and here it is. my adoration for oikawa tooru, painstakingly transformed into text.

(or: a very, VERY, long thread for the love of my life, in celebration of his birthday)

#及川徹生誕祭2020
#及川徹誕生祭2020

(i really couldn't decide if this thread should have been a character analysis or a love letter, so if it starts sounding like a combination of both, please bear with me!)

oikawa tooru was introduced in such a way that makes readers and watchers alike wary of him from the get-go. his saccharine smiles and barely-masked venom (paired with the tension between him and our precious deuteragonist) was practically enough for us to dislike him right away.

moreover, it was established early on that oikawa was /good/. sure, he was cocky and annoying to a fault, but he wasn't all bark and no bite. this, of course, was not supposed to sit right with us especially since he posed a threat to the team we've grown to love.

more often than not, this initial impression of oikawa stays because he is often portrayed as a petty and arrogant boy. even i disliked him at first, and it wasn't until i tried to understand his totality that i saw him as the brilliantly written character that he is.

disliking oikawa is easy because acknowledging the emotions that make us ugly is a difficult thing to do. it's easier to focus on his bravado than to dwell on his insecurity. it's easier to fixate ourselves on his frivolity than to mull over his debilitating drive to be better.