#akemi wanting to be great while taigen's seen what it's like to be at the top and what it cost him to keep his station (his livelihood)

[suunfilled]

hey girl (gender neutral)! thanks for giving me a buffet for thought on this fine saturday evening. <3

I WANT TO BE GREAT.

BLUE EYE SAMURAI (2023)

[ceruleanskies48]

Jealous Mizu

It’s Day 5 (Banter) of @taimizuweek! Like many in the BES fandom, I’ve been thinking a lot about love triangles since the creators have been unrelenting in their teasing of a Mizu-Akemi-Taigen love triangle. In particular, recently I’ve been thinking about jealousy. Although some ship the trio as an endgame throuple, “love triangle” typically implies an unstable arrangement that can be leveraged to create juicy drama through sparking feelings of jealousy, betrayal, and abandonment. 

While I personally don’t like the idea of Mizu suffering from such negative emotions, thinking about Season 1 through the lens of love triangles has made me realize that perhaps we have already seen inklings of jealous Mizu through her banter with Akemi. 

In particular, I’ve been intrigued by the moment in Ep. 4 when Mizu tells Akemi that she “begs to eat trash.” On first watch, this seemed really harsh (is Taigen really “trash”?), but I just figured, Taigen’s station is way lower than the Shogun’s son, and he was Mizu’s childhood bully, so she has reason to think poorly about him. Upon further reflection though, I think this moment actually shows some romantic jealousy on Mizu’s part.

In the episode before this, she left Taigen a very flattering letter that showed that she greatly respected him (and did not actually think he’s trash). She left him her the broken blade, took his scarf, and told him they’d meet again. Shortly before Mizu and Akemi’s conversation, Mizu fantasized about Taigen when seeing the male prostitute and swordsman kiss. And in the cut scene right before they talk (https://www.instagram.com/reel/C0KFcvrRedc/), she was looking at herself in the mirror and wondering if she could be considered sexually appealing. 

In light of all of this, I think the reason she so venomously chastises Akemi is that, on some level, she felt like she had a special connection with Taigen—even a potential romantic one—but feels threatened upon learning that Taigen’s fiancée is the beautiful, high status, and extremely feminine princess Akemi. Who could compete with that? There’s a tinge of injustice in her voice, like, why do you have to go after *this* trashy dog (whom I have conflicting feelings about but have begrudgingly come to see as sort of being *my* trashy dog), when you could have anyone else? Insulting Taigen is probably also a way for Mizu to suppress her own burgeoning feelings.

This comparative dynamic also comes up in the forge scene, after Mizu hops off of Taigen. For a moment, she feels a possible romantic connection to him, and it seems like she’s about to reveal her gender to him, but then he brings up Akemi. Mizu seems to believe him—that his boner was due to thinking about Akemi—which makes her confess instead to watching Akemi being taken away. I imagine in that moment, Mizu tamped down any hope she might have for a spark with Taigen, reminding herself that he’s in love with the beautiful Akemi, with whom she could not possibly compete. 

Mizu’s jealousy also comes out in her not-so-subtle jabs at Akemi and Taigen’s relationship. When they first meet, she tells Akemi that Taigen seemed more upset about his hair than his broken engagement. Later, even when she’s trying to bring Akemi and Taigen back together (and hyping up Taigen as a potential "great man"), she tells Akemi that Taigen BELIEVES he loves Akemi very much. For such a straightforward person, such veiled language stands out. She's a wingman with a conflict of interest.

Mizu is not the only one feeling tinges of jealousy. Akemi explains that she wanted to meet Mizu to see what power Mizu has over Taigen to make him run away from her. It’s interesting to see this comparative dynamic between these two women, who in many ways could not be more different, yet who are brought together by Taigen, who notably is their only topic of conversation in Season 1 (sadly Akemizu Season 1 doesn’t pass the Bechdel Test, but I imagine that’ll change in future seasons).

As the writers further develop the love triangle in subsequent seasons, I’m curious if we’ll see jealousies intensify and who will be jealous of whom.

[costelloschoice]

Mizu x Cowgirl! reader headcanons -Mizu x fem!reader -hi so I totally don't have a self insert that is a cowgirl and want to share my ideas about this LMAO -but seriously, I love this idea and idc if a cowboy wouldn't be here during this time period. We're here to have fun -comments and reblogs are appreciated :](pls I love readin comments and interacting with yall)

Sfw:

Okay so....wow

You are a completely different life form to Mizu

Your clothes? Crazy.

