For ease of access and archival purposes I’m reposting some of my CuriousCat asks on my blog here.
Q: In case you are still doing Anzu ship analysis, may I ask about your take on Tsukasa/Anzu? I have always found it strange how this ship is quite minor in Japan and even more so among the Western fandom despite how outspoken Tsukasa is about his affection for Anzu
A: My take on TsukasaAn, not on why it’s unpopular right? I looked it up on pixiv rankings and it’s not that unpopular in Japan, it ranked 11/53 earlier this year so it’s still on the ‘fairly popular’ side. It just so happens that IzuAn dwarfs everything else by far LOL.
A lot of Tsukasa’s feelings for Anzu feel like they come from a place of idolisation despite the irony that Tsukasa is the idol not Anzu. He initially approached her to produce Black and White Duel which was a bet on his part to get revenge on Trickstar. After Anzu pulls through with an event beyond his expectations, he begins to adore Anzu as his queen and believes that she is the key to restoring Knights to their former glory. So a lot of his feelings are based on how he views Anzu as Knights’ saviour, much like how Trickstar view her as their Goddess of Victory.
In spring, the way Tsukasa addresses Anzu is all over the place, referring to her by name, Transfer Student and Elder Sister all in the same time period. This could just be as he says, he’s not used to dealing with girls. So as Anzu is the first girl he becomes attached to, his expression of affection becomes quite intense.
In Judgement, quite famously Tsukasa asks to kiss Anzu for courage to face against the Knight Killers, which is the most assertive he has been. I mean suuure he says it’s a joke (and ignoring the diminishing Anzu content in later years), it /could/ be interpreted as baby’s first rejection which leads to his future more muted methods of hitting on Anzu.
Tsukasa constantly shows discontent with other characters getting close to Anzu including but not limited to Izumi, Ritsu, Natsume, Tori, Anzu’s younger brother and even a kotatsu that Anzu was enamoured with . His upbringing and Anzu’s position as producer doesn’t allow him to be selfish and say that Anzu is his outright, Tsukasa seems to be looking for ways to get ahead. On Halloween, his treat line to Anzu indicates that he wants a head start on all the other first years in getting closer to Anzu, so at the very least, amongst the first years, he wanted to be Anzu’s number one. There’s restraint in even his sweet line, where he is happy he is able to monopolise Anzu’s heart for just a moment. The one time he doesn’t hold back is during his birthday event where all the upperclassmen encourage him to ask Anzu to spoil him while grinning at them, clearly knowing his feelings. He asks Anzu to let him lay on her lap like she does for Ritsu.
In my opinion, Tsukasa probably accidentally boxed himself in as Anzu’s younger brother because she clearly does not take his attempts at flattery seriously. Anzu is generally the type to shy away from those who view her as a woman rather than a friend (like Madara) so the “younger brother” position is perfect for Tsukasa to approach her. Unlike Hajime who was boxed into a “younger sister” position where even Anzu was kind of shocked when he said he was a man, Tsukasa does have a lead there. Tsukasa asking Anzu for a kiss during Judgement did cause her to become flustered so it’s not as if he has no chance either.
