#rinharu defense squad

[fromzerotoeuphoria]

So you wanna say that RinHaru is a "tOxiC" ship...

*siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh*

It's 2021, humanity has survived a freakin pandemic and people are still out here calling RinHaru 'tOxiC!!1!'?? Like with their full chests??

Imagine HOW TIRED—

Random blog post:

Also random blog post:

In at number one we have RinHaru, also known as Sharkbait. Everything Free! began and ended with these two. The entire first season is about their relationship, and the final fight in the Eternal Summer Special is between them. RinHaru may not have the years of friendship that MakoHaru and SouRin have behind them - but that’s what makes them such an amazing pairing. Within just a short few months in the last term of their last year of elementary school, Rin and Haru became an unforgettable presence in each other’s lives.

(Come on, you know points were made 😉).

But then ofc, you got people crying in the comments that their ship isn't No.1. Which okay, I totally get that you'd feel your ship should be at the top even though the article is just someone's personal opinion...and they didn't even attack your ship; if anything, they put it at No.2 and only had lovely things to say about it, but seriously?? Calling RinHaru toxic?? In the year of our lord 2021???

Aren't y'all exhausted with your own selves by now? I know the rest of us are.

And so, I'm sharing my response to those comments here, for although I have much more organized and polished essays on my drafts on how RinHaru Is NOT Toxic, I really had to just get these points out for now:

Claiming something to be true doesn't make it true, especially when it's driven by an emotional attachment to an opposing ship.

None of the relationships in Free are toxic except for Ikuya x Hiyori, ugh, especially RinHaru, since this is the one haters love to ignorantly throw the "toxic" label on. The entire series wouldn't revolve around Haru and Rin's relationship if that were the case (and Utsumi, the director, comes out and says that Free! is Haru and Rin's story).

The staff, director, VAs all have POSITIVE and lovely things to say about Haru and Rin's friendship. Utsumi said in the RinHaru Mook interview that Rin was the only one who could do what he did in helping Haru realize his dream in S2. In Ep4 of Take Your Marks, Haru himself literally tells Rin that he is the reason Haru was even able to move towards the future. This is all CANON, not headcanon, not fanon, but actual canon material directly from the words of the Free! staffa and anime.

Explain to me how RinHaru is "tOxiC"?? Because they've argued? Because Rin unknowingly and unintentionally hurt Haru when he only once ever told him he'd never have to swim with him again?? Because Rin was suffering with depression (as Utsumi herself said) throughout Season 1 and sometimes showed symptoms of his depression? Because Rin kicked a trashcan out of frustration in S1E12????

Hahaha like seriously, it's okay if you strongly dislike RinHaru as a ship, but calling it "tOxiC" is such a pathetic stretch as a hater. Especially when doing so, you undermine actual toxic relationships and the victims who live through them.

The entire Free! franchise has multiple movies, 2.5 whole seasons and even a 4-episode film that shows Rin being one of the most supportive, sweet, caring and motivating characters on the show. He drives Haru to constantly improve at swimming, was the only one who was able to breakthrough to Haru in Season 2 about Haru's future dream the way he did (again, as Utsumi herself said), is the reason Haru attributes to being able to step towards the future, is a "dear friend" to Haru whom Haru cares a whole lot about and, as Season 1 shows us, strongly wants in his life.

But I guess none of this exists for antis—nope, in their own 2013-stuck worlds, RiNhArU iZ dA tOxiC sHiP.

(But hey, at least the commenter agreed in a follow-up comment that their claim is "dry, unoriginal ignorant and completely-undermining-to-ACTUAL-toxic-relationship"—acceptance is one of the first steps to recovery :))

[makuroshi]

I have arrived with another song cover! It’s kind of like a sequel to the Rinharu Shipper song here. Lyrics & vocals by makuroshi, original song is Strong by One Direction, piano accompanying track by Nuetful. Also on SoundCloud if you want to download or anything :P

Lyrics under the cut! Listen with earphones for full effect.

Strong (Is it so wrong?)

Two hearts, beating Seeking each other Two minds, missing Wish they're together So many dislikes for this pairing Hate posts in tumblr tags clogging

Sharks & dolphins Might seem so different Rin and Haru Their love's beyond reasons Can't you see that they're meant to be? Don't want the hate anymore This ship is strong

(chorus) I'm sorry you don't like Rinharu But I don't care I believe in their love The fond is so real I can't take it Is that so wrong Is it so wrong That they make me strong

Two boys, hurting Mistakes and errors, Two dreams, crossing Time heals the broken, So many words they're not saying But that's in past now things've changed They're going strong

(chorus)

So baby don't, let's not fight, oh Need to keep this fandom from falling apart All pairs have fics and art And they keep us strong

I'm sorry you don't like Rinharu I don't mind I just want to enjoy And canon or not, well, it's okay Is that so wrong Is it so wrong

(chorus)

In case it’s not clear enough, the message of this song is that everyone is free to ship whatever they want. Make love, not war :)

[fromzerotoeuphoria]

Why do (some) Mako/Haru shippers gotta be like this?

These are the reasons I barely go on Twitter anymore. I can't even share an opinion without antis getting triggered, blocking me and then LYING ON ME.

