{A KitaFuji Manifesto #delusional #shippinggoggles}
Disclaimer #1: This post is just for fun! I am not writing this defensively, nor to push my ship into other people's faces. I've seen a few people ask with genuine curiosity why KitaFuji are shippable though, so I thought it would be fun to try and articulate my own thoughts on the topic.
Disclaimer #2: This is not a "zomg here's proof they exist!!1" post.
Disclaimer #3: I speak for no one else.
KitaFuji (or FujiKita, or HiroSuke)
"IT'S COMPLICATED!"
I'll admit it readily. Publicly/in the media, they show very little affection with each other, unless it's blatantly for fanservice (see: Crea cons). And I even agree that a major reason that there's any interaction at all between the two is because they are シンメ (symmetry) with each other as the two main singers of Kisumai, nothing more. However-!
Kitayama speaking about Fujigaya:
"When I realized it, he was near me. It's not like we stepped towards each other, it's just that when we realized it, we were next to each other already. It's been several years already~"
For me, this quote embodies the relationship between them.
They aren't particularly close, nor are they even really considerate of each other as groupmates. But they've been working together for a very long time, and as anyone who's been in close proximity to another person over many years knows, you can get really accustomed to someone else's presence to the point that you understand that person without realizing it yourself.
There's tension in their dynamics, in the way they try so hard to lean away from each other, yet act シンメ with each other so well in performances, interviews, and talk shows. Here's an entire interview where Duet tries very hard to get them to be raburabu and they resist... but end up complementing each other well anyway.
Something else I find fascinating in their dynamic is that they used to be close (I think it's fair to say this was a general fandom consensus, up to about Enbujou '08) before they got older and their relationship sort of cooled off. For me, it's in the very fact that their relationship isn't as buddy-buddy as before that makes this pairing interesting. (And the current-day obnoxiously fake fanservice is entertaining in its own right because it's just so laughable.)
And then you have their personalities, which are in some ways very similar and in some ways very different. The way I see them, they're both very otokomae and both have a really stubborn pride that pushes them to act cool and confident even when they're not. Then, Fujigaya is quite complicated emotionally and actually expresses his whole range of emotions, whereas Kitayama has built this huge wall between his public/professional face and his inner self. In other words, Fujigaya is an emotional enigma and Kitayama is a rock, and they both think they're too cool for school, so it's impossible for them to access each other's true feelings.
Obviously this is my own perception of the face they present to the public, and a bit vague. My point is that the barrier between them is actually what makes them interesting to read or write. A good plot compels me to keep reading, but it's the characters and the way they interact with each other and their surroundings that get me emotionally invested.
As a writer, thinking about the push-and-pull between their characters is what opens up ideas for me. Are they competing over work issues? Is it because they're both so kakkotsuke and refuse to unbend towards the other? Did they simply drift apart? Are there ~sekrit unrequited love~ issues at hand? I choose all of the above!
(I do feel compelled to point out at the end here that I don't see shipping as something to trufax believe in, but when I write... I think of my characters as actors in roles that were made for them. So I'm perfectly happy to use their media personas, yay~!)
Gif nicked from xsnowdrop.tumblr.com; quote is from September 2009 Duet, translated by enshinge.
Thanks to crazy_otaku911 and elindar for enabling me. XD♥
Disclaimer #2: This is not a "zomg here's proof they exist!!1" post.
Disclaimer #3: I speak for no one else.
KitaFuji (or FujiKita, or HiroSuke)
"IT'S COMPLICATED!"
I'll admit it readily. Publicly/in the media, they show very little affection with each other, unless it's blatantly for fanservice (see: Crea cons). And I even agree that a major reason that there's any interaction at all between the two is because they are シンメ (symmetry) with each other as the two main singers of Kisumai, nothing more. However-!
Kitayama speaking about Fujigaya:
"When I realized it, he was near me. It's not like we stepped towards each other, it's just that when we realized it, we were next to each other already. It's been several years already~"
For me, this quote embodies the relationship between them.
They aren't particularly close, nor are they even really considerate of each other as groupmates. But they've been working together for a very long time, and as anyone who's been in close proximity to another person over many years knows, you can get really accustomed to someone else's presence to the point that you understand that person without realizing it yourself.
There's tension in their dynamics, in the way they try so hard to lean away from each other, yet act シンメ with each other so well in performances, interviews, and talk shows. Here's an entire interview where Duet tries very hard to get them to be raburabu and they resist... but end up complementing each other well anyway.
Something else I find fascinating in their dynamic is that they used to be close (I think it's fair to say this was a general fandom consensus, up to about Enbujou '08) before they got older and their relationship sort of cooled off. For me, it's in the very fact that their relationship isn't as buddy-buddy as before that makes this pairing interesting. (And the current-day obnoxiously fake fanservice is entertaining in its own right because it's just so laughable.)
And then you have their personalities, which are in some ways very similar and in some ways very different. The way I see them, they're both very otokomae and both have a really stubborn pride that pushes them to act cool and confident even when they're not. Then, Fujigaya is quite complicated emotionally and actually expresses his whole range of emotions, whereas Kitayama has built this huge wall between his public/professional face and his inner self. In other words, Fujigaya is an emotional enigma and Kitayama is a rock, and they both think they're too cool for school, so it's impossible for them to access each other's true feelings.
Obviously this is my own perception of the face they present to the public, and a bit vague. My point is that the barrier between them is actually what makes them interesting to read or write. A good plot compels me to keep reading, but it's the characters and the way they interact with each other and their surroundings that get me emotionally invested.
As a writer, thinking about the push-and-pull between their characters is what opens up ideas for me. Are they competing over work issues? Is it because they're both so kakkotsuke and refuse to unbend towards the other? Did they simply drift apart? Are there ~sekrit unrequited love~ issues at hand? I choose all of the above!
(I do feel compelled to point out at the end here that I don't see shipping as something to trufax believe in, but when I write... I think of my characters as actors in roles that were made for them. So I'm perfectly happy to use their media personas, yay~!)
Gif nicked from xsnowdrop.tumblr.com; quote is from September 2009 Duet, translated by enshinge.
Thanks to crazy_otaku911 and elindar for enabling me. XD♥