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shihalyfie · 4 years

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“Dependable senior” Kido Jou

Continuing my thread of analyzing the Adventure characters in detail, today we’ll be talking about Jou, Adventure’s most famous disaster character whom most of us have probably started feeling may actually be the most relatable character in this cast. It’s hard not to love him, honestly, given how earnestly he works so hard at everything and yet has an unfortunate tendency to dig himself into a hole.

Let’s just cut to the chase and talk about Jou!

Jou’s family background

Adventure is of course known for its overall focus on family backgrounds, but Jou’s is fairly different from the others’ for a lot of different reasons. We never meet Jou’s parents in the series itself, only in a drama CD, but we do meet his brother, Kido Shin -- and in fact, Jou’s the only Adventure kid to have siblings outside of the group (two, in fact, although we don’t meet Shuu until 02).

Jou’s family is what’s often called an “elite” family -- one that pushes for its kids and family members to have a certain degree of “high status” through their career. Even those in non-Asian countries will probably recognize that academic achievement measurement pressure is endemic to the culture in general -- especially since Japan has standard entrance exams go all the way down to high school level -- but it is especially prominent in the case of the Kido family, and Jou’s father has been pushing all three of his sons to become doctors, largely because he wants one of them to inherit his clinic. (While it’s not as extreme as Sora’s problem with iemoto position inheritance, Jou’s position of being in inheritance pressure is not entirely dissimilar.) It also means that just being any kind of doctor isn’t enough for him -- it’s got to be one of the “dignified and prominent” kinds of doctors (heavily implied to involve surgery, given the mention of blood).

In addition, while it’s not strictly said within the series itself, it’s implied that Jou is feeling a lot of pressure in terms of being the youngest of three sons, when the older two have a huge age gap with him. Jou is only in elementary school, while his second oldest brother is in high school and his oldest brother already a medical student! (By the time Adventure is over, both brothers are in national university, which is a really tough achievement.) Within his family, Jou really is The Baby compared to two high-achieving brothers who are already “well on their way to great things”.

In order to be on the path of becoming a doctor, Jou starts off the series, only in elementary school, in the “prep school track” -- or, what’s basically a constant cycle of getting into a good school so that he can get into another good school so that he can get into another good school (et cetera). Again, Japanese schools have entrance exams as early as high school, so this is something he’ll be setting on very early. I also cannot emphasize enough that for anyone who has to go through this process, it is absolute hell. I have never met anyone who actually enjoys doing this; it’s a means to an end. It’s very hard to have your heart into this unless you want the final goal that badly -- vague promises of status alone don’t do it -- and even those who do want it often end up demotivated and going through the motions with their will broken partway into it.

And, unfortunately for Jou, he’d already had a good reason to not want to do this from day one.

Jou has severe blood phobia. (Formally called “hemophobia”, although I tend to avoid that term given that it’s one letter off from something else.) Shin even makes it clear in this scene from Adventure episode 38 that any doubts about Jou’s ability to become a doctor don’t have anything to do with his personality or abilities, but the fact is that this is, indeed, a very serious and concrete problem for someone who intends to become a doctor (or at least, again, the kind of doctor that his father wants him to be). It’s possible that Jou outright fainting at the sight of blood might be a bit of an exaggeration, but it’s definitely enough of a deterrent that he’s not feeling this whole thing at all, and convincing him to actually care about becoming a doctor is going to require a huge uphill battle. By default, the answer was already a huge, capital NO in giant letters before anything ever began. And yet, Jou continued to force himself to go through the motions.

It should also be made clear that while Jou’s father was pressuring him to become a doctor, he was also not trying to force Jou to become one. The drama CD where he appears had him actually outwardly encourage Jou to do whatever he wanted instead of forcing himself -- but it was also extremely clear that he was still personally very unhappy and dissatisfied with the idea of all three brothers not taking over his clinic. As much as the Kido brothers do seem to be concerned about their father’s disapproval, it’s less so out of fear of retribution and more that they just really worry about disappointing him. Hence, this is why Jou continues to follow the path even when he’s not really feeling it, and it’s important to understanding Jou as a character for the rest of this post: Jou has no personal interest in status or honor, but is motivated by his sense of duty towards other people.

Even so, “because my father really wants me to” isn’t exactly very motivating in itself, and, all in all, Jou starts off Adventure very jaded about his future prospects, and rather demotivated and uninterested in them. But come the events of Adventure, Jou, the aforementioned “baby of the family”, gets recasted as the oldest in the group -- which becomes a huge factor in how he ends up changing his view of himself and his personal goals.

Jou in Adventure

Jou starts off the series assigned as Mimi’s camp group leader, but even Mimi senses an aura from him that he doesn’t seem very “reliable”. In this case, the word “reliable” doesn’t refer to his Crest name (which did get a dub name of “Reliability”) but rather various words that effectively mean “able to be counted on”. Which, at this early point of the story, Jou is decidedly not. Once the adventure gets off the ground, Jou easily succumbs to stress, and especially the stress and burden placed on him from being the oldest in the group.

If you’re wondering if that one-year difference between Jou and Taichi/Yamato/Sora really is that big of a deal, culturally speaking: yes, it is (especially when everyone’s at this young age), and Jou isn’t just being stickler about it. You can actually see an example of how this comes into play once they return to regular society in Adventure episode 29, when the kids are allowed to go to Hikarigaoka purely because “a sixth-grader” (Jou) is with them. This is the kind of responsibility that society normally imposes on him, and this is what he carries even into another world.

In fact, Jou’s aware even from the get-go that he’s not exactly cut out for that kind of role. From the Adventure novels:

Jou thought about it. He, too, felt sorry for the younger boy… but it would be over for his leadership if he went back on what he’d already decided. Give them an opening and they’ll soon be walking all over him. He just couldn’t have that. Jou was all too aware of his own often indecisive personality. ... When they heard what had transpired between her and Jou, Yamato and the others glared coldly in Jou’s direction. What was this, a dictatorship?

As a result, he initially rubs everyone the wrong way because, in their view, he’s trying to impose his will on everyone like some control freak, but as it turns out, being a control freak is actually part of Jou’s stress response.

Said control freakishness manifests in Jou constantly spending the early part of the series by leaning back on “the rules of society” -- including the early series running gag of him insisting that there must be “adults” there, when this is clearly not the case to everyone else present -- because, for someone like him who easily gives into stress and anxiety and has a nasty tendency to become incredibly irrational, leaning on those “rules” is some degree of comfort to him. Now that he’s been dragged into another world, he’s desperately clawing at anything that can bring his sense of “reality” back -- hence why he keeps relying on the concept of “adults”, because the truth is that he himself isn’t actually that capable of handling the situation on his own, and he’s trying to convince himself that there’s Some More Reliable Thing Out There that they can fall back on.

The infamous “egg scene” in Adventure episode 7 is certainly comedic when Jou overreacts to everyone harmlessly listing off things they like on their eggs, but things quickly take a turn for the dramatic when Jou practically has a mental breakdown over it. In the end, Jou so easily succumbs to anxiety that even little things like “being a little out of order” stress him out to no end. The world is easy to understand and explain when everything is in the right place, and chaos has a tendency to completely disorient him.

