#idk i just like my haru better than what's in canon.

[starryo]

OH MY GODDDD YOUR WHITE MASK AU AAAAAAAAAA

YOUR WHITE MASK DESIGN IS MAKING ME INSANEEEEEEE AAAAAAAAAAA

HE!!!!!! HIM!!!!! Joker is soooooo ominous and insane looking in his white mask outfit and mask and omg I loveeeee his mask it’s sooo fitting especially for a wild card with so many masks, for him to be represented by a half crying half laughing theatre mask like that and his hair!!!!

Does his hair change when he enters the metaverse?? Does he still have arséne/does he carry his personas into the new run? If not, does he reawaken arséne as his first persona again? Or does he awaken to a different persona when he gets metaverse access? He’s still a wild card but I’m soooo curious about his awakened persona especially considering his new ‘fit like damnnn.

ALSO can he change his metaverse outfit like og!Akechi? Does he have an opinion on his outfit (hate it, like it, finds it creepy or weird to adjust to or anything)? (Did I mention I ADOREEEE your white mask design for him bc hoooollyyyyyy hellll do I adore it with every single fiber of my being wow-

How does Shido find out about him if he doesn’t approach him (or does he approach Shido as a keep your enemies closer kind of thing)?

I cannot IMAGINE how the white mask reveal would go like omg, does he also have a little mini insane breakdown in front of them or is he still chill during it, you said the engine scene and interrogation room bit would go very differently but AAAAA HOWWWW PLSSSS SHAREEEE😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

And don’t even get me STARTED on how much I absolutely adore Akechi’s design here, his little earring, his everything omggg, I really wanna know how far he got beating up Shido lmaoo

Did Akechi still get tossed around foster homes growing up? Did he lean into his “unwanted child” thing instead of crafting his likeable “perfect” personality/facade (considering he look a little delinquent-y in the art I saw)? If so, what makes the change there? Does his mother die differently or does he just not know about Shido maybe, causing him to not create the same facade because he no longer has a clear revenge goal? Idk but I’m soo curious what got him looking and acting so different (assuming his facade isn’t actually the same and it’s just the appearance that changed).

Does Joker have a likeable “detective prince” persona (pun not intended) now instead since he took the detective spot, or is he less public/handles it differently? If he does then does he have the same cult following of fangirls lol

What school does Joker go to in this AU?? Does he go to the same (unnamed) school Akechi went to last time? Does he still go to Shujin (unlikely I’d assume)? Does he maybe go to Kosei since it’s a school for prodigies n stuff so it would be willing to work around his whole detective prince shtick? Plus Kosei means getting to talk to Yusuke without Shido finding out

Also you said that the Yoshizawas and Niijimas could be explained to Shido as useful connections, how are the Yoshizawas useful connections? Their family? Also does he get to meet Haru pre-canon because of the same logic?

Does he have a better relationship with Sae than Akechi? Maybe being able to help with her distortion before the canon timeline even starts? I’d imagine Makoto doesn’t despise him like she does Akechi (since I doubt he’d be anywhere near as passive aggressive and awful lmao) so are they friends or does Makoto still have a bit of jealousy for someone her age being so much closer to her sister than her (or both??👀 she can multitask)?

And also does Akechi have a different outfit than canon too then?? Does he have a different persona? Or just Robin Hood? You said he takes Jokers place in the unjust game so I’d assume he gets to recruit and fuse persona but does that mean that Joker can’t??? Or can he recruit persona but just not fuse them? OR can he do both bc of some NG+ shenanigans or him having more time in the metaverse (in this loop and others) meaning that he manages to get some kind of higher powers than canon? Like maybe he can talk shadows into fusing or can enter/exit the metaverse without the Nav or change/use cognition to do things he never thought of doing before (Monabus style but minus the Mona).

Does he have a persona that helps him cause shutdowns/mental breaks or does he just talk the shadows to the mental ledge or sth? I could see him talking shadows into mental breaks or shutdowns to match his whole talking to recruit shadows ability and will he still have a place or title as a/the trickster? Especially if Lavenza and people refers to him as the trickster to Akechi or something. Also does he have Satanael? Or is this one of those AUs where he never awakens Satanael even in the OG run? Also does he reset runs because the year is up, because they disappear bc of the grail, bc they die in the Yaldy battle, or something else? And does *he* know why he resets or is he stressed out of his mind?

Does he try to stay away from the other PTs even once canon starts (bc Shido)? Is Akechi less smarmy and awful lol? I am dyingggg to know more about this AU (DID I MENTION I WOULD KILL FOR YOUR WHITE MASK OUTFIT OMGGGG ITS SO GOOD) and I am soooo sorry for the super long ask I didn’t even realize how long it had gotten I just am insane from this AU sorry T.T

hello!!! sorry for replying so late! oh my god i first opened your ask when i was in a discord voice called and was floored by your enthusiasm!!! i mean that in such a positive way thank you so much for loving my little au! im going to try my best to answer all your questions <3 this is going to be another long text post haha

since lavenza is the only other character that is also carried over from the previous run of the game, joker actually has access to the full persona compendium he collected. i will say that in the new run, the phantom thieves don’t see him use arsene due to reasons :) he also does receive a new persona! dont ask who yet though i haven’t finalized it. his hair changes with his outfit, meaning he still has access to his original joker outfit and can switch between them like how original akechi can switch between his. as for his opinion on it… he has pretty complicated feelings over it. he does appreciate the aesthetic of it and without hiscircumstances he would probably enjoy it even if it’s not his usual style. i think the best way to describe his opinion of it now is that he’s numb to it, and he also finds it quite comedic when you consider the what it symbolizes. (and thank you so much 🥺 i love character design so much and he is my baby)

like og!akechi, he does approach shido first, more because he felt like he had no other choice. he tries to justify it in his mind that taking this initiative is the most reliable way to guarantee the future going how he wants them to go.

he doesn’t really get his full breakdown until his palace! so he stays pretty composed when he is confronted in the engine room up until this point he hasn’t revealed his hand as the true culprit yet, so it’s pretty shocking to all of the thieves (except goro) and they feel a lot more conflicted as a result.

akechi kind of lives up to his delinquent appearance and rumor in this au yeah haha! he unfortunately wasnt able to get too far beating shido up, which makes him all the more frustrated and angry. he was tossed around foster homes growing up yes, and it was mostly after his criminal record that he fully leaned into the “unwanted child”. i guess part of him still kind of hoped that things would work out somehow for him even if he barely scrapes by. he still taps into that good kid facade sometimes if its more beneficial! aside from that, nothing has changed from canon regarding his backstory. his mom still died the same way and he knows who shido is, he just didnt get his powers like in canon which meant he didnt have any power to back any plans for actually exacting revenge even if he wanted to.

detective prince akira kurusu is very likeable and popular with the fans! he leans into the theatrics of it a lot more, but he also finds it so much more exhausting and often wonders how og!akechi was able to manage. he doesnt put as much of an emphasis on his popularity as og!akechi and more on increasing his authority as a detective, but he does consider both to be vital to his goal of crafting the perfect outcome. he goes to the same unnamed school as akechi (i’m trying to figure out a good name for it rn) and im deciding whether or not i might have him transfer to shujin in the second semester.

yoshizawas’ dad is the director of a really popular news channel! since both the niijimas and the yoshizawas arent direct associates with shido, akira can use the excuse that he’s maintaining good relationships so that he gets some influence. with haru and okumura he doesn’t really have that excuse, since okumura is already directly collaborating with shido. he has met haru in passing a few times though, and he wishes he could reach out more without both shido and okumura raising an eyebrow.

i think the best way to describe the difference between akira and og!akechi in terms of their bonds is that og!akechi didn’t have any true bonds aside from joker during his run, while akira is forging many bonds that are founded on deception. so while he technically has a better relationship with sae and many others than og!akechi did, akira questions a lot if they truly count when he’s only ever giving them what they want to see and none of the truth. to him they’ve started to feel even more transactional, and it doesn’t help that he sometimes questions if he’s attached to the present or the past more. i hope this explanation makes sense lmao, his experiences and thoughts are pretty contradictory at times so sometimes they dont make sense when i try to explain his logic.

i will say that he neither encourages or discourages sae’s distortion though, but he will help mitigate the consequences and advise her at times when she does ask for input. he’s definitely not as passive aggressive, and they’re at a weird stage where they’re not quite friends yet (mostly because yes makoto is still a little jealous and she is very awkward/guarded around him and a bit proud i guess? akira is patiently waiting for her to make the first move while giving her opportunities)

akechi has both robin hood and loki! he does have a different outfit that is a bit of a fusion between his two original ones (i havent finalized the designs yet). both of them are able to access the velvet room and can fuse personas, though joker doesnt really have the need to since he already completed his compendium.

his new persona does give him some new abilities that help with his new role yes, and yes he does do something similar to talking shadows into mental breakdowns. he is still referred to as a trickster by the velvet room residents when spoken to directly, but when they speak to akechi about akira they refer to him as “player”.

he did successfully awaken to satanael in the previous run. i’ll keep the details of why and when he resetted a secret for now hehe, cant give away the entire mystery!!

once he gets the excuse to hang out with the phantom thieves he 100% uses it to his advantage. it’s a sensitive balancing game, because he knows that shido will one day notice either way. one can even argue that he is being too reckless but unlike og!akechi, akira gets the advantage of knowing a lot more information.

as for akechi… he’s kind of a bitch haha like i would say he’s a bit like third semester og!akechi but less unhinged in the metaverse. definitely still very bloodthirsty with the shadows though just a bit less loud about it. he’s very blunt and direct with the phantom thieves, and likes to use sarcasm or mockery sometimes (the phantom thieves quickly learn that this is his weird love language). he’s definitely a lot more honest in his mannerisms in this au, so much that when he does turn on his pleasant boy charm, everyone else starts getting chills and feel super unsettled.

thank you again so much for all your questions!!! i hope i was able to answer all of them okay 💖 im so happy to hear you like my au so much! i hope i can draw them more often 🥺

[xviistrings]

kotohime palace rulers ranking (wakaba included)

oh no, being asked for my opinions on the palace rulers, whatever shall i do...

