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Why B/A?|Bios|Fanart|Fanfiction|Screencaps|Media|Alt. Canons|Links |
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If you're an SR fan who just stumbled here by accident, I know what you're probably thinking. "Is this girl out of her mind?" "Why support THAT pairing of all things?" Well, I'm more than likely out of my mind, but I don't support any pairing without a basis and this one is no exception. Before I proceed with this section, I'd like to let you know that (just in case you haven't finished the series) it will contain spoilers. If you don't want to be spoiled, than proceed with caution. Here goes. 1.They have a lot in common. They both serve as pawns to Mantid. Neither are particularly willing to do so although Buguese puts up a very convincing act. Being on the same side and living within the same place would mean that they clearly spend time together, even if it's for strictly business. Both of them have noble causes, despite being on the dark side.
Both strongly fight for what they believe in, no matter what the case. However, both tend to have difficulty in showing their feelings. They put any personal wishes aside in order to get done what needs to be done. 2.They're also complete opposites in some aspects. People do say that opposites attract. Rather, I think a good balance of opposites and things in common works best. Anyway, this is particularly obvious on their opinions regarding both the Oracle and Hunter. Buguese has a deep hatred for the Oracle, whom he believes stole away the sun from the Insector's world. Aqune, on the other hand, respects it deeply. She spends much of her time praying to the Oracle. In relation to Hunter, Buguese also despises him. Aqune cares about Hunter, and when forced to side with either Buguese or Hunter will sometimes aide Hunter instead. Also, Aqune is very submissive, while Buguese is much more assertive. 3.They simply have too much close contact for one to not be curious about their relationship. Never noticed? Check out the screencap section. 4.About why Buguese has such a hatred for Hunter? Well obviously, it's because he's a Spider Rider who's proved to be a particular threat to all of Buguese's plans. There's that and the fact that while Aqune would at first mercilessly go against any of the Spider Riders, she obviously cares about Hunter. If there's not jealousy involved, then I don't know what is. Plus Buguese is really cute when he's pissed off. He always gets like that when he's around Hunter. 5.Just listen to Buguese's dialogue. In either version, it alludes to the fact that he definitely has some feelings toward Aqune. In the dub, he even calls her things like "my beautiful" and "my dear." Of course, the sub still wins over because in the dub, he tends to be fairly obnoxious, coming off as manipulative and cruel toward Aqune. In the raw, that's not the case. His dialogue in any of those scenes is different or not there at all (the dub has a habit of inserting dialogue where nobody actually spoke in the Japanese version) and generally, he seems to be more concerned for Aqune. He never called her a pet or puppet in the Japanese. Either way, he's protective of her. In the Japanese version, Aqune even seems to return Buguese's feelings more-so than in the dub. This was particularly shown in the last few episdoes. The way she says his name, she just seems so worried about him, and it's much more sincere than in the dub. I blame this partially on bad acting, though. The woman who plays Aqune isn't a bad actor, and I like her in some of her other roles, but she's kinda just a bleh Aqune. 6.Of course it has somewhat to do with me being a hopeless romantic. It came to me one time that Buguese really hates humans, so it's kind of ironic that it's a human whom he's depending on. Aqune's also a Spider Rider, which he hates, and an Oracle handmaiden, which he hates. Clearly, he doesn't hate Aqune. It just lets me fantasize, thus it's an interesting concept. 7.They're two different species. If they breed, they can create hybrids. Hybrids are sexy. 8.I won't deny that this was initially a bit of a crack pairing of mine. I thought Buguese was hot and when trying to come up with theories as to why Aqune served the Insectors, I decided that maybe it was because she realized how attractive Buguese was. 9. The barrier destroying scene. It was this that totally made me fall in love with the ship (even though I liked it beforehand). As much as I know that it implies nothing, it's a common thing for lovers in anime to use awesome looking combo attacks. Alone they can't win, but it takes the power of love for an easy victory. Either way, it shows they work well together. 