#antihero tadashi

[sing-me-under]

So my favorite Big Hero 6 AUs are Antihero!Tadashi and Darkpath!Hiro. I wanna see those two concepts merged together. It’s just angst, drama, hate, and more angst. Oh. And Tadashi still has amnesia sorta.

So it runs along the same concept as the @runescratch ’s DarkPath AU where Tadashi was sent to defeat Hiro. Like he remembers having a younger brother and an aunt and friends but the specifics are blurry the entire way through. He still thinks Hiro is some evil villain who caused his family’s death (because Callaghan told him that) and honestly Hiro’s situation isn’t helping his case. He also doesn’t even know who family is in the first place so he could pass by Aunt Cass’s shop and not even know it and neither would she because he hides his identity too. And basically MORE ANGST BECAUSE HIRO IS ACTUALLY JUSTIFIED IN HIS HATRED OF TADASHI BECAUSE TADASHI IS ACTUALLY TRYING TO KILL HIM (although he doesn’t know why Hiro keeps calling him an imposter).

TLDR; What am I doing with my life at midnight on a Monday. Hiro and Tadashi are both vengefully angry. Tadashi has amnesia.

[miyuskye]

Idk man, if Utsumi didn't want Adam to be misunderstood then she could've written in a lot better. People like to excuse bad writing by saying its "complex" bc the fans are filling in the blanks. Makes for a big fandom, but it doesn't mean the writing is good. You can make complex characters without them being pedos, rapists or abusers.

I never said that she wrote him amazingly, though. I don't remember if I posted this here or on twitter, but I can assure you that between ep 11 and ep 12 I was a bit puzzled because I had the feeling that the story didn't want to go for a punishment route for Adam but one episode felt too short for a whole redemption arc. I am personally a fan of redemption arcs, and seeing one fitted in like 3 minutes was... Not the best example of good writing I can make. But, after all, 12 episodes pass quickly, and Utsumi said in an interview that she wanted the story to be even more convoluted (an example? Reki's first skating friend or the hinted and super rushed past of the three founders). Should she have tried to cut more and make things simpler given the short time she had? Probably, but, as a writer myself, I think it's not possible, once you have a first idea of what your characters and story is going to be.

Having said that, and especially thinking back to the whole series (which I rewatched bearing in mind that Adam wasn't supposed to be irredeemable) I think that Utsumi never actively tried to make him Bad. The whole thing with Langa has indeed a creepy vibe, but he never acts on it; he gives him flowers, he professes his love for him but, despite it arguably being an unconscious way for him to elicit a reaction in Tadashi (even outside of romantic feelings), he never actually goes to Langa's house and forces him into anything. I understand that you can say that most of my hcs for Adam are interpretation, but if we're going this way, then he has never raped anyone on screen. He has never showed Miya the same intensity he showed to Langa (not even an ounce; heck, when he gives him advice, he does it from afar in order not to touch him). With Langa, he makes sure to ask for consent. We all agree that using drones is a violation of privacy and definitely a crime, but he did it because he wanted to know why he was sad in S. Aside from that, we're not seeing him having any other footage from Langa's private life. With these, I'm not saying that he's a good guy (he's the villain for a reason), or that he doesn't have the potential to be a pedo, or a rapist. It's just that, on screen, there isn't enough evidence to certainly label him as such. There are hints, of course, but there are also clues of him just being an over the top antihero (while still being liable of crimes, like perjury - even though he was the one who sold Takano out, or invasion of privacy. Heck, he even runs an illegal skating ring, but its participants, namely everyone else in the show, are just as guilty in that context).

