hi

as of today (2025), this powerpoint was made about five years ago. so uh. editing this and seeing my cringeworthy jokes and my takes being horribly worded is going to be a very healing experience 👍

anyways welcome! this slideshow is basically gonna go over why kaizami had so much more potential than having been a comedic relief for blood drive’s extra chapter 3, and why anyone who ships it has such a fat ass and nice tits

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the enemies to lovers trope is the most fun to ever exist. and if you disagree you’re WRONG.

jokes aside–

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the tension, the fun dynamics, and the cathartic way two characters go from deep hatred to worshipping each other is great and all. But that’s not the only reason i like this trope.

i think this trope really hits the nail in the head when getting the idea of loving someone, even their worst version, across. two characters who initially hate each other, and have had heated fights with each other, know what the other is capable of. they know each other’s ugly side. and even then, in the end, when falling in love, they embrace it.

imo someone knowing the other’s bad side before knowing their better side instead of the other way around, gets the “they like this person for who they are” message across beautifully.

we had none of that bc shimada was the first one to die lmao

Credits

brainstorming - molly, mika, maria

writing - rice (me)

corpse party - makoto kedwin

yuuya kizami - jesus

kai shimada - satan

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and you.

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still here? ok geez uhm… proceeding with the brainwashing

THEIR HATRED IS A LIE!

hot take: their relationship goes deeper than just comedic bickering and stupid challenges

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because basically

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the rivalry isn’t as one-sided as it seems

why are they enemies?

“because shimada is jealous that kizami is better than him in every skill and gets bitches without lifting a finger”. this answer would be enough, since at face value this is all we get from shimada. and while this isn’t false, it makes me wonder why he is… you know. mentally ill.

but from kizami’s part, as shown in various snippets of his point of view, as well as in blood drive’s 3rd extra chapter, there’s one thing that stops this rivalry from being fully one-sided.

both are equally prideful, and hate losing. which is why in the end kizami always ends up humoring shimada in his stupid challenges and completely wrecking his shit.

…ok but is that it?

the thin veil between their differences and their similarities

this ship fucking slaps because it’s so nuanced, yet they’re very similar where it actually matters

• kizami is calm, self-restrained and calculating; shimada is loud, impulsive and rabid; yadda yadda yadda we all know how it goes
• both are deranged. they have a general distrust for most people, are immensely competitive, are perpetually bored, barely have a moral compass… they’re out of touch with how ‘normal people’ work.

thing is, shimada is completely open about this. kizami isn’t, and as such, he does the very same thing he condemns and resents people for doing: he hides his true nature.

“hurr durr kindness bad”

kizami’s whole life philosophy can be summed up by “kindness is just an act”, so no one’s outward intentions are pure. just like how he perceives himself to be, all others are just selfish creatures, devoid of the feelings of warmth and benevolence they seemingly insist they actually have.

this notion, which only continued to grow its roots deeper and deeper ever since his childhood, has completely distorted his concept of authenticity.

kizami’s siblings always told him that he - or his authentic self, for that matter - will never be accepted. and as he grows older he internalizes these words, and begrudgingly tries to fit in.

but his pride is too big for him to fully embrace the part of him that feels like he was born defective, hence the “kindness bad” philosophy. it’s a form of deflection.

the reason he thinks he’s any better than others is because he feels like he’s the only one, even if secretly, who’s not okay with going with the flow and obediently keeping his “mask” on.

but shimada sticks out like a sore thumb

• an asshole to pretty much everyone
• unapologetic
• pathologically competitive
• openly uncaring about rules and morals

all in all he always leaves a trail of destruction in his path.

if there’s one person in kizami’s circle of friends that goes against everything he had to live with so far, it’s shimada. he’s not benefitting from this behavior in any way - so why would any of it be just an act?

it’s already hard enough for kizami to find anyone fascinating, and i believe his thing with shimada went deeper than just finding him “amusing”, given his mindset: after coming across so many people he deemed fake and uninteresting in his dull and grey life, shimada actually felt… raw. genuine.

EDIT: now that i think of it, isn’t this the main reason kizami took an interest in azusa after she snapped?

going on a small tangent! remember, i’m well aware that the writers were mostly going for a comic relief/punching bag when writing him. but corpse party is specialized in throwing potential out the window - and with shimada they did exactly that, since only vaguely hinting that “there’s more to him” just wasn’t enough.

excuse me while i go a little more into depth with this :)

This renders Kai temporarily speechless, before laughing it off, calling them all nuts.

Shreds of Kai's "more to him" can be seen in his interaction with Tomohiro in Corpse Party: Book of Shadows. When Tomohiro is crying, torn over whether to leave his injured friend Ryosuke, Kai, exasperated, announces he will leave in his place. When Tomohiro tries to thank him, Kai, not wanting to seem soft, quickly adds that nothing will get better if Tomohiro leaves since he is a "worthless sack" and a "waste of space."

in blood drive’s soulful testimonies, shimada’s voice actor described him as hardworking. while i think this aspect is unfairly overlooked, i also think its subtlety was deliberate. shimada’s competitiveness makes him go to great lengths in order to win against others - so it really wouldn’t be a reach to think that this includes being academically responsible to get high grades, but normally a delinquent who sleeps around and commits acts of vandalism would be called anything but “hardworking”. so my theory is, as much as he probably accomplishes way more than it’s shown, him being a deranged douchebag + kizami always outshining him has everyone completely dismissing his achievements. idk i just think this is a really neat detail

“WEEEEH WEEH NO I DONT LIKE READING WALLS OF TEXTS” ok here’s the last slide compressed in a (considerably) smaller schizo rant

anyways back to kaizami

my nemesis (affectionate)

you know how pretty much everyone in kizami’s school idealizes him as perfection itself? shimada is no exception. prove me wrong :)

this is the biggest example of his defense mechanism of choice: reaction formation. in a world that kept telling him he’s not good enough, he saw no other exit but to repress his loneliness by actively pushing people away. so any positive feelings he might’ve had for others were, at best, shown only in a shallow level (tohko, mitsuki, fukuroi…), or at worst, just outright turned into a hateful jealousy (kizami).

