#yusuke 001

[birdhouseblog25]

Kamen Rider Kuuga Vol. 1 Review (Spoiler-Free)

Hello my name is BJ short for blue Jay and welcome to the Birdhouse blog where superheroes themed after bugs riding on motorcycles are still and always will be super cool. For today's review, this is going to be a little different in contrast to my last two reviews as those were mainly anime reviews talking about Futari Wa Pretty Cure. This time I will be reviewing a manga on the Kamen Rider series.

For some added context, I've known about the Kamen Rider franchise for a very long time when I got into Power Rangers. My first introduction was Kamen Rider Dragon Knight, the American adaptation of Kamen Rider Ryuki. I entered the KR series by watching Amazon Rider, and in 2023, I finished watching Kamen Rider 01 (plus the movie). So, my knowledge of this series is decent enough. But I always wanted to watch more content related to the franchise. So, truth be told, while I was at my local Barnes and Noble, I came across the first volume of Kamen Rider Kuuga, so I want to share it with all of you in my spoiler-free review of the first volume.

Summary

In this story, we follow our two main characters, Kaoru and Yusuke. Kaoru is the detective for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police. He goes by the code of swift and absolute justice on evildoers. Yusuke, on the other hand, is a young man who helps others, wishing to see people smile through the toughest of times.

These two will cross paths as strange encounters with the mysterious group of monsters causes mayhem in the city. They then meet a mysterious hero who's also caught in the fray, a masked warrior who fights against these evil creatures. Our two unlikely protagonists intertwine with the masked hero to see who shall carry the burden of Kuuga.

🪲Story📖

The story begins with introducing the characters and the world which does a solid job of giving us more characterization for both the supporting cast and our main characters. The manga does not shy away from gore and body horror, but not too much of it that'll make you scream, but just enough to get your skin crawling. But what it has when it comes to the horror elements comes in with the mystery behind the horror. While we can see that monsters are the reason behind the many gruesome attacks in the city, there's an air of mystery to them, each having its unique monster design, while also trying to figure out why they're hunting down humans in the first place. It gives you a sense that there is more to the story, especially the mystery of the masked hero Kuga. The only nitpick that I have is that the middle half of the story gets rushed. It feels like there should be more to the action sequences than just the panning shots of the cougar and the monster fighting but not feeling too much of the impact. However, this is the first volume, so I do give it a passing sense that in the next volume the story's pacing might improve.

🏍️Characters🪲

The main highlights of the first volume are our two titular characters, Yusuke and Kaoru. These two goofballs are two peas in a pot. In the first three chapters, you get to know them and their personalities. Kaoru is a man of action who's all about swift justice and not letting any bad guy get his way. He's the more professional of the two, whereas Yusuke is more laid-back and always wants to help others out even if they don't ask him to. He has that golden retriever energy when you think about it.

That balances out the serious professional personality of Kaoru. They both makeup for it in their different ideals. Especially in how they view heroism in the pursuit of saving people. Kaoru became a detective because he made a promise to someone he cared about to protect others who don't have the strength to do so, but after facing the monster and Kuga for the first time it shakes his resolve, making him more scared and confident in his goal to save people; this is a similar case with Yusuke, as he went on a journey traveling around the world seeing many different people and cultures. He seeks not only happiness for himself for a fulfilling life but also a fulfilling life to help others in the most difficult of situations.

It puts into perspective how nicely the writing helps characterize two individuals with different personalities and different views of heroism, making both characters interesting and having us, the viewers, wanting to know more about their back story for future volumes.

🪲Artwork & Atmosphere✏

The art style is created by Hitotsu Yokoshima, their art design and how they draw their characters is quite sharp. The big highlight of Yokoshima’s work is how he does his line work to emphasize a character's movement and posture for how they carry out the actions in each panel. The sharp line drawings help with the depths not just with the character designs and facial expressions but also give a good composition when showing scenes of a character in high distress.

