Hey everyone, are you ready for some Fun Ikesoren Theories???? Of course you are you’re reading the tag.
So as I’m sure all of you are aware, Soren’s RD (and POR, just purple instead of grey) design for the Sage class features a robe with long sleeves.
(Wow! It’s a boy!)
While it’s not a 100% perfect fit, as the official art and Soren’s model show the sleeves more squarish, the long portions of the sleeves cover more of the length of the sleeve (for lack of a better way of describing them), and the sleeves themselves are a little shorter, they greatly resemble the sleeves of a furisode.
(Modern furisode are absolutely beautiful btw.)
Those versed in traditional Japanese clothing will know that furisode today are the most formal sort of traditional kimono for young women. So why am I drawing a comparison between them and the robes of Soren, a man?
A lesser known fact is that, in feudal Japan, an adult man could wear a furisode.
An adult man who wore a furisode did so to indicate that he was the lover of a samurai.
This is occasionally leaned into in Japanese media as a sort of fanservice-y method of implying two men are lovers. A good example would be the Nihon arc of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, in which Fai is shown wearing a furisode. (Fai is the heavily implied love interest of the other adult male lead Kurogane, who is a ninja from Nihon. Nihon is an AU fairy tale version of feudal Japan.)
(Fun fact: when I was searching for this page I read ahead and I had completely forgotten Fai punched Kurogane after this for saving his life. All my favorite cliches.)
So what’s my point? My point is that it’s a relatively well known trope in Japanese media that a furisode worn by a man indicates that he’s another man’s lover, and furthermore that said lover is a warrior. Typically, a sword fighter even.
Soren’s Sage outfits in both POR and RD could very well be influenced by this trope, with his robes being a more westernized adaptation of furisode with the sleeves, the distinguishing feature of the garment, being left intact.
(aka more proof that ikesoren is totally canon)