10. Episode 31. Seriously, that oozed with greatness under its Hunter/Aqune surface. Buguese was sooo shocked when Hunter jumped in to save Aqune after she got sucked into Brade's paradise. Then he called out her name. And just... his facial expressions in general make it really seem like he loves her. 11. That scene in episode 10 where they just stare at each other. It's long. Granted, in the Japanese version that whole episode is very Buguese/Aqune in mood. The dub ruined it, IMO. 12. The Japanese fans like it. Well... some do anyway. People are noticing my ship all around the world and there's some pretty cute fanart out there. 13. Episode 49. Need I say more? 14. Contradictions on both ends. Buguese is generally unforgiving, but to Aqune, he can be way forgiving. Particular cases of this can be seen in episodes 10 (further exemplified in the dub) and episode 26. Both times, Aqune disobeys him, but he does nothing to punish her. In episode 26, he even carries her after she gets hurt. Heck, even in episode 13, the one time where Buguese really snaps at Aqune, he doesn't even hurt her, just hits her out of the way. Another major contradiction is in episode 38, when Buguese claims that he cares for no one, and that he has no weakness. However, Aqune becomes his weakness in episode 48, when Mantid uses her against him. :P
(And let's not forget that during Buguese's aforementioned speech in ep.38, the screen focused in on Aqune the whole time. Major applause to whichever animator made that decision.) In Aqune's case, one of the most obvious things about her is that she doesn't like to fight. While Buguese is unforgiving, she's highly forgiving. Yet, at least in the Japanese version of episode 51, she tells Mantid that she won't forgive him for betraying the Insectors. Of course, Buguese is an Insector, and so she too contradicts her own ways for his sake. 15. It both is and isn't a typical forbidden romance plot. It has the aspect that they're two separate species that oppose each other, but then again, Buguese and Aqune are both on the same side for most of the series (contrary to what bad!fic authors want you to believe) so it's not as if they're torn apart by the war.
16. They need each other. Aqune's felt alone all her life, and while she may love Hunter, there's something obvious between Hunter and Corona. As far as her romantic interests go, Buguese is really the only other character she's shown attachment to. Aqune obviously seeks his approval, in that she's reluctant to disobey him (shown more in the Japanese version, of course). It wouldn't be too much a stretch to assume that she wants his love, whether in a romantic or platonic way. Also, there's the fact that she always calms down when Buguese holds her. Reasons NOT to support B/A and my arguments against them 1. Buguese is an Insector and Aqune is a human. So let me guess, you don't like cross-species? It's not everyone's cup of tea, and I'm fine with that. What I'm not fine with is people refusing to see the subtext just because they're not the same species. You're allowed to see things and just not like them. I see the subtext for B/B too, and don't like it. And I've actually seen rabid Hunter/Aqune fans say that Buguese could never even care for Aqune simply because she's human. Obviously, the canon says differently. Next, I don't get how people can use this reason not to ship B/A, but still ship B/B. Sure, Buguese and Beerain are both Insectors, but Buguese is not a bee Insector. There's shown to be a wide variety of Insectors in canon, just like there's different types of real insects. How is B/B a special exception to your dislike of inter-species pairings? At least admit you don't like it because you prefer a different ship, not because of the species reason, in that case. 2. Buguese is too old for Aqune. First, I'll admit the fact that yes, Buguese is obviously older than Aqune. Probably. Second, I'll say that neither Buguese or Aqune's ages were stated in canon. Corona, in the Japanese version, is apparently 13. Aqune is shown in a flashback to be around her age. At least, she looks to be around Corona's age. Not all children, especially when younger, look their age. Also, sometimes the older sibling looks younger. I happen to look younger than my brother, for instance, while I'm two years older. Corona and Aqune don't look so close in age currently. I'd be lenient enough to say that Aqune could be at least 15 or 16, during the present time in Spider Riders canon. She also acts very mature. As for Buguese, he's got to be at least in his 30's going