But on the other hand, it’s also in Adventure episode 7 where we learn that Jou’s control freak behavior isn’t because he actually cares about any kind of status or honor for being the oldest, but because he truly, truly feels responsible for everyone’s welfare.

“Because I’m the oldest” is a statement that Jou means in the context of him having a duty to protect everyone -- beyond everything, the one thing that does make Jou passionate is how much he truly, truly cares about other people’s welfare, to the point he impulsively throws himself onto the Black Gear-controlled Unimon and tries to yank the gear out with his bare hands. In fact, said episode demonstrates that Jou can be recklessly self-sacrificial when he wants to be, because his failed attempts at dispute resolution lead him to conclude that he should be the one to take one for the team. For all it’s worth, Jou has the right idea when it comes to trying to take leadership, because he’s very much doing this for the welfare of others more than he ever cares about himself or the glory of the position -- it’s just that, being rather reckless, rather paranoid, and not very good at actually thinking straight, his way of going about it doesn’t tend to always land right.

But it’s undeniable that he cares, and he’s trying, and this leads to a shift in how the rest of the team comes to perceive him for the rest of the series now that they understand that his intentions really are for their sake, not because he’s trying to be a jerk about it.

And that comes out to be the one most prominent trait about Jou for the rest of the series, especially in Adventure episodes 23 and 36 -- as much as an unpredictable loose cannon as he can be, he’s so loyal to his friends and determined to protect them that he would even recklessly throw himself into the line of fire for them. That’s the basis of his Crest, which is something that’s been translated half a dozen different ways, but all boil down to the same principle: he has a strong sense of duty and responsibility to other people, and will always make do on his promises to others or his desire to provide for them.

After a few of their initial bad starts, the Adventure kids never treat him badly -- in fact, both Sora and Mimi respectfully call him “Jou-senpai” as if to acknowledge his position over them in school, something that’s stuck very well with the actual fanbase (more on this later). Of course, everyone tends to get exasperated at him or worry about whether he’ll actually pull through on anything he attempts, but the majority of the humor revolving around Jou in Adventure has very little to do with anyone insulting or tormenting him, and more that he tends to be so dramatic and high-strung that he kind of digs himself into a hole. (Like how he tries to angrily chastise everyone for spending their money on food in Adventure episode 30, only for the revelation that he’s starving himself to kick in and for him to sink into the exact opposite extreme.) Ultimately, everyone comes to understand that Jou’s working really hard for their sake, so they cut him a bit of slack.

In fact, while Taichi initially complains about Jou sitting out of their trip to Shibaura to find the eighth child for the sake of entrance exam studies in Adventure episode 32, the kids strike a compromise by dumping all of their phone call work on him. Of course, this is a bit of “revenge” for him not accompanying them, but it is effectively the other kids respecting his right to sit out and not have to completely give up on his real life obligations even in the middle of the eighth child search, by allowing him to participate in the search in a way that’s more convenient for him.

But despite diligently sticking to the motions, Jou doesn’t actually emotionally care about all of this. We even get a hint of this in Adventure episode 35 -- Jou gets what he calls “the worst grade in his life,” presumably due to all of the stress he’d been going through lately, having just gotten back from the Digital World and all. He also bounces back incredibly quickly, saying that he’ll have to call and inform his parents he’ll be back late.

In the end, Jou doesn’t really care about his grades or performance when it comes to cram school, even despite insisting on sticking to it, because he’s just not feeling it. He doesn’t even want to be a doctor all that much; he has no true motivation and no reason to care. (The only time Jou is ever portrayed as actually liking doing any kind of studying at all rather than doing it as obligation is when everyone’s listing off what they miss doing in Adventure episode 6, but it’s in a context where everyone’s talking about missing home, so it’s more of him missing his daily routine and what’s “familiar” to him than anything else.) He went through the motions, and was slightly disappointed about the grade, but the “ultimate goal” of becoming a doctor had no personal meaning to him, and so he shrugs it all off.

Jumping in physical danger to save someone’s life? That’s a no-brainer -- Jou would easily throw himself into the line of fire to do so, because he’s so passionate about protecting other people and taking responsibility for them that he’ll gladly sacrifice himself for anyone else in a heartbeat. But this whole thing about becoming a doctor and his future career is such a vague thing that he doesn’t even want that it’s arguably more of his “required daily routine” than it’s actually something he cares about all that much.

And so, we finally meet Kido Shin, in Adventure episode 38 -- he’s the oldest of the Kido brothers, already a medical student, and, ostensibly, the one closest to their father’s goal of having doctor sons. Yet his first appearance indicates that even he doesn’t have it all together, either -- he sleeps in the closet (Jou didn’t even know about this!), and somehow just slept through all of his surroundings being kidnapped. So even one of Jou’s apparent models is a bit of a disaster himself -- and, more importantly, Shin leaves some advice with Jou that sticks with him for the rest of the series.

Shin does not intend to be a doctor in the way their father wants him to be (remember, he specifically wants them to take over his clinic). This is Jou’s first time hearing about this, which is important because it means it’s the first time Jou is having such a major shakeup to his likely perception of Shin as a “prior example” -- and Shin knows this, because he promptly uses himself as an example of why Jou should also be free to choose his own path. Jou being the Kido family’s “baby” especially comes out in the novel, because Shin implies that he thinks Shuu would feel independent enough to not need any advice about this, whereas Jou definitely needs it.

We don’t get follow-up on this until after they return to the Digital World, and Mimi witnessing a handful of deaths and eventually Taichi and Yamato falling out brings her to her emotional limit; Jou decides to take responsibility for her, and while part of it is presumably because he’s had charge of her as her camp group leader since the beginning, it’s also clear that the recent events in the Digital World are weighing on him in their own way, as are Shin’s words about finding his own path.

What he wanted to tell her was this: that he didn’t see any likelihood of co-existing with the Dark Masters, and that they had no other choice but to fight them. Even a neutral country like Switzerland had a military. They would be invaded by enemy countries without one. It would be nice and ideal if they used the nonviolent resistance approach as Ghandi did. But that didn’t mean it was okay to just be killed without lifting a finger… But not even he could find a good answer.

QUESTION: Under what circumstances is it okay to battle?

That sort of question would never appear on a school test, and he’d never once thought about it before…

But on their way, Jou and Mimi encounter Ogremon and Leomon, and for the first time, Jou’s peripheral knowledge of medicine from his father starts having a practical use -- up until then, “becoming a doctor” had only been something that he’d been following for a vague sense of status that he didn’t even want, but here, Jou starts to see the connection between that goal and what it would mean for what he wants: to be able to help people right in front of him. Shortly after, when Leomon’s death turns out to involve injuries beyond that a sixth-grader can take care of with his limited supplies (”toilet paper won’t fix this!”), Jou is suddenly hit with a certain sense of reality: if Jou wants to truly help others, there is much more of a skillset he’s going to need to gather in order to do so.

