Hook, line, and queerbait
Well, I didn't think I'd report back this soon, but god has the Spring 2026 anime Agents of the Four Seasons, which I was very enthusiastic about when its episode 1 aired, been a prime example of queerbait and ugly problems. I kind of set myself up for such a situation with my initial post, of course; but I still didn't expect to be backstabbed THIS hard with the release of just two additional episodes.
I won't just stop watching; I also need to cover how atrocious it's been to balance out my previous post on the topic, and to give you a taste of just how much queerbaiting and queerphobia are alive and well in anime. Proceed with care; this post is mostly rage.
(You may want to read my initial post reviewing episode 1 before going further, to understand from how high I've been falling. Or not, honestly; you can also just read me rage and seethe here, and infer the context.)
(a brief visual recap of the four main characters, from left to right: Agent of Winter Rosei, Agent of Spring Hinagiku, her guard Sakura, and Rosei's guard Itecho)
Overall, I expected the series to continue its blatant yuri subtext between Agent of Spring protagonist Hinagiku and her guard Sakura; while slowly putting into motion a predictable straight romance between Hinagiku and Rosei. I didn't think those two options would necessarily be in direct competition, at least most of the time: in my mind, it would be more like an inevitable march toward a heterosexual ending.
As you can see, I was also wary of the fact that the story would probably ALSO pair up Sakura with Winter's own guard. It would've been extremely unimaginative, but, heh.
I'm heartbroken and enraged as I report that in just two episodes, the series already does both this and much worse.
Episode 2
Honestly, episode 2 already gave me the mixedest of signals.
Both the series' opening and ending made me squeal with how yuri-coded they were, mostly showcasing handholding and tender moments between Hinagiku and Sakura; and the episode itself had an unusual amount of mlm gay lines between Agent of Winter Rosei and his guard Itecho.
But. There's a catch.
The episode, centered on the two men, had this constant wink wink nudge nudge "you mean more to me than anyone else in the world but also let's keep these words for our girl love interests". This is a particularly surreal scene around the end of the episode where they forcefully railroad a confession of love from Itecho to Rosei into talking about their supposed crushes in the most awkward way, and at first I didn't know what to make of it.
Were elements such as this, and the opening/ending, and so many things from the first episode, hints of the show's production leaning as much as it could into the anime's queerness, while being ultimately constricted by the double straight romance handrails of its source material? Or was it a sheer unwillingness to commit to queerness while still trying to reap the gay shipping audience potential - said otherwise, queerbaiting?
The difference in execution between these two scenarios is, I admit, sometimes thin; but the difference in intent can sometimes be important, and I needed to know.
After thinking back on it, I was somewhat set on Agents being queerbait for one clear reason: the way the series was awfully insistent visually on Itecho being in love with Sakura, notably through several sparkly shots of her from Itecho's memories.
(we'll, huh, we'll get back to this shot in a bit.)
The fiction wasn't trying to overgrow its "necessary" heterosexual romance mold where it could, to use it as a thin pretense to keep up appearances against some conservative pressure while ultimately telling something possibly queer between the lines (gay or bisexual, for that matter).
No, Agents really was setting up gay signals purposefully, then wielding heteronormativity to undercut them the second after. With a literal gay confession being voiced, yet so immediately shrugged off and diverted into heterosexuality, the series could have queer people invest hope in the two men's dynamic by throwing us very big bones to chew, while still having the opportunity to undermine - then renew, then undermine again - that gay reading at every turn.
Episode 3
I was angry at that probable queerbaiting, but I didn't expect it to get this much worse. Yet in episode 3, the two girls, back into narrative focus, meet another pair of Agent and guard - two sisters - and start discussing sisterhood... and, in the most egregious yet predictable manner, we get hit by this:
And, fuck, here we go again.
By itself, this is already one of my worst nightmares as a lesbian audience used to queer denial. (This reframing as ✨ sisterhood ✨ is also much more insidious than the more common framing of "very best friends", because the lesbian reading that had happened so far then becomes thematically tied to incest in some ways, which is an entire can of worms1.)
But the series doesn't stop there. Oh, no.
This fucking scene made me so mad, I-- Seriously, these shots are killing me. The overheating comedy. The freaking sparkles. I don't think you can deny that this scene is gay; and if at first glance you may say that the term "sisters" is used here to just keep some "plausible" deniability for some part of the audience, consider: using any other term.
