Ah yes, one of my favourite ships in all of Yugioh.

1 I started shipping these little darlings in episode 3, right here:

It was a joke ship at first but the more they interacted during the series, the more I grew attached to the cinnamon roll that is Ai and the more I wanted to see his constant pleas for Yusaku’s friendship (some of which could be interpreted as flirting) be answered. Plus they just have a really fun dynamic. I’m always quite fond of “opposites attract” ships, especially if one of them is a tsundere. Which Yusaku is. Maybe he was being honest at first about not caring for Ai but eventually, probably after Ai saved him during the speed duel against Revolver based on how they’ve been interacting since then during my rewatch with my bestie, it definitely became a lie. So watching the series for the first time, I was very invested in whether or not Ai would at some point crack Yusaku’s shell and see that he cares for him too. And eventually, he did.

In the most painful way the writers could fathom. 😢

2 So I guess my favourite thing about the ship is Yusaku and Ai’s dynamic and development. They play off of each other really well and by the end of the series, I did truly believe in their love for each other. Because yeah this ship is sort of canon.

It’s definitely canon from Ai’s side (I feel like it’s hinted at from Yusaku’s side but it’s never explicitly said rip), which is definitely my favourite thing to tell people about them.

3 I don’t really know what opinions about this ship are popular or unpopular? The first thing that came to mind was NSFW so I won’t say it here. I guess in general I wish there was more fanart/fanfiction of them where Ai is in his Ignis form. I get that the SolTis body is really hot and works better for certain AUs but like…

Come on, Ai is adorable as an Ignis. Let Yusaku cuddle and kiss his tiny pocket-sized jelly bean boyfriend, dammit!