YatoYota

YatoYota is the slash ship between Yatora Yaguchi and Yotasuke Takahashi from the Blue Period fandom.

Canon
In general, Yatora and Yotasuke are in friendly terms although Takahashi still tends to feel uncomfortable while being around Yaguchi. Still, despite all the moments both went through, they could manage become friends, and also friendly rivals at art. Intially they didn't get along well, atleast in Yotasuke's part. Because of Takahashi's antisocial personality, he tended on staying away from Yatora, still, with the time he spends with him, he starts to be a bit more open to him, although still insecure with him.

Yaguchi and Yuka both arrive at Tokyo Art Academy (Tobi) for their summer cram school sessions. His first assignment was to draw a sculpture, and Takahashi asks if he only needed to draw what he saw. Yaguchi assumes Yotasuke is a beginner to dessin, and offers him his eraser. Yotasuke gives him a cold glare, harshly asks him if they were familiar, and picks up his own eraser from the ground. Yaguchi makes note of how art students are pretty weird. When they begin, Yaguchi takes notice of how Yotasuke holds his brush weirdly.

After finishing the sculpture, Yaguchi is embarrassed by his own work, so he starts viewing the others' works. He then looks at Yotasuke's art only to be shocked by the amazing art. He describes the feeling as a "silent cry that lashed out from himself". Understanding that Yotasuke wasn't a newbie at all, he starts analyzing his art, concluiding that the most impressive thing about the art was how accurate the shape and shadows were, despite showing traces of Yotasuke's fixes. After leaving Tobi, Yaguchi meets up with Yuka who tells him about Yotasuke; how he was placed 7th in the language portion of the national mock-exam. The latter brings Yaguchi back to the world only to him to say: "Guess that's what you call a "genius"...". This caused him to believe that even if he felt talented because 6-month improvement, he was only a normal human. Yuka, then, tells him;

"People never try to compare themselves against God. Back there, most people blocked themselves out the equation when they praised him. That's how you view Mori-senpai, right? But it was different for Takahashi-kun. If you're upset, that means you're willing to fight."

Next day, Yaguchi, moved from Yuka's words, began to come to terms with the fact that he had only been doing art for 6 months, and that his fight was still beginning. That day, their assignment was oil panting, and when the time came to rank the pieces, Yaguchi wondered where Yotasuke's art was. He assumed the boy's piece would be stunning, but it just happened to be average-looking and not stand out. Yuka meets up with Yaguchi again after class and asks after Yotasuke's oil painting. Yaguchi says the composition was good, but didn't stand out.

After Yuka parted ways with Yaguchi in the train station, Yaguchi unexpectedly found himself standing next to Yotasuke. Yaguchi takes initiative and salutes him, which surprises Yotasuke who seemingly didn't notice him there. He compliments Yotasuke, calling him the "guy that's amazing from Tobi". The shorter takes the compliments with an uncomfortable look, replying with an "I guess". Yaguchi guesses that Yotasuke didn't have many friends, but also notes how Yotasuke was an artistic genius while he himself was a normal person. Between the monologuing, Yaguchi asks Yotasuke if he was applying to Geidai, to which latter only agrees insecurely. When they're about to part ways, he apologizes to Yotasuke for annoying him and waves goodbye. Yotasuke hesitantly returns the salute, cheering up Yaguchi so he blushes and salutes him back happily.

When Yatora decides on applying to Geidai mostly because the experience, he stops as he questions himself if it was really about the experience he was applying to Geidai. While wondering about the reason, the next panel shows Yotasuke looking at him, until the next shows his mother reminding him the words "It's not like you're going to do art for a living, right?". Still, he's decided on convincing his mother on applying in Geidai. Although at first he couldn't convince her, he did once asking for advice to Mori, finally managing to communicate with his mom with a drawing he made for her, as he said he would dedicate all of his life to drawing, and he wanted her to believe on him. After the graduation ceremony, Ryuji and Yatora head to Tobi once again to the oil painting at night, as it was approved by his parents.

Between the students whom Yaguchi didn't know of until the same night, he sees Yotasuke between them and he happily salutes him, but instead he gets ignored which makes Yaguchi be a bit hurt (noticed on his face). Then, the new instructor arrives to the class, introducing herself as Ooba, and it's from there where Yaguchi prepares himself for the Geidai entrance exam, which was in 300 days.

Once taught by Ooba to figure out what he loved for composing art, while Yaguchi is lost on thought about that nobody could get on Geidai by just drawing anything in front of them, Haruka Hashida's (one of the students from Tobi at night) work is introduced by Ooba as she found it entertaining but the idea was simple but fun, which makes Yaguchi stay in shock due to the art that was made, not actually believing anyone doing that. He stops for a second to think about the reason of Yotasuke's art not standing out though it was good, while [Maki]'s (one of Yaguchi's classmate in oil painting day and night) did so, he inmediately assumes it was because her composition was better.