So, just to be clear about the authorial intent: as it labels Hinagiku and Sakura's relationship as "sisters", the series keeps amping up the romantic tension between the two. This isn't just a case of mismatched expectations, where I would've overread the first few episodes as gay when the series ultimately wants to tell me a tale of deep sisterhood and (maybe somewhat on purpose) went overboard at first2. It's worse. Here the series looks straight (ha!) at us and keeps showing us very very gay interactions full of blushing and sparkles and overheating, and it tells us repeatedly that "they want to be sisters"!!
And, holy fuck. Let me get a metaphorical pillow to scream into for a hot minute.
... thank you.
So: I loathe how Agents purposefully blurs the line between romantic shipping and sisterhood.
And if that wasn't enough, this is also reinforced by the rest of the episode's narrative: the two actual sisters of Summer that the protagonists meet have a whole thing about being angry at each other, because they're each going to marry with a man and to leave the other's side, both as guard/Agent and as sisters. And somehow, getting married is in an extremely literal competition with their sisterhood - one of the sisters cannot accept that the other "isn't hers" and feels like she is "stolen away from her"3 (I'm directly quoting). The series even uses pretty ambiguous sentences when referring to their love for each other, and... yeah. Their dynamic, to me, is heavily and purposefully incest-coded.
Of course, this is meant to create all the more a big toxic blur around the show's queer romantic signifiers.
With all this, you also have Sakura being adamant that she will never marry and serve Hinagiku instead - until she wavers when Hinagiku broaches the topic of Itecho.
(With each interaction I wish these characters were actually gay. Or at least I wish this wasn't a vessel for thinly-veiled homphobia.)
This kind of reaction strengthens once again the apparent competition between marriage and the Agent-guard dynamic, and the romantic undercurrent of the latter (if that wasn't visible enough with two episodes of "You're my most precious person in the entire world and I would die for you"4). And of course it all keeps furthering the eventual end goal of having Sakura and Itecho together (not mentioning Hinagiku and Rosei, too), while still giving plenty of poisoned gay shipping material between the guard and her Agent (because, you know, they've declared they were sisters a few minutes ago, and all). The series just knows what it's doing, and is doing it very conscientiously.
Bottom line is: this is ugly. The series' way of pushing forward an absurd amount of gay moments while framing them as sisterhood is one of the most hurtful and queerphobic combos I've seen in a while; and the rest of the characters' gay dynamics we've seen so far also feel rotten to the core.
But you know what? I've taken a look at the first volume of the original book series, published in 2021. Just in case the gay reading was put here by the anime and the source material had an actual "found sisters" narrative. Just in case. One can always hope.
I'm sorry. It still gets worse.
Book series, chapter 1
The first chapter of the light novel, which mostly corresponds to the first episode, is even less subtle than the anime version about its apparent gayness. Here is a non-exhaustive collection of excerpts that hit me like a freight train with how obviously romantic they were. Emphasis is mine to highlight some particularly significant phrasings.
“It’s over now. How many times must I say that I want you?” Sakura whispered sadly as she held Hinagiku’s hand tighter.
“You…” She peered into Hinagiku’s yellow eyes, and Hinagiku stared back at her. “You would do anything to hold onto me, isn’t that right? You promised,” she said. The line sounded almost flirtatious.
Lending her coat to her beloved lady was motivated more by her own desire to do so, rather than any sense of duty. She always wanted to do whatever would make Hinagiku happy.
“I want to make sure she’s taken care of.”
And there is no one else I want to care for.
Sakura felt a soft grip on her hand—Hinagiku. Her heart skipped a beat, and she squeezed back. Whatever was happening around her, this goddess holding her hand gave her a rush of courage.
Her fluttering sleeves slashed through the air as her prayer reached the Four Seasons and her powers took form.
My eyes. My ears, my skin, my senses…
Her goddess left Sakura’s heart in disarray even on a normal day.
She’s taken hold of every part of me.
The sight of her as she pleaded for spring was astonishing.
“Now you’re returning. You will be the center of attention. [...] Can you bear all that?”
The interrogation sounded harsh, but this was Sakura’s wish.
Can you take it?
She prayed to her goddess, pleading to fight fate together with her.
