Ulrich and Yumi

By far the most popular ship in the fandom, or so it would seem, so I thought we should have some discussion about them.

I like the pairing, but not overmuch; the best of it, to me, was during Series 1 before all the 'will they won't they' happened, and before everything with William happened. I sometimes find myself thinking that the biggest part of Ulrich and William's characters in particular is the love triangle, and I would like to have seen more of their motivations outside of that (Yumi too, but I feel we got more of a grip on her character for seeing her home life too).

Thoughts? Just generally on YxU I mean, not especially pertaining to the above.

I liked the Y\U ship - it was one of my first ships in the fandom but as the series progressed, I began to like it less and less. Don't get me wrong, its still one of my favorite ships I just think that in the later seasons it got to be kind of irritating at points.

The drama always added some fun to the missions but sometimes I just wanted to bash my head against a keyboard. Their jealousy really got irritating for me especially (I don't usually deal with jealousy issues well) and there have been times in the series where Yumi or Ulrich used William\Sissi to make the other jealous and that really infuriates me (Valentine's Day comes to mind). And this is all because they don't want to admit their feelings for one another.

Wow, it starting to sound like I hate the ship. I really don't. They can be cute together often times and they do have great chemistry together when they're not fighting.

I think that you might have something with the biggest part of Ulrich and William's characters are the love triangle. In fact I often think that, until the XANA possession, William was only brought into the picture to cause added tension between Ulrich and Yumi. I mean it seems like in Season 2 and a good portion of season 3 the only time William was on screen was to cause problems. I definitely wasn't a fan of that. I would like to see what William (and yes Ulrich) are like when they aren't fighting over Yumi. Hopefully Evolution will do something about that.

This is not my favorite ship, nor do I have much interest in it. But I still support it over WxY. In one of the last episodes Yumi says to William "I'm sorry but we were never meant for each other." Or something around those lines I do plan on including this ship in my fics, but it will only be a side thing. The issue of the love triangle kinda annoyed me, but what really annoyed me was, like Quin said, they just need to tell each other their feelings. I really hope they do something about this in Evolution.

For me, WxY is a do-not-want ship. William is a stalker boy, and I've had one of those.
YxU is excruciatingly difficult to write sometimes because on one hand I want them to get together already, but on the other hand, they're teenagers and their personalities, especially Ulrich's, keep them from effectively allowing themselves to admit their feelings, and I have this pet peeve of characters not being canon in what's supposed to be a canon story, especially with ships. A third option is to have some other character(s) set them up (Odd comes to mind). But Yumi and Ulrich would probably have an encounter like whatevertheirnameswere in You've Got Mail or like Odd and Sissi in ep46 Deja Vu.

So, as much as this ship doesn't work, no other ship involving either of these two characters will work nearly as well. Which is why it's still my headcanon.

It's cute but I don't ship it.
Okay, it's partly because I really like Oddrich
but I also like to depict Yumi as a strong, independent woman who don't need no man.

I understand seeing Yumi being very strong and independent, but just because someone is strong and independent doesn't mean that being in a relationship makes them less so. Yumi may not "need a man" but that doesn't mean she doesn't want one!

And Snickie, you are right about their relationship being hard to depict! I think its the reason I've never written a fic that has them actually being in a relationship because you are completely right about their personalities making it so they won't admit to each other their feelings. It can be really frustrating in that regard, but I still like it.

(I'm also beginning to get the feeling that I'm one of the few WillUmi shippers here...)

XD You are. I really only go by canon. I know that makes me sound uncreative or whatever, but WxY really I could not do. William is the "bad boy" who goes for Yumi even if she doesn't want it. Also, she really doesn't like him all too much. She's the only one who didn't want him in the group. I know they have there moments, but Ulrich and her have more. These are my beleifs, please do not take offence.

Dude, none taken. Everyone's definitely allowed to have their opinions and just as long as I'm not getting harassed for mine, I'm good! Besides, I am just as much a YxU shipper as I am a YxW shipper. I also know YxW is not most people's cup of tea.

Anyway, this is the YxU thread so I'll stop dragging William into the middle of this (though, granted he has a lot to do with their relationship from season 2 onward...). Sometimes I just can't help myself!