I honestly feel similarly as the author of this post when it comes to the LeoUsagi fan ship. I had the opportunity to meet Stan Sakai, the creator of Usagi Yojimbo once, and I’m actually pretty protective of his creation because of that.
I feel like the only reason fans even bother to draw a Rise interpretation of Usagi is to fuel what frankly feels kinda like a bit of a fetishistic pairing based on absolutely no canon interaction.
To me, a pairing like Sunita and April makes more sense because they have multiple interactions and a lot of chemistry, at least as friends if not more.
It really bothers me when I get people accusing me of being homophobic because I’m not a LeoUsagi fan. I’m queer and I enjoy pairings like Warren Stone/Hypno and April/Sunita because they’ve got decent evidence in the show and good interactions. My OC is bisexual and her sister is a trans woman.
I do understand also why the author of this post isn’t a fan of OCs made for the purposes of shipping. For me, making my OC Michan wasn’t just for shipping (although I do enjoy it). It was because I genuinely wanted to write a character for the Rise universe, and a good deal of my fanfiction explores friendship, angst, found family, comedy, discrimination and personal growth.
The romance I do put in my story takes place over time, has proper development, and while it’s definitely part of the story, it’s not sole focus.
But yeah, not a LeoUsagi fan, sorry.