I have such Mixed feelings on Yusuke and Keiko on the one hand they are so cute! On the other hand it feels almost like Yusuke found his self worth and his place by being able to do things in the demon world and maybe by travelling a lot and his desire to settle down comes from Keiko and only Keiko. Keiko on the other hand has interest in the demon stuff but only in how it affects the people she cares about. Apart from that she wants to settle. As far as long term goes i see them pt.1

I’m sorry anon, but I completely disagree.

I’ve seen a lot of people talking lately about how Keiko x Yusuke doesn’t work, and a lot of blame is often put on Keiko not being right for Yusuke. I have to disagree competently.

I could go on for a very, very long meta on Keiko, the “sorta normal but still badass girl being sidelined by the cooler people” trope that permeates geek culture insanely to the hatred Keiko used to receive simply for being “the girlfriend,” to the fact that most people seem to get her character completely wrong… But I’ll try to stick to just the points you raised. Hit me up if anyone wants the long ass rant.

So… ramble under cut.

Yusuke didn’t find his worth by being able to do demon things. I don’t believe that, at all. His character isn’t about “letting loose and killing shit in demon world.” Fighting in a vehicle in this story, a necessary trope for the shonen genre. No, I believe Yusuke finds himself with his friends. 

Think about it. Fighting is his hobby, he likes it, he does it, he connects to others through it. But he has remarked twice in the show (before going after Sensui with Hiei, and during Yomi/Yusuke fight) that he doesn’t really know why he’s fighting. And let’s be real – half of the fighting he does is because he has to. Dark Tournament was fun for him in many ways, and it’s where he began to uncover himself. But it was still dangerous and forced on him and dreadful and horrible, especially with the threat of his family and friends dying if he lost.

Through fighting, he arrived at what the true destination was; belonging. And what was that? His friends. His arc begins with him as a loner rejecting help and relationships at every corner. (He rejects Keiko’s help, Takanawa’s, Kuwabara’s potential friendship as they have so much in common, rejects Genkai’s guidance, rejects Koenma’s guidance, etc, etc, etc). By the end, not only is he listening to others (Genkai, such as in All or Nothing when her showing up and telling him to just press any button finally gives him courage to do it, or how he takes over after Raizen and trains with him and actually feels sorrow after his death), but he is also actively trying to foster relationships with others.

He could have easily been “Oh.. you weirdos from Dark Tournament” or “Eh, I’ll just kick Yomi’s ass cause I like to fight and fuck him.”

No. He is happy and starts laughing and being super casual with the demons from DT. He has goddamn tea with Yomi and offers a friendly, no kill tournament to settle the dispute.

Does he look like a bloodthirsty demon who wants nothing but to fight and tear and kill?

No, absolutely not. Dude avoids bloodshed as much as possible in this potentially most brutal of arcs. He doesn’t want to kill people. He’d rather goddamn institute the HUMAN morality and government of democracy onto the demons than do the demon thing and kill until he’s king of the hill.

So, no. I don’t think he found himself in Makai. He was found before then. He found himself in DT. His emotional arc during Sensui was about parsing the HUMAN / DEMON identities already sparking within him.

School, job, all that, is too much for him. He couldn’t deal with a world where one day he’s in school, the other day he’s literally murdering. 

So, how does Keiko factor in? 

She’s the perfect balance. Keiko understands him. She understands he needs to fight. He supports him. She doesn’t expect more from him. 

Yusuke can go to the demon world and stir around some shit, or find Hiei and have a spar, and come home bloody to a wife in human world. Perfect balance for our boy. No school, no stuffy human job. At the same time, he doesn’t have to sacrifice his human side. 

A totally human life was too much for him, which is why he rejected it in Sensui’s arc. A total demon life was too much for him, which is why he rejected it in the last arc. 

He came back for balance. He came back to what matters, his family. He came back to Keiko.

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Also, I honestly don’t understand where the idea that Yusuke doesn’t want to settle while Keiko does comes from. Girl knows what she’s getting. She’s known Yusuke all her life. She knows he’s a punk with demon shit everywhere. Where, in the entire show, does she ever appear as a girl who wants a “regular” life with a picket fence and 2.5 kids, and a dog, and a house, etc? 

She never does. Keiko only cares about Yusuke. She never even asks if they’re steady or not. She only wants him to tell her things, because she worries (but some might call that nagging, huh).

Yusuke is the one who proposes to her. Yusuke is the one who wants to be with her. He’s the one who asks her to wait for him. He’s the one who comes back. 

Yusuke wants to settle down. 

I firmly believe a huge part of his arc is the whole daddy issue. I think Yusuke’s story would end so perfectly if he became a father. In fact, I feel comfortable with the idea that Yusuke wants marriage and kids MORE than Keiko now that he’s matured and knows what matters most – family. 

After all, before he mostly had friends. But with Raizen, he unlocked his ancestral past. He inherited family land. (a kingdom full of demons, but ya know) He had to watch his ancestral father die. He got called son, had someone to call dad. For the first time, he had that other side of family. For the first time, he had a father and could see how a father-son relationship might work.

Keiko isn’t nagging him to put a ring on it. He’s the one who wants to marry her, and is so certain that he loves her that he proposes at 14 and keeps his promise 4 years later without any contact with her.

What 14 year old is that sure? And to keep that promise for 4 years?

Keiko is the one who actually thinks about breaking up! She’s the one who has such a meh reaction to his proposal. She’s the one who says she might find someone new (whereas Yusuke never jokes back that he might find a badass demoness out there), she’s the one who in the final episode says she’s done and won’t wait a day longer.

Keiko would have left Yusuke before Yusuke left her. That’s how I see it. I think Yusuke’s arc is better with her in it. I think them being together is better, way better, than Yusuke alone in demon world.

That ending, of him being there alone… leaving behind all that he loved and completely submitting to one side, it’s sad.. it’s the opposite of EVERYTHING we are taught in the, well, last 3 major arcs, but especially last 2. Black and white is wrong. Shades of gray are best. Staying a demon forever in demon world is all black. Staying human in human world forever is white. Yusuke is gray. 

– Mod Lola