Trying to make sense of my OTP record from “badass pairs” to “moronsexual for this himbo”. lol
I was tagging a previous Tumblr post "#sassy akira is best akira". I don't necessarily believe that. I just like sassy Akira. I don't know if he's the best version of Akira, but "[version] [character] is best [character]" is a common meme, and I wanted to use that shorthand as a tag.
Sometimes I worry that "sassy Akira" wouldn't love Ryuji. After all, my first big OTP was Zel/Lina, wherein I often cited that I preferred how their equally sharp minds played off and seamlessly complimented each other. In contrast to Lina/Gourry which was moronsexuality. Since then, I've always personally preferred couples who were equals. Like IchiRuki, which was my next big OTP obsession after Zel/Lina. I even preferred couples like in FAKE by Sanami Matoh, who were of equal height and age. In contrast to most BL manga which often had troublesome age differences and went to great lengths to highly contrast the couple's character designs, in height, color schemes, hard vs soft lines, "masculine" vs "feminine", etc. And I know that contrasting character designs for couples or any pair of characters who are often in the same composition together, is recommended design, but in BL it was starting to be unequal in extreme ways that I couldn't support with my romantic values. And of course, I'm not going to read/watch a romance story that doesn't appeal to my personal ideals about romance. So if I'm not into himbos, then why am I staunchly, jealously biased towards AkiRyu/Pegoryu, and not say, ShuAke?
I was going to write about how tastes change. "I used to be totally into the gutsy tomboys, but by the time of Code Geass, I had bewilderingly passed over the super cool Kallen for dead-inside Universal Mother Goddess archetypes like C.C.".
But when I look back at my recorded OTP cycle, I've always liked himbos. I just wouldn't admit they were himbos, because I didn't think they were stupid. They were often oblivious to some social norms and overtly silly, but I remember getting mad when people would call Sanada Yukimura dumb. And I'd rant about "how dare people demean such rare and pure earnestness! It takes great emotional strength---True Strength to be so emotionally honest! That’s wisdom!" But even before my DateSana obsession, I was into USUK, and US was _definitely_ stupid. That was part of his charm! Hetalia was a comedy show, after all. Maybe that's why it was easier for me to admit he was a dumb git. Also, it was cute fanon whenever England teasingly called him a "git". ^.^ Looking back made me realize that an affinity for himbos and moronsexuality wasn't really against my ideals and my AkiRyu obsession isn't even a sign of my tastes changing. I've always loved the really earnest, sincere, silly, loud, emotionally-honest, pure-hearted Shonen Protagonist type. Where their instances of “stupidity” became just signs of their pure innocence (at least in their ideals/values). I guess Gourry Gabriev just didn't really quite breach that threshold for me, but Ryuji Sakamoto did.
So AkiRyu doesn't contradict my previous ideals and personal tastes. Akechi just doesn't meet my requirement for OTP fodder. I mean, even IchiRuki and Zel/Lina, though equals and both sharp and tough, were individually compassionate people on top of their impressive cleverness. Vanilla Persona 5 introduced/portrayed Akechi as an unnecessarily malicious bully, and that is one of my highest pet peeves. So of course, it doesn't matter if he can mentally spar with Akira and be his rival in battle. I won't ship anyone with a jerk. That's not my pastime, let alone a ship that I'd want to obsess over.
The thing I like about the idea of "sassy Akira" choosing himbo Ryuji, is that as seemingly uncatchable, unphasable as Joker may seem, flipping and dodging entrapments with all the agility and confidence in the world, we've seen that's just his mask, his Jungian persona. Akira was really hurt by his false arrest and no one believing in him. He was ready to give in to the world, maybe even start believing he was wrong to help that woman (until Arsene questioned him about it during his Awakening). The best story that I personally want to see (or the story that I need right now) is when that broken Disillusionment meets the Shonen Protagonist type, who still persists in believing in good, in justice and people, and foolishly continues to risk being kind and emotionally vulnerable, and all those things that the cynical, seemingly mature character has been scared off from risking again, like a frightened child, that they won't admit they’ve become. Because, at least in my headcanon, my fanon's version of Akira doesn't need a sparring partner; he needs renewed hope in the world. Ryuji would never be insincere, abandon Akira, be unsupportive, play mind games, or casually entrap anyone in daily life (I'm not talking about spying on the new track advisor, but everyday interactions that more clever people turn into endless mind games and playful teasing entrapments). And then on top of that, he's also so positive and enthusiastic about pretty much everything. Heck, even when he's negative about stuff, he's usually expressing the same emotion Akira is having in reaction to a situation, but is afraid to outwardly express; but Ryuji has no fear. Yet, he'll turn around from barking guard dog, to instantly cuddly puppy. He's a good boy. ;u; And then on top of *that*, Ryuji _proactively_ tries to protect people, constantly and regardless of how the world has hurt him. I mean, he's a himbo, but goddamn, what a catch. *o*
I shouldn't have to convince myself to stop feeling guilty over whatever OTP I'm having fun with. But it sure is nice to re-live all the good reasons through the analysis. ^-^