KOTOHIME'S TOP 9 PALACE RULERS!!! WHO IS MARUKI

at number 9 we have the one and only kunikazu okumura!

probably the most predictable outcome, but can you blame me when he has an atrocious palace design, terrible writing as a character both in that arc and in haru's confidant, unsavoury memories of a certain cat... i mean, it wasn't really kuni's fault that morgana ended up stealing haru's spotlight to have his moment, but the writers know what they did

okumura's saving grace is that 1) he has enough backstory provided for me to do whatever i want with him in rsau and 2) he's pretty handsome

at number 8, junya kaneshiro!

now don't get me wrong, i love kaneshiro. i think about him allllll the time and he's THE bro in rsau (i can't go a second without mentioning it sorry) and also suguru's implied romantic interest cough cough

but... uh... :')

his palace is just as annoying. the only bonus it has is better music. makoto's awakening is also super sick, but this ain't about her

i get that he's got a fixation on being rich but it's a little comical how much he talks about it. like. he LOOOVES money. money money money. and hes purple fly hitler. who loves money

coming up on number 7 is yaldabaoth

cool twist. cool ending. cool whatever. but youre not my kitten baby (he actually is a kitten in rsau. or is he a cobra? kuni calls him a zebra)

at number 6 is wakaba isshiki!!!

who are you

at number 5 we have........ masayoshi shido!

was THAT predictable? i didn't think so!

you might think that from the amount of posting i do about how deeply i desire him carnally i must be a big fan, right? well. eh

playing through his palace was tedious and longwinded and dull when it wasn't plot-related. the whole "oh, kaneshiro and madarame actually knew shido and were sucking his dick the whole tiiiime" thing is also completely unnecessary and never gets mentioned again. nobody even talks about it. you probably didnt even remember it until i mentioned it again

shido is still cartoonishly evil like okumura is, but he gets bonus points for not trying to be made into a sympathetic, hard-working and misunderstood dad in akechi's confidant (and at least we actually get to see him show feelings towards things, even if it is just hating children and monologuing in his office)

also hes kiiiiiiiiiind of the tritagonist in cnau but we aren't going to talk about that.... yet..............

idk. i like shido but there's people who are better

making it into number 4 is futaba sakura!

i really like the twist on the concept of palace rulers actually. not every person with distorted desires is a bad person; instead of sabotaging others, futaba is self-sabotaging. but with a change of heart, that little shut-in is able to get back up and live life to the fullest!

now in the top 3, i give this spot to ichiryusai madarame!

the palace ruler with a canon deadname...... our trans icon 🏳‍🌈

he's what okumura wishes he was. this single father can do it all! he can paint, love, steal, emotionally abuse, he's a man of many hats without mastering anything!

if theres anyone who i love picking apart the brain of more than kaneshiro, it's madarame. he hates himself so much that it loops back around to having a huge ego. he was jealous of yusuke's mother and the talent she held that he let her die just so he can be validated boohoo

madarame thinks hes only worth what he creates, and being yusuke's only authoritative figure, imprinted that mindset and behaviour onto him. he actually sees yusuke as his son and loves him deeply but hes soooo dependent on him in multiple ways and without him he literally crumbles. madarame is pathetic and helpless and i love him

in 2nd place is sae niijima!

you know her. i know her. we've seen that section of the story. soooo good. banger palace theme, pretty environment, attractive lady, hoo-wee!

seriously, she has great development. sae never actually gets a change of heart, she changes on her own because she remembers she's here to protect what she really cares about; justice. she comes to be one of the few adults the phantom thieves can genuinely place their trust in. theres a bonus chapter in mementos mission where sae looks at buchimaru slippers because they remind her of makoto. and thats after she roundhouse kicks a purse-snatcher in the face while wearing high heels.

she's also the one who won the hottest palace ruler poll by a longshot so. you go girl!

and at long last... number 1 goes to......

SUGURU KAMOSHIDA!!!!!!!

i wanted to get a bunch of pictures of him for this but he's actually so hideous i legitimately got freaked out

he's my meow meow who did nothing wrong (he did everything wrong) and hes just a baby (literal abuser) and youre all just mean (he deserves worse)

they wanted to write a piece of shit and they did it. and they did it well. i can't think of a single reason why someone would like this guy. and thats exactly why i like him.

kamoshida was conditioned to believe that his actions had no consequences and therefore he could do whatever he wanted. people would cover it up. they'd keep their silence. his reputation is great enough that everyone is too worried to topple it because it might crush them when he falls. he doesn't need to be two-faced when they've already seen the other mask. hes the greatest introductory to the story and themes of persona 5 ever and i would not have it any other way

kamoshida is a SHIT BAG. he makes me legitimately sick to my stomach in a way the other characters just dont really do. i mean the mementos palace did a pretty good job of making me think about what im doing with my life so props to them, but like i said just looking at kamoshidas face made me feel uneasy

also i wrote a oneshot about him and kaneshiro fucking and there was the swag mention of the lingering guilt he experiences in the back of his mind every time he hurts someone because he is still a human after all

he's the protagonist in rsau and he's my favourite test subject for different kinds of pain and anguish. suguru kamoshida numba one 4eva. i hope he dies

[caffernnn]

Hi, thanks for making this post! It’s always fun getting to read your thoughts. I’m the anon that originally recommended 159 and sublimation and I agree with so many of the choices you made. There’s so many good fics written for this fandom, sometimes it’s easy to forget until you lay it out nicely like this. I’ve read every story on here except for like two so it was a walk down memory lane for me.

There’s so many good ones that I could go on forever, but I’ll just mention a few. I was surprised when you recommended “the ocean you gave my heart” because I haven’t seen anyone mention it, but I think about it often. “Heart’s Departure” is one of my favorites but yeah, it’s gut wrenching and idk if I could reread it. I love “Coral and Bone” is soo good and definitely a great read for the summer time. And “Night Changes,” I love when Makoharu talk to each other, they’re re so gentle with the other. I also want to mention “Under a Starless Sky,” by tonfea, because I am obsessed with that and think about it all the time.

Also we can’t talk about fics without a recommendation or two.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/5796496

This is a cute and short story about Makoto and Haru getting together through the power of a anime watch night.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/3197597?view_adult=true

This is about pro Haru returning from a tournament and spending quality time with Makoto, with a little bit of introspection. It’s a smut too.

Hiii!! YAY it’s fun to sit down and revisit different stories from over the years, seeing even in vastly different universes how the viewer’s perception of characters and their core motivations carefully evolved. I’m glad to hear you enjoyed a lot of the same stories — so many great ones out there but these journeys were some of the best imho 😌

YEAH YEAH YEAH big love for tonfea and their idol AU 💚💙 The drama! The stakes! Trying to build tenderness in their whirlwind life together because if they’re sure of anything anymore it’s their longing and devotion!!! It’s another one of those stories that aches to read with the all of the building tension but hooks you in for better or for worse anyway (which speaks to how well it’s written). Great rec, thanks for bringing it up 👏🏻

Your other two recs I hadn’t read before but WOW I’m glad you sent them!! I loved how “Inviolable” by noobishere weaved together tender moments I didn’t even know I wanted to see between Makoto and Haru until the scenes came up. It’s so fun to watch a non-linear storyline come together, seeing what beats and little details you focus on when jumping back and forth. Definitely one I’ll enjoy revisiting to watch those dorks have fun together. ALSO “warmth kept in the palm of my hand” by fio is spicy (good smut, for those looking for it) but I’m particularly intrigued by their end conversation. It’s wild to see older future fics talk about where everyone ends up and compare it to what direction canon went with. The way Makoto and Haru talk about the future here is short and sweet, but feels almost more fleshed out than what we saw in FS, if that makes sense?? Like, you could argue the difference between (spoilers ig) arriving at a decision pre-burnout versus crashing into that option during/post-burnout, but even then, you’d almost expect to see more conversations and unpacking happen with the latter. Anyway, I liked what they did with the idea of a reunion and some exploration into what a future would look like for mh if they continued to take those steps hand-in-hand.

As always, your taste is 🤌🏻 impeccable

[nebulaleaf]

G, J, M, R, and U for the ask meme!

god you poor fucking soul. G - Have you ever had an OTP? If so, do you remember your first one? Who was in it? Okay uhh my first one... might've been a mlp one? i don't quite remember. I never really got INTO fandom until Danganronpa, so ig my first otp was Saiouma and ........................ sighs. ive found a better phantom thief pairing at least. J - Name a fandom you didn’t think about until you saw it all over Tumblr Scooby-doo mystery inc ig? or uh. RPF hockey ig. SIGHS. i wish those posts would stop being blazed onto my dash. M - Name a character that you’d like to have for a friend. Akira Kurusu 100%. he'd be so cool augh augh augh. fuck. actually wait i might go forr Haru Okumura because i might not hit it off well with akira 😔i have a better chance with her. R - Which friendship/platonic relationship is your favorite in fandom? OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHH TOUGH. honestly ryuji and akira are so besties i love them no matter the context. but for STRICTLY platonic........ i really really love morgana and akira together. ugh ugh ugh. i think theyre way closer than people give em credit for, i mean christ they live together !!!!!!!!!!!!!! waughle!!!!!!!!!!! U - Three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites. ROUND TWO!! Natural Harmonia Gropius - (Pokemon BW) Ahh, N.fucking freak with increased textbox speed. i love him he's such a unique character from such a good pokemon game (though i wish they were allowed to break the formula a bit more; imagine...) his design is simple yet effective i love me some long hair and GREEN hair and his personality ! the sadboy energies! (why are all my faves sad?) the drive for truth or ideals! the fact that he's from my fave pokemon game! obsessed!!! his trainer theme slaps too Espresso Cookie - (Cookie Run Kingdom) cookie boy who can canonically go without sleep for like a week. a perfect representation of espresso as a concept, tbh. take a look at any coffee nerd youtuber and it's like they're making magic potions. every bean must be weighted, every step MUST be followed, no room for error when pulling the perfect espresso shot; much like this character! he is comically driven in his experimentation and you'd think he'd be a rule stickler given how he acts about his labwork, but nay! he's totally willing to steal from authority and flee from cops and its great. he's also surprisingly kind if you're anyone but madeleine cookie LOL. i love his blunt little wizard ass Kaito Momota - (Danganronpa V3 Killing Harmony) oh boy. what can i say about him that you also, don't already obsess over. the passion. the hair. the gusto. he's THE LUMINARY OF THE STARS, BABY. while not my fave on the first playthrough, i've really warmed up to him bcos of. certain people that yuou know also. and he's now cemented as my favourite drv3 character haha. idk what more to say he's just really fun and heartfelt and SMARTER THAN PEOPLE GIVE HIM CREDIT FOR HEYYYYYYYYYYYY !!!!!!!

[witchcraftandburialdirt]

1 12 and 27!

MUNDAY ASKS!!!

⎯⎯⎯⎯ 1. At what age did you start RPing?

Oh geez, maybe...10? Might have been even earlier than that! One of my favorite activities as a child was going into my backyard with my equally as nerdy neighbor and fighting with sticks and playing pretend. I suppose in a way we were technically LARPing, we used to craft characters, plotlines, all of it - but never wrote anything down despite these plots continuing every day after school somehow. Started to properly RP at 10 on a website called "iscribble" and we would draw our characters while following a simple " Character Name: /insert action "insert what the character is saying here"." format! I would layer go on to join a maximum ride thread that my friend dragged me into - although I wasn't there for long because everyone was very mean and cliquey.

⎯⎯⎯⎯ 12. What do you think about AUs?

