This is my attempt at an in-depth exploration of Furihata Kouki’s character. It initially began as fic research and fact checking. Then it mutated into a desire to prove he’s more than just a coward. And now, I can no longer make sense of what I’m doing other than the fact that I probably have way more Furi than anyone ever thought would exist (or want).
Note: There will be a total of two parts. The first (this one) is mainly profiling and serves as canon reference. It’s not so much a character study as it is a detailed record. I tried to keep it largely factual since I intend to do the actual analysis of his character potential and trajectory in PART 2.
PART 1 contains:
I. CHARACTER BACKGROUND
- General info
- Initial character design & intro
- Basketball participation
II. PERSONALITY & CHARACTER ROLE
- General fandom perception
- The Pessimist
- The Backbone of the First Years
- The Caring Teammate
- The Keen Observer
III. MISCELLANEOUS TRIVIA
+ Footnotes, Credits, and Thanks
Warning #1: Much of Furihata’s character development occurred during the Winter Cup, and most of it has not been covered in the anime yet (as of season 2), so there will be spoilers if you haven’t read up to at least the 2nd quarter of the Seirin vs Rakuzan match.
Warning #2: Because he’s a background character who also happens to have a couple instances where he was thrown under the spotlight, I’m always hearing people say that they remember practically nothing about him from before. Basically, this was written with that in mind, so if you do remember him quite well, then a lot of this may seem redundant or trivial.
Also. It’s kinda insanely long and includes pictures at every point. I’m one of those people who find inane facts interesting. Just sayin’.
A) Izuki I-know-I-look-good-in-a-skirt Shun
B) Izuki actually-from-a-bad-bl-manga Shun
take your pick.
pgs r so gr8.
ok just imagine that takao checks oha asa for tomorrow (bc ofc he checks it now bc midorima) and finds out that midorima’s lucky item is a toy hippo and wHERE WOULD M IDORIMA GET ONE OF THOSE there is no way becasue takao is well acquainted with all of the stores that midorima has dragged him to so takao stays up crocheting midorima a toy hippo and presents it to him first thing in the morning and there might be even feelings involved
IM SCREECHING IM LITERALLY SCREECHING
4/5 Sad Moments: Kaijou’s loss against Touou
#reasons to love kasamatsu ‘senpai’ yukio
some akafuri AUs in akashi’s perspective for y’all
-‘Remember when I spilled soup on myself by accident and you ended up cleaning it for me? Well, I liked the attention you gave me enough to do it on purpose a few times because you look so cute when you’re frustrated’ AU
-‘I heard my friends talking shit about you and decided to get even by sabotaging their lunches by putting a huge amount of chili powder in them and made you come along so you could see them on their knees, begging for the huge liter of water I ‘coincidentally’ had with me’ AU
-‘I invited you to a party and offered you a bit of wine, but you immediately got drunk after two sips and now you’re trying to covet the whole buffet table while I try to pull you away’ AU
-‘You asked me to help you train in basketball and I played you till you were worn out and irritated, so you threw the ball square in my face and laughed so hard at the mark it left and ever since then you never lived it down’ AU
-‘I was trying to reach for a bowl that was on the very back of the cupboard and couldn’t reach it, so you tried to help me then you remembered that you were shorter than me and now we’re just sitting down on the carpet, contemplating on our life together’ AU
if any of you guys could do a scenario for any of the AUs i beg of you pls dO IT or actually if you want me to do it just hit me up
who tf sits down at the same table as someone when no one else is in the room when you dont know each other??????
why go away this is like the only half hour i’ll get to relax until i get off work just let me eat my lunch in peace
a friend of mine is a science educator. not a classroom teacher – he does the kind of programs you see in museums, fun experiments with lasers and dry ice and shit.