“…” After a moment, Hinagiku replied, “Yes.” The small spring goddess nodded firmly. “Hinagiku can…take it. No matter what…anyone…says.”
She nodded, her eyes set on her retainer. No lies. She was ready.
“You sure about answering that so easily?”
Sakura smiled, misty-eyed, with the joy of a girl whose offer of a date had been accepted.
“It’s…fine.” Her goddess smiled, too, and spoke with full confidence in her. “After all…you’ll be…there…protecting Hinagiku.”
Her trusting eyes glittered like the morning sun.
But the most intense quote of the chapter is probably this one, somewhat concluding it:
I would die for this woman, Sakura thought.
My goddess.
Bells sounded in her head. She felt as though all the pain she had endured across her life had been for this day.
In this moment, she knew once again that her loyalty to this goddess was real.
In sickness and in health.
It wasn’t because of a feeling of responsibility.
In joy and in sorrow.
You could hardly call it a sense of duty.
For richer or for poorer.
If she had to name it, she’d call it fate.
I promise to cherish and respect you.
In truth, it was faith.
I promise to comfort you and encourage you.
It just so happened the object of her faith was indeed a goddess.
So long as I live, I vow to fight for your sake.
These are literal marriage vows - and with the bells, too. I-- I mean-- I'm not much into marriage, but I still would die of gay were I to read this in an actual lesbian book.
And, well, this is always depicted from Sakura's perspective, which makes it more like a one-sided crush. But still, after all this, you tell me that the rest of the story is going to pretend that they want to be *sisters*?!
Book series, chapter 2
Just as with the anime, the picture starts to sour with the second chapter of the light novel, roughly corresponding to the second episode (albeit with a few scenes shuffled or happening in different contexts).
Once again, it's 100% gay flirt, this time between Rosei and Itecho.
“Rosei…”
Itecho placed his hand on Rosei’s cheek, and their faces drew even closer. Itecho gave him a comforting gaze, and when the distance between them was nearly gone…
“Gwah!”
…Itecho dealt him a violent headbutt.
“Look, Rosei. I’m only a nag because I care about you more than anything in the world. You understand?”
“I’ll protect you for the rest of my life.” [...]
“I bet you say that to all the boys,” said Rosei.
Itecho was the kind of man who could become a jester or a knight for the one he served.
“I’m affronted. I choose very carefully to whom I show my love.”
He might not always follow orders, but he was the best retainer one could ask for.
“…You mean it?”
“I do. [...]”
Sadly, all this is immediately followed by:
Itecho cherished this man, the way a much older brother would. He roughly rubbed Rosei’s head with his empty hand.
Author. Author, we need to talk. You literally wrote a scene describing very purposefully how those two boys were nearly kissing at the start of this chapter. You cannot write this after that.
Oh, and as a shit cherry on top, the light novel reveals that Sakura and Itecho, one of those two straight ships that the story desperately tries to shove down our throats, are respectively nineteen and twenty-nine. Not only that, but they met ten years ago, when Sakura was nine and Itecho nineteen.
Now, can we point out again the anime's sparkly shots of Sakura from Itecho's point of view?
This is revolting.
Book series, chapter 3
I wanted to at least cover what I had seen in the anime version, so I kept going. And I'm not over yet.
I won't detail whatever incest-coded relationship the two Summer sisters still have going on in the light novel version. It's just more of the same, with mentions like "their irreplaceable someone" to refer to their sister, or "it's undeniable she loves her sister, and her feelings were too big for [the other] to handle", along with the narrative's ever-present competition between sisterhood and marriage.
But I need for you to witness how the light novel handles the "we're sisters!!!" moments of Sakura and Hinagiku. Because even with everything that had come before I had trouble believing it. Emphasis is mine.
“Hinagiku…isn’t Sakura’s…sister, but…we are…kinda like…sisters…so we…match?”
“Lady Hinagiku! I could never be so bold as to say that…”
“We’re…so close, so Hinagiku…thought…just maybe. But you…don’t like it…do you? Sorry…Sakura.”
Hinagiku dropped her shoulders, and Sakura rushed to elaborate. “No, I do like it! I can be your friend, your sister, and of course your blade! Please allow me to stay by your side in joy and sorrow.”
[...]
Hinagiku blinked before putting on a bashful smile.
“R-really?”
“Really.”
