Unwinnable Monthly – April 2026 Final Fantasy x Politics
This is a reprint of the letter from the editor in Unwinnable Monthly Issue 198. You can buy Issue 198 now, or purchase a monthly subscription to make sure you never miss an issue!
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Dear Reader,
You wanted it (probably), you got it (definitely).
Welcome to the Final Fantasy x Politics issue.
A very special issue here if I do say so myself. To start, a quick definition of “politics” to ground this issue. Mostly, we are concerned with what we have always been concerned with. We wanted to study how power, force, the ability to do functions in Final Fantasy. How are forces coercive. How are they able to maintain their power? How is that power structured? Who benefits? Who loses?
Naturally, I think the idea that you can interact with Final Fantasy at all without being on the receiving end of those structures is foolish. Final Fantasy has always had to contend with that. From the original days of feudalism to the title artist openly supporting a political party in his trademark style, it is perhaps only escapable in the sense that one must make the active choice to be ignorant of it. Games, shows, books, movies, media in general is and will always be political. They’ll always reflect a vision of the creator or creative team. To read them without understanding the way power, control and governance functions in them is to essentially choose not to read.
And because we hit the subscription target, there’s some romantasy in here too.
For our features, we’re anchored by Melissa King and myself from the in-house team. From across the realm (reborn) we’ve brought on Luis Aguasvivas, Grace Benfell, Taylor Hidalgo, and Hayes Madsen.
From the central corps we’re joined by Oluwatayo Adewole, Elijah Beahm, Jay Castello, Sara Clemens, Emma Kostopolus, Natasha Ochshorn, Justin Reeve, Rob Rich, Levi Rubeck, Ben Sailer, Phoenix Simms and Alyssa Wejebe.
Finally, the cover is by illustrator Sydney Jones. Every Final Fantasy project needs a Syd, even if ours spells it different.
Liberty, Equality, Final Fantasy!
David Shimomura
Chicago, Illinois
April 20, 2026
