I Wish They Ended Up Together Tournament - ROUND 1 MATCHUP 11
Blade & Dan Heng & Jing Yuan vs Canti & Kitsurubami
Blade & Dan Heng & Jing Yuan (Honkai: Star Rail)
Canti & Kitsurubami (Fooly Cooly)
Voting ended onJun 28
Pronouns: He/Him for Canti (left)
Propaganda:
Blade & Dan Heng & Jing Yuan
dan feng, yingxing, and jing yuan used to be part of the same legendary group. they fought together, had history together, and then the sedition ruined everything. now dan feng is dan heng, blade is what became of yingxing, and jing yuan is still there, remembering enough for everyone.
blade and dan heng have the direct unresolved history - dan feng and yingxing’s old closeness, the sedition, blade’s vengeance, dan heng’s refusal to be reduced to his previous incarnation, and their matching psychically-linked gauntlets sitting there as proof that their bond used to be built on trust rather than violence.
dan heng and jing yuan have the quieter present-day side. jing yuan respects dan heng’s right to be himself, admires his courage, and tries to ease the luofu’s hostility toward him instead of treating him only as dan feng’s continuation. that matters because dan heng has spent so much of his life running from a past everyone else keeps forcing onto him.
blade and jing yuan have the shared survivor angle. jing yuan remembers the old quintet, remembers yingxing, and understands more than most people what blade became after everything fell apart.
together, it’s a trio about old loyalty, present resentment, and the possibility of choosing something after the damage is already done.
Canti & Kitsurubami
Canti is one of the many robots mass produced by Medical Mechanica, a maniacal corporation that intends "to smooth out the wrinkles" on every planet, leaving a dull populace that is unable to think for themselves. Despite this, following a strike to the head, he possesses a considerable amount of independence, which he mostly uses to meander or reluctantly follow whatever orders are barked at him by Mabase's oblivious residents. He often lacks agency despite his sentience.
Lieutenant Kitsurubami is an agent of the Bureau of Interstellar Immigration, second-in-command to Commander Amarao. Regardless of her rank, she is stuck following her obsessive superior around as he endlessly tries to pursue and impress a woman who took advantage of him when he was young. This leaves her in a situation where she reluctantly fulfills his Madonna complex.
As a result of the whims of others, Canti and Kitsurubami are both thrust into a position where, to maintain their independence, they must sacrifice some of it. This is further complicated by the fact that Medical Mechanica and the BII are opposing factions attempting to exercise control over each other, leading to Kitsurubami attempting to assassinate Canti.
Once this fails spectacularly and Canti, unaware of who she was in the first place, makes the decision to spare her life, she becomes enamored with him. In the novelization, it's revealed that she has only dated three other men up until that point, each with their own power imbalance over her, similar to Amarao when he makes his advances now.
"In truth, the late-bloomer Kitsurubami had dated only three guys up until that point. The first had been an assistant professor when she was attending university. The second had been a workplace romance with a superior. And the other had been a man who'd been fooling around, cheating on his wife; he had wooed her, and then they had started dating. She had finally told the married man she'd wanted to break up, claiming it had been because they went out only when it suited him, but the real reason that she'd broken up with him was because men just weren't enough for her. Now, for the first time, she felt like she understood what men had been lacking."
Now, as she is enveloped by her gentle enemy, Canti, "She felt a mysterious aura, and the warm surge enveloped her. She touched the silent robot. This was Kitsurubami's first love."
Unfortunately, we never get to see much of the dynamic play out in the anime or any of its sequels, so I would consider it unresolved, as Kitsurubami never returned like Canti did. When it does happen in the anime, it's mainly a joke.
