So, if you know me you probably know that I have a favorite character in Voltron who
I happen to have as my discord icon a good 60% of the time and who I somehow have to
include into every Voltron video that I make.
This one is no exception, and once again I get a chance to express how great of a character
Shiro is.
Yes, one of the black paladins of Voltron has now become something that could be a gamechanger
for many future cartoon shows.
Even if you don't watch Voltron, this video will explain how this show did something truly
amazing for its fans and for the story as a whole.
Shiro is a man with a complicated past that was slowly revealed throughout the many seasons
of the show thus far.
San Diego Comic Con revealed so much about him that I just had to make a video to express
why this character is so great.
But of course, HUGE spoiler warning as I go into the episode that was shown at the convention
as well as info gathered from articles online.
Before all this, I would like to give a huge thank you to this video's sponsor, Voltron
amino!
What is Amino, you ask?
Well, it is a mobile network of communities that has representation for pretty much any
fandom you can think of!
If you are a fan of Voltron and would like to easily find a place to make friends, the
Voltron Amino is for you!
As a theorist it is easy to see why one of my favorite things to do while browsing is
to look at any theory posts recently made.
And while browsing the most recent tab I will often just participate in any polls I find
interesting, or I can even create one of my own!
Of course, I’m making this one about Shiro since this whole video is Shiro themed.
So make sure to vote on this poll so we can see which Shiro reigns supreme, but I would
also like to challenge everyone watching this to show me their season 7 theories by posting
your favorite ones on my account’s page.
Simply search up Cartoon Universe, go to my Wall, and post what you have to say!
I’ll be replying to my favorite theories with my own thoughts!
To download the app and participate in the theory challenge, check the description or
pinned comment for a download link
Once you're on Amino, search "Voltron" to join the community.
Finally, be sure to follow Cartoon Universe to share your theories on my wall!
Now, time to get back to the video!
So, let's talk about Shiro!
Season 7 episode 1 of Voltron Legendary Defender was largely focused on showing Shiro and Keith's
backstory.
As I had totally called, this was originally supposed to be shown in season 2, specifically
in the first episode "Across the Universe".
This would have made a ton of sense to get earlier, but in the end I'm glad we eventually
got all of his story, even if it was 5 seasons later.
In this episode, we learn so much about Shiro's past to the point where I, as well as a huge
portion of the fanbase were totally caught off guard.
I was actually at the panel so I witnessed it firsthand.
Luckily for my twitter followers the reception inside the convention center was terrible
or I would have been mass tweeting about it.
*fans screaming*
Honestly where do I even start!
Perhaps with the most important part for many people.
In the episode we learn that in the past Shiro had a boyfriend!
To clarify however, it has been confirmed in the same episode and by the showrunners
that their relationship ended.
This is obviously a huge thing to so many people because people had been asking for
gay representation in Voltron pretty much as quickly as it had been airing.
But this was in fact something planned out a long time ago, as I mentioned before Shiro's
backstory was supposed to be shown in the second season.
And I am super happy about this reveal because I have always been a huge Shiro fan and seeing
as there was something about his past that took me by surprise is something I really
enjoyed.
Also, there's been a huge influx of new Shiro fans so I'm glad more people love him just
as much as I do now.
Also, let me just say that I was very surprised at this occurrence.
I am very much a theorist and therefore look for evidence in every conclusion I make.
Honestly the best evidence for Shiro liking guys was that the show had never tried to
tease him as a potential love interest for any female characters.
Of course, you may have interpreted scenes in the show differently than me, as I know
many people did ship Shiro and Allura, but the show has gone out of its way to pair other
characters, even if just momentarily.
There's Lance and Allura as well as him with a whole bunch of other aliens, Hunk and Shay,
the few instances of Keith and Allura, and Matt and Allura.
Also, Lotor and Allura but that's another story.
Allura is a very popular lady.
The paladins even joked a few times of Pidge having a girlfriend because they thought she
was Matt in the picture she had of them together before the Kerberos mission.
So that left Shiro.
The show itself recognizes that he is a fan favorite and is a crowd pleaser, so not even
teasing at anything explicitly was puzzling.
