#in any case. i await the day you write in why you like shishido :) most curious for the reason

[todayisafridaynight]

I definitely think Ryuji is the root of Shishido's archetype but that the closest branch If You Will is RGGO's Kagami. In not just being rugged and charismatic Kansai guys who live to fight and have the scars to show for it and so on, but in specifically being coliseum fighters with heavy involvement in an exclusive Den Of Debauchery (Shishido being an event coordinator at the Castle and Kagami being in charge of Purgatory), and in resenting their patriarchs for their (perceived) cowardice... and y'know... big cat-coded (lion and tiger)... big-ass bright-ass black and yellow coats... lol...

Given Gaiden was originally called 7 Gaiden, I feel like I could reeeasonably say that Kagami was split off into Tendo and Shishido in sort of a similar way as RGGJo was split off into Y7Jo and Aoki, but over a larger period of time. Made me laugh every time Shishido said some shit like 「あの人は関西極道のかがみです」 about Nishitani III like lmao... it may be purely phonetic but it's fun to think that's why Kagami's name is Kagami... because he is the model Kansai yakuza...

Also really funny because of your comic about Ichiban and Arakawa having a heart-to-heart while All That is going on in the background right because of the Kagami+RGGJo substory where Kagami starts shit indiscriminately in the meeting room hoping to test the new Omi captain's strength and then Arakawa shows up and knocks him out with one punch LMAO... Arakawa had to ignore that shit the fight woulda been Jover before it started...

Speaking Of Jo I still enjoy how blatantly RGGJo flirts with Kagami in that substory too... RIP babygirl you would've loved Shishido in the console timeline instead of just thinking of him as some Kansai punk </3

But to rewind, of course, Shishido does have that Aizawa DNA in being the Aizawa to Tsuruno's Morinaga, drawing Kiryu out of hiding with brawn and brains respectively, and in being a relatively straightforward ally Until He Isn't. It's joked about a fair bit that the talk about dreams in the finale absolutely was a nod to Y5, and it was.

That being said, I think Shishido and Tsuruno were more of an apology for how convoluted Aizawa and Morinaga's plots were without really going anywhere. I personally liked Aizawa and Morinaga a lot more when they were played straight, which Tsuruno is this time, and although Shishido isn't, I think he's signiiificantly better-executed than Aizawa.

Iiiiiiiiii do have to admit I have a lot of thoughts about Mine and Shishido as characters, because I think they're both very different people and very, very interesting to compare in terms of their trajectories and execution at the same time. At the very least, I love them--and Jo--for what I feel are incredibly similar reasons that I think go a little deeper than surface-level.

But I'll write in about all that when I have more time to... This Has Gone On Long Enough and also I have sooooooo much from the past week or more to write in about... and stream's soon...

To Be More Accurate yar i agree kagami is a closer comparison to shishido. fair to assert kagami was translated into tendo and shishido knowin em on that note too

always feel free to share your thoughts on shishido tho !!! s'always interestin to read what you gotta say :)