#shuuji

Shimanami Tasogare

It's been a while since you picked it from here, but I finally thought up what to draw with your pick lol

So, my friend got digisurvive for their birthday and was diligently texting me about it. When he met the mysterious woman, he remarked "lol this is arukenimon again, isn't it?" (We watched Ghost Game together, but she hasn't actually watched 02 LMAO).

At any rate, this got me thinking the scenario brings out very fun points of interest for Shuuji, Kaito and Aoi, regardless whether we, genre-savy digimon fans, can buy it.

While I did dedicate a section to Aoi's and Shuuji's parallels in my Wrathful meta, there's actually more to expand on: as previously stated, they're the overachievers, Harmony-seekers of the group, and their behavior is underlined by the want to conform to external expectations placed upon them. As a result, they have strong outer personas that look downright jarring when put side to side with their respective partners. Shuuji starts out as the seemingly iron-fisted and downright noxious leader in contrast to Lopmon's innocuous fragility and sensitivity. Aoi's personable, lenient and nurturing behavior contrasts to Labramon's opinionated, prideful and rather waspish demeanor. As we know, their partners represent their most authentic/ideal selves, so it's both reflecting their true natures/interiority as well as either the best of them (in Shuuji's case, his better points are not as apparent as his worst, so Lopmon is a good peek at the potential) or what they value (Aoi often mentions how Reliable Labramon is, and she often talks about wanting to attain that reliability for herself and heavily links to assertiveness).

As such, we have certain toying with appearances going on with both. Shuuji being rigid and logical would be expected of a guy, and he Is Logical, but also very gentle & easily molded by external expectations. Whenever the majority's opinion outnumbers his, he sets his aside and follows them: it happens twice in part 3, first he's opposed to exploring but caves in, then he mistrusts Arukenimon but follows the group to the cable car. In part 5, he's straight up at the verge of a breakdown over his intense fear of exploring the waterways, but he goes Anyway. This is a trait that never goes away— in Truthful, he wants to secure the Southern Shrine first since he deduces that being the least weakened would mean it has the least kenzoku presence, however, he follows the group's decision to tackle the Northern Shrine first. Not to mention his entire sense of self is predicated on fulfilling the narrow idea of what his father considers as success.

Aoi, on the other hand, is the one who ends up having the most set ideas over how things should be and the most rigid thinking out of the group— the extremely controlling and manipulative extents she goes on Wrathful and the fact she's the one kid who never backs down (because she's 'the one who's right') are the most telling examples of this. However, she's also the one who regularly reminds others of what the appropriate conduct is, which is partly the reason the group is so hierarchical early on (and this, of course, earns her the teasing over how nagging she is in that one affinity dialogue in part 9 when Takuma calls her a wizard lol). All of this behavior stems on how deeply inflexible she can be about her values at times, as well as her hidden grievances (She does often get unfairly passive aggressive to Minoru lol).

Both Aoi's and Shuuji's positive character growth is predicated on the idea of them embracing their true selves more, as part of Survive's ever-going preoccupation with a balance between individualism and collectivism. This is best observed with what ends up being their end-game with regards authority: Shuuji thinks that he needs to be in that center position even though it makes him deeply uncomfortable/he's not suited for it. He has to learn to be okay with taking a more supporting role. Whereas Aoi was being wishy washy about it (and straight up shrinks out of the responsibility in part 2) because of her belief she couldn't handle it and her fears over making the wrong decision/not being able to live up to the expectations. However, it's still a position she ends up occupying as she gets more involved with the group, partly because of her strong sense of responsibility but also because of her want to guide others to the Right Behavior. She wants the respect to take care of the group in a way that allows her to enforce certain behaviors & dynamics and set the tone about how they should operate. Even if that how is getting everyone on board, she still wants that authority to get to do things her way.

I think it's funny that Aoi and Saki might outwardly look like opposites— the serious, reserved, anxious girl and the carefeee, outgoing optimist— bc what they both choose to say is very measured and there's a high degree of reservation for both. With Saki, it makes her appear downright flighty and oblique, whereas Aoi comes off as more lenient & docile & overall a lot more repressed lol I think it could be fun to write them both running into each others' emotional walls

The other thing that is fun is that Aoi generally likes talking about what bothers her. If you prod her, she tends to overshare. She is super consistent lol She likes being asked her opinions on things, having the chance to voice her misgivings w/o disturbing the morale of the group and to be reassured about things; plus she deeply dislikes having her concerns dismissed through "don't worry so much" lol

On the other hand, Saki gets annoyed/upset if you press her. Saki really isn't upfront about what she wants. She takes the edge off situations through jokes like Minoru (this makes the way she's rude to him extra funny lol Hating the mirror that reflects you, huh), but hers are more charged because even if she says it lightly, she's still taking notice to the ways the other respond. Sometimes she just wants to play around and be comforted without going into the gritty details and others she wants to actually talk about things sincerely but she won't openly say which time is which.

Her bluntness is interesting for me because she (& Floramon) tend to get annoyed when Takuma is tepid/too conciliatory, but Saki herself is fairly adverse to conflict. Not just disliking the fact they have to fight the mons, she gets outright weary of the group fights. That passage in pt4 where Aoi gets mad at Kaito and yells at him to let her handle the child digimon trio? Saki was 'oh boy, now even Aoi is getting mad.' So, it's funny that she gets annoyed at Takuma for being tepid when she herself doesn't wanna get involved in the arguments— even when she has a clear stance (Like when she told Minoru that voting on a human life was unethical. But still preferred to just watch Kaito and Shuuji fight, though she arguably agrees w/ Kaito). Both because she fears rejection so she would rather not disrupt the group and bc that conflict aversion.

At the beginning of the story, her bluntness reads more like impulsiveness for this reason. I'd have liked to see it evolve to a more conscious frankness tbh! (the response the affinity dialogues provide about her stance on conflict is really good though).

I love also love how utterly incompatible she's w/ Shuuji LOL I love So Much that affinity dialogue in pt3 where Shuuji is crying about the Professor & Saki can't stand him 😂 Despite sharing the risk/conflict aversion, they express it in such clashing ways. I love how utterly unfair she's to him in that scene. Part of Shuuji's conflict is that he isn't allowed to express that sensitive, crybaby side of his & it spills without control. He feels even less allowed as the oldest there, and it's such a moment that reinforces that. Not that you can blame Saki for not wanting/being able to engage, it's just that delicious incompatibility.