Sunflower

"Sunny…don’t worry. Everything will be okay."

- Basil to Sunny

Sunflower is the slash ship between Sunny and Basil from the Omori fandom.

Canon
Sunny and Basil had been friends since they were children. Sunny is Basil's best friend, and he takes more pictures of him than any of the other members of the party. They were more in tune with each other than the rest of their peer party. "I always end up venting to him when I get upset or stressed," one of the captions in Basil's photo album reads.

After Mari's passing, Sunny cut himself off from the outside world and stopped talking to Basil. Despite this, Basil shows some affection for Sunny, pleading with him not to leave on many occasions. He defends Sunny to the point of blaming his conduct against Mari on "something behind him" he refuses to believe Sunny might have done such a thing.

Basil's protectiveness also leads to him being bullied when he is blamed by Aubrey for striking out faces in the photos inside the photo book, which is later discovered to be the work of Sunny. Despite his protectiveness, when they eventually meet face to face, his feelings for Sunny are complicated. He is angry that Sunny secretly vanished after Mari's death, despite the fact that he sheltered Sunny for years and kept the circumstances of Mari's death hidden. If the player saves him, Basil thanks Sunny for "finally coming back for me," but feels cheated that Sunny did so just days before he was supposed to leave.

If Basil's flowers were consistently watered in the Dream World segments of OMORI on a Sunny Route's Good Ending, there will be an extra cutscene after the credits, depicting Basil waking up to Sunny, who smiles warmly at him. He smiles back, and both of their Somethings disappear.

Quotes
"And these...These are white tulips. Tulips aren't very flashy plants. They're not too big or small, not too elaborate or flamboyant. If I could put it in another way... I guess I would say that...They're comfortable, simple, modest, and perfect. Just like Sunny."

- Basil about Sunny

"Ah... Sunny... It's just you... I'm glad you came. It's... it's so good to see you. It came to you that day... The day Mari died. When Mari... When Mari fell... You... you couldn't have done it. It was something behind you... wasn't it? You're a good person, Sunny. I know you're a good person! A good person wouldn't do something like that... After all this time... you've finally come back for me. But... tomorrow... you're going away. H-HOW COULD YOU DO THAT?!?! That's mean, Sunny. That's so mean! Ah... there's something all around us now. Can you see it, Sunny? There's no way out of this, is there? Where are you going?! Stop trying to leave me! S-stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! I don't... want to be... alone... not again. You... can't... leave me... again..."

- Basil confessing to Sunny that he doesn’t want him to leave him alone

"I'll protect you no matter what, Sunny. You can count on me!"

- Basil to Sunny before their fight

Fanon
Many ship Sunflower because of how close the two are together, with Basil protecting Sunny and refusing to believe he'd be able to kill Mari. It is the third most written OMORI ship on AO3 with over 670 fanfictions written, coming behind HeroMari and Sunburn. Sunflower's main rivals are Sunburn and Suntan, but it is a popular ship with Basil in the OMORI Fandom. Photobomb and Cactiflower are also Sunflower's rivals, though they are not as popular as Sunflower, Sunburn and Suntan.

The ship name "Sunflower" comes from the 3 letters of Sunny's name and the fact that Basil is a plant's name. Sunflowers also represent Basil since they remind Basil of himself. It could also be how Basil wears a flower crown/flower in his hair or how Basil loves flowers, so that represents "flower" in "sun'flower.'" Some people add an extra "n" to make the ship name "Sunnflower" so that the ship doesn't get mixed up with actual sunflowers. The ship name "Dandelion" is used by people that ship Sunny and Basil after the two get therapy and/or professional help because some fans find Sunflower unhealthy because of their trauma or codependency. The ship name comes from the fact that dandelions represent things like growth, transformation and healing. Dandelions are also part of the Asteraceae family, or the sunflower family.

Fans of the pair also like to believe that Basil could have possibly had feelings for Sunny, as it is not true or confirmed it is still a popular headcanon/theory that people like to believe in. This headcanon/theory makes Sunflower similar to MikaYuu and RyoKira since all of the ships involve childhood friends where the blond one has a crush on the black-haired boy. Along with MikaYuu and RyoKira, Sunflower has been compared to KawoShin because an official art of Sunny and Basil sitting back-to-back can look similar to a KawoShin official art where Shinji and Kaworu are doing the same. What could contribute to Sunflower being paralleled to KawoShin is the fact that OMOCAT, the creator of the game, tweeted about how their uncle mistook a Neon Genesis Evangelion poster for Omori in development. People under the post compared Sunny to Shinji. If Sunny were Shinji, Basil would be Kaworu, and like MikaYuu and RyoKira, the character in Basil's place would have a crush on a dark-haired boy. To add to everything, Sunny, Yuichiro, Akira and Shinji, the dark-haired boys in the previously mentioned ships, are all the protagonists of their originating media.

Sunflower also sailed for Sunny and Basil's dynamic, similarities and closeness. Because of this, the ship sailed with fans of the ship, and even non-fans believe there could be feelings between the two.

Fandom
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Trivia

 * In the official art of Faraway Town, it is shown that Basil is trying to hide Sunny's blinded eye.


 * Minced, one of the animators and illustrators for Omori, ships Sunflower.


 * In the demo of the game, Basil’s grandma says that tofu is Basil’s favorite food. Sunny hates tofu and thinks it tastes like cardboard.

Variations

 * Burnt Sunflower refers to the ship between the two and Aubrey
 * Secret Hangout refers to the ship between the two, Aubrey, Hero, Kel and Mari
 * Sunkissed refers to the ship between the two and Kel
 * Sunshine refers to the ship between the two, Aubrey and Kel
 * Tarot Deck refers to the ship between the two, Aubrey, Cris, Daphne, Kel, Kim and Mincy