#Another year for us to look forward for more of LipxLip and Honeyworks

[accelerandy15]

Heyo Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu! 🎉💛💙

[lilac-melody]

So as I am seeing a new little influx of honeyworks fans, likely due to the shitty herotaru anime, I want everyone to listen up.

LIPxLIP, the idol duo featured in the anime, are a lot deeper than what the anime explains. I understand that it was Hiyori's story (even though they didn't get her personality right either lmao) so it's not going to go into detail about Aizou or Yujiro. I'm fine with that. I really am.

What bothered me was the small bits we were given are incredibly misleading for new fans. The anime exists more as fanservice for pre-existing fans. Fans who read the novels, regularly watch MVs, and so forth.

So I'm going to go over LIPxLIP's stories. Their thematic importance. Their relationship, and their relationship with Hiyori. I am quite sick and tired of seeing new fans blab about them as hateful misogynists, shallow, uncaring towards their fans...and all that.

Starting off with the local hero of the anime, Shibasaki Aizou.

Back when he was a small child, he loved singing. His mother played piano and his father played guitar (his father probably taught him how to play guitar? That or he picked it up himself. I don't think that was ever specified). He entered a children's singing competition, and ended up winning.

However, a couple years later, his father began to lie about going to work when he was really going out and having an affair with (another woman? multiple women??). This led to the father and their mother, Shibasaki Yuko, to constantly argue and scream at each other.

As a result, Ken (Aizou's older brother), would make pasta for himself and Aizou, as their parents were too busy screaming at each other for hours at a time. The novels stated that back then, their parents would argue so often that they would forget to buy groceries, and would leave Aizou starving. During this time, Yuko began drinking and getting drunk- which would scare her kids.

Eventually, the Shibasaki parents got a divorce, and Yuko began to drink even more heavily. She would cry and mourn. Aizou and Ken were still children at the time. Aizou, being the young child he was and recalling how Yuko used to smile when he sang, began to sing for her in hopes of cheering her up. Of course, Yuko just threw her alcohol at him and screamed at him that he needed to shut up- he was too noisy. It's also been heavily implied that she would hit Aizou too when she was drunk.

From this, Aizou stopped singing, being physically unable to. He began living out his days without truly living, just getting by. He had friends, but didn't hang out with them or join any clubs, having become depressed and understimulated.

In middle school, when playing his guitar one day, his mother broke it and screamed at him to never play it at home again. This led to him crying and not playing again...until he came across a musical instrument store, where he meets Morita. He, one day, brings the guitar in and begs him to fix it. Morita agrees, and even allows Aizou to stay in an upstairs room that used to be used for music lessons every now and then, on the condition he returns home occasionally. So he essentially finds a second home in the music store.

One day, he sees on his phone that there's an audition to become a teenage idol, so he signs up, which is where he meets Yujiro.

He (and Yujiro) both pass due to their spectacular performances, and are told to become a unit. Aizou now has his fire back, looking forward to the future.

.

Now, for Someya Yujiro aka Aizou's anime arm candy.

When he was little (maybe before he was born? or maybe before he was 5??) his birth father died (unknown cause). His mother, Tae, got remarried to Someya Tamagoro. At first, things were fine. His father trained him in the art of kabuki.

Yujiro, at a young age, desperately wanted to be on stage doing kabuki with his new father. In fact, the desire was so strong, that he turned down all invites to hang out and play from the kids at his school. He didn't watch tv, he didn't do anything that would be considered a hobby. He abandoned everything that makes up a childhood to pursue his dream.

However, one day...his father told him and his younger brother, Koichiro, (who looked down on Tae and Yujiro for joining the Someya family), that Koichiro would be his heir. Yujiro tries to protest, only for Tamagoro to glare down at him coldly and tell him that he can't do it...he has no beauty.

All these years training, and Yujiro finally understands...he was never meant to stand on that stage. His father trained him for years, never truly intending for him to be on stage. Koichiro holds this over Yujiro, always mocking him and shoving him around.

