Wherein I Rant About Hiro`s relationship with Shuichi
I will now proceed to rant on a topic that no one in the universe will agree with me on. Whoohoo.
It`s a common belief among Gravi fans that Hiro has or at least once had a thing for Shuichi. I have never believed this or even gotten than vibe. So I am now going to write a REALLY long rant on why exactly I don`t believe this.
HIRO IS NOT IN LOVE WITH SHUICHI BECAUSE OF:
1. His Introduction
Notice, in Gravi, every character is introduced exactly the way they are suposed to be understood. Sakano as a panicing whirlwind. ASK as a bunch of over confident pricks. Ayaka mooning over her darling Eiri-san. Shuichi screaming "La Li Ho", late for work, and then falling asleep. Tatsuha watching Grasper Videos in his brother`s house. Pretty much the only exception I can think of is Mika, and she even looked a little bitchy there. And that was a purposeful misleading.
The first introduction to Hiro shows him frankly telling Shuichi that he didn`t put enough work into his song, like any concerned friend. He confronts him about why exactly he was late, asking if he was late on purpose. He also advises his friend to find a girl. These are the words of a character being designed as a dear, dear close friend. Not a person with a crush. He probably would have told Shuichi that his song was great, and although he would have suggested companionship, I don`t think he would have pointed out that it should be a girl.
2. His Role in the Yuki/Shu Relationship
Hiro never once seemed jealous of what was going on between Yuki and Shuichi. In fact, he was always there ready to push the relationship along as well as he could.
3. His Relationship with Ayaka
This one really seals it. Hiro seemed very interested in Ayaka from the minute they met. When they looked at each other after the initial saving her from the thugs, you could SEE the sparks going . He continued to show interest in her right up until the comment he confesses his feeling about her to Shuichi. Some have suggested that this was a rebound from Shiichi, but I just can`t bring myself to believe that a man SO hung up on his best friend could so easily latch onto another person ...
4. His Actions
The things that Hiro does for Shuichi are the things that a friend does, not the things that a lover does. There is no suggestion in his actions that he has a crush on Shu. The only scene that could be suspected as this is the pocky and shoujo bubbles scene from the beginnning. I have some theories on that, talked about in the next section.
THEORIES OF WHY HIRO DOES LOVE SHU AND REBUTALS:
1. Blame Pocky and Shoujo Bubbles
This is the one I have a little trouble explaining away, so I thought I would get it out of the way and deal with it first. In episode 1, when Shu is going on about Yuki, Hiro tells him that he probably likes him. Hiro proceeds to steal his pocky and say "You`re making me jealous." The two are envelopped in shoujo bubbles and have a wierd, difficult to understand conversation ending with Hiro saying he was an idiot.
Now. It could EASILY be understood that this scene was Hiro cofessing his feeling to Shuichi and Shu understanding them. BUT. Later, when Hiro is talking about Ayaka and his jealously of Yuki, and Shu thinks Hiro is talking about him ... Shu is surprised. He looks as if he had honestly never expected those feeling from Hiro. If Hiro had already told him in the pocky and shoujo bubbles scene ... wouldn`t he have known?
Which leaves me wondering. What the crap WAS happening in that scene? I have two theories. 1, that it never atcually happened and Shuichi has a freaking over productive imagination. 2, that it was a tribute to the "fanservice" high school days of the manga. Neither makes much sense, but I think we can be faily certain that Hiro did not confes his feeling to Shu in that scene and Shu did not get them.
2. No Way Was He Talking About Ayaka!
I`m sure we`ve all noticed that in the last few episodes, Hiro starts zonking out and rambling to himself. He talks about Ayaka and his relationship with her. Now, there are many who believe that he was actully talking about Shuichi in these scenes, and Shuichi read it as Ayaka because he`s naive.
I cannot believe this. WHILE Hiro is totally in his own little world, he says the word she. This might be only a fansub thing, because I do know that Japanese pronouns are a little funky bytimes, but I think it`s fair, when listening to what he`s saying, it makes far more sense that he`s mooning over Ayaka than that he`s mooning over Shu-chan. And why would he start mooning over Shu AFTER things between he and Ayaka got serious? It makes far more sense that Ayaka is the object of his affections.
3. He Does Such NICE Things For Him!
Many Hiro/Shuichi shippers say that Hiro does these things for Shuichi because he loves him so much, he wants him to be happy. I`m not so sure. I think that the relationship between Hiro and Shuichi can be kind of compared, on a smaller scale of course, to the relationship between Sam and Frodo in The Lord of the Rings. Hiro does these things for Shu because he wants him to be happy, yes, but it`s because they are the bst of friends. Their friendship is so close that Hiro doesn`t NEED to have a crush on Shuichi. They`re already bonded as closely as lovers.
4. It`s POETIC!
Ayaka truely loves Yuki. Hiro truely loves Shuichi. But they use one another to comfort themselves. It`s all so poetic, isn`t it?
Maybe. But it`s no reason to say that Hiro loves Shuichi. As I already said, it`s very clear that Hiro actually does really care for Ayaka. It obvious in everything he does. The poeticness of Ayaka and Hiro losing their true loves to each other, so they find comfort in themselves ... I don`t know. It doen`t really contribute much actual information to the case of Hiro/Shu.
IN CLOSING
Frankly, I think much of the Hiro/Shu argument is based around the "Everyone in Gravitation is gay or female" theory that I mentioned before in a previous rant. Shounen-ai lovers see the potential for a relationship, and they jump at the chance. Making the special relationship between Hro and Shuichi into a crush kind of cheapens it in a way.
While I am NOT a big Ayaka fan, I firmly support that Hiro/Ayaka relationship. He CARES about her, he really, really does. I find it frusterating how no one can take it seriously and cheapens it just as surely as they cheapen the friendship between Shu and Hiro.
And now I`m done ranting! That was NICE rant, wasn`t it? Too bad NO ONE will agree me =p
