This was mainly for fun. I was glancing through an ARMYweeb account when the ARMYweeb noticed herself a pattern of what she likes. So that makes me curious and want to see that pattern myself by going through my fave characters and interests in certain character dynamics and favoring certain ships.
So, I'm obsessed with Zhongchi/Tartali/Chili. From what I have seen, they are morally ambiguous characters - Zhongli is morally gray for sure. Nice guy but he was chess mastering (not manipulative - all he did was just fake dead and not inform anybody outside of dragging another nation into his scheme and planned to release Osial. That plan to release the water octopus was all his idea. - since he's not even trying to ease these guys into a direction except keeping an eye on Childe. Maybe Signora was the one who planted the Sigil of Permission, who knows since Signora is the contact and likely knows more of the supernatural world than a human, and y'know Tsaritsa definitely knows despite being younger. It was still a ridiculous retirement scheme that involved another nation) even his friends and was willing to unleash Osial onto his town. For a test but he didn't have to go that far - who somehow fit together. They aren't total opposites but can make their relationship work through hard work for the relationship that they want to keep. I latched onto these two characters of the entire Liyue arc. Even now, I can't let them go.
It's the same way I favor SatoSugu. The breakup in front of a KFC is still funny though even though this ship is complex as heck and I love that. Just give me the hilarity too as icing because that just makes it better.
Having a side of humor amidst complications should do the trick. Hey, I like levity.
If there's a humor aspect even if just a tad like Shizaya daily fights - too bad in the light novel, they avoid the shit out of each other and never go crazy fighting unless it's an important plot thing but the anime continued those instantaneous fighting because fans and watchers love that - or old married arguments, then it's great. Give me that comical edge alongside the complications.
I like complicated pairings with just as many complicated dynamics. Just a glance in my AO3 bookmarks can show you, Soukoku, Suzalulu, and Shizaya are in there. From my history, you will see DabiHawks for example. That doesn't mean I don't like wholesome ships like KageHina and MiyuSawa which are also in my AO3 bookmarks.
Honestly, it seemed most of my fave pairs at least have to have either one or both try to kill each other many times. Not even ShirLulu is exempted from this with what happened with Shirley and Mao.
...Now that I see it with all my fave pairs, it really did seem that's almost a requisite at this point.
That's the extreme point but the middling things would be hurting each other yet their love will survive that. I don't know I like pairings in which they hurt each other where it truly hurts yet when it comes down to it only they can see each other's true selves. Any kind of pain from betrayal to hurting each other to horrifying heights is just the thing for me.
...Why are people so against DabiHawks anyway when we see popular ships that are abundant with betrayals of their own in the past? Suzalulu is a thing, you know? Akeshu also got the betrayal thing going on too even though Joker and PTs saw it coming, it was still a betrayal all the same.
I like angst but I like the feels in there too. The mixed emotions of it yet the love remains strong throughout.
I like it when they are assholes to each other. If you've seen my AO3 bookmarks, it's all there with the pain and hurting them where it hurts. It's not traditionally healthy but it works for them.
Rivals to lovers are similar in that they respect each other and don’t kill each other. Contest shipping is a rivals ship I love because of the push to be better. Still, my preference is as long as they’re argumentative to the point they could and will kill each other remains. I prefer couples with arguments and with the relatively sweet ones, I still want these characters to challenge them for the better. That was just one of my main reasons for loving MiyuSawa.
It’s not my fault I’m drawn to pairs that have that dynamic. The challenge to become better is just so good. Attempting to kill each other is just another bonus.
Narrative foils are something I really like. DabiHawks isn't that unique when it comes to my shipping. There's Shizaya, Akeshu, and Suzalulu.
You cannot get me to ship ChrisSawa (even if some of what I like is there, it’s just too vanilla to my taste) when MiyuSawa hits everything I prefer. RumiHawks are BFFs preferably when DabiHawks is just so intoxicating in what they offer on the menu. EndHawks is something I don't see the appeal of and have grown an ever-increasing loathing for it when DabiHawks hits everything that I like in a ship.
Though with my softer pairings, I still have some sort of complexity or maturity there. KageHina has that benefit due to growth in their current occupations.
Does ShirLulu even part of the wholesome when it really is wholesome yet complicated? I love ShirLulu.
