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phantasmalpoisonWhile there are a couple of key moments that suggest these two characters actually like each other, this will mainly be about the potential, with a heavy focus on their similarities.
In Pekoyama's free time events, she says, I can't really smile that well. I've been like this ever since I was young, and a key theme in her FTEs is about trying to smile. She can't force a smile and isn't smiling in Koizumi's candid photos, she's worried that she is, quote, incapable of smiling. This is consistent with her CGs and regular in-game sprites. Discovering her smile by reminiscing on pleasant memories is a revelation.
However, in the second bonus scene where the girls make desserts, Pekoyama is in fact smiling. Not only that, but she is leaning in close to Sonia.
As Pekoyama puts it at the end of her FTEs:
Sonia/Peko best ship 100% proven ⭐
In Pekoyama's free time events, she says, I can't really smile that well. I've been like this ever since I was young, and a key theme in her FTEs is about trying to smile. She can't force a smile and isn't smiling in Koizumi's candid photos, she's worried that she is, quote, incapable of smiling. This is consistent with her CGs and regular in-game sprites. Discovering her smile by reminiscing on pleasant memories is a revelation.
However, in the second bonus scene where the girls make desserts, Pekoyama is in fact smiling. Not only that, but she is leaning in close to Sonia.
As Pekoyama puts it at the end of her FTEs:
Smiling is not something you have to force.
When your heart gets warm, smiles come to you naturally.
Smiles are a huge deal for Pekoyama, and Sonia brings them out in her.
We don't really get to see them interacting, even this CG is from an all-girls event that Hinata is promptly kicked out of. But it's a tantalising glimpse at what seems like a good relationship between the two, and it seems reasonable to assume they have other, similar interactions Hinata isn't privy to.
And then, of course, (as also seen with Nanami) there's Sonia's emotional outburst at the trial.
For comparison, this is the version in trial 5:
Similar, sure, but Pekoyama's is definitely more intimate-sounding. The pause – is she breaking up, or (dare we dream!) are there specific moments together she's thinking of but dare not mention! But the main thing is that with Nanami, it's an appeal to the time everyone spent with her, but with Sonia, it's a personal appeal to Pekoyama about the time Sonia has spent with her.
First and foremost, this is proof that Sonia and Pekoyama have spent a reasonable amount of time together in the relatively short period they've been 'on Jabberwock' together, and it also strongly suggests that time was meaningful for Sonia.
In general, Sonia is trying to plead Pekoyama's humanity, to declare that she recognises her humanity, that she wants to believe their time together was special, even. Obviously I'd like to read lots of deep, romantic things into this, or at least, point out the possibility, but at the very least, in the face of Pekoyama's declaration that she's a tool, Sonia says, no, you're a person.
Re: this trial, Pekoyama cosplays as one of Sonia's favourite serial killers, #couplegoals. Not really much to say about that, other than that Pekoyama is proven to listen when Sonia speaks (on at least one occasion!), enough to memorise a catchphrase, so that's nice.
Sonia is a Japanophile, and Pekoyama is a martial artist who grew up in a Japanese-style house. She's shown wearing kimono and a sailor uniform, and she's devoted her life to the way of the sword (which also requires wearing hakama), a thoroughly Japanese character.
So, definitely a person Sonia would be interested to get to know.
Okay, onto their similarities!
Here's the crucial one: they both feel a strong sense of duty to a path in life that was chosen for them.
This can be compared directly with a line from Sonia's FTEs:
When I am in my country, I am a princess before I am a person.
While she had no say in the matter, Pekoyama embraces this duty, chooses it, makes it her life's purpose. That's what she claims, anyway. Now onto why the relationship with duty is a little bit more complicated than this for both Sonia and Pekoyama:
Those two selves? I am a princess... and I am also a woman. In other words, being her role and being a person. In general, Sonia is taking a holiday from being a princess and is quite enthusiastic about getting to be a normal girl for a bit, but her ultimate decision about embracing her role in the shot through the heart event is I will be even more devoted!. Duty wins.
For Pekoyama, Fuyuhiko trying to take away her duty is a bad thing. He doesn't want her as her tool, and specifically told her Our professional relationship doesn't exist on this island... We're just fellow high school students now... as soon as they arrived, and she interprets that as him hating her.
She sees not wanting her as a tool as like rejecting her very existence. In her own words: Without an owner...a tool serves no purpose. So, Pekoyama has a much harder time with taking a break from her duty. In the end, when Kuzuryu tries to kill someone, Pekoyama steps in and does it for him, seeing it as her role as his personal assassin.
However, the fact she did it against his wishes is used to prove she's not a tool, she made a personal choice to protect Kuzuryu out of her own love for him. I'd say this is still deeply out of a sense of duty, but it's a personal sense of duty to put him first, rather than follow his orders. So, ultimately, it's the opposite of Sonia, she betrays her duty in the end.
