There's something that really annoys me with how Shiro is portrayed by the fandom and how they seem to forget that Shiro spent a year fighting brutally for his life. It's shown in canon that Shiro was a force to be reckoned with in the arena, rightfully earning his title as Champion and the show even shows other prisoners being terrified of him. Yet the fandom treats Shiro like an innocent cinnamon roll who wouldn't hurt a fly when the canon supports the idea that 1/2
Shiro was anything but that in the arena. I’ve even seen a few people complaining about how scarred up artists draw Shiro because the only scar shown is on his face. I’m getting the idea that the fandom doesn’t want to think of Shiro as someone who most likely killed and injured a lot of other prisoners to survive as he did. 2/2
I think entirely outside of what Shiro did for survival, thinking of him as soft and gentle is… pretty inaccurate.
Shiro is a very angry person. He holds back, he tries not to direct it at the team because he’s got major stripes of the therapist friend who wants to take care of anybody’s problems but like…
S2e4, Shiro’s treatment of Lubos once he realizes what, precisely, Lubos has done. S2e7, towards Zarkon, and s2e8 when Kolivan is tampering with Keith’s mind.
Shiro has the wrath of an idealist who believes in a benevolent world and when things don’t live up to that- when there’s pettiness, selfishness, abuse of power- Shiro gets angry! He grabs people by the lapels and snaps at them because you could be better than this.
There is something way the hell more personal than survival in the way Shiro lays into Zarkon in the astral plane fight. This isn’t because Zarkon’s trying to kill him. It’s not even completely because Zarkon’s threatening and hurting his team through an avenue Shiro sees himself as responsible of. It’s because Zarkon was a paladin, because the universe invested its faith and fondness and purpose in him, looked to him for help, and Zarkon turned into a despot.
Because to Shiro there is no lower form of filth than a leader who abuses power. Who betrays their subordinates. And right at that point where Shiro’s sitting Zarkon did a lot worse than let his team down, he personally tore them to pieces.
And yes- Shiro is compassionate, and kind, and empathetic. Yes, Shiro wants to take care of everybody, yes, he’s the guy who delivers friendship speeches and means them but all of that heartfelt sincerity fuels profound personal rage.
The prisoners in the first episode flinch back from him, but they also know his name. They also know- if they can trust anyone to get them out of this situation, if they can trust anyone to challenge the empire and win- it’s Shiro. Because Shiro’s not just someone they’re scared of. He’s someone they trust the honor of, that if he says he’s here to help he’s not going to hurt them. Someone they respect, and there’s a thread of fear to that reverence, but, to people in a very bitter, bleak, and hopeless situation- I really doubt they’d be able to believe in someone who wasn’t just a little bit scary.
To survive what Shiro did and come out on top you need to be pretty scary. And Shiro was never a quitter.
So, the short version is- I think the idea Shiro’s a ruthless bloodstained gladiator with no hesitations or that he was during his missing year sells him short in one way, and acting like he’s a pure untroubled boy scout with only gentleness and remorse inside sells him short a different way.
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