Oh I love AUs! I love being able to explore a character from multiple different perspectives, timelines and realities! I have quite a few AUs for Robin as well as Haru, and I enjoy every single one of them. Not only are they a fun way to explore but they can also be just for fun and silly self indulgent ideas! It's a good way to peek at hidden or just unapplied aspects of a character without breaking their canon.

⎯⎯⎯⎯ 27. Are you interested into poly relationships for your muse?

I might have said yes to this in the past but upon roleplaying him in a more romantic setting it is extremely difficult for me to imagine Robin wanting to share - he's a little romantically possessive after all. This isn't to the point of being unhealthy but he does tend to pout if someone flirts with Danny, and doesn't have an issue saying "this is my fiance" "this is my Danny" "this is my love" etc. He'd be open to the idea of playing with a three way but he knows he probably wouldn't enjoy it.

As for Haru it's a bit more complicated - he and Tarhos are literally connected through time and space I don't care I'm insane about them I seriously don't understand how all of their AUs are healthy and good for them like they just make the other want to be a better person and heal from trauma idk idk. However despite this blatant monogamy between them; within medieval AU they are in a pseudo-polycule with Durkos, Sander and Alejandro as well. While their relationship isn't romantic in nature, the 5 of them do participate in sexual activities sometimes. That being said the ideologies and belief systems around sex then were very different than now, and it did serve as a way for Haru to have fun with sexual activities. That being said, even in that timeline he refers to Tarhos as his husband, and he doesn't refer to the others as that.

[partrin]

18 For the writing asks?

Choose a passage from your writing. Tell me about the backstory of this moment. How you came up with it, how it changed from start to end.

hello lex! thanks for sending an ask 😎 i'm gonna choose a passage from a wip i have instead of one from any of my published works. for some reason, my writing in my wips are so much more descriptive and.. personal than my writing in the stories i've completed and posted. here goes:

Sitting by the ocean at this time of night brought about a cold, sobering sort of comfort—one he wouldn’t have had the bliss of experiencing had he come by at any other time of the day. At this time of the night, the ocean was a thousand hues of lazurite and sapphire melding into one, the ebb and flow of its powerful waves a balm to one’s senses, soothing and sloshing against the coast. Rin liked being here whenever he needed to clear his mind, content with just watching the ocean in its all-powerful glory, a painting of the highest order in motion. The thick sweep of ripples blanketing the abyss were a metaphor, he felt, for the many tests and problems he went through—sometimes calm and manageable, other times strong enough to pull him under.

the original thought behind this passage was, "how do i write about rin's turmoil without sounding boring and cliché, and how can i connect it with that one canon quote he said about how the ocean keeps him connected to the people he left behind?"

i figured water (or ocean?) imagery would work best, considering the irony of it (because the theme of this wip is that rin is contemplating a career-switch after a failed swimming career—so what better way is there to describe his pain and frustration than to use water imagery, considering the water is exactly what he's running away from?) later in this wip, he's destined to meet haru, a siren, a cryptid that thrives in the very waters (problems) he wants to be free from.

i tried my very best to describe the ocean as this all-powerful entity without forgetting to acknowledge that the ocean can also be.. very calm and gentle (hence the metaphor at the end of the paragraph).

and in terms of descriptive writing, i tried to make it sound flowery and pretentious, because.. as someone who also seeks out the ocean whenever i'm troubled and would try relating the calm chaos of the waves to whatever i'm experiencing, it does feel pretentious sometimes, to look at this force of mother nature and compare it to myself, when i am but a speck on earth, ya feel? i wanted to convey that through the descriptive writing without having to explicitly say that rin felt silly for seeking the comfort of the ocean and conjuring up weird metaphors for his pain with the sea as his reference point.

idk if i managed to do it but that was the whole thought process behind this one paragraph. hehe.

[ghostietea]

Furuba autistic headcanons

With it being April, or autism acceptance month, I wanted to finally drop my list of characters from Fruits Basket that I read as autistic! This is based a lot on my own experience, as well as that of other autistics I know or have seen talk online. I hope some people can get something out of it, feel free to tell me what you think 😊, though please refrain from getting upset that I would dare suggest your fave is autistic.

Hanajima

Before becoming able to better control her powers, she would be constantly overwhelmed by the things she heard to the point that she couldn't even really go out in public. This reads a lot like sensory overload.

Constantly picked on in school because other kids thought she was weird. Eventually reclaimed this weirdness and turned it into a whole persona.

Seems to talk usually in a relatively flat tone.

Had trouble socializing with no friends outside her family until middleschool.

Has a very funny, dry sense of humor that I find very similar to a bunch of autistics I know, including myself.

Hatsuharu

Listen. You have seen the funky little man, you have seen the way he talks, the way he acts around others. He is, and I mean this in the best way, a weirdo. I do not know how you could look at him and see a neurotypical.

Once again, like Hana, Haru is funny in a way that feels very autistic.

Very flat, dry, tone delivery. Sometimes just Says Things that make everyone else go huh??? Suuuuper blunt. Doesn't emote facially a lot of the time.

When this man sees a social norm he doesn't get he WILL NOT follow it. Pierces his ears just because his hair got flak, defends Momiji wearing whatever he wants because sometimes y'know the social rules are just dumb and don't make sense. Especially dress codes.

Sometimes says things not befitting the current tone of the situation.

Represses (masks) a lot of his emotions, leading to outbursts that seem uncharacteristic.

His main childhood trauma revolves around adults branding him as "dumb" and ridiculing him. Haru, however, is super smart and wise!! Just in an offbeat way that not everyone may get.

Machi

Reads as very "flat" emotionally to the point that others would call her boring. Also has a flat vocal delivery.

Relies on specific habits or ways of doing things or else she gets super upset (her hatred of imperfection.

Has trauma surrounding adults completely misconstruing her intentions and thinking she's doing something malicious when she's not.

Generally behaves in a way that's hard for others to understand, one of her formative moments with Yuki was him saying he wanted to "see how the world looks" through her eyes.

Once again, trouble socializing.

Tries super hard to please her parents but in the end they still see her as somehow inherently "defective."

Listen. A lot of this one and the last two are mostly vibes, hard to verbally define. You just have to look at them and trust me.

Tohru

Displays behavior very reminiscent of masking throughout the story, a huge part of her arc is about how she hides a lot of herself and has a very controlled persona. I think it would fit very well if she had other autistic behaviors that she suppresed also it helps explain why she is relatively socially adept, it's learned behavior to make people like her more.

Yes she is very good at saying what others need to hear, but especially early on she is pretty blatantly imitating her mother's words. She only gets better at getting through on a more personal level later on (see her with Rin and Akito v. early series Tohru). She does this by relating her own experiences, a very autistic way of showing empathy that often gets us written off as self centered. The way she relays things her mom said could also be seen as this, and she even worries at a few points that she's being insensitive for going on about things like that.

While emotionally repressed she is hyper empathetic and feels other's emotions so strongly she cries.

Her speech patterns are all imitated from her father and she often copies verbal things from others (see Ritchan-san). Noted in canon that people think her way of speaking is slightly off/not befitting of someone her age. Additionally, her father was polite more sarcastically, while she plays it straight and sometimes takes things very literally or fails to get the message, indicating trouble with reading tone. Has numerous strange verbal tics, including saying parts of her internal monologue out loud without context.

Very expressive with her hands including waving them around and flapping them up and down.

Does have a bit of trouble with accidental insensitivity in social interactions, like how she constantly fixates on her mom and realizes that might bug the Sohma.

Has trouble paying attention in school since it doesn't have much to do with her interests

Her only friend until she was a middle schooler was her mom

Has a pretty unique outlook on things compared to others, people seem to think she's pretty eccentric. There's always a "this girl is nice but in an odd way, she's our weirdo and we love her" vibe.

Sometimes has an "inappropriate" emotional response to situations

Has a lot of trouble with change, similar to Akito. Which oh, look at the time, next hc coming up.

But first, a disclaimer. It is cathartic for me to read Akito this way, but with that reading comes the baggage that she would, mayhaps, be showing a more negative side of things... It doesn't bother me since it's a joint hc with other characters and she does develop at the end but yeah, general villain hc baggage. This is in no way me trying to excuse her being The Worst being autistic doesn't absolve you of being able to do wrong . Also, a lot of these points can and do have other explanations related to her upbringing, but things can be for more than 1 reason. With that said, she really strongly comes off as autistic to me, in a way that's sorta hard to explain. I wrote a lot more for her than the other, both because I felt I needed more to convince people and that this headcanon was more sensitive and I needed to be careful in my explanation. Also hey! She's my special interest within a special interest.

Akito

Shown to have a dislike of summer weather due to heat and brightness, could be due to sensory issues in tandem with sickness things. Also covers her ears when people raise their voice sometimes which is partially her trying to shut down opposition but also 🤔 can read a different way. She'd also avoids louder Juuni like Ritsu and Ayame because she can't handle them.

Wears pretty much the same outfit every single day. Said outfit is also pretty loose fitting.

Always seen sitting in a pretty unconventional way. Evidence:

Of course this is also the isolated in a cult thing and there is a level of her purposefully doing things to intimidate but: doesn't follow a lot of social rules (overly touchy with strangers, legit doesn't get that what she's doing is wrong, ect.). Repeatedly confused when people indicate she should act otherwise without explanation. Has a breakdown when this comes to a head and approximately says that "they" shouldn't expect her to know "common sense" if "they" never explained it to her, that the way that she was was her "common sense."

Often talks in a way uncharacteristic of her age when shown as a child in a more faux mature/pretentious way. Might just be the translation and idk how to explain it but her speech as an adult also seems off from what one would normally use in conversation. Additionally, when she tries to fake being friendly in her intro chapter, it comes of as extremely stiff and unconvincing.

Generally displays behavior that could be thought of as childish as an adult, but a lot of this behavior could also read as autistic (covering ears, emotional deregulation and meltdowns, ignorance of basic social norms, ect.). It's also important to note that she knows that this behavior makes her seem younger and more helpless to the older zodiac and uses it as a manipulation tactic. Has issues regarding people treating her like a child or only hanging out with her because of pity. While she does weaponize it, we can tell that this grates on her, as seen with her finally blowing up on Kureno, which is partially triggered by the maids saying some sorta infantalizing stuff about her. Irl, a lot of autistic adults and teens struggle with being infantalized for our behavior generally or treated as little babies that can do no wrong. Even in fandom, you see people doing stuff like jumping to call autistic adult characters, such as Entrapta from Shera, "minor coded." It is also common for us to have at least one bad experience with someone hanging around us out of pity. This is something that really gave me a similar feeling in Akito's arc. She's not a baby and she can understand and do better if she is given the chance to learn and break from all the freaky cult indoctrination she's been subjected to instead of just being constantly enabled. In the end, a lot of her growth is represented by her showing that she is capable of changing and being independent.

