Zenzel's Blog

Meanwhile, kinder, more peaceful, and healthier relationships are quite a dramatic adjustment, and ironically feel less predictable because of all the threats that are absent and never materialize. It feels suspicious or too good to be true, which in turn ratchets up hypervigilance and hyper-arousal. Instead of knowing what BS is coming because it always does, there's the nebulous sense that the other shoe is just waiting to drop. Safety and respect can feel the most unsafe for a while, because as far as the traumatized nervous system is concerned, those things don't exist, or if they do in any form, there must be a million unseen strings attached.

Kaz:

I had an idea for a post that would talk about the duos from each of the GoM schools, and I also had an idea for a post where I would talk about my favorite friendships/ships. Although, since I don’t really have a favorite duo from Rakuzan or Tōō, and also since both posts would be very similar, I just decided combine the two. Basically, I’m just going to gush about my lovely characters. I do ship some of these pairs romantically, but I’ll talk about their relationships without any of that added fluff. Just for the sake of completion, though, I’ll add a line or two at the beginning of each section saying if I ship that duo or not. I’m going to talk about these in reverse order so my absolute favorite will be the last I discuss. Naturally, there will be spoilers, so watch out.

TL;DR in bold

Akashi and Murasakibara

I don’t ship these two, I just love their relationship. 

The main thing I love about these boys is that Akashi is the only person that Murasakibara wouldn’t sass. At least he wouldn’t seriously go off on Akashi like he would with basically anyone else. Obviously, back in Teikō Murasakibara wasn’t as friendly with Akashi, but now the relationship they have is super cute. It’s like Akashi is Murasakibara’s father in a way. They pair very well together. I actually can’t find a positive gif of these two, so sorry for that.

Murasakibara and Tatsuya

I don’t really ship these two, but at the same time if Murasakibara was gonna end up with anyone in the series, I would think it would be Tatsuya. Maybe I do ship them a little bit.

I feel like Tatsuya is the perfect friend for Murasakibara. He’s pretty relaxed, which meshes well with Murasakibara’s lazy personality. He’s also patient with Murasakibara, and that’s always really nice and sometimes funny to watch, especially when it involves Tatsuya bring Murasakibara food to make Murasakibara agreeable. Tatsuya and Murasakibara are generally an entertaining pair for me.

Tatsuya and Kagami

I don’t ship Kagami and Tatsuya, but I can understand why some people do.

The story between these two was written beautifully, in my opinion. Kagami’s talent for basketball coming in between he and Tatsuya reminded me a lot of the Generation of Miracles. I really love that basketball ended up bringing them back together again as well. Tatsuya also seems to really believe in Kagami’s abilities currently as we’ve seen him be supportive of Kagami many times. They both seem to value their friendship quite a lot, so it’s nice that they’ve been able to maintain it for so long. These two are just so pure.

Akashi and Midorima

I don’t personally ship these two. At least, not seriously, but I do enjoy it as a sort of crack!ship.

Much like Tatsuya and Murasakibara, I feel like Midorima and Akashi are perfect friends for each other. Since their intelligence and personalities match up, it makes sense that they connected. I also got the feeling that Midorima was so determined to beat Akashi and Rakuzan because he wanted to bring his friend back that badly (the original Akashi). Out of all the Generation of Miracles members, I feel like these two played together the best as well, which is obviously evident by the fact that Akashi was able to use the Sky Direct three-point shot with Midorima. Takao even said that they were more suited to use that move than he and Midorima were. I don’t know, I just find these two to be really compatible, and it’s awesome.

Midorima and Murasakibara

I don’t ship these two, and I also don’t have a gif for them, so here we are.

If Akashi is the dad, Midorima is the mom. He’s just fed up with Murasakibara’s sloppiness, and it’s honestly brilliant. Although, to me at least, it doesn’t seem like Midorima hates Murasakibara. It almost seems like Midorima is just trying to teach Murasakibara to be more presentable. I guess Midorima worries about people in his own way, huh? I don’t know, these guys are super funny together and I love them for it.

Kagami and Aomine

I don’t seriously ship them, but as a crack!ship, it doesn’t get better.

