Cross Game - Azuma Kita! (Or a Brief History of “Kare Moe”) Today on Cross Game: Azuma shows up and I fall to fangirly pieces. Major heart-pounding slugger dokidoki session. Breaking Kou’s batting centre home-run record, then disrespecting the high school baseball team seniors so nonchalantly? I die. Azuma seems to come from a long line of “best friend” characters that are taller, more serious and have shorter hair and thicker eyebrows than the main character. I guess these are what you would call “moe” traits from a female perspective because I always find these characters far more attractive than the one the girl in the show ends up falling for. It also helps if their families own local liquor stores like both Takeuchi from Bokura ga Ita… …and Hideo Tachibana from H2 (another Adachi character who shares the whole “monstrous home-run hitting clean-up batter” moe point with Azuma, with only half of the brooding attitude.) And of course this list wouldn’t be complete without mention of my other all-time fave sidekick… …Sorata from X/1999, also known as Kamui’s taller, more dudely-looking BFF of sorts. Sorata may not work at a liquor store but he illustrates another HUGE MOE FACTOR in anime males - speaking in Kansai-ben dialect. Like whoa. It’s kind of a given among anime cliches that the hot best-friend/rival never gets the girl, to my shipping chagrin. Sorata got his lady and then CLAMP immediately killed him off in an epic manner - those bastards. So it seems just as likely that Azuma will not end up with Aoba in Cross Game as it is that Takeuchi will not end up with Nanami (if the Bokura ga Ita manga ever ends… I hear it’s coming back though!). Therefore, even if my shipping of these dudes always gets thwarted at least I can enjoy ‘em as eye candy. And make an awful fangirl squee post entitled “Azuma kitaaaaaaaaaa!!!!” I apologize sincerely to all of you. ….Wait, just one more: Yeah.
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