I believe I extensively talked about why I don't think we, as watchers, can label Adam as a pedo or rapist 100% sure. As for him being an abuser, I believe his only "victim" could arguably be Tadashi. His beefs with Reki were conducted under the S rules, after all. I am familiar with this trope, and it gave me a Fight Club vibe or, if you want a more uncultured reference, a Fast and Furious vibe: in an underground ring, everything is allowed and both participants go in fully aware of this. Shadow burns Reki's skateboard in ep 1 and throws firecrackers at people but no one is conducting a public trial for him. Everyone involved should have just refused Adam's challenges, had they not wanted to get injured. It's not like he goes to Reki's school and punches him. Same with Cherry who had been the one asking for a beef all of these years. (Also from a recent interview, it came out that the skateboard to the face is actually inspired from a real skating move but I'm afraid I don't have enough evidence in the form of irl people videos to fully back up this claim). As for Tadashi, I believe there are countless posts explaining why he's not the abused one in the relationship: he actively stands for Adam's real abusers and he wants to take away skateboarding from him. The reason for that is not because he wants to be free, but because he doesn't want Adam to be involved in a scandal. Ultimately, he does it for his sake, like everything else. Is their relationship healthy? Probably not, but co-dependence isn't really healthy. But that's another pair of shoes, and also another interpretation. Tadashi is undoubtedly happy at the end of the series, and sticks to Ainosuke's side because he wants to.

After all these words, I want to conclude that it's perfectly fine if you want to envision Adam as an irredeemable character. Utsumi hadn't written him well enough for him to be solely interpreted as an antihero (she tried to make up for it with lore pieces in interviews, but I understand it's not enough) (i.e. Zuko from atla has an enough complex and well-written redemption arc for people to more easily agree that he was meant to be an antihero and not just generally bad but that's not the case for Adam). It's perfectly fine if you hate his character, find him creepy or find it easy to label his behaviour as problematic (because it is). The thing is, there are other people entitled to their own opinions, based on Utsumi's words which keep enforcing the antihero Adam agenda. I'm not forcing anyone to see Adam as a good character (he's not). But I personally think that there is enough lore and complexity which was left out because of lack of space that shouldn't be just ignored, that is all!

Thank you for your ask!!

[sleepingcrisis]

I'm gonna try writing something not super serious to hopefully get over my writers block and even if I hate it I'll post it. :/

***

The water glistened like a thousand stars when the sun hit it at just the right angle. Wave after wave after wave crashing against the beach.

They aren't on the beach though. They are on a boat. A yacht. A yacht owned my the Shindo family... or at least rented. Hiromi wasn't sure.

Speaking of things he wasn't sure about (and there was a great deal of them) he wasn't sure why he had been invited to this. He and Oka tended to get along with the more "serious" skaters these days he supposed. He was still very much aware that they didn't quite click.

But here they were! On a yacht as Cherry and Joe got into a competition of who could stack the most glasses. Because that was sure to end well.

Hiromi ignored it for now since it wasn't a problem he was interested in dealing with. Yes normally this would be his type of scene. Competition. Alcohol. Attractive men. Yet the reoccurring thought of "they are all out of your league and would happily send themselves to the hospital for the sake of a contest" nagged at the back of his brain.

There was Adam and Cherry who were more alike then they were different of course. They were also terrifying. Hiromi had heard rumors of skaters sent to the hospitals by their glares alone. During the tournament Cherry had been sent to the hospital by Adam and of course everyone assumed that was it. Adam was the better skater, right? Next time they beefed Cherry sent Adam to the hospital and his injuries were worse. He dubbed them "even"... they hadn't beefed since then. Probably for the best.

Then there was Snake. Snake who apparently liked to blend into the background. No fancy costume and he hardly ever skated. He was good though, Hiromi knew it. He effortly carried himself with this air of confidence.

The glasses on Kojiro’s growing stack were knocked over when Kaoru 'accidentally' bumped the table and Snake managed to catch all except one of them out of the eight. To be fair they were quite drunk so eight was probably impressive. Snake has great reflexes. Hiromi had seen it on and off the track.

"Shadow, go help Joe clean up. He needs some water and you are the only one freakishly large enough to drag him along," Cherry called, effectively snapping Hiromi out of his thoughts.

