FutaKao

FutaKao is the femslash ship between Futaba Isurugi and Kaoruko Hanayagi from the Revue Starlight fandom.

Revue Starlight: The Movie
The Revue begins with Kaoruko avoiding responsibility by everyone for her and Futaba’s imminent separation. After they do their introductions, Kaoruko and Futaba say the same line, "This is a straight path of parting." Both Kaoruko and Futaba are on the same page about what happens here, even though neither of them actually want to let go of the other forever. In this battle, Kaoruko isn’t going to try to convince Futaba to stay with her. This is them figuring out how they’ll say goodbye.

The fight starts out with Kaoruko reminding Futaba of their promise that Kaoruko would become a top star, and that Futaba would stay at her side. Kaoruko wants Futaba to know that she betrayed her, and that Kaoruko won’t forgive her for this. But Futaba tries to tell Kaoruko that she’s only leaving for a bit to stay by her side in the long run, since Futaba needs to be more independent if she is ever gonna bloom into a top star in her own right.

Because Futaba doesn’t think she’s good enough. That’s what she’s been struggling with since the first half of the movie. It’s what she’s been struggling with the entire series. So Futaba is desperate to do anything that can get herself up to par with everyone else. So much so, that she doesn’t mind being separated from Kaoruko for a little bit while she goes on her own path, but wants her to understand why she has to go.

She understands that Kaoruko might feel saddened, but she doesn’t really understand how much her leaving would affect Kaoruko. Futaba thinks that if she left, Kaoruko would be fine, but it’s basically the end of the world in Kaoruko’s perspective. And while Futaba was genuine in that she flat out stated what she wanted and what she needed, Kaoruko has too much pride to just lay herself bare like that, which is why when we get Kaoruko’s perspective, we switch into a performance.

So the two of them are now in a nightclub, or some kind of bar. Futaba is caught on the backfoot, and is nervous, but still tries to be genuine. She talks about how she felt she wasn’t good enough. How she saw everyone else excelling around her. And how she didn't have the qualities that all the better stage girls had. But Kaoruko acts the role of a high maintenance girlfriend who is dismissive of Futaba’s concerns, which throws Futaba off. Kaoruko directly asks why Futaba didn’t talk with her about her future plans, and Futaba, like in the rest of the revue, gives the honest answer: that she knew Kaoruko would be against it.

Futaba knew her leaving would hurt Kaoruko, but she didn’t want to think about it, so she ignored it. Futaba knows that she has to go on her own. That’s the only way she can improve. If she stuck with Kaoruko, her life would be guaranteed as the aide to the head, but instead Futaba is aiming for auditions at a competitive troupe, which gives her the chance to fail, and Futaba thrives in competitions.She’s focused on herself right now, and what path is best for her, but Futaba is also accidently ignoring what this path means for Kaoruko.

Despite not talking about it with Kaoruko, Futaba was pretty open about going to New National. So while they both knew what was going on, they both put off the hard conversation which anxiety in both of them. This is reflected in the song, where Kaoruko complains that Futaba is being self centered and isn’t properly facing Kaoruko. Meanwhile ,Futaba sings there’s nothing they can really talk about, since Futaba has to do this. It’s a little interesting that they echo each other's lines, maybe a sign of how they are only now starting to understand each other. Although they sing in harmony the next part, of how they long to be as close as they once were again.

Fanon
FutaKao is one of the most popular ships within the Revue Starlight fandom. On AO3, it currently has over 250 works written for the ship.

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