Akko x Diana is more than headcanon
To everyone supporting the pairing Dianakko, Diakko, Akkordian or just simply Akko x Diana, I have a message to you all.
I can’t see their bond being something other than love.
I can recall Dianakko fans both during the show airing and now after the finale say that the pairing is canon but in a ‘joking’ tone, as if they don’t truly think that. That Akko x Diana is just a headcanon.
That’s not how I feel. I’ve said it before:
So I must say, as a lesbian, the level of affection displayed by Diana and Akko is to me beyond than ‘just being friends’.
If anyone would carelessly throw themselves into danger to save me like Diana and Akko do for eachother;
if anyone would scream with a desperate worry for me like Diana and Akko do for eachother;
if anyone would keep looking at me with a look full of care and concern like how Akko and Diana look at eachother;
if anyone would tell me to keep trying and chase my dreams, while grabbing my hands and being moved to tears, like how Akko did to Diana;
if anyone would tell me “You continue to astonish me in unexpected ways” while them thinking about every time I’ve amazed and impressed them like Diana did to Akko;
if anyone invited me on a broom like this
or if anyone looked at me like this before replying to my invititation;
if anyone would do such things like these, I would consider them loving me.
Of course, that’s was even before moments like these:
There’s a distinction I want to make. To me, a headcanon is a belief that you extrapolate from something within fiction. That you add something more and not taking it at face value. Like Croix only eating cup ramen is a headcanon. This is a belief extrapolated from the depiction of Croix eating cup noodles.
Headcanon pairings are then a belief that there is love between two characters extrapolated from their interactions. My personal examples would be Mabifica from Gravity Falls or Amedot when I watched Steven Universe. I wanted to see something more in between the lines of these characters’ interactions.
That’s not how I see Akko and Diana. When I see all their interactions in the show taken at face value, I still consider it love. Like all those interactions in my quote above, I define those actions as someone loving another. I’m not extrapolating and adding something to make it true in my head. The displays of affection shown between Diana and Akko are within my definition of love.
And I want to make it abundantly clear that Dianakko is not a depiction of romantic love. They are not crushing on eachother. They don’t desire to kiss the other or otherwise be closely, physically intimate. Their intimacy stretches to handholding to lovingly reassure or support the other. If they have a crush on eachother, then it is just starting to develope (now that is a headcanon).
But neither is it a depiction of platonic love. I would rather say it is budding love. An example of that is Korrasami in The Legend of Korra. Korra and Asami slowly grew closer to each other during the series. They came to care deeply for the other person, while not really knowing ‘why’ other than that they ‘liked’ the other person. They eventually became the most important person to the other. Akko and Diana also had this kind of growth between them (though their depiction was more intense because Trigger takes things to 11).
I think some have a hard time to see these interactions Akko and Diana as love, just because this budding love is far more uncommon (especially between two girls) than romantic love. Two people having intense crushes with romance early on and then with time mellowing out a bit and then come to deeply care and have full trust for the other, is possibly the most common depiction of love. This budding love I’ve been speaking about has a different curve to it. It slowly builds up the care and trust first, and then eventually may bloom into more romantic feelings.
This leads to the main difference between Korrasami and Dianakko in the depiction of budding love. The Legend of Korra ended with Korra and Asami aware of their feelings for the other and deciding to see if it would bloom into something further. However, in LWA, Trigger decided to leave it more up in the air if Diana and Akko would eventually do the same.
“the lwa creators don’t approve of diakko” moodboard
What does Trigger actually think of Akko x Diana? I have no clue.
They have constantly teased it outside of the series, and they have surely amped up Akko and Diana’s interactions in it. It is impossible to not tell how important Diana have become to Akko, and vice versa, during the story. Trigger could have toned down Diana’s role after her arc was over, but they decided not to. Diana didn’t need to hold the Shiny rod with Akko in episode 24. She didn’t have to be the only one together with Akko in space. She didn’t need to shoot Shiny Arc together with Akko. Diana didn’t need to be written in this way for Akko to complete her story arc. Yet Trigger did include Diana in the climax of the series. They have kept showing how important it is for Akko and Diana being together and acting as one.
However, if Akko and Diana’s interactions were only intended to be Dianakko fan baiting for “fanservice”, then I’ll just say, whoops you went too far. It got too genuine.
I’m fine with Trigger not showing any romance between Akko and Diana. Little Witch Academia isn’t about romance at its core. Their first kiss, having kids together, potential marriage etc. Those are things that can be headcanons. Even Akko and Diana becoming romantic can be headcanon. What I’m trying to argue is that they have a budding love for each other, that might become romantic, and that love is what could be considered canon.
I’m not fine with my view of Dianakko as two budding, potential lovers being called headcanon and thus invalidate what I consider to be love, when there’s nothing contradicting this view in the show itself. I’m not wrong to hold that stance. If my view is only based on what is depicted in the show, I won’t call it a headcanon.
So will I adamantly claim that Dianakko is definitive canon? No. Unless it would be confirmed.
However, I’ll refuse to call it a headcanon until Trigger does something that solidly confirms that it is.
To me, Akko x Diana is more than headcanon. And I don’t think it is wrong if any of you think so as well.
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