That said, in terms of having personal interpretations of duty, Sonia has tons of those. She secretly researches the occult, despite it being a forbidden interest for a princess, and opposes traditions like eating a Skong to reach adulthood, something which could be considered unpatriotic.
And regarding enjoying being a normal high school girl for a while, Pekoyama's FTEs (and the baking CG! And all that time we spent together!!) suggests there is a part of Pekoyama that wants to enjoy being an ordinary person. Those FTEs also suggest that, just like Sonia with her romance dramas, she wants to experience love.
May they have a wonderful school trip together!
They've both been kidnapped. They both also felt they had to hide their fear in the situation for the sake of others.
Sonia:
I, too, have been abducted twice by insurgents in the past.
If I showed my fear, it would fill my people with despair...
Pekoyama:
No...we were forced into someone's car...
I desperately tried to cheer up my friend, but I was also scared and worried.
Something they can relate to each other about, yay.
While hardly emotionally relevant, I can't help but point out that they're the two pretty girls of their class with several romantic admirers each.
While Hanamura is attracted to, like, everyone, the first time we encounter him he is trying to get Sonia to suck his loins as the perceived innocent type, and he brings up Pekoyama's underwear and how he thinks she might be a bit of a freak. So, romantic admirer number 1, but also, if we view Hanamura as a connoisseur, he may even be starting with the two finest specimens.
Hinata is in awe of Sonia's princessliness, and genuinely and clearly falls in love with Pekoyama in her FTEs.
Soda is obsessed with Sonia-san, but also, well,
Ibuki might just fall in love with those quiet words of Peko-Peko.
And, of course, we have Kuzuryu's love for Pekoyama and Tanaka's blushing attracton to the Dark Queen, the big het ships I am heartlessly breaking up in my evil queer agenda (not necessarily, I love polyamory). These two are in high demand, stick them together instead (as well)!
Anyway, on the topic of the Supreme Overlord of Ice,
Fluffy things! Sonia loves Tanaka GUNDHAM's hamsters, worries about animal rights in her country, and thinks the statue should be cuter.
And what better way to make it cuter,
Pekoyama's longing for fluffy things is another core theme of her FTEs, with Hinata suggesting she ask Tanaka for help.
There are things that are warm, fluffy, and soft...
The cat that came to visit the dojo, my childhood friend's dog, and even the finch I had as a pet...
But all animals can sense my menacing presence and run away from me.
I just...want to touch their soft fur and fluffy feathers to my heart's content...
With Tanaka's help, hopefully they can both enjoy cute, fluffy animals.
They are both swimming girls!! This is literally just in Island Mode, but Sonia claims to be the best at swimming:
Pekoyama says she was doing long distance swimming in chapter 2, but, as we know, she was actually doing a murder. That said, she comes up with the exact same activity as Sonia in Island Mode:
Swimming date! And they can meet at the pool at school (poly ship with Asahina, anyone?).
And finally, the single biggest reason to ship them:
They both wholeheartedly reject eating a hot dog in the cinema! And for the exact same reason – that is a meal, and such a thing simply won't do in the circumstances! With this agreed upon, a date is all sorted.
Although what to watch, comedy might be dangerous...
Smiles are a huge deal for Pekoyama, and Sonia brings them out in her.
We don't really get to see them interacting, even this CG is from an all-girls event that Hinata is promptly kicked out of. But it's a tantalising glimpse at what seems like a good relationship between the two, and it seems reasonable to assume they have other, similar interactions Hinata isn't privy to.
And then, of course, (as also seen with Nanami) there's Sonia's emotional outburst at the trial.
For comparison, this is the version in trial 5:
Similar, sure, but Pekoyama's is definitely more intimate-sounding. The pause – is she breaking up, or (dare we dream!) are there specific moments together she's thinking of but dare not mention! But the main thing is that with Nanami, it's an appeal to the time everyone spent with her, but with Sonia, it's a personal appeal to Pekoyama about the time Sonia has spent with her.
First and foremost, this is proof that Sonia and Pekoyama have spent a reasonable amount of time together in the relatively short period they've been 'on Jabberwock' together, and it also strongly suggests that time was meaningful for Sonia.
In general, Sonia is trying to plead Pekoyama's humanity, to declare that she recognises her humanity, that she wants to believe their time together was special, even. Obviously I'd like to read lots of deep, romantic things into this, or at least, point out the possibility, but at the very least, in the face of Pekoyama's declaration that she's a tool, Sonia says, no, you're a person.
Re: this trial, Pekoyama cosplays as one of Sonia's favourite serial killers, #couplegoals. Not really much to say about that, other than that Pekoyama is proven to listen when Sonia speaks (on at least one occasion!), enough to memorise a catchphrase, so that's nice.
Sonia is a Japanophile, and Pekoyama is a martial artist who grew up in a Japanese-style house. She's shown wearing kimono and a sailor uniform, and she's devoted her life to the way of the sword (which also requires wearing hakama), a thoroughly Japanese character.
So, definitely a person Sonia would be interested to get to know.