In terms of the manga panels, there's a nice ebb and flow to the narrative, helping to build up the scale and directing your attention towards the panels with a burst of energy with each action sequence. My only nitpick with the manga panels is that they need some better flow to climactic scenes as it feels like the characters have an awkward time positioning themselves to end the conflict, which also explains why the middle half to the end of the manga feels rushed when re-reading. And that's just for the fight scenes with Kuuga; for the mundane scenes, it flows naturally through the conversation of the characters.

 But even though this is a nitpick, it's something I would like to see improve for future volumes, which makes me even more interested to see how Yokoshima's art can evolve later in the series.

🪲Adaptation🎬

Kamen Rider Kuga is an adaptation of its live-action counterpart. While the characters in the manga have similar names their designs are very different from their live-action counterparts, which is understandable given that this is a manga and will have anime attributes that fit into the world of the manga adaptation.

I remember watching Kuuga a long time ago, but I never really finished it. I only watched 5 episodes before going straight into Kamen Rider 01. Despite the difference in adaptation, I like that it doesn't have to follow the live-action storyline beat for beat as it cements itself to be its own original story. It's a cool retelling that not only older fans of the Kuuga series can enjoy, but it’s also for newer fans of the series, let alone for the whole Kamen Rider franchise as a first introduction.

🪲Conclusion🪲

Overall, I had a great time reading the first volume. It was short and straight to the point, it even caught me off guard with the emotional points, especially for the last few panels which I will discuss in another post, because I never thought it would make me teary-eyed. As I stated this is a good way for anyone who wants to read Kuuga, so I hope this spoiler-free review helps you feel a little interested in Kuuga but any other adaptation from the Kamen Rider franchise.

I can't wait to read the second volume and share my thoughts in a review for the future.

I give Kamen Rider Kuuga Vol. 1 an 8/10!

[deertism]

✦ the coffin dwellers gift to thee ~

✦ ── Yusuke Kitagawa , stamps

001 ── requested by anon

002 ── F2u with credit , reblog ノ like if using

003 ── kin / id / f/o tags ? yes

[the-daily-male]

Preliminary Bracket Masterpost

SIDE 1

Shuichi Saihara vs Yu Narukami

Jack Conte vs Jade Harley

Mads Mikkelsen vs Santino D'Antonio

Tyr vs Aurélien_Sama

Lon Hammond Jr. vs Jason Voorhees

Dave Strider vs Michael Stipe

Tim Drake (Red Robin) vs Barack Obama

Prince Henry of Wales vs Sandiction

Rekrap2 vs Russel Ziskey

Logan Howlett (Wolverine) vs Andreas Maler

Dark Cacao Cookie vs Galad Damodren

SIDE 2

Zeemyth vs Bela Lugosi

Kieran Culkin vs Corc Brady

001/Henry Creel/Vecna vs Eijirou Kirishima

Horus Lupercal vs Na-Hun

Remnan vs Godric Unicorn

Xornoth vs Matthew Murdock (Daredevil)

Papa Emeritus vs Lightsong

Johnnie Guilbert vs Ringo

Fitzwilliam Darcy Esquire vs Mark Bonnar

Dr. Andre Lee vs Martin "Marty" Steiber

Joseph Oda vs Albert Einstein

SIDE 3

King Magnifico vs Starlight Glimmer

Charles Smith vs SB737

Toya Todoroki/Dabi vs Richie Tozier

Saundor vs James McAvoy

Qifrey vs Paul David Hewson/Bono

Vampire!Milkman vs Gustav Elijah Åhr

Orpheus vs The Traitor Lord

Matrim Cauthon vs King Mendanbar

Cyrus Pynn/Cydeshow Cy vs Jake Webber

Hikaru Nakamura vs Mortimer

SIDE 4

Happy Chaos vs Commander John Shepard

Sawyer vs Chris Bumstead (CBum)

