Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-121.7.195.67-20161128145037/@comment-28150993-20170401193834

I wasn't expecting this thread to come alive again haha. Rereading this after a few months made me realize I can come across as a shipper that muddle things, even though it wasn't my intention at all. Also made me realize I've never stated here that I do think of all 5 of them as family/clan, but not brothers (except Mikazuki and Kogitsunemaru, whom I think as brothers or half-brothers. It's just that nitroplus never explicitly stated that they are; similar case with Aizen and Hotaru tbh).

I agree that same sword school = family. Same smith = most likely brothers. Different smith from different school = can be brothers if they consider each other as such. Different sword school but of the same line/disciple = extended family/clan (e.g. sanjou-gojou-awataguchi and kobizen-osafune).

The reason I brought same smith vs different smith and blurry history argument is this: except for Mika and Kogi, none of them are stated to be smithed by Sanjou Munechika in game or any other official material. Fans argue which Ishikirimaru is the Ishikirimaru we have in game. Some think he's one of Munechika's earliest swords, some think he's smithed by Munechika's disciple, etc. While Imatsuru and Iwatooshi are said to be smithed by Munechika in the myths, in-game Imatsuru (and most likely Iwatooshi too) acknowledged that his memory is false and he didn't exist in that world's history. It's possible that the other 3 didn't know about those 2 and only met each other in the saniwa's citadel (or they do know that those 2 exist only in myths, but this is going to break my heart further *sobs*)

I was actually part of the minority who wished that either Mikazuki or Kogitsune would call the other with Ani-sama or Ani-ue, back before the musical happened and we still have no interaction among the Sanjou swords in-game (except Imatsuru and Iwatooshi's recollection, but then again they're talking about Yoshitsune). I don't think it's too out of character for Sanjou swords to use familial terms with each other, since we have other Heian swords like Hige and Hiza using "anija". But then the musical crushed my hopes, and Imatsuru's kiwame broke my heart OTL

(also a bit out of topic, but I don't think there's much " disassociating sword 'families' with each other for a ship " in touken ranbu fandom. I see a lot of zuobami, atsuyagen and higehiza shippers, just to name a few... ^^;" )

tl,dr; my main problem with Sanjou being called brothers is that some of them didn't exist at all in the first place and only had a body (both flesh and blade) because of the saniwa, and arguments of who's Ishikiri's smith and/or when he's smithed.