Unpopular Opinion: Eisuke Ichinomiya is the PERFECT balance of sweet boi and straight asshole~
Ok… I ended up writing too much lol.
I wholeheartedly agree there is no other character in the voltage realm that has beat his character development. In fact, his personality changes dramatically. He is only a buttface^2, because in a cutthroat business world and addition to being made fun of for only inheriting his father’s name and business, you need to seem “cold”. You can see his demeanor change with MC.
Legit that boi loves her and endears her so much, the other bidders are surprised. I think what throws people off is mainly his S1 where the bidders (not just Eisuke) treat her as “property”. As, who wouldnt be suspicious of her running/tattling about the auction (if you place yourself in their shoes). They need to have a certain “vibe”, to scare people. But, everyone really warms up to her. Soryu, a woman hater, even treats her fair (not to consider he likes her in Eisuke’s route according to substories). Baba isnalways a nice person, and I believe he really becomes her friend. Mamoru, though indifferent, respects her greatly (considering she tamed a beast). SHUICHI AND HIKARU (both in sub stories have like her, in fact there is a cheat AU with Hikaru) both really respect her. Luke, loves her collarbones. But the person who truly truly loves her, is Eisuke. He changes his entire system of BELIEF for her. In S4 he talks about how he would sacrifice it all, even becoming angry she would leave him just to save him. His monologue basically said would die for her.
He hardly smiles, as stated by Baba and Soryu (long life friends), but you can see in many routes when they’re alone he is always smiling.
There is a substory where her ex comes down, and everyone thinks he is being jealous, because her EX gets disqualified from the coffee round. But in the end, it turns out her ex burnt the coffee. His previous stories showed him as an incredibly jealous and crazy guy, and tho he WAS jealous, he was also really mature in comparision to his first few sub stories.
Each of his route touches a different growth in his life, which is hardly done in any story. I have a lot of favorites, but as you progress in their stories, there isnt a lot of growth. What it mainly is, is the MC and LI fighting or facing a weird problem and they overcome it together. Which, nothing is wrong with that. But Eisuke'srl route, both Eisuke and MC challenge each other’s belief. In the proposal, she legit believes that to get married, you need to realize what family stands for. Eisuke, believes marriage is just paper and financial liability, like taxes. If you’re together, you’re together (which tbh was my mind set for a long time). However, at the end, Eisuke realizes that family doeant mean “blood”, he realizes it means the people you will hold on to and cherish for the rest of your life. And MC in that route comes to realize that mot everyone has the same mentality of what family is, considering Eisuke was adopted.. she grows to appreciate him, and doesn’t care, whereas Eisuke learns to love her and accept the new definition of family - integrating both opinions into a large compromise.
They face crazy tribulations, but it’s a growth that is very rarely seen in Voltage stories. Most are rushed, or the stories get weak. (Not saying that Eisuke is the ONLY one, because there are others) however, Eisuke’s story really grows and shows huge character development.
That’s MY bias, but I’m willing to stand for my opinion. A lot of people hate him, only on his S1, but S1 has to be tough to read so you can get a feel for his character - it’s like watching only 1 episode of a show. You need multiple episodes to really judge what it’s like. Which is why there are characters I dislike, but I won’t judge because I haven’t really read everything. (Except Ota, I just REALLY like to dog kn him because it’s funny lol, but I also make fun of Eisuke a lot.)
We should give all characters a chance, and if it’s not our thing it’s okay! It’s okay to share our opinions, but at the same time we should also consider why people like the character too.
In fact, I think the Eisuke fanbase makes fun of him the most! Having fun and poking fun is great, but legitly getting angry for people at liking a character seems silly.
EISUKE DESERVES LOVE, AND THOUGH WE FANS HATE ON HIM FOR FUNSIES, HE IS LEGIT BEST BOI. I WROTE TOO KUCH BUT ITS because EISUKE DESERVES ♡♡♡♡
