do you want to ramble about what you like about vashwood and merylmilly?
Anon I always want to ramble about Vashwood and MerylMilly hehe.
So, if you’ve known me for any length of time ever, you can probably slot Vashwood right in with being very my taste in ships. (I mean, I was in KuroFai hell when I was 13. *Undertale voice* Despite everything, I have always been me.) But they’re a very very fun pair. You can see that right away they really, really *like* each other, and grown incredibly close even if they both Know Better. I think TriMax in particular has them almost behaving as two halves of one whole, and even with the issues they do have, they’re both actually quite good for each other.
One thing I think is particularly interesting is they both share an absolutely massive amount of similar traumas, especially those revolving around autonomy (nonconsensual medical procedures, implied sexual assault, having your body turned into a killing device, etc), which is I think a really unique dynamic, as they are able to understand each other without one being the savior of the other and without one being treated as a victim. They see each other as a person, and not an object or idea. They can understand each other! They want the other to be safe and to value themselves, and get upset whenever the other doesn’t. They would do anything for each other.
I get why some people view WW as like, following Vash in the religious sense, but I really don’t think that’s the case. They changed each other equally, and I think the bridal symbolism was to showcase that they’re like a husband and wife. When Wolfwood died, part of Vash *literally* died too, and he shown to have no desire to live anymore.
They’re also just. Really stupidly cute. Like, Wolfwood getting all blushy and mushy whenever Vash smiles genuinely gives me cuteness aggression. Who told that grown man to be so cute with his schoolgirl level crush?
While I don’t have as much to say about MerylMilly (in part because they never get the same level of fleshed out, no matter the version) they’re fun girls! They show a lot of deep love and trust for each other, and they’re always so silly. I especially liked their banter in Stragaze, which felt particularly flirty!
I think they can be a level of themselves they can’t with other people, and I really think Milly helps Meryl in particular be a more interesting and likable character, because I think in both the 98 anime and the manga she can lean into different flavors of The Girl Who Has A Crush On The Protagonist Character.
I wish we got a little more fleshing out on Milly’s feelings of being a burden on Meryl, but I also adored the scene of her in the manga threatening to shoot Wolfwood if he didn’t let her come with on the Meryl Rescue Mission.
