disclaimer: this is a hc, not speculating on what the writers intentions were.
Karasuba (Sekirei)
Yes, they are a lesbian
No, but they're not straight
Sure, why not
I like this headcanon, but I also like another orientation for them
No, I view them as straight
I don't know this character but they have lesbian vibes
I don't know this character
Voting ended onApr 13
reason under the cut! I was looking for asexual characters and saw an essay in the spreadsheet so this one gets posted too lol
(i am not proofreading this if we fuck up we fuck up. also idk if you post propaganda in the blog but uh. i have a gospel to spread)
TW suicide
before we start id like to say: karasuba was never confirmed to be a lesbian or have romantic feelings for (character that will be introduced later) however i will say that theres no way in hell the mangaka didnt know what she was doing and theres no way karasuba didnt have a crush in this girl. anyways. welcome to my twisted mind and my rambling over my most obscure blorbo
first to talk abt karasubas sexuality one must refer to what a sekirei is and what the sekirei/ashikabi bond is.
first of all: a sekirei is an alien species, they look like humans but have superpowers. this race of aliens works on a soulmate system, with the 'ashikabi' being the soulmate. you cannot choose your ashikabi, but you can just. get some rando ashikabi to 'wing' (kiss and give you more powers) you if you want, this will be important for later. also little aside for my queer reading of sekirei if you look at all sekirei relationships shown in the manga most of them are heterosexual with the man being the ashikabi and telling his sekirei what to do. yes, this also will be important later
now lets talk about the mbi for one second. theyre the bad guys controlling all the sekireis and pitting them into a battle royale game (this is also in the sekireis nature), so 'getting winged' is pretty much required as the manga goes on. i need to reiterate again that winging gives you even more powers, including the ability to perform a 'norito' (you make out with your ashikabi and get an ult). keep this in mind this will also be important later.
so to clarify: species of alien that by nature have to make out with certain special humans to survive and also beat the shit out of eachtoher for fun getting basically forced into it for the amusement of one man. i like to call this "the sekirei system" and will continue to do so for the sake of simplicity.
so briefly before we start for real let me give you karasubas background quickly. she was one of the first aliens to awaken when they were found by mbis ceo, lading her in the disciplinary squad (basically the mbis private army of superpowered freaks) and loves. and i mean LOVES killing human soldiers, she views them as weaker beings (yes this will come back. this will come back.) she has no will of her own that isnt outside of a soldier being ordered by the mbi to kill people and also doesnt have connections with any of the members in her team (or they outright hate her for being a freak). they eventually all leave leading karasuba to be the only member of the discp squad
and if you think im done here and finally can talk about the character in depth. no. first i need to introduce the girl shes obsessed with and that makes me insane
introducing: YUME! so, yume is also a sekirei but heres the kicker, shes the only sekirei with 'a perfect core' which means she doesnt need an ashikabi! wahoo! anyways! i need to also shine light that yume is a pacifist who believes in the power of love, this is her entire life's philosophy and is especially fond of the soulmate system the sekireis hav! surely with this information you have started to see where things will go wrong!
so one day karasuba is being a moddy edgy anime woman and yume just pops out and says "hi :D im yume :D" and karasubas like "fuck off" tries to swing her sword at her but yume catches it and says that karasuba is "a proper sekirei". karasuba looks at her in genuine horror. what she wants isnt "to be winged" its companionship, shes so alone and her life is so deeply outside of her control she just want anything to cling on to, and she does, as yume grabs her hand, stating that she will join the new discp squad as karasuba looks on in horror. their fates intertwine.
so. the companionship i mentioned? does karasuba want to befriend yume? date her? haha. um. so. a few paragraphs ago i mentioned how sekirei like to beat eachother up for fun and also mentioned karasuba liked violence right? so um. she wants her and yume to survive to the end of the game so they can beat eachother up. not even specifying 'i want to win' she just wants. to beat her up and get beaten up in return. karasuba is the worlds most normal woman (AND THERES MORE. OH THERES SO MUCH MORE, THIS IS JUST THE QUEER PART I COULD ALSO WRITE AN ESSAY ON WHY SHES DEEPLY SUICIDAL!!!!!!!!)
karasuba quickly becomes attached to yume, sure she talks big about love and being winged but she also proves her worth as a fighter, and thats what karasuba wants, someone that can go against here when she goes all out, someone special, someone who doesnt have to follow the system that they by birth all sekirei must, she doesnt give a shit about what yume says, she downright hates the idea of being winged, everytime yume starts her spiel she scoffs and dismisses it, to the point where in a specific sceneas we see her talking it cuts to karasubas inner thoughts "the one who doesnt understand is you, i want-".
onto a next scene, we see the duo getting a mission to retrieve 2 kidnapped sekirei children, karasuba finds her target and uh. threatens to murder her for being weak (she is the worlds most normal woman) and yume finds hers, number 88, her core is gone, shes basically dead. with this yume takes the child in her arms and walks to the battlefield, saying "though i cannot be part of this process the least i can do is protect you. that is the sekirei of fate" as she gives her core to the child and collapses. oh yea did i mention yume is the sekirei of fate :) and her fate is forever sealed to die no matter what she does :) and eventually the manga uses the word 'inevitability' to describe her suicide :) oh i could easily write this many paragraphs just about her. i am so fucking normal about her. so so normal. me when the character is doomed by the narrative. ANYWAYS.
