"Nice and Boring''

Let me preface this with a bit of a disclaimer. I know Jakuramu is not the cup of tea for many people, especially those who dislike large age gaps. I’m generally less fond of large age gaps in adult relationships than the average person, and lord knows if someone 11 years my senior and with over a foot on me started calling me “fascinating” in such vast quantities, I’d run for the hills. However, I’m not a clone-spy of the government intent on recruiting said person for some sinister government scheme, so Jakuramu is much too abstract for me to mentally associate it with any real life scenarios. But that’s not the case for everyone, and that’s okay! Please do not feel you are under any obligation to like it. All I ask is that you respect others’ preferences as well.

I tend to ship most things that feel “canon-adjacent”, as in they would be canon if Hypmic was a more romance-oriented and gay-friendly series. Many of their interactions feel romantically charged, especially from Jakurai’s point of view, so much that I didn’t realize it wasn’t canon at first. However, there’s a difference between shipping something because it feels canon (GenDice is in that category for me) and shipping something because it causes joy, so let’s break into the reasons why it brings me joy.

The Hilarity Factor

The first major reason why I find Jakuramu enjoyable is because it’s entertaining as all hell. Jakurai’s reactions are hilarious. I know he’s supposed to hate Ramuda and regret how their friendship soured, but I’m going to go out on a limb and speak for the majority of humanity when I say that I don’t stare off into space at the drop of a hat and think wistfully of the time my most hated person once played with my hair.

You tell him, Kuukou.

It’s just like... you have a kid and a mortgage, then a little pink thing comes along and raps at you, causing you to immediately fall in love. It’s absurd. Jakurai has extremely questionable taste.

Also at one point in the Lesson drama track, Jakurai’s too busy thinking about Ramuda that he hits his head on a door. You can’t make this shit up.

The Genuine Affection

Get someone who looks at you the way Jakurai looks at Ramuda in TDD and Kuujaku Posse era.

Okay, but for real.

Jakurai and Ramuda do ultimately develop a strong friendship with one another, a friendship they both cherish and look back on. You can argue that Ramuda’s faking it, and I do think he is at the start, but he expresses genuine regret later when their friendship turns sour.

Jakurai mentions multiple times that spending time with Ramuda is incredibly fun and that he’s learned to cherish rapping because of Ramuda. Ramuda invigorates him and is a bright spark upon his life. In turn, Ramuda enjoys enriching Jakurai’s life (he mentions a couple times in the Lesson drama track how much fun he’s having teaching Jakurai) while also appreciating Jakurai’s company and calming, welcoming presence.

They do love one another, at least in that time period. Whether it’s platonic or not is beyond me to say, but I appreciate it no matter what.

The Deeper Implications

From what we know so far, Ramuda’s ability to have emotions has been weaponized against him his whole life, and it’s fair to assume he has never had a friend before Jakurai. While he is a social butterfly, all of his relationships pre-TDD that we’ve seen are either government work related or superficial chats with various girls.

Jakurai is not in that same boat by a long margin, but he does not seem especially social before Matenrou. He has Yotsutsuji’s company, a mission to save lives, and a past he appears to regret involved in the taking of them.

Enter Ramuda, who not only knows about Jakurai’s past but casts no particular judgment towards Jakurai for it either. Ramuda shows himself to be both powerful and unafraid of death (and as Jakurai is in this scene associated with death himself, by extension, he is unafraid of Jakurai’s past).

Ramuda’s power is also of the non-lethal variety, which intrigues Jakurai (who, again, is attempting to reject violence - note his incapacitation, not murder, of the soldiers in this chapter). Is this man Jakurai’s equal? Could Jakurai learn Ramuda’s seemingly effortless ability?

Additionally, Ramuda’s first priorities appear to be for Jakurai’s patients. (It’s fair to assume this is only a diversionary tactic, but Jakurai is not likely to be aware of that.) He also readily accepts the position of teaching Jakurai, further showing himself to be a caring, thoughtful person in line with Jakurai’s priorities. Who is this mysterious man who knows so much, says so little, and presents such different answers to the same questions Jakurai is an answer to in turn? It’s no wonder that Ramuda piques Jakurai’s interest.

It’s hard to tell when Jakurai’s fascination turns into real affection, especially because most of their interactions and training occur off screen, but they are already able to work as a coherent partnership by the time of Mozuku’s kidnapping. Ramuda’s thoughts are entirely about their mission and teamwork, but Jakurai is already being drawn in farther into the mystery that is Ramuda.

