This is a (side)blog focused on Oowada Rui and Ukkomon from the 02 movie "THE BEGINNING" and there will be spoilers, but tagged properly as 02tb spoilers -- so please add this one in the filters in case you don't want to see spoilerish discussion/art/posts.
That said... I felt in love with Rui since his adult design, name and VA was announced. Some of my old art/stuff featuring him was wild speculation until now.
I'm Ni/ @digitalgate02 (She/They; Ace; 20+) btw. I post my other stuff on @legendheroes ; @tomorrows2top and @detectiveichijouji lately.
BTW, this blog is heavy on theories and headcanons. So please don't assume that much of it is canon. -- it's just a silly person theorizing and overanalyzing every material + art featuring those two characters and trying to figure things out!!
Status: lurking.
🌟Rules:
→ NO BASHING/DUNKING ON ANY SERIES, OR CHARACTERS. Also I won't tolerate hateful comments.
→ NO SHIP WARS. Yes, this blog is canon compliant so please, avoid asking about non-canon or if possible asking shipping at all.
Btw the only Rui ship i care so far is Daisuke/Rui, and i won't allow hate towards either of them or any ship involving them.
→ I don't ship human/digimon and I might block if you ship it.
→ Please don't send me requests to draw stuff. Some replies might have art! But if you just drop me something like "can you draw [insert here some prompt/idea]" i will immediately reply with my comm. price chart :) And no, I won't draw fetish art.
→ Ah, I have so little to zero knowledge of the American dub of any digi-series. I will only work with the Japanese version or Brazilian dub. No dub or OG version dunking is allowed in this space by the way.
→ I don't like passive-aggressiveness. If you have something to correct in my posts, please do it politely.
→ Usual common etiquette -- No hatred towards people's religions, sexual/romantic orientation, gender (or lack of), PoC, ethnicities, etc. I won't hesitate to block if needed.
→ Do not edit my art or repost it. If you wanna use it as an icon/sidebar, ask first. And no, you cannot use my art on A/I & N/F/T for ANYTHING. If you do that, I will block you immediately.
Please use this post to access the pages/tags.
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how many of you just… enjoy that HC of post-02TB Rui becoming a secret agent……………. how many of you got into the idea because of me being obnoxiously drawing it like a madlad?
Y'know, for a person skinny and small like Rui (if you watched the movie you may know why), him being able to sneak into a restricted area and climb the tower that fast before anyone could catch him begs a question on HOW FAST AND DEXTEROUS HE IS.
a CSHM AU idea i had and polished because maybe BeatBreak is the fault at this (thanks to the current arc, GIFT) and some other ideas i had.
Idk how many chapters it will be, but it's a story with versions from 02 characters & OCs (oh you know WHO they are, right!?) in a Cyber Sleuth setting. perhaps it will be short unlike the other stuff i wrote recently.
I don't think there will be major spoilers of the game, and if it changes i will gladly put a big, flashing WARNING about potential spoilers. But there's a tag there just in case.
Hey, it bothers me when everyone misquotes Rui statements about being or not the First Chosen Child. Yes, in meta-wise, all the interviews and slogan/pitch about this movie makes him the First.
HOWEVER IN-UNIVERSE AND MOVIE: he NEVER claimed that.
So why am i saying this? BECAUSE even after the 02 group asked him if he was a Chosen Child, Rui does not even use that term or name.
But then the 02 group starts calling him by "the First Chosen Child" out of nowhere
So it's INCORRECT to say Rui claimed he was the first Chosen Child (in-universe), because he NEVER has said that. he said he was the first human to form a partnership though.
And, while i am a "Rui is the First indeed" truther, we previously had another cases of human-digimon bond and pseudo-partnership before Rui.
Taichi & Hikari with the egg hatched into Koromon (which is not stated to be the same Koromon Taichi gets partnered later), and Oikawa Yukio & Hida Hiroki.
(so i wrote a post about my take on him in anything i do.)
