Ena Shinonome - A Lesbian Character

 Introduction

Project Sekai is a game which was released in 2020. As of writing it's nearly been 5 years since the game was released. Although the characters sexualities aren't a core part of their stories you'd think after almost 5 years the overall fandom would have a good idea on where each character could lie. However for whatever reason, Ena Shinonome's sexuality has been misunderstood time and time again. Ena is one of the most obvious characters to interpret as a lesbian due to things that happen in the game itself. If a character in a game is shown to act super gay around girls and barely interact with anyone from the male cast, it should be a pretty open and shut case. This essay is going to explore multiple different things, it will explore Ena's relationship with men in her life, the issue of heteronormativity and an evaluation of Ena's interactions with the cast. 

Ena's relationship with men

Ena doesn't have many relationships with men in her life. She has her brother Akito, her Dad Shinei and her art teacher Yukihira. Akito being her brother, some of the treatment that he has given to Ena has been pretty bad. For example, during one of Ena's birthdays Mizuki was doing a recording for her birthday and Akito said there is not a single fond memory he has with her, which isn't true. However Akito is shown to stand up for Ena behind her back. For example during Ena's first focus event he tried talking to her Dad to be less harsh on her. Ena has also treated Akito badly too. For example, there was a time she scratched him and Toya thought a cat had scratched him. But she has also shown him kindness, an example being soon after Akito quit soccer, Ena encouraged him to begin singing. Deep down they do care about each other and what has really driven them apart is their Dad. Akito acts like an extension of Shinei to avoid ever being hurt by him and Ena has been hurt by him. Akito during the main story said he was the one to ruin the Vivid's show because he doesn't think they have the proper resolve to surpass Rad Weekend and this is due to him seeing Kohane as weak minded. And Shinei ruined Ena's dream of being an artist when he told her she had no potential to become an artist. Also note that the two parties are women. I'm not gonna argue Akito is misogynistic because he's only acting the way he does due to his Father's influence. However Shinei's view of Ena is definitely misogynistic. What Shinei sees is a girl who doesn't have the emotional capacity to become an artist. An element of misogyny is men seeing women's emotions as feeble and Shinei thinking that his daughter can't handle the pain that comes with being an artist, that is misogyny. Which is one reason why it feels off that a fanbase would put Ena into heterosexual ships when they should know that she has been a victim of misogyny from men. It is a core part of her story that men have put her down. Not a single woman has ever been cruel to Ena, her Mom on the other hand has shown Ena so much kindness. An example would be when Ena was upset, her mom offered to watch TV with her and she recorded shows that had her best friend Airi on. Her mom handles her delicately because she knows just how much mental strain has been put onto her.

As for the rest of the male cast, she doesn't talk to Rui, Tsukasa or Toya that much. She has a conversation with Rui on the school roof about Mizuki, she has a couple area conversations with Toya and has maybe spoken to Tsukasa once or twice. And most likely there's a couple of interactions during mixed events but even then it's not much. It shows that Ena doesn't get close to men at all. Her best friends are all girls and she only hangs around girls. As a whole Ena doesn't get close to any men. And that potentially leads back to the misogyny that she's faced and the mental strain men have put onto her.

The subject of heteronormativity 

Heteronormativity is the concept that being straight is the default sexuality and that it is expected that someone must "come out" in order for their sexuality to be "confirmed." The reason I am bringing this up is there is a phrase that really irks me that members of the fanbase use. "The characters sexualities are never stated." Now using this phrase on its own doesn't mean the people are being heteronormative. This is because people will headcanon sexualities such as bisexual, asexual, pansexual etc. However the phrase itself is heteronormative. Why does Ena have to "state" her sexuality? Why does Ena need to "come out" in order for her sexuality to be validated? By saying characters have no stated sexualities and expect that the game needs Ena to come on screen to say she's a lesbian, it feeds into the heteronormative culture that we have today. Because all you need to do is look at the way Ena interacts with people of the same gender and be able to come to a conclusion yourself. Ena as a whole definitely likes girls, the way she interacts with the girls in the cast shows that. But Ena does not act as though she is attracted to guys, there's not a single point in this game where Ena displays any attraction to one of the male members of the cast. There's only one argument, Toya wins plushies at the arcade and he passes them onto Akito, who then passes them onto Ena. And Ena plans on baking cookies for him as a thank you. However there's obviously nothing romantic in this interaction, Toya just wins a lot of plushies and can't keep all of them and Ena just wants to show her appreciation. But this is the closest interaction in the game to display Ena"s "attraction to men." And when you see the examples of her attraction to women in the game, the difference will be like night and day.