I think they amuse me because they’re so similar. Aomine is obviously more perverted than Kagami, but as far as basketball, sass, and Kuroko goes, they’re basically the same person. I also kind of love the fact that Aomine is forever going to think of Kagami as “the one dude who beat me,” and he probably stays up at night thinking about getting to play against him again. Again, these two are hilarious together, and I think they’d probably be good friends if they weren’t so sassy. At the very least, they must not totally hate being around each other now.

Izuki and Hyuuga

Ship these two I do not, but love them I do.

The history they have together is probably the main reason I love their relationship. Since they’ve been playing together since middle school, they know each other really well, and I find that really cool and endearing. Hyuuga knows which buttons to push to make Izuki get serious and Izuki knows Hyuuga’s mannerisms down to his “I’m getting serious now” neck crack. They’re really in tune with each other, and I love it.

Aomine and Kise

I don’t exactly ship them, but I can see a certain amount of reason in that ship.

Aside from the fact that these two are always funny together, you can tell that they care about each other a least a little bit. Kise looked up to Aomine and had trouble playing against him because he didn’t want Aomine to lose, and Aomine laid Haizaki out because he hurt Kise. They also play very well together, and I love the Aomine inspired Kise to play basketball. I think they’re stubborn about it, but they really do like and respect each other. I feel like their relationship is kind of precious.

Riko and Kiyoshi

I guess I can’t really ship them if they were canonically in a relationship, huh?

I do find it understandable that Riko and Kiyoshi used to date, and I also understand why they broke up. They don’t suit each other as a couple I don’t think, but I love the familiarity that came out of them dating. Essentially, I see them really strong friends. Maybe a little more because there’s obviously still love there, but I don’t think they’ll date again. The point is, the way they interact with each other now is really sweet. They’re very trusting of each other, and I like that they’re sort of the mom and dad of Seirin. Not to mention, the way they met was great. I just really love these two.

Kise and Kasamatsu

I don’t ship them, I’m just here for their silliness. 

I wouldn’t call them friends by any definition of the word, but I do love their relationship. Not only the crazy antics and borderline abuse from Kasamatsu, but the respect they each have for each other. Although Kise pisses him off, it’s evident that Kasamatsu trusts Kise when it comes to the team and being the ace. And even though Kise is annoying about it sometimes, he’s still completely respectful of Kasamatsu as his senpai, and he trusts Kasamatsu’s abilities as teammate and captain. I think for Kise’s character development, Kasamatsu played a really important part, and that’s pretty cool. 

Riko and Hyuuga

Oh, I ship them. I ship them hard. At this point, it’s a little unfair that they’re not together.

Everything about these two makes me happy. Riko’s trust in Hyuuga as the captain, Hyuuga’s respect for Riko as the coach, Hyuuga’s awkwardness around her when they’re alone, the sweet way they treat each other, their partnership, everything. It’s hard for me to not talk about my hopes for them romantically because I really do think they deserve each other and belong together. They’re beautiful together, and I hope that they’ll still be in each other’s lives after high school. 

Midorima and Takao

Oh, yeah I ship them. Actually, I could go either way, but I do ship them for the most part.

This is my favorite duo involving a GoM starter and the people from their new school. Again, they’re a perfect match. Except that they don’t match at all. They’re total opposites, and that’s what makes them great. Takao is probably the first teammate Midorima has trusted. Even with Akashi, there must’ve been some form of rivalry deep down. Takao and Midorima, though, work so well together. It’s understandable that they give Kuroko and Kagami and run for their money. I really like that Midorima cares about Takao and that they’re so close now. I mean, Takao keeps extra tape in case Midorima needs any. Midorima trusted Takao with the Sky Direct three-pointer pass. They’ve cried together. Honestly, they’re two of the best written characters in the series. I really enjoy every second they’re together.

Kagami and Kise

I don’t ship these two, unfortunately. I kind of wish I did, though.

I don’t know why, but the relationship between Kagami and Kise is really sweet to me. It’s probably because Kise is the first GoM member that Kagami met after Kuroko, so he’s the oldest rival that Kagami has (unless you considered Tatsuya to be Kagami’s rival). They wanted so badly to play against each other in an official match they they rooted for each other the whole way to the Winter Cup semi-finals. Kise prompting Kagami to enter Zone was one of the best things in Kuroko no Basket. I loved their game together because, even though it was tense, you could still sense the respect and amazement they had for each other. On Kagami’s list of “top five buddies,” Kise must rank at least a four. You know? Like, they’re awesome together. Kise and Kagamicchi, forever besties. 

