We be bloggin'

Niji Nights day three is upon us and today, we’re bringing you a new series of blogs: Queer Coded. As avid anime watchers, we see a lot of different anime that feel–well, they feel like bait. Anime where it feels like characters could or should be in a relationship…but it’s never explicitly said. But every time we look at the anime, it’s clearly queer-coded. So we thought, you know, let’s start a series where we get to talk about those anime and why we believe our same-sex relationship fanon–should be true. And what better anime to start with than with one of our favorite examples of this? Faraway Paladin.

Now, I’ve reviewed Faraway Paladin before. It’s a great anime. But one thing that Star and I could never ignore, was the relationship between the main character Will and his half-elven friend Menel. Now, the reason we focused so hard on these two is because when Menel originally swore his loyalty to Will, it happened in a very…sweet way. Almost like a knight to his princess. It was from that moment we were like…okay sus. The two continued to be very close–with Menel spending most of his time with Will as they were close companions. Menel is even shown within the two seasons to be hanging out in Will’s room, in his–erm–casual clothes, definitely implying that they share a room a lot of the time (interesting because most of the rooms in this show feature single beds).

Let’s also not forget that the big climax in season one happens because Menel gets injured by a dragon during Will’s hunt. Badly burned, Menel’s near-death experience is what sets Will into having the strength he needs to defeat his foe. All for Menel. When the half-elf is recovering, Will goes on to have what we can only describe as a complete mental breakdown. It’s heartbreaking to see Will so desolate over his companion–and while we can easily say it was just a bro looking out for his close friend, there also just felt like something was there. In any other fantasy story, such a pivotal moment would’ve happened between the main character and his female love interest–her peril causing him to lose it. The romantic undertone is certainly there. Then when Menel does wake up, the first thing he thinks about is Will–where is he? Why isn’t he there? Even injured, his mind is on his friend. The rest of the climax of the story consists of Menel confronting Will and the two of them facing off that features Will threatening to hurt Menel if he tries to continue traveling with him, and Menel essentially calling Will’s bluff and telling him to do it. I’m pretty sure the end of that conversation is even Menel deciding he’s going to try to hurt himself and Will stopping him. Which again, to us just seemed like the story was treating these two as more than just friends.

We know that many of the touching ‘romantic’ moments will be brushed off as moments of brotherhood, and while many light novel fans would argue against their romance, there’s certain things that Menel say in particular that scream romance. Plus the way Menel looks at Will even is just so adoringly. Honestly, I’d like someone to look at me the way Menel looks at Will. There’s also one moment that Star likes to point out when it comes to show how Menel feels about Will. It’s when Menel swears his loyalty to Will, he says “I’ll follow you until the end of your days.” Something you’d expect to hear from a knight to his princess. Other characters poke fun at them, implying how close they are. Let’s not forget in season two when Will returns home and Gus asks if he found a girl yet–and then immediately Menel is the focus after that (though admittedly it’s about him being a strong half-elf). It’s all just…sus.

At the end of the day, you can believe whatever you choose, but we certainly think the anime Faraway Paladin certainly sets Will and Menel up to be something more than just friends. We just don’t expect there to be a payoff. But their chemistry is undeniably there…as are the romantic tropes being used in their storylines together.

Thanks for joining us on this musings! And check back tomorrow for Niji Night number 4!

xoxo

Luna