Digimon shipping dynamic game
@valtren: “Can I request Joe and Mimi? :)”
Oh, that’s a good one, thanks for the request, I’ll dive right into it!
Send me two names among the following 12 and I’ll write a short analysis post about them:
Taichi Yagami | Yamato Ishida | Sora Takenouchi | Koushirou Izumi | Mimi Tachikawa | Jyou Kidou | Takeru Takaishi | Hikari Yagami | Daisuke Motomiya | Miyako Inoue | Iori Hida | Ken Ichijouji
Disclaimer: I won’t claim this to be a conclusive/definitive analysis of all of the ship’s aspects. Ship dynamics vary depending on which parts of the series/timeline or media types you are looking at. So this is going to be my personal take on it and just a personal interpretation of how I perceive them.
Whether canon provides input on them or not:
You absolutely bet it does, which is one of the main reasons why it baffles me they’re not more popular to begin with. One might argue that it’s because of their age difference, but we shall get to that later, let’s start at the beginning, shall we: It’s more subtle at the beginning of Adventure, but Jyou’s and Mimi’s path are crossing one another quite frequently due to various reasons. First of all, they are implied to have known each other before entering the Digital World, as Jyou calls Mimi out for carrying the food rations he was supposed to give her and the novel even makes a point about them having been assigned to the same group together, thus making him basically her superior. We do have a power dynamic at play here and for a good chunk of the anime, they’re mainly set up to be comic relief towards/with each other (sometimes with Sora or other characters added to the mix), nothing really goes too deep so far - until we get to the Dark Masters’ arc. Both of them have been confronted with their priority systems throughout the Vamdemon arc - and this set up theme will stick with them for the rest of the series, intertwining at several points.
Jyou has been struggling with his sense of responsibility (just like Sora); he’s unsure whether or not he can be the leader he expects himself to be for the others or whether he wants to become a doctor just like his father expects of him, thus questioning his purpose. Mimi on the other hand goes through an arc of self discovery that begins with her refusing to fight and see more loved ones die - and Jyou decides to stay behind with her, joining her on that journey that makes both of them come to the conclusion that there are things they may not like or may not be good at, but that they have to find a solution for themselves. For Jyou, that’s committing to his own path, choosing it for himself, accepting that leadership and fighting may not be his primary way to support - for Mimi, it’s finding a middle ground, because sacrifices may be necessary sometimes, but that doesn’t mean that she can’t figure out her own way to support.
It’s a subtle, but amazing set-up, that displays them getting closer to and more familiar with one another, understanding and supporting each other’s choices and ways of being, figuring out their “purposes” outside of being “main fighters” - with tiny hints of growing affection in between as well. That is why their scenes in the second Tri movie actually work, even if they admit that they have already been there before - they are able to open up to each other, because they’ve BEEN through so much (together) already.
Mimi admires Jyou for prioritizing what he does (= staying away from the group to be a responsible adult) and Jyou admires Mimi for being straightforward with what she wants (= being enthusiastic and trying to convinve others that what she’s considering to be “good” is a good choice for them as well). Even if neither of them are happy with themselves at that point in time, struggling with their own ideas of “selfishness”. But they actually do take each other for what they are. Surely Mimi had her own moments of doubting Jyou’s capabilities here and there at the VERY beginning, but that shifted completely by the end of 01; neither of them has to change for the sake of the other or play a role - and they are aware of that, hence why I chose the screenshot above. Their arcs, while more in the back, are intertwined to some degree and their resolutions are, in my humble opinion, also the reason why they’re among those that do NOT struggle with their career choices in the end and are not threatened by the fate of losing their partners by the time of Kizuna.
Long story short - there is A LOT of setup for them. And I’ve only talked about their story related purposes so far...
Whether I think why and how they’d work:
In case my little love letter about their relationship hasn’t convinced you yet - I am very much convinced that they’re working out wonderfully as an established couple. While their dynamic, as fun and humourous as it is often portrayed to be, works very well on a platonic level in my book, there are several aspects that make me adore them even more on a romantic level.
As mentioned above, throughout 01 and 02, the sense of familiarity and openness between these two grows significantly - even if the age gap exists and even if Jyou tries very hard to maintain his senpai-ish attitude towards Mimi to stay composed, she’s not really fazed by that. On the contrary, Jyou is among the few characters she’s being most physical and affectionate with, only topped by Sora, Miyako and Meiko at best and those are all girls thus supporting my headcanon that Mimi is a raging bisexual with a preference for women, but Jyou is the non-plus-ultra main exception. Canon even supports that by constantly making her display her love language - “giving gifts” - towards Jyou, whether it’s nuts or candies or even very loving hugs... Jyou easily gets affected by that and blushes on several occasions, making it quite difficult to not sense mutual adoration and fondness for one another. Especially because he’s obviously very protective of her.
And since they’re both among the few characters who’re actually genuinely OPENING UP to one another about their fears and doubts in both 01 and Tri, their crests - of Sincerity and Reliability - are basically the proof for why I can see them being a wonderful romantic combination: They are there for and believe in each other, they enjoy being in each other’s company, they’re communicative and can even call one another out on what bothers them, they don’t shy away from physical touch - and they complement each other. Where Mimi can be brash, Jyou can act as the voice of reason that gets her back on earth - where Jyou gets doubtful and anxious, Mimi is a ray of positivity and forwardness. (They may butt heads because of their differences too, but as mentioned above, I consider them to be communicative enough to be able to deal with that and get over their differences. I don’t see the same level of readiness and patience in Mimi when it comes to other characters, except maybe Sora.)
They can both be incredibly judgemental together as well, thus calling out the rest of the group for being too adventurous/engaging in dangerous activities, thus making them quite a power couple - even if they’re literally more at the back than others. As adults, they’re more grounded in reality, their priorities and passions - and thus they can only make each other better through that, even if they may have to deal with some long distance shenanigans for a while. Their hobbies might actually also be quite different, but in the end, they could still come together for late night calls, with Jyou falling asleep while Mimi would soothe him after a long, stressful day at work.
Tl;dr: I love them and kinda wish Tri didn’t go so hard on ship teasing in different directions, trying very hard to keep these two apart in text, while the subtext basically told us that they’re amazing for each other.
Whether I’d prefer them as platonic or romantic ship:
I quite obviously prefer them romantically, but if canon were to go into different directions, I could still live with that as long as they maintained the bond that had so lovingly bloomed between them throughout all this time.