As a result, Yujiro was banned from even entering the practice halls, and he became a helper of the house. He cleaned up backstage after shows, did laundry, all of that. Along with that, Tamagoro became colder to him, while Koichiro mocked him and abused him- verbally and sometimes physically. Yujiro thinks of taking his mother and running away, but has nowhere to go. He is absolutely miserable.

Of course, one day, Koichiro, for some reason, allows Yujiro to perform at a shrine once in his stead. We do not have any details on this, except that it made Yujiro happy and was clearly a one-time thing.

In either case, Yujiro too, lived a life of silence and loneliness. He tried to smile for his mom so she wouldn't worry, the one person who spoke to him. He had no friends, no hobbies, he accepted his fate of being his family's shadow, watching as Tamagoro has Yujiro's name removed from anything mentioning the Someya name, especially kabuki sites.

He was, essentially, disowned.

Tae still encouraged him to find something that made him happy...which eventually came in the form of the idol audition, where he meets Aizou.

...

NOW. That's a hell of a lot deeper than herotaru gave us. And again, it's fine that they couldn't go all into depth- after all, it's Hiyori's anime and her backstory is more simple. We can't have the idols outshinng her now, can we?

In any case, going strictly based on the novels (as the Hanipre stories are their own thing...though I like to consider them canon, but I know they're technically not), the stories of Aizou and Yujiro begin.

After agreeing to become a unit (or they won't debut at all), the two do not get along at all. Aizou mocks Yujiro for his lack of strength and stamina, and Yujiro mocks Aizou for being unable to read sheet music, Aizou finds out that Yujiro's father doesn't think he has what it takes to be an idol. So, he takes him to his secret spot and the two practice and talk.

Yujiro eventually gains Tamagoro's approval, and the two do a commercial, though they are not very well known. They want to debut.

After multiple instances of various situations (including Aizou sharing his music room with Yujiro, some bullies shoving Aizou into a pool at a live show and Yujiro yelling at them and teaching Aizou how to swim, going through an aquarium together and Aizou winning a stuffed penguin and giving it to Yujiro when he sees how disappointed he is that he didn't get it), they finally get their debut song, Romeo.

Eagerly, they practice it together. During this time, they're thinking about whether or not they should go to high school. Aizou tells Yujiro how he wants to avoid one high school in particular.

Yujiro eventually decides he wants to, because Narumi Sena inspired him. She was the one who recommended Sakuragaoka to him. Because of her, Yujiro checks the school out and runs into Aizou. He admits to Aizou he's thinking about going here, and Aizou balks. He's absolutely appalled, and complains about not wanting to go there. (Which..??? Aizou..??? No one said you had to?!) Yujiro points this out and Aizou has the flimsy excuse of "it'll be easier for Manager Uchida to pick us up".

...I'm sure. But I digress.

Filming for the Romeo MV comes, and the two are inspired by Sena's professionalism, and at the end, Aizou finds Yujiro alone and, after arguing over who is the first lip in their unit name, they share a toast together.

The MV released in February, just before high school begins, and Yujiro and Aizou are proud to see themselves on the giant tvs in town. Yujiro remarks to himself how he feels as though he can overcome anything, and how he'll still be depressed- there'll still be days he can't even get out of bed, where he wants to run away, desperately endures tears, and so on...but he knows Aizou will be by his side.

School starts up, where they meet Hiyori. In the novels, Hiyori has to actually work hard to gain their trust and friendship (I did a full novel-to-anime comparison here. I am skipping over retelling it so I can continue with LIPxLIP's story, but rest assured, I will get back to it and explain their friendship.)

The end of the year comes- and I am assuming it's autumn or so when the next novel takes place, since they mention an upcoming "spring concert" and how they've been idols for a year now.

The two boys are getting along more- though they still have their argumentative moments. They are given an opportunity to be in a play as the main characters. Aizou is hesitant, but Yujiro, who has acting experience thanks to kabuki, accepts it immediately. Yujiro cheers Aizou on in his own weird way and Aizou accepts the job as well.

