Rivals

[prillalar]

Apologies for being cranky yesterday. I got out my Hajime no Ippo DVDs and watched Ippo and Sendoh beat the hell out of each other and now I feel much better, even though I'm still hopelessly behind.

I think Ippo and Sendoh are the perfect shounen sports rivals. (Certainly, they're my favourite rival pair.) The strength they see in each other excites them and they can't wait to step in the ring together and test themselves against each other. Sendoh, especially, is obsessed with Ippo. He gets so worked up just watching a video of one of Ippo's bouts that he jumps on a train from Osaka to Tokyo, on a whim, just to meet Ippo. (And while he's there, they run together along the embankment. ♥)

When they fight, it's with that pure sportsman's joy. And once is not enough, for either of them. Ippo's coach tells Ippo that he is the one that made Sendoh into an amazing fighter, because everything Sendoh did to become stronger was focused on fighting Ippo.

I can't tell you how much that makes me smile.

Which brings me to Kaidoh and Momo (and not just because both pairs are voiced by Kiyasu and Onosaka). I love those boys with a surpassing love, but for a different reason. Their story is not a rival story, at least not in the "present day" of Prince of Tennis. We get background about them trying to outdo each other, but we don't really see that in the current canon. They snipe and bicker and push at each other, but they don't work on their tennis with the goal of defeating each other. In the manga, we don't even see them play a singles match.

Instead, they play doubles. They learn to work together. I think that makes me smile even more.

Also, it's easier to slash them.

Comments

[kessie.livejournal.com]

Also, it's easier to slash them.

Always the important things in life. :)) I always wish I could write decent MomoKai (along with, oh, every other pair in Tenipuri that I wish I could write well, but can't), but I'll happily settle for fic by others when it's written really, really well. ♥

[prillalar]

MK is a fun, fun pair to write, I find. And it would be a lot harder if they were all "noble rival" with each other. There is so much intensity between rival pairs, but they can't get close to each other until after their final confrontation, so there's all this tension, but no plausible way to deal with it. Hence the lack of Shin/Sena from me.

[kessie.livejournal.com]

This is... completely off-topic, but I was rereading Not the Triumph this morning and then your feedback replies, and I think you inadvertantly gave me the answer to a plot-point I've been trying to figure out in one of my fics (for the last few months, to boot). So, thank you for that. Now I just have to see if it'll work and not fail completely. :)

[prillalar]

That's great to hear! I hope it all works out. TezuRyo is such a tricky pair, I find. And the first ship I shipped when I started watching the anime. ♥

[grasshopper.livejournal.com]

Ippo's coach tells Ippo that he is the one that made Sendoh into an amazing fighter, because everything Sendoh did to become stronger was focused on fighting Ippo.

Randomly, I love that this concept is in the very language -- 相手, aite, means both opponent and partner, and comes from the world of sumo, where every opponent is viewed not only as your rival, but as your partner in improving. *_*

I just learned this today. I feel like something should now be stuck to the refrigerator door. :)

[wickedcherub.livejournal.com]

Oh that's beautiful. *sigh*

[prillalar]

That's it exactly. I was watching more last night and the language they use to talk about each other is so intimate and intense, describing the physical effect that the other one has on them, that only "this man" can give such a thrill.

Frankly, slash would be anticlimactic.

[candy-marie-55.livejournal.com]

I always learn so much from your insight (either through things like this post or while LMAO at your writeups.) Just wanted to say.

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I always learn so much from your insight (either through things like this post or while LMAO at your writeups.) Just wanted to say.

<andprivatelyandinatotallynonstalkerishwayIwannaknowwhatyoulooklikecuzinmymindyouhavelongblackhairandgreeneyeslikeabeautifulgirl!Oishibutplztoignorethisthanks> 0_0

[prillalar]

Hee! Do I have weird bangs like Oishi too? ♥

[candy-marie-55.livejournal.com]

nooooo.... nothing weird about you.

And nice dodge on confirming/denying. ;D Probably the right choice, considering I could be Inui, right?

omg I just sound crazier every day.