#i dont tend to think about the ryuko side of it as much so this is partially me doing that

[skrunksthatwunk]

ok sequel post to the it's cool how obvious mako's crush on ryuko is from day one post from a couple hours ago bc I wanna talk about them more

ryuko takes a bit longer to warm up to her, but honestly? not by much. ryuko has a protective streak in her that lets her befriend people who need her pretty easily, and she's endeared to people relatively quickly if they don't piss her off (i.e. the mankanshokus, senketsu, maiko, eventually satsuki). she really does like people, even if she can be a little standoffish at first

ryuko's a little taken aback by mako's immediate strong affection, but she quickly adapts (very clear in how her approach to mako trying to tackle her changes from dodging to catching her and setting her down gently in only a few episodes). she doesn't get mako at first, but figures her out pretty quickly and adjusts. that's just mako, y'know? plus mako's just very kind to her in a way most people aren't. ryuko, too, wants company. she wants a family, she wants friends.

plus, her protective nature is fed a lot by the other students kidnapping mako so much and mako's dependence on her in those moments. mako is something precious to save and ryuko's weakness, but she also gives her strength. her support means a lot to her and mako comes to her rescue often (in the bathroom with tsumugu, de-monsterifying her, standing up to her family and fighting her demons in the fight club episode, etc etc). ryuko's fight against satsuki is one that feels very solitary. it's emphasized a lot just how many people satsuki has willing to fight for her, and there's just one ryuko. she has backup via mikisugi, mako, and senketsu, but what they can do for her is often pretty limited by their circumstances. again, mako's the one who calls her back from the edge multiple times. she's the key to calming her down. she's the one she staggers home to, the one she celebrates with, the one she spends her free time with. she chooses her company because she likes it. a lot.

there's a lot of moments where ryuko's like yep that's mako :) she's sillyyy. she brightens up immediately around her and often sours when other people enter the picture. she's the one good thing about honouji academy, y'know? she gives in to her a lot, letting her come along on her return to the ruins of her house, letting her come to honouji for the cultural festival, etc. she has an "aww i can't say no to you" thing going most of the time. mako's resolve and persistence is what bores through ryuko's walls and lets her get close to her. it's what she mentions when, after the wedding scene (and we'll get to that, trust me) she says mako and senketsu are more than friends. mako's surprised at her inclusion (again, she tends to slot herself as #2 to senketsu, her sunday best) and ryuko cites that persistence. mako was not only there for her, but stuck around, even when ryuko pushed her away, and that means something to ryuko. ryuko who people always misjudged or sent away or avoided or fought. ryuko who was lonely, whom no one fought for but herself. mako was there, and mako feels the same (as she says running in the naked sol's generator very near the end which. the sheer joy with which they say each other's names there is just. waaaaaaa)

ok the wedding scene. the wedding scene. not gonna go too crazy here bc I don't wanna detail the post but I'll say this: junketsu is frequently referred to as a wedding dress, and the fantasy/hallucination it forces upon ryuko (as the kamui itself was forced on her) is one of a normal-girl, average kinda life. one where she has a mother who's always there for her, she grows up normally, and she's happy. and she's happy because she has a family. she's not fighting all the time, she's in her place in society, she's having a wedding. of course, who she's marrying is irrelevant, even to junketsu. the man is faceless and unacting. he's not what makes this fantasy appealing. it's the assimilation, the acceptance of her by a greater society and authority structure (in this case ragyo). when mako and senketsu burst through the door, its handle flies off and knocks over the groom, stiff as a board, and he is forgotten. mako walks down the aisle to her, to call her back to her senses. ryuko says this is what she needs to be happy, that she'll kill mako to get it. mako says this isn't her or what she wants, pulling the "the ryuko i know" thing from before. but she's always been right. she knows her well. ryuko thinks she hurts mako/senketsu, and that realization lets her break out, lets her flay herself ripping junketsu off. she says she's getting out of that damn wedding dress even if it kills her. this is all to say that that scene is one of the most lesbian-coded things I've ever seen. mako's like you don't need to conform or marry a faceless groom or have a normal life to be happy, and i don't think you're truly happy or yourself like this. and ryuko realizes she's right. she doesn't want to marry a faceless groom, she feels trapped and changed by the wedding dress, by its ceremony and expectations. it's something that has a lot of similarity to a lot of lesbians' experiences of the expectations the world puts on them to marry men, to fit into this role. the joy of having a wedding vs the indifference to actually being married to someone. it's something that resonated with me a lot, having figured out i was a lesbian only a few months prior to seeing it for the first time.

it's after this that she says mako and senketsu are something more than friends. the exact nature of her and senketsu's relationship is unclear to me and debatable, but her and mako's take a very definite romantic shape by the end when mako asks her out, her hallelujah moment featuring them kissing and holding hands, with ryuko in a boy's highschool uniform, evoking heterosexual imagery to imply romantic intent ("I want to go on a date like a boy and a girl would go on a date" is kinda the effect). I think ryuko kinda figures it out then. she wants to go out with mako. she wants to be something romantic to her, something romantic with her.

ryuko lets her in. it's clear to everyone that mako's managed a closeness with her that no one else has (they don't acknowledge senketsu as a person/friend for a long time). they'd move mountains for each other. ryuko, who always had to fight everything alone, finally has someone who's willing to wade through all the bullshit life and ryuko herself give her because she believes in ryuko, because she thinks she's worth it.

my point is ryuko's into mako as much as mako's into her, she's just a bit quieter about it