>>532487790
>you always make sure to tell people they're inspired by a romance story to justify why their canon dynamic is romantic
Yes, because it baffles me as to how people act like it's somehow a crazy thing to like the ship when Sonic Team was inspired by a romance story from the very beginning. Not only that, but you have people who work for Sonic Team outright using the word romantic (ロマンチック) to describe fanart of Shadow and Maria on Sonic Channel. Yes, if people from Sonic Channel are outright saying that they are romantic, I don't think it makes any sense to call it inaccurate. Romance is *part* of it. Not all of it, but an element of it. It's a part of a whole. Maria played multiple roles in his life all at once; that's why they say "she is Shadow's everything."
This is how I believe Sonic Team staff sees the two: not only as siblings, not only as lovers, not only as friends, but as something that's a mix of all three. Something that kind of transcends labels altogether.
When you say that one of those multiple roles she played in his life isn't a thing, she ceases to be his "everything." Do you get that? Westerners believe the concept of "like a sibling" and "romantic" are mutually exclusive when they just...aren't. Not from the perspective of the people who made the characters, not from Sonic Team's perspective, not from Iizuka's, Maekawa's, or Toyoda's. You won't understand the dynamic if you force Shadow and Maria's special and nuanced relationship into a rigid little box with only one label. Sibling-like, friend-like, and romantic-like dynamics can coexist, and it's not so cut and dry like people think. A very nebulous thing.
As an example, if a boy and girl in real life were close enough friends to say that they're "like a brother/sister" to each other, I don't think many people would be surprised if that boy and girl later grew up and got married. I don't think it's weird or unusual at all.

>He loves Maria, but that love is nowhere explicitly romantic in nature as per information by the games.
The games are definitely the primary source of lore, but Sonic Channel and Sonic Team developer statements aren't something you can just throw away. You're very arbitrarily not including those things to better argue your point, but even if we only look at the games themselves, both Shadow's blush and Maria's "aishiteru" are pretty solidly romantic.
Because I know you'll argue against that with, "Well, it's only used romantically *most* of the time," I went ahead and asked for the opinion of someone who has lived in Japan her entire life. I asked if she had ever heard of "aishiteru" being used specifically between a non-blood-related male and female in a sibling-like context, and she said no. In her 30+ years of living there, she has never heard of it being used like that, and it would be socially inappropriate to say. It's just not a thing; you don't do that. And I'm inclined to believe the person who fluently speaks Japanese over someone who doesn't. Even the Sonic fandom's main translator, Windii, made a post noting that the dialogue is romantic.
That, combined with the blush, makes it pretty obvious to me that there is a romantic element to their bond. Shadow has had his appearance complimented before, he's been flirted with, and he didn't react whatsoever. It's only when Maria said it that he got flustered. Because he loves Maria purely and wholly with all of his heart and soul, in a way that transcends just one single label.

>I thought the argument was about serious canon
lel, no. Those posts aren't serious.

>No it is not, because they are deliberately shown on multiple account to be raised from childhood under a parental figure.
Comparing Gerald to an actual dad is...hmm, I'm trying not to be rude, but I think that's misguided. Fathers do not start referring to their sons as an "it" as soon as the other sibling dies. Shadow's value to Gerald as a "son" disappeared immediately as soon as Maria was gone, and Shadow could no longer fulfill his purpose of saving her—the entire reason Gerald accepted the request to create him to begin with. To Gerald, Shadow ceased to be someone, and instead became something. A disposable weapon he could unleash on the world to make them feel pain. There's a reason Shadow reacts negatively to Gerald when he appears to him in White Space, to the point that Maria's expression turns concerned.

>It is not literal because Shadow is not biologically related to Maria as per being a different species.
....Correct.

>raised from childhood under a parental figure.
Maria isn't a little baby when Shadow is awakened. She looked roughly the same as when she died. Shadow was also "born" with a properly developed brain, capable of thinking and speaking. He is described as ageless.
Psychologically speaking, when you introduce two adopted babies and the step-parents raise them as siblings, the baby's brain will instinctually interpret the other baby like a real sibling. But once you get past toddlerhood, into your later childhood, preteens, and teens, that stops happening. This is usually why step-sibling "incest" or real sibling incest happens; they were introduced to each other too late in life. They've missed that window where the brain will come to see each other as a real sibling.

