Could you explain to me why Gabriel being Genji's father is disrespectful? I'm not trying to be ignorant I genuinely want to know. I thought the interpretations of Gabriel being Genji's "father" were similar to the one's when he is Jesse's "father" since they are both in Blackwatch. If I'm missing something there please let me know because I don't want to fuck up
Okay my dude I’m actually real glad u asked because I needed an excuse to type all this up without coming across like a huge opinionated bitch even though I most certainly am precisely that
Reason 1: Genji had his own father, whom he very much loved.
Sojiro Shimada was the only reason that Genji had the opportunity to live his young life the way he did. Genji grew up with it easy; it’s heavily implied that his father spoiled the shit out of him, adored him even, I mean come on, the man called Genji ‘Sparrow’ for fuck’s sake. That’s an awful cute name for someone who would’ve been in his 20′s when Sojiro died. Sojiro loved Genji to death (ha) and he was The Only Thing standing between Genji and the elders. What happened right after Sojiro died? Hanzo gets pressured to make Genji clean up his act, and eventually kill his own goddamn brother.
To depict Gabriel as Genji’s father is to depict Gabriel as Replacing Sojiro. When someone tries to replace your dead parent and The Only Person You Can Say With Certainty That They Loved You, you’re not going to accept it. You’re gonna tell them to kiss your entire ass.
Reason 2: Overwatch used Genji as a tool.
Let’s get real here for a second. Overwatch did not give One Single Shit about Genji Shimada. Mercy did, sure, but come on. If Genji hadn’t been “killed” by Hanzo, you know what Overwatch would’ve done? They would’ve murdered him. Shocking!! Genji was the son of the head of the Shimada clan. He was Supposed to be ruling said clan with his brother after the death of his father. That paints a HUGE Overwatch shaped target on his head.
BUT SOMEBODY??? FOUND THIS MOSTLY DEAD YOUNG MAN, AND THEY WERE LIKE OH GEE. I BET HE’S GONNA BE REAL PISSED OFF WHEN HE WAKES UP. WE SHOULD USE HIM TO MURDER HIS FAMILY.
For Overwatch, Genji was A Way To Fuck Up The Shimada Clan. Is it really reasonable to think that Mercy would’ve spent weeks upon weeks of complicated, never done before surgery converting this angry af young man into a weapon if he didn’t have a use to her bosses? (And yes, that’s what he is, a weaponized body who doesn’t feel like he’s a real human being anymore.) Of course not! What would Overwatch care if he was some random Joe hacked to pieces? They wouldn’t. They picked him up because he was Genji Shimada, A Well Trained Ninja Who Knew The Inner Workings of the Clan, And He Would Be A Useful Asset, not because they gave a damn.
Reason 3: GENJI IS MAD AS FUCK
I mean COME ON these people “rescued” him for the sole purpose of murdering his family. I’m sure as fuck not gonna pretend that Genji didn’t WANT to murder his so called family but check out this interesting little bit of lore:
The global security force saw Genji as a potential asset in its ongoing operations to combat the Shimada clan. As Genji’s injuries left him clinging to life, Overwatch offered to rebuild his body in exchange for his help.
HEY. GUY WHO IS DYING? WHO OBVIOUSLY HAS ALREADY GONE THROUGH SOME MASSIVE SURGERY AND IS ON LIFE SUPPORT? YOU BETTER HELP US MURDER YOUR FOLKS OR WE’RE GONNA LET YOU DIE.
Not much of a choice now, is it??
So do we know who really gave that order, exactly? No, not specifically. Blizzard probably won’t ever tell us, either. But you can bet your ass that Genji is going to associate those people with both Jack and Gabriel. They’re the higher ups of Overwatch, and thus, he would associate them with the people who gave him this bogus ass choice: become our weapon or die.
Regardless of whether or not Gabriel was actually involved in this decision, Genji is going to associate him with it. And for people to imply that Gabriel could feasibly replace Sojiro, who again Loved Genji To Pieces And Protected Him From The Clan, is damn disrespectful to Sojiro and damn disrespectful to Genji.
