happy pride month to ryoga kamishiro and only to ryoga kamishiro.
those that have followed me for a little knows i love yuma tsukumo and ryoga kamishiro, and i ship these two to no end. (same for galaxymastershipping as well, i love kaimiza so much.) and here are my rants because its pride month.
yuma tsukumo and ryoga kamishiro. these two’s rs for me doesn’t fit into what the anime was aiming for (unless that aim is to make them look as gay as shit as possible then they really nailed it), their “friendship” is not just friendship, it’s rivalry with a sprinkled “this is zesty asf”, but not blatantly romance either, their relationship and the characters themselves aren’t just feels a little un-straight for me to look past the moment these two have shared. like seriously, ryoga is always saying that yuma annoys him, but at the end of the day he ends up saving yuma quite a few times. now this won’t be a blog where i yap about just the ship itself, but yuma and ryoga as individual characters, because i hate the fact that when you see art of example ryoga, its all sharkbaitshipping, it disheartens me that the beautifully developed characters of the shipped are looked over. so i will probably section this appropriately and we shall start with the main person that is on the title.
GET YOUR GLAZING CAPS ON.
Section 1: Ryoga Kamishiro is an amazing rival/friend/character.
ryoga and yuma’s (boy)friendship were strengthened, ryoga discovered (he was gay) he could change, that he changed, he worked on himself actively, and fate had to pit him up against his best(boy)friend, his rival, his everything, he loved and cared for the other barian emperors, even vector even after EVERYTHING. ryoga kamishiro is a softie with such high walls, because he doesn’t want to be hurt, but once you (Yuma) have wormed your way into his heart, he will do everything to save you (Yuma). i need to show love to ryoga because i can’t stay silent how amazing he is as a standalone character, and why i think sharkbaitshipping works and why its probably one of my otps.
ryoga at the start was literally at rock bottom, he was a disgraced duelist (something he couldn’t have avoided.), he started hanging out with thugs, and letting everything that has happened dictate his path, which is very real, it already puts ryoga as this troubled soul that needs that push in the right direction, despite how jarring and tough it will be.
ryoga didn’t magic his way into his change either. he had to swallow his pride and dignity to move forward with his changes, and he really did it, with the support of yuma, despite how much ryoga says that “you’re annoying”, somewhere, deep inside of him, he is thankful that yuma let him have a second and even third chance, his dignity that he swallowed he earned again because he was able to work on himself. all the things tron put him through during wdc, he even saved yuma a few times.
even when ryoga found out that he was nasch, ryoga so badly wanted yuma to get away because he cares, he cares about everyone. ryoga is not heartless, he cares, he loves and forgives. and to me that is so fucking amazing. to have survived the hell you went through, and hold his head up high, even til his last moments, admit his faults, and feelings, ryoga is a peak character. he didn’t despise yuma, he never did, but nasch wanted yuma gone because yuma was a tether to the human world, to his life that yuma helped him rebuild and that he chose to rebuild only to crush it again to save the barian world. ryoga/nasch is self-less, absolutely self-less. he became a bad guy to everyone so he can go back to his comrades, i can’t imagine how heavy ryoga felt, how awful it was to process everything and to throw it all away, yet still have that shining sun face towards him, call him a friend, who wept for him after he was gone.
ryoga kamishiro. is. peak. no questions asked your honor.
Section 2: Yuma Tsukumo is an underrated and underappreciated main character.
yuma as a character started by not being that smart... lets just say that, he had been dueling for quite a while, but, he really is just a moron at the start of the anime, which is honestly already such a breath of fresh air, considering yusei (no hate to him), was almost unbeatable, yuma out of every mc probably has the worst win:lose. but despite his... unbrightness... even if he argued with astral at times, he slowly learned to cooperate, to stay TruE to himself. no matter what the challenges are, he went through so much, and all those experiences, made him grow into a person that have touched lives, changed it (Ryoga), saved them from a fate worse than death (Ryoga, Tron, III, IV, V, and Kaito and so many more.).
i love characters that you can see develop, i want a character like yuma more, his progression, his beliefs, from zero to hero, but that climb was even harder than walking on burning charcoal barefoot. the poor guy has had a lot of shit thrown onto him yet he came back with a lesson learned, yes he makes mistakes, but who doesn’t, it cements the fact that yuma is just at his core a human. i can never ask for a more human character like yuma. yes, he is naive, a little much so, but he is that one person everyone needs in their life, even if they don’t know it, like how he was to ryoga.