Hiromi was calling bullshit on that. He had seen Cherry drag Joe to the ground. Regardless he left his spot next to Oka before leaving with Joe into the kitchen.

Joe is massive. He is massive and a flirt and everyone likes him. Even people that try and hate him end up being attracted to his magnetic personality. Hiromi had nearly been jealous of the fact that Joe seemed to attract anyone, but he had embraced his own role as the antihero of S.

"Thanks Higa," Joe hummed. His voice is a low content buzz as he leaned into Hiromi. Hiromi sighed softly and helped him into the kitchen before helping him get some water.

"No problem, you three got drunk quickly. But usually you are having to take care of me so I don't mind!" Hiromi said quickly.

"Good," Joe hummed and Hiromi could see this look in his eyes. Pupils blown and hands against the counter as he leaned back, effectively pushing his chest out.

"Good?" Hiromi tilted his head, confused.

"Well good for me. I get to be drunk and look at how handsome you are while Cherry and Adam fight over Oka," Joe explained as if that made perfect sense.

"What?" Hiromi nearly dropped the glass before offering it over to Joe.

"Well Oka is at least appearance wise Adam’s type and Cherry has always found him charming, but I have a bet going that you have a lot more piercings then meets the eye and I want to see all of—"

"That isn't what I meant!" Hiromi hissed as his face flushed red.

He was still figuring himself out and he knew for a fact that Oka was too. So now the guys that were supposedly 'out of his league' were trying to—

"Well what did you mean Higa? I would like to hurry this along to I can make my intentions crystal—"

Joe doesn't get to finish his sentence though because Tadashi interrupted them by pushing the door open.

"We are heading back," Tadashi announced.

"Sounds good!" Joe called and gave him a friendly wave.

"I guess our time is up Hiromi. Hopefully we have more time together, hm?" Joe suggested.

"Uh..." Hiromi is nearly stunned to silence before he manages out a soft, "yeah... sure."

***

Didn't help with my writers block... I don't completely hate it though.

Didn't edit because if I did I would delete it lmao.

[lavander-aavaros]

How come you don't see Adam's writing as a pattern of homophobic tropes? It feels like people think they have to defend it because people think "I like this, so admitting it's still bigoted means I'm a bad person, so I'll say it's not homophobic". Just because villains like this are the status quo does not mean it's not homophobic when the traits specific to flamboyant gay men are used to demonize them and show them as freaks and weirdos, never someone to love.

Anon. Look at me. Adam is not demonized. You’re not supposed to hate him. You’re not supposed to be disgusted by him. Director Utsumi has said countless times how much she loves him.

*sigh* where am I even supposed to go with this?

1. He’s not the only queer character in the show. Langa literally admits to having a crush on Reki. Yes, that’s an important thing to consider when making claims of “homophobia”. Showcasing only “pure and good queer people” is not the best rabbit whole to fall down

2. He’s not demonized. His story is about healing. He gets better. The rest of the cast, while weary of him, accepts him and wants to see him get better. Cherry and Joe waited around for 8 years because they wanted to see him get better. Ever after he hurt them, they’re still willing to give him a chance

You’re perfectly valid for disliking him but the show itself continuously hammers home the fact that Adam is hurt and needs help and can get better. The show itself does not hate or demonize him. If you dislike him, that’s a you problem

“when the traits specific to flamboyant gay men are used to demonize them and show them as freaks and weirdos, never someone to love” I’m just repeating myself at this point but that’s why episode 12 is so important. The other characters DO love him. Cherry and Joe who waited for him for 8 years, Langa who showed him how to have fun again, Tadashi who stayed by his side all these years

He’s supposed to come off as creepy and unsettling at first. He’s the antagonist. They gave him Dio’s voice actor for a reason! And then you’re supposed to learn more about him and recontextualize the information you were given about him. The same way that Shadow is literally “The Antihero of the S community” and later joins the main squad

“Never someone to love” they say as if “love” isn’t literally part of this name

[fantastic-rambles]

Sk8 Character Thoughts

Yeah, so y’all have to deal with me venting my latest obsession, lol. Sorry to everyone who followed me for other stuff, I will get back to it eventually. ^^;

I was gonna write out individual walls of text for everyone to be fair, but I decided that’s too much work and I’d go crazy before I finished (plus I’m feeling guilty for neglecting my fanfiction writing), so I’m just gonna bullet point some of the random things I think about various skaters (opinions and theories).

