ninthfeather · 3 years ago
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Hello! It's the rewatch anon again ^_^. What's this about a Gundam 00 Stageplay?? It seems like the one coming out next year is like a "part 2", does that mean there's a "part 1" I can watch somewhere? If so, what are your thoughts? I remember being surprised at how great the Naruto musical was, so my expectations are fairly high by default!
Hi! Welcome back.
There was indeed a part 1! I don't know if you can watch the whole stage play online, but I know that a DVD of it was released! Also there's a trailer here.
I didn't have the cash to lay out on a DVD, so most of my thoughts are based on the trailer, which honestly does look pretty neat. The costumes are *fantastic* and I think they dealt with the issue of giant robots fairly creatively.
I am eternally fascinated by the sheer number of stage plays based on anime, especially since they weren't nearly as well known outside of Japan when I first got into anime fandom. Some of the ones I've seen parts of are fantastic; others didn't quite land right for me. The G00 play seems to be more in the first category, but I'd have to actually see it in full to make a complete judgement.
Also, for people who are interested, a lot of your favorite anime have been officially adapted as stage plays, musicals, Takarazuka musicals (a specific theatre tradition that involves all-female casts) and even kabuki plays.
A short list:
Inuyasha play (full show playlist)
Haikyuu musical (full musical)
Bungou Stray Dogs musical (full musical playlist)
Sailor Moon musicals (full list) (partial song playlist)
Black Butler musicals (full song playlist) (trailer)
Bleach musical (full musical)
Death Note musical (full musical) (full English concept album)
Revolutionary Girl Utena takarazuka musical (full musical)
Rose of Versailles takarazuka musical (partial playlist)
One Piece kabuki play (trailer)
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind kabuki play (trailer)
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ninthfeather · 3 years ago
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ALSO, Louise's struggle with soldierhood is great. Seeing her interact with Saji, and seeing her turn him down?? Because she's CHANGED in the past 5 years. She's very intentionally put herself in this situation, and it's so HARD to go back on that? She's put so much weight on revenge, and even though she loves him, he can't expect her to just.... change back on a dime for him? And it's terrible and heartbreaking but also it makes so much sense and UGH I hope they end up happy
This is why Saji/Louise is an OTP for me in this series. Like, S1 Saji/Louise is a hard pass--Louise just pushes him around and Saji isn't able to stand up for himself. But as time moves forward both of them become kind of obsessed with what might've otherwise been an unremembered first relationship, because to both of them, it represents when things weren't terrible. And when they meet again, and Saji realizes Louise has changed, he actually grapples with that and makes the conscious decision to try and be there for her, even if she's pushing everyone away. While Louise insists that she's no longer the person Saji loved and can't be that person, all the while blowing off Andrei's efforts to flirt because on some level, she's still in love with Saji, or at least the idea of him (and also because Andrei is a jerk about flirting with her, but it's clear that isn't her only reason).
We see them together in the hospital in the Awakening of the Trailblazer movie, and Saji is very clear about being in this for the long haul despite Louise's worries about being too much of a burden. Over the course of the series, Saji's unwillingness to assert himself and his puppydog crush on the foreign exchange student turn into a sure, steady loyalty that he's willing to fight for, while Louise's self-assured facade breaks down and shows a very insecure woman who nonetheless has a core of steel. And they both are very aware of how the other changed and they both embrace those changes, and it's just...good.
Anyhow in my headcanon they live in the same apartment building as Allelujah and Marie post-series and Louise's hobby is making cross-stitch of increasingly rude sayings.
Thank you for coming to my impromptu mini ship manifesto.
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ninthfeather · 3 years ago
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Hey! It's me again! Finished S1 tonight, and couldn't help myself so I started S2 as well. Hooooo boy. The last few episodes are so good at showing the stakes. I love how much we sympathize with a lot of the military, like Sergei/Soma, The Colonel/Patrick, Graham, etc. Also Feldt crying over Lockon is going to live in my head rent free whether I want her to or not :(. The letters they wrote??? What am I supposed to do? Not cry? And Chris saving Feldt's life??
The end of S1 murders me every time, all right?
The fact that the military has understandable reasons makes it worse. Their grudges, their anger, their concerns about CB as a threat--all of it is reasonable. But it still leads to horrific actions, just as CB's legitimate goals led to the same. It really reinforces the theme of the cyclical nature of violence; it's such a good choice.
The thing that most gets me about Lockon's death? The Haro repeatedly calling out for him while everyone sobs. I just. That was his friend.
