(album art by yours truly)
Basically, this is where I will post oneshots/thoughts/headcanons/analysis about Himeno from csm. Sorry for anybody who wanted a full-on x reader, but eh who knows I might make one of those soon. No lemons, but may be sugg...
(i will be using this symbol '💚' to denote analysis chapters from now on <3)
Himeno's teasing is something that is loved and hated for the wrong reasons. Fans interpret her flirtatiousness as being all that her character is, whether that be a predatory, a "waifu", or both. I do not think so, simply because the series establishes this as a way of Himeno to become closer to others.
We see this with her first one-on-one interaction with Aki here:
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Similarly to how Kishibe would try and flirt with Quanxi to get closer to her, Himeno uses a semi-joking, semi-serious tone to bond with Aki, bringing the two closer with addiction. Unlike Quanxi tho, Aki "accepts" Himeno's behavior with his typical snark. This is pretty much how their relationship goes (with Aki growing to respect her and Himeno coming around to take Aki more seriously). I mean she just acts freaking cute here!! And you can tell she's really touched by Aki accepting her teasing (look at her lil blush) and responding in kind.
It's important to note that when Himeno's teasing becomes "serious" when she's drink it's just plain desperation. In the Light Novel, despite getting MUCH more flirty with him than when sober, Himeno simply strokes Aki's cheek and mourns that he is willing to die so young just to kill the Gun Devil. Even with Denji--IT'S STILL F##KED UP NOT GONNA DENY THAT LIKE GET OFF MY SON--she's initially jealous of EVERYBODY going after Makima (i even remember somebody brought up she might be insecure about her eyepatch, drinking problems, smoking and stuff like she thinks she's "ugly" cause of it) and seems to just want to...cuddle...and caress him, okay blegh but u get the gist! Like most of everybody in the series, Himeno is a very lonely person trying to connect the only way she knows how.
You can even see from her "i love teasing boys!" line that Himeno also just gets a kick out of it xD
While she almost crossed a HUGE line ep7-8, I think that Himeno's flirty personality is because she is lonely and trying to make connections to people the way she's seen in the division. Plus, like she said about her "lewd" rewards, it's to boost morale--I mean if I was a devil hunter and was prolly gonna die next week I know Himeno flirting with me would make me wanna stay lol. Really, a lot more can be said about how Himeno feels she HAS to form connections through being "sexy" which makes her more depressed because she wants somebody to sincerely care about her (aka Aki) but that's a story for another analysis. I just wanted to post my fav panel :P