The order is the approximate order of which I like characters, though it’s not a strict ranking. I like most of the characters in the show to some extent.

Adam (Shindo Ainosuke)

I’ve already said a lot about him, you can check it out here and here. I’ll probably end up saying more about him before the show ends, too. xD

Yes, he is an absolutely awful person, but that’s what makes him amazing.

I will say that he needs a better costume designer. He looks like a clown. It looks like something that he designed when he was, like, five years old.

The mask is great though. <3

Cherry Blossom (Sakurayashiki Kaoru)

I love the super analytical types, but I also feel like Carla is a crutch for him. He’s a great skater, but if he didn’t have Carla, I don’t think he’d be able to compete at the level of the other top skaters. But all the more props to him for finding a way that he could compete at that level.

He totally had a thing for Adam before. But I think that even then, Adam was too fucked up to be able to have a romantic relationship, so nothing came of it. Because if Adam did actually learn what real love was like rather than confusing abuse for love, I don’t think he would have turned out the way he did.

It’s pretty clear that until he gets smacked by Adam, he’s still looking up to Adam and clinging to what they had before. And it bleeds into his non-skating life as well: when he did his calligraphy demonstration, I think that he hoped Adam would see it, which was why he picked that specific phrase and explained it--to let Adam know that it wasn’t too late to make amends (not that Adam would have given a fuck even if he did see it).

I love his character design as a teen, and I’m sad that he’s become more respectable-looking (though still hot af) as an adult. I’m a sucker for guys with long hair in anime/manga.

He is absolutely a weeb. He’s made an AI assistant who he calls Carla, which creeps out Joe (in a cute, lovable way, not in an Adam way), and he incorporates her into almost all aspects of his life. Like, he just happens to have an AI-augmented wheelchair handy, why?

He also dresses up like a ninja when he’s skating, goes around in a kimono in his daily life, etc. etc. Okay, maybe the kimono can be excused since he’s a calligrapher (though I’m pretty sure that’s not the norm regardless, except for maybe if the artist is at some sort of exhibition?), but people’s costumes seem to show off who they really are beneath the mask they put on for society. So Cherry secretly wants to be a ninja. xD

I’m not on any specific ship, but if I had to pick one to board, it would be Matchablossom.

Can we please have a spinoff that’s just about Adam, Cherry, and Joe when they’re teenagers?

Snow (Hasegawa Langa)

Frankly, Langa’s only up this high because I love his dynamic/rivalry with Adam. If Adam didn’t exist, he’d be below Joe, maybe below Tadashi.

Not that I don’t like Langa, but he’s just an oblivious skating nerd. He’s skilled and passionate, but I don’t really feel that he really stands out as a standalone character. He’s more of a foil for other characters (mostly Adam and Reki).

I guess what stands out the most to me is his ability to improvise when he’s falling behind, since his skill level is understandably lower than most of the other people he skates against. Like finding alternative pathways to the finish line versus Shadow and Miya, or using Joe’s strength to propel him forward. Or just, like, flying off the edge of a cliff to take a shortcut. That too. xD

His snow motif is pretty cool. (No pun intended.)

And I won’t deny that he’s cute. He’s actually the reason I started watching, because I saw some fanart of him and got curious. Came for the Langa, stayed for the Adam. <3

I feel bad for him for having a jealous jerk as basically his only friend though.