Honestly on the topic of Shirlulu, with Shirley’s final words, yeah, I definitely have a soft spot for couples falling in love no matter what the world. While undoubtedly introduced to me by CLAMP, I see my fave ships - like OTP, not the level of okay like Superbat which is fine but I can read BatCat just the same - like Dabihawks and Timkon are this for me. Falling for each other through dimensions and time shenanigans is just a drop but nonetheless overpowering as this has more providence over an aspect I don’t think I put too much thought into as I easily imagine my OTPs falling in love regardless of the world because they will love each other that much. This is for OTPs only so yeah, this also counts for ShirLuzaku.
Heck, my very first ship that isn't Pokeshipping was from Tokyo Babylon so that might understand why I favor the complicated ships. It was Seishirou and Subaru. Yeap… That one with the former killing the latter’s sister and what happened after and just that another incarnation of the couple was one of them being hunted by the other. Seriously, this couple is seriously the major start in my preferred couples and has all the hallmarks of what I love and prefer.
Maybe throw in enemies-to-lovers dynamics or at the least what I prefer to call complicated. Kaeluckae is definitely complicated and the pairing is something I do enjoy. DabiHawks is certainly enemies-to-lovers dynamics I like with all the complications.
Even from an original character standpoint, Jogan is far up my alley than Sebastian x Julian any day. The latter doesn't interest me in the least; maybe it's because I understand the parameters of that ship, but it just doesn't interest me. While it does have complications just a tad, it's just not enough to convince me when I see Jogan.
Could add age gaps in there too, I guess, but I'm not certain. Spamano is one of my OTPs in Hetalia and I still love it. Does Zhongchi count? Snarry counts even though I only got into that ship via fanfics. Yes, I like Snarry even though for the sake of Godoka, I have no idea how that happened outside of just reading fanfiction. Snarry fits more of my type of ship which involves lots of baggage. Drarry has baggage sure but not my kind of baggage. Drarry is vanilla in comparison to Snarry which is like dark chocolate. Look, Spamano looks like it's vanilla too but it has that history of the world for the lack of a better term. History is gruesome.
I prefer dynamics over age gaps because dynamics are far too interesting and a definite way to get me invested. If I'm not invested, then why am I here? An age gap is one aspect but I'm not sure if it's enough to get invested that much. Couples who try to kill each other are definitely something I will get invested in.
Now those are just MxM ships.
FxF ships are rare at least for me.
The couple I remember having an interest in reading would be Nami and Vivi. Katarina and her female harem are definitely there as I enjoy those ships over the boys despite the fact it's one of the few harems I don't mind where Katarina can just marry them all. Maybe Ristelle and Aerti but I'm not too sure since while I do like some Fluri then and there, it's not a top thing. It's the same thing with Euphie and Nina.
I don’t mind Zoey x Dawn too. I don’t mind reading it.
I have no clue why FxF couples are so rare for me. My sexuality or because my shipping tendencies are far stricter when it comes to that.
When it comes to OT3 and harems, I'm very strict. There's a difference between this and multi-shipping where ya know, shipping multiple people. I do multishipping in series like MHA. I like BakuOcha alongside IzuOcha and Tododeku whereas I'm a definite DabiHawks and refused anyone else for Dabi and Hawks.
For example, I'm not a fan of C.C x Lelouch but I do enjoy C.C. x Shirley only if Suzalulu is added to the mix as a foursome. I don't mind the Unholy Trinity as a threesome or a foursome if you add Shirley but I just don't personally enjoy C.C. and Lelouch.
I definitely enjoy the Katarina harem.
Perhaps I have been burned far too many times about harems that I ignore prospective harems like in the case of Lelouch's harem, which I only consider Shirley out of all of them. I don't enjoy much of Kallen with Lelouch unless it's friendship nor does Milly which I see as more sisterly. Heck, I don't enjoy Euphie with Lelouch much either as I see it as more sisterly, especially when Lelouch is all about the people he cares about and Euphie he definitely cares so much about.
But it's a whole different story when it comes to liking all the harem members. I do like the members of Lelouch's harem individually albeit liking them in different relationships from the main person. I absolutely love the romances of the girls and gals with Katarina, mostly the gals, but the point remained that I actually like the romances instead of preferring other kinds of relationships.
I don't mind chick/dude/love interest magnet when it's played well. We must have sufficient reason why these people even like that person in the first place and must make it make sense. I usually enjoy the magnet types if they do it well. Say, if you don't do it well like SAO's Kirito, then it sticks out like a sore thumb. I could withstand a tsundere magnet like Kotetsu because I can see why Tomoe, Barnaby, and Karina like him.
