IttoGorou

IttoGorou is the slash ship between Arataki Itto and Gorou from the Genshin Impact fandom.

Canon
Gorou and Itto don't have any interactions in-game. However, Itto has a voiceline about Gorou, so they likely have interacted before, especially due to them living in the same nation and the official art of them together.

Itto's voiceline about Gorou shows that he has a positive opinion about him despite their interactions being minimal, and that he views Gorou as a friend who can understand his feelings. He says that Gorou has a great fighting spirit despite him being rather small, especially compared to Itto. He says Gorou makes him all warm and fuzzy inside, as if he has understands his innermost feelings. Though he worries it might be kinda weird as he barely knows anything about Gorou.

Both characters wield Geo visions, Itto using a claymore in combat while Gorou uses a bow. Itto is meant to be a main DPS, while Gorou is a support. They play very well together, and having both on the team gives a Geo Resonance buff, as well as making Gorou's skill stronger. Gorou was also on Itto's banner in the first half of 2.5 and again the second half of 2.7. In The Games Awards entry video, they are seen fighting alongside each other, likely due to being released together and their synergy in battle.

Ms. Hina
Itto also has a voiceline about Ms. Hina, who works at the advice column at the "That's Life" magazine. He encourages the traveler to try to write to her as well, as he is a big fan of hers and is looking forward to her meet and greet. In the original Chinese voiceover, he can additionally be heard sighing dreamily twice. In Gorou's hangout event, it is revealed that Ms. Hina is actually Gorou himself, answering questions in the column under an alias. Yae Miko is said to have convinced Gorou to take on the job, and created the Ms. Hina persona because she believed it would be more appealing, and based her appearance on Gorou that leads to many Ms. Hina fans comically speculating that they're relatives.

During the Almighty Arataki Great and Glorious Drumalong Festival, although Aratani was at first skeptical about renting the Ms. Hina standee, she was touched by the generous offer and not only allowed it, but even considered it to be "true love".

Quotes
"Oh yeah, the doggy general in the resistance. Hey, I've gotta hand it to him, he may be on the small side, but he's got quite the fighting spirit. Also, he gives off this vibe that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, almost as if he understands my innermost feelings... I mean, I've barely met the guy, so that's kinda weird."

- Itto's voiceline about Gorou

"If you ever have something on your mind, you can always try writing in to "That's Life" magazine's advice column. Ms. Hina always manages to come up with an encouraging and heartwarming response for all her readers. Just look at me — I used to be a lost soul, but not anymore, and it's all thanks to her. Oh, that reminds me, I managed to sign up for one of her upcoming meet-and-greets! I've been counting down the days — wish it would go faster..."

- Something to Share: Hina

"Also, a certain question showed up in the advice column of the "That's Life" magazine that went like this: "Ms. Hina, how should I best take care of my Vision and make it shinier? And when I say 'shinier,' I mean shinier than everyone else's, of course!" When gang members read this and excitedly showed the magazine to Itto, they were surprised to see the long-time fan of Ms. Hina just look at the mag casually before laying it aside."

- Arataki Itto Lore, Vision

"When I first heard that someone wanted to rent Ms. Hina's advertising board, I refused. But the offer was very generous, so I thought I'd at least pay a visit to the site first. The moment I arrived at the venue, I was deeply touched. Even with such a tight budget and a miserable venue ...the organizers still managed to reserve enough budget for Ms. Hina. Surely, this is true love? I signed the rental contract immediately."

- Aratani's message, Amakane Bulletin Board, The Almighty Arataki Great & Glorious Drumalong Festival

Fanon
The ship gained popularity when Itto and Gorou were officially announced to be released together. Many fans started to ship them together because of their similar aesthetics and color palette, and Itto's voiceline about Gorou in which he states that Gorou makes him "all warm and fuzzy inside". Many fans interpreted this as him having feelings for Gorou or sensing the similarities between him and Ms. Hina.

Since Gorou is often read as the canonical bisexual due to the fact that his near-romantic interest in the Traveler does not change with the latter's gender, and that Itto commonly gets headcanoned as falling in love with the former's Ms. Hina personality, ship-themed fanfiction often follows the tropes "if it's you, than it's okay" and/or "manly man x girly boy". For example, many fans like to imagine what Itto's meeting with Ms. Hina and his realization that it was Gorou would have looked like, especially since one of his voicelines already mentions a possible fan meeting in the future.

On AO3, it's Itto's most popular ship and Gorou's second most popular, KazuGorou having a larger following. On Itto's side, the main rival of this pairing is the het ship, IttoSara; however, in Western fandom, this pairing seems somewhat controversial due to the ship's notorious ship war with SaraBaal's supporters who prefer to read Sara as a lesbian.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

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