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abyssal_sylphSo, Sunrise has been my OTP of OMORI for a while now. But I haven't been able to put into words why, and while I'm still unsure if I can, I'll try now to explain why I Like this ship.
Note: this is obviously a proship reading of OMORI with many headcanons. If you dislike proship stuff this isn't for you. Also this isn't a "bad touch Mari" reading, so don't expect that.
The main thing I like about Sunrise is the tragedy.
The tragedy will likely be obvious to anyone who plays the game; Mari's death & everyone's reaction to it are the story's core. Especially in regards to Sunny's thoughts since he's our protagonist. The guilt and his mental health issues combine to make up the illness stuck in Sunny's psyche. Now this isn't isn't romantic in itself, and not everything has to be romantic (even if I have to work on my amatonormativity), but romanticism has always liked a bond with flaws & wounds.
But we can go a step further than that.
An idea I've seen floating around (in fanfic circles), is that part of the reason is that Mari realized she was in love with Sunny, and started distancing from him to either protect him or forget the feelings. Now, obviously, this is not the canon reason & Mari did have her own reasons in canon. Perfectionism, paired with coming into an age where she'd be expected to prepare for college, would be answer enough. You can argue that another reason is that Mari genuinely thought Sunny needed to grow up more, which is understandable. But when are fans or fandom considered canon enough?
Can you imagine, the poetic irony, of Mari trying to protect Sunny, only for her to die?
I also imagine that both would feel guilty about their crushes on each other; but for different (main) reasons. Mari would feel guilty for moral reasons; she would be likelier to consider this from the lens of her ability to seriously hurt/victimize Sunny. Sunny would feel guilty for worth reasons; he would be likelier, with his canon propensity for poor views of self, to consider himself unworthy of her affection (which is a thought already somewhat canon with his friends). Now they wouldn't just feel guilt for one reason, they'd just have different main ones.
Not that I think that their relationship has to be one of doom & gloom.
In canon; both siblings seem fairly content in their relationship. They are incredibly affectionate with each other, deeply caring for each other in a way that death can't break (the latter can apply to Mari if you believe that her ghost exists in-game). I imagine this wouldn't change if their relationship became romantic, even if they had to hide the criminalizing forms of it. This is partly why I dislike Bad-Touch!Mari; it makes Mari out of character to hurt Sunny, while it is much more interesting (in my opinion) if we explore Mari & Sunny's conflicting needs and wants from a secret, but genuinely loving, romantic relationship.
Ghost Mari also brings a lot to the table in this regard. Often ghost Mari fics say that Mari ages while being in Sunny's dream, trying her best to get her beloved brother out of the dream. The aging thing is likely done to make Picnic Sandwich/HeroMari not creepy. But think of the factors that could make several versions of a similar premise:
So yeah; I like Sunrise the OMORI ship :3
Note: this is obviously a proship reading of OMORI with many headcanons. If you dislike proship stuff this isn't for you. Also this isn't a "bad touch Mari" reading, so don't expect that.
The main thing I like about Sunrise is the tragedy.
The tragedy will likely be obvious to anyone who plays the game; Mari's death & everyone's reaction to it are the story's core. Especially in regards to Sunny's thoughts since he's our protagonist. The guilt and his mental health issues combine to make up the illness stuck in Sunny's psyche. Now this isn't isn't romantic in itself, and not everything has to be romantic (even if I have to work on my amatonormativity), but romanticism has always liked a bond with flaws & wounds.
But we can go a step further than that.
An idea I've seen floating around (in fanfic circles), is that part of the reason is that Mari realized she was in love with Sunny, and started distancing from him to either protect him or forget the feelings. Now, obviously, this is not the canon reason & Mari did have her own reasons in canon. Perfectionism, paired with coming into an age where she'd be expected to prepare for college, would be answer enough. You can argue that another reason is that Mari genuinely thought Sunny needed to grow up more, which is understandable. But when are fans or fandom considered canon enough?
Can you imagine, the poetic irony, of Mari trying to protect Sunny, only for her to die?
I also imagine that both would feel guilty about their crushes on each other; but for different (main) reasons. Mari would feel guilty for moral reasons; she would be likelier to consider this from the lens of her ability to seriously hurt/victimize Sunny. Sunny would feel guilty for worth reasons; he would be likelier, with his canon propensity for poor views of self, to consider himself unworthy of her affection (which is a thought already somewhat canon with his friends). Now they wouldn't just feel guilt for one reason, they'd just have different main ones.
Not that I think that their relationship has to be one of doom & gloom.
In canon; both siblings seem fairly content in their relationship. They are incredibly affectionate with each other, deeply caring for each other in a way that death can't break (the latter can apply to Mari if you believe that her ghost exists in-game). I imagine this wouldn't change if their relationship became romantic, even if they had to hide the criminalizing forms of it. This is partly why I dislike Bad-Touch!Mari; it makes Mari out of character to hurt Sunny, while it is much more interesting (in my opinion) if we explore Mari & Sunny's conflicting needs and wants from a secret, but genuinely loving, romantic relationship.
Ghost Mari also brings a lot to the table in this regard. Often ghost Mari fics say that Mari ages while being in Sunny's dream, trying her best to get her beloved brother out of the dream. The aging thing is likely done to make Picnic Sandwich/HeroMari not creepy. But think of the factors that could make several versions of a similar premise:
- The aging thing: the thing with immortality, even ghost immortality, is that you have to decide when & if the character ever stops aging. You could make it so that Mari keeps aging (at least till her 20s), and just keep the dynamic they had grow from there. But if we make it that Mari stays 15, we can explore the weirdness (both tragic & plain odd & positive) of Sunny being now older than his older sister.
- Do one and/or both realize this is to some degree reality?: while Head-Space is obviously not reality, it is said in ghost!Mari fics that Mari in the dreams is the real deal to one degree or another. But does she realize that? Does she know this isn't the afterlife as imagined by most? Does she know that Omori is Sunny? How much of her impulse-control depends on it being the real Sunny? Similar questions can be asked in regards to Sunny.
- Can Mari be resurrected?: while this isn't always explored to the fine details to what would be the consequences of a) resurrecting things in general & b) resurrecting Mari in specific. Since it will not only strongly affect the rest of the friend group, but also Mari herself. This can be interesting depending on what effects you give being dead & the effects of being resurrected.
So yeah; I like Sunrise the OMORI ship :3
