Kudoichi are an absolutely beautiful and amazing yet tragic pairing, I can't stress enough just how much they mean to me and how they quite literally changed the way I think - uh so ig have my attempt at my takes/reasons as to why I ship them.
Kudo and Yoichi to me embody genuine love, care and compassion which is something I don't see represented much in various media or even in real life - or at the very least I just doesn't resonate with me. Their story as I mentioned is so beautifully tragic I just feel the need to sob violently whenever I think about them. Kudou reaching his hand out to yoichi, a stranger, someone related to all for one - his mortal enemy gives us so much information about him as a character and kudoichi as a pairing.
Kudou, a resistance leader who had the intentions to kill or at the very least harm whoever/whatever was in the vault {him having his gauntlet ready, his narrowed gaze and his initial threatening domineer, etc.} stopped the moment he saw yoichi, his gaze quite literally softened and his first instinctual reaction was to go and help him, to reach out to him. It's not a stretch to say that Kudou was a kind person/was willing to help people out, that is after all a characteristic that I believe leaders possess/should have. But given the circumstances - a war, in the enemies base, unknown person, Kudou should have been at least a little weary of Yoichi. But he wasn't. Kudou let his guards down the moment he saw yoichi, which to me is indicative that he trusted yoichi, trusted that he was a good person from looking at him. Kudou reaching out to yoichi is so significant to their relationship also, if he didn't reach out ofa wouldn't have been born . Not only that but it was a moment that gave yoichi hope - he calls Kudou his hero, he views him as a saviour. From this one singular interaction kudou already trusts yoichi, and yoichi sees him as a hero - if this is what can be derived from one interaction what about the two months they spent together?Horikoshi didn't give us much on what went on during those two months but Kudou and Yoichi were clearly close to each other: the conversation they had about all for one, Kudou crying when yoichi died..
Now I want to talk a bit more about moments in the manga because most of my reasons as to why I ship them comes from the manga panels themselves and the way they're drawn and the text and not just their story.
Let's start with hands. Horikoshi himself stated that hands could express emotions just how faces do and it's so clear to me. Their hands are drawn so gently, it shows not only Kudou's domineer towards yoichi but also now caring he was. The hands are drawn to indicate that kudou didn't rush yoichi, even if they didn't have a lot of time to waste. Yoichi so slowly yet gently going to hold Kudou's hand shows this. But it also shows that he also trusts him, it shows that willingness in this moment. Kudou wanted to save yoichi but yoichi also wanted to go with Kudou.
Kudou and yoichi were actually so close to each other when you think about it. "victory meant life, and defeat meant death" it's clear that kudou was desensitized to death at least to some extent, as he views it as something almost natural to their cause, he also didn't have time to mourn any deaths. Over time a person just starts to get desensitized to it yet when yoichi died Kudou started tearing up. Yoichi meant a lot to Kudou, his tears indicate that he felt strong emotions towards him. Something I think about is Yoichi's name reveal being said by Kudou. This implies that they were close enough for him to know his name and regularly call him by it, so regularly that he's the one to eventually reveal his name, ik bones cut this out to make AFO the one to reveal yoichi's name in the anime but this just goes to show that Kudou was closer to yoichi than AFO was . Kudou was closer to him than his own family.
This is another thing I think about a lot. How Kudou views yoichi, these are from Kudou's pov/in context with Kudou. Yoichi is always drawn inconsistently and I think that's on purpose. It seems as if he's drawn prettiest whenever it's in context with Kudou implying that that's how he saw him.
Also. Kudou and yoichi blend into each other here. And their vestige colors come from the same shade, just different hues. They're eachother's half, no at this point they are one. This reminds me of "yoichi's will is now within me" and how Kudou carried ofa because of yoichi unlike the other users that had the power to defeat AFO. Kudou wanted that's sure, but he continued because it was yoichi, because of yoichi's will.
The first thing he thought of btw!! He was so close to yoichi that he could sense him, his quirk factor inside of him .
Also this panel. The implications here are that Yoichi was no longer all for one's, he became kudou's. Kudou was also referred to "the man who stole Yoichi away."
Also: Kudou becoming softer when he talked to yoichi shoes how much he cares, and how his domineer was always so gentle towards him.
This is a very scattered post ik but I have more to yap about, the ofa transfer. Yoichi didn't know about the quirk but thanks to kudou and Bruce researching it it was concluded that DNA and consent was needed to past down OFA. The transfer had to have happened mere seconds before yoichi died since he had to consent to give his power. Yoichi fully trusted a man he knew for two months to accidentally give him OFA. Such trust is hard to build over two months. Also the implications of DNA needed and the accidental transfer are crazy when you think about it. They really were close. Very close to each other.
Erm anyways idk I would have gone into more details but writing this is alr overwhelming but I can yap more if there's questions.