Ena's interactions with the female cast

Ena at multiple points has displayed attraction to a member of the female cast. 

Example 1) Ena is talking to Mafuyu about fashion and Mafuyu says she doesn't have an interest. Ena thinks this is a shame and she says "you have such a nice figure and a pretty face..."

I don't think there is any sort of argument you could give for this. This is Ena directly complimenting the looks of someone which shows that she is attracted to the way Mafuyu looks. I won't also brush aside Ena wanting to see Mafuyu in pretty outfits which is something which is common with Ena.

Example 2) Ena, Mizuki and Kanade are having a conversation. It is brought up that Kanade wore a blouse. Ena wants to see her wear it but isn't really able to say directly to Kanade which shows she's shy to ask her. 

Ena is very evidently blushing at the thought of Kanade wearing a blouse. Again it shows that she's attracted to girls.

Example 3) Ena and An are having a conversation. An says Ena is really nice and wishes she was her big sister.

Ena again is blushing but this time it's after receiving a compliment from another girl. And she also takes the time to compliment An's eyes. 

Example 4) When Ena met Haruka for the first time she has the same reaction to her as other female characters. 

I think this one is pretty self explanatory.

Example 5) During the Sanrio event, Mizuki teases Ena by comparing her to Kuromi. Mizuki is trying to tease Ena's tough but girly side but there was something added in. 

Mizuki does clarify what she meant, in no way was she saying Ena is attracted to men. However when Ena read out the description, she doesn't specifically say what she was annoyed by. Ena got annoyed at being compared to Kuromi as a whole. Ena doesn't like the idea that she could be perceived as being attracted to men. 

Those are a few examples of Ena's interactions with the female cast. From what we've gathered, Ena is obviously attracted to girls. But is she attracted to guys? I mean she basically said she's not and as far as I know there is not a single interaction in the game between her and one of the male members of the cast where she displays any level of attraction. Ena has never complimented the looks of another guy, Ena has never felt shy around another guy and Ena has never blushed because she was complimented by another guy. 

Other bits of information to consider 

There's other things in the game which could lean Ena into being a lesbian character. One thing is her duet with Mizuki. These two sing Cellphone Love Story together which is a love song. The key difference between this and other duets is this is a commissioned song and it was added as a bonus track. The game didn't need to add it at all but they did. It's something on its own that wouldn't confirm anything and only becomes a strong piece of evidence when backed up by everything else. Something else to consider is the entire Ena5 event. Look at the cards, they are so obviously romantically coded. It looks like a wedding ceremony and don't forget that Ena and Mizuki wear rings. It isn't an argument to say the ship is canon, it's to show that the game made a romantically coded card set and put Ena in it. Again when you back it up with the other evidence it makes it a strong point. 

Conclusion 

Overall Ena being a lesbian makes a lot of sense. As a person she only surrounds herself with girls, doesn't get close to guys and has shown attraction to many of the girls. People can hide behind "the characters have no stated sexualities" all they want however it shows a lack of willingness to engage with the text, which is a known problem with the fanbase as a whole. If a character has been shown to be attracted to girls and not attracted to guys, then to me that character is a lesbian. And it is really off putting to me that people would force a headcanon onto her where she is attracted to guys. People can headcanon what they want so I'm not saying you can't headcanon Ena in any way you want. But the headcanon where she is attracted to men doesn't make any sense and there's nothing to support that she is attracted to guys. This is only my opinion of course and people are free to think what they want. Ena doesn't even need to be a lesbian, she could be asexual, have no interest in romance or both. But any notion that she is attracted to guys makes no sense as the game has never shown this.

Thank you for reading.