Puzzling until now, as it was likely intentional since we now know that Shiro had once been
in a relationship, but it didn't end on the best of terms.
Looking back, it now makes a lot of sense why Shiro was the one to say to Pidge: "Owning
who you are is going to make you a better paladin"
There was also a rainbow above Shiro's head in the very first episode.
So that may have been a hint...
But probably the most interesting thing of note was actually a post by Lauren Montgomery
where she drew all of the paladins holding up signs and the caption was that everyone
was deserving of respect.
And you may now notice on the right that Shiro is with Lance holding the LGBT sign.
Logically it made sense that one of these characters would be the LGBT rep for the show,
since a focus of Keith's story was on race, and part of Pidge's story revolved around
her gender.
Now that is what I call pretty darn neat.
However, this is where many people stop when talking about how great Shiro has become thanks
to the new episode.
But there is another huge detail about him that changes everything we thought we knew
about the character.
This is a bigger spoiler warning for the new episode, A Little Adventure.
Ready?
Okay, so we also learn in this episode that Shiro had a disease.
It was a chronic illness that would continually weaken his muscles to the point that in a
few years he would no longer be able to go on any missions for the Garrison.
Shiro's boyfriend at the time, Adam, knew about this, and couldn't bear to see Shiro
risk his health again if he went to Kerberos.
So after this final disagreement, Adam ended their relationship.
But Shiro wanted to go despite Adam's wishes, and as we know he did.
With this in mind, every action Shiro has taken in the show has been with the knowledge
that he will only be able to maintain his current strength and abilities for a few years.
Why did he sacrifice himself so quickly to go in Matt's place?
Why do we see him do pushups when almost all the other paladins are sleeping?
Why did he push Keith so hard to become the next leader of Voltron, despite Keith's protests?
All of these questions can now be confidently answered by knowing that Shiro thought he
only had a few years left to live, and knew his body wouldn't last much longer in its
current state.
So many things about who we thought he was have now been changed, and it was done beautifully.
The point that I am trying to get across is that Shiro is now even more important than
he was before.
Not just for Voltron, but for animation as a whole.
If you think about it, Shiro is a leader who happens to be Japanese, has an invisible illness
as well as a physical disability and PTSD, and is LGBT.
But none of these things alone define him.
I have seen stories of how so many people can relate to him, and that is simply amazing.
In addition, his ex-boyfriend Adam was a person of color, which means it's great to see an
example of a cross-racial couple.
At comic con it was explained that Shiro and Adam had known each other for years and had
eventually become a couple after being flight partners for so long.
It is very sad to hear that they broke up, but it makes sense since Adam has never once
been mentioned nor shown until now.
Shiro is still likely getting over this relationship he had for such a long time.
But back to Shiro, having a character be in some sort of minority doesn't mean what makes
them different has to define them.
Of course, it can, but for most people that simply isn't the case.
Other animation should definitely take this as an example of a great way to include things
about a character that were always there but were simply never mentioned since there was
no need to do so until a certain point.
My favorite types of characters are those that were already complex long before the
present time of the show they are in, but we only learn about their complexity over
a long period of time.
[Pearl]
And Shiro definitely fits the bill.
Oh, and for those of you that were wondering, it was confirmed that Shiro's body is now
illness free as he now inhabits a cloned body that was picked in part because it did not
have the disease.
And to clear some more things up, yes, Shiro was eventually supposed to have died at the
end of season 2.
The crew has stated they would have had revealed another LGBT character as well as Shiro if
that was the case.
I could not imagine the fan response if Shiro would have died in the same drop of episodes
that revealed that he had a boyfriend.
It would have been pretty terrible.
But because Dreamworks executives knew how popular Shiro was going to be, they did not
allow for this to happen.
So because of them we have a currently living Shiro!
And apparently, he will stay alive from now on, thank the stars.
Now only one question remains...
are Sven and Slav now canon as a couple?
Anyways...
I cannot wait to see what happens in season 7.
I honestly have never been more excited for this show.
It was heartbreaking to learn that season 8 later this year will be the last, but you
can expect a few more Voltron videos from me before this show ends its run.
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Thank you to the many proofreaders who helped to make this video awesome, and thank you
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Thanks for watching and have an animated day!