>Researchers have found evidence for a "critical window" in which the effect of physical proximity is most influential for incest avoidance, and is often specified as the first 6 years of life
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/247233641_Early_separation_and_sibling_incest
Shadow and Maria met each other long past this "critical window". They don't act like siblings do. I know because I have an opposite-sex sibling, and I feel ill when I think about touching him in the way that Shadow and Maria touch each other in canon. The only people I've encountered who think Shadow and Maria act like siblings are people who have never had a sibling (especially not an opposite-sex one) and don't understand that revulsion toward touching them like that. Would I be correct in assuming you're an only child?

>They even say during that presentation that we can see Shadow as his other child
They say "feel free to imagine it" and offer that as an example. The line there is dotted because Shadow is a creation and not a real son. It's a similar situation to Eggman and Metal, except Gerald was nicer to Shadow (until Maria dies).

>>532488202
>Because Shadow does not know these other relatives like he does Maria and Gerald. He was not raised with them like he was Maria.
If Shadow were Maria's sibling, that wouldn't matter; he would be related to them by extension of being Maria's sibling. He's not, because he's not a sibling and he's not Gerald's true son, as is clearly shown by the way Gerald treats him. We also never see Gerald "raising" them. We see him on his hands and knees, upset that Shadow "didn't work.

>The difference between Silver/Blaze and Shadow/Maria is the key difference of the words Otōto and kyōdai and the context from the games
This is extremely arbitrary. Both mean a sibling. A brother is a sibling. You're picking and choosing here based solely on the fact that Shadow had a creator who tested on him and then sent him to die. And since Silver and Blaze's thing has always been being synchronized, it's a pretty safe bet to assume that it's a two-way street where you could call Blaze "like an older sister" to Silver. There is a reason Maekawa said that the only ship he likes other than Shadria is Silvaze. There is a reason both Silver/Blaze and Shadow/Maria are associated with Tanabata, a romantic festival. It's because their dynamics are similar, in that they are pretty nebulous. The characters call each other friends but have been described as "like a brother/sibling," and yet there are romantic undertones to the relationship and to the way they act around each other.

>>532488510
>But you can’t, you literally can not discourage people from interpreting these characters the way they want to.
I can't force them. But I can change their minds simply by laying out facts and pointing out things they might have missed. I have had over a dozen people personally tell me that I have changed their minds, and I have been personally told by several other shippers that I've done more for the ship than anyone else they've seen. Other people who enjoy it do think I'm helping, I'm thanked regularly, and I see discoveries or images I’ve made shared around even by people who hate my guts. Word gets around. I know I can go overboard with it, but I think it's nonsense to say that I'm somehow hurting the ship when I'm a big part of the reason people in this fanbase have multiple ways to counter arguments against it at all. If it's to the point where Shadria shippers are sent death threats until they delete their accounts, then perception is already at rock bottom, and the only way to go is up. If I can make any amount of change for the better, I will do so, and I’ll gladly be a brick wall about it.

>Trying to justify the ship with outside material only makes you look like a fool to those people that hate the ship and further goads people into wanting to harass you guys
People who hate the ship already viewed me as a fool and won't ever change their minds. The characters could literally kiss on screen and they'd still reject it. It's those people who are more neutral that I'm aiming at and I've had a lot of success. Also, I do co-host a private server and it's been very nice. I'm very thankful to finally be able to discuss it with others without facing any ridicule, I didn't have a space where I could do that for a long time. Of course I'm not going to change everyone's minds, but if I can change just some peoples' minds, then it's all worth the effort to me.

If there's anything I've learned, it's that most of humanity simply goes along with the opinions of those around them. You can get people to believe all sorts of crazy nonsense if everyone around them believes in that crazy nonsense too. So, yes, the more popular something seems to people, the more likely they are to accept it and be okay with it. That's human psychology. I know not everyone will accept it, and I'm not aiming for that because it's an impossible goal. But making a difference isn't impossible, and I sure got tired sitting on my butt for years whining about things anonymously while doing absolutely nothing to change it out of fear that I'd be rejected. I like knowing I am doing something to protect the things and the people I hold close to my heart. It's okay to me if everyone around me wants me to die or if I'm hurt by people, so long as I know I've done something instead of nothing. That's my mindset regarding everything I obsess over.
You don't have to respond to all this but I like typing up extremely autistic paragraphs.