Ludwig Ahgren vs Bonnie Prince Charlie

Edgar Allan Poe vs Caine

Miles Edgeworth vs Michael Carpenter

Qibli vs Yusuke Kitagawa

Lance Crown vs Man O' War

Lord Huron vs Hiro Mizushima

Link vs Roman Torchwick

David Bowie vs James Spader

Oswald Cobblepot/The Penguin vs Mask

SIDE 5

Thomas Raith vs Pete (the plug) Conlan

Totoro vs Colonel Hugh Pickering

King Arthur vs Scott Lang/Ant-Man

Hector of Troy vs Giovanni

Beast Boy (Garfield Logan) vs Soichiro Yagami

Nagito Komaeda vs Chris Colfer

Todd Chavez vs Preminger

Jordan Fisher vs Yo Yo Ma

Oscar Wilde vs Mephisto

Ulfric Stormcloak vs Ian Dury

Will Arnett vs Leonard Nimoy

SIDE 6

That Chief Guy vs Colby Brock

Hugo Vega vs John Lewis

JayMoji vs Spartacus

Billie Joe Armstrong vs Black☆Star

[cynamonowo]

001 999, 002 shukita, 003 do-yoon

i love u so much let's Go

(link)

001 | Send me a fandom and I will tell you my:

Favorite character:

akane!! girl of all time. she did nothing wrong (except everything) and that's so cool. she's so cool

Least Favorite character:

uhh that'd be a draw between the ninth man (bc he makes me feel queasy) and ace (bc i liked him at first. betrayal)

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon):

lotus/seven, junepei, junpei/santa, junpei/snake, but tbh this isn't a fandom i'm in for shipping reasons

Character I find most attractive:

lotus... hot

Character I would marry:

see above lol move over, seven, i will parent her daughters instead

Character I would be best friends with:

santa! we'd bitch about our little sisters while drinking shitty coffee and watching the timeline get tangled like a pair of cheap wired earphones

A random thought:

while ppl have been saying vlr is decent, to be fair idk if i wanna check it out :/

An unpopular opinion:

uh. none? idk

My canon OTP:

junepei i guess

Non-canon OTP:

lotus/seven

Most badass character:

either clover or snake. to be fair seven too... and akane in a way

Pairing I am not a fan of:

shrugs. idk. anything with ace? or clover/a man

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another):

uh. i don't know? maybe lotus bc while she is sexy af her outfit is. yeah.

Favourite friendship:

mm. maybe junpei and clover? or clover and seven. those would be nice

002 | send me a ship and I will tell you:

when or if I started shipping it:

about a month or so after finishing p5 lol at first i wasn't sure. then the brainrot got me

my thoughts:

it's such a good pairing like?? they're helping each other become better people while acknowledging the darkness in their hearts

What makes me happy about them:

THEY'RE JUST SO FUNNY SOMETIMES like the crucifixion pose gdhdhdg

What makes me sad about them:

that they're not Canon. what the fuck.

Things done in fanfic that annoys me:

yusuke being Smooth and Collected. i can see him having some confidence, but that autistic boy would be quite surprised to find out his crush likes him back

Things I look for in fanfic:

i see transmasc yusuke and i go ape

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:

i guess it'd be pegoryu & akekita lol

My happily ever after for them:

after a few years of brooding and navel gazing, they get their shit together, start a relationship, move in, and live a quiet, happy life, with akira as a counselor and yusuke as a well-known and respected painter

003 | Give me a character & I will tell you

How I feel about this character:

THAT'S MY SON but he's also sooo me. he's so autism. i love him. i want him to rest but also to go through even more horrors :> do-yoon han you are my everything. you deserve a chocolate bar

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

that'd be just gyu-hyuk and woosuk lol the latter as a past fwb that'd rather eat a flipflop than admit anything

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

oh man i love do-yoon being inha's chew toy and juyoung's pet cat. every lesbian deserves a weird guy to care for and/or pester

My unpopular opinion about this character:

there's only like ten ppl in the fandom so i wouldn't say it's unpopular but. he's autistic and also trans. spot a pattern :P

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

oh man it's kind of a shame we didn't hear him laugh... to be fair there was little to laugh about in the Horrors

My OTP:

gyuyoon ftw <3 there's so much you can pack into their dynamic.

