#ulumi

the love triangle (square if we include Sissi) is genuinely so annoying and id like more boy/girl friendships that are not related to romance in any type of way. Plus i genuinely think it would be a neat character arc for the three (Yumi, Ulrich and William)

Yumi - one of her main problems in the show is trying to balance lyoko stuff with her civilian life (mainly her family and later William), and earlier in his appearances William states he's not one to pry into folks business which i think Yumi would appreciate. I think she needs someone unconnected to lyoko to just chill with but not need to live with, aka a friend. She has friends ofc but ykwim. Anywho as lyoko stuff gets more dangerous/time consuming William can have her back by providing an alibi or whatever (that time he locked himself in their photo development room while she went to deal with lyoko crap) but obviously he'd eventually get worried/suspicious. Lalala i don't feel like elaborating on plot lines we already have but tldr Yumi has to figure out if she wants to bring her friend into the danger of being a Warrior or keep him in the dark and arguably more danger

Ulrich - cutting to the chase, we all know Ulrich has a bad habit of getting jealous of Yumi with other people despite actively trying not to confess to her (ngl I'm still confused on why he doesn't but whateverrrr) and on his end i genuinely think he would develop a bit from a one sided rivalry. If William is actually just a friend then his little speech's to Ulrich about Yumi would hit harder for Ulrich AND kinda force him to do some thinking about their relationship. Off the top of my head William has said to Ulrich 1. He's not first place in the race for her heart and 2. If you don't hurry up and tell her, someone else is gonna swoop in (not in these exact words but you get it). Obviously these scenes would change if William didn't have feelings for her dialogue wise but it would also be Ulrich's hint to get a move on. Yumis her own person and if she doesn't want to wait for him he's gonna have to keep up

William - tbh the whole reason i would rewrite his relationship with Yumi is because it would 1. Nix the creepy stuff on his part (and i mean, i can keep that stuff cuz character flaws are integral and pave the way to character development) and 2. Flesh him out a bit. He mentions that love makes him crazy and that he was kicked from his previous school for leaving love letters everywhere. I think a neat piece of development this could lead to is William attempting to avoid romance in general at Kadic to avoid something like that happening again, self betterment and such. Plus if he doesn't have a crush on Yumi, it would be more interesting if he actively ignored his feelings for her because he doesn't want to make the same mistakes. Ofc he can still slip up but now he'd have the integrity to know he needs to do better. Additionally he's shown to be mostly reasonable as a character so i think doing this (blocking out his crush on Yumi pipeline) would also allow his performance on lyoko to end a little better (i still see him getting possessed tho). If he's more level headed then when getting cornered by the scyphazoa (?) he'd probably listen to Jeremie due to his plan of being a better person and try running away. But we all know the scyphozoa is persistent and at the end of the day, William is still a rookie

2. XANA Awakens pts. 1 and 2 The sparring is a theme throughout my list, but I really do love how a pillar of their relationship is athleticism and helping each other get better.

3. Teddygodzilla Teddygodzilla is such an iconic episode, but I have two points for Ulumi specifically. First, YUMI'S OUTFIT! She got dressed up so cute for her date with Ulrich!! Second, they are just so soft and flirty with each other this whole episode! They're going to a dance together?? They're telling people about it?? Yumi hugs him and he looks at her like he's in love and asks if she's ready to return to the past?? I really feel like we had something going with Ulumi in Teddygodzilla that the writers just crumpled up and threw in the garbage right after.

4. Log Book "I didn't read it. I promise." "One day, I'll tell you about it." the YEARNING

5. Cruel Dilemma Yumi literally jumps into an evil tractor and shields Ulrich from harm with her body. Either she loves him or she has no sense of self-preservation. Or both.

6. Image Problem I almost didn't include this one but his dumb face just gets me. He literally never gets mad at Yumi for anything (even when he should) but then he's so offended that Yumi suggests he date Sissi? He's like, "that's not how our almost friends/almost lovers agreement works!!"

7. The Girl of the Dreams Ulrich was such a sweetheart helping her lug that giant suit of armor! And then he's just sitting and listening to her share about her project like a cutie!

8. Plagued Yumi really answered the phone like, "Ulrich?? uwu (✿˵•́ ω •̀˵)"

9. Swarming Attack This whole episode gets me. Ulrich got a letter 'from Yumi' saying she is in love with him and he takes all of a day to come around and say, "You know what? I love you too, let's make this work!" He was really ready to risk it all for her and she never even knew?? I don't know how he could recover from that. I would've just laid down and died I think.

10. Just in Time Please remember at the start of this episode, Yumi kicks him right in the head while they're sparring. Apparently Ulrich is into that though, because when Yumi gets a tiny cut on her hand, he races her to the infirmary and promises he'll be with her every step of the way for her recovery.

11. Laughing Fit We know her favorite flower is roses and that's what he brings herrrrrrr

12. Amnesia Yumi is the only person he gets memories of totally unprompted 😭 and the memories are sooo cute 😭

13. Routine ugh I wanted to skip Routine but look at their dumb little faces

14. Exploration She really looked us right in the eye and said she was in love.

15. Saint Valentine HE WROTE HER A POEM

16. Final Mix If the writers really loved us, they would've given us a Teddygodzilla 2.0-style Ulumi date here. Instead, we just got bad dancing.

17. The Chips are Down "Dear Mr. President, I'm writing to you about a girl named Yumi" 😭

18. A Bad Turn He's clearly pouting and she gives him the cutest, softest little wave 😭 AND THEN when the krabbes attack he rushes straight to her house because she's in danger protecting her family 😭 😭

19. Cold War "I need you"

20. The Key I really like how this scene mirrors the one from Teddygodzilla. Ulrich goes to Yumi's house, she's at the door, they're interrupted by having to save the world. Again. I don't know if the writers really meant all that, but this is a good place to say that, if xana had never been an issue, I think Ulrich and Yumi would have been dating (and maybe even broken up already?) by this point.

All right! That's part 1. Thank you to anyone that has made it this far!! I would love to hear other peoples' favorite Ulumi moments.