Anne Shirley? More like Lesbianne Shirley
This silly title could've been an entire post on social media honestly, but as a blog post surely it deserves to be fleshed out a bit more.
The past few months have been full of things I've been wanting to write, some analytical, some heavy; but as I've been struggling with actually writing more than chaotic draft ideas and overall exhausted by life, let me just make this silly post for now - it has been living rent-free in my head for a few weeks and I needed to let it out here at some point.
So. This Spring 2025 anime crop has been full of titles that are shaping up to be interesting and/or fun in some ways; but none of them has captivated me and brought me as much glee as the currently running Anne Shirley, an adaptation of the 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery (also probably adapting some of the novel's subsequent sequels, at this rate).
I had somehow never heard of Anne of Green Gables prior to starting this anime adaptation, and so Anime Feminist's article on its first episode and a bit of research quickly informed me that it was actually something quite massive from the early 20th century, that gave birth to a lot of adaptations into various formats over the decades. Overall, it is a series of novels about a young red-haired orphan girl, Anne Shirley, being adopted by some old brother and sister, the Cuthberts, into their rural house called Green Gables in the fictional town of Avonlea in Canada; and the novels follow her life as she grows into adulthood (and beyond, for some sequels). The series has found an obvious audience in Canada; but also a big one in Japan as it was translated into Japanese in the 50s, becoming apparently quickly integrated to the school curriculum and popular culture. It notably spawned a first anime adaptation in 1979 - and now, in 2025, a second one.
I suppose that before continuing, I must say to readers who may know Anne through either the original novels, or through one adaptation or another (the 1985 Canadian television miniseries Anne of Green Gables, the 2017 Anne with an E Netflix series, or the previously mentioned 1979 anime Akage no An, for instance), that I will subsequently be referring to the 2025 anime the most, with some extra glances to the original novels I've taken out of insatiable curiosity. It is absolutely obvious to me that when this 2025 adaptation ends, I will ravenously watch all of the aforementioned adaptations and read the original book(s) properly. But please, let me enjoy and discover it through this anime lens as it goes, for now.
Because oh, what a delight this 2025 version is. This is due to a lot of factors, of course: the vibrant colors and music; Anne's whole vibe and behavior, built upon her first appearance from the 1979 anime adaptation; her wonderful delivery in Japanese - though it may be its own experience with an English dub, which I did not try; and the admittedly brisk but often well-made pacing cutting down excerpts from the original novel but keeping a lot of the best bits, from what I can see.
But more than anything, diving into it, I was not expecting to find in Anne Shirley one of the most endearing protagonists I've ever seen. And part of my excitement is probably because I see in her two particular elements that resonate with me that are never stated outright, and probably not intended, but are definitely there to a degree I was not expecting: Anne is neurodivergent and sapphic.
Her being neurodivergent is... blatant, somehow, from the very first episode: there's something in the way she uses big words at 11 years old, and is curious about so much, and talks a lot, that just feels so absurdly relatable in ways I can't exactly explain. She's extremely imaginative and intense in just the right way, and I suppose this can be examplified with a few sentences of one of her very first exchanges with Matthew Cuthbert, one of her two caretakers, as she discovers the roads of Avonlea. The following excerpt is taken from the original book, abridged as the 2025 anime series presents it.
"[...] Those red roads are so funny. [...] What does make the roads red?"
"Well now, I dunno," said Matthew.
"Well, that is one of the things to find out sometime. Isn’t it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive—it’s such an interesting world. It wouldn’t be half so interesting if we knew all about everything, would it? There’d be no scope for imagination then, would there? But am I talking too much? People are always telling me I do. Would you rather I didn’t talk? If you say so I’ll stop. I can stop when I make up my mind to it, although it’s difficult."
Anne speaks a lot. She spends her time giving names to places and things and daydreaming and imagining and being impulsive and hopelessly curious at the same time and asking strange-sounding questions to people, and correcting the ones who may pronounce her name "Ann" without an "e". The amount of brilliant sentences she has per episode is high. I was starstruck right from the start, and for eight episodes so far she has never let me down. Her speech, which seems even more verbose in the original but is already quite something at times in the anime version, has kept making me feel seen in ways I was not expecting - not from (the adaptation of) a hundred-year-old novel. It's never made in a way that is meant to feel quirky, mind you; it is meant in a way that just is.
I was ready to settle for a neurodivergent protagonist, which was wonderful enough. When episode 2 of the 2025 adaptation brought me lesbianism on a plate on top of that I nearly cried, and since then a few other episodes have seen me dissolve into a tiny puddle of gay as I was watching them.
So. Uh. First thing first: yeah, I know Anne will end up in a heterosexual relationship with the boy who is currently that school rival she loves to hate, Gilbert. My expectations are set, though my heart will ache a little.
But still. The way Anne quickly longs for a "bosom friend" as she settles in Green Gables, an intimate girl friend she'll share everything with, is already a sight to behold; and her joy as she's acquainted with the neighboring girl her age, Diana, and as the two grow really close really quick, is something quite sapphic.
And then it just gets better and better from there.
There is a part where Anne and Diana are forced not to talk to each other again by their legal guardians for some reason, and so the two girls have a tearful 'eternal goodbye' (until the incident is in the end happily resolved, that is) where Anne cuts a lock of Diana's hair to keep under her pillow(!!!) and they say things such as:
(once again, excerpts taken from the original novel, though I would argue that for this part the 2025 adaptation simply outdid itself)
"[...] I’ll never have another bosom friend — I don’t want to have. I couldn’t love anybody as I love you."
