#kimiko only showed signs of being attached to him in that way

[jennrypan]

Geniunely confused..on what the 'they could've been platonic' people have been watching when it comes to Kimiko and Frenchie like..cmon now.

Also they NEVER acted like siblings, we've seen her with her sibling. (Also as someone with a brother. Fucking ew, yall are WEIRD.)

The fuck am I missing

[goldenheartstudios]

Why is Rai your favourite? :D

  That’s an excellent question my dear anon and I can answer this in a rant of itself!

  Ok first of all, this all started because I watched the show when I was a kid and it really influenced my taste of media on a deep level. The combination between western and eastern culture is like, the ideal content for me and many of the things I enjoy are this because of my adoration for the show and it’s vibes

  And this is one of the reasons why Xiaolin Showdown is my favorite cartoon, because it reshaped my interests at a very young age and I genuinely think I would be a different person if I didn’t watch it

  And this thing applies to my favorite character as well, aka Raimundo. Many of my favorite characters have something that remind me of him in one way or another, and Rai’s characteristics are something that I find myself gravitating towards more often, all because of Rai being my favorite character

  But how did he become my favorite in the first place? Well, I will start with his introduction

  In the first episode, we see him simply described as someone who likes to mess with others and is not fond on being told what to do because he likes to chill and have fun. For short, he’s a laid-back rebel

  At this moment, you don’t know much about the main characters, only the basics. So you can get an attachment to one of them later on, or be attracted to their concept because you like their personality

  And well, I didn’t have a special interest to Rai at that time, but I did like him because he was funny, simple as that

  The second episode shows more of him, where you get to see that he likes to make remarks on stuff and can actually be the voice of reason on occasion (example being him reminding Kimiko & Omi about Clay)

  But the third episode is when I started to get interested in him, when he betted on Kimiko’s favor for the showdown

  Because this not only serves as a subversion of expectations, it’s also tied so well with the previous episode

  Raimundo didn’t have any faith in Clay winning in the second episode, making it very clear by the way he was impatient and commented during the showdown. But at the end, he got proven wrong and congratulated Clay for the win

  And now with Kimiko’s showdown, where she shows signs of not having a chance of winning? He not only believes in her, he makes a bet where he’s confident on being proven right

  He learned, but in a way that it’s not shoved in your face, that it’s not commented on. It’s a neat portrayal on the show’s continuity, where there are subtle elements that tie the episodes together if you get the chance to see them in order

  The third episode shows how there’s something more to him, that he’s not just the standard troublemaker, which piques my interest on the boy

  And the more episodes I see, the more my fascination on him grows. He can be reckless but also wise, an idiot but also smart, an asshole but also considerate of others (just look at how many episodes he was shown to make fun of someone but then genuinely showed support for them afterwards-)

  Throughout the show he just keeps getting layers of characterization while he’s also going through his own character arc. You learn more things about him while at the same time you see him change and grow and it’s fascinating

  What’s even more interesting is that you see him changing without necessarily feeling it. Unlike other characters (like Omi for example), his personality doesn’t really change, but his level of maturity does, and you get to notice the difference once you compare him from the beginning to what he became at the end

  Which this makes it a delight for rewatch, because even if I rewatched the show at least four times, there are still things about him I just notice, because this boy is so full of layers you can mistake him for an onion

  Seriously, I once made a psychological analysis on him for college of 9 pages and I still could have written more about him

  And what’s crazier is the fact that there are still things we don’t know about him, like his family and childhood. Only thing we got are hints which can be interpreted however you like and that’s great, because it encourages creativity and you can go by personal interest!

  Personality wise, aside from liking everything about Rai for reasons stated above, there’s one core characteristic of him that contributes to my attachment: his kindness

  It’s unconditional, loud, but also quiet. It’s honest, simple, but also complex, buried in layers of emotions and fear of showing his vulnerabilities. And when it’s about the people he cares about, he can go to an extent of sacrificing his safety or even his life, but it’s not because he doesn’t see value in himself, it’s because he sees more value in others which makes it worth it for him

  This kindness in him is so so beautiful and it has so much potential for how dangerous it can be for him. Like, this kid is a goldmine for writing and analyzing, it’s insane-

  He’s one of the most developed and complex characters from the show and it’s proven by how he breaks the trope he followed at the beginning: if we were to put the main cast in the main tropes we see in teams, he would be the “lancer” because he serves as a contrast to Omi who’s the “leader” (as we follow his perspective and has the most common characteristics of the trope) and has the main characteristics many lancer-type characters have (Raphael and Knuckles being better-known examples)

  But here’s the thing

  He becomes the leader at the end

  Which brings a whole new perspective on his character

  Honestly, I could go on a whole different rant on its own about this incredible choice the show made to make Rai the leader at the end, but what I’m gonna say here is that despite following the trope of a lancer, Raimundo also has the characteristics of a leader that makes it harder for him to be categorized to only one trait if you want to describe him properly

  You can use characteristics like “laid-back prick” or “piece of shit with a heart of gold” to introduce him to other people, but if you were to describe him deeper, then you have to go on so many directions to do him justice, which for me it’s amazing

  And this, is why Rai is my favorite