what do you think michis friendships/ relationships/ opinions are about the other captives??,
this one got me to think, i'm not gonna lie.
i of course need to start with takaaki and hiroko. due to me being hyperfixated on those three as separate characters, i have now turned them into their own little trio.
takaaki: i actually don't follow the popular fanon of takaaki having dealt with the crazy diamonds in the past. i think they live too far apart for that to have happened. he's certainly heard of them in the news, and he's only interacted with mondo because of the whole "him and his son being best friends" thing. this is all to say that takaaki and takemichi first meet during the demon hunting game. so, while there would normally be resentment towards each other in any other situation (because of the whole cop and delinquent thing), in this situation, they automatically see each other as allies. they also have that added bonus of takaaki's son and takemichi's friend and boss being so close to each other. i think it takes a WHILE for any sort of parent-child dynamic to develop between the two of them, seeing that takaaki is still mainly focused on kiyotaka (i'll explain takemichi's reasons later). but what they have is still nice. it's almost like the dynamic two coworkers from different generations but are still friends would have. they are both extremely guarded individuals, but takaaki is takemichi's favorite out of the older captives. mainly because of his no-bullshit monotone attitude that gives away to something more lighthearted the closer you get to him. they both like how uncomplicated they perceive the other to be (that's not the least bit how they actually are, but let them live in ignorance for a bit). they're also kinda haters and will gossip and vent about the other captives (slash general goings on) in private. that's mainly where they're at while in towa, but things develop A TON once they find out mondo and taka are dead. a lot that i'm still trying to put to words, so we'll just leave it there.
hiroko: i think his dynamic with hiroko has the potential to be really fascinating, seeing that hiroko takes an automatic liking to him when given his captive card ("ruru"....). something about seeing a lot of her younger self in him, due to the whole bosozoku connection. and i know the "i would've gone and saved him myself line" has other implications, i'm instead going to interpret it as her feeling protective of him because of that connection. she knows what it's like to grow up in that environment, what life must look like for a kid to turn to something like a bosozoku gang, so she has this need to be the good adult in his life. BUT. takemichi expresses some pushback to this. i think takemichi is very distrustful towards adults. it's not as extreme as the woh, but he's also been mistreated by adults to the point that he's become very wary of them (i feel like it's a good trait to give him that would tie him into the themes of udg, especially since, like komaru, he's also in between "child" and "adult".) he eventually realizes that there's no ulterior motives to hiroko wanting to get closer to him, but he still sees it as her trying to "baby" him in a way. that's where his other big character trait comes into play. i also see him as having a very mondo-esque need of not wanting to be seen as weak. again, not to the toxic masculinity levels that mondo gets to. being the head of the elite guard and mondo's body guard, takemichi feels his biggest strength is his ability to protect himself and others. it's a whole thing that ties into my backstory for him, but if he's ever in a situation where someone has to take care of him, he sees it as going back to "ground zero." to being a scared little kid that can't fend for himself. he hates that feeling. and hiroko coming in and trying to mother him all of sudden makes him feel that way. takemichi has to realize that needing help and being taken care of is not weakness, while hiroko has to realize that takemichi isn't like yasuhiro and won't automatically be receptive to her actions and sentiments. do they get there? i hope so.
(it's funny that i made takemichi's dynamic with takaaki the fun and simple one and his dynamic with hiroko the more nuanced and complicated one. i feel like people tend to go the other way around, at least from what little i've seen)
and then everyone else. these are nowhere near as in depth as the first two, but here we go:
komaru: komaru still forgets the name of the crazy diamonds, but also thinks takemichi is really cool. think about how she fantasizes about how hiroko was in her gang, yeah it's like that. while takemichi appreciates the ego boost it gives him, he also uses it as an opportunity to share stories about his gang under the guise of education. overall, they're on friendly terms with each other.
yuta: i hear these two are shipped together sometimes. i don't personally see it (i'm also just a big aroace michi truther), but good on you who do. i see them more as being amicable but not as close as the other friendships they may have. being two of the only teenage boys there, yuta wants to get closer, but takemichi may see him as a little too hyperactive and naive to take completely seriously. he'll get there, don't worry. it's not like he dislikes him; yuta's a good guy.
taichi: doesn't have many issues with him, but he does find the skittish act kind of grating ("you're a grown man"). while he doesn't understand a lick of programming and other computer skills, he knows taichi's smart as fuck for doing what he does, so he respects him for that. appearance-wise, takemichi's height and features kind reminds taichi of chihiro, so there's a fondness because of that that gets broken the second takemichi opens his mouth.
kanon: i cannot stress this enough: they DON'T LIKE EACH OTHER. kanon thinks takemichi holds himself with way too much self-importance than he deserves. like she sees him as arrogant because he doesn't take shit. kanon reminds takemichi of the kinds of girls that would pick on him in school, but her obsession with leon (while weird in and of itself) also reminds him of the girls in his "fan club." just bad vibes all around between those two.
ayaka: the girl he's closest with. i think, with the pressure of their social expectations gone, they let themselves goof off and just be teenagers around each other. they're like the kind of friends that stay up late and just mess around in the kitchen at midnight while laughing at everything because of the sleep-deprivation. they're just funnnnnnn. also i feel like something can be done with the whole "least popular member of her girl group because of her looks" and "guy who's so popular in his gang because of his looks that he has a whole fan club dedicated to him" of it all.
aloysius: thinks he's weird with all of his upper-class, hoity-toity-ness. he sometimes does funny impressions of him with ayaka. might also have preconceived notions because he remembers how much mondo would complain about what an ass byakuya was, so the amount of respect aloysius has for him is annoying. aloysius thinks he's a miscreant and unrefined, so they avoid each other.
fujiko: this might be me looking too deep into it, i feel in my bones the kind of dynamic the writers were setting up between fujiko and takemichi, and i don't like that direction. i think they're chill with each other. not best friends, but they do have fun conversations from time to time. takemichi may or may not become a subject that fujiko secretly doodles sometimes.("you look easy to draw." "the fuck does that mean?"). i do think they have fun comedic potential with how connected fujiko is to pop/internet culture and how disconnect i think takemichi is to it (all of those diamonds are OFFLINE).
kenshiro: he holds a lot of respect for kenshiro and they talk to each other very often. he kind of sees kenshiro as who daiya would've been if he never made the gang, or who he might've turned into if he was given the time to grow and mature some more. michi tells him that he'll help him get his strength back when they make it out of towa and find a cure for kenshiro's condition. he also made kenshiro promise him to spar one day and to "not go easy on him when they do."
fuhito: they barely talk to each other. takemichi forgets his name all the time and just refers to him as "grandpa" a lot. he can't deny his notoriety and talent though. takaaki talked to him about the reputation fuhito and the rest of the kirigiri family have for their detective skills. so he knows he has to stick around in case those skills come in handy.
and i think i'll leave it there. LO QUIERO EL MICHI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