However...during the first reading...Aizou loses his place and the director goes off on him. I mean, even when I was reading/translating it, I was appalled myself.

Yujiro stands up for Aizou, and nearly gets them both fired because of his "bad attitude". They agree to stay on board, but now, there's tension in the air.

Aizou's new at all of this, so most people ignore him, esp the director. But Yujiro is good at what he does, so people expect perfection from him. He's suffering as well, on the opposite spectrum from Aizou. Hell, just one scene alone, Yujiro and some NPCs did for over two hours straight with no breaks. They've been practicing in general for a while now and this was, according to Aizou, the first mistake Yujiro makes...which causes the director to scream at him.

Now, multiple times already, Aizou has ran after Yujiro and abandoned his spot, and thinks about how he refuses to leave Yujiro alone, because he was worried about him.

He even seeks help from some female colleagues (who...know about Aizou's brother and mistakes him for him. Which leads to a genuinely hilarious moment of Aizou screaming in actual horror about the idea of dating a girl, and he only thought about it "for 3 seconds". He says he talks with a few girls but never wants to be personally involved with them) to help him better himself at acting.

Eventually, Aizou realizes what he has to do and...does it. He lightens up the entire room with his humor and even earns Yujiro's gratitude and respect (though...Yujiro kind of accuses him of trying to "woo him" when Aizou insists they practice together??? and says he may start some rumors??? Hello???)

Practice resumes, and Aizou takes singing lessons from IV of Ft4 due to not understanding how to sing with emotions and not just singing something well.

Dress rehearsals start, and Aizou recalls, back when he was a child, the joy of singing. He remembers the joy when he sang in the children's competition, and amazes everyone. Things are going well.

Until...Yujiro eventually collapses from a lack of eating and sleeping. Aizou catches him and Yujiro is taken to a hospital. Aizou worries for his wellbeing until he is able to check on him. At first, Aizou scolds Yujiro for not taking care of himself, before blaming himself for not realizing Yujiro wasn't taking care of himself. He admits to himself he saw Yujiro not eating and being tired during the day.

After the first day of the actual play, Yujiro tells Aizou about the time he was able to perform at a shrine, and Aizou, now realizing the truth about how Yujiro wasn't able to perform on stage, encourages Yujiro to dance for him, even assuring him that he was the only one watching.

After the director interrupt them, the two both think about how they have a future of hope ahead of them.

OKAY.

NOW that we are now all caught up with their stories, let's break down their relationship.

The two of them fight. They always have. They have their ups and downs often, butting heads about the best way to do things. However, they both acknowledge that fighting is part of their own love. Source.

The entire point of the Romeo novel was for them to realize they can rely on each other, how they are no longer suffering alone, and chasing their dreams. Aizou realizes that there's someone who will always stick up for him, even when they don't get along. Yujiro realizes that he doesn't have to suffer alone and can rely on a partner- not just for work, but for his emotional needs as well, as he points out in the epilogue.

The entire point of the LOVE&KISS novel (aside from telling an AU story, which half of the novel is the fantasy universe) was to nip their trauma in the bud. They have unintentionally begun to rely heavily on each other.

With Aizou, he finds his passion for singing again. Not just his dream- but the pure joy he gets when he sings. He doesn't need his mother's approval anymore (though she moved to France anyway and got remarried there, so it's not like he'll see her again).

With Yujiro, he's finally able to prove to his father, his brother, and the director too that he's someone worthy of being on the stage. Not just as an idol, but as an actor too. He even performed kabuki on stage- albeit it was supposed to be solely for Aizou's eyes only.

The two argued twice in the novel, and the rest of the time was spent worrying about each other, spent helping each other, and strengthening their bond. It's because of each other that they were able to overcome a harsh hurdle in their lives, the things that blocked them from becoming truly happy with their careers.

