YutoRuri, RinRuri, and ShunYuto for the ship meme, please. :)
YuutoRuri
8.5 = I REALLY like this ship but it wouldn’t work out in canon.
I am perfectly aware of how shallow that makes me sound, but Iactually only started to consider this ship after Ruri’s design hadbeen revealed and I just love how gorgeous and classy these two looknext to one another. However, the more I was thinking aboutwell-written Yuuto and alternate Ruri, the more I began to take thisship seriously and even think of scenarios/AUs for it.
If there is one reason I could never bring myself to likeBraceletshipping, it’d be that the only reason for Yuuto beingprotective of Yuzu at the beginning was that he mistook her for Ruri,and that the conclusion of their only interaction that was trulypositive was Yuuto telling her that she had a lot in common withRuri, meaning all Braceletshipping scenes were never truly aboutYuzu, but about Yuuto’s bond with Ruri, and Yuuto really isn’tmentally weak enough to use any other bracelet girl to replace Ruri(I still have a slight weakness for onesided Braceletshipping withYuzu having an unrequited crush on Yuuto, though lol).
I mean… what we ultimately got for them in later canon iscomplete and utter garbage – you will never hear me deny that fact,but I can still dream of scenarios about them having shared a strongbond from their childhood, and about Dennis’ betrayal and Rurideveloping a crush on them actually having and impact on theirrelationship.
Other than that, I’ve always wanted Ruri to be a wordsmithfascinated with myths and tales, and Yuuto being fond of metaphorshimself and carrying the demeanor of a knight (minus theself-righteousness and the two-dimensional usually associated withthe archetype itself) would make interactions between these twopleasing on many different levels, and there are plenty ofpossibilities of playing around with their contrasting life/deaththemes and giving them an interesting spin.
Emeraldshipping/Cageshipping
Platonic:
9 = I REALLY like this ship and it should be/is canon!
Seriously, I was personally offended when it was revealed thatRuri and Rin had been locked up separately without making any kind ofescape attempt that nearly succeeded, but I wasn’t actually surprisedeither, given how they were both needed as token damsels.
However, since I have elected to disregard post season one canonalmost in its entirety, there’s absolutely nothing stopping me fromthinking about how Ruri should’ve manipulated Leo into imprisoningRin together with her as soon as she learns about her capture bytricking him into lowering his guard – and convinced her to joinher in her plan to escape.
These two would’ve made such a badass combo, with Ruri beingresponsible for designing the plan itself and for its psychologicalaspects of fooling Leo and their guards and Rin being the one tothink about how to actually implement it with their limited resourcesand to build the tools and devices necessary for their escape.
(My fave canon divergent HC about their escape attempt is thatthey only failed due to Serena attempting to escape mere minutesbefore and causing the guards stationed around the island to be onhigh alert)
Other than that, their personalities’d just mesh really well, andI could definitely see them forming a deep friendship and grow to careabout one another a lot- whether in canon divergent scenarios or inAUs.
And their character designs just look so incredibly gorgeous nextto one another
Romantic:
7 = I like it, would read a fanfic with them if it was well written.
It took me till last month or so to even consider it, as I tend toHC these two as mostly straight and already have three romantic shipsfor Ruri that I adore. However, I’ve been pondering the question ofwhich partner’d be worthy of Rin from the moment I began to like herand as a result dislike Appleshippingcause strongly belief that Rindeserves a better partner than dumb and childish Yuugo thinkingparticipating in the Friendship Cup is the Greatest Thing Ever andAbsolutely for Rin’s Sake while Rin is in captivity XX___XX
Well, the conclusion I’ve ultimately come to is that Ruri’dactually be an incredibly good partner for Rin and Rin for Ruri,making them one of my very rare platonic ships that I don’t mindpeople shipping romantically as well. Still, one of my biggest petpeeves surrounding romantic Emerald/Cageshipping is people portrayingRuri as physically and emotionally weaker, but as long as that tropeis avoided, I am totally fine with this ship :)
ShunYuuto
Platonic:
8.5 = I REALLY like this ship but it wouldn’twork out in canon.