Shows particular difficulty with socialization, often sits by herself spacing out at social events. A lot of her fear is rooted in the fact that she doesn't know how normal relationships work, becoming overly reliant on the curse because she doesn't know how to make friends.

Clings desperately onto the notion of being "special" and in some way superior to others to be worthy and to make up for perceived inherent "flaws." It's the nd gifted kid burnout vibes for me.

Easily bothered by things that don't bother others. Feels emotions very strongly to the point of getting physically ill and has bad emotional regulation.

Relatively good at reading others in an analytical sense (though has more trouble when it comes to seeing how they feel about her since she's wildly delusional) but brings up her observations in a very cold, detached way and hurts people even on the rare occasion she didn't mean to. Has extreme trouble connecting to others and understanding their point of view. This makes her come off as pretty unempathetic even though that might not fully be the case. Also thinks that people like Momiji are trying to look down on her when they try to empathize with her. A lot of why Tohru can get through to her is that she manages to convince Akito that she's not condescending by relating shared traits and experiences. As I said earlier, autistics often empathize by sharing their own experiences with someone, and I know I often have an easier time confiding in other autistics because of a fear of being seen as lesser by those that don't understand me. I think the connection between these charachters and the way that Tohru manages to reach Akito like that while others couldn't makes a lot of sense through an autistic lense!

Additionally, when Akito herself gets around to trying to help others instead of just projecting trauma, she tries to reach out to the old maid by relating back to her own experiences. This however, doesn't work.

Has "cold" emotional reactions sometimes even to things that do make her upset. For example, how sort of calm and detached she acted after her father's death can make her seem uncaring. However, we know that this event did mess her up a lot and she is still (poorly) dealing with a lot of grief from the death of her father years later.

Copies mannerisms from others, the most blatant example is with Ren, who she directly parrots lines from as a child to Yuki.

Partly just her posturing, but gestures a lot with her hands when she talks. Also seen several times clutching her hands in her hair.

Deals extremely poorly with the idea of things changing to the point that it is a driving force of the story.

Does not understand when people tease her.

Ect. Ect. Ect. Listen, I could go on for ages but just trust me, the mean gremlin lady is autistic.

[kekisu]

hi hey hello what's your opinion on haru/goro (not necessarily platonic or even romantic just their relationship as two people who have gone through similar trauma and are coping with it Very differently)

oh i have so many thoughts. i actually went on a bit of a rant about it on twitter recently so i might just copy and paste what i said there here MGKDHNJJFBSHBHD SINCE ITS VERY WORDY. im gonna put everything under a read more

i wish people would stop treating goro and harus dynamic as strictly "oh haru hates him so much and wants to kill him and goros a piece of shit." like. its very obvious even in canon thats not how anything is between them, its a lot more complicated than that.

a lot of interesting relationships in persona get watered down to easy-to-digest tropes and its so stupid cause goro and harus whole deal is so much to think about

haru literally sympathizes with goro to an extent due to the fact he also struggles with having a manipulative and controlling father. she knows it was all out of his control and thats what troubles her because she doesnt know how to feel about him still being involved in her fathers death. and dont even get me started on how she wasnt even able to properly process her grief and mourn because the circumstances made it so she has to deal with suddenly being a ceo at the ripe age of 18 years old. like. haru has so many repressed and complex emotions on this

idk i have a lot to say but it gets on my nerves seeing people misinterpret them. i honestly think some people just project their weird hatred for goro onto haru in some fan work with them despite it being genuinely out of character for her

how i interpret them is like. theres awkward tension and neither of them really know how to approach the subject without it getting too personal/uncomfortable. i feel they have potential to get along sometimes because they have some shared interests but obviously itll take a long time for them to get to that point

i also feel a lot of this comes from people watering haru down to being the "Cute but PSYCHO" anime trope instead of being, like, the actually good character she is in the game. but thats just me (i mean she couldve been better if atlus didnt ignore her all the time but when has atlus done anything right)

as you can tell i have a lot of shit to say <3 FDGHKMGMFDFSNJJFNJNG THANK YOU FOR ASKING

[indigosprite]

In another ask, you shared your thoughts on why you didn’t like 6996 etc. do you think 2795 share the same problem? I think while Tsuna and Kyoko doesn’t seem as weird as 6996 on the surface upon further speculation and reading works where Kyoko becomes this bamf vongola tenth wife who does anything for Tsuna, it sort of treads the same vibe as Chrome and Mukuro in some way. Idk I just want to hear your thoughts on maybe 2795 and maybe 2786 as well.

Hi hi

Had to search these because I literally did not have any ships for this show until I rewatched it and just merged my favorite characters into one pair that happened to be a ship. I  forget the others exist...With that being said, take this with a grain of salt because I honestly don’t even think about these ships a lot, forget they even exist. How KHR was written will always make the the very idea of Tsuna with any of the female characters feel weird or odd unless you’ve managed to read or create enough Fanon that changes your characterization of the original dynamic. I don’t think they share the same problem but maybe a similar one ? Tsuna and any female character compared to Mukuro and Chrome is very different in my opinion. (funnily enough it’s also because Mukuro isn’t a misogynist shsjsjsj) 6996 could work, they actually have a relationship that’s very personal to both parties and unlike 2795 they’re both aware of it and have a distinct unique connection with each other that consists of shared interests trust and mutual respect. it’s just odd to think about because chrome looks up to Mukuro and the power imbalance feels weird, he’s literally keeping her alive. (Which I know is disgustingly sweet I find it very heartwarming. )

2795 is this one sided crush with zero redeeming qualities. There was nothing remotely romantic or intriguing happening between Tsuna and Kyoko the entire series. If we took out Tsuna’s inner thoughts we honestly would’ve thought she was just this nice girl he knows from school. If we took out Tsuna’s thoughts in general and left it up to the fandom pulling this ship out of their butts it would honestly be 1000% cuter. All their interactions read like

“this girl is so lovely I really like her and she’s talking to me that’s amazing”

“Thanks for the pencil. Do your best on the test okay?”

I’m not swooning over the most lackluster interactions on the planet because he is over romanticizing it. Even the reason why he likes her is not that interesting or convincing. Which I mean I get it he’s only 14 he’s not thinking about all the small stuff like emotional support or validation or like not wanting to be alone etc. It’s still just you’re pretty let’s be happy all the time while you hold my hand forever. He deserves that he’s literally a kid. but even when i was younger i didn’t see it between them ever. On top of their interactions being boring they never give us things that make you go “oh wait she might actually like him hmmm” . they could have tried a little harder to make it a little more romantic? sometimes they show us Kyoko in a pink background hands clasped surrounded by hearts and I forget she’s supposed to be viewed in that light. I forget we’re supposed to actually consider her liking him too but what are we supposed to think Kyoko is looking for in a guy that makes Tsuna a possibility when she doesn't exist past eating cake and worrying about her brother and Tsuna. I think it’s also fair to note that they never imply that Tsuna actually thinks about her beyond his image of her but we see how caring he is with his friends to the point where he can point out their flaws and work through them anyways and accept them. Tsuna realizing Yamamoto was not himself during the Guardians trial is a perfect example of this, it establishes the relationship they built with one another. another example is Tsuna acknowledging that Gokudera is overwhelming and short tempered but he wouldn’t trade the guy for anyone because he is loyal and a good friend.  he cares for Kyoko as a person in general but he never reaches that depth when it comes to her. he doesn’t have to either because it’s just a crush, how you manage to take that through the next ten years of his life I honestly don’t know. 

TL;DR : My ONLY problem with 2795 is the fact that there is nothing to work off of but the implication that Tsuna likes this girl and that’s why they are endgame. she matters very little, just a figurehead of his normalcy. she’s written just as badly in fics, can I blame you? no you were probably like 14 writing them. do a lot of people still do this ? yeah so i’m just not interested until the fanon has changed her character for everyone. 

I know I sound super hypocritical because “Sprite what the fuck does 6918 have that’s soooo intriguing they actually canonically hate each other how is that any better.” the answer: Mukuro and Hibari have a more established relationship with mutual feelings than those two, even better they’re actually really strong feelings (of pure hatred). Bonus, despite being aloof both characters also have fully developed personalities and Opinions/Behaviors that we can mold however we please. they actually have a relationship to play around with that's what makes it fun and lets you have those “actually they’re pretty similar in this aspect” because you know shit about both of them individually. 

Now for 2786,,, as i sit here and think about it Haru and Tsuna make so much more sense for all the reasons him and kyoko don’t . 

Kyoko and Haru were already made solely to be Tsuna’s love interests (specifically Kyoko) , but then it went on to be something they didn’t even bother hiding when they reduced their characters and their interests to looking after kids and repeatedly worrying over Tsuna. The reason I don’t find it appealing is because there really wasn’t any dynamic there at all. This boy liked this girl and that’s literally all it was. She has no depth , and despite being written for him nothing about Kyoko screams you’re perfect for this kid. Nothing says, You’re compatible, You have common interests, you two can rely on each other. She was pretty and nice and polite and that’s all they shared along with half the cast. With Haru they went the completely opposite direction, this girl likes him and is upfront about it. she's not a better candidate just because she's not the typical pretty girl whos quiet and polite and caring,(She’s not the better written female character either, this is reborn. they all lose here.) she’s the better candidate because we actually have a personality to compare to Tuna's. she was purposely given this big personality because he was never going to be in love with her because she’s like all the other intruding figures of his life. Again we have this one sided crush, know he doesn’t like her at all but you can actually see where they do go right and wrong. she’s a complete person. 

Haru can handle a little wild in her life, she was the first one to know he would be a mafia boss and it didn’t phase her at all. Tsuna might need that later in life.

In the future when Tsuna finds her crying she tells him not to think her feelings have anything to do with him, completely different dynamic from kyoko whos emotions are always directly related to male characters and what they are doing. 

Haru and her cosplays are so perfectly absurd and she does not care how weird he finds them, she has this big embarrassing trait to her that Tsuna comically responds to but just grows to overlook and accept.  

she actually talks to Tsuna quite a lot and helps him out whenever she can, because he doesn't like her she's allowed to actually exist in his world and he sees her fully because of it. It makes sense to see his significant other who will be involved in the mafia as an asset who he wants to protect and not just...something he needs to protect bc they honestly don't want this.

she interviews the entire cast of the show because haru just fits there, in a yamamoto like way, she can just handle it. 

Tsuna and Haru could have been perfect friends or a couple. they had the grounds for it. it’s just not what he wanted but I can totally see them working out for each other later in life. they make so much sense! i’ll have to think about them more sometime soon. 

Hope I answered you questions, this got long.

[chroniccombustion]

I had a dream that I may use as a fic idea some day. PegoBan, but Souji is a girl (henceforth called Somi because it means "beautiful," I think?) and she and Akira are high school sweethearts with no friends and shitty parents that hold them to shitty expectations. So they pack their bags and hop the last train out of the city, heading to Inaba in hopes of starting a new life.

That's where the dream ended, but what if...???