Christina's death, too--she deserves so much better than she got, but at the same time, she died doing something she loved--taking care of Feldt. From our first introduction to her, we know that she cares deeply about her friend. We see her trying to draw Feldt out and spending time with her and I'm happy that, even in the middle of all those tragedies, Christina was able to take care of Feldt one more time. And then in S2, Feldt becomes something like what Christina was to Milena. I just love it so much, ahhh.
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ninthfeather · 3 years ago
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Ok, this is ~actually~ the last one. I love everyone's older self. Setsuna and Feldt look great, and the updated uniforms? Iconic. On a less happy note, the way that Louise's PTSD is shown, and her visible panic attack in the mobile suit is just incredible. I can't imagine what it must have been like to see a gundam. I know the A-Laws are supposed to be villains, but it feels irresponsible to have put her in a mobile suit given her history... Anyways, thanks for reading 💖 goodnight! ^_^
The S2 designs are so good. I love Feldt's S2 hair a lot, especially. And the uniforms are great, although I have to admit as an artist I'm of two minds (whyyyy are they so hard to drawwwww).
Louise's trauma and her PTSD are handled pretty well in S2, IMO. I'm not an authority, but I really like how they show panic attacks and flashbacks, but not only flashbacks. Louise in S2 is moodier, she gets angry easier and it's sometimes prompted by things that the person talking to her has no idea about. We can see her PTSD affecting her emotional state when she's not having an outright panic attack
Ribbons absolutely knew Louise wasn't fit to pilot. I'm pretty sure it was part of his plan. He wanted her under pressure and exposed to GN particles because he wanted her to Innovate and he didn't care if she or others got hurt in the process. Screw him so much.
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ninthfeather · 3 years ago
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I wanted to end on a more uplifting note, and S2E1 definitely delivered! When I was younger I didn't realize quite how openly the show says ACAB. The whole situation on Proud was... a lot. And Saji getting caught up in it again? Poor guy just does too good a job showing how innocents are harmed by the powerful. Aesthetically, Exia in a cloak is excellent, though it does seem hard to believe Setsuna could have maintained it all by himself for 4 years... Ok, one more! Sorry for the spam 💖💖
Don't worry about the spam; just know that it might take me a while to answer everything.
Gundam 00 is distinctly skeptical of law enforcement, in a way that I really appreciate. I mean, the A-Laws set themselves up as "peacekeepers" and "regulators" but it is pretty much immediately revealed that they're actually just as power-hungry and prone to grudges as any of the other militaries, no matter how they set themselves up as above everything. Even before the Innovator reveal, it's clear they're bad news.
So, poor Saji's life sucks so much but letting him get caught up in the A-Laws raid was such a good choice. It reinforced the idea that the A-Laws were corrupt while also pushing Saji's plotline about being "uninvolved" with CB's conflict towards his climax. Once again, there was nothing that Saji should've done differently. He just showed up to work, man. But wrong place, wrong time, and suddenly he's narrowly dodging death and caught up with terrorists.
Cloak!Exia is the best aesthetic. I've had a headcanon that Setsuna spent a lot of his time on Earth working at garages and junkyards so he could learn how to repair his robot and then get parts for it, but I have to admit that realistically, he really shouldn't have been able to do repairs on such a specialized, advanced machine by himself. Does make for good watching, though--between the inherent cool of Cloak!Exia and his perfectly-timed entrance, Setsuna is so cool in early S2.
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ninthfeather · 3 years ago
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I wonder how Ali al-Saachez is going to die. I'm watching him fight Lyle right now, and there's so many people who deserve some revenge... But I also feel like it would go a bit against the message of a show to have a revenge scene actually happen? So I almost hope he dies in some other way (he DOES need to die though). Also, seeing Sumeragi actually go to do hand-to-hand combat with the automata... LED BY BILLY?? Because she wants to protect her found family 😭😭😭 I need to know what happens
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Since I already posted one of your asks out of order (sorry, OTL) I'm grouping these two together for clarity instead.
I agree that having Lyle kill Saachez was a really good choice, and how they wrote it specifically was an especially good choice. Lyle wants this man dead, yes, but he ultimately doesn't get any joy out of it, and that's very clear. He successfully killed the man who killed literally every one of his family members. In another series, this would be a moment of triumph. In this series? He's killed an enemy. Al Saachez is no longer an obstacle. But Owen, Lyndsay, Neil, and Amy are all still dead, and nothing Lyle could've done to him would change that. It's a big contrast with Lyle's earlier fit of misdirected rage at Setsuna over Anew's death. This show is not into the idea that revenge has meaning, and I really appreciate that.
