Kisara from Tales of Arise has queer fans feeling extra thirsty
Kisara from Tales of Arise, if you’re reading this, then I’m free on Thursday night and would like to hang out. Please respond to this and then hang out with me on Thursday night, when I am free.
Now that I can actually put some semblance of thought into my absolutely feral brain right now, I can just about explain that last night during the Summer Games Fest event a new Tales of Arise trailer was revealed. It gave us a glimpse into the high stakes that Shionne and Alphen, our protagonists, will face and far more importantly, revealed the last two party members that’d be joining our team.
Dohalim, a suave-looking melee and magic fighter, as well as Kisara, a seemingly tall as hell lady knight who has a shield that’s bigger than her and a sword that looks like a toothpick. It’s incredibly anime and to be frank, I very much adore it.
The trailer is phenomenal and I’m super excited for September, but unfortunately, my frankly overwhelming gay mind that’s synced into anything that remotely resembles anything that could be coded queer, set its eye on one thing: big, tall, buff knight lady with a HUMONGOUS shield.
I’m very predictable and quite basic, I see a tall woman with a big ass shield then I know I’m going to love them unconditionally. And, from a general look at the Kisara tag on social media like Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr, I know I’m not the only queer fan out there who has gone just a little bit feral when it comes to this lady knight. There’s a reason for that and of course, just to get the most predictable stuff out the way, it doesn’t hurt that Kisara is gorgeous and she’s packing some serious cake.
I’m sorry, I just had to get that part off my chest first. Anyway.
Kisara as a character ticks off a lot of my queer boxes, with the main reason being that she’s a knight. A Knight Captain to be more specific, but a knight all the same. Knights are conveyed throughout history to be chivalrous, virtuous men who put their community first before themselves. They follow a romantic ideology of their life being dedicated to doing what’s right and, as archaic and misogynistic as it is, earning the love and devotion of their one true love through their heroic deeds.
Now it’s long been proven otherwise that only men can be Knights. You’ve got Brienne of Tarth from Game of Thrones, and even Alisha Diphda from Tales of Zestiria, and so many other lady knights in anime, TV and film. Regardless, there’s still something inherently queer about a woman stepping into the role of something that is typically masculine. Queer-coding in itself isn’t something to be celebrated, but neither should it be shunned. For queer fans its something to latch onto, and it seems that’s definitely already happened with Kisara.
We doubt Tales of Arise will include any queer characters at all, the developers of the Tales Of series has certainly never done so in the past despite numerous implications (we’re looking at you, Velvet Crowe and Zelos Wilder) and nudges throughout the years. But even if they don’t, Kisara is certainly a character that has already proven to be popular with queer fans looking forward to Tales of Arise.
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