Okay, onto their similarities!
Here's the crucial one: they both feel a strong sense of duty to a path in life that was chosen for them.
This can be compared directly with a line from Sonia's FTEs:
When I am in my country, I am a princess before I am a person.
While she had no say in the matter, Pekoyama embraces this duty, chooses it, makes it her life's purpose. That's what she claims, anyway. Now onto why the relationship with duty is a little bit more complicated than this for both Sonia and Pekoyama:
Those two selves? I am a princess... and I am also a woman. In other words, being her role and being a person. In general, Sonia is taking a holiday from being a princess and is quite enthusiastic about getting to be a normal girl for a bit, but her ultimate decision about embracing her role in the shot through the heart event is I will be even more devoted!. Duty wins.
For Pekoyama, Fuyuhiko trying to take away her duty is a bad thing. He doesn't want her as her tool, and specifically told her Our professional relationship doesn't exist on this island... We're just fellow high school students now... as soon as they arrived, and she interprets that as him hating her.
She sees not wanting her as a tool as like rejecting her very existence. In her own words: Without an owner...a tool serves no purpose. So, Pekoyama has a much harder time with taking a break from her duty. In the end, when Kuzuryu tries to kill someone, Pekoyama steps in and does it for him, seeing it as her role as his personal assassin.
However, the fact she did it against his wishes is used to prove she's not a tool, she made a personal choice to protect Kuzuryu out of her own love for him. I'd say this is still deeply out of a sense of duty, but it's a personal sense of duty to put him first, rather than follow his orders. So, ultimately, it's the opposite of Sonia, she betrays her duty in the end.
That said, in terms of having personal interpretations of duty, Sonia has tons of those. She secretly researches the occult, despite it being a forbidden interest for a princess, and opposes traditions like eating a Skong to reach adulthood, something which could be considered unpatriotic.
And regarding enjoying being a normal high school girl for a while, Pekoyama's FTEs (and the baking CG! And all that time we spent together!!) suggests there is a part of Pekoyama that wants to enjoy being an ordinary person. Those FTEs also suggest that, just like Sonia with her romance dramas, she wants to experience love.
May they have a wonderful school trip together!
They've both been kidnapped. They both also felt they had to hide their fear in the situation for the sake of others.
Sonia:
I, too, have been abducted twice by insurgents in the past.
If I showed my fear, it would fill my people with despair...
Pekoyama:
No...we were forced into someone's car...
I desperately tried to cheer up my friend, but I was also scared and worried.
Something they can relate to each other about, yay.
While hardly emotionally relevant, I can't help but point out that they're the two pretty girls of their class with several romantic admirers each.
While Hanamura is attracted to, like, everyone, the first time we encounter him he is trying to get Sonia to suck his loins as the perceived innocent type, and he brings up Pekoyama's underwear and how he thinks she might be a bit of a freak. So, romantic admirer number 1, but also, if we view Hanamura as a connoisseur, he may even be starting with the two finest specimens.
Hinata is in awe of Sonia's princessliness, and genuinely and clearly falls in love with Pekoyama in her FTEs.
Soda is obsessed with Sonia-san, but also, well,
Ibuki might just fall in love with those quiet words of Peko-Peko.
And, of course, we have Kuzuryu's love for Pekoyama and Tanaka's blushing attracton to the Dark Queen, the big het ships I am heartlessly breaking up in my evil queer agenda (not necessarily, I love polyamory). These two are in high demand, stick them together instead (as well)!
Anyway, on the topic of the Supreme Overlord of Ice,
Fluffy things! Sonia loves Tanaka GUNDHAM's hamsters, worries about animal rights in her country, and thinks the statue should be cuter.
And what better way to make it cuter,
Pekoyama's longing for fluffy things is another core theme of her FTEs, with Hinata suggesting she ask Tanaka for help.
There are things that are warm, fluffy, and soft...
The cat that came to visit the dojo, my childhood friend's dog, and even the finch I had as a pet...
But all animals can sense my menacing presence and run away from me.
I just...want to touch their soft fur and fluffy feathers to my heart's content...
With Tanaka's help, hopefully they can both enjoy cute, fluffy animals.
They are both swimming girls!! This is literally just in Island Mode, but Sonia claims to be the best at swimming:
Pekoyama says she was doing long distance swimming in chapter 2, but, as we know, she was actually doing a murder. That said, she comes up with the exact same activity as Sonia in Island Mode:
Swimming date! And they can meet at the pool at school (poly ship with Asahina, anyone?).
And finally, the single biggest reason to ship them:
They both wholeheartedly reject eating a hot dog in the cinema! And for the exact same reason – that is a meal, and such a thing simply won't do in the circumstances! With this agreed upon, a date is all sorted.
Although what to watch, comedy might be dangerous...
Sonia/Peko best ship 100% proven ⭐
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Date: 2025-01-14 12:43 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-14 01:01 am (UTC)Thank you for reading :)