I’m about to say something that might make a lot of people mad, but I’m too pissed to care right now.
I’ve found myself falling into the Jenny Han productions fandom, and especially XO, Kitty. Let me say I’ve seen bad shipping wars, but this doesn’t feel like a shipping war this feels like a shipping ambush. On every single catglass post I see way too many people talking about how mooncovey is end game. Posts that are people just trying to have fun with shipping their characters and there’s someone with a full paragraph on why the creator is wrong to ship catglass. On. Every. Single. Post.
I’m fully for people shipping what they want! I’m very much a multi shipper, and I don’t have a problem with mooncovey as a ship. I have a problem with how there’s an overwhelming number of people telling catglass shippers that they’re wrong for shipping Kitty and Yuri. To the point that it feels less like it’s about shipping content and more that people are uncomfortable with the idea that the main character of a teen romantic dramity having a queer endgame. Especially a sapphic endgame.
So let’s get some facts straight before I blow a gasket:
The “are you okay” scene. I’ve seen far too many people use the scene of Min Ho and Kitty on the track as “proof” that they’re endgame—to the point that I totally thought the scene would be more impactful than it was. 1) Yuri and Kitty already had that scene. It was their introduction to each other in a way that made the connection palpable. 2) Laura Jean and John Ambrose also had an “are you okay” scene and there was never dispute about them being endgame (granted I understand the context was different). But Min Ho and Kitty’s scene was second. It was also not romantic. Min Ho was being unobservant about the distraction plan that was happening right in front of him. It was about five seconds before Stella was next to him. And then the characters immediately move on because Q makes it to the race. The scene doesn’t linger or feel like it means anything.
“But he’s like Peter.” So? Kitty isn’t like Laura Jean. Of course after all the absolute chaos of getting herself into five different love triangles she would want to go towards someone who feels safe. He reminds her of Peter, yes, and that makes him feel like a safe bet for a relationship. You know what this sounds like? Laura Jean with John Ambrose.
There’s literally a formula guys. Even if the context is different. Because none of the main characters are the same and neither are their situations, but the plot progression is. And I think this can best be explained in something Min Ho talked about: a reason, a season, and a lifetime. “A reason” the love interest that we are introduced to. This is the character that brings the audience into the world and the main character’s emotional state. It doesn’t matter whether or not we root for them to work out because they aren’t meant to. For Laura Jean that was Josh, and for Kitty that was Dae. “A lifetime” this is then when the main love interest gets introduced. They aren’t endgame yet, but they are put into the main character’s world and give the audience time to root for them. Laura Jean it’s Peter and for Belly it’s Conrad. “A season” this love interest is the mid point. At this point the main character and the main love interest have had some fights or conflict that threatens to remove them from each other’s lives. This character comes in as a soft spot that then turns out not to be what the main character actually wants. For Laura Jean that’s John Ambrose and for Belly that’s Jeremiah. “A lifetime” again. This is the endgame. This is when the main character and the main love interest fall back into each other in a way that’s more evolved. We root for them again after all of the mess. The only difference in these shows is the slight genre tonal change. Laura Jean is in a coming of age story. Kitty is in a k-drama. Belly in a western drama. So tell me? Which spots do Yuri and Min Ho fit?
Season colors. It’s no secret that there’s a color theory that’s going on in these productions, and especially in XO, Kitty. Every wrap ends with a colored pair of pajama pants. The first season was blue, the second was purple, and the third pink. These are funnily enough the bisexual flag, but they’re also more importantly related to a character color. In the show texts are shown on screen with the character name, face, and a color. Dae is blue, which makes sense for the first season because he’s the main love interest. Min Ho is purple, and I would argue that the season is very much focused on his relationship with Kitty. The pink, which has always been associated with Yuri…
The poster. The original poster for the show has all of the characters of the main group. Dae, Q, Kitty, and Min Ho are all in blue tones and they’re all looking at each other. Then there’s Yuri. Who is in pink and staring directly at the camera.
