Gotta Love How Shin Canonically Cannot Handle Food In General

Gotta love how Shin canonically cannot handle food in general

I know!! Poor Shin!! He has a very sensitive stomach!!

Here’s what he has to say about food at the end of Your Turn to Shine, depending on how many fondness events you’ve done with him:

Shin admits to struggling with eating in ever scenario, but he acts more hopeful about trying to eat healthier if Mishima has gotten closer to him.

He is canonically frail, being described as “unbelievably weak for an adult man.” (That seems harsh, Nankidai! Oof!) Shin’s frailty is a consistent topic of mockery by Nankidai and YTTD’s fans. I’m of two minds about it. On the one hand, I think a lot of these jokes are good-natured and even affectionate. We love fictional characters who can be the butt of a joke! We’re all pathetic and embarrassed sometimes! Jokes help humanize fictional characters. If a character is “too cool,” then it can be harder to relate to them. I think Shin’s easily-mockable features actually contribute to his popularity in the fandom, because we’re often laughing at ourselves even as we laugh at him.

On the other hand, it’s easy to see how these types of jokes can cross the line and become insensitive. Obviously “frailty” should not be considered a mark against one’s moral character. It’s easy to feel sorry for Shin on this matter! So I think another reason Shin is so beloved is because we feel sympathy for him. There he goes, trying to be the game’s Cool Antagonist, but his frailty keeps getting in the way.

My favorite plot point example of this is how Chapter 2-2 begins with Shin’s nightmare, and then Kanna wakes him, saying, “Don’t startle me all of a sudden…! / Y-You’re all I have left, Sou… / Please… don’t suddenly collapse…” Shin tries to recover his composure, and it’s then revealed that Q-Taro was also in the room the whole time, so Shin apparently fainted in the middle of their secret evil meeting!

Exactly why Shin suffers from bad eating habits is open to fan interpretation. However, I think the fact that he’s poor definitely contributes to his poor health. Nankidai indulged in some dark humor about this with these tweets.

“Ehehe, so delicious…it’s been a while since I’ve been able to eat.”

“But there’s ten days left in the month, and I only have 150 yen left, huh…”

“Ahaha! This juice is delicious! So delicious!”

(It’s hard to see in my screenshot, but the juice actually has a price tag of 150 yen.)

I didn’t realize the captions for these sketches were that tragic until recently! I had only seen the charming illustrations of Shin eating and drinking, without knowing the full context…

Poor Shin! He could really use a friend like Mishima to help cook for him and make sure he’s okay.