Muray Cherry

These thoughts came to my mind after listening to Kuroshitsuji Web Radio and I would really like to share them with others. I really hope that my English isn’t bad and this post would be understandable (English isn’t my native language and I’m still learning it xD). Also I’m a Grelliam shipper, so forgive me please if someone ships the other pairing and sees no affection between William and Grell. In my opinion, every pairing with our red-haired princess is awesome! 

I believe, there is no need to speak about Grell’s feelings towards him, ‘cause Toboso-san confirmed, that William is the main Grell’s passion, while Sebastian is just an idol. So, let’s speak about William, he’s pretty interesting and unclear character, ‘cause he is the person who doesn’t show his emotions at all.

Anyway, Grell is the only one who wakes the emotions up inside Will. We just need to remember that smile from the OVA, when Grell called him by his name for the first time. And this name was «Will», not «William», what also makes sense. It is clear that Will dislikes shortened names (because of that he calls everyone by the full name and surname), but Grell is the only one who can call him «Will» and William doesn’t mind at all. I believe, he even likes it somehow.

Grell is allowed to enter Will’s personal space. In the 5th episode of Book of Circus William forbade Ciel and Sebastian to go closer to him and blamed Ciel for entering his territory for a 3 centimeter long. At the same time Grell can hug William in front of other people and he says nothing about it. It can be because of his calmness, but I believe, that here is another reason. For example, Sebastian calls Grell’s flirt «revolting», but it’s just a flirt. But for William Grell shows real love and intention of physical connection and William doesn’t even say a single rude word about it. Grell’s attention isn’t «revolting» for him, it’s just very annoying, ‘cause Grell is a very loud and energetic reaper, who causes lots of problems and can even tire others.

I don’t believe that William is a very rude and sadistic person in fact. We should remember that he is a boss and Grell is just his subordinate (very incompetent, lazy and emotional subordinate). Actually it would be a shame, if everyone knows that the face of the management division is in relationship with such awful subordinate, who is physically a man, what will cause even bigger shock among other reapers. That’s the reason why Will has to behave that way just to save his reputation. Also let’s notice that he kicks Sutcliff only for the time when Grell starts speaking about feelings towards him. Will just has to kick, because it’s the only way to make Sutcliff silent and not allow everybody to realize about their relationship. 

William always helps Grell with work, which is not his actually. He works overtime, but when Grell is in a trouble or needs help with collecting the souls, then William will help with it. I believe, it shows Will as a very close friend or even as a beloved one to Grell, because rude and sadistic boss won’t help you with your job, but Will helps and does it every time.

The way how Ronald jokes about Will’s relationship with his subordinate. In 10th episode of Book of Circus Ronald points out, that Will is angry because of meeting him, while Grell went to the Phantomhive’s mansion. Also in Kuroshitsuji Web Radio he says «Spears-senpai and Grell-senpai have a good relationship». Then he mentions that he can have a talk with William only about weather and Grell-senpai, but about weather Will is not talkative and he also can’t follow the discussion about girls. And Ronald notices that Will doesn’t care about the web program, but came to it with Grell to support his subordinate. Actually, Ronald just behave as their shipper. xDDD

Will watches after Grell’s words. It’s just cute how he hits Sutcliff’s head in 18th episode. It’s like the behavior of husband, who just doesn’t want his beloved to be an unintelligent reaper who knows nothing about Undertaker’s personality.

William started taking care after his glasses and speaking about it only after Grell’s request. Is he following the words of his beloved for 100 years? It’s pretty loyal.

William’s hate towards Sebastian. Could it be jealousy? Well, actually I’m not sure about that, but William hates Sebastian the most and sometimes I think that this is because of Grell’s attention to that demon. So, if there would be no Sebastian, Grell stops follow him and… starts working well. Yes, William is dreaming about that with the bottom of his heart.

And that look of William. His gaze becomes warmer and softer when he is looking at Grell and I think this says the most about his feelings towards his subordinate.

To say it simple, Grell just makes William emotional and alive, what is impermissible for reapers. They are forbidden to have feelings, because it can cause problems to their responsible work. So, I just believe that William is in love with Grell too, but has no possibility to admit it. If Will admits his feelings, he becomes weak in front of others reapers, so he must be unemotional to do his job professionally as a leader.

Well, I suppose that’s all the points that came to my mind today. This post turned out to be even bigger than I had thought, but I really hope that you enjoyed it while reading!

Okay, so since I was asked on my other blog to make a list of Murakami’s Megamix doujins, I’ve thought I’d like to put together a list of all her doujinshi (or at least the ones she made for her own series).