These chapters feature multiple instances of Ramuda pulling him about, which is true not only in the physical sense but in the metaphorical sense as well. Jakurai’s facial expressions register more shock and surprise around Ramuda than around any other character up to this point. Ramuda is leading him on an adventure which is shaking him out of his otherwise more sedate world.

Let’s take a brief detour to talk about Lesson, which fits in thematically at this point and happens slightly before this chronologically.

Ramuda introduces Jakurai to an entirely new, enjoyable world that opens up a new chapter in Jakurai’s life. Throughout the course of this small side story, Ramuda continues to provide Jakurai with all sorts of new experiences that broaden his horizons and cause him to learn more about who he is as a person and the world at large. Ramuda is a catalyst for change, and Jakurai continues to welcome that.

While this is meant literally, as Ramuda does input their destination into the car navigation, this is also meant in a more figurative sense. Jakurai has enough trust to put himself into Ramuda’s hands, delighted to see where Ramuda might take them next. Ramuda, for his part, looks to be enjoying the steering as it allows him to have fun as well.

The two then embark on a series of escapades which usually lead to Jakurai getting into some sort of unpleasant situation. Yet is worth noting that after each time, Ramuda is there to offer support and comfort. For all his willingness to throw Jakurai off the deep end in the pursuit of a new experience, he never truly lets Jakurai fall, which further builds the trust between the two of them.

Once again, Ramuda’s influence causes a powerful change in Jakurai and makes it clear to him that it is worth it to trust Ramuda despite a duplicitous outward appearance, just as this day of hanging out and having fun was disguised as a “special training program”.

It is here that Jakurai’s care for Ramuda as a person begins to overwhelm his other priorities. Notice that even his curiosity and his fascination with the irregular, one of his most prominent characteristics, takes a back seat to his concern for Ramuda’s privacy, which he’s aware Ramuda values highly.

Yotsutsuji expresses concern at Ramuda’s hidden past because he believes Ramuda may be a malicious actor, but Jakurai interprets the same fact differently. His concern is now for Ramuda and whatever “true self” lurks beneath the mask, which ultimately leads him to the conclusion that they should befriend him more. If Jakurai truly believes Ramuda to be dangerous, he has  no reason to put himself and his son in harm’s way. He has seen firsthand Ramuda’s capability, understands that Ramuda could very well be hiding malicious intent, but trusts in Ramuda enough to ignore the risk and to continue pursuing their friendship.

Note once again the consideration for Ramuda’s privacy and comfort.

The friendship develops to the point in which Jakurai’s concern switches entirely from curiosity for his own sake but curiosity for Ramuda’s sake. Jakurai is operating under the assumption that Ramuda being his true self will bring Ramuda some comfort, but Ramuda does not have the safety in his life at this point for this to be true. Ramuda’s true nature - ie, his ability to feel emotions - is considered a “defect”, a “bug”. His personality and entire sense of self is considered unacceptable by those around him, so at the first moment in his life another person shows interest in who he is, he lashes out out of fear.

Ramuda reacts emotionally but immediately realizes his mistake, as emotions are something he is not allowed to feel. Jakurai finds the outburst startling, but to his credit, he does not allow it to hurt Ramuda further. He distracts Ramuda in his verbal and physical self-harm by shifting the fault onto himself. Suddenly, it is no longer Ramuda who is the wrongdoer for being himself or having basic human reactions. It is not his “defect”, but a flaw in the system that is Jakurai.

Yet Jakurai goes further but to celebrate it. Jakurai is the first person who ever expresses joy at seeing Ramuda’s true self, a self used as a tool of oppression against Ramuda by everyone else. Ramuda brushes off the situation in the moment, uncomfortable with continuing to open himself up, but this memory sticks with him. Ramuda recalls it in a later chapter with great regret as he receives the orders to disband TDD, knowing he’ll lose the only friend he’s earned who sees him as he is but doesn’t care.

Recall TDD Chapter 3, when Ramuda reveals he knows everything of Jakurai’s past but is not in any way put off by it. This parallel lends further tragedy to their eventual fallout.

I have less images from here on out, so please bear with me as I fast forward and summarize a little. Jakurai and Ramuda fight Samatoki and Ichirou in a match but willingly surrender to them in the hopes of talking with them. Their ploy works, and the four of them form The Dirty Dawg, which quickly gains control of the whole country through territory battles. Samatoki suggests they invade Chuuouku with a raised army of men, and despite Ramuda’s best efforts to talk them out of it, the rest of the crew agrees. Ramuda reports them to Ichijiku who then sets up TDD’s downfall. Meanwhile, Yotsutsuji has obtained one of Ramuda’s discarded lollipop sticks and analyzed it to determine that Ramuda isn’t the same as a normal, flesh-and-blood human. Yotsutsuji tries to inform Jakurai, but Ramuda intercepts the call and finds out that Yotsutsuji knows. He has Ichijiku dispatch a clone who places Yotsutsuji in a coma, but not before Yotsutsuji sends out a last-ditch email to Jakurai explaining what he knows and that Ramuda may hurt him. Jakurai reads this email and goes to confront Ramuda.