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ninthfeather · 3 years ago
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And so ends the series! Setsuna fighting Ribbons in the Exia/0 gundam, both with true GN drives. This is a fitting end for both of them, and it shows that humanity really can conquer the worst aspects of themselves (represented in Ribbons) even on equal footing. There's something significant about an honest sword fight to end everything, and the shot where both gundams have their cockpits slashed open, revealing the pilots to the world and each other for their last fight? *chefs kiss*
Sorry for taking so long to answer this and every other ask I have; it's been a week.
But, seriously, yes! I love the final fight between Setsuna and Graham, especially as a demonstration of how far Setsuna's come. For all that Setsuna literally does not learn Graham's name until the movie (RIP), Graham is so important as a foil to Setsuna and his character development. As Setsuna evolves from someone who's turned his trauma into anger into someone who understands the cycle of violence and prioritizes halting it over his own emotional needs, Graham evolves in almost the exact opposite way--from a young man with a strong but untested idea of justice to a man consumed by revenge. In their last fight, Setsuna pays forward everything he learned over the course of the series by sharing it with his enemy. Instead of perpetuating a cycle of hatred, he perpetuates a cycle of forgiveness and kindness, one that I'd argue started with Marina and Neil. It's such a beautiful encapsulation of everything the series is about, and I love it.
Visually and in terms of writing, it was just excellent.
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ninthfeather · 3 years ago
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ALSO PATRICK LIVED!! And his wedding with Kati is literally the cutest thing, I'm so happy for them both. Anyways, I won't apologize this time for the onslaught of asks. I think it's a fitting end to the rewatch. Thanks again for letting me get all this out, I've really enjoyed talking about it ^_^. You're amazing, and I always look forward to your replies. I'm going to miss spamming you, but hey, A Wakening of the Trailblazer is on the horizon! Take care, love, I'll be back sometime soon 💖💖
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If this image doesn't fill your heart with joy I don't know what I can do for you. Love this empty-headed dork and the woman he would literally do anything for.
Thank you for all the asks! It's been really fun replying and seeing all your thoughts! If you wanna come back around whenever you watch A Wakening of the Trailblazer, please feel welcome.
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ninthfeather · 3 years ago
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I almost wish it hadn't ended with CB still in existence. I get that we needed to set up a movie, but thematically it seems a bit weird to keep them around. I'm happy to see everyone still alive (PARTICULARLY Marie and Allelujah hiking and communicating mentally like they did as kids. It's so intimate, I love it) but also I think the time has come to let humanity work on its own empathy, without the lingering threat of CB to keep the peace.
So, storytime! There was a point when the movie was conceived of as a third season of the show, but that idea was scrapped and it was ultimately consolidated into a movie. The choice to maintain CB's existence very much feels like a product of the fact that the writers weren't done with the 'verse, even though in many ways the logical thing would've been to let CB dissolve in the wake of its victory. Maybe there's some alternate timeline out there in which the movie happens after CB is dissolved and half the runtime is the poor CB members scrambling to find resources just so they can get the robots into space.
Marie and Alle's joint hiking vacation is my favorite epilogue thing, and one of my favorite periods for fic about them. I would commit crimes to get an OVA about them hiking around 00'verse Asia and Europe, having nice experiences and being a little bad at pretending to be normal tourists.
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ninthfeather · 3 years ago
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I haven't watched the last few episodes yet, but I've been reading your replies, and your mini-ship manifesto was excellent!! I love hearing people talk about what they love. Also, I'll have to go through your fics once I finish the show ^_^. I'm trying to decide if Lyle and Anew are OTP level for me. I love that they have a very realistic, soft love that feels like it could develop between people working in that environment. Buuut, they didn't have as much time to develop as Saji/Louise.
Thank you! Also sorry for taking so long on this answer, the weekend was...hectic, to say the least.
Anew and Lyle have never been an OTP for me, and some of it is the lack of onscreen development. Another part is simply that I'm not as invested in those characters--Lyle took me a while to warm up to, and while I like Anew, she's never been a fave the way Marie and Louise are. Overall, I think they're cute, but I don't go out of my way to read fic or meta about them.
That said, the pairing has a lot to recommend it. Anew and Lyle are both adults in roles with a lot of responsibility, sincerely in love but aware that their respective jobs come first, at least for now. Both of them are hiding things from the other, and the way that their suspicion interacts creates a lot of interesting tension. Also, CB is clearly Shippers on Deck for the pairing, in a way that's really cute. (And there's plenty of angst, given how things ended up, if you're into that in a pairing.)
So yeah, in conclusion, LyleAnew: 10/10, just not my cup of tea.
