wholesome. It's adorable and emotional, and it works. It manages to avoid the trap of queerbaiting. Vi and Caitlyn are opposites, with opposite lives, from opposite worlds. The gaps in class and privilege that divide these two could not be more apparent. Despite this and everything in between, and everything they had experienced and been taught about the "other", they grow to love each other. They may very well become a tragic, what-could-have-been couple in the future, but maybe the hope they share - between themselves and in their working to bring both their societies peace and unity - will stay aflame; and will eventually, painstakingly, prevail. A beating, human heart. (Is their ship name Violin? Or Vilyn?)
2. Adora and Catra from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power - From The Legend of Korra to this. How far we've come. Catradora - friends to enemies to friends to lovers. It's been a difficult, complicated, violent, and often toxic journey, but in the end, hope and love won. This lesbian love literally saves the universe. In a series that is a queer paradise, where it's like the colours of the Pride Flag and the identities they represent exploded and landed everywhere, why were we surprised?
1. Luz Noceda and Amity Blight from The Owl House - I had to. I had to number-one this. This enemies/rivals to friends to girlfriends canon pairing is too cute and wholesome for words. And it's in a freaking Disney show! Miracles can happen. Everything about Lumity is a miracle. Again we have opposites, and again in species, where their gender is pretty much the only feature they have in common (apart from shared interests and fangirling over books). And again they work enchantingly together, like in a fairy tale. I can't think of a single negative or dislikeable aspect about these girls and their sweet relationship, which, yes, is appropriate for all ages, fuck off bigots and conservatives (though they are the same thing, so why am I separating them like that?) All the triumph and win for Lumity!
How sweet and cute!
Thank you for reading.
See you, everyone! Have good, happy days, and a happy upcoming Pride Month 🌈💖💗
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