My OT3:

platonic ot3 but, as mentioned above, do-yoon and the girls is such a fun squad. to me. inha as the wise guy, him as the straight man, juyoung as the unwitting audience to their bickering

[tckeyourheart]

"I'm going to kill you. Why? ...Eh, no reason! Life, hee... Life, ho... Hee ho is not fair!"

Indie Persona Multimuse Sideblog penned by Serenade Follows back from: @necronomacle

This blog will contain spoilers for both Persona 5, Persona 5 Royal, and Persona 5 Strikers. I have not yet played Tactica and will adjust characterization as that media is consumed.

The blog does contain reference to darker themes. All of it will be tagged and thrown under a read more.

Futaba Sakura : @necronomacle Yusuke Kitagawa: @phantominari

Akira Kurusu: @wildthief Panfandom Multi: @serandipity Sin blog: @tckeyourlewds

Highly Affiliated with @justicepuppet Why Jack Frost? Cause he's the best little guy and it's funny. Fight me. Rules + Muse List under the cut || Ship interest check tag

Muse List

Haru Okumura

Hifumi Togo

Caroline + Justine / Lavenza

Tae Takemi

Sadayo Kawakami

Sae Nijima

Ann Takamaki

Rumi

Sophia

Wakaba Isshiki (private; request only)

Rules

001. I am mutuals only, but I’m not super picky over who I follow. I don’t usually follow first, but I am trying to follow more people. If I follow you, assume I wish to write with you in some capacity. I do not send in passwords. It gives me anxiety. Thank you for understanding.

002 .I will only write with people who are 18+. I do not want minors interacting with my posts or with me at all. I was a teacher for 5+ years and I am uninterested in curating my private space for minors the way I had to curate my professional space. I will hard block you if you’re a minor

003. Treat me the same way you’d want to be treated. Do not push for a ship, do not push for me to reply, do not god mode, etc etc. I feel I really don’t have to spell most of this out because this should all be basic RP etiquette already. 

I don’t really care if you reblog memes or images from me. I will sometimes post my own personal art. If you like it or it is relevant to your blog, you are free to reblog it.

If I reblog something from you like a meme or something and you find you want me to reblog from source instead let me know. I try to do that but I’m mobile a lot and sometimes I honestly just forget

004. I write after work most of the time and am not on tumblr on my days off. This can mean there are days where I am not writing depending on how busy work is.

005. Please leave fandom drama at the door! If you feel the need to police me for my muses or for the content that I write, I will block you. I am not here to discourse.

006. With the exception of a few, most muses are written as being over 18. This includes muses who may not be canonically that age but will be with time. All interactions with them being over 18 are set after their canon events. If this bothers you, do not follow me.

007. While I feel I’m not slow, I tend to have a lot of interactions, and I will always prioritize my friends over others. This does not mean I do not want to write with you, but you will likely see some partners receiving replies daily while you receive a reply once every few weeks. This is another case of ‘if this bothers you, do not follow me’.

On this note, I also only would like to follow blogs I am actively writing with. If we do not have a meaningful thread after 2-3 months, I will unfollow.

008. I adore shipping and will be posting a shipping call on my actual blog that will detail my guidelines in more detail. But, to suffice - unless a muse is private (or under the age of 18), consider them shippable! All muses can assume to be bisexual. Please leave any ship drama at the door too. I will ship what I want to ship and write what I want to write and tag it as necessary to give people a chance to filter like I do with everything else on this blog. If that’s a deal breaker then please do not follow me.

009. I am not afraid to defend myself if some garbage pops up. I don't believe in being nice and polite anymore for the sake of optics and "not bringing drama to the dash" anymore. I consider myself friendly, but I will not be a doormat for people who only wish to assume the worst of me.

010. If you soft block me and I find out no hard feelings, but also, I'm just going to hard block you. I will assume you no longer wish to interact with me and will follow suit. This is to cut down on the potential of me accidentally refollowing after you've quietly expressed you don't wish to interact anymore.

