Shadow and Maria are not siblings
Growing up together doesnt mean they are siblings. There are barely any info about what their daily lives were like. We dont know if they lived their daily life in the same apartment of the Ark. Shadow never refers to Gerald as his dad or Maria to a sister. The canon says they are friends nothing more nothing less.
So let me ship em a lil bit
This is what irks me when it comes to people who tend to police how others should view character dynamics, and they certainly don't shy away from doing that when it comes to Shadow and Maria. Firstly, Shiro Maekawa leaves their dynamic ambiguous, which means anyone can interpret their relationship any way they want to. It now can have a whole different meaning and approach to it. So no one should be attacking others for shipping it in the first place. Maekawa has openly mentioned how he supports Shadaria as a romantic pairing on his Twitter account and adores all the other fanworks of pair-matching Shadow has (popular ones like Sonic & Rouge, for example). So what's up with that? Wouldn't he be strongly against others shipping them if he did indeed intend for them to be strictly familial? And secondly, Shadow and Maria's tragedy was inspired by the shojo manga βPlease Save My Earth,β and surprise surprise, the protagonists just so happen to be lovers in the story. Not only that, you ever find it odd that it's only the Western audience that has a huge problem with this ship but not the Japanese? Maybe it's because Maekawa himself was onboard with it, so that gave the Japanese fans a green light to ship them together? But take that as you will. Now, of course, this doesn't automatically mean that Shadow and Maria also have a romantic love story, because, again, you can interpret their dynamic however you want, but it's still something to consider. It's a bit disheartening that people will call others weird or even gross for enjoying the ship since it can be explored in many different ways, which defeats the whole purpose of diving in fanon works and the various approaches you can take in the first place. Especially when the co-creator themselves is all for it and encourages it even...
Now that I think of it...
Maybe one can even go as far as to say that their dynamic has changed over time and what was to be never was, or maybe it has always stayed the same and the Western audience just strictly views the pair as platonic and familial while a lot of the Japanese audience does not because their relationship was developed differently for each? As far as I know, SEGA Japan and SEGA West can share very different opinions on the 'Sonic the Hedgehog' series and its characters. Maybe that's all there is to it? Feel free to correct me on that part, though. Anyway, I wonder how they'll go about their dynamic in the movie... I'm leaning more towards the sibling route, and I'm perfectly okay with that. I'll just be happy that they show off their strong bond and will connect with each other in ways that weren't explored before in the games. I really don't care how they decide to explore their relationship as long as it sticks to the canon material, with them being depicted as close friends and having an unbreakable bond.
But let's just enjoy their bond for what it is. An unbreakable bond that withstands the test of time.
And I'm just gonna leave this here:
(Source: @krack932 on twitter)
You're absolutely correct. SEGA Japan and SEGA West do see things differently.
Thank you so much, @elysiumcore for taking the time to write this reblog because it irks me so much too.
Shadow and Maria were never "sibling coded". The sibling-coded argument is dumb and just gives people an excuse to gatekeep and police in the fandom. As a Shadaria/Shadmari shipper, Shadow and Maria's relationship has always resonated with me on a deep and personal level because they have an unbreakable bond that withstands the test of time.
I had been meaning to make a post about this very subject, and I think you nailed it perfectly. π
