331 | despite talking about a shounen series, the heart of this post is actually my shoujo feelings

[straightforwardly]

Looking at my tags, I don’t think I’ve mentioned this here yet, but—since the start of this year, I’ve slowly, slowly been watching Demon Slayer as my weekly hang-out activity with my older sibling. We started back in January or February, I think? And currently, we’re most of the way through the Hashira Training Arc. Though, we actually took a long break after the Entertainment District Arc because Netflix in our country did not have English subtitles for the rest of the series, and as we’re both equally reluctant to shell out money for subscriptions, it took us a few months to reach the “ugh, okay, I guess if we really have to…” stage of acceptance re: splitting a crunchyroll premium subscription together so we could continue the series.

Short version of my thoughts on the series so far is that while it has its flaws, ultimately I’m quite fond of many of the characters and I’m enjoying myself. But talking about all that is not actually the reason why I sat down to make this post tonight!

My actual reason is that I wanted to take a moment and say that currently the dynamic between the Snake Hashira and Love Hashira (no, I do not have either of their names memorized yet) is hitting the shoujo romance-loving part of my heart just right, oh my god. Like, I’m not passionately shipping them—this is not a shippy series in general for me, and we’ve not actually gotten all that much about their relationship (yet? idk, I’m unspoiled), but they make me feel the way I feel whenever I read the first volume of a new-to-me shoujo series and see that the configuration of the main ship is of a particular Type that I know I’m going to have a great time reading about.

(Specifically: I have a soft spot for a particular type of cute female protagonists and love interests with… for lack of a better word, villain-coded appearances/vibes. They don’t actually have to be villainous! But that snake-themed character design + the little we’ve seen of his personality definitely fits into the kind of vibe I’m down for, particularly in the context of fantasy/supernatural shoujo romances.)

What initially made me perk up and pay attention to them was a scene in the previous arc, where the Love Hashira has a flashback about the Snake Hashira gifting her those cute stockings she always wears, and telling her it doesn’t matter if they get ruined in battle, because he’d replace them for her… it hit me somewhere in the id, in a way I’m still trying to figure out how to explain.

Then in this current arc, in the batch of episodes I watched today… okay, I actually generally dislike the kind of jealousy-played-for-laughs trope that was at play there, and I didn’t particularly like it here either, but it nonetheless made me sit up and go !!! about this ship for the simple reason that it confirms that I wasn’t imagining the shippy vibes in the earlier scenes, and that he does indeed have feelings for her. Which I am delighted by, and it feels very unfair that I can't just sit down and read a shoujo manga about these two now.

Though I'm thinking that I might go spend the rest of my evening reading an actual shoujo manga now, because this has awakened a hunger for more of those specific romance/ship-dynamic vibes.

Comments

[straightforwardly]

Oooh, you've helped me clarify some of my thoughts/feelings about it with this comment!

Another trope that I very much like, which I kept found myself thinking about in regards to this moment, is that one where character A is cold, and character B takes off their own coat or cloak or whatever and hands it to A to wear—especially if B is stoic, or rough around the edges, or otherwise not the kind of person you'd necessarily expect to be showing that type of consideration. This is pretty bulletproof for me; I have gone from zero to "my ship!!" more than once based on the strength of this kind of scene alone.

But I wasn't sure why the scene between the Love and Snake Hashira reminded me of that trope so strongly; I kept going, "okay, both involve clothing, but I don't think it's about the clothing for me; it's not a clothing kink thing... so what is it?" But after reading what you wrote, the connection is suddenly very clear to me. Both involve one character quietly paying attention to another person's needs, then providing for those needs—and in doing so, expressing a level of care for that person without saying the words directly. It is quite lovely.

[scytale]

Ohh, that's a good trope. It can be very visually stunning, and I like it when it's unexpected too, especially when Character A doesn't expect it -- it almost hits the same feelings as unexpected mercy for me?

(also ooh I looked at pictures of them, and he has a snake! And, pining?? I am charmed and will ship from the peanut gallery ;D)

[straightforwardly]

Yesss, I also enjoy it when character A isn't expecting it <3 <3 <3 it almost hits the same feelings as unexpected mercy for me ooh, that's a comparison that I wouldn't have thought to make, but I see where you're coming from! I tend to associate unexpected mercy more with enemies and the cold/coat/cloak trope with allies (though... enemies who have to work together for Reasons would also be a very, very good flavour for that one <3), but both center around receiving an unexpected kindness, and a needed kindness at that. I see it!

He does have a snake, and I'm very here for it <3 They're both side characters, and the Snake Hashira in particular hasn't received too much focus up to where I'm currently at in the series, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll learn more at some point. Most of the other Hashira have had some kind of Backstory & Motivation Spotlight Moment (including the Love Hashira in the previous arc, which is when that flashback to the gift he gave her happened), so hopefully the same will be true of him!

[scytale]

Oooh! Please let me know if they get more focus! I'm invested now, and I need to collect more rare pairs for the rarepair events! :p