While looking through shelves for something to inspire himself to draw, he doesn't get anything from them and decides on heading to a museum instead, but stops as he responded that they aren't supposed to be there if they didn't know about art and even if he did, thoughts like "looks familiar, "looks hard", "i'm tired", would just appear. He founds two discount tickets, and right after raising his head, he looks Yotasuke right near him which made him blush while looking at the ticket he had with, and offers him to go with him. Yotasuke, uncomfortable as always, tries to asks him why, until Hashida intervenes to explain the place where the tickets were from (Morzon Art Museum), and after explaining, he asks if he could tag along with them. While at the museum, Yaguchi tries on finding any art it could work for Yaguchi, nevertheless although buying a new art collection, the color of the photo was poor, not being a real thing, being also the reason why he couldn't get anything from books. Before heading to eat something with Yotasuke and Hashida, he sees Ryuji being rejected by the guy they were with, and inmediately heads to them, which was signal to Hashida and Yotasuke that he was going to be there with them later.

The next day at oil painting class, Yaguchi is lost on thought on Ryuji's rejected love, as the person didn't accept how they were, and that the only thing protecting Yuka was their own love plus Hashida's words to him about him loving to see other people works, he then wonders about why was he feeling "shallow". Ooba then calls him and rates a part of his art as pretty, but still needed to spend time for planning things out first, in which Yaguchi understands. Yaguchi was mostly worried about Ryuji's situation, as the "love" which protected them was only for causing them pain, but that worry vanished after Yuka was found with another guy, which surprises and angers Yaguchi, as it seemed like Yuka was fine now, ad concluded he couldn't get them at all. Yaguchi then monologues that he still didn't figure out what he really liked, as he saw things with a narrow perspective, and his ability to express what was he thinking was still far too low (while the last line's panel shown was Yotasuke's first artwork in oil painting). Once he headed to the class again, he apologizes to Yotasuke and Hashida for the past time, in which both reassure them (though Yotasuke didn't care). Yotasuke then points Yaguchi being carefree, and while Yaguchi was confused at the line, Takahashi tells him there was going to be a contest in summer, followed by Hashida's words who said that, in other words, they all were going to get a ranking.

Both Yaguchi and Yotasuke are reminded by Hashida that the top scoring applicant in oil painting was a student, who was Kuwana Maki's older sister. Yaguchi remembers her as she was the one who stood out during last year's winter classes, he monologues that they put them in the same condition as being in a real exam, a mock exam, and that if Mori was fifth from the bottom, he wonders of what would be of him. He denies the question as he didn't have to worry about it and, then, desesperately take an art for adding it to his as he remembers Ooba's words that imitation was perfectly fine. Even though, his art was "lacking", pointed by Ooba. This surprises Yatora because he focused on the composition, and then Kuwana's art was introduced. Yatora wonders about why was his art lacking, even if he thought Kuwana's art standed out because her composition was good. He thinks positively as he said it was only his first time, and he had to keep trying.

Yotasuke then enters to the meeting room, where an unexpected person was there; Yaguchi, who was wondering that something was off, but didn't know what was it. He then turns his head when he looks at Takahashi, and gets happy at his visit, while Yotasuke feels annoyed. Yaguchi apologizes to Yotasuke on helping him, because he wasn't seem to figure out by himself the difference between his work and the one used as reference. Yotasuke says how all he did was only the superficial part of the piece. Yatora, shocked, asks about the superficial part, which Yotasuke told him that he only mimicked the surface-level expresions, and he was losing completely the point. Yatora glares at him, and before Yotasuke said anything else, Ooba calls Yaguchi as it was his turn to check the drawings he had made.

Yaguchi explains to Ooba about what had happened after she noticed his behavior while being with her. She then laughs as she couldn't believe Takahashi could be harsh, in which Yaguchi only replies that her laughing it off made him feel a bit better. He wonders about the reason of why his of art versions ended up being superficial, to which Ooba explains he was focusing on the painting style or the overall, while they were also important tools for self-expressing, and he had to go one step deeper. Ooba continues saying that good arts could look simple, but they are all very meticulous and calculated, and by putting the simple shapes together, he would end up with a very grounded work. Ooba then decided on trying to create replicas, as he learned how to find the "answer", and they had now to find the "equation", and if Yaguchi put his heart into it, he would learn tons of new things.

