sumi eno & tobikawa vs the perceived inferiority of platonic relationships
tokinaga and orokapi relationship feels like a love letter to aspec people from sumi eno, in my humble opinion. generally there’s a fear for loads of aroace people that no matter how close you are to someone, their romantic partner will always take precedence over you. for me personally, i’ve always had the feeling that unless i get into a qpr i will always be number two in someone’s life but tokinaga?? isnt?? all their interactions feel so full of care because orokapi prioritises him and his safety and his happiness above other people, even though they’re not romantically involved. even when he’s in the body of someone so deeply in love with yoriko (so much that he feels a instinct to protect her that overpowers his desire to reclaim his tail), a mention of hurting tokinagas feelings is enough for him to transform back into obikawa, if only for a moment. even when he knows he’s in active danger and will put himself at risk by going to his apartment, he wants to tell him his name, wants to be known by him. even when he disregards tokinagas feelings and decides to eat him, it’s so he can be with him forever— so they can be close forever. in the end of vol 4 extras orokapi— a notoriously selfish character who only concerned with what’s fun for him— gives the blanket he’s using to tokinaga cus he’s cold.
what really stuck out to me was the moment when orokapi just repeated ‘i wouldn’t mind’, even when faced with the possibility that he’d never really known ‘who’ tokinaga was— he didn’t mind. in a world where romantic relationships are valued so much more that platonic ones, the way sumi eno wrote these two just means a lot to me. it feels like she’s saying that you can be loved and you can be the most important person in someone’s life, even if you are someone who’s aroace. orokapi loves him unconditionally whether it’s platonic or romantic, even though he’s so selfish. tokinaga isn’t second place.
thank u for reading my half assed rant xx