yesterday, a young girl asked him why he was allowed to pour liquid nitrogen all over his own arm but he didn’t want her doing it. I braced myself for some dumb “well I’m an adult so I’m allowed” non-answer, but instead he surprised me by giving some of the best science (and life) advice I think you can give a young person:
“well, it’s one of those rules designed to keep you safe. and following the rules really can help you stay safe, but they’re not perfect. sometimes, usually because they’re too simple, the rules let you do things that aren’t safe, or don’t let you do things that are safe if you know how to do them. one of the reasons I’m good at what I do as a scientist is I try to understand how things work so I can figure out my own rules for keeping myself safe. and sometimes my rules are little more complicated than what I might hear from other people, but they work better for me. like, I let myself play with liquid nitrogen, but only in really specific ways that I’ve spent time practicing. you should follow the rules you’re given at first, but if you take the time to understand how things work, maybe you can make your own, better rules.”
I loved this response. it’s a great encapsulation of two really important things I think people need to learn and re-learn all the time: on the one hand, listen to genuine authority figures; when someone knows more than you about a subject, don’t treat their expertise as “just another opinion” and act like your ignorance is just as good as their knowledge. but on the other hand, don’t obey anything or anyone blindly. recognize that rules and systems and established ideas are never perfect. question things, educate yourself, question things more.
and then, of course, a parent had to butt in and spoil this wonderful lesson by saying:
“but not the rules mom comes up with!”
everyone in the room laughed. except me. I gave her a death glare I’m pretty sure she didn’t notice.
because no. no. your rules are not above reproach if you’re a parent. the thing about the dictates of genuine authority figures – people who deserve to have power, and to have their positions respected – is that they are open to question. genuine authority figures are accountable. governments can be petitioned and protested and recalled. doctors must respect patients’ right to a second opinion. journalists have jobs terminated and credentials revoked if they fail to meet standards of integrity and diligence. scientists, to bring us back full circle, spend their entire careers trying to disprove their own hypotheses! you know who insists on being treated as infallible? megalomaniacal dictators, that’s who. oh, and parents.
I’m beyond sick and tired of this “my house my rules, this family is not a democracy, I want my child to think critically and stand up for themselves except to me ha ha” bullshit. my friend gave this kid the kind of advice that doesn’t just help people become good scientists – if enough people adopt the mentality he put forth to that girl, that’s the kind of advice that helps societies value knowledge and resist totalitarianism. and her mother shut it down because, what, she didn’t want to deal with the inconvenience of having someone question her edicts about whose job it is to wash the dishes on Mondays?
we already know you’re more likely to be a Trump supporter if you’re an authoritarian parent – and that this is a stronger predictor of your views on the current president than age, religiosity, gender, or race. I’ll say this another way in case you didn’t catch the full meaning: people who believe in the absolute, unquestionable authority of parents are more than two and a half times as likely to support Trump as people who don’t, and that’s just among Republicans. we can’t afford to treat the oppressive treatment of children or the injustice of ageist power structures in our society as a sideshow issue any longer. the mentality that parents should be treated by their children as beyond reproach and above dispute is a social cancer that has metastasized into the man currently trying to destroy the foundations of democracy in this country.
in short: parents, get the hell over yourselves before you get us all killed. and kids, learn as much as you can, and then make your own rules.
5
“Why do you like the villains when they did terrible things but dislike the heroes for doing annoying things”
because this is fiction and im here to be entertained; being annoying and unlikeable IS a much, much graver sin than any fictional atrocity any villain commits
Also, when bad characters do terrible things, it’s usually highlighted and signposted by the narrative. When the heroes do annoying – and, sometimes, also terrible – things, the narrative usually intends me to ignore it, or think that those terrible things are actually cool and justified.
I don’t need to disapprove of the villains because the narrative is doing it for me. But when I have to read against the text to disapprove of the shitty stuff the heroes get away with, that’s more work and, more importantly, frustrating and unrewarding work, because you know there’s never going to be any comeuppance for these characters. Which makes it ten times as annoying.
This, this, this cannot be said enough. When the “hero” (and the people supporting them) blatantly gets away with doing bad stuff, while the villain gets put down for literally everything, it’s too close to real life for me. It’s just not fun anymore.
I don’t need a stalwart hero who can do no wrong, but when they fuck up very badly I DO want to see them get held accountable