"Oh, Diana," cried Anne, clasping her hands, "do you love me?"
"Why, of course I do. Didn’t you know that?"
"No." Anne drew a long breath. "I thought you liked me of course but I never hoped you loved me. Why, Diana, I didn’t think anybody could love me. Nobody ever has loved me since I can remember. Oh, this is wonderful! It’s a ray of light which will forever shine on the darkness of a path severed from thee, Diana. Oh, just say it once again."
"I love you devotedly, Anne," said Diana stanchly, "and I always will, you may be sure of that."
“And I will always love thee, Diana," said Anne, solemnly extending her hand. “[...] Diana, wilt thou give me a lock of thy jet-black tresses in parting to treasure forevermore?"
and then they proceed to exchange letters in silence during class, that read something like:
"Dear Anne," ran the former, "Mother says I’m not to play with you or talk to you even in school. It isn’t my fault and don’t be cross at me, because I love you as much as ever. I miss you awfully to tell all my secrets to and I don’t like Gertie Pye one bit. I made you one of the new bookmarkers out of red tissue paper. They are awfully fashionable now and only three girls in school know how to make them. When you look at it remember
Your true friend,
Diana Barry."
Anne read the note, kissed the bookmark, and dispatched a prompt reply back to the other side of the school.
"My own darling Diana:—
Of course I am not cross at you because you have to obey your mother. Our spirits can commune. I shall keep your lovely present forever. [...] Yours until death us do part
Anne or Cordelia Shirley. P.S. I shall sleep with your letter under my pillow tonight. A. or C.S."
And finally, some time later, as they get to meet again when the matter is resolved, Diana gifts-- I kid you not-- Diana gifts Anne a short poem that says:
"If you love me as I love you
Nothing but death can part us two."
So, yeah. On some level, even with these words, this is still gals being the best of pals and a bit intense about it, and they will end up in heterosexual relationships somewhere down the road. Nothing between them will never be "addressed" through an actual romantic lens in any sense. On some level, this is just me reading too much into it.
I am sure that some parts of the original novels, and some upcoming episodes in the show, will probably show their age and be frustrating in that regard. Some of it already shows a bit in the overall early 20th century education setting, to some extent. I'm ready; or at least I'm trying to be, because honestly not knowing in advance what is going to hit me is also part of the fun - so far, it's been rewarding in ways I would never have expected and that absolutely blew me away.
But I need to say that no matter what may happen later, please consider the absurd romance of the previously mentioned arc. Please consider some of these sentences canonically said by Anne:
"I love Diana so, Marilla. I cannot ever live without her. But I know very well when we grow up that Diana will get married and go away and leave me. And oh, what shall I do? I hate her husband—I just hate him furiously. I’ve been imagining it all out—the wedding and everything—Diana dressed in snowy garments, with a veil, and looking as beautiful and regal as a queen; and me the bridesmaid, with a lovely dress too, and puffed sleeves, but with a breaking heart hid beneath my smiling face. And then bidding Diana goodbye-e-e—" Here Anne broke down entirely and wept with increasing bitterness.
(hating the hypothetical husband of your best bosom friend. classic.)
and maybe even more straightforwardly:
"Diana and I are thinking seriously of promising each other that we will never marry but be nice old maids and live together forever."
... At some point, with each instance of "no heterosexual explanation" so utterly topping the previous one that already set the bar rather high, it's really starting to pile up, you know?
What is endlessly funny to me (in a way that is also a bit sad) is that when I tried to look into whether other people had picked up what appeared to me as sapphism more blinding than the sun... I found this Wikipedia article called the "Bosom Friends affair", about professor Laura Robinson stating in 2000 that Anne of Green Gables expressed lesbian desire. The claim was met with public outrage at the time considering Anne's status as a Canadian icon, which is honestly such a frustrating and maddening display of lesbophobia.
Professor Robinson, thank you for your service. I reach out for your hand 25 years later and I hope the rest of the world gets to see the truth someday too: that Anne is gay and always has been.
The most striking thing is that Anne of Green Gables is at no point meant to be read as possibly lesbian, from what I can tell of Montgomery's life and beliefs. It's just that somehow, once again, it is - more blatantly that the author ever planned or conscientized.
Anne of Green Gables feels like something that does not even know lesbianism exists and that sort of reinvents it accidentally. And that's just... To me, that's just fascinating.
This may be in part me projecting, of course: I'm gay and autistic and that probably colors my judgment (but then, so is any person's judgment influenced by their own biases; and let's be real, the prevailing biases, often left unquestioned when they really should be, are not in my favor here).
But at some point, after reaching an absurd amount of instances I could point to and say "this. this is just right.", it also feels very much like traits firmly built into the character that ring true to me in specific ways. And, you know, there is something so absurdly delightful in finding an echo in a hundred-year-old fictional character, again and again and again as she opens her mouth: it makes me feel, with each new episode, happy and gleeful for hours.
And feeling seen, feeling seen to this level, even in a character that was never purposefully intended to resonate with me, feeling this level of joy from her sheer fictional existence, repeatedly each week, may be one of the best feelings in the world.