Hello, tis me, the akafuri shipping mutual aghsjd I've been shipping them since 2016: celebrating their ship day (4/12 btw), creating playlists, reading fanfic, writing my own fanfics, I even made a PowerPoint all about them for fun, so i am highly qualified to talk about them from a shipping perspective.
First thing to know, I'm pretty sure for most akafuri shippers this started as a crack ship. And i do agree that at first glance this ship comes from no where. That people wanted to write an ensemble cast fic and threw them together for shits and giggles. The first time I came across them was in this manner.
Naturally I thought to myself, "why?? why would someone ship this?!" At the time I was 16 years old fresh from finishing the anime and I was confused why someone would ship them especially since I only knew broad and insensitive impressions of their characters: psychopath and coward. I thought that Akashi was simply too complex and dangerous to be shipped, and Furihata was a mob character at best.
So, I googled this exact question, "why do you ship Akashi and Furihata", the answer was a blog post basically amounting to "they are cute and funny." Believe me or not, that indepth answer didn't really sell me on them. However, I am a firm advocate that you must read a ship's fanfiction before you judge it and through this I learned multiple things about akafuri:
Authors can write as many different versions of akashi and furihata as they like
These different portrayals create various dynamics
And because of this, akafuri is one of the most flexible ships I've ever come across
Now before I continue, we must address something. One person's interpretation of a character or a ship is as valid as another's. We don't shame or yuck anybodies yum, so while reading anything past this point we will keep this in mind even as I express my own personal opinions. Okay? Cool.
Let's talk about the characters independently.
Akashi. Saying Akashi is complex doesn't do him enough justice. It doesn't mention anything about his upbringing, his deceased mother, his strict father, the ungodly expectations placed upon him, or his DID. It doesn't mention the distinctions between the 2 main hosts (henceforth dubbed Oreshi (the core) and Bokushi (the protector)). Or their relationship with each other. An author has the right to write Akashi any way they would like; only Oreshi, only Bokushi, after they became one in Last Game, or some combination of both. As is the nature of fandom, characters get hit with the fandom stick and gain highly inaccurate fanon versions (in the worse case sadistic psychopath Bokushi). This itself creates 6 different versions of Akashi who will interact differently with the different versions of Furihata.
Furihata for his part as i mentioned above sometimes gets reduced to a stuttering coward. But with some deeper analysis you can see that he is a romantic (joined a sport for a girl), he is observant (at least half of the time during a match it will be Furihata who notices something off and will narrate what we are supposed to be seeing as well, and if it's not him telling us he has still noticed and had a reaction before Riko or someone else says it), he is thoughtful- he is careful (being put in the Seirin vs Kaijo match to slow down the pace), he is brave despite being scared (stepping on the court to guard against Akashi), he is passionate (declaring that he wants to play with Kagami and Kuroko on the court), he's fun and diligent (participating in the off court tournament), and he's just a guy. A dude if you will. As normal as one could be. (Sorry I love him and I'm used to thinking about him with complete adoration from writing my wip from Akashi's POV)
Great now that you have an idea of what I mean by different portrayals of Akashi and Furihata let's discuss the main two dynamics of Akafuri!
There is the crack ship- The Lion and The Chihuahua. This was The Ship Dynamic for them when the ship first spawned, you will find many fanarts and fanfictions using this motif of Akashi being a lion and Furihata being a chihuahua. This dynamic focuses mostly on the characterization that Akashi is controlling, serious, and lustful while Furihata is a cute stuttering boy toy. Of course this is a generalization, the dynamic can be cute, funny, hot, and sometimes fics of this dynamic float into the second (and superior) dynamic.
The Newlyweds dynamic named such because they disgust everyone around them with their love. In this both of their characterization deepens and they become equals, partners, best friends, and yes, lovers. More often than not it is in this dynamic that Akashi's "complexities" get the care they deserve and Furihata is an actual functioning person with the occasional bi-panic (who can blame him though). The name of the game is slowburn because there are alot of steps for them to become friends let alone something more.
So, now let's go over how they compliment each other and bring out the best of each other (which is what has made them my OTP for 6+ years).
Akashi is used to being held at a distance and being on a pedestal. His classmates view him as a Prince. His father's expectations have warped his perception of his teammates until he believed that the only way to keep his new found family together is to keep winning. While Kuroko and Seirin "woke him up" it takes a long time to break out of that thinking when it's the only way you've been thinking for years, and the GOM can only do so much since they are wrapped along with his trauma. Furihata is just a guy and that's what Akashi needs. He needs some safe stable ground to process everything and that's what Furihata offers. Akashi admired his bravery during their match and he chose to sit by him at Kuroko's birthday (he doesn't not like him, if anything they are strangers or a friends acquaintance. If he really didn't like him he would have just let Furihata be scared in his presence and ignored him. He does not dislike him nor is he indifferent to him.) In many fanfics from this scene they slowly become friends noticing each other's thoughtfulness and kindness. Their friendship is about respect, second chances, open-ness, and genuinity.
As for their romantic relationship, think Beauty and The Beast. It's their friendship, the warmth and safety they feel around each other. The kin ship of being strategists. How they inspire each other to grow and be better: for Akashi its learning to be more emotionally mature and for Furihata its about learning confidence. It's the fact that Furihata wants love and once attended Akashi has a well spring of it. Here are some more thoughts about them (1) (2) (3)
That's kinda it besides the general "they are cute!" I mean, i could explain to you how I relate to Akashi's crushing expectations, how I look to him for self confidence, how him finding love with Furihata mimics what I've longed for and dreamed of - a best friend, a partner that shows me a new world of possibilities - for myself. I could tell you about how I want to be like Furihata: how he treats others, and is brave despite everything. But that's all very personal, buy me dinner first goddamn agshjsshhs
I hope this helped explain some reasons why akafuri is appealing. I'll leave you with some links incase you are still curious:
- my akafuri PowerPoint (much of what I've said is already on here) but there are many fanfic recs that I thought were suitable to introduce the ship to someone
- my akafuri spotify playlist
- and because I am a narcissistic bastard who is not ashamed to self-promote, here is my ancient greek! Akafuri wip
And most importantly! Remember how I said, don't judge a ship unless you've read some of their fic? This is the fic I recommend for anyone wanting to explore Akafuri:
A Spark of Light series by @courtingstars. It has some of the best characterizations of Furihata and Akashi, it's canon complaint, the writing is beautiful, it's extremely detailed and researched, it's the slowest of slowburns, and even though it's not complete and this is the longest hiatus the author has done, it's still considered The Bible for Akafuri shippers. It's a masterpiece, a testament of love, and persistence. If there is one thing to take from this long-winded post: read A Spark of Light and see for yourself what akafuri has to offer.
baratheonpilled
janainaart
blakekathryn
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