011. I am of the mindset that most things can be solved with a dm. I actually think tumblr's mindset of you can never be confrontational is actively harmful and has created an environment where everyone is too afraid to speak their mind or speak up when they have an issue with someone. in fear of being viewed as "toxic" or "drama mongering". Please know that if you have an issue with me and wish to discuss it in DM's I will at the very least hear you out and listen to your side.

012. Do not interact if your blog is solely used for the purpose of writing smut and producing thinly veiled fetish content. I have NEVER had a good experience with those types of blogs and have no interest in writing with them. I am fine with smut / nsfw content as long as that's not all your blog is for. I will unfollow if you do not either put your nsfw content under a read more or give me an easy way to filter it with tags. I will hard block if you engage in any of the following kinks: feederism, inflation, or weight gain. I'm not interested in kink shaming but those specific kinks make me grossily uncomfortable

013. While I have no hard time limit on when threads are responded to, if you're consistently dropping threads and leaving starters unacknowledged even if you requested them. I'm going to block you. I want to get invested in writing with my partners and I can wait for a long time for threads to be replied to. I also find it kind of rude when people do this, so I'm just not gonna put up with it anymore.

014. I am fundamentally anti-a.i. While I won't throw a hissy fit if you use a.i icons or whatever, but if you're one of those people that respects a.i art generation as a medium this is not the place for you. Also.

[yoshida-midoriko]

[darlingzen-blog1]

    Zen’s fingers tapped rhythmically against the side of his thigh has he walked, a soft hum dancing in his throat. He was jittery, without work to keep him occupied he was left to his own thoughts. Sometimes that could be a dangerous thing, especially with his mind wandering to places he’d long forgotten. 

   Brushing shoulders with someone caught his attention, “Delinquent,” the words had slipped from Zen’s mouth without him meaning for them to. It was strange how entirely shocked the man looked at his own words. After taking a moment to regain himself, Zen spun on his heel, an apologetic smile sweeping across his lips. 

   “I’m so sorry, I-It’s been a bit of a long day.” Zen, tired and clearly flustered, apologised quickly, his tapping hand raising to massage his temple. 

@dimwittedsuccessor

[foxend]

fooltrick replied to your post

you’re right, it should be WAY higher.

                         ‘   ---  ....  if anything  ,  it’d be negative whatever number you’re thinking of  .   ‘

[nyannyangaogao-blog]

@captivatedhues

Photo shoots are always high-energy and take a lot of focus, and now, especially, it requires a lot of concentration. It’s been at least a month between first coming here and Akechi helping to set her up with a modeling agency (she was still kind of floored that he went through that trouble for her), and it kind of showed. Especially lately, seeing how drained she was with everything that happened. But even still, she had a dream, and she wasn’t going to give up on it because she hit a rough patch. She couldn’t let this beat her. So even though she’d rather be home right now, she still puts on a bright smile, and switches from perky to demure at the behest of the photographer. 

But all that grinds to a halt when she spots someone staring at her from across the street. A small crowd had already gathered around the camera crew to watch, but only one onlooker stood out to her. It couldn’t be... 

“Yusuke-kun?” 

“Hm? Something wrong, Ann?” 

She doesn’t even look at the photographer as she confirms that yes, it is her friend. And suddenly nothing else matters. 

“S-sorry, I need to take a quick break.” She mumbles before hurrying away, not waiting to hear a response. Not that it actually garnered more than a few sympathetic glances. This sort of occurrence was really common for Riftlings, after all. 

“Hey!” Ann frantically waves her arms as she dashes across the street. “Yusuke-kun! It is you, right?”