At the summer classes, Hashida and Yotasuke meet Yaguchi, both Yotasuke and Yaguchi don't share visual contact when walking to class. Knowing that Kuwana was going to be in his same class, he still felt nervous as it was going to be rough getting compared against others, but he had to do his best he could. Ooba was also included in the class as their instructor, and the students' first work was that each and every one would be drawing five pieces over the course of 10 days. Once started, Yaguchi remembers Yotasuke's words while doing his work and noticing the details of the art, as he said he was right about him when he was only mimicking the surface-level expressions, and while saying he learned how to use composition and gaze direction to, he notices how other classmate starts cutting out the canvas, and others applying different painting techniques, which surprises Yatora and makes him question if it was really the oil painting class. After finishing, Kuwana asks him if he wanted to lunch together as an apology for pushing Yatora down straight to the floor while entering at the class.

After lunch, Yaguchi says he was about to stop thinking at the surface-level, and thought oil painting was just about it and paint, but for artists anything can be used for art. With all he had learned, they would push him forward, plus he would go wild too. After seeing his workd being slightly above the shelf, he blushes in happiness due to his work being higher than expected. When he looks at Maki's work getting first place, he congratulates her, but instead she says it was a curse, which was that the one who gets first place at academy, would fail the exam. Yaguchi doesn't understand, not even Hashida could tell him an answer, as it wasn't like he wouldn't be able to reach first even if wanted, nor understanding the "curse". Once again while Yaguchi monologues that this time he was ranked the highest, but he couldn't do dessin as good as Yotasuke nor have a keen eye like Hashida, Yotasuke suddenly says that he would quit, as he was sick of them forcing him to make those "stupid" exam art. Yaguchi then concludes with monologuing: "But then... If those that are actually good can't pass, what really is the Geidai exam?", and lastly, Yotasuke says that he wouldn't be attending to the cram school anymore.

Fanon
It's quite loved in the fandom due Yaguchi's flustered behavior while being around Yotasuke, which implied Yaguchi having a crush on him. Yaguchi's behavior around Yotasuke also made people believe he was bisexual, and the theory was strengthen when Yaguchi had mistaken Yotasuke for Mori (whom Yaguchi is implied on having a crush on), due to his fever and couldn't actually tell who he was talking with it until his numbness had dissipated a bit. Not only that, it's also because the ship it's main-focused in the fandom. Although the fandom isn't popular enough for YatoYota being massively known, it's really appreciated for the spectators of the anime and readers of the manga. It remains as the most writting ship in the Blue Period's fandom in AO3, with there being 83+ works available. Though it's more popular in the manga's side, it still has fans in the anime.

But, even if the anime has gotten an adaptation, there were fans who were disappointed on how it was made as. Due to the "poor-quality" image and changes, most of the scenes from the anime has and comparing to the manga are really different, it offended fans since there were parts that were actually important for the manga, and not only that, but the ship too, as how it was drawn. For example being Yatora bumping Yotasuke's fist before the art exam, there is a difference of the drawing between those, with the manga actually leaving emotion, and the anime being only "plain" image and also the way the way the fists were bump as, while Yaguchi's "bump" in the anime was only with the back of the hand. Other example would be how the anime made Yotasuke a bit taller though not as much as Yaguchi, but still was enough for it being noticeable to fans as in the manga Yotasuke's height was different, barely managing to reach Yaguchi's neck, while in the anime he was tall enough for reaching Yaguchi's eyes. Though, the anime didn't remove the tension between both characters, although it did hurt the fans since those moments were meant to them. It also caused to fans believe the developers of the anime being homophobic, although it wasn't a big part. However, despite of all of it, there were others that actually accepted how it was, being chill as long as moments between them were included and not ignored.

Because of their relationship being "angsty" through the manga, it made some believe the ship being actually good-developed, and though it still remains at it being a headcanon of an one-sided ship (on Yaguchi's side) by fans, there are those who actually could interpret it was mutual and tend to think Yotasuke is a "tsundere". The opposites attract, plus the rivals to friends to lovers tropes are also included in the ship, which two mentioned are really popular in ships, making it really likeable.

It can be shipped alongside with YukaMori, which is the ship between Ryuji Ayukawa and Maru Mori, for those who don't like viewing a romantic relationship between Yaguchi and Yuka, and prefer shipping them with other people, ultimately leaving the ship as friendship.

Quotes
"See you, Yaguchi-san."

- Yotasuke, chapter 4, after Yaguchi parted ways with him and thought Takashi wouldn't say anything to him as thinking he annoyed him enough.

"See ya Yotasuke-kun!"

- Chapter 4, Yaguchi happily returning the salute.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

TUMBLR

Trivia

 * The name "Toyota" comes from Yatora's two middle letters from his name (Yatora), while the rest is from Yotasuke's first four letters (Yotasuke), although Toyota is actually a car brand, but doesn't seem to bother fans with it.
 * Also, if the ship "YatoYota" is searched, first results will be corrected as "Toyota", being the car brand.
 * According to Yotasuke's profile, he goes to the same school as Yatora. It also says how he provokes Yatora with his genius art skills and antisocial personality.