KariSasa

KariSasa is the het ship between Fritz von Gustav Karigari and Yuri Sasagawa from the Tomica Hyper Rescue Drive Head fandom.

Canon
While it is unclear if Karigari was aware of Sasagawa, due to allegedly being overseas for an extended period, they both appear together at the same time in episode 11, when Sasagawa is filming at Universal Memorial Park. He may have come there in part because he is her fan. It is revealed in episode 18 that Karigari has a crush on Sasagawa. He is seen pausing footage of her on TV, calling her beautiful.

The two formally meet in episode 19. Karigari snuck a trailer into the Akasaka TV building, and took over its parabolic antenna to use it to cause blackouts around the city. He requests that Sasagawa have exclusive coverage over the incident. This is actually so that he can confess to her, because she stated on her Fortune Corner that it was a good day for Sagittarius’ to confess their love (despite Karigari’s sign actually being Ophiuchus.)

Sasagawa accepts the offer, wanting to meet the man who is the enemy of the Mobile Rescue Police, whom she’s a big fan of. When she first meets Karigari inside the trailer, she’s surprised by how nervous and awkward he is around her. After he regains his composure, she listens to him calmly at first, while he explains his plan, but eventually decides to angrily chew him out, telling him that innocent lives could be lost if he cripples the city’s functions. Karigari replies that this was all a bluff, to reassure her, and says that he just desperately wants to win against Kurumada and Saionji. After this, he’ll face any consequences, including going to jail or to hell. Sasagawa is also surprised and a bit concerned by this and asks Karigari why he chose her. He is unable to answer due to his system being taken over by the Evil AI, who attempts to drop a spacecraft onto the earth. Both Karigari and Sasagawa are concerned by this, but the issue is resolved by one of the Drive Heads. After this incident, Karigari has Sasagawa leave, telling her that her fortune was wrong, or rather, he isn’t a Sagittarius. Karigari is able to escape being caught by the police with his flying car, and Sasagawa watches him from outside, worried.

In episode 24, Karigari is staying in a hotel in the mountains to do research on the Evil AI and stops immediately when it’s time to watch Sasagawa’s Fortune Corner. He’s devastated to find that she’s not on, due to the fact that she’s on vacation. But it turns out she’s on vacation in the same hotel. Yusuke and Akira, Karigari’s two subordinates, encourage him to talk to her. Karigari is afraid that she’ll think he’s stalking her and refuses, instead basically stalking her. When he finally decides to go see her, a meteor crashes near the hotel. Sasagawa volunteers to go out and cover the story, even though she’s on vacation.

Karigari becomes worried for Sasagawa, thinking that she’ll do something reckless. He was right, as she accidentally fell from a cliff. However, he was able to catch her with his flying car. Sasagawa is very surprised that he would appear from nowhere to save her, and asks him why. Still terribly flustered, he says that it’s because he’s her fan and then rushes to leave, even though Sasagawa wanted him to stay.

In episode 31, when Karigari is badly injured by the Evil AI, whom he made a virus to destroy, Yusuke and Akira go to deliver a backup copy to Sasagawa in his place. Sasagawa is thrilled to see them, proudly telling her co-workers they’re the criminals who saved her and asking about Karigari, whom she hoped to see. Akira and Yusuke don’t tell her the truth, but give her a flash drive, telling her it’s contents can save the world and she’s the person Karigari trusts the most. Sasagawa is unable to open the drive and gives it to the Mobile Rescue Police. Despite learning that it contains a virus, she trusts Karigari’s intentions and leaves it with them.

In episode 36, Sasagawa investigates the mysterious Ark symbol, which she believes is connected to the phenomena of people turning into metal. Her co-worker Unai suggests that maybe Karigari could be responsible. Sasagawa immediately disagrees with this, but believes Karigari knows something more and decides she should ask him personally.

Sasagawa is somehow able to guess the location of Karigari’s hideout. However, she doesn’t know that he’s there, because Karigari is hiding underground, where he’s working on modifying a Drive Head. Karigari initially refuses to reveal himself to her, arguing that exposing the hideout for any reason is impractical and he needs to prioritize finishing the Drive Head. However, he’s thrilled that she came to see him and changes his mind. His subordinates stop him, leaving him to the point of crying. Sasagawa is also disappointed that they couldn’t meet, but she was called back for work.

In episode 37, Sasagawa’s helicopter is shot down as a result of the battle between Team Drive Head and the fake Drive Heads built by the Evil AI. She’s saved by Karigari, who completed his Drive Head and is able to catch the helicopter. Despite being glad to see him again, Sasagawa immediately becomes worried that Karigari is risking his life by joining the fight.

Karigari decides that the only way to stop the Evil AI is to contain it, given that even when the supercomputer Ark was shut down, its evil will remained. He bids farewell to Sasagawa, who can only watch him helplessly from the roof, and reveals his full name to her. Karigari flies into the Tower, which explodes right after. Sasagawa cries out his name. Believing Karigari to have died, Sasagawa goes to the remains of the Tower of Babel and leaves flowers while crying.

Some time later, she receives an email while at work, asking her what today’s fortune is. Realizing that Karigari sent it, and he’s still alive, her eyes light up. Sasagawa continues to keep the secret that Karigari has survived for several months afterwards.

During the events of the movie, Sasagawa becomes depressed because Cyclone Interceptor lost its appeal to her, remaining completely unaware of what actually happened to the Drive Heads. Watching her report on the news about the Drive Heads being defeated in a battle, Karigari states that depressing news doesn’t suit her, and that he’s going to make a move. Karigari later modifies Cyclone Interceptor, creating a Force Field Mode which becomes vital for defeating Terra, the humanoid form of the Evil AI. Although Sasagawa never learns that Karigari created it, she’s able to fall in love with Interceptor all over again by watching it in action.

Fanon
The pairing is based on the overwhelming evidence that the two are crushing hard on each other, despite being totally oblivious to the other’s feelings, and the positive effect it has on both of them. Karigari’s egomania is suddenly humbled around her, and he starts to do more good in order to keep her safe and happy, returning to his roots in disaster rescue. Sasagawa initially saw him as evil due to him being in opposition to her heroes, but after actually getting to meet him is able to open her mind a little more and not look at things in such a black and white way.

Also, the two seem to share a wavelength, given they vacationed at the same hotel at the same time, and Sasagawa’s ability to pretty much guess the location of Karigari’s hideout. They’re also similar in that they’re both fairly nerdy, as a robot fangirl and a scientist specializing in engineering. On the flipside, their personalities have a complimentary balance. Sasagawa is reckless and hot-blooded, while Karigari is much more cautious and tends to overthink excessively. Worth noting that Karigari eventually becomes a cyborg after nearly dying at the Tower of Babel. And Sasagawa is very fond of robots.

The ship is well-liked by most fans, though has very little fanworks in Japan. This may be due to Karigari being considered unattractive, as one of the most popular ships is Kuroeda/Saionji, two attractive men who barely interact. This also may be due to the stigma of Sasagawa being based on a real person, who is also married, though said person herself has stated that the character is not actually her and expressed support for the pairing.

It has no true rival ships, other than Sasagawa x Cyclone Interceptor, which is mainly treated as a joke due to Interceptor being inanimate.

Fandom

 * FAN FICTION