#kinrokaze

EEEEEEE!! Thanks so much for the question because I will take any opportunity to ramble about my favorite Dr. Stone ship!!

Okay, so for me, the appeal of Kinrokaze is how they seem so similar on the surface, but in a lot of the little details of their personalities, they're very different people. I think they have enough similarities that they would get along, but their differences kind of make up for each other's faults and make each other stronger. For example, they're both very serious rule-followers. I think they would appreciate that about each other. They're both dedicated to training and very powerful warriors, and considering that they're shown to value both loyalty and strength, they would bond over that. On the angsty end, they're also both very self-sacrificing (Kinro fully prepared to die during Hyoga's attack to protect Ishigami Village, Matsukaze constantly offering himself up to protect Ginro), and I see the potential for some DELICIOUS conversations where they're both trying to give themselves up for the other, but neither of them understand why.

Talking about their differences, Kinro is very proud, where Matsukaze is much more humble. Pair the guy who didn't speak up about his shitty vision even AFTER glasses were invented with the guy who swore his loyalty to some random out of a sense of duty to his old master together, and I think you've got a brilliant recipe for mutual self improvement. Kinro would help Matsukaze with his self esteem. Matsukaze would teach Kinro that it's foolish to handicap yourself out of pride and nothing more. And overall, I just think they would build each other up and have a wonderful time together.

Going beyond personality, we can also talk about how they have similar skillsets and codes of ethics. In the main story, they both serve the same role, so it's plausible that they'd spend time around each other. I like to think them getting together was very slowburn. Since they're both so reserved and dedicated to other things, they would either be oblivious to their feelings (Kinro) or unwilling to bring it up out of worries of being a burden/distraction from "more important" things (Matsukaze). When they do finally figure it out though, they would be solid forever.

In Matsukaze’s world, “you’re a talented warrior” is the highest level of flirting and suggestiveness that one can achieve.

We all know I’m a special kind of delusional about this ship, so here are some things about them I think would be cute if they got together in my little mind universe:

Sparring is their love language

Matsukaze caught feelings first, but never said anything because of his MAJOR self esteem issues. He was pining for a really long time but essentially just let himself suffer in silence until Kinro made the first move.

Once it got out that they liked each other, pretty much the whole Kingdom of Science was shipping them behind the scenes, particularly Kohaku and Ginro

They’re both super stuffy and formal, and they treat the whole thing like an old-timey courtship. Kinro gets flustered if Matsukaze shows ANY amount of skin, but he’s a massive hypocrite because look at HIS outfit

Matsukaze sucks at eye contact but Kinro doesn’t even notice because his vision is so shitty

When they got together, no one knew for like 6 months because they acted the exact same as before in public and they didn’t announce that they were together. Nobody even found out about it until one of them casually dropped it in conversation. The Kingdom of Science started to freak out, but they were both confused because “this isn’t news, where have you been for the last year??”

They have arguments about which of them is older because Kinro has been alive longer but Matsukaze was born WAY earlier. Each of them claims to be younger, because they want another reason to show each other respect. They both buy into “respect your elders” and all that, even if it’s in a really low-stakes situation

Kinro doms

If they’ve been together for a while, Kinro will practically know everything there is to know about Matsukaze. Like Senku will be designing weapons or something and he asks Matsukaze how tall he is so he can make sure it’s sized right. Matsukaze doesn’t know right away, but Kinro will chime in with suspiciously specific measurements and everyone just accepts it and moves on

Matsukaze refuses to try on any of Kinro’s clothes because they’re “immodest”

Kohaku is an absolute ASSHOLE about it when she finds out they’re together. She’s constantly making fun of Kinro about it and he doesn’t show that it bothers him, but it really bothers him.