reki kyan is daniel howell and langa hasegawa is phil lester
(someone pls ask me to elaborate i’ve been thinking about this for weeks)
four people have asked so you shall receive <3
Reki Kyan as Daniel Howell
The first similarity I noticed was how within their respective pairings, both Reki and Dan are the louder of the two. Reki is known for his loud, excitable nature which is what makes his depressive episode from ep7 to 9 hit much harder as he shuts off completely from everyone around him. Dan is known for all his yelling in their dapg videos, to the point that Phil has a slight ringing in his ear only on Dan’s side iirc !! (unless that was just a joke now I think about it, but regardless my point still stands)
The second similarity is how they’re both the objectively more popular one of their pairings, with Reki being the main character of sk8 and Dan having 2.65 million more subscribers than Phil as of today.
A third similarity is how they’re both recognised for their depression. As I mentioned above, Reki has a depressive episode throughout the middle of season 1, and it’s assumed that this isn’t the first time due to Koyomi’s comments in episode 8. Dan has been very open about his mental health for years, making videos such as ‘Daniel and Depression’ and ‘Basically I’m Gay’, discussing his own experiences in much length, leading to the creation of his book ‘You Will Get Through This Night’, as well as it being a major topic within his solo tour ‘We’re All Doomed!’.
Following this same idea, another similarity has been that so many people feel seen and represented by Dan and Reki, relating to their experiences and encouraging them to face their own problems themselves.
(My last similarity is a more fanon idea for Reki’s part, so you can ignore this one if you disagree)
A final similarity is how Dan grew up in a very homophobic environment, as he spoke about in BIG, causing him to struggle with accepting his own sexuality and identity throughout most of his life. If Reki were to be canonically queer, it is likely that he too would’ve grown up in a homophobic environment, as he grew up in Japan where it is still illegal for same sex couples to marry and therefore isn’t very accepted, especially within more traditional families.
Langa Hasegawa as Phil Lester
Following on from my first Reki & Dan point, Langa and Phil are both the quieter ones of their pairings, but often completely enamoured by the energy of their partners. Langa doesn’t speak as much as Reki does, but he can be incredibly sarcastic and funny, just as Phil is.
Secondly, they’re both older than their partners. Langa is 6 months older than Reki, and Phil is 4 and a half years older than Dan.
The third similarity is that they are both often speculated to be neurodivergent by their fandoms. Many people suggest Langa is neurodivergent because of lack of social skills and the way he hyper focuses on something he loves, like he did with snowboarding and skateboarding. People also suggest Phil is neurodivergent because of his obsession with Buffy, as well as many of his habits and things he has mentioned on youtube, such as feeling like he even struggled to fit in with other gay people.
Also in one of the patreon bonus yaps, Dan says after Phil’s (second) buffy quiz that it was a “neurodivergence”, but that is to be taken with a grain of salt as it’s a joke.
(once again, this take is also based partly on fanon so you don’t need to take it too seriously)
Phil’s upbringing was much more positive about gay people, and he always has been more open to being open about his sexuality. However, as it would’ve been the early 2000s, it still wouldn’t have been as accepted as it was now, but considering the circumstances he wasn’t in as bad of a place as Dan. Similarly, Langa is canonically gay and as he was raised in Canada, the attitude surrounding queer people would’ve been much more accepting and positive, meaning it would have been so much easier for him to accept and come to terms with it.
Bonus! Langa and Dan
Langa and Dan both met their partners in a time of their lives where they needed a true, trusting relationship.
Dan met Phil during an uncertain, depressing time of his life, but as he said in BIG, “[Phil] was someone who genuinely liked [him]. [He] trusted them, and for the first time since [he] was a tiny child, [he] actually felt safe.”
Langa met Reki after losing his father and moving away from his home country he had known for the first 17 years of his life. We know that Langa didn’t have many friends in Canada, but was incredibly close with his father, so meeting Reki after losing the person who meant the most in his life was a life saver for him. Nanako says that Langa was just a shell of himself, but we see that Reki helps him out of that state, even after their argument.
Bonus! (2) Reki and Phil
This one is much more lighthearted but Reki and Phil are both known for wearing much more colour than their counterparts.
Reki has his entire rainbow of gear hoodies and Phil’s wardrobe has barely any dark colours !!
thank you for reading !!! i felt a little silly comparing renga’s fictional lives to dnp’s real ones but i hope you’re seeing the vision anyways !!
i love these gay people so much <33