So by the time of Adventure episode 50, Shin’s words now weigh so much on Jou that he’s even dreaming about them, and he finally internalizes those words of “everyone taking their own path”. In short, this is Jou acknowledging that fighting isn’t the only way to meaningfully contribute -- after all, Mimi has a severe aversion to fighting or seeing more casualties and thus can better meaningfully contribute by gathering allies to work together, while Taichi and Koushirou are directly in the front lines.

Jou, ostensibly, decides to go off and find Yamato, but there’s another layer under this: Jou admits that he’s not very strong, so much to the point that he doesn’t think Gomamon will reach Ultimate, and feels like there should be “something only he can do”. The full answer to what Jou started touching on here, and what he ends up doing thereafter, is stated in explicit words in Two-and-a-Half Year Break:

When we were in the Digital World last summer, many of the Digimon got injured and died. I couldn’t do anything for them, even though I was a doctor’s son. I don’t want to ever feel useless again! Not when someone is hurt in front of me. The Digital World doesn’t have a doctor. They need someone who’ll be able to heal them. Even now, I carry around a simple first-aid kit just in case the Gate opens again. Because of it, my bag is always crammed. And my arms are becoming muscular. [laughs] Really! By the way, I have a problem. Of course, I’ll be doing regular doctor studies, but I’ll be treating Digimon, you know? Don’t you think I’ll need to study veterinary medicine too in order to heal them?

And thus, Jou finds the all-important link that actually motivates him to want to become a doctor -- the one thing that had always been a constant about Kido Jou was that he could not leave people behind when they needed help right in front of him. Or in other words, he has a marvelous case of Good Samaritan syndrome (a whole eleven years before Kudou Taiki, at that!). “Feeling useless” is pretty much on the very, very top of the list of things he hates the most. And, by his own admission, “fighting” is not really his specialty, and he doesn’t even particularly like it himself.

But he wants to meaningfully contribute in some way, and now, here’s an option that isn’t fighting: he has the roots in a talent for treating the wounded and preventing casualties that way. All he has to do is hone it. And just like how Shin decided that he specifically wanted to be a doctor in a place where a doctor would be needed most, Jou also decides he specifically wants to be a doctor for the Digital World, because that is something he can meaningfully provide for instead of becoming a doctor for the status.

He’s still going to disappoint his father this way, but never mind that: he’s found something that he wants, and it’s his own path, like Shin told him to follow. And yes, that means even if he has to fight his own blood phobia to do so.

And this becomes very important to how he’s able to confidently help bring Sora out of her darkness-induced spiel in Adventure episode 51, where she -- who has a problem with a compulsive tendency to burn herself out in helping others -- starts falling into despair because she caves to the pressure of having to save everyone. Yamato and Jou, together, simply re-shift her frame of mindset: it’s not that being a Chosen Child is about trying and failing to fulfill a particular duty, it’s that there’s a situation happening and they are actively making the choice to do everything they can. Because, really, Jou himself understands it best -- he’s never been someone good at doing things because other people tell him to, he’s someone who’s gotten this far because of his own personal sense of responsibility and priorities being so strong, and that’s why he’s capable of pushing on with his own path and what he wants.

02 and beyond

Jou was, unfortunately, forced to sit out the events of Our War Game!, but as far as blaming him for it goes, it’s really hard to; he had no idea this was going on at all, and by the time the incident had hit climax, he was already in the test room and impossible to be contacted. (You can imagine he was probably quite upset about not having been able to help out afterwards.) As for why nobody tries to pull him out the way they do end up pulling him aside a few times in 02, it’s because this isn’t just a practice exam for prep school -- this is THE exam. Remember, this kind of lifestyle involves a chain of needing to get into a good school to get into a good school to get into a good school, and Jou is aiming for a national university like his brothers; this actually could impact the rest of his career, and given that the other kids respect how important this is to him, it’s also understandable that they’d be a bit hesitant to pull him aside from this.

We’re first properly reintroduced to Jou in 02 episode 5. Unlike Taichi, Yamato, Sora, and Koushirou, Jou does not attend Odaiba Middle School, which means that, assuming that the Adventure universe Odaiba is like the real-life one in which Odaiba (Koyo) Elementary and Middle are the only schools on the island, Jou regularly spends his school and prep school days off the island and quite separated from the others. Instead, Jou attends a private middle school (hence why he had to take an exam to get in), presumably one that’s intended to help him on the medical school track.

But despite that, his first major scene in the series is to ditch prep school to go help Gomamon. For someone who doesn’t know Jou very well, this probably would seem appalling -- that someone so studious would be so willing to ditch at the drop of a hat -- but anyone who does know him well would probably not be surprised; after all, “being a doctor” is still a far-off dream, whereas Gomamon needs help now, and the number one thing Jou can’t stand is to leave people in need behind.

Unlike with Taichi, Yamato, Sora, and Koushirou, who all have some degree of connection to the 02 juniors in some way (Taichi and Yamato being Hikari and Takeru’s brothers, Taichi and Sora having known Daisuke from the soccer club, and Koushirou having known Miyako from the soccer club), Jou is a complete stranger when he’s introduced to Daisuke, Miyako, and Iori, with Digimon-related work being the only connection they have to him at all. Despite that, the new 02 kids, being well-behaved juniors who really look up to their elders, immediately endear themselves well to him -- in fact (you can thank @takerusfedora for this observation), Miyako squishing Poromon in delight upon seeing him, and the context she usually does this in, hints that she might even see him as attractive. (Considering that he’s a prospective medical student from an elite family, this probably shouldn’t be too surprising.)

While the fact he’s medical school bound isn’t explicitly brought up in the series itself, the fact he’s well on that path is already pretty evident by his actions, given that he comes stocked with heating pads and other medical supplies, just in case. Takeru comments on him always being prepared -- because he’s constantly thinking of other people and how he can be useful to them.

This episode also marks the beginning of a particular relationship between Jou and Iori, which is quite an interesting one considering that we’re talking about the oldest and the youngest of the group of eleven (not quite twelve yet) Tokyo Chosen Children at this point. As many point out even within this episode, Jou and Iori have a lot in common, and it’s likely Jou sees a bit of himself in Iori -- someone who has a firm insistence on principles (even beyond the point of practicality), but also is protective of others and hates to see them hurt. Not only that, Iori had even gotten a similar lesson from his grandfather earlier in the episode about the importance of “making one’s own decisions” -- and so, the two share common ground in Iori having ditched his “duty” to practice kendo with his grandfather that day in order to help Gomamon, and Jou having done likewise via ditching his prep school classes. Because Iori will always have more kendo lessons, and this certainly won’t be the last prep school class Jou has, but these are effectively two kindred spirits who care so much about friends in need that prioritizing them over all else is non-negotiable.

Jou compliments Iori by calling him “dependable”, which is a huge compliment coming from someone who, at this point of the story, regularly attracts comments like “dependable senior”. 02-era Jou gets this kind of reference a lot in press materials and fan descriptions of him, because now that he’s matured a bit and isn’t as prone to making ridiculous, reckless decisions or being as emotionally high-strung, his on-point aspects like being very on-task and always keeping his word are much more visible.

Well, that said, he still kind of starts screaming loudly as soon as he hears his dad is supposedly in trouble in the middle of his exam in 02 episode 16, so he’s still a little emotionally high-strung. But never mind that!

