the only hc i can think of atm is their "food pact" which is that they make an effort (and generally succeed) to have a meal with each other at least once a day. usually this ends up being dinner when both of them are done with work and it serves three purposes: setting up and enforcing either a specific break time without "work", ensuring both of them have at least one full meal per day. and of course so they have time together thats just between the two of them <33

YEAH it's interesting!! they clearly pick one nickname per person and then stick with it no matter what, though i feel like watarus nicknames have been slowly phased out/are becoming a much more inconsistent character quirk.

but of course koga is puppy forever.

less of a wisdom and more of a headcanon but sanctuary kind of implies wataru wasnt raised in japan (other stories also imply this, in summer vacation wataru brings up already having acted overseas as a child) and its rlly interesting because thanks to i7 we know how eguchi voice acts an english accent and that thats not wataru has, wataru is just doing... theater-y overenunciating

so imo they were raised bilingual (or more) in japanese and the main language of wherever they grew up. and i just wanna raise the possibility of wataru being french canadian again.

I am impatiently awaiting and yearning for the watayuzu event.

Atlantis set up Wataru's somewhat complicated feelings towards Eichi/the war and I think contrasting or comparing this even in a shallow way to Yuzurus feelings towards Tori could be interesting? Their commitment to some form of devotion, the different places it arises from and how this influences whether or not they feel like they made a choice in the matter. idk i think it could be really interesting to have them in similar, kinda pensive spots about it and have smth approximating a heart-to-heart.

like idk... maybe like: its watarus choice to be a "secondary" character despite their ability to play a main role, and i think it could be really good if they were like given an opportunity to encourage yuzuru to go for a lead role in some situation to see if he likes it, since hes never had a choice in the matter of being secondary to tori.

yeah we'll have to wait and see. im not impatient about it at all :)

And yeah Keito is just someone whos like both easy and very fun to mess with because he gives such strong reactions but they're also very cute reactions that frequently are very revealing about just how much he cares.

yeaaaah i think keito like witnessing wataru in like a vulnerable moment at some point could be such a fun thing.... its smth idt hes been able to see at any point yet, wataru is always very On around him so seeing them in a moment where theyre like low energy or similar is rlly big to me. i think keito being involved with dramatica is good in that regard, bc theater is like the one thing where wataru is extremely focused

OOOOH REI COULD BE CUTE. i would be sooo happy about wataru in this but since its called "cat" and kanatas "fish" which is a very direct animal reference surely itll be like a very obvious pick... still. id be happy with a wataru 4*. or even a 3*. plsplsplsplsplspls. part of this is also just REALLY hoping for this to be another eccentric.

GOD i have like a long essay about watakei that i didnt feel like handwriting in, but its very much like wataru thinks its fun to bother keito (and yknow. i think part of that IS like informed by jealousy, both of the childhood friendship and the like ease with which keito and eichi seem to Get each other). and i feel like keitos feelings are more complicated than that. like if i had to say only one of them has a crush on the other i want to say keito is the one who has a crush on wataru so bad. and wataru is entirely unaware. basing this on amazing voyage or w/e its called (the 2nd anni global story)

OMGGGGG hi! i will take that as a compliment. i'm committed lmao

yeah i can dig up the specific stories i like to recommend, but yes performance is the big one and then generally speaking it's es main story and theater club stories (though those generally are much more focused on tomoyas relationships.)

bolded are stories i think are really important, unbolded is stuff im including that i also like that isnt AS big.

Main Story Kingdom Chapters 26+ wataru's first appearance, hokuto pov on them specifically

Main Story Ensemble Chapter 30 + 31 the stuff with hokuto's grandma's letter/wataru convincing hokuto to leave fine and rejoin trickstar. i recommend reading the chapters that follow these but theyre the ones with their actual conversation and not primarily others talking about it

Rocket Start! has... iirc 1 or 2 chapters with first year hokuto at the theater club that are really instrumental to like. understanding what hokuto was like back then and the general dynamic there. theres also a scene between wataru and natsume in this, but those (for the most part) got adapted into the element anime, so they're not strictly necessary

SS is a really big one! theres a bit where i think all trickstar members have an interaction with one of their upperclassmen before facing eden, and hokutos is with wataru! this got adapted into the anime but iirc weirdly split between two episodes and i recommend reading the full thing. they talk about the war here and idt context of the plot of kiseki is necessary, just ctrl+f "wataru", its just two chapters but they're really good

as a prelude to ep:link: phantom thieves vs detectives and transparancy & masks. imo those those three stories kind of form their own narrative around wataru leaving yumenosaki. ptvd doesnt have any hokuto in it, and both are much more about Wataru and Tomoya than wataru and hokuto, but i feel like theyre relevant to bring up

EP:Link watarus relationship to hokuto is just as important as watarus relationship to eichi throughout this entire story and is basically like a parallel happening at the same time.

Burning Azaleas is the story in es2 where watahokke gets like brought up again. i dont think it says anything that hasnt been said before, but its still very fun!

Dramatica IF you have access to it, dramatica act 1 and 2 specifically (wataru isnt in act 3 and iirc hokuto is BARELY in act 4). Not important in a lore way-- dramatica act 1 especially iterates a lot on themes that are also in performance.

Performance for completionists sake and like as The Big One for anyone else reading this list. read performance, sound of the summer!

yeaaaah. fun fact this theme is called bluebird presumably bc it imitates twitter but. well. ig in the 7th anni watarus symbol was the twitter logo so it tracks

AND YEAH the umbrella is sooooo cute... wataru just really loves cute things i think. die schnecken...