So here we go, here is a list of all Murakami’s Gravitation Doujin:

Remixes:

The first group of Murakami’s Gravi doujins, these are the oldest ones.

Remix Gravitation 1:

The first one, Gravitation Remix (later numbered in the reprint, but these didn’t start getting numbered until the third volume).

Parings: Eiri x Shuichi (main), Hiro x Shuichi (Hiro’s fantasy), Touma x Sakano (stated, but not shown explicitly)

Remix Gravitation 2:

This one was also later reprinted with a numbered cover, but I can no longer find an image of it online. (If anyone has a copy of it, I’d be grateful if you could share a pic of the cover.)

Pairings: Tatsuha x Ryuichi (main), Touma x Eiri x Shuichi (implied, not shown)

Remix Gravitation 3:

Parings: Tatsuha x Shuichi, Eiri x Shuichi x Tatsuha

Remix Gravitation 4:

Pairings: Eiri x Shuichi, Hiro x Shuichi

Remix Gravitation 5:

Pairings: Tatsuha X Eiri, Tatsuha x Eiri x Touma, Eiri x Shuichi (established, not shown)

Remix Gravitation 6:

Pairings: Tatsuha x Ryuichi

Remix Gravitation 7:

Pairings: K x Hiro, Yuuji x Hiro

Remix Gravitation 8:

Pairings: Eiri x Shuichi, K x Shuichi x Hiro x Yuuji

Remix Gravitation 8.5:

Why Murakami decided to number this 8.5 instead of going on to 9, I’ll never know, but it makes keeping track of these confusing. Anyways, this takes place before the series and has young!uke!K.

Pairings: K x Ark

Remix Gravitation 9:

This is another one that seems to take place before the main series. Taki and Ma-kun are still in school in this.

Parings: Ma-kun x Taki

Remix Gravitation 10:

Parings: Ma-kun x Taki, Ma-kun x Taki x Ken

Remix Gravitation 11:

Pairings: K x Hiro, Yuuji x Hiro, Hiro Ayaka (established, not shown)

Remix Gravitation 1+2:

A combined reprint of 1 and 2.

Remix Gravitation 3+4+5:

A combined reprint of volumes three, four, and five.

For Men:

Gravitation Mostly for Men:

This is kind of a stand-alone piece of Murakami’s doujinshi. Shuichi is a woman in this one, I guess because Murakami needed a break from teh gay pr0ns. Turns out to be a fantasy of Eiri’s in the hilarious final page.

Pairing: Eiri x Shuichi

Rimigras:

These are anthologies of the remixes, the original printings also had new color illustrations, collected in three volumes.

Rimigra 1:

The second cover is a reprint.

Contains remixes volumes 1, 2, 3, 4, and Gravitation for Men .

Rimigra 2:

Original cover and reprint.

Has volumes 5, 6, 7, 8, and 8.5.

Rimigra 3:

I don’t think this volume was reprinted. At least I’ve never seen an alternate version cover for it.

Includes volumes 9, 10, 11, and Mega Mix Gravitation.

Megamixes:

After the Rimigra compilations Murakami ended that series, and began her Mega Mix series. These aren’t numbered, and instead given titles. I’ve put them in the order they were published, though starting with Hiyoko, Murakami decided to explore stories earlier in the Gravi timeline, so chronological order is a little harder to figure out.

Megamix Gravitation Kumagoro:

Pairing: Eiri x Shuichi

Megamix Gravitation Panda:

Parings: Kitazawa x Eiri, Touma x Eiri x Tatsuha

Megamix Gravitation Capybara:

Pairings: Hiro x Suguru, Eiri x Shuichi

Megamix Gravitation Sakana (Fish):

Pairing: Eiri x Shuichi

Megamix Gravitation Hiyoko (Chick):

Pairing: Eiri x Shuichi

Megamix Gravitation Ushi (Cow):

Pairing: Eiri x Shuichi

Megamix Gravitation Chirimenjako (Dried Sardines):

Pairing: Eiri x Shuichi

Megamix Gravitation Torokeru Pudding (Melting Pudding):

Pairings: Eiri x Shuichi, Strangers x Shuichi

Megamix G Ookami (Wolf):

Pairings: Eiri x Shuichi, Hiro x Shuichi

Megamix G Kitsune (fox):

Pairings: Eiri x Shuichi, Hiro x Shuichi

Megamix G Vegetable:

Pairings: Eiri x Shuichi, Hiro x Shuichi, Touma x Eiri

ReReRemixes:

Another reprinting of the remixes, I’m not sure which issues are in each volume or if they come with any other extras since I don’t (yet) own these.