As usual (especially since this is most likely a practice exam, one of many Jou will be taking for the next year), Jou doesn’t mind being interrupted all that much; it’s not like exams are any fun anyway, so of course Jou doesn’t really care about being pulled from it, especially when Daisuke and the others are literally suffocating to death at that exact moment.

Unfortunately, for Iori, this entire incident is a convergence of things totally eating away at his psyche; he’s still blaming himself for everyone being trapped down there, he’s just placed a burden on Jou, and his grandfather had just said that lying is the worst thing that one could ever do, so now Iori thinks of himself a horrible, undeserving person. But Jou is someone who empathizes with being so stuck on “principles” that you forget the big picture, and reframes it in a way Iori can understand: lies are bad when they hurt people, but in this case, not lying would have led to much, much worse happening, and both Iori and Jou share that common ground of absolutely hating the feeling of standing by and doing nothing while others are in trouble.

We also finally meet the third (or, technically, second) Kido brother in 02 episode 33, Kido Shuu -- and while we don’t see him interact directly with Jou (at least, not until the drama CD), what we learn about him contextualizes Jou’s situation even further: Shuu not only decided to leave the path of inheriting his father’s clinic, he’d also decided to ditch the medical school path entirely, switching to humanities because he was so fascinated by Professor Takenouchi’s work. That’s a pretty drastic shift, but, as Shin had said in the novel, Shuu is the type to be independent enough to do whatever he wants without Shin even having to advise him of this, and given that he made this decision less than a year after the events of Adventure, it was likely a huge motivator in Jou deciding that their prior “example” of being medical students wasn’t necessarily something he needed to follow when both of his own brothers weren’t even following that standard anymore to begin with.

And, much like with Jou, Shuu’s new chosen profession also brings him closer to the Digimon, except in an “understanding more about them” sense rather than Jou’s medical sense. So, just like Shin wanted, all three brothers found their own paths.

In Diablomon Strikes Back, Jou is thankfully blessed with being much more available to deal with the conflict; he starts off stuck in a long line to register for high school in the midst of scrambled records, but comes to assist Daisuke and Ken with a bike as soon as he’s able. This movie being quite the comedic one, you get to see a bit of his disaster tendencies slip back in as he scrambles to help everyone -- but, as always, he’s doing his best.

A lot of people have also pointed out that the movie spends an awful amount of scenes depicting him in the company of the girl he borrowed the bike from, which has led to a few amusing extrapolations, but at the base level implies that he at the very least wanted to make absolute sure that her bike was safely returned to her once everything is over -- after all, Jou would hate to be responsible for someone losing a bike, or in debt to someone. He’s someone who fulfills his obligations, after all.

By the time Jou actually is in medical school in Kizuna, he truly has become among the crowd too busy to participate regularly in Digimon incident tackling (similar to Sora and Mimi), but To Sora indicates that he’s still keeping tabs on everyone through their group chat and emotionally supporting them, and it’s made clear in both the short and the overall movie that the rest of the group is sympathetic to and understanding of how difficult life is to juggle with all of this. Not only that, much like how Jou stated back in Adventure that he was looking for a way to meaningfully contribute and help out besides just fighting, Jou plays an important role in using his position to tend to all of the Eosmon kidnapping victims.

At least, until he ends up becoming a victim himself and is actually dragged into the fight -- and, now that he’s actually on the spot and the conflict is right in front of him, he approaches it with enthusiastic gusto, indicating that he’s still able to be as emotionally high-strung as ever.

We get more info on Jou in his Memorial Story short, “Kido Jou: Medical Student” (which takes place at some unspecified point before the movie), where we learn that Gomamon is still worried about how much that blood phobia thing might impact Jou’s career, and “tests” him by having himself and Agumon pose as mock victims. Jou, very tired and not in a mood to play, snaps at him (rather understandably, given that Gomamon is kind of being a bit insensitive here), but when Gomamon is injured, Jou immediately puts everything aside to help him, even through -- yep -- blood.

Again, it’s not entirely clear how severe Jou’s blood phobia was back when he was a kid, but it’s at least put on the table that Jou’s figured out a way to push past that in order to fulfill his dream, and especially when it involves a loved one being hurt in front of him. Jou tires himself out pretty badly with the work, but hey -- he used to jump recklessly into physical line of fire for his friends, so of course that kind of thing is nothing to him. (But he still apparently is a bit lacking in the confidence department.)

Because Jou was lucky enough to be able to concretely decide on what he wanted to do as early as elementary school, Jou’s epilogue career is naturally the single most straightforward, and really just amounts to “you know that thing he wanted to do? He did it.” And indeed, he becomes the Digital World’s first doctor -- presumably not inheriting his father’s clinic, nor following a high-status expected path, but choosing to become a pioneer in a place he has a deep emotional stake in, in a place where he’s needed because there are no alternatives. And, of course, he’s depicted treating Ogremon, who was effectively Jou’s first “patient” all the way in Adventure, the first step in him realizing that this was his path, and his alone.

Meta

Jou occupies an interesting position in the Digimon fanbase in terms of memes, considering that there’s a fanbase meme of over a decade where anything relevant to him gets people spamming “JOOOOOOOOOOOOO” (with varying levels of Os). Being a comedic but lovable character who tries his hardest but repeatedly runs himself into a corner, he also happens to resonate much harder with the adults in the audience rewatching the series, because all of us as disaster adults can just so easily look at him and go “oh, that’s me.” He also seems to be inexorably tied to the word “senpai”, given that so many characters call him that (including the 02 kids, who never went to school with him); after a certain point it’s hard to dispute that he (especially in 02) exudes this kind of “dependable senior” aura, and, like with “Ken-chan”, the Japanese fanbase has a tendency to constantly use “Jou-senpai” all of the time to refer to him affectionately.

His Japanese voice actor, Kikuchi Masami, also holds the distinction of having been in nearly every Digimon TV series to date (the only exception, as of this writing, being Appmon), with him having been Jou (and Jou’s entire family of two brothers, his mother, and his father) in Adventure and 02, Dolphin and Grani in Tamers, Neemon in Frontier and Adventure:, Kurata in Savers, and Damemon in Xros Wars. (Him being the absolutely despicable Kurata in contrast to the endearing and lovable Jou has been cited as quite a shock to many.) There’s been many a joke about Kikuchi’s constant presence, but Jou is undeniably his most iconic role for the franchise, and you can also imagine it’s conversely gotten a lot of people to fondly think of him every time Kikuchi reappears.

#digimon #digimon adventure #digimon adventure 02 #digimon adventure last evolution kizuna #kido jou #jou kido #kizuna spoilers #shihameta #cw blood mention

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jippy-kandi · 3 years

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Digimon Adventure: 2020 – Episode 45: Activate, MetalGarurumon (Review)

Thoughts on the forty-fifth episode of the Digimon Adventure reboot series.

I . . . was not impressed with this episode. I did kinda like it because it had a lot of Yamato, but . . . I just expected more for a Mega evolution episode. It really shouldn’t have been a filler episode.