Note: this is my own views and ways to interpret the material, based on art, collab art, the movie & drama CD, interviews, and also talks with friends & other peeps around. Please do not use this post or take it as information, or canon evidence.
I've just finished reading a rough translation of 13+ (overview rough translation, i may specify) and i was kinda curious how Rui's portrayal there felt similar to how i perceive him... after spending a ton of time doing a ton of research (rewatches, listening drama CD again, studying collab art, reading interviews), talking with people and such.
[more about this below]
Like, i think everyone remember that i did drew Rui being kinda immersed in Takeru telling Rui about something before, right? Because i had this impression Rui definitely is the kind to get impressed by things, quite distracting him.
In this scene, Rui's eyes are shining as he's hyperfocused on the TV show he was watching. So that was my basis to the idea "he's the kind to lock in when something catches his eye." So, when i read 13+ and him being quite intrigued, interested on Takeru's story (to the point to suggest Takeru to write those down before him going to the DW), i was like "huh! so Kakudou also had the same impression as me?" and i do wonder if Taguchi & co + SekiP had the same intent with this scene.
One of my portrayals for Rui in both RE:CONNECT and YDP series is that he definitely has some sort of curiosity on things that catch his attention. He may struggle to ponder how will people react to his own actions, but he can clearly be inquisitive to things that catch his interest. If you accuse him of something, he will simply want to know why was that and want to hear the story, the reasoning behind it. (yeah, that's what he does in YDP sequel, right?)
The "Curious, Intrigued Rui" seems to be present in collab merch too...
like this badge one, in which he and Ukkomon seem to be just admiring the soccer ball, or just not sure what they are supposed to do with it.
or he looking at the others (perhaps at the big cake next to Daisuke?) with this face:
it got me curious about how some of those merch/collabs had him doing things like these.
Another thing i kinda like to think is him not being that "academically" smart, but possibly "street smart"? He can figure things out, quite well. Rui might not know how to give actual academic input on things, but he can deduce stuff not related to his actions. Yes, he will see a digimon nearby a child and assume "they are partners", or see a cup on the edge of a table and go like "that cup will break if it falls", then if it is related to himself he will just jump into action (Sees giant DigiEgg and recognizes it → proceeds to prepare himself and plot a strategy to reach the egg), if not there could not bother him thaaat much ("not my problem" sort of reaction)
He won't intervene on other people's businesses, and won't want others to interrupt his.
And when he's told "it is our problem already!", he will accept it and let those people know the issue, and get the info from him. Sometimes against his own wish because he would rather deal with his own BS alone than dragging others in it.
Rui can learn fast, and i want to believe in this approach of mine in YDP sequel, in which he learned basic stuff in order to live by himself after he moved out of his relatives' house and so other things he might have learned out of attempting to find something he truly liked and had interests in (there's some collab merch that i'm considering to be hints of what would've been Rui's actual tastes, and his design for the movie as well. And maybe he never liked the "clean, tidy haircut" he had under Ukkomon's parenthood period?) -- possibly learned questionably legal stuff in order to roll his plan to reach the DigiEgg (like, y'know, picking locks), and some basic electrician lingo or details that could sound convincing (it's my take on how he climbed it, thanks to Aka joking about Rui beta design having an electrician pouch in it)
Besides that, i've taken the idea he's quite impatient when it comes to things. Watching people getting used to the egg, and him assuming Ukkomon is up to no good (because he's like his mom and has a very wrong idea of Ukkomon's personality and actions), probably got him pissed enough to go all "FINE, I will so something by myself then!" and crack a plan to reach the egg. So he could have a very spiteful nature, in terms of having no problem defying authority if this means the authority is not doing their job at all.