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ninthfeather · 3 years ago
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Ok, so I ended up watching more, and first, I'm glad Allelujah started calling Soma Soma, and their whole dynamic seems to be healing, which is great. Also, Kati leading a coup is everything I ever wanted, and I'm so glad that she's fighting on the same side as Sumeragi again!! I think I'm pretty close to the end of the show, but I'm going to call it here. I feel like I've left a lot of anons tonight, and I know I'm going to have a lot to say about the finale! Thanks again for listening 💖💖
This is actually the last ask in this batch, XD
AlleMarie is also an OTP for me, and I love the period when they're finally sorting out how to interact with one another as adults. Both of them idealized their childhood interactions, I think, and it's a bit of a shock to meet again and to realize that neither of them have stayed the same person as they were back then. But they really do figure it out and I'm so proud of them.
(Note: I tend to regard their second personalities as sci-fi BS because I know enough about how DID works in real life to find them too unrealistic to think of as having DID. So for me Soma and Marie are two different consciousnesses, and only Marie is in love with Allelujah, thus the pairing name I use. That said, people who just headcanon around the unrealistic bits or straight-out ignore them for projection purposes are extremely valid! Also people who ship Alle with the Soma personality; not my ship but I see the appeal.)
I have so many feelings about Sumeragi's grad school friends and how they turn out. Like, just, the inherent tragedy in meeting your college friend again because you're trying to kill each other? Ugh. Especially since Billy, Kati, and Sumeragi all went to the same grad school. Like, looking at the flashback and comparing it to where they are now--Sumeragi's alcoholism and the mental issues she's obviously using it to cover, the hard-as-nails facade Kati's adopted in order to navigate holding her position as a woman, and Billy, now twisted by revenge into someone cruel and bitter. It's absolutely tragic and I'm living for it. But also, I'm so happy that Kati and Sumeragi finally reach a place where they can be allies again, because they deserve happiness, dangit. Also I think we were all pulling for Kati, who is portrayed as principled and thoughtful from her first introduction, to realize that the ALaws are bad news and to get out.
Thanks for all the asks; see you for the finale :)
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ninthfeather · 3 years ago
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Ok, last one, I swear, haha. I forget if I've said this already, but my favorite thing about the show is the message of "to bring about world peace, we need to understand each other". It looks like Aeolia's plan was to use the twin drive system to connect everyone and inspire a kind of empathy that could otherwise never be attained. That's such a phenomenal use of sci-fi magic, and I get kind of giddy every time I see them hinting at it. Also Lockon and Anew are adorable 😍😍
Disclaimer, for those following along at home: this was not the last ask XD
Reminds me of how I keep telling myself I'm writing a oneshot even as the fic grows beyond its original bounds.....
Anyhow, the Twin Drives system really is such a good piece of SF tech--it's visually neat and it drives the themes of the series home.
I will say that I have some of the same questions as the Meisters about Aeolia's actual plan--like, we know that he anticipated the possibility of Fallen Angels or something like it, but we don't know the extent to which that was something he planned for. Like, was he optimistic to be like "ah probably that won't happen but I'll place contingencies just in case" or did he know it was likely and write it off as an acceptable outcome, provided it moved things toward world peace? We really don't know, and while I think that was a good writing choice (giving too much detail about Schenberg would have removed some of the mystique from his character and I think his mysteriousness is kind of key) I still really wanna know.
Lyle and Anew are good! I won't say they're OTP level for me, but geez, they really are quite cute. They're just out there trying to have a functional relationship while fighting an oppressive world government and keeping several secrets each, and we support them in that.
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ninthfeather · 3 years ago
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Shirin, Klaus, and Marina taking care of the kids is adorable, and when Marina says she couldn't hold a gun and look the kids in the eyes again?? Again, wow. I see why you love Shirin so much -- she does such a great job being both pragmatic during the war and kind wherever possible. I love the way she cares for people. As A tRaNs PeRsON, it's hard to watch Allelujah constantly slip up when Soma explicitly wants not to be called Marie, but I know they both have a lot of emotions™.
Look, Shirin is a boss, and that is all. Also, I personally love Marina's pacifism, especially the season 2 version of it that's underpinned by the realization that for other people, pacifism isn't as simple as "just refuse to fight."
Yeah, the whole issue with Allelujah calling Soma the wrong name hits different if you're trans or even just have knowledge of trans issues. I bet if I went back and watched it, it would feel different than when I was a recent high school graduate who had met one (1) out queer person in my entire life. It's definitely one of those situations in which the character means well but still hurts other characters--which honestly is something that happens several times in G00, and I love the series for that.