So they ditch their old phones and change their names and Somi cuts her hair and they get jobs in the shopping district and have a tiny, TINY little apartment above Skiroku Shop or something, and it all takes some getting used to but they're happy together and they make it work, even though Somi works double shifts at Junes while Akira works at Aiya's and also the bookstore.

But then Akira gets arrested. Doujima, who is a better father in this AU and hasn't yet figured out Somi is his niece (she didn't know he was there either, oops), is on Akira's side because those charges are some bullshit. He's the one that calls Sojiro and asks him to take Akira in. Later, Dojima takes in Somi because she can't quite make rent anymore and everyone is hesitant to cut the girl dating a "criminal" much of a break.

Everyone's Persona journeys happen pretty much the same after that, and because Somi and Akira facetime CONSTANTLY, they're both fully up to date on each other's stuff. Yosuke is still Somi's best friend, and she comforts him after Saki's death and in return he comforts her after Akira's arrest. (He 100% has a crush, but he's kinda friends with Akira, too, and even helped Akira pick out a promise ring or something for Somi idk, and he's never gonna act on it. To both Akira and Somi's polyamorous frustration.)

Sometimes when he's in Mementos, Akira can feel the Fool bond vibrating, and he knows it means Somi is in the TV world and they can both kind of reach out to one another through that bond. When a fight goes ary and Akira is in legit danger, a Persona he didn't summon appears and shields him, and he knows, he KNOWS it's Somi trying to protect him because she watches the news RELIGIOUSLY now, for more than just Midnight Channel stuff. At first it's a beautiful woman bathed in gold light, with golden armor and a glittering crown, a massive two-handed sword held high.

("I am Guinevere. Villainize me, but I choose the truth of my heart before my duty to the world.")

Later, after Akira's phone is bugged he stops messaging Somi about persona and PT stuff because he doesn't want her targeted, and it's only after he fakes his death that he can tell her why, but Somi has a breakdown in the meantime because she thinks the love of her life, her fiance, her SOULMATE is dead. She forgives him, of course, because she understands completely after he tells her but she's also an emotional wreck right now and Nanako is missing so she doesn't talk to Akira for a little while after that.

Akira thinks she's pissed enough to leave him, but during the final battle, that golden, queenly persona reappears to protect him, only this time she's clothed in bright silver armor, with shining wings, holding a sword in one hand and a shield in the other.

("I am Jean D'arc! I will fight and live and die for what I love and know is just!")

And they win.

The IT wins and the PT win and Akira does his stint in juvie and at the end of it all, the rest of the Thieves drive him back to Inaba, where Somi is waiting, and the two of them RUN at each other because it's been a YEAR, and she's still wearing that crappy little ring because of COURSE she was still gonna wait for him, what the hell, Akira?

But maybe Inaba (other than the IT and the Dojimas, because you KNOW Nanako calls Akira "Aki-nii") still doesn't like Akira much, and he DOES kind of have a job offer and a mostly free place to live at Le'Blanc, so maybe Somi does wind up leaving Inaba like in game canon, but it's less bittersweet this time. They go back and live above the cafe, and Somi can hear Morgana talk, who flirts with her just like he does with Ann (Akira is going to put the fear of god into his cat if Mona doesn't stop, so help him.) Yosuke comes to visit them some times and WHOOPS POLYAMORY, because Akira and Somi are also dating like, half the PTs now, get in here, Hanamura.

(And also Haru pays for the Seta-Kurusu wedding and no one can stop her.)

[redxblueihateloveyou]

You know it's always really funny to me when mhs say that had it not been for swimming Haru and Rin would've never become friends bc I'm like, that's how relationships work???? You initially connect bc of something you have in common and go from there???? In that case you can also apply it to mh bc if Haru and Makoto had not been neighbors since they were young they probably would've never become friends either, but nobody wants to mention that bc then their argument crumbles lol

Anyways, your blog is literally the best and your rh (and general) takes are always so nice to read

I'm... same, I just do not understand what’s new about this? Like my mom and dad met while they were both working at school, if I started talking with a guy cause he told me that he liked my chibi Akashi bag and anime, is this not allowed? This in no way means that that’s all we like about each other or smth, this means this one thing brought us together.

This is the reason why I dislike mh fans so much. Because the majority of them instead of posting some canon facts and truthful arguments, they either twist some words into something unrecognizable, either try to change a rh moment into mh. I just always thought ppl ship things for what they are, not what they are not...

And the main problem in this happening and the error in their equation is Haru. Cause they’re trying so hard to sew him into that but with everything he says and do he constantly falls off and they end up with mako-haha. It’s like they say that Makoto is the reason that Haru walks into his future, which is hilarious tbh, and the next movie airs and what do you know Haru is yelling at Rin’s face how “he only walks towards the future and wants it bc of him”, they say that s2 relay teams are what they truly want which everyone knows ain’t true and boom drama airs and Haru and Rin are talking how it’s not the same if they’re not together on the team. They air all the birthday stories and oh no, Rin is special again. I remember how they were running around after that frfr! episode, where Rin tries to make Haru laugh and Makoto says he actually already heard it before and turns out it was kid Haru’s evil laugh in his sleep at school. Like what is so special about that? And how is this mh related? Haru was cutely laughing watching Rin sleep and just reading his text.. that’s yeah, that’s the reason to fuss.

Their problem is always Haru, he never fits their mh plan like ever. But do they listen to him? No. Because we have a moment IN THE ANIME, where Haru says “RIN, I WANT TO BE LIKE YOU, TOO.” meaning he wants to be as brave/daring/passionate, etc. cause Rin represents freedom for him. Okay, I’d get why some needed me to post an arguments list for “Rin doesn’t like Haru only for his swimming”, which is still hilarious to me, but okay, he does have a kink in books about Haru moving in the water and goes about it for several pages, but with Haru this is actually not the case. 

I don’t know if anyone noticed it, but swimming is not what attracts Haru the most about Rin and never was. It’s his character and state of mind and the way he makes him feel aka free. It doesn’t matter what they do, like whether they eat their rolls or draw new years fortunes. Haru said his whole body is on fire just when he looks at Rin and he doesn’t even notice how he starts smiling when Rin talks to him. It’s just the way he makes him feel. And swimming has nothing to do with that. Sorry, guys lmao.

Did they seriously just erase this moment, when Rin writes how he wants swim as fast as Haru in his letter, but Haru looks at the sky and he has this kaleidoscope of Rin’s pic in his mind and what he says next is "Rin, I want to be like you, too.” 

And he means what he says. It’s not about the swimming truly, he admires the fact that Rin follows his dreams with such passionate determination. Mind the fact that moments of Rin that flash before his eyes in this moment a) when Rin openly gushes about Haru’s swimming in front of everyone; b) when he yells in front of the whole class that if he wants a relay with Haru, he will bloody get it; c) his swimming; d) when he tells Haru that he’s a sight he never saw before he’s gonna show him the sight he’s never seen before. It’s about how what Rin wants, Rin fights for until he gets it. Haru is in love with his passion, always was, always will be.

Haru doesn’t want to “swim like Rin” although they did compliment each other by saying “I find your strength amazing” “but I find your stamina amazing”, and Haru always drools about the power behind Rin’s strokes, but Haru swims in his own beautiful way. And while he adores the way Rin swims, that’s still not his favorite thing about Rin and never was. Every time he talks about Rin it’s always about his personality and surprisingly... it’s rarely about swimming. When he thinks about Rin it’s always stuff like... how he is so colorful and intense and full of life and passionate about his dreams and how he stands out among everyone else to him, not about his swimming skills. 

So this argument is dumb AF tbh. I’m like.. yeah, and Lan Zhan loves Wei Ying for his demonic cultivation skills. Not because of his strong character, daring heart and his incredible ability to tick him off and light his cold ass on fire.

P.S. Seriously tho this is the first shipping base I see who just always for some reason does this stupid thing with finding a crumb and actively trying to make it into a bread but then realise it’s realistically impossible so they just replace it with a plastic one and pretend it’s real. This in fact makes your ship ridiculous. You can’t try to push the line that Rin is abusive (thats still lol) and how Makoto is better for Haru, since Rin did everything to make Haru reach his dream and made him happy and he’s the only one who can help Haru, when he feels down like in s2 and then with Albert and etc. Makoto can’t. It’s the truth, just let it go. I know there are not much positives sides in mh relationships to be honest in my opinion, but there are still some (?). Why not base your arguments on truth? Like at least it’s gonna be mh, not some imaginary thing. Either love mh for mh or don’t. Like yeah, Haru doesn’t resiprocate, but maybe one-sided stuff is your kink, ok, explore this, fine, but don’t try to make Haru into somebody else. Then it’s not your ship anymore.

It’s just funny to me like that Rin here writes poems about Haru and openly flirts with him in restaurants and plans their future together and I don’t even need to exagerate anything, it’s just how it really is and meanwhile mh is like “remember how 7 years ago Utsumi said that Rin and Haru wouldn’t be friends if it wasn’t for swimming, so mh is the shit”.. like I’m sorry, but I think I’m allowed to laugh at this. Sometimes you just have to let it go, seriously. Or at least like idk think before you post (and I know that it has like 3 retweets and no one cares, but still 3 ppl agreed and it reached me somehow, so..). My policy is when I create posts about my ships is validation. Like my last Rinharu facts youtube post got 5K likes, I didn’t post my thoughts, just their moments and at the end I specifically said “I have links/translations to all of this, so name thing you want to read, I’ll link you” and I linked everyone whatever they wanted. 

This is how you tell ppl a story of why you love this ship and make them fall in love with it, too. Not by making up lies about what’s not there and twisting someone’s words (like this person wrote “thats what she really meant *adds complete nonsense*). And I know mh do not have any of this stuff that rh have, but if you really ship mh, find something real and go from there. Seriously, it’s better if you have smth small, but real, than a huge lie.

Also I still think ship is about two people, not just one. Why mh don’t want to listen to anything Haru says or wants like at all? That’s just sad. 

P.P.S. Thanks for liking my blog, this makes me so happy <3<3<3

[furubabes]

Okay. Somebody Asked. @shoujobell and @cryptidaicat, y’all encouraged this. I’m gonna tag this #long post if you wanna filter.

So here. I got the urge to write and so I ranked the Fruits Basket couples from my favorite to least favorite. These aren’t my complete thoughts because I could honestly do multiple full meta posts on each pairing, but I tried to justify and explain all my choices. Standard disclaimer, this is subjective and we can agree to disagree.

Part 1: Just the reasonably popular ones

1. Kyoru: Someone’s gonna call me unoriginal for this but it’s fine. Kyoru is the main romance of Fruits Basket! They bring out the best in each other and build each other up as characters. Kyoru is basically my gold standard take on Sunshine Girl x Grouchy Dude, and I’m not even usually into that trope otherwise. Their romance is one of the few that feels so genuinely necessary to the story. They love each other and like each other. Kyo understands Tohru in a way no one else in the narrative does, and vice versa. They’re in love like soulmates and also like awkward teenagers. Kyoru invented romance. If it’s boring to like healthy romances with realistic development, I’ll be boring.

