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Theory behind Rukato

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                          Theory behind Rukato: Does it exist?
                                     By Twilight Mistress - 19

Author’s note: This isn’t to sway people who have their own preferences for pairings (as our views and experiences are highly subjective); it’s simply to justify the fact that Rukato was not made up randomly by fans and that it is present throughout the series.

Rika is an independent, intelligent, strong-willed, macho girl who is very much of a tomboy topped with a sarcastic sense of humour. Takato is a soft-hearted, quiet, friendly boy who is extremely loving and sensitive. Two individuals who appear to be extreme opposites surely wouldn’t be able to have any romantic relations; it would be very implausible, right? Well, that all depends. There are some who speculate that people should remain with those that clearly have a similar personality, and then there are others who believe that opposites truly are what attract. Let’s face it; this is only a cartoon, so of course there are going to be many controversial theories pertaining to the mix-matching of the various characters. However, that aside, I feel that it is important to look at this from a realistic standpoint as well as from a psychological perspective. Given that there have been some subliminal hints that point towards there being a potential relationship between Takato and Rika, I will highlight the important scenes and then move onto explaining why they behave and react in the way that they do.

Rika is first introduced to the audience when Takato dreams about her at the beginning of the series, giving us a feel for her importance within the series and perhaps even within Takato’s life. It’s the very dream that motivated Takato to pursue Rika after their first or second encounter, leading us to the very first scene which supports the couple. Having intrigued each other in different ways, there seemed to be a “spark” between Rika and Takato, Rika at first regarding him as “lover-boy” and Takato regarding her as his “dream-girl”. To joke about such things means that you had thought about the conjecture before it came to your mind to blurt it out in the form of a joke. The second important scene is the very first time when Takato acquires the name “Goggle-Head” by Rika, a sign of affection on her part (note: Takato was the only one out of the entire group who Rika assigned a nickname to). Now, although Rika appears to be a bully because she enjoys picking on Takato, she is really only flirting in her own way. She picks on him because she doesn’t really know any other way to react. Sure, she teases everyone that she comes into contact with, but not hardly as much as she teases Takato. The reason she can tease him so easily is because she focuses on him the most [because she likes him]. Something else to note is the fact that Takato seems to be more in-tuned with Rika and how she’s feeling than everyone else, including Ryo. Takato is always the first to be alarmed when, for example, Rika walks out of the room without a word (Takato was the only one to follow Rika when she leaves her birthday party in “Runaway Locomon!”) and is always the first to portray that he’s ecstatic upon her arrival. That there says something in itself. Moving onwards, one of the more prominent scenes which stands out in mind is the one when Takato, Rika, and Henry are walking through the tunnel with their digimon after being reunited in the real world. It starts off with Renamon making a statement about the D-Reaper and Guilmon agreeing with her afterwards, pretty much saying that she knew what she was doing. Shortly afterwards, we see Takato staring at Rika who, in return, questions him for his odd behaviour. In a panic, Takato blurts out the first thing that comes to mind and compliments her on her new shirt, unable to find a better excuse that would otherwise leave him incapable of explaining why he couldn’t pry his eyes away from her. Both blush and avoid eye contact, leaving Henry confused about the odd interaction between his two friends. Going back to Renamon and Guilmon, Terriermon was quick to identify that something had stemmed between the two digimon, responding with the line: “Renamon and Guilmon sitting in a tree…!” So, being that digimon are mere reflections of their tamers’ personalities, it can be said that if there’s something dwelling between Renamon and Guilmon, there must be something between Rika and Takato; the digimon essentially model the behaviour that they pick up from their tamers. It’s easy to see, then, that a relationship is very likely between Takato and Rika, judging from the scenes that have earlier been described. Now, you might be thinking about Ryo and Jeri in terms of their connections to Rika and Takato and how they fit into the storyline should it be proven that Rukato really does exist. Well, I’ll be moving onto that subject next.

Throughout the entire series, Takato is seen expressing his affections towards Jeri, the girl in his class that he started out having a crush on. He feels very shy and timid when he’s around her in the beginning, evidence for many that is used to constitute the fact that she is the only one that stands as a prospective girlfriend. However, as the story progresses and as Rika wedges her way into the picture, Takato gradually becomes more comfortable around Jeri, yet at the same time, timid and nervous around Rika. Perhaps this is an indication that he has grown to love Jeri, not as a girlfriend, but as a close friend who he keeps close to his heart because she was his very first love. That’s not to say that he loses the capacity to love and care about Jeri as a friend, but Rika seems to provide Takato something that Jeri doesn’t have; mutual support, strength, determination, intellect, and love as well as the fact that she does not need to solely rely on him being that she is very independent (they rely on each other). Another thing is that subconsciously Takato likely feels that Rika is out of his league, whereas Jeri is more at his level as far as relationships go. Thus, as a result, he subconsciously suppresses his feelings for Rika and confuses them with feelings that he thinks he has for Jeri. Such is the reason as to why he is unable to explain his feelings for Jeri as well as the feelings that stir within him when in the presence of Rika. Rika is much the same.

Rika seems only to be flattered by the fact that Ryo has shown an interest in her other than just as a friend, being that no guy had been that direct with her before. However, that doesn’t mean that she’s ready to go out and marry him (not that I believe in marriage, but that’s a different story for another day :P); it just makes her feel good to know that she is beginning to fit somewhere in life, beginning to make many friends that she thought she’d never have. She was at first very afraid to allow herself to become close to someone due to the fact that she had lost her father when she was very young. So, feeling abandoned and alone from the one that she had been very close to, Rika subconsciously surrounded herself with a barrier that, for the longest time, no one was able to break. She was afraid of being hurt, afraid of losing once more. It wasn’t until she met Takato that she began allowing others into her heart. Takato was also the one that Rika took a great liking to, expressing signs of affections through her constant taunting and teasing of which she mostly directed towards him in particular.

One other aspect that should be taken into consideration is the fact that opposites really do attract. Two people that are seemingly complete opposites of one another are able to bring something new into the relationship. That’s not to say that they don’t share anything in common, it’s just to say that, yes, there are some noticeable differences. So, although it may seem that they are no where near compatible, Takato and Rika do make a potentially good couple. If you went out with someone that was almost exactly the same as you, what fun would that be? Where is the challenge, the excitement? If, for example, (this is only my opinion so, for others who do not support Rukato, please don’t take offense) Rika were to go with Ryo, there would undoubtedly be a struggle between the two because both have strengths and weaknesses in pretty much the same areas. In other words, it would turn into a competition and neither would be able to compliment the other. Takato and Jeri would fall victim to some of the same problems. Jeri is far too similar to Takato in many ways. There has to be a mix of differences and similarities if a real relationship is going to work. In many ways Rika and Takato are different, but in other ways they are the same, sharing the same passion for digimon (Rika just needed to find her love for digimon), strength, determination, values, intellect, ect.

In conclusion, though it may not appear obvious, Rukato is present throughout the entire series, hinting towards the potential that Rika and Takato have as a couple. They support and compliment each other (that is, they are strong where the other is weak and vise versa), which is required for a long-lasting relationship.
This is just something that I felt will *hopefully* justify the fact that Rukato is supported throughout the entire series, just not as explicitly as one might expect to see.

**Note: Don't bash me for this; I'm simply stating a mixture of certain facts as well as my own opinions.
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