It would just be bad writing. Having your endgame get together at the end of season 2 for their relationship to start off of screen makes so little sense. But even without that in mind Min Ho and Kitty don’t have a consistent through line that would make them being endgame satisfying. In season 1 Min Ho is the literal worst to Kitty until he suddenly realizes she’s a person and then two seconds later he wants to jump her bones while she’s actively in a relationship with Dae who is his best friend. Then he tells Kitty that he’s in love with her after she tells him that she literally just broke up with Dae. Then they have some weird maybe tension, but move on to be friends. Kitty deals with other drama and continues to search out his comfort as friends until everything falls apart and she ends up realizing she likes him. After they have a talk about rebounds… Meanwhile Yuri and Kitty have storylines that are intertwined with each other. Kitty has pretty consistently liked Yuri through both seasons. There’s a through line that makes an endgame satisfying. Even when there was conflict between them they still held soft spots for each other.
One of the things I see a lot of in comments is people treating Min Ho like a saint and Yuri like the personification of evil. It’s such a wild thing to see because, firstly, none of the characters are perfect. They’re 17 and messy as hell. That’s what makes the show interesting. It’s pare for the genre, and if you came in thinking everyone would be squeaky clean morally then you came to the wrong place. All of the characters have flaws and make not the best decisions. They’re teenagers. Secondly, Min Ho is the last person that should be considered a clean character. In season 1 he’s a terror. He’s so mean to Kitty for literally no reason, and starts shit for very little explanation. He’s so mean about her relationship with Dae, who again is his best friend. He starts the “Portland Stocker” name. He constantly pesters her to get out of his and his friends’ lives. And that is just brushed over like nothing.
Meanwhile, yes, Yuri was mean. But she had a reason. She was wearing a persona for her protection. We see her vulnerability when she’s with people she trusts. She’s just scared. She’s nice to Kitty when they’re strangers versus Min Ho who pretends he can’t speak English. Yuri is only mean when she realizes that Kitty threatens the beard she has with Dae. But even when she is supposed to hate Kitty there are still slips in her vulnerability, like her talking about her mom on the hike.
People say that Yuri abandoned Kitty after their kiss so much as an excuse as to why catglass is the worst thing ever. Though it’s not a great thing that Yuri did, there were certainly personal reasons to why she was freaking out as well. Min Ho tells Kitty not to ruin the ski trip even though he sees how much this is affecting her. The person who actually is there for Kitty is Q.
Just say you don’t understand longing or tension or restraint. Because as someone who has seen a lot of relationships in media with zero chemistry, catglass is not one of them. They have the tension that is held in what they don’t do more than what they do in a moment where they can’t fall together. There’s so much between them so it doesn’t make sense for them to just throw caution to the wind and crash into each other. There’s fact that they’ve even kissed means so much.
As someone who has been in the trenches of queer media and especially wlw media since high school, I can say that this ship is wild. This is a ship with overtones and not undertones. There is blatant representation with the characters. Yuri is treated as an equal love interest in the show. THEY KISS! Especially with all the Wenclair stuff that’s coming out. I have seen queer bating so much in tv shows. Characters who are in all respects queer except that it’s never said out loud. The fact that Yuri is canonically a lesbian and Kitty is canonically bi, is absolutely amazing. I have so many times in my life held my breath waiting to see if a ship will ever be more than just a theory. The fact that this debate is about the endgame and not about if there’s anything between them that’s queer, is amazing. It’s sad that more queer people don’t feel comfortable getting behind the ship in a way that’s as excited as they should be. And I think that has to do with how catglass shippers are treated. It’s so hard to see how defeated people are that they may never see a big endgame ship that’s queer and especially wlw. It makes me so sad and mad at how they’ve just given up.
This was never about just Min Ho versus Yuri. This is about how people don’t take wlw ships seriously. People who go on catglass posts talking about how mooncovey is better are punching down, and attacking people that are just trying to enjoy something we barely get. You have so many straight endgame ships, why is this one so important? You guys should be ashamed of yourself
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