#joserobe

[robehira]

I love clueless Roberto so much

‘Huh?’

[hinaiyano]

Don't go

[tsuki-to-umi]

So I’ve finished reading @bevelle‘s translation of “Where the Sun Shines” needless to say I’m in a glass case of JoseRobe emotions right now, and the Part 4 reminded me of the song “Save our last goodbye” by Disturbed. I mean, the lyrics are TOTALLY Roberto’s POV:

Don't wanna hear it's over What a rude awakening Angel of death has come and ripped you from my life I can't stand the devastation Relentless agony Hope that I get to see you on the other side

Blue sky has turned to blackest night Now you're gone, it just isn't right

Save our last goodbye Embedded in my mind, your face will never leave me Save our last goodbye It's killing me that I won't get to hear your laughter anymore

What faith I had is broken And I question everything And those shards of doubt begin to penetrate my heart With every waking hour Within everything I see The shadows of your loss are tearing my apart

Blue sky has turned to blackest night Now you're gone, it just isn't right

Save our last goodbye Embedded in my mind, your face will never leave me Save our last goodbye It's killing me that I won't get to hear your laughter anymore

My world is shattered and disarrayed I'm beaten down, drained emotionally They say in time the pain goes away But in my soul it will forever stay

Save our last goodbye Embedded in my mind, your face will never leave me Save our last goodbye It's killing me that I won't get to hear your laughter...

Save our last goodbye Embedded in my mind, your face will never leave me Save our last goodbye It's killing me that I won't get to hear your laughter anymore

[demiroirs]

[Why he puppy]

[miraclexamined]

Roberto Nicholas is a gay coded character, part I

now, I didn’t even think this post would be necessary, but it looks like this is less obvious than I thought, and some good character analysis is never bad.

I’ll mainly be referencing the anime and the only novels I could read or... know in any way, meaning mostly Where The Sun Shines (1, 2, 3, 4), Laplace’s Demon and The Ice Wolf that Swallows The Moon; however, I’ll be focusing more on the explanation of why he’d be explicitly gay coded rather than anything that could imply feelings for Hiraga, otherwise this post would... never end. So, here we go

First thing first, I’ll be focusing on his introduction. Now, I’ll set aside for a minute how he starts ironing Hiraga’s clothes, or says his brain itself is a miracle in its own right, because he might just be a very close and very affectionate friend, right? We both know it isn’t (just) that but let’s focus on the more blantant things.

Upon his and Hiraga’s arrival to St. Rosario church in the first episode, Roberto finds out the church has a boarding school next to it, and recalls when he, too, attended a boarding school. but the flashback we’re specifically shown, that and nothing else, is:

this, this an nothing else. Which, if I may, it’s not quite what you’d expect from somebody who’s generally remembering his school. Not the only thing you’d expect at least. Now, alright, regardless of how you interpret their relationship (about which I’ll speak later), it’s undeniable that Joseph was particularly important for Roberto. So what I mostly want to point out is,even more than the flashback itself, the scene where it was shown. It’s about half of the first episode, right before the two meet the priests of St. Rosario and right after Lauren is mentioned for the first time. Which means, we’re still in the mids of the character introductions part. Basically, of the infos they decided to give us about the main characters, this is what they decided to show use of Roberto; Hiraga is a genius, his brother is ill, and came up with a game he calls “game of angels and demons”, his faith his very strong and his home is a mess. Roberto, on the other hand, is responsible, good at domestic chores, he’s a codebreaker, has a deep admiration for Hiraga and has one important person he thinks about. This is, more or less, this series’ idea of “basic informations” about our protagonists.

Now, I’ll try to focus on the main things rather than the “bait” moments, but

now, for context, Hiraga expressed his concerns about letting Roberto continue the examination, which is getting quite dangerous. Roberto complains that no, they’re partners and he won’t leave Hiraga alone. As I said, I’ll try not to pay too much attention to scenes like this, but.