Narration: “Yamato and Gabumon showed signs of a new power. And now, that true form is about to be revealed.” Why does the narration insist on spoiling the episode?! :P Of course, the episode title does too, lol. But MetalGarurumon 100% should’ve happened in the episode where they “showed signs of a new power” . . . and not in this unremarkable episode.

I like how just in the previous episode, the kids didn’t have time to spare, and only conceded a bit of time to eat (a necessity) . . . but now they’re open to spending an entire (useless) day at a racing circuit. Wow, Toei, you really planned this series SO well!

Gabumon: “Yamato . . . I wanna run!” OK, I admit, Gabumon was super cute when he said this. The cutest he has ever been. But this sudden interest and passion in running is so abrupt and over-the-top? Also . . . DID YOU NOT RUN ENOUGH FOR 7000 LIFETIMES, NON-STOP, FOR TWO MONTHS OFF-SCREEN???

Machmon has a cool voice. I like him. But he’s a little too serious.

LMAO at the instant Garurumon was going to overtake Machmon - and Machmon got angry and started cheating. XD;

WTF, Garurumon just TOSSED YAMATO OFF HIM . . . at speed . . . and Yamato is completely fine. Ridiculous! :P

Why Gabumon/Yamato cared so much about Machmon (A CHEATING COMPETITOR) is beyond me. Toei, you actually need to develop bonds and friendships! DO THIS FOR THE EIGHT CHILDREN, TOO!

Gabumon smacks into a wall and has a bandage on his nose and one arm to show for it, lol. OK, fair. :P

Machmon tried to kill Gabumon in a death race to remain the racing champion . . . and everyone is OK with this? Let's just race??? You don't usually befriend people so quickly - especially when they tried to murder you . . . over a race. =| This is just ridiculous. I know, I know, it's a kids' show . . . but what are you teaching kids here? If someone tries to kill you (OVER A RACE), just befriend them!? It'll turn out OK! FRIENDSHIPS SOLVE EVERYTHING! Even attempted murder. Over a race! . . . OK, I’m over it now. :P

Yamato: "That sudden shift in Machmon during the race. Machmon supposedly lost control . . . but there's more to it . . . something else. If we race, we might find that answer." Well, a flimsy excuse to do the race, but OK I suppose! It’s actually fine, but how everyone reacted to Machmon’s attempted murder on Gabumon/Yamato, and their attitudes about the race going ahead, is just bizarre . . .

Jou as the announcer with his Digivice microphone was fun, though!

OMG, Sora, Mimi and Hikari cheering for Garurumon (and, by extension, Yamato) in Lillymon-esque cheerleading outfits was I-C-O-N-I-C. And poor Takeru! LMAO. Plus we all know Sora is really cheering for her man, Yamato. Thanks, Toei, I forgive you for all your sins now. :)

Koushirou informs everyone that Parasimon has infected Machmon and blah blah blah. Really? This was worthy of a Mega evolution? *rolls eyes*

Yamato . . . kicked . . . a Digimon . . . lmao. He looked cool in the beginning, though! What a total Chad. *love heart eyes* Chaos on Discord coined the term “Chadmato” - so that’s his name now. :3

Yamato: “We’ve raced together [Machmon] . . . We’re friends!” Is that really how it works, Yamato? If so, can I race you as well, please? x)

WereGarurumon is way too attached to someone he just met (who also attempted to murder him during a race . . .). The feeling is nice - but it’s also just out of nowhere and doesn’t feel that genuine or believable.

Yamato: “Even if you’re tormented by your mistakes or solitude, don’t give up! You must overcome your past, your present, and move forward!” This was a nice little speech before the Mega evolution and gave it some weight, I suppose. So, yay? I dunno. Whatever?

I really liked the Mega evolution sequence to MetalGarurumon, though! <3 And Jou’s reaction to his evolution was funny. XD;

But MetalGarurumon vs. Parasimon was a non-event, seriously. Like . . . REALLY? The Mega evo should’ve happened against that crazy cult Digimon. Sigh.

MetalGarurumon is a total boss, though. And he’s so BIG! Yamato looks so tiny on him. XD;

Yamato runs like he has toilet paper stuck between his arse cheeks, lol.

Yamato, Gabumon and Machmon crossed the finish line at the same time . . . Yamato is a tiny mortal and he can keep up with them!? These Digimon be slow AF. :P Also gotta quote Crispy on Discord: “Now Yamato allows participation awards for races. -_-” XD;

It was an OK filler episode . . . but for a Mega evolution? Utterly underwhelming and a giant disappointment. I know COVID messed with Toei’s plans, but still . . . they really have such a thin arse plot that they had to pad out the series with a Mega evolution filler episode. That’s just next level bad. I need people fired, Toei!

The next episode looks to be better at least . . . Takeru to the rescue! Even though they’re apparently resurrecting a storyline from 7869 years ago . . .

(Apologies for the late review. Sometimes I get carried away socialising with people on our Discord server and . . . well, I end up having to watch/review the episode on a later day! :D)

#digimon #digimon adventure #digimon adventure:#digimon adventure 2020 #yamato ishida #sora takenouchi #mimi tachikawa #review #screenshots #spoilers #a mega disappointing evolution episode...

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koushirouizumi · 2 months

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vimeo

{YU-GI-OH!} Duel Monsters ~ @.M.V ~ Y U U G I & {Ace-implied!}Y A M I (Atem) [reading in {+A R O!}-Ace!Yami is also Fine] {Just please respect my own head-canons too!} ~ "Bring Me To L i f e"

Summary: "I've been S L E E P I N G a T H O U S A N D Years it S E E M S-- -GOT TO O P E N M Y E Y E S to E V E R Y T H I N G..." Music © E.v.a.n.e.s.e.n.c.e/Amy L e e; also (C) L.i.n.k.i.n P.a.r.k (B.G. Vocal Only) {This was made before the re-release of this song without them.} Spoiler Info: - Leads up to mid-beginning of End of “DOMA” Arc {Anime-Only sequences; not included in original manga} - {Mainly} D.M. Only Eps

*Any Lip-sync'ng was unintentional {+Any similar Might be removed in any future remake}

Y U-G I-O H! © Kazuki Takahashi Yu-gi-oh! Duel Monsters {Show} © Studio Gallop This is a FAN-WORK. No $$$ is being made off this work.

{A.M.V. by (Young) Me} {DO NOT RE-POST} {DO NOT COPY} {DO NOT RE-PRODUCE MY WORKS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES WITHOUT MY PERMISSION}

(Note: This is an OLD work {10+ yrs old}. and one of my 1st/oldest YGO DM AMVs of the timeframe. The footage used will reflect this, as it was made before widespread transition into H.D. Footages. Please be understanding.) [There may be intent for me to remake it someday!]

Note: -This video’s embed may randomly not display at times, Showing like it’s “down”, but it’s not at this time! {It usually happens late at night[s] or seemingly when Tumblr and/or Vimeo is experiencing very high traffic} If that happens, please consider watching the Direct link here!