Kise and Kuroko

I don’t ship them, but I think Kise might ship himself with Kuroko.

It’s just super cute that Kise follows Kuroko around like a little puppy. I mean, he doesn’t really, but he definitely wants to. I love that Kuroko told Kise that he thought of him as his rival. Kise lit up because he said that, and Kuroko was so proud and happy to be playing against him. I also think Kise worries about Kuroko a lot and vise versa, so clearly they have a very caring relationship. I don’t know, they’re great.

Aomine and Kuroko

I don’t ship Kuroko and Aomine, but I do have strong feelings about their friendship.

To be honest, every time I see a scene like the gif above, I cry. First of all, knowing about their falling out makes everything else much more depressing. However, it also makes the current Aomine and Kuroko even better. Kuroko said that he started working with Kagami because he wanted to prove to the GoM that his basketball was worth something. I don’t think that’s the majority of the reason he did it. I think Kuroko wanted to save Aomine more than anything. I think he wanted his friend back. He fought so hard to see Aomine’s smile again. Kuroko wanted to convince Aomine to keep playing basketball because Aomine convinced him to keep playing in middle school. And after Seirin beat Aomine, he was so grateful to Kuroko, despite the fact that he couldn’t say it. When Aomine saw Kagami enter the Zone Beyond the Zone, he looked so wistful because he missed being Kuroko’s light. I just cry every time. I’m really happy that they can play together with a smile again. 

Hyuuga and Kiyoshi

Again, I don’t ship them, but I do think they have one of the strongest friendships in the anime.

Hyuuga and Kiyoshi’s friendship is so brilliant. Hyuuga is grateful to Kiyoshi for bringing him back into basketball, and I think he probably even looks up to Kiyoshi. And Kiyoshi is so supportive of Hyuuga and really believes in him as a captain. They fight a lot, but as Izuki said, that means that they’re even closer than they probably realize. As much Riko or the rest of Seirin might mean to these two, I think they mean just a bit more to each other. When they sent Kiyoshi off to America for rehab, Hyuuga looked so sad, and I think that’s why. After fighting together for so long with basketball, losing that must’ve been hard, but I’m happy that they’ve come to understand each other. Their friendship really made the series.

Kagami and Kuroko

I do ship these two. But it’s weird because I ship them just as much as I see them as best friends and partners. 

Wow, speaking of duos that make me cry. To be honest, though these two are my favorite pair in Kuroko no Basket, I’m blanking on how to explain why. Maybe it’s because the entire anime is about these two. The trust they have between them is beautiful. The only reason they were able to become the best in Japan is because they trusted each other’s abilities completely. Kagami is Kuroko’s true light, and Kuroko is Kagami’s best shadow. Their goodbye in Last Game was one of the hardest things I’ve had to watch in anime. They really were the perfect partners, and watching them seperate was actually painful for me and for them as well. The bond the shared was really something special, and that’s why they’ve made it to the top of this list.

so transmisogyny is the intersection of transphobia and misogyny, which should be obvious but some people don’t like to listen. its another layer of oppression past the transphobia that transmascs have. every transfemme I’ve talked to and befriended has had some experience with feeling predatory for having feelings for someone (generally affects trans wlw more) or infantilized themselves and acted very gentle and passive in order to not feel as though they’re predatory. (I’m still working through the first one and used to deal with the latter)

we’re taught to be afraid of our own bodies, especially our genitals. it’s as if we’re monsters for being women born with penises, as if that in itself makes us gross. there’s a reason that all the transphobic bathroom arguments come down to a “man dressed as a woman” preying on women. this goes a million times as far for black trans women, who have the added intersection of blackness. that paints them as even more masculine and aggressive despite how far that is from the truth.