sooooo. karasuba is kinda fucked rn. shes um. not taking the news well. she threatens to kill another child. but heres the fun part! now that 88 has yumes core she can sometimes posess 88 for funsies! this will be important later once again.
oh yea all these paragraphs? THATS ALL PRE CANON BTW WOOOOOOOOOOOO
so lets go to current time canon! the manga follows musubi (88) and her wacky misadventures w the cast! wahoo!!!!!!!!!!!! she almost dies. i mean she actually dies 100% at the start and then yume posessed her and things went back to normal (yume went somewhat dormant again, she kinda just shows up for drama reasons from time to time, musubis always the active one. honestly yume/musubi could be described as a system but also. yume is like. actually posessing her cause of the core thing. anyways.) and right after that arc ends guess who shows up at the hospital to check up on musubi! yayyyyy karasuba woo yeaaaaaaa.
ok so the hospital scene. this is important to the thesis. the conversation goes pretty smoothly until musubi mentions that yume was the one that saved her, karasubas mood immediatly switches, and then we cut to a scene at night where shes rambling about a "she" being cruel and "dissapearing for her own selfish reasons" and how (actual wording btw) "she was supposed to kill her herself" (yes the ambigous wording is essential to my suicidal karasuba hc but. anyways.) as musubi comes by and goes "hey it smells like blood :(" and karasuba pins her to the wall and reminds her theyll be the last 2 standing in the battle royale.
most of the scenes we see karasuba talking about musubi to other people she keeps saying she hopes they can drag "that person" out of her. this is important as well.
ok im going to admit to something now that we're 10+ paragraphs into my category 5 sekirei autism moment. karasuba is a side character. so. this next important scene jump is because she doesnt really show up that much but this is one of main my pieces of evidence towards lesbian karasuba.
theres a man in the roof, karasuba shows up behind him and asks him if hes going to jump, he says he doesnt know and ends up confiding in her that the man he loved died and how angry he feels at this world for taking him. right after we see a panel of yume as karasuba agrees with him. this man is canonically gay btw. do you understand what im putting down here. ANYWAYS, in this shared moment of understanding over dead gay crushes they make a pact to become ashikabi/sekirei, theyre one of the very few non romantic pairings we get for this btw. in my heart theyre beards but eventually the mangaka wanted them to- ok no dw we'll get there.
ANYWAYS HERE COMES THE FUN STUFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
so last stages of the battle royale, yknow the kid i mentioned karasuba threatened to kill? (the 1st one at least) shes here. they fight for real this time, both use norito and 87s is so much stronger than hers because her and her ashikabi actually love eachother and shit (i would like to state her noritos name is blade of the underworld "eternal rage" which. ill talk abt in a bit) karasuba barely wins, gets pissed the fuck off when her ashikabi was asking her what happens and realizes her norito sucked ass cause him and karasuba "are empty". also theres a little callback after she wins to 87 going "this is the strengh of our bond!" and right after that guess whos name karasuba calls out :) and then the end chapter text is "the strengh of fate". i literally died when i reached that page i hope you understand.
OK WE ARE FINALLY HITTING THE END WOOOOOOOOOOO
moments before the final fight karasuba is seen going literally insane and the moment musubi arrives she starts seeing yume as her, musubi keeps reiterating that she is not yume but her own person and then the fight starts. It reaches a point where musubi says she'll because shes not fighting alone (emotionally) and karasuba sekirei core starts reacting. karasuba manages to get the upperhand, saying she'll finally be able to drag yume out. musubi says she and yume fused. yumes gone.
as soldiers (dw theres some plot shit going on it doesnt matter) surrond them and start shooting she swings at them, screaming that yume would never leave her.
musubi starts going on about the strengh of bonds, just like yume would, saying how lonely she was before she sacrificed herself and explaining gently how they fused.
karasuba snaps and starts saying musubi killed her, how its all her fault shes gone in the first place, how she'll never forgive them.
in comes her ashikabi, sweating bullets, hes also reacting to the core, says that all he wanted was another person to be with him, companionship, and that he and karasuba can start anew and heal from their grief togheter. she can finally be properly winged.
she looks him in the eyes and tells him she only became his sekirei because he was as good as dead, a complete pushover that wouldnt control her. in one last moment she curses her existence as a sekirei, ripping her core from her body and in her last breath saying "i wield this blade for myself and my feelings. this final attack is to my lady, to yume" as she goes in one last time in a blaze of glory.
btw none of the sekirei are dead lol. they all get revived in the end cause this is a feel good harem battle royale manga from 2005. all of them except-
-karasuba and yume :)
so. whats the tldr? the sekirei system is inherently patriarchal and heteronormative, we have 2 rejects of this system who are viewed as failures, yume for not being able to participate and how that widdled down her self esteem to the point shes more than happy to sacrifice herself so that another member can participate in it, karasuba who refuses to conform to the system, gets obsessed with a relationship that falls outside it and is ultimatly one-sided and also the only moment of agency she has her entire life is her own death. the sekirei queer reading from the karayume angle is depressing <3
and as my last statement id like to say. karasuba is a lesbian but above all else she is yumesexual
anyways if youre reading this thank you this was brought to you by 1h30 of autistic insanity and coffee. i am normal about this manga and these 2 freaks. my blorbos #myblorbos