{I am NOT taking new AMV Requests (+for this series) at this time. Please DO NOT Ask!}

#koushirouizumi ygo #koushirouizumi dm #koushirouizumi y+y #koushirouizumi own #koushirouizumi old dm #ygo: dm #yūgi mutou #yami yūgi #yūgi and yami #ace yami #demi yuugi #dm spoilers #(aaaND ONE OF THE OTHER {O L D E S T} ONES...)#({OK BUT})#({HI I STILL REALLY L O V E SOME t IMINGS HERE TOO---})#(Basically Yami is VERY RE-PRESSED A c e)#(Y u u g i is DEF Picking Up On That)#(in the end bc they s HARE A BODY MOST OF t IME YKNOW--)#({Yeah this is actually intended semi c ANONTM Compliant Too---})#(Eventually the back-ground Wisshhip comes in and Yami grows to be Supportive of them while {Y u u g i} realizes+accepts that Yami is Ace)#(Yami meanwhile ALSO OCCUPIES Same Body for Most of 'c ANONTM' so whatever Y U U G I feels for Jou YAMI FEELS IT T O O--- {In My Stuff})#({At some point I usually have things split off into A.U & then yEA THINGS MIGHT d IVERGE FROM THERE} {i.e. 'A t e m Lives'} BUT WELL SEE})#(This arc was super interestin to me Back then tho BC they ARE SEPARATE here for MOST OF These Sequences)#({so for once YAMI was seein Y U U G I from an O U T S I D E V I E W})#({thus YAMI Recognizes Y U U GI Cares abt Yami but YAMI k NOWS IN YAMIs h EART what YAMI is feelin TOO---})#({AND Y U U G I REALIZES TOO Its Basically Whole Point of This One})#the a u t h o r may have passed but in t HIS h OUSE we let them be q UEER #(I STILL NEED TO GET IT ONTO A.0.3 TOO AAAAAAA)#(ITS ONE OF THE ACTUAL o LDEST ONES aaaAAAAA {Yea im Back-dating this one}--- {will probs be on the 1st p AGES OF WHOLE SECTION---})#({b ASICALLY the J x Y ver. was 1st I think then bc I couldnt fit in all of Yami I tried one for just Their dynamic})

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izzyizumi · 2 years

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vimeo

Digimon Adventure (Series) + 2020 reboot series x Zutomayo - {note: if top is not displaying properly, check the above link!}

"STUDY ME?" / "Figure it Out?" / "I'M (/KOUSHIRO'S) NOT A 'PROBLEM' TO BE 'SOLVED'"

Featuring duo/ship/O.T.P.: KouTai / Taishiro[u]; Koushiro[u] Izumi x Taichi Yagami

It is recommended you read the lyrics before or after watching! (Check under the 'read more' for more info/lyrics!)

(Characters Koushiro is otherwise involved with, like Izumi family, Tentomon, Jou, Yamato, Menoa, and Mimi; + vs. Vademon also show briefly at times but the focus is Koushiro & 2020!Koushiro + KouTai with minor spoilers from tri, Kokuhaku, BNM, Kizuna, and 2020 + its ending)

This A.M.V. was pretty much made on a complete whim after I heard this thanks to a Japanese Taishiro/TaiKou fan on Twitter recommending another by this group as "DEFINITELY a TaiKou song" and let's just say Yes I see a Theme & Patterns going {with this group's songs+lyrics!} and I am Spilling Koushiro Thoughts Via Analysis by A.M.V. As a result it IS in actuality semi canon compliant to a very strong degree, but please keep in mind the intended pairing is mainly KouTai (though I ship various other Koushiro ships too!)

{DO NOT COPY OR REPOST!}

{DO NOT RE USE MY EDITING WITHOUT PERMISSION}

{I do Not own DigiAdvs / DigiAdvs (C) Toei; this is FAN MADE}

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dragonandtiger · 3 years

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Dreaming To Reality: Oneiromancy Chapter Twenty Two - 19

Iori stood off to the side helplessly as he watched the others tend to Ryo. He was struck dumb, only able to stare as he was at a complete loss on what to do or say that might help.

“What do you mean?” Taichi asked, his eyes shifting from Ryo back to Cassandramon as worry and suspicion warred with irritation towards this Digimon who seemed to only bring misery and suffering every time she appeared. “Keiko isn’t the only Chosen Child who… died?”

Ryo’s voice creaked and wheezed as he returned to the present, his head spinning from an overwhelming amount of oxygen as he instinctively gasped for breath. It took him a moment to register FlaWizarmon holding him or Jou waving something brown near his face.

“Here!” Jou said, almost frantic as he shoved the opening of the paper bag to Ryo’s lips. “Breathe into this before you pass out!”

Ryo couldn’t do much more than obey as FlaWizarmon held him up, and tried to slow his breathing in time with Jou’s count, but his body continued to quake with adrenaline.

“What’s going on?” Yamato demanded before shooting a glare at Cassandramon. “What did she mean by his neck?”

“L-Lord Ryo has… has a strange scar,” Monodramon said hesitantly as he fidgeted beside FlaWizarmon as he held Ryo, stroking his hair lightly while murmuring reassurances as he tried to breathe into the bag. “C-completely around his neck. No one knows where it came from, a-and when the doctors tried to look at it… h-he, well...” The dragon Digimon turned to look at Ryo awkwardly. “T-this…”

The mention of his neck made Ryo instinctively grope at the skin of his neck again, fumbling in his movements.

“Wait,” Koshiro said, eyes widening as he stared at Monodramon before he turned to Cassandramon. “You don’t mean that Ryo…?”

“Ryo was similarly murdered during the battle against Zeed Millenniumon, decapitated from behind by a traitor,” Cassandramon said, far too casually for such a serious subject. “He is proof that the orb will work.”

“What!?” Takeru all but yelled as he whirled to face Cassandramon. “De… decapitated!?”

“From behind,” Cassandramon said, as if that were the point that needed clarification. “By a traitor.”

“No way,” Taichi breathed before turning his wide eyes to Ryo.

#Dreaming To Reality #oneiromancy #digimon #Digimon Adventure 02 #digimon adventure

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enneadau · 3 years

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An Example:

Of how things can change between original planning and production. For example after what Otogi pulled, this version of Marik would not have worked:

Yugi smiled as she entered her bedroom to find, for the seventh day in a row, a bunch of flowers led on her desk with a simple white card. Dropping her school bag and moving over to the desk her smile broadened as she saw the same awful handwriting on it as had been there for the last few weeks but the words on it made her pause.

“To Yugi, here's some beautiful flowers for a beautiful girl. Please make me the happiest boy in Domino by going on a date with me. Love Namu.”

She tried not to giggle at the eye roll she could sense from her twin sister at their new friend's cheesiness. Namu was cute, she had to admit and it was nice to get flowers from someone. She had never had a guy truly interested in dating her before but the intern was nice, friendly, fun to play games with and he clearly wanted a date.

She did not know if she should though. She had Anesan to consider before she said yes to his question. It was not fair for her to date anyone who did not know about the Spirit of the Puzzle. Especially when her twin regularly took over to play games and hang out with their friends...still...

'If you want to go out with him, Imoto, then I'm not going to say no.' Oneesan spoke up as Yugi sat on the bed and considered what to do. 'You're allowed to date...we can always tell him about me later.'

