A thread on why you should consider alishin (alice yabusame x shin tsukimi) in your yttd shipping grace:

Disclaimer: I’m using shin to avoid confusion with sou hiyori (aka midori)

Also, Im offering statistics, speculations, comparisons, hcs,... rather than canon material (bc lets face it they BARELY interact i will never be happy until this is fixed)

Okay letsa go

1. Look at These

2. For the folks that prioritize the ages in fictional ships, alice and shin are all in their 20+, canonically have jobs, and are considered “young adults”

3. Crumbs from the game:
- They are shown to be able to work together pretty well (ch2-1, token trading)
- Shin, while pretending to be Sou, has a bad rep with the entire group except with Kanna, and - you guess it - Alice. Tbf its a neutral relationship, not much to say

- Alice makes a rather sound argument in ch2-2 when deciding who should die, “I cant kill anyone’s little sister”. He is the only one in the group who vocalises his realization abt Kanna’s true position in Shin’s life - “family” - while the rest of the group still doubt him

- When confounding Keiji abt his memories, Alice doesnt seem to display distress/wary over “Sou Hiyori”. This could mean that Alice wants to detach himself from his crime until further confirmation, still, its touching to see him still have a shred of faith for Shin after ch1

- While not canon, the sketches seem to suggest that when Shin needs to escape his “lonely” status, he seeks Alice out. Loners bonding!

4. Symbolism:
- imo, Shin and Alice are the true 2 sides of a same coin. They r bastards but have empathy for people, and shows that they can be incredibly kind.
- The differences r Shin uses fear to mask his kindness, while Alice masking it by making others fear for him

- They care for people they consider family so fucking much that they are willing to lose themselves for them.
- Their drives for survival, while twisted, are honestly admirable and strong. No I wont accept any “Alice’s choice in 2-2 at the medic is wrong” ITS HIS CHARACTER

- Lets not forget about the Implications that they are connected through Sou Hiyori.
- Shin’s arc and Alice’s are mirrored: Shin started out as trustworthy then slowly loses to distrust, meanwhile Alice is heavily scrutinized, then proves himself thru his rela with Reko & others

- The poetic cinema that is their deaths becoming their sisters’ growth and drive to survive, meanwhile in reverse, they seek out unhealthy coping mechanisms and basically continue the game without any other drive than to live out of spite

- Its something beautiful to see one that is deemed to die goes together with one that has death on their hands (twice, if ch3’s alice’s reaction to the white room’s recording is true)
- Of all the existing ships for Shin, with Alice shin display the least amount of-

-antagonize and/or heavy copendency. Alice would buy nothing of Shin’s facade, and Shin would give Alice none of that polite sympathy/condolences abt his past

- okay now for the sexiest parts
- HEIGHT AND SIZE DIFFERENCES
- PINKY AND THE BRAIN DYNAMIC
- ANALOGOUS COLOR THEME (TEAL & BLUR)
- They are both pretty (yeah Kai is pretty too but thats not what im talking abt here)

Ok Im gonna sleep when I wake up I wanna be suprised with the numbers of people ive goaded into this ship with me

5. Headcanons:
- Shin & Alice pre-game can be your typical meet-cute, with some underline codependency since both of them were meek & shy
- This dynamic was safe and soft, for those who want the best for them... unlike what happened to them in the game hahaHA

- Shin & Alice during to post-game, if they survive, is very tricky since their survivor-guilts could make them put walls between each other and shut them down, making communication harder. Its a very flexible scenario, ranging from a slow-burn to an angst fes-

- but my fav take is to let them have a healing journey (coming-of-age) together, where they work their issues slowly and accept one another instead of trying to change or better one another. They will still be lonely people. But maybe, with each other, they would be less alone.

- Ace/aro shipping, because I can never see them kissing/having sex unlike what I have gauged other ships. I’m talking about prolonged contacts. Microactions that speak more than words. Their rela would be cautious, their bond would grow like vines on an ancient wall-

- and they could never understand each other, never fully, no matter how similar they can be. But there will be days Alice going soft around Shin while they listen to gnarly goth rock, when Shin burst out a genuine laughter over something Alice said... its happiness.

- They both have their fluff & angst potentials, which is another reason why this ship hypnotize me.
- Fluff: Their loner bonding, making them more in-tune with each other’s space than with others. No grand gestures, no sweeping declarations of love-

- just them being there for each other, maybe one going “dont waste your fucking time” and the other reply, “then ive wasted it”, and stays.
- Angst: Sou Hiyori time. God how is it that one man can fuck up so many lives simply by existing AND dying? How the fuck. What the fuck.

I don’t think Shin knows Alice kills Sou, not until chap3 alter route. Judging from how Shin both feared and attached to Sou, I think it would create a complex within him to both in awe and in denial with Alice, a mixed feeling of hate and gratitude for the man-

-and this is probably their biggest wall in between. Alice took away the one “friend” that matters in Shin’s life, but also that one force that eats away his concious. Alice wont understand that, of course. He killed that man for fucks sake, he doesnt expect a copy to rise from-

-the death again. In their relationship, distrust and codependency would be their biggest obstacle. Shin needs to work on his self-worth & survivor-guilt issues, while Alice needs to overcome his follower-tendency. They both need to take charge of their new lives for the better

- They can be playful together! Shin & Alice are both competitive, with Shin more sly and Alice a bit too prideful. Alice would huff and puff bc Shin keeps cheating (“its not cheating if I use my brain, Alice-san”, Shin would try to sound nonchalant but cant help but feelin smug)

- They enjoy their alone time together! Since one of Alice’s fav is nooks, it would be quiet lovely to have Shin come up to whatever nook Alice is hiding, just slides in and sit together, saying nothing as the rain pitter patter outside the window. Oh I should draw that...

- MICRO ACTIONS Alice worries for Shin by telling him to eat more, stop being a prude, pick a dumbbell you sack of bones. Shin shows his feelings by keeping Alice on his toes with, gauging his reactions, slipping out more truths with each acts of care from the larger man

- Its canon that Shin will always go weak and show his color soon enough for those who truly cares for him, like how Mishima does in Island Mode. God do you just... wanna cry... this is less of an alishin hc its now me crying abt shin... gOD... dont tOuch mE

I wanna pause the HCs to address that while alishin has the potential to be soft and comforting, they are 2 chars with very heavy psychological baggage. While it does make their dynamic vry interesting, they can be an overload to think abt!

I will resume this thread later but for now,, them