#nichoji

In particular I think it’s interesting the way having a rivalry with Seiji is made akin to having or desiring a relationship with him. We see this in several different instances throughout the comic wherein other fencers are said to "chase" after him, but that that relationship is "one-sided", seeking a victory that would grant them personal satisfaction and a certain social status. The language of these moments is similar to the one used when discussing a romantic or sexual "conquest". Sport and personal relationships are directly linked throughout the whole comic through both this choice of language and the intensity with which Seiji experiences losing.

It’s the reason why Jesse and Seiji’s relationship— despite having no real canon confirmation of this— feels to have been romantic or at least adjacent to an intimate relationship, and not just a purely fencing related dynamic. By which I mean, throughout Fence we see that understanding someone’s fencing is understanding them as a person (Jesse begging Seiji to come back and fence with him because no one else understands his fencing as well as Seiji, meaning no one is up to par with him and as such is a challenge to him, implies, through this repeated use of relationship-like language, that no one other than Seiji understands Jesse as a person, not just as a fencer), and to beat someone is not just a show of being better than them technique-wise, but also of knowing the other person enough to know their weaknesses— emotional and otherwise. It is also to be noted that when no one understands Seiji's fencing— or how good he really is— he is incredibly socially isolated because no one understands him, either.

And because of this, when a character feels threatened by the possibility of losing, it’s because it goes beyond the sport; it becomes a personal matter of opening oneself up too much to their opponent. Seiji remembers meeting Jesse for the first time after losing to Aiden because the two things are interconnected: being beaten by either person was a show of Seiji’s weakness, which is not actually fencing related— it’s that he struggles to control his emotional reactions and, as such, when faced with the personal being made explicit on the strip, lets too much emotion slip through the cracks, because fencing is interwoven with his life and his sense of self. To lose is to not be good enough outside of the sport. It's to not be enough to be interested in, to stick around for, to treat well. It’s not just a bout, it’s a dialogue between the two characters engaging in it, but it's one-sided on either side. The emotional complexity of these matches directly mirrors the emotional complexity and intensity of human relationships— attack, meaning to pry into someone, while defending, meaning to make sure you're not easy to read.

We see Nicholas and Seiji’s relationship shift from animosity to awkwardness to friendship when Nicholas shows that he does not view his rivalry with Seiji as a conquest of some kind (as aforementioned, as one might view dating a highly sought after person) but rather as a means through which they can both grow and, crucially, as a vehicle through which to understand the other person without the expectation of hurting each other with that knowledge. This is why Seiji accepts Nicholas at his side and why a basis for a romantic relationship is created out of their initial rivalry: Nicholas is the first to view him as someone who not only challenges others, but in turn needs someone to challenge him, instead of just as someone who is to be defeated or pushed off his pedestal. This is akin to the way someone would find a (romantic or otherwise) partner in someone who sees them as more than a means to an end, or someone to brag about having gotten with.

A similar case is to be made with Aiden; why does Aiden not actually fence his best at camp? Because he knows that letting yourself be known too well leads to people knowing how to hurt you, or in this case, beat you. This is the same logic applied to his many short-lived flings. It’s both a tactical fencing strategy and a concept applied to his personal relationships throughout the comic. He directly attacks characters on their emotions because those are tied into the bout— he tells Jay no one will want to stick around after truly knowing him, and then beats him, and leaves him on the strip. The relationship is no longer separate from the act of fencing— by beating him, Aiden breaks his heart a second time over. He's the more explicit example of the personal and fencing being intertwined throughout the comic.