Jakurai, at this point, feels betrayed and is more than likely mad at himself as well. It was his choice to trust Ramuda despite the warning signs, and Jakurai blew it. Ramuda utterly betrayed that trust at the cost of Jakurai’s loved one. Jakurai has known since day one that Ramuda is capable of great destruction, but he has chosen to ignore that and instead chase a dream of a person who (as Jakurai sees it) never even existed. The dream is dead; the enigmatic, wonderful, laughing in the face of death Ramuda Amemura is no more. Furthermore, as Jakurai is concerned, that Ramuda never existed.

On Ramuda’s end, he is all too aware he is about to lose the only person who has ever cared for him, and he attempts to deflect Jakurai’s accusations with various excuses until Jakurai asks why someone as artificial as him would even try to get close to Jakurai.

You know, there’s nothing in Ichijiku’s orders that ever specified that Ramuda should towel off Jakurai’s hair after a cold bath in a waterfall.

There’s nothing in his orders that told him to take Jakurai on a field trip, play with his hair, offer to sing a little song when he hit his head to make it all better, to take him back home after a rough night, to cover him with a blanket while he’s sleeping, to make him laugh, to compliment him, to trust in him enough to form a genuine bond of friendship.

Yet Jakurai acts as if every aspect of that was faked. As fabricated as Ramuda is himself.

Jakurai takes the information Ramuda has given him - the knowledge that Ramuda detests being called “artificial” - and uses that against him. He takes his status as the only person who’s never demonized Ramuda’s feelings and true self and turns that against Ramuda too. He takes the comfort and joy he offered at seeing Ramuda’s true personality and turns it back around into the weapon it always was.

The dream is dead; as far as Ramuda is concerned, that comforting Jakurai never existed.

No wonder Ramuda turns on him and yells, “Is being human all that great?” Why should it be, when every human has proved to him they all harm him? Jakurai is no different than any of the others.

We don’t see them interact with one another for years, but there are still a few items of exceptional note.

Jakurai still respects Ramuda’s basic privacy, even after Ramuda wronged him, perhaps from witnessing during their rooftop split two years prior just how badly that affects Ramuda.

From that same chapter, Ramuda snaps once again when he recognizes these old behaviors reminiscent of Jakurai. If these two were to betray him once more, it’d only fit the pattern of his interaction with people so far. 

Jakurai appears dismayed in this scene, not from running into Ramuda, but from seeing Ramuda’s distressed expression. This is moments after Ramuda receives an order that would effectively kill him, so Ramuda is understandably upset, especially due to Ichijiku’s comment of “We prefer Jakurai’s usefulness over yours”. After their history with one another, her choosing Jakurai in the end only cements the concept that his actions are right, that it is fair to betray Ramuda like that. Additionally, Ramuda is the one who trained Jakurai to begin with, so it suggests that all of his effort and care and all of their adventures were only plays on the Chuuouku chessboard.

Ramuda stresses this repeatedly and never attacks Jakurai with full force during the battle until the final scene to such an extent that it must be significant. Ramuda is fully aware of how powerful Jakurai is, being the one who trained Jakurai, so it is likely that he hoped Jakurai would make the decision of “use the True Hypnosis Mic or not” for him. If Jakurai were to knock him out in battle, it could potentially save Ramuda’s life while simultaneously freeing Jakurai from sharing Ramuda’s fate as Chuuouku pawn.

Multiple times during the battle itself, Jakurai notices Ramuda’s preoccupation and reacts less like an enemy and more like a concerned friend. Ramuda has to purposefully taunt him in order for Jakurai to switch his behavior and act with enough force to actually damage Ramuda.

Slightly less pertinent, but Fling Posse’s focus on Ramuda’s real strength and identity is quite possibly the best thing he could hear at this time. Despite the fact that he showed them an emotional outburst (and continues to do so in this scene via his tears), Gentarou and Dice welcome him and encourage him to act for himself. They stress the importance of his own individuality without turning against him, which is why he chooses to live for himself for one final moment, metaphorically flip off Chuuouku, and face Jakurai with every bit of bitterness, strength, and newfound love for his friends that he can carry in his body.

I can’t wait to see where they will go next. What an incredible relationship!