volleyball legend ryomen sukuna just broke the internet and he didn't have to be in the court to do it. instead, he only had to be quietly becoming a dad on camera and a loving, devoted husband to you, his beloved astrophyscist wife.
there were no thumbnails at all. there was no fancy, overbound editing. there were no brand deal intros either. he didn't care about any of that. that's not what's important here in the first place. he's just documenting his life.
it was just ryomen sukuna who was a world champion, olympic volleyball star, known for his brutal serves and colder-than-ice interviews, as he quietly sets up a tripod in his kitchen and whispering into his phone camera at 7:12 a.m.
“she’s still sleeping very well right now, which is great. she gets tired easier now. baby’s the size of a mango this week.”
he scratches his head, shifts uncomfortably as he pressed the coffee machine. “this is for the kid. our little girl. so she knows how it all started. how i become her loving dad."
no one expected ryomen sukuna to join youtube. he’s famously private about everything. he doesn't share anything unless he wants to. even with his official work accounts.
he just really didn't care about it, so he doesn’t post often, so he also let alone doesn’t follow trends. hell, he doesn't even own a ring light until he had this idea to do this randomly one day.
but a few months into your pregnancy, he started filming. not for the fans. not to gain clout by doing content. not to keep up with any algorithm. just to document life for his unborn child.
specifically, life with you. his wife. an astrophysicist still taking international zoom calls about a peer review from bed, solving equations in the margins of her pregnancy tracker, and eating oranges like it’s her job.
he calls the channel something pretty simple. it's called “archive for you” — not capitalized. no bio. no promo. just the title, just the image of clematis flowers as the profile pic. that's it.
in the channel itself, it was just a series of slow, quiet vlogs titled ever so bluntly. many of them were just too much. he had titles like:
“first appointment. she cried, i didn’t know what to do.”
“crib building at 1am, i have no idea what i’m doing.”
“her ankles hurt, so i made her sit down. she tried to lecture me about particle mass anyway.”
“baby kicked. lost my mind.”
“she solved a problem for NASA while eating crackers. i’m in love.”
at first, barely anyone watched. he really didn't share it with anyone. just a couple dozen views per post. all his teammates thought it was a private vlog project. gojo satoru started to tease him for it.
then someone on the interweb saw it, after searching for something. it was something they never expected. they were surprised but they decided to go and screen-record a moment from the youtube video.
the video that went viral was ryomen sukuna whispering over footage of you finally sleeping, belly barely starting to show, various books still open beside you as some classical music was playing in the background.
“she’s still working. still carrying all this weight like it’s nothing. i’ve never seen someone look so tired and so beautiful at the same time. i don’t say that enough. but maybe you’ll see it here.”
soon enough, the world found out about the channel. it was the talk of the town. in less than 48 hours, his subscriber count hit 500,000. in a week, 2 million. by the end of the month, people started calling it “the softest channel on the internet from a husband and dad who just wants to document being a dad and husband."
because ryomen sukuna doesn’t vlog like an influencer. he vlogs like a man trying to leave a memory, as a simple human being. a father, a husband who wants to keep these memories for his daughter to see.
his videos aren’t aesthetic. there’s no background music either. he forgets to trim the clips. sometimes he talks with his mouth full. sometimes he scowls off-camera and says to himself, “don’t put this in” but he never cuts it out.
he talks about his fears. about wondering if he’ll be a good dad. about not knowing how to support you through everything, so he’s learning. every day. slowly to be the father his kid needs in him.
“she’s doing everything. her body’s changing. she’s still teaching, still writing papers." he sighs heavily. "all i can do is keep the house clean and try to be there when she needs water or snacks. but i want our kid to see this one day. to know how incredible her mom was.”
“i’ve never seen masculinity look like this before.”
“this is what it looks like to love someone for real.”
“he said ‘this is for the kid’ and created the most emotionally raw dad series on youtube.”
and through all of it, he never changes anything about it. he doesn’t start scripting his words or fixing the lighting. he keeps uploading the same way: bare, a little awkward, completely sincere.
he never acknowledges the virality.
never answers press inquiries.
you, brushing your teeth and mumbling about the universe. you, snapping at him mid-contraction practice, then apologizing through tears. you, falling asleep with your laptop open while sukuna tucks a blanket over your legs.
“i don’t care if nobody watches this, or if everyone does.” he says in one video, setting a plate of fruit next to you. “it’s for you. and for our daughter. so one day she'll see exactly how we loved before she was even born.”
everyone was floored with how much he loved you, and how much you looked at him with love too. so, when your baby finally arrives, the last video before his much longer break is titled: “you’re here. she’s okay. i’m in pieces.”
he’s crying. he’s holding the camera with one hand, a hospital bracelet on his wrist, and whispering. “you’re real. mom's asleep beside me. i can’t believe i get to live this life.”
no outro. no music. it was just him, a new father, kissing his daughter's forehead. then moving the camera and turning it off. and even when the uploads stop for a while, the comment section keeps growing:
“the baby won’t understand this for years. but when she does, she'll know that she was loved like the sun.”
and they will. because ryomen sukuna made sure of it.
sukuna retires the account when your daughter was born.
but he does leave one last post up, just to introduce her.
"ryomen sukumi, your name means we cherish you best."