Joe (Nanjo Kojiro)

He’s such a teddy bear. <3

Joe’s the heart to Cherry’s brain, and I adore the way they balance each other out. I love Vitriolic Best Buds.

What surprised me, though, is that Joe seems to have a better understanding of Adam’s current character than Cherry does, since Cherry is so precise and analytical. Though the flashback clarified that some since it’s pretty obvious that Cherry is/was biased where Adam is concerned. Sure, Joe was also friends with Adam back then, but it seems that Cherry was the one most star-struck by Adam.

But Joe obviously knows and accepts that Adam’s changed, unlike Cherry, though he probably doesn’t know the reason why. He seemed to be expecting something to happen during the race, so it didn’t surprise him when it did, though he was sad/disappointed by it. It seemed like he was concerned and wanted to warn Cherry before his race (which is super cute), and when everyone else was flinching from seeing the assault on Cherry, Joe didn’t look away. I don’t think he knew exactly what Adam was going to do (I don’t think anyone did, lol), but he knew Adam was going to do something.

I don’t think he was serious when he said the reason Adam is avoiding their beefs is because he’s afraid he’ll lose, though. Yeah, he wants to race Adam, and he wants to win, but I think he’s more grounded when it comes to Adam, so he probably knows that Adam would beat him if it came down to it. Whereas Cherry legitimately thought he could win if Adam held back.

Also, his skateboard wheels are ridiculous. How do they even work?

Snake (Kikuchi Tadashi)

He got an ask post, yay, so not going to rehash it here.

I really hope that Adam realizes at some point that Tadashi is the only person who really knows and understands him, and comes to appreciate everything that Tadashi’s done for him.

Miya (Chinen Miya)

Such a brat, omg.

I get that he’s a kid, and kids are brats, and so it’s a fairly realistic depiction. I just hate kids. >.>

Pretty much the only time I’ll really like a child character is when they’re precocious as fuck and not child-like at all, which I get defeats the purpose, but that’s me.

Brattiness aside, he is skilled and appreciates Reki standing up to Adam on his behalf, so much so that he’s willing to spend his time training a “slime” just so Reki doesn’t get completely crushed by Adam. And he’s also willing to work with Langa to teach him the most difficult trick in skating (the Caspar Slide) for the same reason.

Ultimately, he’s a good kid, but he’s had some bad experiences that make it harder for him to trust people since he’s afraid they’ll leave him. He’s still willing to try, though, if people will give him a chance.

Also, the one ep when they go on vacation and Miya pretends Joe is his daddy (and Cherry is his mommy, rofl--hi Matchablossom!) to drive away the women Joe’s hitting on... hilarious.

Kyan Reki 

An even bigger brat.

Again, yeah, he’s a teenager and teens are “just like that,” but I hate those kinds of characters.

Just because his friend is a skating genius, he gets all pissy and stops being friends with him? Showing up to cheer Langa on and then completely running away doesn’t redeem him in my eyes. I get that he’s disappointed that he’s not capable of skating at the level of the top skaters and frustrated that Langa surpassed him so easily, but that’s no excuse to take it out on Langa (or anyone else).

And everyone complains about Adam being possessive, but they just gloss over the fact that Reki repeatedly tries to force Langa to promise to not skate against Adam, even roping in their manager, when he knows that Langa likes accepting challenges and has fun doing them. He just wants to keep Langa to himself, and he’s jealous as fuck that Langa is obsessed with skating against Adam.

Langa even explicitly tells him that he’s not racing Adam just because he’s upset about what Adam did to Reki, but because he wants to do it. Which is the exact same fucking reason Reki gives for not listening to Joe and Miya, and Langa supports his decision then. Why can’t Reki do the same?

Yes, he’s traumatized because his friend who introduced him to skating was seriously injured and had to quit skating, and he got hurt skating against Adam, but just like for Adam: YOUR TRAUMA/BACKSTORY DOES NOT JUSTIFY YOUR BEHAVIOR.

