{"id":4797,"date":"2021-10-23T14:56:03","date_gmt":"2021-10-23T05:56:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=4797"},"modified":"2021-10-29T10:32:53","modified_gmt":"2021-10-29T01:32:53","slug":"20211023-4797","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20211023-4797\/","title":{"rendered":"Animal Crossing: New Horizons new villagers\u2019 ambiguous gender identities spark fan excitement [UPDATE]"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Publication date of the original Japanese article<\/a>: 2021-10-19 21:17 (JST)
Translated by. Ari Clark<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n


The new villagers whose upcoming debuts in Animal Crossing: New Horizons<\/strong> <\/em>were recently announced have become a hot topic on the internet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several new villagers are slated to appear in the major free update that\u2019s scheduled for release on November 5. In addition to Niko and Wardell, who work at Paradise Planning, there\u2019s a quirky lineup of characters, from an octopus villager called Cephalobot, to a cute squirrel with a celestial-patterned tail called Ione.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though each of these villagers has attracted their share of attention, the one who\u2019s been especially talked-about is Sasha, a rabbit villager with bright minty-green fur. Their birthday is apparently on May 19, and their most distinctive feature is their huge, shining eyes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to rabbit villagers, there are a lot of very popular ones already in ACNH, <\/em>from Bunnie, who\u2019s been around since the beginning of the series, to Chrissy, who appeared with her sister on the album cover for Bubblegum K.K. <\/em>They\u2019re all known for their sparkling eyes, and Sasha is attracting plenty of attention as a cute villager who seems likely to carry on that tradition.
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Sasha\u2019s gender has been the subject of some debate. In the Japanese version of ACNH, <\/em>you can tell a villager\u2019s gender by the personal pronouns they use. Female characters use the feminine pronouns watashi, atai, atashi, <\/em>or uchi, <\/em>while male characters use the masculine pronouns oira, boku, <\/em>or ore. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Sasha was first announced, their most distinctive features were their long eyelashes and large eyes, so fans thought they would be a Peppy female villager who would use the feminine atai <\/em>pronoun, just like Chrissy and Bunnie. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, unlike those two characters, who both prefer to wear cute clothes, Sasha\u2019s outfit involves a blue letterman jacket which gives off a cool vibe. If their fashion sense is different, it\u2019s possible that their personality is different, too, and they may use different personal pronouns from the aforementioned duo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another thing that\u2019s been stirring up debate is the layout of the amiibo cards that were revealed during the Animal Crossing: New Horizons Direct 10.15.2021. As you can see from the image below, the villagers from Niko (in the upper left) to Quinn are new characters making their debuts in the upcoming update. The villagers from Chabwick to Faith are returning characters that have been featured in previous Animal Crossing <\/em>games. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you take a look at the order of the pre-existing villagers, they\u2019re lined up in a pattern that alternates between characters who use masculine and feminine pronouns. According to that pattern, the odds are high that Sasha falls into the category of villagers who use masculine pronouns.
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It seems possible that Sasha\u2019s design, which makes their gender difficult to guess at a glance, was a deliberate choice from Nintendo. Their name varies according to the language of each localized version, and they\u2019re called Miccheru (Michelle\/Mitchell) in Japanese, Alix in French, and Ariel in Spanish. All of these names can be used for either sex, so Nintendo may be trying to prevent players guessing their gender from their name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In any case, it seems very clear that Sasha isn\u2019t the sort of character who can be easily sorted into the male\/female gender binary at a glance. Plus, even once it\u2019s been confirmed whether they use masculine or feminine pronouns, it\u2019ll be a whole different question whether they\u2019re cisgender or transgender, or even nonbinary, so it\u2019s probably best to reserve judgment on the question of Sasha\u2019s gender identity for now.
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Welcome to Animal Crossing, Sasha!!!\ud83d\udc99 I made some 3D fanart to celebrate!!!!!!\ud83c\udf3c\ud83d\udc99 pic.twitter.com\/1BMZvzzgEv<\/a><\/p>— icebell \ud83c\udf68\ud83d\udd14 (@1cebell) October 16, 2021<\/a><\/blockquote>