#aaa @elucida I hope you don't mind me referencing your post/meta on akoya b tw

[lanliingwang]

Akoya and Yumichika: Just the beauty aesthetics? [Comparison]

Note: This is merely based on the observations of me, a nerd who has not watched the whole of Bleach and got most of what I know from the smatterings of episodes and chapters I’ve seen (as well as summarized stuff from elsewhere).Thus, I may or may not be wrong/inaccurate on the Yumichika front--or the Akoya one, for that matter, given I haven’t really watched Boueibu in a while, either.

With that in mind, let’s delve in!

On the surface level, Akoya and Yumichika already seem plenty similar--they both adhere strongly to their conceptions of beauty (which are remarkably similar, tbh), are generally disdainful/condescending of most others (especially those that don’t follow said conception of beauty) under a relatively polite veneer, tend to have one of their motifs being some sort of flowers, etc etc. In short, it really does seem like they’re birds of the same feather (no pun intended regarding Yumichika’s peacock motif). They even both use “boku” as the pronoun to refer to themselves I ca n ‘t

However, is that really all there is to them that’s similar?

One could argue that, yes, they’re only superficially similar. But for me, the answer to that question is--more or less--”no.” Delving deeper reveals a fair amount of hidden depths that actually parallel each other very well.

For starters, the few people Akoya and Yumichika have let into their hearts are people they’re fiercely loyal to--for Akoya, that’s Kinshirou and Ibushi, while for Yumichika, that’s Ikkaku (a longtime friend, if manga and expanded anime flashbacks are any indication) and more or less his division Captain. Those are the people they would go to great lengths to please and care for; this is easily shown when Akoya was implied to be furious on Kinshirou’s behalf in episode 12 of season 1 upon finding out that they were tricked (as well as his frequently amiable interactions with Ibushi, such as when they discussed feng shui in episode 10 of the same season), or...well, when Yumichika leapt to avenge Ikkaku after the latter was cut down by zombie!Toshiro during the last arc of Bleach.

Although admittedly, Yumichika did sacrifice a fair bit more initially due to his loyalty (read: hiding his zanpakuto’s true powers to avoid ridicule by the people he’s loyal to), the two of them still are similar in their loyalties in how they clearly appreciate the people they’re loyal to--and to some extent, this loyalty is reciprocated. Kinshirou and Ibushi both treat Akoya on equal terms and clearly come to appreciate his presence, while Ikkaku similarly entrusts Yumichika with some of his greatest secrets and leaps to the latter’s defense when he was clearly in great danger.

Moving on--it also should be noted that both Akoya and Yumichika are notably very observant and cerebral to some extent. In Akoya’s case, he best shows this side of him in season 1, episode 6, where he very nearly singlehandedly destroyed the existence of the Defense Club by some rather clever manipulations and tactics (ostensibly based on a reasonable-sounding “rule” and playing on Io’s desires; this bit is honestly best said by elucida here), but what’s perhaps less talked about is how, in episode 11 of season 2, he’s implied to have deliberately taunted Ryuu to get him back on his feet, knowing that the tone he used would have had that effect--which more or less indicates his strong intuition and ability to read people’s personalities:

Basically, he’s a manipulative and clever little shit who knows how to use his observations to his advantage--or to his sassing. Either way, it’s effective--and also very much like Yumichika, especially in the cleverness and sass.

On the Bleach side, given what kind of series it is, Yumichika doesn’t get those same moments very often. However, that’s not to say he doesn’t have his moments, as this moment indicates:

He literally got slammed into the pillar he was guarding and almost immediately knew that he’d broken his arm in three places due to his opponent’s attack. Which is a pretty big feat, keeping in mind that he’s not a part of the Medical Division, was likely dazed from the impact, and in general should not have been in the best place to make that sort of exact observation. This shows some fairly impressive observation skills (and likely anatomical knowledge), let’s be real.

And of course, the final arc shows this aspect of him a bit more--one instance that comes to mind from memory is that he’s able to conclude from Giselle’s taunting alone that she was purposely making them attack, further indicating that he also has surprisingly strong intuition.

Sound familiar? It probably should. Because it’s very likely what Akoya would also be capable of.

With all that being said, there’s probably more I could say on these two’s hidden depths, but I can’t really think of them at the moment. So I’m just gonna leave these here: