Answered Question: Why I'm So Passionate Over MidoChia
I'm grateful because of you I can easily access to their story and understand midochia better, what makes you ship midochia to the point that you have great passion for them?
Sent and answered in November 2023. tweet link of the answer
i’m really happy to know it helps! that question oh man (breathes) warning in advance that a long answer for that will be SUPER LONG… I’M SO SORRY…
short answer: to love chiaki is to love midori, and to love midori is to love chiaki. being a midoriP inevitably means i love chiaki, and likewise, being a chiakiP inevitably means i love midori. every new piece of canon for the two of them supports this cycle so well that it’s impossible for me not to be this passionate about them!!
long answer:
for context, i got into enstars back in 2016, so i’ve experienced in real-time the release of ryuseitai stories starting from holiday party (end of 2016) until today. this is a pretty big factor of my increasing passion for midochia (+ chiaki and midori as individuals as well).
it’s a little tricky to pin down exactly what makes me go THIS batshit insane about midochia, as honestly, there’s so much about midochia that lights a fire in my heart. but i’d say the biggest absolute no.1 reason is my love for chiaki. i absolutely love chiaki. and midochia? midochia is entirely centered around chiaki.
midori and chiaki’s relationship came to be because of chiaki. it’s all because of chiaki’s persistence, his dedication, his love, determination, his selfless care to see midori shine and become the hero that chiaki saw in him from the very moment they first met.
this center point is echoed throughout all their stories over and over, to the point that midori can’t escape being reminded of chiaki (midori seeing red = reminded of chiaki), or someone will always relate chiaki back to midori. (other characters going "oh are you feeling lonely without [chiaki]?")
even when chiaki isn’t necessarily part of a midori-involved story, it relates back to chiaki. see: orihime and hikoboshi (2018 story) and how it explores the tension between subaru and midori. their relationship is based around how they only know and talk to each other because of chiaki (basketball club)… how subaru is/was envious of midori because chiaki became interested in midori and poured all his efforts into him.
midori’s storyline quickly reaches a point where it is Impossible To Separate Chiaki From Him. to understand midori and his development, it’s necessary to understand all the little and big things chiaki has been planting and doing for him, that’s influencing him and everything around him
by climax (2017 repayment festival story, graduation season for chiaki and kanata), it’s so undeniable how much effort, time and love chiaki has put into midori, that one of tetora’s reasons for getting angry at midori is "what was the WHOLE point of everything [chiaki] did for you this ENTIRE year if this is how you’re gonna be at the final moment?"
by the end of midori’s 1st year, all of this leads him to proclaim something very important to chiaki:
“When we first met, you asked me, “Won't you become a hero?”
And I never gave you an answer… But now I'll answer you not with words, but with actions.
Even if I did say it with words, you wouldn’t listen anyway…… So please watch my transformation closely.”
the conclusion to midori's arc in ! era stories is "without chiaki, midori wouldn’t be here." without chiaki completely and unconditionally accepting midori for who he is, the midori we know and love wouldn’t have had a single chance to shine and be happy in the way he deserves to be.
this alone is an absolutely beautiful part about midochia, but so far all i’ve established is how much their relationship has benefited midori.
back to how i was saying that i love chiaki. i absolutely love everything about chiaki. i think chiaki only deserves the best. he should never have to suffer, he should only ever be happy
after meteor impact came out in 2019, those feelings amplified by a MILLION. i came out of that story so heartbroken to learn that chiaki broke down severely from such an unreasonable situation. i love why it happened (the fact it’s related to disappointing his only junior, subaru, just makes too much sense), i love that it finally explains so much about why chiaki is so stubborn to keep up a strong front in his 3rd year (of course he would after feeling like a failure to his junior), but it hurt so fucking bad like he genuinely did nothing wrong, he was just a bullied kid who really loves heroes and wanted to be one, but no matter how much he cried for help no hero came for him :") and his main conclusion to what happened is "i never want to disappoint [the people cheering for me] (like subaru) ever again".
it’s heartbreaking TO SAY THE LEAST. just feels fucking awful as a chiakiP to see him lock that breakdown deep inside (his cry for help!! his need for someone to just tell him that he’s doing okay!! he’s worked hard!!!) and instead focus all his energy on becoming a hero (which does make sense! of course chiaki would want to focus on his dream! he finally gets the chance to make it a reality!). and in his 3rd year, it QUICKLY reaches to the point of overworking himself (so many stories in ! era talk about how he overworks until collapse or even almost getting hit by a car from exhaustion…!?! and that was mentioned in stories set VERY early in his 3rd year).
meteor impact sort of ends on a happy note, but i just couldn’t buy it. to me, all i really ended up reading was a story about how chiaki was robbed from his happy ending. that he was forced to turn his tragedy into his last chance to become the hero he always yearned to be.
i could’ve completely lost all hope that chiaki could get a happy ending for himself eventually… but thankfully did Not lose any hope, because of midori.
thank GOD meteor impact was in 2019, after every single beautiful ! era ryuseitai story, because we have already been provided story after story about how ryuseitai supports and helps chiaki. but most especially, how MIDORI is the missing piece to giving chiaki a chance to heal from his trauma.
from ! era stories alone, we learn that:
- in sweet halloween (2017 story), midori was the one who got worried over chiaki acting "strange" (not like his usual self). he’s the reason it was found out early that chiaki is terrified of ghosts and can’t handle halloween. his insistence to figure out what’s wrong with chiaki is how chiaki was able to get a support system and make it through a season he’s so terrified of (in other words, feels vulnerable and un-heroic in)
“Anyway, there really isn’t anything to be embarrassed about… We all have things we can’t stand… In a way, it’s more embarrassing and uncool to keep insisting that you like something you actually hate…
It’s natural to have dislikes… Just be true to yourself… Aren’t you the one who’s always telling me stuff like, ‘I love you no matter what’…?”
- in zodiac (2017 story), midori mistook daikichi for chiaki and in the process, immediately tries to get him away from harm, and even expresses something very important, which is:
“You’re always, always worrying and fussing over other people all the time… That’s why I think it’d be terrible if something bad happened to you… Um, like… I can’t put it in words well, but… It just wouldn’t be fair…”
midori saw (doggie) chiaki, a vulnerable small animal who could’ve easily gotten harmed, and said “it wouldn’t be fair if something bad happened to you” (VERY important considering meteor impact)
- and in climax (2017 story)… midori was the one who accidentally encountered chiaki at a vulnerable moment, crying his heart out about graduation, but then immediately putting up a strong front and smiling as soon as he notices midori around. which angered (and confused) midori:
(Ahh… I wonder why I feel this way…? He hasn’t done anything wrong… But seeing him smile irritates me to no end for some reason…
Morisawa-senpai, why’re you smiling…? You, who loves everyone and is loved by everyone in return… How can you even be smiling right now…?
Graduation is supposed to be something upsetting, so agonizingly lonely and sad… Yet, are you really gonna try and look cool while parting ways, until the very end…?
No… Even before all this, you’ve always been—…)
time and time again, midori questions: “why do you refuse to show that weak side?” “why do you have to go through these things?” “why are you putting up a strong front, when it’s only hurting you further?”
and remembering all of these scenes after reading that heart-wrenching backstory for chiaki in meteor impact… filled me with so much hope.
i love chiaki, i love him so much and i want him to always be happy. and he CAN be happy. even after so many awful things happening to him in his past (wrongly threatened by kuro*, feeling like a failure after disappointing his beloved junior subaru, constantly bullied by ex-ryuseitai members for ALMOST TWO YEARS, breaking down after admitting nobody ever came to save him no matter how much he cried for help), it’s not too late to save him and give him the happy ending he deserves.
* kuro has apologized many times for this and felt extremely guilty, and i'm not upset that kuro did this in the first place, but it's still true that chiaki went through a lot of things and this was one of them.
and i can believe in that possibility because of midori. after acknowledging every little bit of thing chiaki did for him in his 1st year, midori decided to commit and do something so preciously important for chiaki, who once broke down when none of his efforts came to fruition: “At the very least, I’ll prove to you that your year didn’t go to waste.”
and THIS is the very point about midochia that made me go from “they’re so cute and precious together 🥺” to batshit insane passion and love for them.
up until meteor impact (so until 2019), i was actually a chiaki multishipper more than anything. midochia was one of my top favorite ships, but i still loved thinking about chiaki with other people. i even considered him a guy who had “5+ different boyfriend candidates” back then.
but meteor impact changed All of that for me. after reading that story, i got so obsessed with the idea of chiaki specifically getting his happy ending that i couldn’t stop thinking “i need it to be midori. i need chiaki to be with midori i NEED midori to save him. it has to be midori”
and i’m not going to lie, i know i sound crazy right now but… that obsession is how i got more and more into the two. i already loved chiaki, midori, and midochia. but by loving and investing more time in midori’s lore, i was loving chiaki all the more than i already did. by having invested so much time into chiaki’s lore, i was falling in love even MORE with midori, with his beautiful kind heart, his persistence and stubbornness to do WHATEVER it takes to repay chiaki (and repay ryuseitai too!). everything about them and their relationship became all the more beautiful to me.
2019 was a slow year for enstars. there wasn’t much content as enstars was starting to prepare for enmusic and !! era release, so i spent the majority of 2019 just thinking up delusions after delusions of how midori would help chiaki tear off that “strong front” mask. about how beautiful it’d be if chiaki could get healing from midori in the ways he deserves. or how chiaki deserves to know and see that he absolutely DOES deserve every good, wonderful thing happen to him.
and then… !! era started in 2020 and holy fucking shit
literally the very first few scenes for midori and chiaki were:
them alone together (main story. THEIR MAIN STORY CGS ARE EVEN TOWARDS EACH OTHER) AND focused on how midori is trying to be reliable and ease chiaki’s burden during a busy time for him
midori attempting to stop chiaki from self-sabotage and kick him back on stage because “you're part of ryuseitai too” (motor show)
reminders once again that anything midori says will relate back to chiaki (motor show, when he out of nowhere vents about how chiaki’s i love you's “weren't true after all”)
this was all released by april 2020 (and !! era started in march 2020), so i was like "FUCK. MY DELUSIONS WEREN’T DELUSIONS??? WTF". so yeah this is basically when it was sealed that i’m never gonna stop being insane about midochia for the rest of my life, actually.
after my heart shattered by meteor impact in 2019, midori starting off !! era with a "guys did you know morisawa-senpai deserves only the best because he always works so hard" just elevated me to a whole new dimension. like damn, ! era stories were already one thing with how impossible it is to avoid chiaki being mentioned in a midori story, somehow !! era stories took that to a whole new level because now even MIDORI deliberately refuses to shut the fuck up about chiaki. and good!!!!! fucking GOOD!!!!! how can i not be elated by this as a chiakiP. my absolute favorite character (midori) constantly wants only the best for my other absolute favorite character (chiaki)? and it makes perfect sense why, because chiaki had already literally dedicated a WHOLE YEAR OF HIS LIFE just to make midori shine!?!? yeah. yeah, there was no going back. midochia is perfection
and the rest is history… i can definitely continue this because it’s midochia (didn’t even talk about comet show My Beloved. or supervillain, also my beloved. ryuseitai stories my beloved my world) and i can’t shut the fuck up about midochia To Be Honest, but i need to find a stopping point somewhere aahhh 😭
i will say though that the 2023 content for chiaki, midori and ryuseitai only further amplified the desire to see chiaki happy and healed, because ryuseitai’s tense arc throughout !! era finally reached its happy conclusion!!! and one of those reasons is because supervillain (2023 story) finally brought chiaki’s vulnerabilities/backstory to light!! it’s an incredible first step that chiaki admitted to tetora that he was a bullied nerdy kid, but his trauma from his breakdown will take a while to be uncovered and then be healed from, because nobody knows he went through that…
and based on everything we’ve seen so far in ! era and !! era for both midori and chiaki’s storylines, midori will likely be involved with the next 5* chiaki event (that is written by akira). just like how he was in climax (chiaki 5* and midori 5*), sweet halloween (chiaki 5* midori 4*), and comet show (chiaki 5*, midori 4* and kanata 4*). note that all these stories had a 5* chiaki, covered huge parts of his vulnerability/“non-hero” side and midori played a huge role in them (of course, climax is midori-centric too anyway)
because when it comes down to it, midochia is entirely centered around chiaki. it’s all about how chiaki’s effort, kindness, love, and care all deserve to be repayed with just as much kindness, love, effort, and care and EVEN MORE. and midori has acknowledged all of this in climax already:
“All the kindness you’ve given me — Even if I spent my whole life trying, I don’t think I could ever fully return the favor. But at the very least, I’ll prove to you that your year didn’t go to waste.
Thanks to you, even I’ve changed a little… and I’ll show that to you now.”
“Hey, come on now… This isn’t the time to be crying, please finish what you have to do. We’d like to hear your usual catchphrase.
Please shine in your own way, as you always have — within the center of everyone.
I never really disliked seeing that… Morisawa-senpai.”
and since !! era started (i.e. after chiaki and kanata graduated), he has been on a mission to repay every ounce of every little thing chiaki has done for him. just as chiaki provided midori with the happiness midori “never once thought he’d ever get to experience”, chiaki WILL get the happy ending he always deserved to have since day 1.
and that’s why… i’m this passionate about them… it all comes back to the short answer i gave earlier: to love chiaki is to love midori, and to love midori is to love chiaki!!
for a tl;dr: i made a thread that similarly talks about why i love midochia this much, so it kinda acts as a tl;dr of what i said here.
i know this was…long…… so thank you if you read this far!! 😭 ❤️ i hope this helps see the charm in midochia charm even more, especially while reading the stories! hehe
stories i referenced:
climax, sweet halloween, zodiac, orihime and hikoboshi, meteor impact, !! main story, motor show, comet show (kinda), supervillain (kinda)