Anxiety Gets a Name—and a Nemesis

Read Time:5 Minute, 48 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
Lesbian Space Princess
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Genre: Animation, Sci-Fi, Comedy
Year Released: 2025
Runtime: 1h 27m
Director(s): Emma Hough Hobbs, Leela Varghese
Writer(s): Emma Hough Hobbs, Leela Varghese
Cast: Shabana Azeez, Gemma Chua-Tran, Richard Roxburgh, Kween Kong, Jordan Raskopoulos, Madeleine Sami, Zachary Ruane, Mark Samual Bonanno, Broden Kelly, Demi Lardner, Reuben Kaye, Bernie Van Tiel
Where to Watch: in select theaters on October 31, 2025, and on digital on November 18, shown at the 2025 Newfest

RAVING REVIEW: LESBIAN SPACE PRINCESS is the kind of movie that doesn’t just wink at its audience—it throws glitter in their face and asks them to sing along. Directed and written by Leela Varghese and Emma Hough Hobbs, the animated feature is a sugar rush of queer pandemonium that manages to balance its campiness with genuine heart. Beneath its chaotic, candy-colored surface lies something surprisingly heartfelt: a story about anxiety, self-worth, and learning to love yourself even when your brain insists you shouldn’t.

The premise is as gloriously ridiculous as the title promises. Saira (voiced by Shabana Azeez), the introverted daughter of the flamboyant lesbian queens of Planet Clitopolis, isn’t your typical royal. She’s quiet, self-conscious, and perpetually overshadowed by her larger-than-life mothers. When her bounty-hunter ex-girlfriend Kiki (voiced by Bernie Van Tiel) is kidnapped by a group of forgotten future incels—the Straight White Maliens—Saira has just twenty-four hours to deliver the ransom: her royal labrys (double-headed axe), the most powerful weapon known to lesbian kind. There’s only one small issue—she doesn’t actually have it.

That fuels a wild inter-gay-lactic rescue mission, but Varghese and Hough Hobbs use the plot as a framework for something more personal. Saira’s quest to summon her labrys doubles as an allegory for emotional empowerment. The film treats her life as literally populated by a snarky head monster born of anxiety and self-doubt. Through encounters with new allies like Willow (voiced by Gemma Chua-Tran), a runaway gay-pop musician, and Blade (voiced by Kween Kong), a drag queen-slash-psychologist who offers therapy with a side of glitter, Saira’s external adventure mirrors her internal one.

The tone is anarchic but purposeful. The filmmakers mash up low-budget anime aesthetics, lo-fi indie charm, and the kind of expressive animation choices that thrive on limitation rather than disguise it. Every frame feels alive, buzzing with the energy of artists who grew up loving ADVENTURE TIME, REVOLUTIONARY GIRL UTENA, and THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU, yet wanted to make something entirely their own. The world of LESBIAN SPACE PRINCESS looks and feels hand-built: expressive rather than perfected, DIY in the best sense.

Comedy is the film’s core, but what keeps it from becoming pure parody is the emotional throughline. Varghese and Hough Hobbs clearly understand the experience of being “the quiet gay,” the person who feels too awkward, too anxious, or too small to take up space in a community full of bold voices. Saira’s insecurities are relatable, her self-deprecation familiar, and her growth—painfully slow and absurdly funny—feels hard-earned.

The supporting characters each amplify different shades of queer identity without ever becoming archetypes. Blade (voiced by Kween Kong) embodies self-assured flamboyance as a form of therapy. At the same time, Willow (voiced by Gemma Chua-Tran), the artistic runaway, uses music to navigate queerness in the same way Saira uses silence. Even Kiki (voiced by Bernie Van Tiel), Saira’s overconfident ex, serves a purpose beyond the “hot jerk” stereotype—her superficiality reflects the kind of performative confidence Saira thinks she needs. Together, they form a constellation of personalities that represent the broad spectrum of queer experience—flawed, hilarious, and deeply human even in a galaxy full of aliens.

Varghese and Hough Hobbs’ decision to use original acoustic songs rather than the expected electronic score gives the film a surprisingly emotional core. Willow’s music acts as connective tissue—each song punctuating moments of vulnerability and transformation. It’s a creative risk that works: stripped-down guitars and vocals lend warmth and sincerity to a film overflowing with visual chaos.

Underneath all the glitter and anarchy, there’s an unshakable sincerity. Varghese and Hough Hobbs—partners in both life and filmmaking—created something that feels like a love letter to their younger selves and the community that shaped them. Their film isn’t trying to rewrite animation history; it’s trying to affirm. That’s the secret to why LESBIAN SPACE PRINCESS works: it laughs with its audience, not at them.

By the time Saira (Shabana Azeez) learns that her greatest power isn’t the labrys but self-acceptance, the film has already done the same for its audience. It’s a celebration of queer resilience through laughter, color, and chaos. The ending doesn’t try to make everything tidy—it just feels right. The galaxy may still be messy, but Saira finally knows her place in it.

LESBIAN SPACE PRINCESS is a rare blend of irreverence and authenticity—a space opera that understands that the real battle isn’t between heroes and villains but between confidence and doubt. It’s silly, sincere, and subversively touching. For all its cosmic spectacle, what stays with you isn’t the lasers or labryses—it’s the feeling of finally seeing anxiety, queerness, and self-discovery treated not as problems to fix, but as adventures worth taking.

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