[encoeurs]

@thiefpaint

      He finds Yusuke, unexpectedly, while looking for something that would keep well without needing too much heating or cooling. Ramen seems the natural choice, as it only needed to boil, and he’s fairly certain the stoves aren’t electric, but a man can’t live on Ramen alone. At least, not one that’s gotten used to making himself curry at the bare minimum of twice a week. However, things as they are, he has no way to store it, or to keep the ingredients fresh without worry, and so he relegates himself to something simple and cheap in the interim.            Yusuke, it seems, has no such concerns when he finds him poring over a few sparse packages of thinly-sliced beef.           “You know...” His voice rises only enough for Yusuke to hear, hands in his pockets and eyes skimming from his friend to the refrigerated goods he was poring over. His chin lifts, tilting toward the faint hum of a generator. A backup, likely keeping everything in the place running since they didn’t have to worry about the lack of power elsewhere. 

          “...that’s probably not worth the expense while everything’s in such a state. Maybe when everything is more stable...?”           In other words, it was very likely the person behind the counter was trying to pull a fast one on the artist in some manner or another.

[the-daily-male]

Round One Bracket Masterpost-Part Two

Link to Part One

SIDE 7

Failboat vs Keigo Takami/Hawks

Wilbur Soot vs Jade Harley

Ricky Matsui vs Cole

Calcifer vs Totoro

Chuck Schuldiner vs Skipthetutorial

HABIT vs Preminger

Robot 0-1 vs PrinceZam

Francis Mosses vs Cyrus Pynn/Cydeshow Cy

Mapicc vs Lee

Ken vs Pavitr Prabhakar (Spider-Man India)

Marquis de Lafayette vs Qifrey

SIDE 8

T'challa vs Oswald Cobblepot (The Penguin)

Mischa Bachinski vs Yo Yo Ma

Mail Whale vs Ted

EthosLab vs Vampire!Milkman

Giovanni Potage vs William Murderface

Stag vs Dylan Brady

Dionysus vs Kieran Culkin

Moist von Lipwig vs Kenma Kozume

H.G. Wells vs James McAvoy

Ryan Reynolds vs Shadow-san (Suhara)

Darkiplier vs 001/Henry Creel/Vecna

SIDE 9

Orpheus vs Killbot 86

Wilson Percival Higgsbury vs Maedhros

Uncorrupted!Xornoth vs Dave Strider

Ambassador Spock vs Mortimer

TangoTek vs Yu Narukami

Kagamine Len vs Rosions Romanovich Raskolnikov

Paathurnax, The Old One vs Beast Boy (Garfield Logan)

Joey vs Columbo

Achilles vs Yusuke Kitawaga (Fox)

The Tenth Doctor vs Ares

Double-O-Sev-Ren vs Remnam

SIDE 10

Crosshair vs Arthur Morgan

Gyorik (York) Rogdul vs Caine

BranzyCraft vs Atreus

Ash Kabosu vs King Arthur

Adam Katz (Animation Epic) vs Cloud Strife

The Daily Male vs Cellbit

Theo vs Fitzwilliam Darcy Esquire

Technoblade vs Leonard Nimoy

Klaus Hargreaves/Number 4 vs Starlight Glimmer

Chill vs Bilbo Baggins

Ray Toro vs Dr. Andre Lee

SIDE 11

Haruhi Fujioka vs Final Form!Xornoth

Silvally and Gladion vs Heavy

Clopin Troufillefou vs Rekrap2

Kaladin Stormblessed vs Don Quixote

L'manburg vs Ringo

Adam vs Aragorn son of Arathorn

Alex Kralie vs Logan Howlett (Wolverine)

Brian May vs Rupert Graves

[murata-chihiro]

【記録冊子発行】

展覧会「桐月沙樹・むらたちひろ　時を植えて / between things, phenomena, and acts」（2021, 京都芸術センター）の記録集が、Gallery PARCのオンラインストアからお買い求めいただけるようになりました。お手にとってご覧いただければ幸いです>>