(YDP sequel plays on this as he questions Noel "And nobody is aware of this research being used for something shady?!" to get a negative answer as "no one is aware at the moment" and then convince himself and Ukkomon that they had to help Noel to steal it. Even if he initially was like "wait, you was me to steal something??", lol)
But he's easily influenced by others imo. And this plays more like when his initial refusal e denial is bypassed, or is not present at all, Rui can become an easy target and letting others influence his actions and opinions. He probably the kind he will believe the absurd lies because he doesn't seem to have the notion of what is real and what is not. Because he possibly thought everything Ukkomon had to offer him was a big LIE. That his entire life was a byproduct of Ukkomon's lies and there weren't ANYTHING real in it. Well, this kind of POV is then debunked later by the 02 kids, right!? They managed to spot Ukko's struggles and trying his best to help Rui be happy, and that he and Rui weren't communicating enough, therefore Rui had also no idea what Ukkomon liked, or who the real Ukkomon was/is.
Also, since Rui has a very SKEWED view of the world and morality, of course he doesn't have awareness of things he did were bad. He may not have any single remorse or regrets on climbing the Tokyo Tower, or anything else he has done. If you lecture him he did something wrong, there's chances he may get in denial, but come into realization he did something bad therefore he needs to apologize or, perhaps, punish himself.
(the concept of "punishing" is mostly my own assumption due to his mom always punishing him for not obeying her VAGUE orders and expecting him to understand those... when he was a literal 4 years old.)
So lying or being caught doing bad things possibly causes his MO to go in defense mode, or to accept being punished in return. He may not like to be TOUCHED thanks to the corporal abuse he suffered, at least not without any awareness. When Daisuke catches his shoulder at first, he has a small reaction to it imo. So i assume he might cover his head with his hands or arms, flinch and recoil as well if too stressed by being scolded.
On top of that, his emotional cognition being totes undeveloped during his formative years ruined his ways to deal with people as well, as i mentioned before, he does not seem to get interest on people's lives and such that much. He cannot predict how they will react, he's not thinking enough about their feelings -- which leads to him simply go and assume Hawkmon was only following Miyako's orders and not doing things by himself... since Rui was told the digimon will do everything for their human partners, including fight until they die.
But if he does get some interest on something someone does or have to tell, he does seem the kind to get immersed by it.
While he can be bad at communicating and socializing, i think Rui himself is good at observing the environment in silence. He might not get instant interests in what people are doing, but he can take notes of things that catch his attention. He may like to observe colors and other stuff, like fashion. but not to judgment levels, just "huh, this is an interesting detail..." and call a day.
I made him work at a café shop as barista in most of my stuff. He spends time observing people and taking mental memo on the regular customers preferences, while still not being exactly interested in them (sometimes he obliges himself to, not that his cousin and her husband demand him to memorize everything a customer prefers and likes, especially when they can access a log of their previous purchases in their system!) -- He is extremely focused on his work. And also does not like to cause trouble for the café as well.
He's fast enough and able to sneak into places without being caught that faster, and such ability + Ukkomon's special tricks (wire-shaped tentacles + Liar Dream technique), could be good for infiltration missions. Therefore this made me write down YDP sequel (and future stuff) in the premise of exploring Rui playing a "spy" role, taking missions from Noel and co. (and in the future, from Koushiro and Taichi.)
His right eye disability is something i do not want it to be "healed" by magical outlets or "magically undone" by other ways, so whether Rui's eye could properly heal and be salvaged from getting totally blind was or not, i'd prefer to not erase the disability at all. So yeah, spy missions means he would need something to cover the issue, right? Fear not, i... thought about it. Really.
Besides that, i don't perceive Rui as someone who's the lawful good type who might try his best to be a good role model for everyone else, he feels more the kind to not belong to the heroes camp, nor to the antagonistic camp: He follows what he thinks is right. He's himself, and works for himself mostly. So, how does he align but people like Taichi & co., or even Noel's gang? because they are not exactly that kind of "lawful good" either imo. They all are ready to dirt their hands in any circumstance if it means to protect others, i've always perceived the Tokyo Twelve (Taichi & Daisuke's groups) being this kind of people.
