confession: i feel guilty liking your yukio analysis because i am 100% a yukio hater but still agree with nearly every point and that feels almost contradictory.
but anyways, please keep writing cuz you’re stuffs are probably the best in the fandom :)
The series anon is talking about is here, here, and here ദ്ദി ( ᵔ ᗜ ᵔ )
So here's the thing, you're free to dislike Yukio. He can just really rub you the wrong way and that's fine. You do not have to like a character to acknowledge they're well written, and sometimes being well written is exactly what's so off putting about them. They're too real or too close to someone or something you dislike.
The reason I'm doing this series is because I've noticed a concerning lack of two things with Yukio.
Basic understanding of the plot that is happening in the story. Some of this is on the anime adaptations because woof, the first two seasons made some major goofs that have stuck with us for better or worse, but mostly worse. It did something horrid to every character, and we are living in the ripple (but more like tsunami) of those missteps. The anime painted Yukio a very specific way and unfortunately a lot of people do not realize it was a biased and typically incorrect way. Those that have gone on to read the manga tend to skim or skip those early chapters as well, so they miss a lot of the things that were different and a lot of the smaller moments that were very important for character development.
A willingness to realize that Yukio is more often than not justified in his actions, even if they negatively impact Rin. Yukio is always expected to behave responsibly and always blamed for everything despite being in the younger half of the exwire group and despite being a fifteen year old teacher, full time student, exorcist, tutor, and on some kind of secret assignment from Mephisto and Shirou for half this manga. He has more responsibility than anyone else ans is expected to never misstep. Rin misunderstands him and belittles him almost constantly and yet even when Rin realizes he has made a mistake about Yukio and his own assumptions, readers do not realize they too have made a mistake. Yukio is far smarter than Rin, so unless we're paying close attention, it can be easy to misread his actions because the reasoning behind them flew over Rin's head.
I truly love this manga and the depths it has. How complicated the story is and how nuanced the characters are. How right and wrong get complicated and how connection and isolation play out. I love that these broken characters are messy and make mistakes and try their best and it's hard to say what was right and wrong in that moment. I love how much it feels like there have been generational curses, but that they can be broken and that the sins of the fathers don't have to carry on past the current generation. That we don't have to do this alone and that we can reach out.
I love how often Rin is wrong or misguided or purposefully not looking and doing something that would help him out because he's either avoiding a confrontation or simply too lazy or was quite frankly a bit stupid. I love that he's quick to throw himself in the way of danger and how that ultimately leads him to struggling to listen and that even in hell, he'll still pull himself back together for those that need him.
I love how Shiemi has so much social anxiety but is so earnest and brave and fights through that to be the person everyone knows they can trust and that she'll square up to any impossible odds to help.
I love that Konekomaru is so scared and has lost so damn much to Satan (not just his parents, his entire temple which would mean a fair amount of extended family and friends that were his birth right to have and known) but will strive to be brave for his friends and is so smart.
I love that Renzou is always a mystery except in the way he is there for his best friends when they really need him. That he always has more cards than he's revealing and the only thing you can trust in is that he'll show up in a way you did not anticipate.
I love that Izumo is such a bitch for so much of this manga, and it's with such a damn good reason. That she will push you away and out until you're in, and then she'll be the biggest ride or die friend you've ever had.
I love that Ryuuji is this big and gruff softie who cries more than most people in the manga and who has such a damn big bleeding heart that his response to having a gun pulled on him is being terrified that his friend is in a really bad place and needs help. (And that he might not have noticed and might have failed, and has to make that right.)
And yes, I love that Yukio is complicated and messy and so damn smart it's hard to keep up with. I love that he's such a contrast to Rin and that the snow boy has built himself such an icy wall around his heart because he was so soft and fragile for so much of his life and will not let himself go back there. How he knows Rin will save him and doesn't think he deserves to be saved and is so scared to let himself be weak.
I truly don't mind if people dislike Yukio. He's a character that contradicts Rin a lot and it's easy to dislike that when you really related to Rin. I really only ask that people dislike Yukio accurately. Blue Exorcist is an incredible story and Yukio Okumura is really well written, and they both deserve that closer look and that time be taken to really understand what it's telling and showing us. So much of the Yukio Hater rhetoric undermines that entirely by taking things out of their context, exaggerating, or misremembering things entirely. It harms Rin as well, and so many of the other characters.
So don't feel guilty if you find yourself enjoying my analysis, it's reasonable that you would if you enjoy Blue Exorcist. Most of what I'm doing is rehashing the story out for you. I'm just taking it slower and point out what is happening specifically with Yukio and some of the background stuff it's easy not to notice. I know this story very well (I have spent far too much time reading and rereading and theorizing) and have picked up on a lot of details that help expand on everything going on because Kato gave us so much detail and some of it you don't notice or pick up on until later. (A lot of Shirou and Yukio stuff makes more sense on a reread because we've gotten a lot more of their backstories now.)
Don't feel guilty if you still want to dislike Yukio, though I would ask that you do a bit of self reflection if your guilt is specifically over disliking Yukio. Why is there guilt there? If it's something with feeling that you'll find your dislike is unjustified, you don't have to justify disliking a character, but it might point out that you were disliking a more fandomized version of Yukio than the real one. It's something that happens to a lot of us.
