Any headcanons for Toyo Yamanouchi? He's very cool and I often feel like he's misunderstood
I like Touyou! His design is nice (Even if he's just japanese David Waterman) and as I've said before, Toufouu Ikokukan as a whole is a cool team <3 I do have some thoughts about its execution and how well it did in the final story, but it's fine imo. So I'll gladly write about him if you wish :>
...Once again, I reiterate: I don't have Victory Road (And sadly I'll have to put off the idea of buying it till mid 2026), I'm basing myself off existing gameplay + other info. There's probably other bloggers who are wayyyy more able to do better than me. But hey, this is the perfect excuse to talk about one of the VR teams I like.........
So, first off, I'm kind of curious on what you mean with being "misunderstood". At least on the parts of the fandom I've been browsing, I didn't find any specific view of Touyou that could be interpreted as a misunderstanding. Though, I did have some myself, if that counts.
Back when the final VROH trailer released, I found interesting the little interaction that Kai and Touyou shared. At least based off that single line, it gave me the impression that in their dynamic, Touyou would be the "laid back" one, the one who'd be more humble compared to his teammates, specially Kai.
HOWEVER, turns out that was not the case! In fact, Touyou is just AS prideful as the rest of Toufuu Ikokukan. In fact, the previous interaction has a better context on its complete version:
Plus, this conversation mid-match.
The key point here is that he's aware of the school's reputation, and how important it is to keep it a float. Which is not surprising, he's constantly regarded as the "only Japanese player" in TI (Check the dialogues below) and thus he was raised on a society that gives a lot of value to the concept of a "group". If one leg of the table fails (In this case Toufuu and its soccer club), the whole thing collapses. And on a time where schools are closing and/or merging left and right due to low attendance, having a terrible reputation is something you just don't want.
Plus, it slightly connects with his profile; in which he's said to "keep the wild exchange students in line".
...Though, unfortunately, this is the end of the Captain (And TI as a whole)'s relevance, because other than some more banter and a dialogue during Nagumohara's comeback, there simply isn't much about it.
Either way, this can only mean one thing...... HEADCANON TIME!
So... I think this is the most obvious, but his pick as a captain wasn't a random thing. When the "Exchange Players program" was set in Toufuu, there was a huge tryout process on choosing who could lead all these different players. Soccer was the main thing to be tested, but there were other factors such as social skills, cultural knowledge, and language proficiency. Touyou, to surprise of none, passed them all.
And "why"? Well, I honestly like the idea that he comes from a family/a parent with a job that requires them to talk to people of all nationalities. A salesman, a teacher, whatever. The Yamanouchi are known as a versatile family that can adapt to anyone no matter their place of origin, and their only child isn't the exception! Since he was a child, Touyou was constantly made to learn different languages other than Japanese, which gave him a boost on the already existing courses over at Toufuu Ikokukan. (I mean, someone will have to continue the family business later on, right?). There's also the chance that his family could have travelled a lot, so this opens to him to the many different viewpoints around the world. Nonetheless... He's still the typical japanese boy, after all.
(I think English is a must language in Ikokukan, with Chinese and Korean being close seconds. Others like Spanish, French and Portuguese are optional courses, but hey, more languages help.)
Now as for his time with the actual soccer team... I think his relationship with them is friendly. Even if he has been instructed in how to deal with new faces and other cultural contexts, he still can get a bit of a surprises here and there. As to share some ideas...
I think he'd be surprised about Edmond's surprising knowledge about samurai and japanese history, but he's happy to have some sort of "middle ground" topic with someone. I think that if it were the case, he'd gladly share what he knows with Ed.
Sikuvot and Ming's constant beefing... Is a lost cause for him. He doesn't know how to deal with them, so he lets them argue AS LONG as it isn't public. Toufuu needs to boast about their team and their teamwork, you know!?
Now, a big fish... Martino and his lore with the Endou family. I think the Yamanouchi family is aware of the stories in the soccer world, so he'd be knowledgeable of both lineages' record track in professional soccer. This gives him a huge advantage when playing alongside Martino, since he operates in a way very similar to that of his parents (It isn't specified if Endou's rival is a male or female player, so I'm leaving it ambiguous). He also likes having this keeper around, because it gives him the perfect excuse to give it all and reach the nationals. After all, a team that is able to defeat the son of Endou Mamoru? The perfect title Toufuu deserves!
...Also related and as a closing note, regardless of my feelings with TI, VR and its history... If there's a FFI as a continuation, I genuinely hope Touyou fets added in to Inazuma Japan. LIKE, picture it. Most of his teammates could chose to go back to their countries, so he could be of possible help on planning against the future VR!InaJapan rivals. Or there could be a lot of interesting drama, too! I seriously believe that he and Martino will 100% have a role to play, because otherwise it will just feel like wasted potential all over again.
Overall, tysm for your ask!!! Apologies for taking so long 😭
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