https://www.parcstore.com/esp/shop?pid=MC1-03-001

「時を植えて」記録集 2022年6月発行 オフセット印刷 18.2 × 25.7cm 40p 編集：桐月沙樹・むらたちひろ 編集協力：正木裕介（ギャラリー・パルク） ブックデザイン：塩谷啓悟 写真（展示風景）：��本和樹 執筆： 渡辺亜由美（滋賀県立美術館 学芸員） 平野春菜（アートコーディネーター、キュレーター） むらたちひろ 桐月沙樹 Artist：Kirizuki Saki／Murata Chihiro “between things, phenomena and acts”Archives 2022.6 printting 18.2 × 25.7cm 40p editing：Kirizuki Saki／Murata Chihiro editing support：Masaki Yusuke [ Gallery PARC］ desgin：Shiotani Keigo photo [ exhibition view］：Yoshimoto Kazuki writing: Watanabe Ayumi  [ Curator in Shiga Museum of Art ] Hirano Haruna [ Art coordinator, Curator ] Murata Chihiro Kirizuki Saki

[yoshida-midoriko]

[uwukechi]

shuake and/or pegoryu for the ship thing uwuwu

001: Shuake/Akeshu

when I started shipping it if I did:

Honestly? Right from the get-go. I saw Goro at the TV station and when he opposed the Phantom Thieves but immediately took an interest in Akiren, and Akiren reciprocated that interest and there was no outward negativity expressed (by either Akiren or Morgana) towards their relationship, it was basically greenlit in my head. This was back in vanilla -- but the rest of the game, AND Royal, definitely just made it go stronger. The main reason was the fact that they could intellectually stimulate and interest the other with no ill will or malice, and that they both seemed to enjoy it. 

my thoughts:

First of all, there’s the entire rivalry thing which I LOVE. 

The whole concept of healthy rivalries always appeal in a relationship dynamic to me, because 1) they don’t “bore” each other due to the fact that there’s always going to be something keeping their interest up in a competitive way, 2) there’s no power imbalance due to the fact that the basis of any rivalry is that they are equals, and 3) both people in the relationship will always be striving to become better not for the other person, but because of the other person. Look at it this way:

There’s “I want to be the best version of myself to make you happy,” which is pretty much any other relationship dynamic that enforces self-betterment.

THEN, there’s rivalmance, which is, “I want to be the best version of myself because you motivate me to want to become a better person for myself,” which just honestly strikes a chord with me, mainly because it means that the relationship isn’t about pandering to one another, but about two people who can go up head-to-head, bare their souls and give each other everything they’ve got, and still come out stronger and happier than when they went in.

It’s exactly this in shuake that appeals to me so much -- that, of course, and the fact that they genuinely care about the other for who the other is, and not for anyone else. It’s especially blatant when you think about the fact that they both mirror each other in so many ways -- they both put on so many masks for the public and everyone around them; they’re both wildcards; they’re designed to mirror the other -- anyway, that list goes on for days. 

The fact of the matter is that they can honestly, truly understand each other. There’s a saying -- “it is when dressed for a masquerade where you are most naked” -- that I think fits them really well. Their whole confidant route explores the many layers to their relationship and how they can fully understand the true depth of what the other means by using the guise of casual conversation as metaphor for the truth. Which you’ll know I obsess over if you’ve seen my post on their third confidant rank in Royal or small potatoes. 

Oooops, that got a little long...

And of course, to no one’s surprise.

What makes me happy about them:

can’t i just say “everything” and be done with it

Okay but in all seriousness, I absolutely love how they’ve found someone so special for themselves in each other. Their relationship is so valuable to them, so important and meaningful that it’s truly something I think is precious. And that’s not even taking into account how much they would consider doing (and sacrificing) for the other if need be. Hell, Goro entrusts Akiren with his life mission (taking down Shido to let him rot) before intending to give up his own life in the engine room, and Akiren is given the absolutely heartrending choice to choose between Akechi or the world. The fact that it’s such a hard choice to make in and of itself is testament to how much it means. The fact that 2/2 exists is testament. The fact that Goro’s third awakening takes place at Leblanc, with Akiren, every little detail. They just. they mean so much to each other and that’s honestly one of the things that really makes me happy.

