on love (and basketball): hirano to kagiura, ch 23b

if the title's not obvious, SPOILERS BEWARE! I'll be putting this under the cut for extra safety and also because. i have a tendency to not shutting up

so i recently saw this wonderful post by @kalpalatas talking about how basketball is central to hirano and kagiura's relationship, and there's a lot of wonderful add-ons to it as well, so highly recommend checking it out (i may be one of them ;p)

anyways, to me, a lot of hirano to kagiura as a manga centers on the complications of the fact that hirano and kagiura both have deep feelings for each other, but the way they express these feelings and the way they're received hasn't quite aligned. hirano's confused by why kagiura isn't happy to be touched, and kagiura is absolutely in the dark regarding hirano's feelings, judging by the way he immediately thinks hirano's trying to officially turn him down. we saw it in that chapter with the distrail and we see it now--despite all that kagi's been doing, he's remained so careful about not crossing that line. that silly little love fortune has haunted him.

so here, it's a breath of fresh air for kagiura to just notice how much hirano loves "the kagi-kun that plays basketball." and for kagiura, who plays basketball morning, day, and night, the version of him that plays basketball is just. himself, entirely. it's this passion that hirano responds really positively to--because hirano responds positively to passion and drive in general--and it's probably the point in which they connect the most, I think. side note: though it's not explicitly said, kagiura zeroing on not missing any shots (the thing that cost them the game last time) really shows how much that loss affected him. i think this moment's really lovely because we get to see what we see in the first chapters of hirano to kagiura--that hirano's a genuinely affirming and uplifting presence in kagiura's life. for a moment, when it's basketball, it feels like that confusion between them suffuses into pure warmth.

anyways, when they're talking with ichinose, the question that gets cut off seems to be kagiura asking about hirano's passion, which I'm very excited about... if hirano understands kagiura's love through the lens of his passion for basketball, how much kagiura's understanding of hirano develop when he understands hirano's dreams? hirano's approached kagiura's feelings with a lot of curiousity (wondering about his expression in this chapter) and I like it when they discover and ask things about each other. it's very them. i also have a lot of crazy feelings about ichinose but uh. haha! perhaps another post. i don't wanna sound too unhinged yet...

I'd love to have formatted this post better but I hope my main points have got across... this is really just half a reaction post to the ch since it's a really cool chapter overall. also just for fun i'll let everyone know that a lot of the moments where kagiura gets blushy or something really romantic happens often has kagiura like... below hirano in perspective or height. seriously if you go back through the chapters you'll notice it. it happened again this chapter which I was so excited about. this chapter's so awesome. so many different things to talk about.

(like... how kagiura almost kissed him...! and hirano's reaction is. fascinating. i always love how it's so delayed. it's like... how do i explain it. when it's delayed, it feels like hirano's reacting to the feeling more than the physical situation, which is... wonderful to me. the way he talks about kagiura having dated before also makes me think he hasn't, which checks out to me.)

One moment before Kagiura slips into his sneakers and leaves, he waves a quick goodbye, grin glowing on his face, and Hirano feels like he's been struck by lightning.

SASAKI TO MIYANO: VOLUMES 1- 10

#KagihiraWeek2024 ✨

"Hirano-san... You're not wearing your earrings."

support illustration by shou harusono (mangaka of ‘sasaki and miyano’) ✏️

WHAT THE FUUUUUUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK

new art..! new art!!!T_T

im gonna cry he's soooooo......!!!

i need!

i need. volume 10 and the 80 page adult AU right now or i am going to explode.

SASAKI TO MIYANO UNIVERSE ULTIMATE TIMELINE!!!!

crawling out of the spreadsheets covered in blood

have YOU ever wanted a one stop shop for major events and when they take place in the Sasaki to Miyano and Hirano to Kagiura series ?!?!??!!!??!?!?!? HAVE I GOT THE THING FOR YOU !!!!

ITS HERE !!! not 100% perfect because it'd never get posted if i tried to make it perfect. there are inconsistencies and probably typos and a fair amount of bias but its something. and also a testament to how crazy this series makes me.

for a little backstory. timestamp on the original document says it was made May 22, 2022, at 8:41 PM. it was intended for personal use when i was in peak kagihira analysis mode, to figure out when things were happening in each series and how they related to each other. if that makes sense. and THEN i started taking extensive and biased notes. probably over-noted too many chapters but WHO CARES ! Anyways and Then i figured the whole world could use this. So here we are

theres blood sweat tears and probably a bit of my soul in this thing. please please please let me know if theres anything i missed or got wrong or anything you may want me to add!! i genuinely want this to be like an ultimate resource. so pleeeeaaase tell me if anything is unclear etc etc etc. i love all of you and peace and love on planet sasamiyaverse...

this was entirely for myself so it’s in no way professional but uh. I kind of cleaned all the text from tashiro’s 2023 bday art? left is pretty much the original minus the text and right is that plus me extending the image just slightly. again this was totally just for me doing whatever but like. I thought it turned out pretty nice

JUST WHYYYYY!

No, really, just why? WHY? Butai ni Sake (Bloom on stage) is my fav Harusono Sho's work and also one of my top series! I'm so sad and I don't really understand the reason. There was so much going on... Whyyyyy!

Also!!! Just look at these two! I love (and someway kin) Asahi so much. And his relationship with senpai Imari was so endearing.

If someone knows why this is happening, please comment or reblog! o(T◇T o)

Candy - Shou Harusono Art Collection

Sasaki to Miyano vol.10 manga cover

The way he looks hirano in this art... *Dies*