I can't believe I've never posted my KageSnakes matches here! A while - and I truly do mean a while back - I matched the Mekakushi Dan to various snake species, so here they are! My exact thought processes and full snake names are below the cut (completely unaltered from when I first wrote it - so, so long ago).
Oh, Kido Tsubomi, why do you have to have such a specific colour palette? There are no purple snakes. So instead I had to use the Northern Black Racer (Coluber constrictor constrictor), which appears to be semi-purple from some angles.
Well, Seto Kousuke was a lot easier. There are many snakes that are some shade of greeen. However, getting such a dark, dirty green proved difficult, so I ended up using the Smooth Greensnake (Opheodrys vernalis), as it has a small yellow spot underneath the chin, somewhat echoing Seto's headband.
Technically, Kano Shuuya's colour is grey, but I thought the Speckled Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula holbrooki) suited him better.
This one should be pretty obvious from any point of view, but it makes even more sense if you know that Marry Kozakura is canonically albino*, so I had to give her an albino Corn Snake (Pantherophis guttatus).
Momo Kisaragi gets a Coral Red Kukri Snake (Oligodon kheriensis). It might not be obvious from this screenshot, but I promise most of her outfit is a bright orange. More importantly however, I chose a Kukri Snake as I wanted both Momo and Shintaro to have snakes that were from the same genus, as they are siblings.
Ene got a Banded Sea Krait (Laticauda colubrina) because she's a cyber-being, and so her snake needed to be very obviously different from the others.
Many snakes have some sort of red banding, and to find one that was wholly red was not difficult, but it also wasn't easy. I mostly chose the Tioman Kukri Snake (Oligodon booliati) as I wanted both Momo and Shintaro to have snakes that were in the same genus (both Kukri Snakes), as they are siblings.
In all honesty, I'm shocked at how well the Bluestriper Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis similis) fits. It's light blue, with a white stripe on the back, similar to Hibiya Amamiya's overshirt. In addition, it has a small patch of brown on its nose, similar to Hibiya's hair.
Konoha, being the strongest in the group, needed to have a constrictor of some sort. And, factoring in his colour palette, I could go with nothing else but an albino Ball Python (Python regius).
*2026 note: I don't actually know if this is true but I know I used to believe it
