Hiratsuka/Imaoka

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Pairing
Pairing: Hiratsuka Taira/Imaoka Shinobu
Alternative name(s): 今平/ImaHira, 平今/HiraIma
Gender category: slash/Boys' Love
Fandom: Rookies
Canonical?: no
Prevalence: varies
Archives:
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Hiratsuka/Imaoka is a slash/BL pairing between Hiratsuka Taira and Imaoka Shinobu from Rookies.

Canon

The characters are best friends, and while Hiratsuka is a more prominent character than Imaoka and often seen on his own, Imaoka is rarely seen without Hiratsuka.

Hiratsuka

Hiratsuka is a largely comedic character who has a desperate need for attention out of all proportion to his actual abilities. In the manga, he is rude and abrasive to nearly every other character, including Imaoka, who is either the target of his outbursts or the one holding him back from physically charging other people. When Imaoka is chosen as a relief pitcher, Hiratsuka responds not with support, but with anger at the idea of Imaoka outshining him in any way.

Despite this, he is shown to walk to and from school with Imaoka every day, something they've done since at least middle school, and when he briefly leaves the baseball club to follow his crush Touko into the choir club, he asks Imaoka to join him. He seemingly has very low standards for affectionate behavior, as he develops his crush after Touko slaps him for disrespecting another member of the baseball club.

Imaoka

Imaoka was first introduced as a character similar to the other delinquents in the baseball club, but he quickly changes to a much quieter personality, who often fades into the background. He appears confused by any attention shown to him, and the one time he tries to show off as a pitcher ends in failure, after which he doesn't repeat the attempt. He is often the only one who shows concern for Hiratsuka when Hiratsuka is physically or emotionally injured as a result of seeking attention. He has a habit of pointing out the truth behind Hiratsuka's lies or posturing, which sometimes prompts Hiratsuka to respond violently. He's also shown physically restraining Hiratsuka from starting fights with the other boys.

He has a general attitude of confusion or disgust when it comes to Hiratsuka's crush on Touko.

Drama

In the drama adaptation, Hiratsuka’s character is greatly altered to be more likable, but Imaoka is still often seen restraining him from bad behavior. A scene was added in which they accidentally kiss while turning towards each other. In another scene, Imaoka slaps Hiratsuka’s crotch to wake him up from a nap. Both boys are depicted as having a shared crush on the school nurse, and they have a custom of waiting underneath the stairs to her office to peek at her underpants when she walks over them. In the manga, they’re shown doing this only twice. Other boys on the team continue hanging out under the stairs, but Hiratsuka stops showing up after developing his crush on Touko, and Imaoka presumably follows suit.

Imaoka's actor describes him as “like a wild-animal tamer” when it comes to Hiratsuka.

"But when it comes to his relationship with Hiracchi, he's kind of like a wild-animal tamer. He follows Hiracchi around, but there are also times when he scolds him with, 'No, you can't do that, remember?'"

Hiroyuki Onoue, on the official site for the drama.

Post-Canon Material

Ad of Hiratsuka and Imaoka in maid/chef outfits.
The PiTaPa advertisement

On February 2, 2016, the Kansai-based smart card service PiTaPa posted an art relay in which ten artists were each given a short look at the previous artist’s work, and then asked to recreate it from memory. Among the artists was Masanori Morita, the creator of Rookies. His drawing ended up turning the people in the ad into Hiratsuka and Imaoka, in a maid and chef outfit respectively. The drawing was hung in train stations as an ad for PiTaPa.

On July 7th, 2017, Morita appeared on a variety show for which he’d been asked to come up with a “Where Are They Now” for the cast of Rookies, three years after their graduation. It was revealed that Hiratsuka became a (very unpopular) YouTuber whose gimmick is imitating Pikotaro, and Imaoka became a video creator. While it was never stated officially, Japanese fans who mention Imaoka’s job tend to agree that he’s probably working with Hiratsuka.

Fandom

Hiratsuka/Imaoka was occasionally depicted as a background pairing in contemporary fanart and fanfic, but most fanworks concentrated on the more serious characters. It was usually acknowledged, however, that they spent most of their time together and that Imaoka’s primary focus was Hiratsuka. Imaoka's one-sided concern for Hiratsuka is sometimes jokingly pointed out, as in a comment in a non-shippy thread reacting to the sequel one-shot manga, in which Imaoka has three lines, all of which are attempts to remind people about Hiratsuka:

今岡の平塚愛に草生える : "LMAO at Imaoka's Hiratsuka love"

archived 2014 reaction thread

Modern commentary often focuses on the same theme of Imaoka being entirely concerned with Hiratsuka rather than receiving any development of his own:

Imaoka looking at a paper labeled Character Development, and turning away to look at a computer labeled Hiratsuka instead.
A comic humorously depicting Imaoka's perceived lack of interest in anything that isn't Hiratsuka
Imaoka saying “Hiracchi”: 34 times in the main manga, plus 3 times in the sequel one-shot

Imaoka’s lines not to or about Hiratsuka: 65 (hand-counted; may be off by a couple)

Imaoka’s lines to or about Hiratsuka: 69 (!!!!!!!!!!!!) in the main manga, plus 3 in the sequel one-shot

i rest my case

2021 Tumblr post

When the ship is portrayed, it’s sometimes one-sided on Imaoka’s part owing to Hiratsuka’s canon interest in Touko. Either because of this or because it sounds better, the shortened name is often written as ImaHira in defiance of the Height Rule.

On Archive of Our Own, Hiratsuka/Imaoka is the majority ship, as a direct result of the PiTaPa ad and the hint that they are working together after graduating high school.

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