Plus, the whole “we’ll never disappear from your sight” that he told Miya? Psych!

Like, seriously. He knows the kid has abandonment issues because people leave him because he’s too good at what he does, and then he just goes ahead and poofs, putting both Miya and Langa through the same exact fucking thing.

Though I’m sure that the power of friendship will give him a miraculous recovery and he’ll build a new board for Langa so Langa can beat Adam before Adam gets hauled off to jail. It’ll probably be a cheesy make-up where Langa says something about how he can only use Reki’s boards, so it’s like they’re skating together when he races or whatever.

I do respect his ability to observe other skaters and make boards that are perfectly suited to them, though. And he knows that he’d be good in that support role. But he wants to be the hero, so he’s suffering from eighth grader syndrome and lashing out because reality doesn’t conform to his wishes.

Shadow (Higa Hiromi)

Just fucking die already, ‘kay?

I don’t even know what to say. He’s all caught up in his “antihero” complex or whatever (I don’t even remember if that’s the right term, and I don’t give a fuck), and he’s got a nasty personality. Like burning Reki’s board or threatening to have a guy tattoo “Dumpster Slut” above his girlfriend’s name.

You really expect me to believe that he’d treat his manager respectfully if they started dating when he does something like that? His polite florist persona is such a sham.

And he’s a shit skater. How the hell is he in the top 8? If they can throw in a random guy we’ve never seen before (Harry), then they could have just as well put in some other trash mob instead of Shadow, who only didn’t get knocked out in the quarterfinal round because he was racing a nobody.

Imo, all of his “cute” little tricks like throwing fireworks at his opponent or shining a laser into their eyes is worse than what Adam does. Once he does that, he relinquishes all control over the situation, so anything could happen, such as his opponent crashing into a wall or falling off a cliff, which could result in serious injuries or even death. On the other hand, Adam always remains in control when he’s trying to throw off his opponent by forcing them to dance with him and freaking them the fuck out by pushing their limits. Even when he’s holding Reki’s head about an inch above the ground, he won’t let Reki brain himself on a rock or something. And even when he smacks Cherry with his skateboard, his attack leaves Cherry conscious and so lightly injured (relative to what could have been) that he doesn’t even need to stay in the hospital. (I don’t think he actually needs a wheelchair, other than probably being a bit woozy from a concussion, maybe. And maybe not even that if Joe isn’t concerned enough to wake him up/keep him from being unconscious.) Yeah, Adam fucks with his opponents, but if they can get over it, they can get back on a board. There’s a good chance that won’t happen if they get in an accident caused by Shadow, other than for anime logic.

“What about Adam’s Love Hugs??” What about them? Yes, he’s not holding on to his opponents to control their falls, but the point of it is to make them flinch and fall backwards, against the line of motion. That naturally will decrease the severity of their physical injuries, unlike when Reki and Harry fall off the course at full speed versus Shadow.

The only reason he doesn’t have a higher body count than Adam (or even a literal body count) is plot convenience, since he’s not the villain.

[emyralia-blog]

Okay, but hear me out:

Joe/Cherry to me feel kinda similar to Reki/Langa personality/energy wise. Reki and Joe being the ones driven by emotion, while Langa/Cherry are the more reasonable and calm characters. Joe, as Reki more into skating for fun, while Cherry, like Langa, takes a more even professional approach by analysing and trying to outdo himself.

If you go even further and include Shadow and Miya in it, where Shadow as the Antihero and aggressive skater seems kinda similar to Adam (although not nearly as psycho, I have to admit), it makes me wonder if Miyas Mirror might have been Tadashi? If that makes sense.

Just a wilde theory...

[chocmarss]

'Till We Meet Again is my all time fave!!

o m g I haven’t updated that fic since Jan 2015 and im,,,,,,,,,,,, antihero tadashi hamada good times good times

And I’m glad you like it!

tell me which of my fics do you like

[bh6honeylemons]

anti-hero tadashi be liek

i dont even know