ReReRemix No.1:

ReReRemix No.2:

Megagras:

And finally, the Megagras: combined printing of select Megamixes.

Megagra-a:

The first one was a reprint of Kumagoro and  Panda, and also included an eight page fully colored short doujin.

Megagra Kapipanda:

Reprinting of Capybara and Panda.

Megagra Kumagyo:

Kumagoro and Sakana.

Megagra Hiyokoushi:

Hiyoko and Ushi.

Megagra 2 JakoruOokami:

And I think that’s it for the Gravitation doujinshi, if anyone is aware of any I missed let me know.

Sorry  for the long post.

Actually, I’d to make this a little longer and include more info like printing dates, summaries, and a download link.

*sigh*

Maybe another time…

Akashi/Mibuchi, platonically or romantically, is CRIMINALLY underrated and under-discussed and I don't know why. Like you said, it is literally the only queer ship where it is canon that one person likes the other, but there's so much more to their dynamic that I feel like I need to talk about before I explode.

First up, let's talk about the nickname "Sei-chan". There are so many layers to this nickname. In both the manga and the anime, Akashi is portrayed as this final boss character, very godlike and untouchable. So, for someone like Mibuchi to call him something as cute as "Sei-chan" seems insane.

Akashi had a couple nicknames in Teiko like "Akashicchi" and "Aka-chin" (brought to you by Kise and Murasakibara, respectively), but 1) those were nicknames given out to all the miracles + Kuroko and Momoi, so Akashi wasn't a special case. 2) both nicknames used his family name, Akashi. There is still a level of formality that both of them keep by doing that. 3) both of those nicknames were given to Akashi before he switched personalities.

Fast-forward to high school, Akashi has long switched to his other personality which is known to be colder and more tyrannical. And yet, despite all of that, Mibuchi met Akashi for the first time and was basically like "Yeah, that looks like a Sei-chan to me." Mibuchi sped-ran through all the levels of formality and went straight to closeness by using Akashi's given name, Seijuro. Mind you, Midorima, the miracle Akashi has gone on record saying he gets along with the most, calls him "Akashi". Even Momoi, a.k.a. the queen of giving the cutest nicknames to all the miracles, simply addresses Akashi as "Akashi-kun". None of Akashi's friends had ever used his given name until Mibuchi came along. And, honestly, Mibuchi is kind of iconic for that.

And, for someone as high and mighty as Akashi seemed to be, you'd think that he wouldn't stand for such a cutesy nickname. But Akashi has zero problem with it. He is supremely unbothered by the fact that this person who he just met is not only calling him by his given name but tacking on the -chan suffix, something Mibuchi doesn't do for anyone else on the team but Akashi. Say it with me now: SPECIAL 👏🏿 TREATMENT 👏🏿.

Moving past my unnecessarily long rant about Akashi's nickname, if you pay attention during the anime/manga, you'll notice that Mibuchi is the one who accompanies Akashi to most places. For example, Mibuchi and Akashi work out together.

And (even though this is a special episode that is full of 4th wall breaks) Mibuchi accompanied Akashi to Maji Burger in the 3rd KNB fan disc. Keep in mind that both Mibuchi and Akashi go to school in Kyoto, which means Mibuchi braved a 4 or 5-hour round trip just to see Akashi meet up with and chat with his friends from Teiko.

Speaking of that fan disc, the part that barely anyone talks about but is so integral to MibuAka potentially being a ship that has a two-way attraction, this part where they're discussing Valentine's Day chocolates and Mibuchi straight-up asks Akashi if he would accept chocolates if he made them.

And what does Akashi say in response to this???

"Yes, of course. I'm looking forward to it." HELLOOOOOOOOOO

And Akashi is not stupid or oblivious. In the Replace Plus chapters, he tells Nijimura that he already knew about Momoi liking Kuroko, and it's Midorima who is shown to be the oblivious one out of all the miracles.

And you can argue that of course he knew because Momoi was being obvious about it with her behavior, but I would argue that Mibuchi is also not very subtle either. Calling Akashi (and only Akashi) by a pet name, accompanying Akashi to all these places even when he doesn't have to, and on top of that, wanting to make Akashi Valentine's Day chocolates after hearing that Momoi also wanted to make Kuroko Valentine's Day chocolates? Yeahhhhh Mibuchi you're not fooling anyone with that, I'm sawry.

Akashi is incredibly observant and it's a running joke in the anime/manga that he practically reads other people's minds because he seems to always know what other people are thinking. There's just no way he's not aware of the optics of a boy giving another boy homemade chocolates on Valentine's Day. Let's not be silly here! Akashi knows exactly what Mibuchi is doing with that gesture and he's perfectly okay with it and even encourages Mibuchi to do it!