Oh gooosh TT__TT Platonic ShunYuuto is an incredibly strong bondbeautiful in the way their deep mutual respect and affection ismaking up for their relationship’s deep flaws in the way they don’tfully truly understand one another. Ep 24/25 in contrast to ep 21 isa wonderful example of this. In episode 21, Yuuto misinterprets Shunattacking LDS members as him not having understood that LDS doesn’thave any ties with Academia rather than seeing an ulterior motive tohis wreaking havoc, and temporarily blinded by the few remains of hisotherwise discarded ideals, Yuuto knocks him out as Shun, too,initially mistakes Yuzu for Ruri and momentarily lowers his guard.
However, shortly after, Yuuto shares what he knows about Yuzu notbeing Ruri with him and after the implied rest of their conversation,understands that Shun’s aiming to take Reiji hostage and use him as abargaining chip in exchange for Ruri – and as a result, he becomeshis accomplice as Shun goes after the the LDS trio, though it can beargued that he cares just as much (if not more) about not gettingmore “innocent” civilians involved. Still, it is a veryrealistic pursuit of his ideals that is ultimately beneficial toShun.
In addition to that, I just love Shun’s good grasp on the exactextent Yuuto’s abilities. While he did want to rush to Yuuto’s sidein his duel with Sora in ep 35 (after all, Shun’s pessimism does runvery deeply, and he always takes the worst case scenario intoconsideration), he relents rather quickly when Reiji doesn’t want himto, as he has fought Sora himself before and knows that Yuuto isperfectly capable of defeating someone like him and handling thesituation on his own. Even when Yuuya intrudes into their battle andturns the duel into a 2 on 1 duel, Shun doesn’t lose his calm – hehas seen Yuuya duel as well and is positive of Yuuto’s victory (andlets be real here, Yuuto’s strategy and tactics are far superior toYuuya’s).
However, as soon as the camera feeds are cut and the arrival ofmultiple Academia reinforcements turns into a possibility, Shun is onedge and desperate to come to Yuuto’s aid – even more so once itbecomes clear he is dueling Yuugo, an unpredictable duelist using asummoning method the Resistance isn’t used to fighting against andsomeone Yuuto has struggled against before. I don’t necessarilybelief Shun was positive of Yuuto losing, but his worst casescenarios have become far more tangible in this moment due to thechance of Yuuto winning having been reduced to a 50/50, and my heartalways shatters thinking about how Shun basically had to chose Ruri’slife over Yuuto’s as he was leaving the observation room, as to goagainst Reiji’s words and rush to the scene of Yuuto’s battle’d meanletting go of his only means of saving Ruri TT___TT (Seriously, thisis one of the three moments Reiji is in a dire need of a punch inthe face in season one)
If I start talking about Shun’s quest for the truth surroundingYuuto’s disappearance, my rambling’ll become even twice as long, so Iwon’t be doing that now but eh, watching him search for clues sodesperately should be enough to see just how much he truly caredabout Yuuto.
Unpopular opinion here, but I would’ve preferred a friendshipbetween Yuuto and Ruri ultimately turning into Shun + Yuuto + Ruriover than the nonsense we got in later canon and I actually likeimagining Shun and Yuuto officially meet after the invasion and onlybecome best friends after Ruri’s disappearance. It’d make for someinteresting meta surrounding Yuuto’s transition from someone Shun hasto protect (because Ruri cares about him) to someone he can rely on,and scenarios about the two of them gathering information on theirenemy and operation as a team are always A+++
Romantic:
5 = It’s alright, I ship it a little perhaps…
Used to be my one and only OTP whileHostage was a NOTP (the irony), but once I’ve gained a deeperunderstanding of Shun’s character, I simply couldn’t see it anymore,as a romantic relationship wouldn’t add anything their friendshipdoesn’t already have. Most importantly, however, I no longer see themas equals in strength and intellect, and as people on the samematurity level, and for someone like Shun to truly be content in aromantic relationship (or to be willing to enter one in the firstplace), his partner’d have to fulfill these criteria.
However, as much as just about allromantic Shun ships that are not Hostage gross me out on a deeplypersonal level, ShunYuuto is the sole other ship I will at least acknowledge.