2. Tohrin: If Tohru didn’t end up with Kyo I would only want her to be with Rin. I guess they have some of the same appeal as Kyoru for me - Rin reads Tohru in a way a lot of people don’t. I also like how honest and raw they are with each other. They yell! They fight! Rin is down to just straight up knock Tohru over to keep her from rushing off. Also, they’re both absolute fashion icons. Goth x Prep rights. I firmly believe Tohru Honda is bisexual.

3. Yukeru: This is my favorite Yuki pairing. I followed @yunsoh way back when the reboot first started and her blog has got me absolutely hooked on Yukeru. I think Yuki’s arc would have just made a ridiculous amount of sense if he was gay. It screams comphet. Kakeru is an excellent complement to Yuki, and their bond feels incredibly natural. Honestly I feel like it’s the most organic romantic development outside of Kyoru. I think realistically they wouldn’t have gotten together until post-canon and frankly Yuki shines in his friendships much more than romances, so I’m not absolutely dying for them to be together, but if Yuki’s going to date anyone Kakeru is my pick.

4. Arisaki: Man... I just like them. They strike me as less of an epic love and more of a comfortable partnership. I also read them both as lesbians anyway lol. Honestly I think they both had feelings for Tohru at one point and bonded over it. The way I picture them happening is honestly just Arisa at 25 frantically googling “is it gay to hold hands with my girl roommate who I spend all my time with and also we never date men“ because Saki bought them rings that look like wedding bands but they could just be super close friendship rings and oh god she’s in too deep. They’re dating for four years before they notice.

5. AyaMine: But Jessie! You literally never post about this pairing! Yeah, you’re right. I never think about them actively. But when ranking the canon ships I realized that I like the two of them together because they’re chill and understated. They’re huge loud personalities on their own but as a couple, they just feel like two people who are happy together and like spending time with one another. No drama, no mess, very understated. No plot contrivances driving their relationship. Good for them.

6. YukiKyo: Okay, so I can be convinced to put on my YukiKyo goggles more often than not. It feels iffy because there’s debate about how closely related all the Sohmas are and these two are called “cousins” a lot in school, but since half of the Sohmas are dating each other anyway, I err on the side of them being more of a clan than a proper blood family. Anyway, YukiKyo is my designated angst fuel. I think it would realistically be pretty one-sided from Yuki’s side, since we see him wanting Kyo’s approval from a very young age, but I like exploring the what-ifs of their lives if they’d been friends instead of rivals. In canon, I like to think that after high school they’re not best friends in the traditional sense, but either one could show up with a dead body and the other would help them bury it, no questions asked.

7. Yuchi: Really? Yuki’s wife is my third favorite pairing for him? Look, I adore Machi, and I still like Yuchi. But as I’ve been watching the reboot and reading others’ metas, I think I agree that their relationship could have been very powerful as a platonic one, sort of running parallel to Yuki and Tohru. I like them together but I think there wasn’t quite time for a complete character arc for Machi and her growth sort of begins and ends with Yuki. I don’t object to them being a couple in canon and I think they’re genuinely very sweet, but once again, I think Yuki stands out in his friendships more than anything. I would have liked to see Machi strike out on her own a little more.

8. Haru x Yuki: I don’t have any particular feelings towards them but I love their dynamic already and I think as a couple they’d both be really easygoing and comfortable with each other. I think a childhood crush turned close friendship is honestly the narrative that works best for them so I have no need for the two to date canonically, but every time they interact in the anime it gets a laugh out of me. They’re cool. They’d make a very pretty pair.

9. Mayutori: I’m Mayutori-neutral. I think they suffer from Fruits Basket’s pair the spare syndrome, but out of the side pairings that don’t have too much impact, they’re one I enjoy. Mayu’s fun as a character, and painfully relatable, and I like that Hatori’s eventual romance isn’t with someone who reminds him of Kana or something like that. I also want good things for Hatori. Mayutori has serious heterosexual energy though. I’m not saying this as a pro or con, they’re just very straight.

10. Hatsuzu: Okay, Haru and Rin aren’t this far down because I hate them. I’m perfectly fine with them being together in canon. But I think their romance almost... functions better as individual motivation for their character arcs than it does as an actual relationship, if that makes sense? Rin’s backstory episode is heartbreaking and her motivation to protect Haru is compelling and sympathetic, but their actual scenes together just don’t move me that much. Their romance is the least interesting part of either character for me.

11. Hiro x Kisa: Yeah I never got into it that much. It’s cute, it’s a sweet depiction of childhood crushes, but I’m not a fan of the idea of them ending up together. Kisa’s a cutie and Hiro is entertaining but the two of them together don’t actually do much for me. The dynamic between them is almost like if someone did Kyoru with none of the nuance. Ultimately though, they’re kids. I don’t expect them to have a deep and complex romance.

12. Yukiru: I think it would be a disservice to their characters if they were a couple. People far more eloquent than me have already written plenty of meta on why Yuki and Tohru aren’t what the other needs romantically, so I won’t get into it, but basically I just think their canon friendship is so beautiful and meaningful that I wouldn’t want to change it. Yuki and Tohru support my thesis that not all soulmates are romantic.

13. Tohru x Momiji: Welcome to the subjective dislike corner! This pairing is reasonably popular among people theorizing who Tohru would be with if not Kyo, but for some reason it just sits poorly with me. I can’t rank it any lower because there’s nothing evil or morally wrong about it! I just really don’t like it. I’ve quit a few fics because this pairing came up and I just can’t enjoy it.

14. Kakeru x Komaki: Idk, I just think Kakeru latching onto the one girl who was nice to him and put up with his bullshit and then being with her forever isn’t compelling. Komaki’s also probably his beard. She’s likable as an individual though.

15. Akigure: There’s plenty to say about the age gap, Shigure being in love with Akito since she was a fetus because of The Dream, the implications of a 15-18 year old knowing he’d one day want to be with a then-10-year-old... yeah, you get it. But even if I was able to put all that aside because Soulmate Destiny Logic, I still don’t think I’d like Akigure. I think they’re interesting as bitter, codependent exes, but I don’t like the idea of Akito ending up with anyone who she abused or who abused her. I think she has so much growing to do as a character and staying in a relationship within the Sohma family to do it can’t be healthy for her. I can’t see them living happily ever after, nor do I really want to.

16. Kurisa: I think what frustrates me the most here is that I want to like Kureno and everything about this romance is written to dull his most interesting traits. First of all, the age gap. Yeah, it’s gross, I don’t like it. But even past that, the love at first sight, instant fixation with each other, and lack of actual chemistry just kills me. Arisa’s stated reason to like Kureno is that he reminds her of Tohru, basically piggybacking off the chemistry she and Tohru already have, and his total lack of agency means the plot just sort of carries him along. It frustrates me that Takaya could have done something pretty cool by making them simply friends who have a chance encounter and then build a friendship from there that parallels Kureno’s abusive dynamic with Akito. It would be neat if a stranger’s kindness was the push Kureno needed to get himself out of the Sohmas’ grasp, without all the nonsensical drama about them being in love. It would also be less of a disservice to Arisa, who basically just spends the whole series pining for Kureno after they meet and I hate it. I could write a whole post about this. Maybe I will sometime.

17. Kyoko x Katsuya: I don’t think their story is romantic. I think it’s tragic for Kyoko, and if it were framed that way within the narrative, I wouldn’t object so much to its existence. But... Takaya just really likes age gaps with a younger woman and an older man, so the narrative romanticizes this man marrying his student. Katsuya can be depicted as well-meaning as you want, but he’s still got a ridiculous amount of power over Kyoko. She was also still pretty young when she had Tohru, which doesn’t make things any better because it’s clear that the relationship turned physical when Kyoko was a teen, thus dashing the idea of Katsuya legally marrying her to save her but not actually doing anything creepy. I wish Fruits Basket framed this as a story of Kyoko escaping one dangerous situation by entering a relationship with a huge power imbalance, because that happens to girls all the time and it’s tragic and compelling. The events of the story could stay the exact same and if the framing changed I would be fine with it. But this is not that. This is just a really romanticized teacher/student age gap. I’m not into it.

Part 2: Rarepairs, weird shit, and others (oh my!)

1. Yuki x Kakeru x Kimi: OT3. I’m enamored with the idea of this hot mess polycule.

2. Momiji x Kimi: Chaos meets chaos. This couple would say uwu without any irony and also steal your car keys. They’re both perceptive and smart hidden under a layer of cute and I’d wanna watch them play 4D chess with each other.

3. Kazuma x Kunimitsu: Idk how old Kunimitsu is so if he’s like 20, strike this one from the record. But I saw one post once that was like Kyo slowly realizing Kazuma and Kunimitsu were gay and had been dating for years and it was funny as hell.

4. AyaTori: It’s cute. Opposites attract, black and white hair, and Aya only listens to Hatori anyway. It’s just fun to think about.

5. Megumi x Hiro: They don’t interact in canon I just think Goth x Punk-Ass Bitch is a great concept.

6. Motoko x Nao: They’re both loud as hell and Nao having a gf that towers over him is funny. Maybe Yuki would finally get some peace.

7. Machi x Kimi: I don’t see them actually being compatible in canon but I think they could have a really homoerotic college friendship.

8. Hajime x Mutsuki: This is just YukiKyo, the non angst version.

9. Akito x Hanajima: I’m so wary of shipping Akito with anyone but this is kind of fun. The two are friends in canon and Hana isn’t remotely afraid of Akito. Plus Akito never abused Hana. I can sort of see it.

10. Hiroshi x Yusuke: Makes no sense, wouldn’t be relevant, but if those two just never spent any time apart and continued being a pair for life it would be a really good bit.

11. Akitohru: I don’t think it’s healthy to date anyone who’s previously stabbed you.

12. Kazuma x Hanajima: Stop. Go to jail. Hana’s one-sided crush is funny though.

[caffernnn]

Some makoto analysis to cope with whatever it is that happened in fs2

Remember during the baton relay during the club recruitment in s2? Haru was running on his top speed because of course he was supposed to give it his all to gain more members. But he was incredibly slow and lagged way behind all the other clubs. Until makoto picked the baton (the kickboard) and managed to cover the time and distance haru lost, bringing up their rank to third, until nagisa lost the momentum which was picked back up by rei. Which means canonically makoto is way faster than haru on top sprinting speed. And if say, let's assume haru is almost on par with rin on their sprint on land, then makoto is also faster than rin. And if, say, assuming rin is also on par with both sousuke and ikuya, as seen with some of their instances of asserting dominance through a sprinting/running race, then makoto's superiority on running speed extends to sousuke and ikuya. Look, all I'm aaying is that theoretically, makoto is faster and better on land than haru, rin, sousuke, and ikuya. Makoto is probably the best on land after rei (and kisumi maybe) and on top running speed (disregarding the long run because apparently makoto has weaker stamina), the top athletes of the Japanese swim team will lose to makoto on land by a mile.