Your cowgirl hat will be the first thing she would notice, cause what type of that???

Leather pants with chaps on top

damn bro? who dressed you?

Your accent is also strange, why do you talk like that?

Ofc she will see you as a threat at first cause who are you and where did you even come from...plus that revolver in your side holster ain't helping

But once you proved yourself to her you don't mean harm, you're allowed to hang- you would score more brownie points with her

Mizu would def be intrigued by your backstory and why you're here in Japan

Late night talks by the fire

Even sneaking off to show her star gazing and small stories to share about the stars

Play guitar? Show off to her

Sing her songs and little bops you've learned or made on your own

Would die if you wrote one about her

You tame horses like it's nothing and its impressive to her

impressed more in you can ride without a saddle

Your lasso?

See wants to see you use it

has some thoughts of you tying up your enemies while fighting...

Once you guys develop a romantic relationship, she'll be excited but nervous

Excited cause you're great and accept her, but you guys are from two different cultures and lives

Will it work out?

Ofc it will...cause I say so

Will try on your cowgirl hat and do finger guns, even do impressions on you

Hasn't smiled this much in so long, it's like you casted a spell of some sort

Let her ride your horse with her

You have a fun side but also your serious side

Impressed when she sees you FINALLY use a sword like she taught your

speaking of that

she will force you to let her train you to sword fight instead of always relying on that damn revolver

She is impressed you can fight, but just not sword fight

Will hug and praise you in private about it later

"You should've seen yourself...You did so well, so beautiful wielding the sword,"

Will be willing to try your culture's food, even if she doesn't like it, she will appreciate it

When you get mad, and your accent gets thicker...sorry she can't keep up with what you're saying

But!!!

She loves to see you defend her, even if you're really outspoken

Specially with Taigen? Yeah, even though she can fight her own battles

Her favorite line? When you yelled at Akemi for crying too loud during the tea house situation

"Stop cryin' before I give you somethin' to cry about, girl.."

idk she loved see a spoiled girl being put in her place

but she knows you mean well

You were different but a good difference in her life <3

Nsfw:

going back to that damn lasso

wants you to tie her up, she's seen you do it and trusts you fully

would want to learn from you, for sexual and non-sexual reasons

LOVES to ride your strap

and yes

you make her follow the "hat rule"

hates it

but in the moment, she doesn't care too much, and will wear it

when you ride her? You wearin' it

now she sees why you love it

Your accent with dirty talk? Makes her weak in the knees

especially when your whisper in her ear

Your soft yet rough nature makes the sex life 10x better to her

You tell her something one night as a joke

"Save a horse, ride a cowgirl"

and she did

and loved it cause you made sure the ride was rough and wild

making love after star gazing? Yes pls

By the fire? Mhmm

Your soft voice with after care as well? Makes her so giddy and helps put her to sleep fast <3

[hauntingofhouses]

(tags via @saessenach)

first of all ioana ily. and second of all, YES 1000% re:taigen being semi-suicidal and borderline stupid with his devotion. and what i find really interesting about this is how it contrasts mizu and akemi's similar tendencies to throw themselves into danger, not caring about what happens to them.

however, the difference between taigen and our two main characters (mizu and akemi) is that their desperation is focused on themselves and their own goals (vengeance for mizu, and freedom/independence for akemi).

on the flip side, from what we've seen on screen, taigen's willingness to throw himself into danger has always been for the sake of others. for mizu, for akemi (though we never actually saw this on-screen, it was implied as such before he got distracted by fowler's plot to storm edo), and for his liege: the shogun.

and on that note i could ramble on about how i feel like taigen's loyalty and allegiance will shift in the future so that his liege will not be any lord or noble, but mizu, and the main reason i think so is the way he immediately, unhesitatingly tells her, "it's your fight. so it's mine." but that's not wholly relevant to this discussion, so.

anyway. what was i saying. oh right, about how taigen's desperation is more group-oriented rather than self-oriented. and i think this also says a lot about gender roles, where men's spaces are public ones whereby they are allowed to take up more space and hold group affiliations (like within a dojo, for example). meanwhile, women's spaces are private ones, in which they are dependent on their men or caretakers and are not allowed to travel without a male escort, etc. as such, men are protectors while women are to be protected, and so on.

