Someone over at Game Freak knows the gays are watching. The Pokémon series has become increasingly inclusive and queer-coded over the years, with this trend most visible in character design. There are a lot of hotties, of course, but there’s also a throughline of queer aesthetics for both trainers and their monsters that has shown up in recent games, especially since the Fairy type was introduced in Generation VI. So I have to believe that someone at Game Freak knew the toxic yuri shippers would latch onto Lebanne and Jacinthe, two of the strongest trainers in Pokémon Legends: Z-A.
The player first comes into contact with these two women after a run-in with members of the Society of Battle Connoisseurs, a group of snobby, elite competitive trainers who have never been told “no” in their lives. Jacinthe, Z-A’s resident fairy-type expert, is a rich socialite who runs the SBC, and Lebanne is her personal maid. At least, that’s how it appears on the surface. In some of the early interactions with Jacinthe, Lebanne tries to warn the player of what will happen if they cross her. When she does this, her typically calm, collected demeanor changes to one of near-feral panic, but our heroes pay this no mind until it’s too late. After Team MZ blows off a tournament Jacinthe has organized, she traps them in a manufactured battle zone outside their home base and forces you to battle her lackeys, including Lebanne.
When the dragon-type trainer finally enters the ring, she lets loose. All her poise goes out the window, and she reveals her true self: an angry, pent-up rage machine who commands some of the most vicious Pokémon in Lumiose City. This all juxtaposed against her keeping the maid outfit on while no longer maintaining the facade of being Jacinthe’s mild-mannered housekeeper. After you take her down, she levels with you. She wasn’t always waiting hand and foot on Jacinthe. Back in the day, Lebanne was a “fighter” who only sought to fight “the strongest opponents” she and her dragon Pokémon could find. But two years ago, Jacinthe’s fairy-type Pokémon “totally annihilated” her, and now she’s subjected to this daily humiliation ritual of pretending to be what Jacinthe wants her to be. It’s toxic as fuck…but the fanfiction writes itself.
becoming a disposable henchwoman as punishment for losing a single fight,,, multiple years in a humiliating maid outfit; forced to bend to her every whim… overwrought retribution for overconfidence,, im losing my mind….. https://t.co/dE5RfOXTsk
— Tabitha (@_kikimari_) October 19, 2025
Obsessed with these two pic.twitter.com/zVuq3fK3MF
— Ghost (@Ghostblobbu) October 19, 2025
Lebanne and Jacinthe yuri
pokemon za spoilers this really happens after you beat the game three times blindfolded pic.twitter.com/jfedPkboRY
— Percy (@keyblot) October 20, 2025
))))
#pokemonlegendsza pic.twitter.com/CVSPT2B6Pv— Tuif (@Tuiffff) October 21, 2025
Haven’t even played this game but I know yuri when I see it and Jacinthe and Lebanne feel real familiar…#PokemonLegendsZA pic.twitter.com/KsCQ3eUI0H
— Kori.☾ || Garofano CEO (@Korichi_Celeste) October 21, 2025
jacinthe + lebanne #pokemonlegendsza pic.twitter.com/4iwyQ7qaIQ
— yawn… (@yawntchi) October 22, 2025
Doodles of Lesbianne. Sorry my mistake
Lebanne and Jacinthe#PokemonLegendsZA pic.twitter.com/RSkC6Mj1Z8
— Audrahni (@Audrahni) October 22, 2025
channelling everything i have so people make lebanne x jacinthe yuri because i need it so bad i just need something of them i’m so normal about this ship pic.twitter.com/R7padU4aoZ
— cassie wassie mable’s lab dog (@slampuppi) October 20, 2025
In the end, the two girls seem to have some respect for each other despite Lebanne losing a bet with years-long consequences. Maybe by the time the Mega Dimension DLC comes out, we’ll see the two on equal footing again and Lebanne getting to dress and act like herself. For now, the toxic yuri shippers are eating, and I’m happy for them. What I’m waiting for is Pokémon fans to wake up to the truth of AZ and Lysandre as angsty old main yaoi.