And Rui does feel he suits that, but more likely to the vigilante side Noel, Soleil and Lune are (they are "the guys who work in the shadows doing the questionably legal stuff heroes cannot do" after all!), so him being associated to Noel's Amas Stellaire group, and also working as volunteer agent for Koushiro kinda feels like... eh, Rouge-Shadow from Sonic franchise? (well, Rouge is a thief and a spy agent, and Shadow follows his own code but he can and will help others if their goals overlap) Does it make sense?
Anyway, that's all for now. This is how i perceive Rui and portray him in my stuff, with some little meta-ing to explain my thoughts & reasoning.
@exasperatedespurr replied to your post “may i ask everyone if i am not alone in this hill,...”:
@digitalgate02 Tell us why you ship it. Sorry, that might have been niche way of phrasing it. Like. Sell the idea ig.
short answer: idk, i started it thanks to a talk with friends on discord when i sent them an edit of a TPE meme with Rui and Meiko, because i was too lazy to edit Pipimi into another character (and it was a dumb meme i had in mind when friend said "fined for digimon crimes"; the source of the idea was a long sleuthing and Iori-like investigation on Rui-Ukko crimes, which later was mentioned in this answer about the same subject to another person's question.) and then led us to imagine Rui and Meiko becoming friends (also Wallace joins in the shenanigans too, but not shippy at all) and interacting.
the LONG answer (that's also kind short? but maybe more detailed?) is that the ship as a romantic pair is also random and Ni going all "you know, Meiko's VA in the US dub is also Marinette/Ladybug, and in the BR dub Lui's main voice (adult voice) is Adrien/Cat Noir so isn't this funny? what if..." and then i was just... joking? (also yes i do know US dub Cat Noir is Cody/Iori, please no need to remind me again, folks💧)
but right before the meme i made, i also made this 8/1 countdown art of Meiko and Rui interacting. I wanted so much to beat my personal issues with ▽ (and traumas) and use those characters again, even if i had to re-adapt the OVA series in a way it could fit the timeline i made for my own stuff.
So... when i was writing YDP sequel, i decided to make use of my ideas and then have Meiko and Rui interacting properly. But this was also previously foreshadowed at the epilogue of the Rui-Ukko centered fanfic, RE:CONNECT, which said final ch had already influence on the mentioned convo from the gc w/ friends lol.
But it was YDP sequel that simply made them go definitely a little deeper in the relationship. They're friends, yeah, and also involved in the main caper as well. Rui and Meiko hide secrets from each other and even Ken is like "HOW IN THE WORLD HAVE YOU TWO BECAME FRIENDS?!" because Rui and Meiko are quite... socially awkward y'know? But they both share some similatities & problems, even if they go into different directions: inaction, social awkwardness, their digimon are also kid-like and went off-control, they also were isolated from the other "people with digimon" too. Also, both are gentle and possible unable to lie, so their MO to hide secrets are just avoiding it, avoiding conflict and running away. Meiko and Rui also seem the kind to trust others easily and unable to spot shady behavior, which is also part of the plot for YDP sequel for them (though for different reasons again.)
I like to think about the cute awkward wet cat Rui being adopted by the gentle and shy Meiko, they're obviously hanging out nicely and she's 4 years older than him so she's his senpai, while Rui is technically her digi-senpai bc i follow the "Rui is the First, period" philosophy (sorry Kakudou & everyone. please do not argue with me on this... orz)
Both have no digi-experience with lots of things, and they have to be taught by the Tokyo Twelve (Taichi & Daisuke's groups) like little toddlers at kindergarten. And they also probably have some aversion to evolving their digimon because of the bad experiences they had (it's ok, Wallace also shares this fear, but a little more tamed imo?)
So yeah, the truth is... It all started as a joke, then i wrote fanfic with it and now friends and I are joking about how Meiko stole Rui from Daisuke (bc y'know, i'm a proud DaiRui shipper lmao) and the time i said "i think i am shipping this seriously now, and maybe i should be stopped" the enabler friend i love and respect so much said "no, you don't" so that's it.
I hope this can prove it's a good ship. I'm bad at voicing my thoughts, but at this point i suppose it looks a cute ship... Right?