Me innocently sharing my (polite and respectful) opinion on my own profile:

Random triggered mako//haru Stan:

*subtweets me then blocks right after*

*proceeds to LIE on me to their followers*

(yugyeom sweetie let me get you out of there)

Me, literally never having brought up "sexual tension"/"the fence scene"/"Australia":

They really claimed RinHaru was not only "d3@d" but has been for "a long time." Please explain to me then the Haru Being Hung Up On Rin Starting Days movie, Haru being once again super emotional with Rin during The Bench Scene in Take Your Marks, Rin canonly being the only one who could've helped Haru discover his dream the way he did, Haru telling Rin he was the reason Haru could even step forward towards the future, Haru wanting to continue to share future experiences with Rin, and so much more. And this is all after Season 1, which was pretty much Haru being obsessed with Rin and trying to get over him but failing miserably and so they make up in ep12.

If RinHaru is a dead ship, please explain to me how mako//haru isn't 10x more dead, let alone even breathing?* All of this reciprocated chemistry and infatuation between RinHaru and RinHaru only (within the Haru ships), yet the ship is supposed to be dead? Lol Haru would beg to differ.

Tbh they have a right to vent on their own Twitter account, just like I have the right to share my opinions on my own account. But whereas I was respectful and didn't invalidate the other ship, they were the exact opposite. But honestly, what actually upset me was the fact that this person had to blatantly lie about what I said. Says a whole lot about their ship, just sayin'.

Anyways LoveSickRuby: RinHaru is going to the Olympics together. RinHaru is out here THRIVING and being the closest Haru-ship to canon. Sorry boo, I didn't make the rules 💋

*me saying this is NOT invalidating mako//haru. i'm pointing out how i believe there is multiple times more chemistry between rinharu than mako//haru, so if you say that rinharu is dead then it surely means that mako//haru is dead, too.

[fromzerotoeuphoria]

This MH Shipper Tho...

So last week I made a post about how Haru gets sentimental when around Rin which I had originally posted to Reddit (before I got my Tumblr account). It wasn't too popular on Reddit as there are many more MH shippers there than RinHaru shippers, which is totally fine; I didn’t care about the post being popular (I figured it wouldn’t be), I really just wanted to share my thoughts and love about RinHaru with the world. 😁💜🌸

The rules of the subreddit clearly specify "No Hate Comments" and "No Ship Bashing." If you read my post, even on the Tumblr version I don't even mention any other ship and certainly don't hate on any other ship. It was merely an appreciation post of RinHaru that discussed how Haru gets especially sentimental when around Rin.

I literally wrote this disclaimer in my original post:

But of COURSE, that’s just too much for some people and they still get triggered.

Disclaimer: This isn't an anti-Mako//Haru post but it is an anti-Mako//Haru shippers who are immature, hateful and hilariously insecure about their ship. This isn’t towards all Mako//Haru shippers, esp those lovely and chill ones. To those I send my love (because I appreciate y’all and also love my big squish Makoto 💚).

So this afternoon I get a notification that I have a comment on my Reddit post:

I didn't want to just assume this person was a Mako//Haru shipper, because they could've been an anti-shipper in general, so I checked out their profile first because I like confirming things rather than jumping to conclusions and making assumptions.

But sure enough:

OMG ahahaha y’all this person was so triggered by my post—a post that had absolutely no hate towards Makoto nor Mako//Haru—that they made not only one, but TWO posts that broke community rules by ship hating because of it. AND those two posts were the only posts they ever made on Reddit, ever. 😂 

Literally, all my original post did was give some rare RinHaru appreciation in the subreddit. And the post was even tagged as “Shipping” and had RinHaru in the title. And still this person willingly clicked on it knowing it was a ship post about their notp smh. 

Even in my response to them, I didn't hate on any ship. Yet even then, they're still mad and then try to turn the blame onto me:

Imagine being so insecure and overly sensitive about your ship that the very appreciation of a different ship, one that never invalidates your otp nor Makoto, triggers you that hard. Lol YIKES.

Needless to say, both of their posts were removed for breaking the rules of the subreddit.

Here’s the thing: I’m new to the Free! fandom so I wasn’t here when the ship wars were at their worst. So when I come across all of the Rin and RinHaru hate when I dive into fandom posts, it hits me like if it was new, because no matter how long ago it was, it’s still hate. Hate that still crops up today, which I see frequently on other areas of the internet. 

I tend to write a lot of “posts” addressing this hate or defending RinHaru, but it was originally just for myself and my private blog/diary. Now that I have tumblr, I’ve debated many times whether or not to publish these defenses of RinHaru since the ship wars aren’t nearly as bad as they were before, and a I’m sure a lot of the haters have moved on to (hopefully) better things. Yet every time I feel like maybe its unnecessary to write these long meta posts about RinHaru or posts that address hate coming from mh shippers, I run into something like this, either on YouTube or apparently now Reddit (even though it's against the rules). 

So you know what, I’m not gonna feel bad about addressing RinHaru hate anymore, even if it's from the past because it still goes on today. Also, I know how hard it is to see the hate as a new fan, and seeing people defend Rin and RinHaru is always comforting. Hopefully it’s comforting to others, too.

Anyways, pseudo-venting sesh over.

BONUS: this person really hates Rin lol