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he just wants to be good enough. but it doesnt take a genius to see that he equates this with being number one, and this mindset damaged his capacity not only to form meaningful relationships, but to be honest with himself.

in other words, he’s not nearly as genuine as kizami would think :)

shimada’s voice actor spitting once again

insert “you and i aren’t so different” cliché speech

kizami and shimada are, at their core, more similar than not: mental trainwrecks who don’t know what being ‘normal’ feels like, have been given shit bc of it, and have internalized the idea that they will never be accepted for who they are - that in the end, being number one is all they have.

whenever i think of them, authenticity is the first word that pops in my mind. both struggle with it, but their approaches are antitheses to one another:

• being liked as a means of being number one. kizami masks his socially reprehensible traits and goes with the flow, ultimately becoming the very thing he hates. whether aware of his hypocrisy or not, he just doesnt want to be considered a waste of space anymore.
• being number one over being liked. as opposed to above, shimada fiercely hides his softer, more vulnerable side, only showing his negative traits - he doesn’t mind sacrificing his likeability, so long as it protects him from getting hurt*.

*insert “we’re nothing alike” cliché comeback

(which as we, the audience, all know at this point, ends up being pure denial in like 90% of cases in fiction)

for a while i’ve been wondering, if they’re so similar, why does one need to actively be an asshole to keep people out of his way, while the other manages to keep detached while being liked?

this makes me think of a lot of theories, but the one i think has most substance is that, contrary to popular belief, shimada can get attached to others, almost in the same rate as normal people - but mainly because he’s too much to handle, none, if any of his past friendships, lasted too long.

in other words, they’re both incredibly lonely. with kizami, this loneliness is repressed to the point where he’s not aware it exists until heavenly host - and with shimada, he is aware it exists, but getting attached would get in his way, so he desperately ignores it.

both repress their loneliness by convincing themselves that they don’t need anyone - but their longing to have someone by their side is still there, as shown in CPBoS chapter 6 by kizami’s possessive behavior towards yuka; and as evidenced in the previous screenshots of shimada’s monologue from BD’s extra chapter 3.

they just want someone who doesn’t look past their outward act with mockery, disgust or judgement. just like any normal person, they just want to be liked for their authentic selves.

and in this relationship’s case, the fact that they would’ve related to each other would’ve been the first step.

the perfect specimen

what kizami is used to is seeing people as “warm outside, uncaring inside” - not the other way around. in CPBoS chapter 6, he was bewildered with how yuka showed concern for him even on the brink of death. he never even considered that there would be genuine warmth to people. he was proven wrong.

in shimada’s case (said ‘warmth’ mainly referring to his love for kizami), hiding one’s true feelings with an even more undesirable front would be beyond kizami’s comprehension at first. that said, he’d start off by seeing shimada as some sort of specimen to study human nature, intrigued that both share the same struggle, yet their approaches are so different.

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a segment from the book Maurice, by E.M. Foster. molly showed me this and i just think the comparison between this segment and kizami’s hypothetical discovery is very neat 😼

that said, i’m pretty sure kizami would still be skeptical of shimada’s hidden fondness for him - after all, what he was looking up to was the image kizami has built to keep his reputation.

but i also think that upon seeing that kizami didn’t have it easy either (as opposed to what shimada might’ve thought), the resentment of having dealt with a facade would be relatively short lived, outweighed by the relief of both finally being accepted the way he is - even if it’s in a “specimen” kind of way at first -, and finally having someone he can relate to on a personal level.

and by setting their rivalry aside, they’d no longer feel as alone as they used to feel.

and then they kiss sloppy style

conclusion

bonus slide: headcanons

• even after no longer seeing each other as rivals, kizami often misses shimada’s silly challenges, but he’d rather eat a cactus than admit he had fun with them. shimada still occasionally challenges him, though it’s in a way less malicious nature
• kizami often mimics shimada without noticing it and incorporates slangs in his vocabulary. but he’s a complete boomer when it comes to that, so 90% of the time he uses them all wrong
• (au where they survive) they turn out to be drug addicts all along and then go to rehab together <3
• they’re also adrenaline junkies so shimada orchestrates the craziest most borderline suicidal ideas for dates

• kizami likes to randomly hold shimada’s face and stare at him, under the pretense of “studying him”
• shimada has a folder in his phone which is full of pictures of the rare occasions where kizami smiles/laughs. but he named that folder “fap material” just to make it look less sentimental
• AGGRESSIVELY STARING
• both are mediocre at cooking, but secretly wanting to impress one another, they try to learn under the pretense of “seeing who cooks best”. (this applies to every other skill they try to develop)
• shimada has both the sappiest and the nastiest pick-up lines. they fail 80% of the time because kizami is just that dense
• insults (affectionate)