yuma has a big heart, while it could be his fault at times, it makes him great, people need to understand that a little love and understanding can help someone a lot. (ryoga) i love, love, love characters that show unending support but also have someone by their side that can pull them out should they not be that “sunshine and rainbows” person on that very rainy day. (ryoga to yuma) and let’s not forget, yuma yes started off the series being really awful at dueling, at least he wasn’t relying on other types of cards to carry him. (COUGH ACTION MAGIC CARDS). yuma’s deck actually went from a mess to its a mess but theres some structure there.
and speaking of action magic cards. i mean no disrespect to those that like yuya, but, yuma is just leagues better than yuya ever will be. during the whole series of arc v i felt nothing but annoyance towards yuya, he doesn’t want to face the reality of the war, hides behind his entertainment dueling, but ends up whining to yuto to give him a dragon when he’s about to lose??? yuma has literally lost astral, ran all over the place just to save him and cried, not once, did i ever see yuya that vulnerable. yuma faced so much, his (boy)friend being the leader of the barian emperors, yuma cries quite a lot, but, its amazing, not only because it makes him look human, but because he rarely bottled up everything and he is able to express emotions. in my opinion, yuya just throws a tantrum when he’s losing, “wahh yuto i’m about to lose :’(((” he tries so hard to keep the eNtErTaInMeNt DuElInG, but fails a lot because he himself is in denial, it’s insane to me. yuma deserves so much credit that i think everyone is not giving him.
yuma learned and grew. and that is what i want to see from a protagonist. genuine characterization, emotions (because men need to show it, stop toxic masculinity!!!), and genuine care. i cannot stress enough how much i love yuma tsukumo. he is a positivity that isn’t toxic a lot of the time, he sticks by his kattobingu spirit!
why did i just glaze both of them? because to me this ship is two things:
1.) built on mutual respect.
2.) the characters as individuals makes the ship work, i think of them as individuals, if this ship didn’t make sense as a dynamic, sharkbaitshipping, imo, is more on comfort and growing together.
3.) i just wanted to yap about how amazing they are as individual characters.
since i basically explained their dynamic, i want to talk about how this is probably one of my favorite ship that can just... be so comforting especially towards each other. while ryoga might be a little uncomfortable with his emotions at times, i see them relying on each other a lot, and in a healthy way of course, they balance each other out perfectly, ryoga keeps yuma from going too far and keeping him in line, ryoga is yuma’s anchor and yuma is ryoga’s emotional anchor. they’re both the type of person that just work together well. this ship has seriously been a comfort ship for so long for me, because i just know these two trusts each other so much that despite yuma being a little stupid at times, they can protect and love each other, constantly improve, when a fight between them happens? well yuma won’t stay silent about it, he will tell ryoga what he did and what sparked everything, and he wants ryoga to do the same.
like yuma literally has rio’s blessing atp, when you fight rio and win with yuma in duel links, she literally goes:
like??? i hopped on to duel links to beat her lile 6 times because she apparently doesn’r have a voiceline hen losing to Zexal II. but, yw rio, but your brother zesty as shit tho 😭 the way she looks so happy too, like come on konami, just a hug, a sprite of ryoga and yuma hugging and i’ll actually spend on duel links. if i remember correctly it was ryoga's event? (or it might be rio’s) that rio was looking for ryoga and she immediately went to yuma first lmfao like, “yuma, did you see ryoga?” and yuma was like “no? why would i know where he is.” which is fair but 💀 i sometimes wonder what astral thinks of their relationship, like “they’re very good friends 👍” meanwhile ryoga is pining harder than a tree for yuma, maybe astral can see since you know, astral is not incompetent fool unlike yuma lmfao. he's like, “damn, my other self is stupid and gay, but so is the former leader of the barian emperors tho.” like can i also just point out how ryoga on their last battle in zexal II is just wow... thats a little too gay.
AGAIN WITH THAT STARE. GAH.
god this man is so gay. again he is SMILING AFTER LOSING TO YUMA. AGAIN. AGAIN.
man just. i dunno atp kiss him or something??
he’s so peak and gay. yes gng you WILL marry yuma goddamn.
“best friends” sure gng, sure, whatever helps you sleep at night 😭
bonus because i thought it was funny but it ended up looking aight