With a bit of offhand flirting and standing by each other firmly, the two have cemented themselves as the most important people in each other's lives. Hell, they even wear the same outfts in Chapter 7 as they do in Samishigariya, where it explicitly states that they're the most important people to each other (or, at least Yujiro is to Aizou), interconnecting this novel to the song in question.

As for Hiyori...no, she was not in this novel. She was briefly in Romeo at the very end when complaining about city boys, but despite working for them at this point in time, she does not show up at all in LOVE&KISS. Hell, she's not even mentioned.

I do not think it is a continuity error. I think this was done deliberately- because what purpose would she serve? I'm not trying to sound mean, I adore Hiyori. But she knows nothing of their backstories or trauma. And LIPxLIP are not the type to blab about their past abuse. It's taken them a while to be open and honest with each other even now. The novel is about Aizou and Yujiro and their bond. They had their own spotlight in Hiyori's novels.

With Hiyori, they obviously have grown to care for her. They've helped her dress up for Asuka and confess to him, and approved of Nagisa as boyfriend material for her, even encouraging her to go for him because they know Nagisa truly loves Hiyori.

("But Lisi! You said you're going based off of the novels and MVs!" Yes, but Hiyori's newest song and Nagisa's song both show that the event in the anime happened and are firmly continuing it, so it is...canon.)

Either way, the two still make fun of Hiyori and gang up on her, but despite that, they still are there for her...kind of? It's not like she really faces any hardships aside from the bullying incident that eventually blew over. But they do support her dream in being a track athlete.

They respect her hard work. They respect her.

Even so, despite them clearly being good friends, there's still a wall between them. Aizou and Yujiro haven't told her anything about their lives...and why should they?

If you're going based on the anime, they have every right not to tell her anything. Hiyori's first instinct when Ken told her a bit about Aizou was "thank god it's not real trauma. hmm how do I fix him?" and then yelling at Yujiro that he's not hated by his family because his mother makes him lunch.

Knowing what you know now, you can see where I'm going with this? Anime Hiyori seriously butted her nose where it didn't belong and, unintentionally or not, she completely undermined their trauma. Sure, they didn't hear her talking with Ken, but they sure as hell heard her when she said Yujiro wasn't hated by his family. And not to mention that aggravating as fuck scene of her comparing Aizou's dislike of women to her dislike of squid.

Aizou dislikes women partially because of his family, yes, but it's mainly because of his trauma with his mother.

They're friends, yes, but not personal friends. Aizou and Yujiro will help Hiyori, but they are not willing to let Hiyori help them outside of work-related issues.

LIPxLIP were able to grow as people because of each other, they rely on each other, they don't need anyone else because they have each other. They enjoy the presence of Hiyori and Minami, and they respect Ft4 as senpais, but that's about it.

Herotaru trashed their stories. Omitting things is fine, but not at the expense of ruining their backstories and personalities.

I think the anime should have been longer so we can focus more on their backstories and personalities. And give us a reason to truly believe that Hiyori, Aizou, and Yujiro are friends, rather than just shrug and say "yeah, they're friends because she said she has a dream".

And no, Yume Fanfare is not for Hiyori. The song is hinted to have been sung during high school, yes, this is after the bullying incident with Chizuru. We know this because we see Chizuru crying in the song Heroine Tarumono and the exact same frame is in Yume Fanfare, which Hiyori does not appear in. They are not gesturing to her, or looking out at her in the audience. She is behind the stage. As seen in the herotaru MV. They are gesturing to each other, singing and dedicating this song to each other. Hell, it goes over their trauma. It does not show us Hiyori's dream. Yume Fanfare is AIZOU AND YUJIRO'S ONLY.

Also Yamako, the creator of them, has said so herself as well. Sooo...yeah.

You can ship what you want, but you cannot and will not take Yume Fanfare from me because a shitty adaptation wanted to be special.

I hope this post has been helpful to anime-onlys.

LIPxLIP Novels: Romeo, LOVE&KISS

Bonus: Yujiro's solo dedicated to Aizou and Aizou's solo dedicated to Yujiro