“Hee-hee… It’s…too much. Hinagiku…is too fortunate.”
“Hee-hee! As you should be!”
Ayame held a hand to her mouth as she watched the two fidget like a couple who had just started dating.
The juxtaposition here is unavoidable. Sisterhood and romantic relationship, literally side by side on the page. You have to picture me screaming.
Somehow I kept on reading for a bit, because at this point I just wanted to see how deep it ran; and, well, the book proceeds on having sentences like this:
Even though they had received separate rooms, in the end, they slept together in the same bed, like sisters.
“There’s only one chair.”
“Sit…down…Sakura. Hinagiku…will sit…on your lap.”
“Huh?”
“Sit…down. We can…use the chair…together.”
“…Now this is a request I cannot turn down.”
Sakura entirely dismissed her standing as retainer and accepted the deal. The two of them sat on the little chair, together like a couple of sisters.
you know
like sisters :)
And then, of course, the rest of the big fireworks, the blow that finally made me drop this (abridged for readability):
Lady and retainer. God and goddess. Woman and woman. Man and woman. The relationships were different in so many ways that it felt stupid to try to compete. She knew her relationship with Hinagiku was unlike Rosei’s.
Even if Sakura hated him, it was foolish to try to have her lady’s heart all to herself.
I’m sorry.
Still, she wanted this girl’s love.
I know it’s just a substitute.
After living on hatred for all this time, what Sakura truly needed was Hinagiku. She was her only hope.
I know you’re suffering, too. I’m sorry.
She wanted Hinagiku’s gaze. Her attention. Even her love. She begged for it.
[...]
“Sakura…I love you.”
The words Sakura longed for the most reached her ears without a trace of falsehood.
[...]
The reason Sakura had survived from the age of nine was thanks to emotions she was better off letting go of—her obsession and regret.
I’m sorry. If only I could be more normal.
She couldn’t live without them. She wasn’t allowed to live without them.
If only I could love you normally.
Sakura knew her love was twisted.
“I want to hear those words for the rest of my life. I want to stay closest to you—forever.”
Sakura’s love, while warped, was more guileless than anybody else’s.
“Yes…Hinagiku will…say it…as many…times as you…want. Because…Hinagiku…loves…you. Hinagiku…doesn’t…blame you. Hinagiku’s…grateful…that you…waited…and didn’t…forget. Hinagiku…loves you.”
[...]
Hinagiku understood everything, and she gave Sakura all the words and attention she wanted.
“Sakura, Hinagiku loves you.”
“…Yes.”
“Hinagiku loves you…so much.”
“Yes, Lady Hinagiku.”
The love she professed to her supplicant was not romantic love.
[...]
It was not romantic love, but it was far more intense and pure than platonic love.
The volume doesn't end there, but this is where I dropped it for good as it had completed its obliteration of me.
This is not to say that you cannot write stories that fall outside or beyond a romantic/platonic love binary - I welcome such stories oh so gladly. It's just that this... this isn't that. This is just the entire arsenal of lesbophobic writing tools: "the relationships between women cannot compete with (romantic) relationships with men" + "Sakura wants to be loved but that desire is twisted" + "in the end the best thing to wish for is being super gal pals with a hint of divine forgiveness, which is the best and most purest relationship".
And with all this, the characters will still repeat that they love each other so much and will stay by each other's side forever, to still hook some of the people from your audience who want lesbians. Just. you know. like sisters :)
There are more chapters to this volume, and many more volumes. If you allow me at this point, I wish for them to burn.
Fuck this, actually
To say that I am angry is an understatement. If I ever meet this author IRL I will punch her in the face. This is a whole masterclass on queerbaiting at its highest level: something on how to purposefully showcase queerness at every turn in order to both shoehorn it into "just siblinghood" AND to use that siblinghood to associate queerness with incest and make it unacceptable AND to represent lesbian love as a twisted obession opposed to a healthier heterosexuality AND to pepper your entire writing with evidence that this is gay while telling again and again that it isn't in the hope that it will convince your gay audience they're straight.
The level of homophobia behind such a combo is wild.
I don't even know what else to say. This is some actively dangerous trash, which directly tries to lure queer people in by making its queerness more and more obvious yet more and more denied and unacceptable as it goes. To think it's been this lushly adapted into anime makes me want to smash kneecaps.