'Yes but...' Yugi hesitated. She liked Namu. She really did. She just did not entirely feel comfortable with saying yes without telling him everything. It was only fair for her to do so before they tried a relationship.

'If you like him then I trust your judgement, Imoto. Go. Talk to him.' She felt her Anesan settle down to wait, 'If he's okay with what you tell him...he might be worth keeping.'

Yugi laughed at that. Namu had been working in the shop since she had been hospitalised because of the fire. He was only on a temporary contract over the summer and it was due to end in the next few weeks. She and grandpa had been discussing whether to extend his contract and had not yet come to a decision. 'Alright, alright. I'm going...'

She stood and headed down the hallway to the kitchen, where she knew Namu was heating up his food for his break and paused just out of sight of the doorway when she heard his voice. She frowned slightly as she realised he was on the phone, which to be fair he was allowed to be since he was on break and tried not to eavesdrop, something that suddenly because much more difficult when she heard, “Yes, sister, I know. I know. No, I'm not...I'm aware that I'm supposed to be getting close to her. Why do you think I've been courting her vessel...”

Yugi suddenly felt like she'd been stabbed in the heart, her face paling as she backed up.

He knew.

He not only knew but he had been using her to get to Anesan...

She could not handle it.

She could feel Anesan's anger rising, but her own emotional pain and swirling thoughts kept the spirit from seizing control and shaking Namu until he started telling them the truth.

Yugi put down the flowers and fled back to her room, slamming her bedroom door behind her.

---

Anzu frowned as she reached the top of the stairs in time to hear a door slam.

Doors slamming in the Mutou residence was a rare occurrence. Neither of the Mutous displayed their anger that openly and when they did snap it was because someone had pushed them to their limits, in fact she had never seen Yugi lose her temper properly with anyone before. Jou was prone to fits of rage, though he was getting better on that front, but even he did not slam doors around here, especially not during the day when there would be customers downstairs in the shop.

What worried her the most was that it sounded like it came from the back of the flat, towards the bedrooms, rather than the store room that had been converted to a bedroom for Jou when he had first moved in. Ojiisan would be working the shop right now, which meant that somehow, between Anzu pausing outside to answer her mobile phone and now, Yugi had been provoked into an incredibly rare display of anger.

Concern flowed through Anzu as she made her way through to Yugi's attic conversion bedroom, noting the flowers on the side by the kitchen and Namu eating his breaktime meal in the kitchen as she went, and reached Yugi's room to find that yes, for the first time in pretty much forever, Yugi's bedroom door was shut.

“Yugi?” Anzu asked, trying the handle and becoming relieved when the door opened, having half expected Oneesan to have barricaded it with magic or something. The door opened almost silently, not that the occupant of the room noticed. Yugi was curled up on the bed, back facing the door, her body trembling. Anzu could hear the faint sounds of her crying into a pillow as she approached the bed quietly and bit her lower lip as she realised her friend was hurting. She had a horrible feeling she knew why as she put her hand on Yugi's shoulder.

The girl jumped a mile, the pillow going flying and furious ruby overtaking bloodshot, puffy amethyst and though under normal circumstances she had no fear of the spirit of the Puzzle any more, Anzu put her hands up and backed off to show she was not a threat, “Easy, just me. What's happened?”

“Namu can go fuck himself.” Oneesan hissed out, her tone so close to the old days, when whatever Namu had done would have resulted in a Shadow Game that Anzu winced.

“What's he done?” She asked, worried now. “Is Yugi okay?”

“No. You know all those flowers and chocolates and games he's been leaving Yugi? And all the flirting he's been doing?” Oneesan's tone did not improve as she stretched and stood up, her body language reminding Anzu of a big cat on the hunt. When Anzu nodded the Spirit of the Puzzle continued, “Imoto finally decided she was going to take a risk and agree to go out with him...”

“And he's changed his mind?” Anzu asked, wincing when Oneesan snorted dismissively and shook her head.

“He's never been interested in her.” Anger rose in Anzu at the Pharaoh's words. “It's not Imoto he's been after. It's me. Imoto heard him on the phone, talking to his sister. He's been 'courting' Imoto in order to get close to me.”

Anzu's hands balled into fists. Suddenly Oneesan's pure fury made perfect sense. Yugi had not entirely been comfortable with guys, except for Jou and Honda, since she had been kidnapped by Hirutani's gang. She had actively avoided any guy who had tried to flirt with her and kept herself well away from any potential relationship. For her to finally decide she liked a guy enough to make that jump and say 'yes' to him and hear that...no wonder Yugi was devastated and the spirit was fuming. Anzu wanted to smack him herself.

“What's your plan?” Anzu asked, watching the Pharaoh pace the room like a caged animal and staying out of her way.

“I'm too angry to decide.” Oneesan admitted with a grimace. “I want to Challenge the little...sod, but I shouldn't do that in the shop. And I want to ask him questions because he clearly knows about me, except I'm so pissed off right now, that I can't trust myself to listen to what he's saying properly.”

“And what does Yugi want to do?” Anzu nodded, thinking.

“Curl up in a ball and cry for a bit.” Oneesan sighed, closing her eyes so she could focus properly on how her other heart was feeling, “Then get whatever information he has for me before staying in here until his contract is up and she doesn't have to see him again.”

“Can't you ask Ojiisan to let him go now?” Anzu's confusion caused Yugi to come out and shake her head.

“N-No. I-If we fire him now, i-it's for personal reasons, not business ones...he could sue.” Yugi's voice shook as she went and sat on her bed, wiping her eyes and trying not to start crying again in front of Anzu, no matter how much her heart hurt. “And we c-can't afford a l-lawsuit right now. Not after the f-fire...”

Anzu hesitated for a moment, then sat next to her and pulled her into a hug. Within moments Anzu could feel Yugi shaking in her arms and she rubbed the girl's back as she felt tears sink into her top. “He's an ass, you're better off without him.”

Yugi did not cry for long but when she pulled away her shoulders were drooping, her head hanging low and her eyes showed how unhappy she was was. Anzu pushed her own anger aside to sigh, “Hey,” Yugi looked up at her, “We're going out.”

“B...but...” Yugi started but cut off when Anzu shook her head.

“No buts, I'm paying. We're going out and getting pizza. From that place with the all you can eat dessert bar.” She knew she had Yugi's interest when she saw the girl lick her lips, “No boys. Boys smell.”

#anzu #good friend #marik #reveal #yugi #fem!yugi #fem!yami #before meisa got her name #oneesan

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adventure-hearts · 4 years

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Oi, can you give me your thoughts on the affection that Sorato would show to each other?

This ask actually inspired me to write meta for the first time in a while! Thanks a lot, Anon!

So, a while back I read this book called The Five Love Languages. It’s about how everyone expresses/experiences love in five main ways — words of affirmation, quality time, acts of service, receiving gifts, and physical touch — and how this affects interpersonal relationships, especially marriage.

The book’s thesis is that everyone has a primary and secondary "love language”; for each of them there are multiple “dialects”, or different ways of manifesting love. In order to have a healthy relationship, you need to identify your and your partner’s language, so that you can give each other what you need (*).

