As I write this, I can’t believe that I have to write this, but apparently, people don’t have enough common sense.
Regarding celebrity shipping: I think it’s hard to deny that it’s a thing and that it will always be a thing. Consider the mere existence of tabloids or schoolkids wanting to hear about every break-up and get-together between classes; being interested in other people’s relationships is kind of really common. And with actors, there’s an extra dimension because of characters; so you add this extra realm of the relationship between those two actors, and the relationship between the characters that they portray. To my memory, I think Brad Pitt got together with Angelina Jolie after they had worked on Mr. and Mrs. Smith together. You can’t deny that chemistry can occur from being in that sort of situation.
But there’s a line between thinking that two people could be cute together, and forgetting that they are in fact, their own people, and NOT bound by your expectations or hopes. Everyone’s coming at me for the Takashou thing (whether opposed or in support), so I’ll just use them for this discussion.
Shouri is not Kuroo. Takato is DECIDEDLY not Kenma (lol). I do NOT think everything they do together is some sort of canon Kuroken representation. I admit it can be fun to project their characters onto them and imagining the characters doing the same things their actors would or getting up to the same shenanigans, but Shouri and Takato are still people, and the relationship they have is NOT a replica of Kuroo and Kenma. On the most fundamental level, they are two actors who got to know each other through this production, and they’re having a fucking blast with it and with each other. That’s fun to see. Haikyuu inspires a certain level of camaraderie that’s not very common for a lot of other shows. And then it so happens that their characters happen to be quite a popular ship. Kuroken being a ship is impossible to ignore completely, but you have to remember it’s not the full picture. Some of it might just be fan service, true. I think most of it is that Shouri and Takato get along really well so they like spending time together.
Some of you are definitely conflating the fact that I ship Kuroken and that I find Takato and Shouri adorable people with the idea that I want these two to date.
Now bringing all this to the public space of fandom gets tricky. Just because I understand this distinction doesn’t mean everyone else does, or that everyone is aware of what I’m aware. Some people are legitimately shipping Takashou as people and hoping that they’re secretly making out in dark corners, and some might assume that I hope for the same thing. Here’s the thing, I use ship names and mean them entirely platonically too. That’s also a thing.
On the surface level, people being happy and excited to see Takato and Shouri having fun together is harmless. In my honest opinion, shipping them as people is also largely harmless. Whether you ship them or not, they’re cute people, and the things they do are adorable too.
What makes it harmful is when people start commenting on the actors’ social media pages to tell them that they ship them with their fellow actor (which I’ve seen, just not yet for Haikyuu). What makes it harmful is when people think of them as only their characters and not as who they really are. What makes it harmful is when people push it from ‘wild hope’ to ‘expectation.’ The only expectations you can push onto people are legal and professional ones (e.g. expecting a co-worker to finish their part of a project; expecting someone to uphold the law and maybe not go on a murderous rampage). In nearly every other instance, if you expect something from someone (especially for your benefit), you’re not treating them as people.
For Takashou shippers, as long as you have zero expectations of these people, as long as you’re not TELLING them any of this… whether platonic or romantic, go ahead and have fun with it. For people who think shipping real people is disgusting, you are responsible for your own fandom experience. Unfollow/block people as you need to, because you’re not changing anyone’s mind with cringeworthy anon hate and negativity.
For people coming at me because I ship Kuroken: Fuck you, I don’t give two shits for your opinion. This is my personal blog, my corner of fandom, and I will ship whatever fictional characters I damn well please.
p.s. I can’t believe this needs saying either but: Please be polite and respectful when commenting on these actors’ twitters and other social media. Pretend you’re meeting someone’s grandparents for the first time or interviewing for a job. DON’T call them baby, daddy, honey, etc… Take a note from Japanese fandom. Nearly every single comment left by a Japanese fan includes some form of “Thank you for your hard work” or “Congratulations on today” or “Please get lots of rest” etc… That’s not to say there are zero creepy comments from Japanese fans (there is no culture exempt from creepers or idiots), but it is alarming to me when I see the majority of English comments fall into the creepy/rude category.
