ShiroMichi

ShiroMichi is the het ship between Shirou Ogami and Kagemori Michiru from the BNA: Brand New Animal fandom.

Canon
Shirou and Michiru are two adults currently living in Anima City, who met on the city's 10th anniversary. On the night they met, Shirou caught three anti-Beastmen terrorists who bombed the festival, but was stopped by Michiru before he could kill them in the name of justice. After revealing her human past, Shirou took her to Beastmen Co-Op for her and everyone's safety, leaving the criminals tied up for the police. Shirou and Michiru's relationship developes with every episode. Shirou trusts her, he even gave her a cookie one time.

Manga
Michiru was writing in her digital diary on her phone,when Shirou scared her. She dropped the phone, and It broke. Shirou didn't understand why Michiru cares about It so much,which made her even more angry. She even called him an idiot and an asshole. After that,she went on a walk In the city,and saw beastmen fighting. They noticed her,and she got attacked. Michiru almost got punched by them,when Shirou jumped In, and carried her away. Later when they got back to the Co-op, Shirou apologised for the broken phone.

Fanon
On AO3, the ship is the most written for Shirou and for Michiru, and is also the most written ship on the BNA fandom. In addition, there is a very active community on Japanese art sites and a collection of youtubers making AMVs.

The ship has a specific Discord server for shippers looking for a place to enjoy ShiroMichi content. ShiroMichi Week was created by the admins of said Discord server, and was held on August 9th, ending on the 15th, using the hashtag #ShiromichiWeek2020.

Most shippers of this pairing avoid fandom discussion because of the “age discourse”, as Shirou is Ginrou (The Silver Wolf), and has existed for 1000 years, while Michiru is 18. However, Rose mentioned in episode 8 that Shirou stopped aging after he was reincarnated, and quite a few characters, including Michiru, remark that Shirou looks very young, younger than what they expected. With that, it can be assumed that Shirou is physically around his early to mid twenties, the age range being 19-25.

Even without that context, many canon pairings in anime have the immortal x normal aging trope, known as Divine Date, as it’s a very common one in media in general, also being used in cartoons and books. Despite that, many supporters of the opposing ship, Michizuna, brand and accuse ShiroMichi shippers of being pedophiles or supporters of incest, which isn’t very appreciated by the fanbase.

Fandom
TUMBLR

Trivia

 * In an interview, the director Yoh Yoshinari stated in Japanese that “吉成: 主人公とバディとの関係性ですよね. 例えて言うならば「シティハンター」みたいな. でも、主人公は冴羽獠ではなく香. ”, which when translated, means “It's a relationship between the main character and (buddy). For example, it's like "City Hunter". However, the protagonist is Makimura (Kaori) rather than Saeba (Ryo).”
 * Kaori and Ryo are cops who work together, like Michiru and Shirou. Kaori and Ryo have a dynamic eerily similar to Shirou and Michiru, except for the fact that Ryo is a play boy, and get married at the end of the series.
 * According to BNA staff, “Yoshinari was very careful to make Michiru and Shiro equals in the story. He doesn’t want Michiru to be Shiro’s side-kick. It’s not Batman and Robin, they’re partners.”
 * Thanks to this quote, the current relationship between the two has been made clear. No familial bonds (a popular headcanon with no basis), and no power imbalances. Shirou and Michiru are close friends, both in and out of work.
 * The director Yoh Yoshinari has mentioned that his favorite characters to draw together are Shirou and Michiru.
 * This is reflected as most, if not all of his BNA related sketches only include Michiru and Shirou.
 * In BNA: Zero, a light novel following Shirou and Barbary (then known as Natalia) Rose after the events of WWII, Rose tells Shirou "I'm not the person you need, who you need is a brand new person, not only full of hope and possibility, but also someone who can blow off your hatred and helplessness.." (a rough translation).
 * In Japanese, Rose mentions the word ‘Michiru’ in her dialogue, but written with other kanjis. The word ‘Michiru’ has different meanings, among them being “to complete”, “to finish”, “to fulfill”, “to mature”, “real, true”, “a journey”, “moral principles”,  “to stay”, “to stop”, “beautiful, beauty”, “a thousand”, “werewolf”, and “full moon”, among even MORE meanings.
 * Tied in with the canon events in BNA, where Shirou constantly changes his behavior for the better and controls his rage in order to accomodate Michiru, this can only mean that Michiru is his brand new person, as Rose explained earlier.
 * For the Blu-Ray and DVD cover art for volumes 1-3, it featured Shirou and Michiru.
 * For volume one, it shows a bust of Michiru, who seems to be in the nude, a happy and determined expression on her face as she covers her shoulders with wings, with a white sun and a pink to green gradient in the background.
 * For volume two, it shows a bust of Shirou, who seems to be in the nude, glaring angrily with half of his chest covered in fur, with a white crescent moon and a blue to green gradient in the background.
 * These two covers show multiple parallels (sun and moon, light and dark, pink and blue, yin and yang, etc). Opposites attract, basically.
 * For volume three, it shows Shirou in his Ginrou form, as the Silver Wolf, and Michiru hugging him from the side in the nude, with her smiling as he grins back, one breast pushed up against his side.
 * Whether this registers as romantic or not to fans, the fact that the two are hugging in the nude in official artwork and merchandise says a lot.
 * Shirou brings a lounge chair to the rooftop of the Co-Op where Michiru plays basketball, and the two talk while she practices and he watches.
 * The only times Shirou smiles is whenever Michiru is around.