Thanks for the information on the Kuja character, much appreciated

The FF series has a history of presenting highly androgynous male characters. Usually the male leads, and even to a greater extent their villains. Even as far back as FF VI and forward, at some point in each story the most formidable advisory turns out to be a highly andogynous male, who is almost always very beautiful and vain. In FF VI, the cross dressing scene freaked out some parents, but thegamers themselves were always talking about Sephiroth, the game’s gorgeous villain. Some guys found the way he was portrayed to be very scary. Very much a love him or hate him sort of character, he was the game villain of the year despite all the controversy.

Squaresoft finally pushed the trend too far for most male American gamers in Final Fantasy IX, with Kuja. Searchin’ Youtube….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3dw74XNavI

There!

He dresses very feminine, seems completely disinterested in women, and is built more like a girl than a guy. Even his mannerisms are incredibly feminine. The lead character in the game, Zidane, comes from a genetically engineered race that look like humans other than having a tail. At one point a minor character asserts that Kuja also belongs to this race and “hides his tail”. Double meaning perhaps?

In the end he turns out not to be truly evil and Zidane saves him from an exploding structure. As I recall there is a scene where he picks up Kuja Hollywood style, with one hand at the small of the back and the other in the bend of the knees. I thought it was adorable! Of course, Zidane ends up with a more conventional girl; the game’s female lead Princess Garnet. Still Kuja could be video gaming’s most obviously classically transgender character. Poor girl, born into a world without SRS.