Me being me, I immediately started to try and identify the love languages of each DA character, and predictably gave a lot of thought to Sora and Yamato’s. Based on my notes on this book, here are my headcanons about how Sora and Yamato express affection!

SORA

Primary love language → words of affirmation

If you consider Sora’s conflict in the original series, it was all about how unloved and unappreciated she felt in the absence of being told she was loved by her mother; and later, the feeling of feeling unappreciated by others in general.

Piyomon best represents how words of affirmation is Sora’s primary love language. Actually, my theory is that all digimon partners do this, to some extent. Piyomon gives Sora exactly what needs to feel loved: telling her how much she likes and appreciates her, constant complimenting, cheering her up, making her talk about their feelings, etc. (at first, Sora was so unused to having this need met that Piyomon’s initial adoration made her uncomfortable). I also think Sora places so much importance in to what people say (or don’t say) to her that she’s prone to misunderstanding people when they say the wrong thing or don’t tell her what she wants to hear.

On the other hand, although Sora struggles with being on the receiving end of words of affection, she’s excellent at using it to show love to others. She’s the one who’s encouraging her friends, keeping morale up, and providing reassurance through gentle and encouraging words. There are dozens examples of this in the series:

“Piyomon, kakoiiii!”

Encouraging Miyako (02 eps. 02)

Calling everyone to to check in on them (tri. ch. 3)

etc

I think it’s pretty obvious that words of affirmation are key for Sora.

Secondary love language → acts of service

If Sora struggles with her primary love language, she overcompensates with her secondary one, which is basically doing things for others.

This is the side of Sora who nurtures, organises, protects, cooks, sacrifices herself for others, and generally takes care of other people’s needs ahead of her own.

The downside of this is that Sora feels overwhelmed when she can’t respond to other people’s needs, and feels unloved when people don’t do things for her in return.

YAMATO

Primary love language → quality time

I believe Yamato’s main way of expressing love is spending one-on-one time with the other person. Again, the classic image is when he sits alone with Gabumon playing his harmonica. It’s symbolic of the Crest of Friendship.

Lots of Yamato’s issues in the first series probably have to do with his parents divorce stealing a lot of quality time from him as a child (i.e. neglecting him emotionally), and how as a result, he adopted the opposing attitude “I’m fine on my own, in fact I prefer to be”. Which is clearly not true, and it soon becomes apparent that this lone wolf act is him denying his true self and his true emotional needs. His obsession with being around Takeru and his jealousy when he spends time with other people is perhaps another clue. Yamato is the kind of person who feels loved when he gets someone else’s undivided attention, even if not a word is spoken.

Gabumon’s entire existence of pure devotion and loyalty to Yamato and all their scenes together as a duo is ample evidence of quality time being his main way of expressing love, but other examples include his desire to be close to Takeru all the time, staying with Jou at the restaurant, “Let her cry”, having a one-one-dinner with Taichi to cheer him up, etc. Yamato doesn’t let a lot of people in, so when he deigns to spend alone time with someone, you know it’s serious.

Secondary love language → words of affirmation

This is maybe provocative, but I also think words of affirmation are incredibly important for Yamato. However, this secondary LL is very undeveloped, both by his discomfort with verbalized affection in general and especially when it comes to his attempts to express love for others through words.

Still, Yamato’s need for words of affirmation is shown not just by Gabumon’s innumerable pep-talks where he cheers Yamato up by telling him how much he loves him and says all those wonderful things about him. Other examples would include the entire Dark Cave saga (including helping Sora), many of his interactions with Taichi (Yamato’s oversensitivity whenever Taichi says something “thoughtless” is also an example of the importance he places on words; but also, “Thank you for believing in me”!), and even his music career (writing songs about feelings while a bunch of girls screams their adoration at him? He’s getting something out of it).

How do LLs work in the context of (romantic) Sora/Yamato?

I’d say the first conclusion I took from this is both Yamato and Sora struggle with, and at times suppress, their primary love language. Having this in common is important, because it shows how similar they are emotionally, and probably makes them better able to empathise with each other.

Another crucial conclusion is that they're both fluent in the same love languages. Quality time could just as well be Sora’s secondary love language, and Acts of Service could easily be Yamato’s. So here are to people who — when in a healthy, mature state — are in the same emotional wavelength and therefore are perfectly suited to give each other what they need.

Now we’re getting into headcanon territory, but I think of the reasons why this couple works is precisely that know the importance of using “words of affirmation”. Do note that this love language isn’t just about saying “I love you” and “You look gorgeous” and “Here’s a list of the 438479287 best things about you″. It’s much more about saying “You can do it”, “That was great!”, and even “Thank you”. In this sense, you can totally see how both would be emotionally fulfilled by giving and receiving verbal encouragement and appreciation form the other.

I think this love language both the strength of the relationship — being able to build each other up — and also their Achilles heel — if one or both of them fail to develop it.

It’s all too easy to imagine a situation were Sora and Yamato don’t use enough words of affirmation with each other, creating a vicious cycle. Of course, as we’ve seen, this love language is something they both need to work on and learn from their digimon partners!

Overall, I’d say Sora is probably better at it, with Yamato often struggling to put his love in words without being embarrassed; I think any grand declarations would be saved for special occasions.

I think Sora would be great at responding to Yamato’s need for quality time. Like, of course she’d be perfect at making sure they spend time together despite their busy schedules, at planning dates and activities and getaways. And she’d would be patient enough to just sit next to him in silence, waiting for him to open up. Sora herself would also benefit from Yamato’s tendency to want to spend one-on-one time, especially if Yamato used this quality time to listen to her and talk about feelings. Still, problems could emerge if Yamato thinks Sora isn’t spending enough time with him.

I also believe Yamato would be pretty good at expressing love through acts of service, I.e. doing nice and helpful things for Sora. This is the kind of boyfriend who can cook dinner, do the laundry, handle car insurance, and who’ll jump in the middle of a battle to save her life. Trouble could arise if Yamato actually forgets to do something, or if Sora finds herself overwhelmed trying to do everything on her own.

Finally, a word about the remaining two languages (gift giving and physical touch). Of course they are present in this relationship! They just aren’t the main ways they use to express love. Again, considering Sora has the Crest of Love, she’s fluent in all the love languages.

When it comes to physical affection / PDA, I think almost everyone in the fandom agrees this isn’t a couple who would be very demonstrative in public. I don’t think they would regard touching/kissing/sex as the predominant way of showing love and intimacy. I’m sure they’re a very affectionate couple (in private), but dealing with emotions would be the main dynamic in the relationship.

Similarly, I doubt gift giving would be a huge thing outside of special occasions. I myself headcanon that Yamato is a not a great present giver, and if Sora was feeling ignored, there isn’t a diamond ring in the world that would make up for it.

Well, this was a long tangent. I hope it answered your question, Anon! I’d be curious to see other people’s opinions, too.

(*) NOTE:

There are a bunch of quizzes to discover your own LL, but according to the author, the way to identify someone love language is by asking:

a. How they express love and appreciation for others; b. What they request more often; c. What they complain about.

#asks #digimon #meta #soraxyamato #sorato #will I ever get tired of psychoanalising these two?#I don't think so

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