this is why mizu and akemi's goals are more self-serving, and it's not a bad thing, but an empowering one. because when women, are told their whole life that they're meant to serve men and be nothing more than a thing, of course they're going to hate it and want to break free of that.

but to get back on topic, taigen is not the only one who's more group-oriented, as ringo is too. ringo, like taigen, is willing to be in the line of danger for the sake of helping others, whether it is mizu, or honestly anyone else. unlike mizu and akemi, taigen and ringo do not find it stifling to live their lives serving others, but instead, they find growth and purpose in helping. if you can't reach greatness, you help it. and that's okay. it's what ringo has already learned, and what taigen needs to learn too.

I was wondering, what do u think Taigen reaction to finding out about Mizu being a woman will be? Although I don’t think he will have a bad reaction I wanted to know what u thought about it?

OOH I like this question because the thoughts on this have been swirling around in my brain for a while and I don't think I ever properly talked about this, outside of maybe this post (which is barely coherent imo). There, I compared Mizu/Taigen to Mizu/Mikio, as well as to the main romantic couple in the movie Yentl. Then from both those comparisons, I tried to speculate on Taigen's reaction to Mizu's gender reveal, based on what would make the most narrative sense.

However, I didn't really analyse Taigen himself in that post, and neither did I ever come up with a concrete conclusion to what his reaction may be. So this ask gives me a good chance to speculate even further and hopefully come up with a proper and more in-depth answer.

Similar to you, anon, I don't think Taigen will have a bad reaction per se, though I guess it depends on what you'd define by bad.

Because this is Taigen we're talking about, I don't think he'd exactly be chill about it. He's very much a drama queen, especially around Mizu, as he's never afraid of stepping on her toes, and thus will vocalise his feelings to her whenever he's feeling them. That, combined with his short temper and his brashness, means that there's almost certainly going to be conflict when he finds out the truth. He will be shocked, and because he's immature, he'll be angry and upset because of this shock. Simply because he doesn't know, and hasn't yet learned, how to deal with his emotions in any other way besides getting angry.

So I think that will definitely be his first instinct. To get upset.

I don't think he'd immediately know why he's upset. Maybe only after a few minutes of angry questioning (think something along the lines of "Why are you telling me this now?!" and "You've been hiding this all this time?!"), he'd finally come up with some tangible cause for his anger.

What would the cause for his anger be then? Well, it could be several things.

Possible Reason #1

He feels "betrayed" because Mizu didn't trust him enough with the truth even after the two have grown close, and after Taigen has put his life on the line for her numerous times.

Possible Reason #2

He feels "cheated" because Mizu is not the man he'd believed she was, thus making it feel like their entire friendship was a sham. This is because the basis for their relationship, in the way he'd related to her, bullied her, envied her, admired her, allied himself with her, and eventually grown attracted to her, had been entirely based off the premise and belief that Mizu is his fellow man, his peer, comrade, and fellow samurai. Thus, discovering that Mizu is not a man would, initially, feel like all of that has been ripped away from him. And this is actually related to the third possible reason.

Possible Reason #3

This is a big one, and the reason everyone, including myself, is putting their bets on: misogyny.

Essentially, Taigen would find out that this whole time, the person he'd been envious of and struggling to beat in every single fight, is not a man, but a woman. And as far as he knows, even if women in feudal Japan could once be warriors (see: the Onna-musha), perceptions have since changed by the time of the Edo period. Furthermore, even if women could fight, men were still expected to be stronger, because men are supposed to protect women.

However, I believe that Taigen's particular flavour of misogyny is a little different, in that he does not view women as "inferior." Because remember, his fiancee was Akemi. This was a woman who took no shits! She was snarky and playful and intelligent, and moreover she was a princess, superior to him in every way, and he knew and respected all of that, and respected her as an individual who could make her own choices. When she'd told him the news of their engagement, Taigen asked her, "He's [your father] sure? You're sure?" And then, when she tried to seduce him in Ep 2, he asked her, "Akemi, are you sure?"

His respect for her is the only reason why Akemi had been so desperate to marry him in the first place. She did not love him, but knew he would be good to her. Because she could not guarantee that any other man would treat her nicely as he would.