I rest my case 😌

Of course he’s a speedy guy; how else would he get anywhere, since driving is out of the question—

Jokes aside, I love that Makoto is built for speed and power, can push super hard in short bursts when he wants/needs to, but there are so many times where he chooses leisurely paces, chooses patience. He’s capable of zooming forward but revels in what slowing down allows him. It’s evident in how well he works with kids, how he understands Haru like nobody else, how he finds ways to support his friends over and over again… and I’m totally not thinking about his whole speech in the novelization savoring cake wdym

Idk, it’s just so cool to get glimpses of Makoto’s potential strengths versus how he wields them. Like, we’ve already talked about how Makoto had/has enough physical prowess that if he really wanted to try his hand at competing past high school, he could’ve fought for it and found a way. However, his heart lies in what good he can do supporting others. He believes his true strength is in helping others slow down with him, really considering their dreams/goals and coming up with the steps to get them where they want to be.

Does he necessarily know how fast or skilled he is in other areas? It’s debatable; we could have a whole other conversation about how Makoto often represses hard introspection or possibly has some level of imposter syndrome. However, I think one of the fun things to focus on moving forward with Makoto is not in the ways he’s driven by fear, but the ways he’s driven by affection and care, if that makes sense. It’s a great way to see his personal growth and watch Makoto become more sturdy in his convictions — choosing Tokyo and becoming a trainer because he can see his own strengths; his feeling of “they’re going to leave me behind, will I be able to chase/reach them” getting soothed over time in knowing they’ll find their way back to each other. Fun stuff!!!

[isuzuapologist]

Rank the Fruits Basket ships?

thanks for the ask! i don’t know if you meant canon ships or the ones i wanted so here’s a mix! (ranking things is so hard i did the best i could lol)

kyoru - this is obviously my first pick. they are soulmates, they love eachother so unconditionally and are so ready to PROTECT. their parallels are crazy and the way they fall in love so slowly is my favorite thing. there are so many elements that make them extraordinary and such an incredible love story, but if we take the “fantasy” elements out of it they’re also just two teenagers! that’s one of my favorite things about them-- the way they flirt and are so playful with eachother, how awkward and messy they are sometimes expressing affection but how earnest they are to do so!

tohrin - listen. i’m obsessed. i think about them all the time. i think about writing them all the time. there are so many parallels between them and also between their partners in canon. i like to say they’re two sides of the same coin because i believe their inner worlds are much, much similar than their exterior lead to think. i love the way they’re a TEAM and so brave and so smart and so ready to protect people??? the size of their hearts????? unmatched. so ready to give love even if isuzu shies away from it (much like tohru being unable to ask for help). i strongly believe they are best friends in canon and the way isuzu is so protective of tohru and even suggests she should leave kyo so she can still live close to her?????????? phew. girlfriends of the year. soft and goth. tsundere and deredere. light and dark. need i go on? they’re the perfect match.

yuchi - I LOVE THEM SO MUCH. GOD. i think my favorite thing about them is how relatable and “conventional” they are in a way? what we see from them in the series is a completely normal high school relationship, because yuki doesn’t seem to reveal the curse to her before it’s broken (if we are to assume). they’re really really similar: it’s so obvious to me that yuki helps her sort out her feelings and put everything in place because he’s already started that journey. but also machi helps him go through with it and start seeing himself as someone able to care, someone people can lean on, someone who can love, etc. they help eachother see how valuable they are, to themselves and other people.

hana x uo x tohru - ENDGAME POLY!!!!!!!!! listen if you didn’t get major sapphic throuple vibes in the entirety of hana’s backstory.... i don’t know what to tell you. i’d watch a whole series of them just going through high school together and discovering the dynamics of their relationship. i wouldn’t even mind if the sohmas weren’t around. give me best friends give me sapphics give me polyamori. god the possibilites... the potential. and they’re also a little bit in love already.

yukeru - LOVE THEM!!!!! they’re a great great great duo. they both bring growth to the other and are a fundamental step in their personal journeys. also i adore the way they rub off on eachother and how kakeru is able to bring out the inner asshole in yuki. they have amazing scenes. in my head they’ve definitely (AT LEAST) banged in canon. idc.

ritsu x mitsuru - a lesbian couple and a trans woman??????? i CANNOT express how much i love them and how starved i am for more content. the new scenes included in the anime gave me life. they’re just two shy, fumbling women who downright admire eachother. i think they’re so so so cute.

hatsuzu - i really like them But. i do think there are some unhealthy traits about their relationship (even if by the end of the series isuzu states that she wants to better herself and their relationship-- which is super interesting and something i’d like to see more in media!) i think they have a lot of potential and i would have loved to see them working through their “issues”. (she depends too heavily on him and i really wasn’t a fan of their first kiss ((the whole “you don’t want me?” thing when haru knows just how scared and self conscious isuzu is... eh :/ )) anyway goth bisexual power couple step on me with your punk boots!

mayutori - i don’t have any problems with them even if i think it would have been interesting for them to develop some other kind of relationship that wasn’t romantic. also weird to me the way hana connects to both of them so idk. but i do think they are compatible and make a really cool duo.

ayame x mine - i mean i like the fact that we know ayame gets pegged.

there’s also hiro x kisa but they’re children so i don’t really "ship” them. & then akigure and uo x kureno.... hm. even if i do like and enjoy some aspects of both relationships i simply can’t ignore their age gaps,, and other things. (i won’t even consider kyoko and katsuya because that’s disgusting)

[zukkatrash]

atla pirate au

(soley based on me misreading a diff post and now wanting to see mai in a keira knightly getup) (also everything i know abt pirates is based on the pirates of the caribbean, treasure planet and black sails and hasty 2 am googling) (also also big fucking shoutout to @s-suki for helping me with this)

the gaang's ship - aka The Avatar

yue is captain!!! (@s-suki ur brain is huge and i luv u) so from what i know being a captain is a looot abt politics and u know our girl yue is good at that, not to mention how much her crew loves her bc she gives everything for them

sokka is navigator, one look at the stars and he knows where they are instantly, he charts a course in record time, captains have in fact fought over him but he is nothing but loyal to his captain!!!

aang spends at least half his time in the sails, as lookout and keeping knots secure(? idk shit abt sailing haha) he’s also the fastest one they got, no matter if he’s running, swimming or paddling a small boat

suki is the best fighter they have bc of course she is (also theres no misogyny in this bc i said so) grown men shit themselves when they see her / also shes boatswain (the boatswain was in charge of a ship's anchors, cordage, colors, deck crew and the ship's boats, and would also be in charge of the rigging while the ship was in dock)

toph! makes! bombs! also if u give her a gun that u found thats been underwater for three months and u give her like 2 hours, not only is it completely functional afterwards but it somehow works better than before?

katara is quartermaster and shes def like 30% of how yue keeps her crew in line

haru is ship cook (i know this has zero connection to canon but have you considered boi soft and warm like bread)

teo is the ships carpenter (highest ranking if they got more than one)

jet is a fighter obvs, also him and sokka do NOT get along but yue has this real icy stare that makes them both shut up immediately

smellerbee is dating toph and yue is not opposed to their relationship but does make sure theyre not around eachother too much when explosives are also near bc those 2 def get up to some wild shit

longshot is obvs the best shot they have and is the other lookout

appa is a parrot and he spends all of his time being adorable

momo is still a lemur and just steals so much shit

on to the firenation

ozai rules over a whole ass port/island or smth idk but like all the pirates have to deal with his fucking bullshit

zhao is his 2nd in command and yue at some point guts him 😊

azula is of course captain of her ship and she rules with an iron fist

mai is first mate (making any possible future betrayals that much worse)

ty lee is ship medic and just constantly gets underestimated in fights and wins like right away

zukos life motto on azulas ship is 'i hate it here' bc his job is basically everything nobody else wants to do (until! he is no longer on the ship. does he get pushed off the ship to drown? does he leave in the night with all the valuables he can carry and a map of a great prize? idk, YOU DECIDE)

more thoughts on zuko:

i dont think he’d join the gaang right away after he’s no longer with the fire nation but would first like half-die on some island (even if he didn’t get kicked off, i just imagine he’d do smth drastic like think he can sail a ship without getting lost just bc he’s spent a lot of time on a ship but like, honey no, navigation isnt as easy as it looks) bc zuko alone u kno

iroh is still his uncle in this, but zuko doesnt know that, so he thinks he’s just this weird hermit guy that finds him and takes him in

zuko is like "what does he want? what his secret agenda? how will this guy use this against me?" and iroh is just like "boy! eat something but also are u like okay? u want some cryptic advice thats consisting of 60 ocean metaphors?"

iroh does tell him hes his uncle tho and that he left when zuko was really young and he wasnt the only one who ran from that house that day...

URSA IS ALIVE!

she had been banished by ozai and threatened with zukos murder if she had stayed, ozai wouldve killed her but he knew he couldnt take her in a straight fight and if she had been the type you could assassinate they wouldntve ever gotten together anyway

now shes vibing with iroh and lu ten, because yes lu ten is alive (listen if there is any feasable way of my boi to be alive he is!!!)

also they’re def supporting everyone who opposes ozai as asafely as they can on whatever weird remote island theyre at

once zuko joins the crew of the avatar, sokka laughs like straight five minutes abt zuko thinking he could navigate his stolen boat after not even learning how to properly read a map, not to mention everything else that goes into navigating and zuko is like "fuck u" and sokka is like "lets show u how to read a map so this doesnt happen again" still with tears of laughter in his eyes, and maybe later when hes been on the crew for longer and maybe saved sokkas life in a fight, sokka teaches him abt the stars too and cue zuko pining after the way too beautiful guy trying to explain constellations but zuko just keeps getting lost in his eyes and being hyper aware of how close sokkas arm is when he points out specific stars

the reason zuko joins them in the first place is bc the avatar is the only crew that could protect him against azula and ozai and they’re the only ones willing/able to go up against the fire nation

also katara is the first to see zuko after he parted with the fn and she like immediately has a sword to his throat and boi just fucking faints

maybe jee is also a captain in this bc i really like it when the wani shows up in fanfics and maybe they’re not on good terms with ozai but they’re flying under the radar bc its just a small ship and they do bring in their percentage so maybe zuko joins his crew before he goes to find the gaang?

now some general thoughts:

the dai lee is the chinese navy out to get them all

miyuki is one of their highest ranking officers and gives the pirates a run for their money, but weirdly never goes to chase the Avatar

hakoda is also a captain but he’s working under ozai to take the operation down from the inside (also yes of course his husband bato is also there with him ^^)

kue is absolutely some weird hermit guy

once again big thanks to @s-suki for helping me with this check out their blog theyre great! (theyre on break rn tho but dont let that deter u!!)

if anyone wants to add to this PLEASE do!!! also if anyone draws or writes smth for this please please please tag me bc i would love to see it!! (also i will love u forever ♡)

[machikuragii]

Rank the Sohmas and explain your ranking?

