☕️ Miwa 🤗💛
*Breathes in*
b O I
Where do I begin
Let's get the obvious out of the way. I think he's an underrated sweetheart who's clearly best boi.
He's always watching. Always watching his friends get stronger together. Always making sure his friends are okay, and always seeing if there's anyone who needs help or some company. He's also Kai's translator. Kai is a kind and caring person, who hides them all behind a stoic and fierce front. Miwa knows it, and he loves (be it romantically or not) and supports him. Miwa is the bestest friend anyone can ever hope to have. He'll go above and beyond for you. He'd sacrifice himself for you. He will do all that he can to prevent a friend from going into the bad side, and if he failed, he'd join them to make them feel less alone. He's kind, loyal, cheerful, funny, energetic, selfless, helpful, caring, understanding, super protective (especially over Kai), and he deserves to have a friend like himself. I have no idea how he doesn't have anyone to date him yet. Like, sure, he simps over pretty girls, but everyone has flaws. He's not completely flawless, and that's fine. Heck, so what if he simps over pretty girls and tries to hit on them? He tried to hit on Asaka in the reboot, but the second he realised she was from Team Asteroids, the team Miwa is trying to protect Kai from, his attitude towards her did a whole 180. So it's not like he blindly goes for anyone who's pretty. He is a strong player, and just because he doesn't enter tournaments doesn't mean you should underestimate him. He can and will destroy you with a cheeky and proud grin.
He is seriously an amazing and extremely loveable character with so much potential, but he doesn't get the amount of attention he deserves. I love him the way he is, and I never want him to change. I don't expect him to be joining tournaments, or be some kind of world renowned player. I love how he's just that one amazing character who simply enjoys watching his friends get stronger and be happy for them from the sidelines. I just wish there was more screen time of him, you know? I love him so much, he deserves the whole universe and more. He's a sweetheart who loves his friends so much, but we know so little about him. The series don't tell us anything about him. Like, y'all who only watched the anime, do you guys know that Miwa canonically has an older sister? Yeah, I was surprised when I found that out too. It was never mentioned at all, only in the manga. We never even get to see her. We don't know Miwa's home situation, we know close to nothing besides his wonderful personality. I mean, yeah, we get to use our imagination to come up with tons of headcanons for him, but I still wish I could know some more canon things about him, you know? I'm glad the reboot is giving him more screen time. It's exactly what he deserves.
And Kagerou will always be Miwa's deck for me. The idea of Miwa using the same deck as Kai melts my heart. Miwa and Kai has such a deep bond, and both of them used the same deck. Miwa used Kagerou to try and save Kai from the Reverse, and it was such a beautiful and memorable moment. He used Kai's old clan to remind the latter why he played and loved Vanguard in the first place. Kai even said Miwa mastered Kagerou. That whole battle of Miwa Vs Reverse!Kai was one of the best and most heartfelt fights, in my opinion.
And I really can't stress enough how much of a good and loyal friend Miwa is. Reboot Miwa carried Kai miles upon miles from Card Capital to the Tatsunagi Corp, and when he knew Kai was going to do something dangerous, he would follow him (and kick down doors for him). He tried to protect Kai from Team Asteroid by battling Asaka with the VF gloves. When he met Kai after years of not meeting him, he felt guilty. All because he could see that Kai was suffering, but he didn't know why and he couldn't help. And from then on, he swore to never, ever leave Kai's side.
In Vanguard Koshien, he was ready to fight Morikawa so that Kai could have a battle against Aichi.
In Vanguard Gaiden IF, he stated that all he wanted was to protect Kai's smile. The original Miwa and the distorted Miwa were the exact same, they just wanted to protect Kai. That's why he joined SK4, and that's also why he betrayed SK4. Unlike the rest of the 4 knights, his priority was never Aichi. It has been, and always will be, Kai Toshiki. He even rushed right in front of Kai so that Ibuki would Delete him instead of Kai.
Similarly, in the OG series, this guy would go to the underground, a place full of people he's terrified of, in an attempt to protect Kai. Even after he was Reversed by Kai, his loyalty and love towards him never once faltered. Instead, he became even more loyal, supportive and protective of Kai. The only thing in his mind was to keep Kai company, help Kai reach his goal, and that whatever Kai wants, Kai gets. He'll get rid of anyone and anything in his way. The moment he realised he was going to be UnReversed, the very first thought he had was how Kai was going to be all alone again. He's literally so selfless, it's almost worrying sometimes.
In Legion Mate, besides his genuine care for Aichi, of course, he wanted to get Aichi back because he knows how big of an impact that blueberry had on Kai. He appreciates Aichi for being able to change Kai, and how he encouraged Kai to become more open. To smile more, to rely on people more, and to genuinely love Vanguard again. He probably sees it as something he wasn't able to help Kai achieve, so he wants Aichi back because he didn't want Kai to revert back into his old self.
I know I've been talking about Kai and Miwa's relationship a whole lot, (and honestly, I can still go on forever about these two, like how Miwa is still scared that Kai would suddenly leave him again one day, like he did in the past), but make no mistake. Kai isn't the only person Miwa cares for. Sure, he's Miwa's closest friend, but Miwa has other friends and he loves and cares for all of them too. He's always cheering Aichi up whenever the latter was down, he would ask to tend the shop for Misaki so that she could have a cardfight with her friends (because he could tell she wanted to, she just couldn't. He knows, because he's always watching over his friends), he worked part-time in the shop for them while they went on the Asia Circuit, and in Vanguard Zero, he planned a whole hot spring training camp for them, and even chaperoned it in Shin's place. When Jun felt out of place in Card Capital, Miwa told him that he fit in just fine. Jun, someone who held him hostage to lure Kai to the underground. He was nice to Jun and tried to make him feel comfortable. In Vanguard G, when Kamui was feeling down because Emi was so dense towards his feelings, Miwa offered to buy Kamui dinner. In Vanguard Gaiden IF, when everyone was worried about whether or not they could defeat Ibuki, he acted as their ray of sunshine, and told them that they'll definitely work something out together. He loves and cares for all of his friends. He's a whole sweetheart and a half, and I just love love love him so much.
EDIT: this post is important
Thank you so so so much for this ask!!! I love talking about Miwa!!!