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ninthfeather · 3 years ago
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It's me again! Long time no ask, haha. I got distracted with some grad school stuff and wasn't able to watch for a bit. So, the episode with the ALaws firing at the orbital tower really hit me hard, and watching everyone come together to protect the innocent was surprisingly emotional for me. That did a HARD 180 when the start of the next episode was a speech pushing blatant lies and propaganda covering up the ALaws responsibility. Obviously Marie losing the Colonel was also terrible...
The whole orbital tower arc is really good in terms of character development. Nothing like giving your characters an immediate crisis and watching how they react to establish their core personalities.
Also, the in-universe propaganda in Gundam 00 is so realistic. It feels familiar, because it follows the same sort of structure that real propaganda uses, and I love it, because it's always nice to have a reminder that just because a country/faction/person knows the "right words" doesn't mean they mean any of what they're saying.
It's been roughly a decade since I first watched G00 and I'm still not over Colonel Smirnov's death. Like, narratively, was it an excellent choice? Absolutely. Did it rip me apart? Also yes.
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ninthfeather · 3 years ago
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Thanks for the list of headcanons! I love how cute they all are! Haro pranks are ABSOLUTELY a staple on the ship. I just got to Marina's song, and with the 00-raiser's telepathic side effects, I remembered that the ultimate point of the show is that we can only attain world peace by truly understanding each other. What a fantastic way to portray that message! It's so well set up, I'm screaming. Thanks again for listening 💖💖
That scene is so good. Like, ok, I've seen a few skeptical internet commenters panning the song/the choice to have a children's choir perform it, but it's so perfect. Loss of innocence is a big theme in Gundam 00, and like half of the characters' tragic backstories started when they were around the age of these kids. Also this show has spent so long setting up and then deconstructing the political complexity of its conflicts, and the kids' song really ties into that theme. We as an audience understand how complex the factors involved in the conflicts in Azadistan and across the world are, because we have access to the perspectives of most of the people involved. But to civilian characters like S1 Saji & Louise and the kids, none of that matters. They don't care why this is happening, they just want it to stop. They have dreams that have nothing to do with the war, and all it's doing is placing them in danger and standing in the way of those dreams.
This episode is just so big for Setsuna's development, too. He's made attempts at trying to understand the cycle of war he's stuck in during previous episodes, but this is when that part of his plotline really comes to a head and he starts asking the hard questions. It's such a good way of doing it, too!
Glad you're still enjoying your rewatch, & thanks for the ask.
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ninthfeather · 3 years ago
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I love Kati and Patrick so much, he's such a golden retriever, and I love how she's grown closer to him. I love all the little ways people are happy in this show, it does a great job offsetting the darker moments. I love post-canon fluff even when the characters AREN'T this lovable, so uh.... I'll have to ask for fic recs after this! 💖 Since I have some bonus space in this ask (for once!) are there any headcanons you like that I've seen enough to appreciate? I love hearing your takes ^_^
Kati/Patrick is the actual best; there's something so pure about the "man with 1 braincell that he uses to love his wife"/"woman who is literally only soft for him" dynamic. I don't have a lot of Kati/Patrick-centric recs atm but I will look for more!
So, @durinswizardwheezes has a really elaborate set of headcanons built around the Dylandy family that are basically my personal canon. In their fics, Lyndsay (the twins' mom) is Deaf, Amy did Irish dancing, and Neil wears his gloves all the time because during the explosion, he panicked and tried to dig up the ruins of the mall, resulting in extensive scarring that he refused to get fully treated with regen tech.
@the-stray-liger has a lot of good headcanons too, especially about Lasse and the CB bridge crew in general being chaotic. In particular, I like his idea about various people using the Haros to play pranks. On the subject of Lasse, @hawk-in-a-tree has convinced me that he's Norweigan, and I tend to imagine that, when the character files say he was previously part of the mafia, they mean the Russian mafiya.
If Graham attended college, he absolutely minored in both Asian Studies and drama.
I also tend to think that Allelujah and the others in the SSI (except for Marie) weren't designer babies but rather orphans and lost children found by the HRL government and taken for experimentation. Allelujah is also a terrible cook.
When they were in grad school, Billy and Sumeragi dated. Kati ended up stuck in the middle of a lot of their couple fights, to her frustration (she didn't date at all at that time; too focused on school). Billy/Sumeragi broke up amicably at the end of grad school because they didn't want to try and maintain a long distance relationship.
Setsuna is aro-ace, and also probably autistic.
The Trinity siblings looked at Laguna like a dad, but he considered them tools.
I am sure I'm forgetting stuff--probably a lot of stuff, honestly. I have so many headcanons at this point it's hard to remember all of them to list them out. But these are a start.
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