PEAK MISCHARACTERIZATION:
SANEMI SHINAZUGAWA.
People love to portray him as rough and aggressive with his partner. I ve read those fanfics too - even the smutty ones - and it s always ticked me off how people consider him to be anywhere near mean with his partner especially in an intimate setting.
Sanemi's father has abused his mother his whole childhood until he died, and he grew up seeing his mother's frail body beat down by that brute who was double her size. He has witnessed himself and his little siblings be protected by their mom who took the beating for them, has witnessed bruises and blood and hits over the woman's small and weak body. Then, he was the one who had to put an end to it, and take the life out of that frail body that once protected and nurtured them all.
Sanemi is a deeply traumatized person. That trauma and open wounds turned into the violent and impatient man he is today, because he never got the closure and soothing to go over even a quarter of what he has been through. He was once the oldest sibling and his mom's protector and loving boy - everything was taken from him in one night, including Genya. So, he turned sour and damaged.
Romantic relationships are not something Sanemi is accustomed with , because 1. he never saw the example in his parents and 2. he never considered it for himself, knowing how difficult he is and how uncertain his life is as a Hashira. He knows it. So, when a romantic partner shows up and he has feelings for her and her for him, he takes a bit to accomodate the idea. The sensation that his love is returned and that he holds something so fragile as her in his hands.
Sanemi would be scared to even look at her, let alone insult / manhandle / treat roughly or raise his voice at her. Out of all people, the most violent and disturbing one would be the most gentle and scared in private, because he has seen what his father did to his mother, he has seen what he himself did to his mother, and he knows how rough he can be as a person. So, Sanemi Shinazugawa would treat his lover like a delicate flower, with the gentlest touch and the slowest movements, as if handling something small and delicate and fragile. Because that is how Sanemi Shinazugawa loves. That is who Sanemi Shinazugawa actually is, deep down, underneath all the pain and tragedy he had to withstand.
edit : i don t wanna hear the "but he talks to everyone that way !!! He would talk like that to her at the beginning at least !!!" No, he wouldn't. He s gentle to women and old people. It s written in the manga for everyone who knows how to read !