What makes me sad about them:

Nothing in particular about their relationship saddens me, per se? Like, they truly make me and each other happy by virtue of just being there. That’s not to say that their circumstances aren’t impressively saddening -- just take Proof of Justice, for example. The only thing that saddens me about their relationship is the tragedy of their circumstances: “If only we had met a few years earlier”? That hit. Well written angst is the best variant. 

things done in fanfic that annoys me:

When. Akiren. is. mean-spirited. to. Goro. or. vice. versa. It’s just...not them? Like, Akiren knows what Goro’s been through, and seeing people write him making fun of Goro with the Phantom Thieves as anything further than light/playful teasing just makes me wince because it’s... cruel. Similarly, Goro’s a prick, yeah, but he’d never really go so far as to be needlessly cruel to Akiren and enjoy it for the sake of it. It’s just...blegh. I don’t like it.

things I look for in fanfic:

DYNAMIC! If any fic really nails their dynamic I absolutely adore it. The edge of competition, the proud and encouraging taunts, the innate bond and trust? Gimme that sweet sweet RIVALMANCE. The “do I hate you or do I hate what how you make me feel?” The “I want to get my feelings across but saying them would make it real and make it matter, so I’m going to layer it within thousands of metaphors and hypotheticals that I know you’ll understand regardless, but as long as I don’t let myself falter with my goal, it’s fine”

Ahem. 

Basically I like them pining/trying to one-up each other and just generally relishing being in the other’s presence.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:

GOD this is a hard one because I don’t really ship either of them with anyone else? I know for Goro there’s been a lot of akesumi stuff going around but that really isn’t my cup of tea, so for Goro I’d prooooobably go with Yusuke because akekita is cute, lol. I will say that I headcanon Akiren as massively bi and I’d be willing to settle for shuann but I don’t really see them romantically? Like, bi solidarity and that’s all? OH though I wouldn’t mind Akiren with Hifumi; that’s a cute ship too!

My happily ever after for them:

They’re happy as long as they’re together, in my heart. Given both of their characters I think they both do like the fast-paced life that keeps them stimulated, but they can only properly slow down when they’re with each other, just because of how well they truly understand each other and knows what the other needs. Their happily ever after is honestly just them being together, because home is where the heart is.

who is the big spoon/little spoon:

Real talk, they snuggle together and both kind spoon each other? Other than that they alternate between big and little spoon, depending on whose trauma is affecting them. Akiren claims to be the big spoon more often because he likes believing that he’s able to comfort Goro when confronted in his darker moments and be there to protect him and assure him that things aren’t gonna hurt him anymore, but Goro ends up being the big spoon a lot more frequently because Akiren takes up too many people’s problems and gets stressed out over them without dealing with his own issues first, so Akiren frequently needs to be reminded that he has someone to protect him too, and Goro’s more than glad to be able to fill that role, to be able to help heal instead of hurt.

what is their favorite non-sexual activity:

Anything, so long as it’s competitive! As long as they can aim to compete with the other or one-up the other, it’ll be absolutely engaging for the both of them, whether it’s a debate, a game of chess, battleships, darts, pool, baseball batting in Yongen-Jaya, or playing tennis. Just let them compete and get passionate about it, and they’ll both have the time of their lives. Seriously. 

Ask post here!

(I’ll do pegoryu next for you, anon, in a separate post!)

[foxend]

                          why is his boyfriend so cute  --  ??

[theteddyblaze]

Just a #teaser until the #billboard In #september #workingmodel #matildadah @matildadahlinofficial #hair @carriepennington73 #mua @sbitaliangirl #styling #houseofteddyblaze @houseofteddyblaze @only1sirjones FLR-001 #LongSleeve #bodysuit $94 and #pearlchoker #teddyblaze @theteddyblaze AVAILABLE at www.teddyblaze.com . . . . .. . . . In conjunction with the #dreamteam @aztecstudiosla @only1defiantbear . . . . . . . . . . #shopping #brand #design #branding #luxurybrand #style #clothingline #lifestyle #fashionhouse #yusuke #korean #japanese #louisvuitton (at Las Vegas, Nevada) https://www.instagram.com/p/CSfDH5SJpeb/?utm_medium=tumblr