Needless to say, I won't be reading or watching Violet Evergarden by the same author anytime soon.
Conclusion
You know, even if I just spent way too much time thinking and writing about something that actually hates me, it feels almost good to write in rage like this. There's something cathartic to it. I'd nearly say "I should do this more often", but I actually really hope I won't5. This is enough heartache.
Before reading the light novel version of Agents, I initially thought I'd write how the anime might still be a (barely) salvageable watch for those ready to pick and choose from the canon and to reclaim its queer elements through fanart, despite this playing into the series' massive queerbaiting; or how people more invested in the animation quality and the story of guilt and trauma of the four main characters might want to keep watching; even if it was in all cases important to be aware of how the series blatantly despised its queer audience (and had strong incestuous subtext, and a really atrocious age gap).
But with the light novel's radioactive levels of homophobia spread this undeniably on the page, I believe we should stop supporting such queerphobic shit, period6. There are so many fictions to love that don't actively try to harm us with every sentence.
Anyway. Unsurprisingly, I find myself yearning for anime that surprise me in good for their unexpected yuri beneath the surface7, instead.
To rinse my mouth in the meantime, I suppose the unadulterated class S yuri subtext of A Hundred Scenes of Awajima, adapted from an older manga by Takako Shimura, or the Witch Hat Atelier shipping8 (and more largely its gorgeous and enthralling world, of course) may be good remedies in the current Spring 2026 batch. In any case, I'm at least finding solace in the better animes releasing this season (the bar on "better" being so low it's in the Mariana Trench at this point), and this helps soothe my rage a little.
Also, you know, this just makes me all the more aware how the three-episode rule is still around for a reason. Consider this a lesson learned, the hardest way.
Even if nothing, in that category, can beat the lesbophobic Ghibli movie When Marnie Was There, which sets up a clear gay reading throughout just to reveal family stuff at the very end which makes it incestuous, and which purposefully retroactively poisons that entire reading. That movie makes me want to break stuff.↩
a prime example of this is the 2021 anime The Aquatope on White Sand, which I couldn't read as anything but romantic, and which ended up slotting into a tale of found sisterhood in a way that made me incredibly mad. It still very much does; but I've seen other people have different expectations for it whose watch went better. I won't budge on that, though: animators really need to put into question how much significantly framed handholding they show when they supposedly want to write sister-coded stories. There's definitely room for such stories, and I want to see them; but god, I want them to be written BETTER. In ways that don't make use of romantic ambiguity. Aghhghghh.↩
Seriously, the entire scene would not have felt out of place in Revolutionary Girl Utena, all the more since the two sisters are twins... except Utena unpacks these themes, and weaves them into its core thesis of escaping abuse and finding healthier attachments. Needless to say, Agents is not doing any of that.↩
Not saying at all that this "I would die for you" feeling is something you couldn't feel toward non-romantic attachments. But in terms of tropes and expectations for fictions, this is something that will be read in a romantic way whether you like it or not in a lot of situations; and you have to take that reading into account when you write. You have to be clear if you want to write something familial, queerplatonic or anything subtle. But here, of course, Agents is uninterested in being subtle, because it precisely wants to reinforce and deligitimize its gay reading at the same time.↩
But, heh, on a somewhat related theme, I do have an angry draft on heteronormativity in Frieren which has been waiting its turn for two months now, so maybe it'll also pop here at some point.↩
Soon after the release of the first episode, I saw that both the manga and the light novel versions had been released in French, and were displayed proudly with a dedicated stand in my local manga store. In retrospect, it makes me want to break stuff all the more. Also, Akata editions is responsible for the French release of the manga version of Agents... and they're usually the number one publisher for good queer series - notably publishing a lot of the LGBT-themed and adult yuri mangas I like in French. Seeing them pick this series up makes me so mad.↩
Some of them do manage. I also really want to talk about Dennou Coil at some point, which was a really high point of my month of January. Too many things to post about, too little energy to write. We'll see.↩
if I had a nickel for each show about witches and magic where perfect miss bully and daydreaming adventurous protagonist were often shipped together, I'd have at least three nickels, between this and Little Witch Academia (that I haven't watched/read much) and The Owl House (which is the one canon pairing of the batch, and which takes some very clear inspiration from WHA here or there). It's a funny thing.↩