I developed my eating disorder because i felt like my body was too big and masculine, that i would look more feminine if i were skinnier. thats obviously something cis women face, but its not the same for us. we’re told we have male bodies and that we need to make ourselves smaller to fit in with “real women”.

we’re excluded from women’s spaces for “not having the same experiences” or “invading” or whatever other transphobic reterric they want to use to allow trans men in but not us. we’re alienated from trans/LGBT spaces due to the heavy focus on transmasc and tme nonbinary people in discussions of transitioning. for every 20 resources on how to bind and its dangers i get on my dash, I see 1 or 2 on tucking and its dangers. for every 20 binder giveaways i see I’ve never seen a gaff giveaway. I bet some of you don’t even know what a gaff is. (its what we use to tuck)

the amount of times I’ve seen jokes about men in dresses, the amount of times i’ve heard words like femboy and tranny thrown around by tme people as if they’re not harming us by doing so sickens me. every time you make genderbent fan art, draw a guy looking embarassed in a dress, or make a femboy friday joke, you are contributing to the stigma that follows us wherever we go.

Did you know it’s not uncommon to lose a shoe size or two? Or to shrink a couple inches because your entire pelvis rotates after a while (which hurts like a motherfucker, I might add)? Or that it’s very possible that you’ll suffer some of the symptoms of PMS every month even though you can’t menstruate? Did you know your tastes in food might change because your sense of smell changes? Probably not, because barely anybody researches or published information on this stuff. And who even fucking knows what you can expect after surgery because hearsay reports vary wildly and there’s basically nothing out there.

Untamed verse

It was Nie Huaisang’s fault.

He would argue it was the fault of the extremely stupid fierce corpse that violently lunged right at him when he was trailing behind his older brother and the others on a night hunt he didn’t want to go on, causing him to hide behind his saber and therefore accidentally taking the first kill of the night; his brother had been so pleased (and trying very hard not to laugh at him) that he’d agreed to Nie Huaisang’s request for a vacation.

He’d even allowed him to go visit Yiling, with one of their cousins saying in passing that Nie Huaisang should probably not let anyone know who he was or why he was there given the political scandal it would cause. Nie Huaisang had left while his brother was still arguing with their cousin about whether or not the Nie sect gave a single fuck about political scandal; he was pretty sure the actual argument they were having by proxy was his brother yet again defending Nie Huaisang’s right to be the heir, and those arguments went better if he wasn’t around.

So he went to Yiling to visit Wei Wuxian. He liked Wei Wuxian, they’d been good friends at the Cloud Recesses no matter how short a time, and he’d liked him every time they’d met afterwards, and really it seemed rude not to come with house-warming presents even if he hadn’t been invited the house-warming party itself.

“I fled here in the middle of the night, in the rain, illegally,” Wei Wuxian said. “There was no party.”

Nie Huaisang patted him on the shoulder. “It’s fine, really. I promise I’m not insulted. I’m very forgettable; you wouldn’t have considered involving me at all.”

“I’m tell you, I didn’t have a party.” Wei Wuxian frowned thoughtfully. “Maybe I should have a party?”

“We are not having a party,” Wen Qing said, sounding a little testy, but Wei Wuxian handed her a plate of meat – it was a traditional house-warming gift, and it wasn’t as if the Unclean Realm wasn’t chock full of people who would be more than happy to go practice their sabers against wild boars so that Nie Huaisang could drag along a preservation chest full of pork – and she stopped complaining.

“We could invite Jiang Cheng,” Nie Huaisang said. “You know he can’t resist an invitation to a party.”

“Did you not hear about the fight -”

“Party invitation.”

“…it might make him less angry, actually.”

“I’ll go get decorations!”

That was how Nie Huaisang found himself in the town at the bottom of the Burial Mounds, shopping; that part was probably still fine, but then he’d made some sort of slip-up in casual chitchat and everyone in the town figured out that he was visiting the Yiling Patriarch.

“Are you one of his disciples?” someone asks.

“No, of course not,” Nie Huaisang said at once, because forget his brother, he had some very scary great-uncles that would find him and rip him to pieces if he ever denied being a Nie.

“Then why are you here? I thought he’d been rejected by the whole cultivation world.”

“Uh,” Nie Huaisang said.

“Is there going to be trouble?”

“I don’t –”

“They’re celebrating something,” another person chimed in, looking at the bags Nie Huaisang was carrying. “What could they possibly be celebrating? A marriage?”

“Definitely not,” Nie Huaisang said.

“You couldn’t possibly be here willingly, could you?”