by appearance, but he's not necessarily an old man. Yes, he has white hair, but in anime, hair color means nothing. I've seen white-haired children in anime before. It's just their natural color. While Buguese seems to be worn from years of battle, very little is known about his history. He obviously has a lot of devotion to his cause, and he could have been enlisted in the Insector army from a young age. We don't know. In any case, he has a very stressful job, and that can put physical aging on some. Next, based on the Teletoon Corp spoilers, Buguese was said to be an artificially created Insector. If you recall, when Mantid created artificial super-soliders in ep.41, they appeared to be adults from the instance they were born. If this holds true to the canon, then for all we know, Buguese could be biologically younger than Aqune. Keeping all this in mind, regardless of Buguese's age, Aqune's not going to stay a teenager forever. Also, I never once said this pairing had to be sexual. And if underage sex is the whole issue, there's always the option of waiting a few years. But it's not like Spider Riders takes place in modern-day, real world society either. Who knows what kind of laws they have. And in response to the related "Buguese and Aqune must be like a father and daughter" thing, well, it was once stated by someone on the English staff that it was meant to be more like that type of relationship. However, this statement has been flip-flopped around even by the person who said it, and the Japanese writers haven't said a thing on the matter, so it can be taken with a grain of salt. Regardless, platonic B/A is still cute. It's fun to have the relationship build into something romantic in the future. 3. Buguese abuses Aqune. Okay, WHAT?!!! I've never understood where people got this idea from. Maybe the scene in episode 13 where Buguese hit Aqune out of the way? On the subject of that moment, Buguese was acting very irrationally. I'm not trying to defend him, but he had the right to be angry then. A bunch of kids, one of which only recently showed up, had decided that he and his race were horribly wrong in their motives and were then proceeding to defeat him. Then, his supposed ally Aqune started helping them after saying that she would defeat Hunter the next time they met. I'd be mad if I was in his place. Anyway, he didn't hurt her. He just kinda shoved her out of the way. Aside from that, there's no indication that he'd ever hurt Aqune. Take episode 26 for instance. It shows that Buguese is getting much better, if anything. The episode actually worked out similarly to 13. He lost to the Spider Riders, lost the key, and then Aqune helped Hunter. Rather than doing anything (even yelling at her) he carried her back. Yeah, that's abusive. *eyeroll* It kinda surprised me, actually, because you'd think he'd be mad. There's also been plenty of moments where Buguese has been concerned for Aqune's well-being. If he doesn't want her to be hurt, what makes you think he hurts her himself? Next, yes he does use her. She's his servant, after all. Using is not the same as abusing. Even in this case, I don't even think he likes to use her. Proof of this is seen in episode 4, when Buguese is ordered to take Aqune with him to fight the Spider Riders. He acts surprised about this (in the dub, slightly turned off.) Before Mantid said so, I doubt he ever used Aqune to fight. Even more proof of this is shown in the next episode, when Corona recognizes Buguese but has never seen Aqune before. Obviously, Corona's fought against the Insectors pre-series, but never Aqune. Buguese more than likely knows of Aqune's dislike of fighting, so he considers her feelings. But abuse her? Nope. 4. But Aqune loves Hunter! Bingo. Aqune cares about Hunter very much, and it's quite possible that she has romantic feelings for him. This doesn't make them a couple. First, there's the question of whether Hunter would ever return her feelings. The relationship between Hunter and Corona is a major aspect of the show, and it's developed quite a bit. Corona's feelings for Hunter are obvious, though his for her are a bit vaguer. This doesn't mean they're not there. In an early episode, Hunter is told that he needs to focus more on the beauty of things, and he ends up equating this to Corona. It's an image of her that helps him defeat Beerain. In the final battle, while both Aqune and Corona aide Hunter, Hunter only acknowledges what Corona did for him. There's also a moment in the series when Hunter is willing to sacrifice the Oracle Keys to save Corona. There's a lot more I can say about H/C, but this is a B/A shrine after all. About