Thus, with that being said, I don't think Taigen is some "alpha male dudebro" who thinks women belong in the kitchen etc. Instead, I think Taigen simply believes women are just... different from men. So it's not that women can't or shouldn't fight, it's that they just don't. It's not that women can't or shouldn't be friends with men on equal footing, it's just that they aren't. You get what I'm saying?

It's like, imagine your whole life, you're told, and fully led to believe, that a lamp can't light up. They're just meant to be in your house as decoration. And then suddenly, you find out that your lamp lights up! And you're like, "OMG a lamp is lighting up! How is it doing that?! I thought light only comes from candles and the sun! This can't be right, I thought lamps never light up! Isn't that a fundamental part of their design?"

Now, put aside that this is a pretty bad analogy because it's 1am as I'm writing this and I can't think of a better one atm, but I hope the point comes across, in that this is clear-cut misogyny (I'm comparing women to a piece of furniture here on purpose), but the lucky thing about this particular flavour of misogyny is that it's rooted in ignorance, and is not inherently malicious. It can be, but it isn't necessarily.

Ignorance can be undone through learning and educating oneself. And luckily for us, my friends, educating oneself out of ignorance is the entire point of Taigen's character! He represents the uneducated masses who blindly follow the flow of the fucked up system. This is in contrast to Mizu who has never had a place within the system to begin with, Akemi who has spent her whole life struggling to go against the grain of the system, and Ringo who has always tried to follow the system, but due to his disability, is denied full access to it.

Thus, we've already seen him take the first steps to unlearn his xenophobic and racial prejudice, and we've also seen him start shedding his massive ego and desire for glory, which are both used to mask his own insecurities. If Netflix gives us all 4 planned seasons, then we have 3 more seasons for Taigen to fully grow out these backwards mindsets and finally reach his full potential to become—not a good man—but a great one.

THEREFORE, whatever the reason for his upset at discovering Mizu's gender, I firmly believe that Taigen will get over himself in the end, regardless of whether his anger stemmed from his misogyny, hurt, confusion, or whatever else.

Because Taigen's short temper and emotional immaturity is born from him spending his whole life on the move. Unlike Mizu, who is always alone with her thoughts and meditates constantly to try to cleanse herself of her restless emotions, Taigen is used to surrounding himself with people (see:him in the Shindo Dojo) and ignoring his emotions completely (see:him trying to forget Kohama). Which is why, when he does feel anything, it's overwhelming, and he doesn't know what else to do with it except let it out, usually in an angry outburst. Only when given the proper chance to reflect in Kohama in Ep7, does Taigen finally go through some substantial growth and start feeling remorse over how he'd treated Mizu.

Hence, I suspect something similar will happen when he discovers Mizu's gender, in which he will get upset and shocked and confused first, but then he'll reflect and regret and try to make up for his past behaviour.

And this is what I meant earlier when I said that I don't think he'll 't have a "bad reaction."

Essentially, it is my belief that his reaction will not follow in the footsteps of Mikio's, but instead, directly oppose and subvert that. This is related to the points I referenced in the post I linked above, but also, more importantly, because Taigen and Mikio are narrative foils.

Thus, where Mikio had betrayed Mizu and left her for dead, I believe Taigen will, at the end of the day, remain loyal and continue to fight by her side until the very end.

Because the thing about Taigen, as a person, outside of all the attitudes and prejudices that have been ingrained into him, is his relentless devotion. He gives himself into everything he does, puts in his all, and does not do things halfway. That's what makes him such a good soldier. He does not lead, but follows. He is inherently self-sacrificing and driven by a desire to protect, and we see this in how protective he is of Mizu to the point of enduring torture for her and telling her to use him as a human shield; how his first instinct upon hearing Akemi had been dragged off to get married against her will, is to get up and try to go to her; and how, when hearing the shogunate is in danger, he immediately goes straight to Edo palace to try to warn the shogun, even if it might get him killed in the process.

I could go on about why I think this is what makes him so good for Mizu (because Mizu's arc, especially in Season 1, is literally about accepting help and opening herself up to others) but this post is already atrociously long, so I'll just leave it at that.

So, anon, I hope I answered your question! I'm sorry I can never give short answers though, but I think at this point, it's to be expected from me lol. Thank you for the ask btw! And on that note, my inbox is always open for more 👀