There is a difference between liking Katarina's harem and Kirito's harem and that is a legit reason to believe it can happen. I can believe people falling for Lelouch because Lelouch is this great character who does deserve love. I cannot see why Kirito was able to gather a harem when he's just so bland, not that he is unlovable, just why does this happen?!
I definitely like morally ambiguous/grey characters. The Straw Hats are morally gray and I wholly love them. I definitely love BSD. I definitely love Hibari. I love Sasuke. I love MDZS. I love Childe and Zhongli. I love Lelouch.
Maybe blood knights are a thing too for me. From liking Childe now, it's not a surprise since I love
Hibari and Zoro beforehand. Make that love for violence attractive for me, you pretty dangerous people!
Pretty people are definitely for me. Hunks are a halfway point so unless you make hunks attractive for me - I'm a Zoro girl so Oda did good work there -, then good job. I'm not a fan of musclebound freaks because they just aren't that attractive to me. I won't like a big muscle guy unless you somehow make that attractive and even then I will be harsh because big muscles aren't attractive to me. Muscle ladies are a different manner since I do like them just as much as I like my women hot and pretty. Big bodybuilders just aren't that attractive to me unless you have that muscle build from a workout which is relatively okay in my book, but the too much-bulging muscle and I won't like it.
I can read gen fics that have teases of ships I don't even like. I will never favor TodoMomo, Tashigi x Zoro, and Kohza x Vivi in my life and I never will. I can stand them as long as they can be isolated, short, and interpreted as good friends or in Tashigi and Zoro's case, rivals.
This is what I am with This Bites and DTESH.
These are gen fics with authors who don't know how to write romances. Besides, it's not like it's important to the plot in any way. Just Ship Teases.
My preferred ships are those with so many complications and tensions that it's no wonder I don't favor the bland ones. TodoMomo is just so bland, the same goes with Aizawa x Ms. Joke. Kohza x Vivi got some dynamic with the Alabasta arc but I never favored it much unlike Vivi x Nami. While Tashigi and Zoro do have complications, I never favored it much because why would I ship Zoro with a lady who looks exactly like his rival to whom I know he's not attracted. He respects Kuina too much to be with her look-alike and I don't think either of them thought they would date in the future or at all.
TodoMomo is no DabiHawks, the latter of which is just something I prefer when it comes to my ships. Godoka, the enemy-to-lovers, tensions, and everything is just so good. Besides, I see TodoMomo as more sibling-like friends or simply close friends in DTESH than anything else.
I'm sorry, just to get that out of the way, but as long as the pairings I don't like shared isolated moments of Ship Tease, then it's fine because it's just isolated and I can handle that.
Just don't expect me to ship them or even like them.
When it comes to ships I'm neutral to, I can be inclined to ship it if I read fics about it. While LawLu isn't a fave ship of mine, I still prefer it over Tashigi x Zoro any time of the day. At least, their dynamic makes sense and is funny as all get out.
You cannot pay me to read a TodoMomo-central ship fic. While I will happily read DabiHawks fics, you simply cannot pay me to read even a word of a TodoMomo fic.
I can read a LawLu fic because at the end of the day, I'm neutral to it and it isn't as bland as TodoMomo.
CLAMP is influential on me. The soulmate pairings of their universe are largely influential on how I see my fave pairs.
For example, in the original world, they might live very differently.
Godoka, just imagining the Todofam's faces when they learn Touya and Hawks are destiny. They are meant to be hence their different versions that are living in different worlds are like living together, working together, doing anything together, etc Touya Kinomoto x Yukito Tsukishiro style. Though I think they would be happy that Touya was granted that bit of bliss of true love. And they are granted a brother-in-law.
Though admittedly people like Tokoyami and Hawks' sidekicks would feel ambivalent. On one hand, Hawks found true love. On the other hand, it's true love with the enemy.
Same with MiyuSawa. My fave MiyuSawa fic, The Trajectory of Laughter, showcased this with the two timelines, always seeing the match of MiyuSawa. I always love that detail that the two are always meant to be together, in life and in death. Heck, the final scene of the original fic was the two reuniting in the afterlife. When I'm influenced too much by CLAMP, that detail shot me in the heart.
I always have a fondness for that they are always meant to be together even if some incarnations will always end tragically.
