The TBHK Yuri Association

Seriously tho, these two are one of the best ships in tbhk. For me they carried the Picture Perfect arc, it really picked up during their journey together. I love that Mei just jumps headfirst into her impulses, she kinda crosses Nene’s boundaries when they first meet by gawking at her ankles which is an interesting character flaw. BUT, unlike Hanako, Mei backs off when she realizes she’s made someone uncomfortable. And obviously her pushiness comes from a genuine place of admiration. She’s an artist, and once she finds a muse, she latches onto them

I also like their narrative parallels with Mei being dead and Nene being doomed to die. They meet right after Nene learns of her fate, and in a way Mei helps Nene accept the uncertainty of her future. It helps her to meet a girl who has already come to terms with that tragedy. I think that without Mei, Nene would have felt a lot more lost after the PPA. She wouldn’t have been as determined to move forward as Mei helped her become. For me the PPA is all about Nene shattering her previous romantic delusions and learning to embrace reality. She spends the first half of the series in this fantasy world she’s created for herself, and then she’s put in a LITERAL fantasy world. Early Nene probably would’ve loved the perfect world, but by the PPA, Nene has matured enough to realize the value of reality. So once she’s lost it, she wants it back. The arc is all about coming of age and letting go of your perfect expectations for life, and Mei is the one who gives Nene the final push to do this

I love that, despite Mei’s minimal screen time, she had such an impact on Nene’s life. I really wish we saw Nene consistently thinking of Mei, they have lots of potential for dead wife flashbacks lolol. I prefer the ship when people write Mei to be more like,,,realistic ig? A lot of fans kind of put Mei on this pedestal as a Lesbian Queen™️ who can do no wrong and like, don’t get me wrong, she’s definitely a lesbian and she’s also a total badass. But she’s also impulsive to a fault. It’s hinted that she was maladaptive in the past just like Nene, another parallel between them. She literally created an ideal version of herself, to me that reeks of some type of insecurity. Which is why I think it’s all the more meaningful that Mei and No.4’s relationship is one built on love (regardless of how you interpret that). It shows both the Meis achieving self-love that Nene also struggles with finding throughout the series. Ultimately, I see Mei and Nene as two people who are capable of helping each other in so many ways…which makes it all the more tragic that they met the way they did. The epitome of “right person, wrong time”

And I also just find the ship to be overall really darn cute. They went on a pancake date!! Mei thought Nene was an angel when they first met!! They had a bridal carry scene!! That shit is gay as hell. I think Mei would be a total gentleman with Nene, giving her the exact kind of fairy tale romance she’s always dreamed of- but with a twist. It’s more grounded, more realistic. A dream come to life, but no longer plagued by the fantasy she used to bury her insecurities with. I also think Nene would eventually be able to help Mei stop repressing her own trauma and start working through it. This would have to be in an au ofc. In another life they would be high school sweethearts

To me they’re also reminiscent of a lot of pairings from yuri manga, which is why a lot of himejoshis/himedanshis in the TBHK fandom tend to drift towards them. Like look at Rae/Claire, Yamada/Kase, and those bitches from green yuri and tell me that’s not Meinene. They are extremely GL coded