#cannot believe a bunch of ungrateful ppl friendzoned him. at least the junaguda artists know what’s up

[hasarjunadoneanythingwrong]

I've heard that Arjuna loves Ritsuka and is closer to them than they were to the CCC protag can you confirm or elaborate on this?

So first I want to preface this by saying that I don’t really interact with media solely for shipping, and I also generally prefer servant/servant pairings as I find them more interesting than master/servant pairings (in the case of the Chaldea master)

WITH THAT OUT OF THE WAY

arjuna canonically is in love with the fgo mc, and the fgo mc specifically. Like I got embarrassed thinking about saying it at first, but if you put his behavior on a girl people would be more than willing to say that he was in love with them.

This is even more obvious when you compare his relationship with fujimaru to his relationship to hakuno: while he gets along with both of them, his relationship with hakuno is much more distant and you get the feeling he’s keeping them at arm’s length

this is especially interesting bc it’s an inverse of what usually happens with servants who contract to both fujimaru and hakuno-by nature of the extellaverse’s format and smaller cast they’re able to devote more time to the relationships, building them up so they feel more natural and real than fujimaru’s, who often will have a few semi-flirty lines of dialogue thrown in in order to help the unit sell. That isn’t the case with arjuna-he’s much more closed off to hakuno than he is to ritsuka!

And in regards to ritsuka: even before his lines updated, he has some…interesting dialogue that suggests some interest in them

the uh. tone, also plays a factor in this tbh

He also straight up gives you the arrow he killed karna with for valentines, which while a completely insane thing to do on the surface is meant as a show of trust, to give you the part of himself that he is the most ashamed of, to give you permission to see it and hold onto it. It’s also probably a great backup catalyst if you ever needed to resummon him or even karna like hmmm. Trying to say something? Like you want us safe???🤔

Then in his second interlude we descend deep into his dream and confront his ‘dark’ side, who isn’t his dark side so much as he is a manifestation of the guilt, jealousy, and pain he feels as a regular human being that he couldn’t accept as part of trying to be a perfect hero. Notably, arjuna persistently tells both fujimaru and hakuno that he doesn’t want people getting close to him (bc they might see this side of him) and that if they do he would harm them.

He doesn’t. He doesn’t even TRY to attack the master, only fights himself. And you help him come to better terms with himself as a person who feels ‘unsightly’ emotions, which deepens your bond even further, leading to this:

he changes his bond 5 line from a fearful, anxious one about you seeing him to one where he expresses his joy and happiness at having met you, and his wish on the holy grail changes from wanting eternal solitude to wanting to stay by your side to the end. This is about as explicit as you can get for a game: we have a few random servants who will throw out explicit ‘I love you’s’ (hektor, osakabehime summer), but he changes his line of view from not wanting you to see his true colors to expressing relief and happiness at having met you, and wishing to stay by your side forever. That’s love! That’s character development close to the lines of what melt or jalter had, except his didn’t get events dedicated to it, only interlude and bond lines. If a girl like jalter can be considered in love with the mc by their actions despite the vagueness then his behavior absolutely can count

I mean look at this

We Are Literally Married Now