Anon, this got really long, so I’ve put everything under the cut. Also I don’t have solid rankings beyond my top 2 so I went into ‘tiers’ that aren’t necessarily ordered by how much I like a character. TLDR; I love all the zodiacs for different reasons, see readmore for more in-depth thoughts.

1. Yuki Sohma

Yuki as a character is really, really important to me. I think about him so much, and how he goes from a neglected, unwanted child with no support network to a confident young adult who is so comfortable with himself and free to be happy and at ease and surrounded by those who love him. I think about how important it is that Takaya displays this journey as incremental, and not necessarily linear. I think about how Yuki’s strength comes not only from himself and his desire to improve step by step, but from the support he gradually starts to receive from the people around him. I think about just how important it is when Takaya says that it’s ok to be weak, to reach out for help, and that for some people, it is only when they DO receive the needed support from others that they are able to get better. I think about just how much it means for a boy with so little self-worth to gradually find himself in the company of people who enjoy his presence and like him for who he is, and I think about how he is able to reach out and help others after receiving the warm and foundation he himself needs, when he is emotionally ready. I think about then, how SIGNIFICANT it is to show a character who had absolutely NOTHING in his childhood go on to make sure that his own child has everything he longed for in a home in his childhood. 

There’s a little bit of Yuki in everyone. Every bit of his internal monologue hits like a truck for anyone who struggles with insecurity and low self-esteem, and his drive and aspiration to find his own purpose and happiness, can be a source of inspiration to so many. Yuki Sohma is one of the best, if not THE definitely best written Fruits Basket characters, and I really wish more people recognised this. As sensei once said herself, I know that Yuki will always have his fans, but I wished that more people realised and appreciated his importance in the story and carrying the themes of Fruits Basket.

2. Hatori Sohma

This is more a remnant of a past phase, but Hatori is here because he was my first anime crush ksksksasoksks . Jokes aside though, I love Hatori because of his kindness and selfless nature that is masked by a cold exterior. As an adult I realise that Hatori’s actions are not always perfect or enough, but I still really think that he is someone who truly cares. There are so many instances that improve his character in my eyes. Can you imagine going through what he goes through with Kana, and learning of her marriage, and not feeling bitterness, but relief that she is happy? And yet he values his own happiness so little that it really breaks my heart. Or the way that he doesn’t avoid Momiji after the ordeal with his mother, but checks up on him and in a way helps raise him? Dude is more of a father figure to Momiji than his own dad. Narratively, Hatori’s backstory is such an effective introduction to the darker, more mature themes of Fruits Basket, and yeah you can bet it worked on kid me. 

TIER: “These are great characters, I love their complexity but I’m also just fond of them as well” (no particular order)

Isuzu Sohma

Someone who definitely grew on me this time round. When I was a child I found it hard to understand what she was going through and didn’t really relate to her either. But oh my god, this girl goes through so much. She’s such a kindhearted character at heart, but struggles with connecting with others and receiving their kindness because of what she went through as a child. It’s so hard to watch her struggle, because we know she deserves the world. 

Akito Sohma

Controversial to say I love Akito just after I said I love Rin, lol. I’ve never had an overly negative impression of Akito throughout Fruits Basket (this is partially because my friends used to call me Akito when we were little.....because I was an Asian girl... and Akito is also an Asian girl????? idk now that I’m thinking back over it...gee thanks guys), so it was relatively easier for me to accept her redemption when it came. Akito’s actions are not defensible, but I find it much more interesting to explore where she is coming from, rather than just mindlessly spew hate and wish violent things for her like some people prefer to do. Akito’s character is a tragedy, and I feel like people are way less willing to emphasise when the victim is not “perfect”, per se. Akito went through the same “broken home” parental abuse that a lot of the characters in Fruits Basket went through, but somehow people are unwilling even to extend the tiniest amount of baseline empathy towards her just because he trauma manifested in a way that hurts others. Guys, she’s a tragic character!!! A tragic character isn’t always “a perfect person who has bad things happen to them”, it can also mean “a character who becomes antagonistic because of circumstances.” Her actions are inexcusable, but there is a lot to learn when we explore WHY she became this way.

Shigure Sohma

Gonna try make this short. Shigure is a controversial character but I like him because I like characters that demonstrate moral ambiguity. The point of Shigure is NOT to be a good person, and he doesn’t have to be one to justify liking him. Once again, you can like Shigure and still know that he’s a piece of shit. The whole idea of “he genuinely cares for Tohru but will hurt her if it means achieving his own goals” is a fascinating one to me, because it shows that the idea of “good people” and “bad people” is vast oversimplification of how actual people think and behave. Still though, I’m really not fond of how Akigure was executed in canon. I think the two could have potentially had a fascinating relationship but it ended up being more disturbing and swept under the rug&uncomfortable than interesting.

Momiji Sohma

On the opposite end of the spectrum we have Momiji who is just genuinely such a good person. I like the dichotomy between his outwardly ‘childish’ and ‘immature’ appearance and behaviors, versus what we gradually learn about him: that he has had to be mature and selfless at a very young age, and that he is also very emotionally intelligent and empathetic. Watching him gradually grow up before our eyes (we were ROBBED of it in the anime) but at the same time feeling more and more lost broke my freaking heart. When his curse breaks and he realises that even though he is now ‘free’, that nothing has changed and the damage was already done -  absolutely heartwrenching. He’s someone I would have loved explore more of what happened post-canon, because I just want good things for him and Momo, screw whatever the hell their asshole dad thinks. 

TIER: “I love these characters but don’t focus on them as much as I think the fandom does”

Kyo Sohma

I’m a self-professed “probably don’t think about Kyo that much” person haha. I know I know, sue me. I think its because out of the main 3, I love Yuki and Tohru so much that I don’t tend to focus on Kyo. I still like him a whole lot though!! I’m a big fan of the way he matures and changes throughout the series, and much like how Yuki does too, becomes a much happier person. When I compare early-series Kyo with later-series Kyo, one thing that always sticks out to me is how much more he smiles. The way he smiles at Tohru is so full of genuine warmth and happiness that it makes my heart melt, especially when I think about how this is a boy who has so much baggage, and has to gradually accept the fact that he deserves happiness before he allows himself finally to accept it. 

Hatsuharu Sohma

Most of my love for Haru comes from the relationship he has with Yuki. It takes so much maturity to accept that your prejudices may be unfair, and Haru did so at such a young age. Sometimes I just think about how much Haru did and continues to do for Yuki without the need for reciprocation or even recognition and it just hits me how much of a good person Haru is. He was Yuki’s ONLY friend at a time he had NO ONE, and is the reason Yuki was able to move out of the estate and become the person we know and love. Haha sorry for making this about Yuki again, but I think their relationship also says a lot about Haru as a person.

TIER: “I like Kureno and am tired of making a thousand disclaimers every time I want to say I like him, Takaya-sensei whyyyy”

Kureno Sohma

I really like Kureno. This is again pretty controversial, but let me try to explain. I like Kureno because he’s an example of someone who wants to do the right thing that causes the least amount of harm to everyone, but inevitably ends up making the decision that causes much more damage. It’s a classic “good intentions, bad outcome” scenario and I freaking love it. I love that it’s absolutely not what he wants, but Kureno ends up doing a lot of wrong things and destroying not only Akito, but also his own life in the process. I just find the idea of an adult of his age who is so isolated from all of society that even a shopping trip is something foreign and out-of-the-ordinary, really, really sad. 

On the romance side though,  I hate that Takaya-sensei decided that Arisa would be his romantic interest, but I do like the idea of romance being a part of his arc. (I actually think their interactions are somewhat cute but that the overarching age gap ruins everything - i keep thinking about if Arisa was older or Kureno was younger, but touching their ages at all would affect the plot so I would rather it wasn’t Arisa at all). Just the idea of Kureno by Akito’s side, playing the part of what he thinks is her “lover” (god sensei why are u liek dis), when he meets someone on one of his rare trips outside the Sohma estate that causes him to realise that what he and Akito have is not at all what a healthy relationship should feel like - and it causes him to reevaluate the harm he is doing to them both, and take steps to leave her. That is...not exactly what Sensei did, but I always remember how much I felt for Kureno when he said in the upcoming anime chapter how it was the first time he had felt like he loved someone out of his own choice...I just felt like that one “choice” could have lead him to the realisation that he can start to make more of his own, healthier choices in life. But yeah. Wish it wasn’t Arisa because it didn’t do anything good to her character arc, and it’s creepy. 

TIER: “I really like these characters but don’t go out of my way to think about them”

Kagura Sohma

Ok I lied, I do go out of my way to think about Kagura. I love her too, despite common opinion. I think her reflection of her relationship with Kyo was so wonderful. Her confession that she started to like him out of pity, but that over time they became genuine feelings. But that Kyo can’t reciprocate her feelings so she’s accepting of that, and thankful that he gave her time to express herself, although she will still go on loving Kyo. Kagura is one of those characters where Takaya-sensei once again demonstrates her ability to take a “trope” of a character and actually delve into their psyche and explains why they feel this way. 

Ayame Sohma

I love Ayame because he’s genuinely so much fun! I appreciate the arc of him rejecting Yuki, but how he is now reaching out to help him, and I feel like we don’t get a good insight into just how significant this rejection was until we see it from Yuki’s perspective. I also admire how he is able to recognise his own shortcomings, and respects Hatori because of his sensitivity to other people’s feelings. He’s a character who could definitely have been explored more if desired, but isn’t underexplored or incomplete as is.

Ritsu Sohma

My poor Ritsu. In contrast to Ayame, Ritsu was definitely underexplored. Such a great potential to explore confidence, identity, and assertiveness. Ritsu as it stands though, is largely a minor character who wasn’t given the time they needed to be fully fleshed out. I would have loved to see them gradually gain more confidence over the series!!

Kisa Sohma

Love love love Kisa, she’s such a cutie pie. But I feel like there wasn’t much more to say about her that wasn’t said in her arc. Kisa is more a character who is used to show the messed-up state of the Sohma house/Akito more than she herself is a complex character, I think. I love her arc and her parallels to Yuki though, it gave us such a great quote about needing to be loved by others before learning to love yourself. 

Hiro Sohma

Hiro is known to be an unlikeable brat but I love him as well!!! I think it’s really important to have characters who aren’t just lovely and receptive to Tohru’s kindness, and his character served to show an important flaw in Tohru’s character, and the way that her kindness could be taken advantage of. For Hiro himself though, I think his brattiness is alright because he’s very young, and I really appreciate his efforts to become a more mature person when he recognises his own flaws!