And even if Akashi is somehow not romantically attracted to Mibuchi, it doesn't change the fact that Akashi is still very much Mibuchi's baby. Case in point:

I don't even think I need to explain this photo. Look at how excited Mibuchi is to make sweets for Akashi, although poor Akashi is probably sitting there wondering how on earth he's supposed to eat all of this. (As a side note, I will never get over how adorable Akashi's face is in this photo. His owlish expression is so precious and makes him look like a middle-schooler again. 🥺)

Also in the Zero Step video, remember when Rakuzan went to a photo booth to take pics together? Notice how Mibuchi is the only one actually touching Akashi. If you watch the clip in full, Akashi even leans into Mibuchi a little. Mibuchi deffo has some sort of privileges that the rest of the team doesn't. The only person who ever got close to Akashi like that is Nijimura, but I'll explore the NijiAka dynamic another time.

But yeah, you can see Mibuchi likes going out of his way for Akashi, taking care of him, fussing over him, and worrying about him in general. Like in the KNB drama CD season 3 vol 9 and also in the Replace Plus novels, when Mibuchi thinks that the other two Uncrowned Kings are bothering Akashi too much, he'll scold them for doing so. It's giving "Don't worry your pretty little head over it, I'll handle it".

*looks at notes* okay, I think I've said enough, so I'll just wrap up this post with some final words. I really love the Akashi/Mibuchi dynamic. Even if it ends up being one-sided attraction/infatuation, their interactions with each other are still super wholesome. Honestly, I would have liked to see more of that in the anime/manga because with all the responsibilities Akashi has to shoulder, it's good he can have someone to lean on when it gets too much. Mibuchi kinda functions like Nijimura in that sense (before he made Akashi captain, that is). But at the same time, it's also different. There's this nurturing side of Mibuchi, and Akashi just brings it out of him. And the reason why Akashi doesn't push him away is because, deep down, he needs someone like Mibuchi in his life.

Sei-chan isn't only a very cute nickname to show Mibuchi's fondness for Akashi (and how Akashi is perfectly ok with it). In anime and manga adding the suffix -chan often show a romantic interest.

Mibuchi not only accompanies Akashi everywhere, he is also his vice-captain!

Mibuchi's type is someone attentive, and who is the most attentive person in the whole story ? The one who, like you said, is incredibly observant to the point the other characters feel like he can read their mind ? Yes once again it's Akashi. They have lot of really cute moments related to that in the CD Drama too !

The first is during Mayuzumi CD drama. Akashi noticed he didn't eat much after joining the first string and keep an eye on that until Mayuzumi find back his appetite. When he heard this, Mibuchi immediately started gushing about how attentive and impressive Akashi is in his head.

In another CD Drama, Akashi notices that Mibuchi is hiding something from him and asks if he wants to talk about it (once again Mibuchi gush about Akashi's attentiveness) and Mibuchi confides that he feels responsible for their defeat against Seirin and that he has not been able to sleep well since, Akashi reassures and comforts him. (It also feature some adorable Rakuzan & Akashi interactions, and Akashi & Murasakibara friendship)

Akashi's type is someone who's elegant and dignified. Do i even need to say it ?? Mibuchi is literaly the perfect embodiment of that, he is the most elegant and dignified person in the show.

Look at Mibuchi being all pretty next to his crush.

One could argue that the question was "what is his type of girl", but there is a very high level of chance that Mibuchi is trans anyway (he is confirmed homosexual but the term used in japanese can refer to trans people too). But as the author stated, Mibuchi only found out he was gay in high school, so it's possible he isn't sure about his own gender yet and will transition after high school.

In Fujimaki next manga, Kill Blue there is a trans woman, (she is really great, one of my favorite characters) so clearly the author has no problem adding trans characters to his stories, which makes Mibuchi being trans that much more likely. (on that note, i use he/him pronouns for him because that what's used in the manga and it's not confirmed he is trans, otherwise i would obviously go with his preferred pronouns)

And just a tiny little correction, Hayama is often showed to casually touch Akashi too.

In short they are so cute and perfect together, and it's the closest we have to a queer canon ship in KnB. And Mibuchi should get to dote on Akashi for the rest of his life if that makes him happy. And Akashi truly need someone to care for him because he can't keep on carrying the weight of the world alone.

this is just for links (bc i just have No Way of formatting this properly), so for more in-depth stuffs and credits, head to the google doc, or the carrd !! :3c