“No,” Nie Huaisang said, finally annoyed. “I was sent as a sacrifice by the cultivation world to join the dreadful Yiling Patriarch’s harem as a panacea against his threats to conquer the entire world through a little bit of unorthodox cultivation that involves a great deal of complicated flute playing and exactly zero practice because he’s obnoxiously talentedly like that. It’s all very tragic at first, but eventually we will overcome all obstacles and he’ll make me his empress of an empire composed of ghost puppets. Happy now?”

Maybe he should become a writer or something, because apparently they were very happy about it, and the story spread like lightning.

“I cannot believe you,” Wen Qing said, since Wei Wuxian hadn’t yet caught his breath once from all the howling laughter he was doing. “Of all the irresponsible, ridiculous –”

Nie Huaisang wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do about it, and it only got worse when Lan Wangji showed up to visit and just – refused to leave.

That surely wasn’t related to the harem rumors, though of course the presence of an unbearably pretty man like Lan Wangji just made the rumors worse, especially since he was very obviously from a different sect than Nie Huaisang.

According to the rumors, there was intrigue now: a more beautiful concubine had appeared, challenging Nie Huaisang’s efforts to get the redeem the vile Yiling Patriarch through the power of love and a great deal of sex, and of course there would be all sorts of jockeying for position happening.

Jiang Cheng’s furious arrival to yell at Wei Wuxian (and to attend the party, because he really couldn’t resist a party invitation – he hated being left out) only convinced them all that there were at least three separate sects fighting for attention, as if Wei Wuxian were an emperor.

“I can’t – I’m dying –” Wei Wuxian sobbed with laughter, burying his face into Lan Wangji’s shoulder. “Lan Zhan, help. It’s too funny. I’m an emperor now. And I can’t even grow potatoes!”

“Radishes are more efficient,” Wen Qing hissed.

“The common people are really very strange,” Nie Huaisang opined from where he was drawing over in his corner. Wen Qing believed everything to be his fault, so he’d promised that he’d do something nice and calming and not disruptive like drawing; he’d bought himself some ink and a great deal of paper as proof of his good intentions. “They’ll believe anything.”

“Don’t you start,” she snapped. “You’re drawing porn. Of this!”

Wei Wuxian’s head snapped up. “You are? Is it any good? Wait – who is it of?”

“It’d better not be of me with him,” Jiang Cheng grumbled, serving himself some of the pork with radishes. “I’ll kill you.”

“Mostly Second Master Lan,” Nie Huaisang admitted. “He’s the only one staying still long enough for me to get a good view.”

That made Lan Wangji frown and come over – which, joke’s on him, Nie Huaisang has no shame about his excellent artistic skills.  

“Oh, well done,” Wei Wuxian said, peeping over Lan Wangji’s shoulder at the artwork. “Is that me with the legs in the air?”

“Yes. Can you pose later so I can get the face right?”

“Obviously yes!”

Lan Wangji’s ears were very red for some reason.

“Shouldn’t Wei Wuxian be the attacker?” Jiang Cheng asked, coming over as well. “Not that I care about any of this. But if the story is that he’s the emperor –”

“I can’t disappoint my readers by breaking up my romance with him,” Nie Huaisang explained. “And between me and Wei-xiong, I’m obviously more fit for the role of the pure maiden in distress – there’s a great deal of convention in erotic art circles, you wouldn’t expect it – and so I’m having Second Master Lan be the seducer instead, see? That way there is even more conflict.”

“I’m still going to kill you for including my brother,” Wen Qing said.

“I didn’t give him any sex scenes! He’s a wallflower! And you’re the Yiling Patriarch’s right hand man; what more do you want?”

“For my brother not to have fans that want to see him naked!”

“How do you even know about that?” Wei Wuxian asked.

“I read the mail,” Wen Qing said. “We’ve gotten an awful lot of it in the last week.”

“…is there any about me?” Jiang Cheng, who’d never met a competition he didn’t have to win, asked.

“Oh, yes, you’re very popular, Jiang-xiong,” Nie Huaisang assured him. “I included some falsified backstory about the two of you being childhood friends torn apart by Wei-xiong’s turn to evil and unorthodoxy –”

Both of them looked distinctly uncomfortable.

“– and now everyone wants to see you have a sandwich with the Wen sibilings.”

“Have a sandwich?” Jiang Cheng asked, distracted. “Are they hungry or something?”

“They certainly want to lick –”

“A person is, among all else, a material thing, easily torn and not easily mended.”