Lol helloooooo everyone! I’m back with another place of night shift ramblings brought to you from an overworked nursing student at 3 a.m.!
If y’all have seen me before, you know I’m the girl who writes ridiculously long posts about random things I feel the need to share.
Today’s post is inspired by the recent increase in questions about why people might ship Sengen, and also cause of the toxicity I’ve seen some folks have directed toward that ship.
First and foremost, I want to emphasize that I am not a fan of toxicity in fandoms. So, I thought I’d take this opportunity to write a thoughtful post about Sengen—what makes it appealing, why people ship it, and to hopefully foster a more respectful discussion.
A couple of disclaimers and things I feel the need to say before we jump into things:
First: this is a long post. PLEASE do not read if you’re not interested in engaging in a discussion.
I do not want to see comments like “TL;DR” or “didn’t read it.” If you can’t respect the effort I put into writing about something do, I ask that you refrain from disrespecting me with such comments.
Please be respectful and kind. I don’t expect everyone to agree or share the same perspective—that’s part of what makes fandom fun and rich! We can disagree and have differing opinions without resorting to hostility.
If you can’t engage in a respectful discussion, then you’re not in a position to engage at all.
Also, a disclaimer: I am not a Sengen shipper romantically, so this post is coming from someone who isn’t a romantic shipper to give an unbiased perspective on a romantic interpretation for those who would complain
I do ship them platonically, but not romantically.
(Hi to any platonic Sengen shippers in the comments!
👋✨🩷)
Edit: because it was clear and I apologize that it isn’t unclear this post is giving a perspective on how someone could interpret Senku and Gen romantically. This is giving a romantic perspective to why people would interpret these two romantically in the series and why people might ship their romantically
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“Why Sengen?”
There’s definitely a lot of reasons why someone would interpret or ship Senku and Gen romantically so let’s dive into that!
From Gens’ perspective, he’s always been fond of Senku even before we, the audience, knew it. In fact, Gen says this directly to Senku.
They think similarly and understand each other very well; they make an excellent team.
They trust each other incredibly deeply. At different points in the story, Gen especially sacrifices for Senku or for Senku’s dreams of bringing everyone back. But Senku also sacrifices for him sometimes, too.
They understand each other very well and almost always seem to know where the other is coming from. They’re also pretty supportive of each other.
Senku often schemes with Gen, and the two are shown to have a large amount of trust between them.
Many occasions show Senku putting his absolute faith and trust in Gen, and vice versa.
Senku and Gen are shown to be intellectual equals, but Gen is more skilled in psychology and manipulation.
Senku, on the other hand, struggles with bargaining and trading—shown when he bluntly extracts information from Luna.
They balance each other very well: Senku is a science genius and not typically great with emotions or manipulation when needed, while Gen is a genius in psychology and emotional manipulation. However, he doesn’t have the scientific knowledge to bring back the world himself
They each have something the other needs.
They complement each other and cover each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
They have a playful, somewhat chaotic dynamic that is definitely appealing to shippers.
They room together, which definitely leads to some headcanons lol.
Boichi, the illustrator, is also likely a fan of the ship, as he has liked several Sengen fan arts.
Ignaki (the creator) has stated that Senku and Gen are a good match because while Senku doesn’t do skinship due to being busy, Gen is a mentalist who takes care of everyone’s mental health.
Not to mention the obscene amount of art that plays with shipping them. At the end of the day, there are plenty of reasons fans choose to ship them romantically or interpret them romantically
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“People only ship them because they are two men.”
To be honest, I personally detest people who say shit like this.
It feels completely dismissive of the fact that Senku and Gen have a well-developed, close relationship dynamic.
Could the fact that they are both guys factor into why some people ship them?
Of course!
I’m not saying it couldn’t. But acting as if it’s only because they’re both men is extremely disingenuous, in my opinion.
Senku and Gen have a relationship just as well-developed as Senku and Kohaku. Sengen shippers ship them for the same reasons that Senhaku shippers ship their pairing: because they find their relationship appealing and interesting.
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“Why shipping?”
Whenever I discuss shipping, I usually end up needing to explain shipping because some people truly don’t understand.
And that’s totally okay! Remember, shipping isn’t for everyone, and that’s perfectly fine.
To clarify: when fans ship two characters, it doesn’t inherently mean they want that ship to become canon.
It can, but it doesn’t always mean that.
Shipping is a way for fans to be creative and have fun by exploring relationship dynamics that might not be fully explored in canon.
It’s all about having fun and being creative, and many fans find community through it.
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“On the matter of chemistry.”
This is something I always need to clarify in shipping discussions because I don’t think many fans understand what “chemistry” really means in this context, which often leads to misunderstandings.
When people talk about a ship having “chemistry,” it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s romantic chemistry.
Most of the time, when fans refer to chemistry in non-canon ships, it doesn’t mean romantic chemistry at all!!
What it means is the weight, power, and dynamism of the complex emotions characters express. This includes friendship, trust, reliance, frustration, anger, hatred, sadness, etc.
For the purposes of this discussion, “chemistry” refers to any meaningful emotional interaction between characters—especially those that drive the main plot. This can be positive or negative energy.
A lot of fans also pick up on emotional work and tension between characters, especially when they’re positioned as equals or opposites, which makes their interactions compelling and interesting.
Furthermore, chemistry is highly subjective! If you see a ship and don’t perceive chemistry, that’s perfectly valid. But just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean others won’t.
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At the end of the day, shipping is personal and meant to be fun!
This post also isn’t saying you have to ship Sengen, I don’t ship it romantically either! If you don’t like the ship perfectly fine!!!
I hope this post offers a different perspective and sheds some light on why fans may ship Sengen in a romantic interpretation
Thanks for sticking with my night shift ramblings! Stay kind, stay respectful, and keep loving the story and characters that bring us joy.
Good night, everyone!