Hunter's feelings for Aqune (which are a lot more apparent in the dub, since a lot of it wasn't in the Japanese version at all) it's most obvious that he wants to save her. Hunter sees Aqune as a victim, kidnapped by the Insectors. While this isn't true, he still holds on to his opinion, even when Aqune directly tells him that she chooses to help the Insectors. Hunter wants to be a hero, and is often completely blinded by this fact. This is just another example of that. As a hero, he would have to save the "damsel in distress" and I think this is what he wants to do for much of the series. In any case, he definitely sees Aqune as a friend, and seems to be able to be honest with her. They do have some chemistry between them, which could eventually lead to something. As of now, though, it's much less than what Hunter and Corona have. Next, regardless of whether she loves Hunter or not, Aqune has also shown feelings for Buguese. While they're more apparent in the Japanese version, she's shown to be supportive of and happy for him in episode 46, and was quite concerned when she thought he was dead. Finally, there's the fact that I'm under the impression that Hunter and Aqune would make the most adorable best friends. I mean, they're too cute together. Putting them in a romantic relationship would be a whole different angle. 5. But Buguese loves Beerain! Does he really? If you said that Beerain loved Buguese, my response would be "duh!" Buguese's feelings toward Beerain are much more complicated. There's that one scene between them in episode 35. Now, I could discuss how OOC Beerain was starting from that episode, but that's besides the point. For whatever reason, she was randomly losing faith in Mantid, and for Buguese, this was a bad thing. Why? Buguese was planning something. He too was losing faith in Mantid and was planning to overthrow him eventually, but there were things that needed to be done first. At this point, he needed to get the next Oracle Key, which Aqune was busy looking for. Of course, he didn't want the Spider Riders to get in the way. Since Stags and Grasshop weren't around, Beerain would have to take the mission of stalling all of them at once (which even Buguese acknowledges is probably suicidal. So yes, he thinks he's sending Beerain to her death). However, Beerain was busy having unexplained emotional issues. Buguese, therefore, had to encourage her. Because he's not an idiot, and because we know little about the history of the Big Four, it's safe to assume that he was well aware that she had feelings for him. In order to motivate her, he took advantage of this. So yeah, he touched her face and told her that one day they would rule (in the dub). That did the trick, and Beerain went out on her mission. This does not mean that he was in love with her. They may've been in close contact, but he's also been in close contact with Aqune, whom he's held romantically a couple times. Saying that Buguese and Beerain are an item because of that scene would be like saying Buguese and Aqune are an item only because he wrapped her in his cape and held her in episode 12. On another topic was the guilt. Buguese regretted using Beerain. Just the general fact that he regretted it proves that in episode 35 he was manipulating her. He wasn't being romantic. At the same time, he was also regretting using Stags. People use Buguese's regret as proof that B/B is canon, but using that logic, than Buguese/Stags is canon. And that's not even factoring how far he goes to try to make up for wronging Aqune in ep.49. In any case, Buguese's regret towards hurting both Stags and Beerain is usually expressed simultaneously. A point that the series was trying to express is that Buguese really does need to depend on his "friends" like everyone else, even though he wants to believe he doesn't need anyone. Just because one of these friends is female and is attracted to him, doesn't mean that she's his girlfriend. 6. Brutus and Portia can't be separated. Okay, this one's just ridiculous. The fact of the matter is, they have been separated for a great deal of time in canon, and neither one died or anything. They also probably don't want to be with each other for every moment of their lives. If Aqune were to stay with Buguese, this doesn't mean that Brutus and Portia would have to be separated though. I'm sure Aqune would visit the Spider Riders, spend time with them, and probably go on missions with them too. They're her friends after all, so it would be OOC for her not to still spend time with them. Therefore, Brutus and Portia could still see each other often.
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