I won’t even talk about how in the end of the same arc he protect Hiraga’s face, instead of his own, from acid. So, let’s jump a bit ahead; specifically, the second arc, aka Roberto’s Arc, the Sofuma Arc. And specifically to this scene:

context. Roberto, bitten by a venomous snake, is hallucinating, and, in his vision, the devil is testing his faith by putting it on a scale and comparing it to all the earthly goods he can have. The flame of faith, however, outweighs everything; that is, until on the other plate of the scale there’s Hiraga. Here, Roberto, without hesitations, does sell his soul to satan to save Hiraga (well, it was an hallucination, but he wasn’t aware of that). What matters the most, though, is what’s said next, when a sudden light sends all the demons away right after Roberto offered his life to save Hiraga’s:

well, of course that’s his first concern. It’s not like he just sold his soul to satan or anything

“your light of faith and love burned away the demons” oh. now, of course, the two explanations for this scene are that either he did get a Divine Illumination or something, or (most definitely) it’s an hallucination caused by venom. Since it’s most likely the latter, it probably gains even more importance: it was Roberto himself to call those feelings ‘love’. 

Now, let’s jump again, this time to last episode, the JoseRobe episode. Now, the only difficulty this is going to give is that while the novel, Where The Sun Shines, is from Roberto’s perspective, the anime episode tells the same story from Joseph’s perspective. But it’s good, because they’re both gay.

...they truly are. And yes, the sparkles are a JoseRobe experience. 

I was going to add the Bookmark Scene here, but since that’s more on Joseph’s part, I’ll leave that aside. However, it is relevant to their relationship: basically, Joseph left in the library bookmars with his thoughts about some books written on them, and told Roberto to search them once he’ll be dead. This way, their conversations will continue forever (well, truly: the bookmarks were apparently more than 200). But

...now, suffering aside, as I said, the corresponding novel is narrated from Roberto’s point of view, and their goodbye scene is... definitely more gay than the one in the anime (although the anime one has sparkles so there’s that):

“That’s right. I can’t be with you anymore. I’ll be leaving here before classes start.”

“W-Why? Do you hate me?”

“Of course not, Roberto. I love you.”

The form of “I love you” Joseph is using is 「僕は君のことが大好きさ」that is, sadly, a form that can apparently be interpreted both as romantic and platonic, just like in english. However, given how the author of vkc has previously written works about love, gender, and related topics, it is pretty likely that Where The Sun Shines is meant to portray Roberto’s and Joseph’s relationship as romantic. 

The other novels I mentioned have other relevant scenes, such as: Roberto sacrificing himself to save Hiraga not once but twice, much as it often happens in the anime as well, and other minor scenes, which, as I said, might be relevant on the matter but not as much as the one shown.

so, in short

this man? he gay

[miraclexamined]

@aurlise

Thank you, thank you, thank for being so kind. I love you, I love you, I love you more than the stars.

[bevelle]

Hi! Thank you for your vkc translations! I wanted to ask, the "I love you" scene in Where The Sun Shines... is it platonic or romantic? Like, does that make JoseRobe canon...?

hello! like in english, that “i love you” could be taken romantically or platonically... so it’s up to your interpretation!

[robehira]

“Roberto, you are my flower of sacrament. I pray that you are happy. I am always watching over you.”

[robehira]

I want to unpack this for a moment. When Roberto runs out of air, there is a brief flash of Joseph, his friend (maybe boyfriend) that he couldn’t save. Then it hard cuts to Josef Hiraga as he’s chocking on water, drowning. 

Why is Roberto thinking of Joseph here in this moment? 

It shows a direct correlation between the two characters. Not only do Hiraga and Joseph have the EXACT. SAME. NAME. but they are both people in Roberto’s life that are irreplaceable. Roberto doesn’t have anyone else. His family died a long time ago, and he grew up having almost no friends because he was the kid at school whose dad murdered his mom. Joseph and Hiraga are his family. They mean everything to him. He’s loved them both unconditionally. Unfortunately, he couldn’t save Joseph from dying, but he might be able to save Hiraga. In this moment, Roberto is absolutely terrified of losing Hiraga like he’s lost everything else.

[robehira]

Roberto losing Joseph for a second time via fever dream.

[robehira]

‘I’d never seen such angelic tears before.’

[robehira]

Both named Josef/Joseph

Black Hair

Grey/Purple Eyes

Adorkable Smiles

Completely Love Roberto

[robehira]

This entire backstory hurts

[robehira]

‘I thought I wanted to help him... but I was the one who was lonely.’

[robehira]

1.7

[robehira]

They found a miracle :’)