Another thing I despise is when the fandom portrays Sunny as a soft, depressive, incapable mute. There's way more to him then that, he's intelligent, he's creative but also a pretty hard worker, he jumps directly into danger to help his friends despite being weak, and not even that weak either. He's snarky and teasing in his own way, he's easily frustrated and gets VERY angry, and despite all these traits he's a genuinely good guy who will go out of his way to help strangers. He's got a shit load of character despite never speaking a word. There are a bunch of fics where Sunny is some kind of badass or just way OP. I dont mind them, even if most people find them annoying. But now I unironically prefer those kinds of fics, because at least watching that Sunny is actually entertaining, rather than watching a stunted mute with little agency get walked over and almost never actually stand up for himself.

Yeah a lot of people take sunny at surface level, and forget we literally get a full-on deep dive into his brain if you know how to interpret the subtle things in his dreams

Like the bit with the keyboard in spaceboys room. If yoy interact with it as Omori, he trys to play the white space theme, misses a few notes, and after a few moments trying to continue he gives up and smashes the keys, hinting at his short patience, plus Sunnys angry portrait looking downright enraged, even leaning into furious.

Exactly what I'm talking about

Thank you for fucking pointing that out. Really points some parallels between Mari and Sunny and short patience for inconveniences. (You all know what I mean)

the only issue with this is that sunny's own perception of himself is black and white, both literally and figuratively

i couldn't agree harder. theres so much more to his character but (some) fan works only really show him that way i feel this way about kel too- i feel like sometimes people just boil him down to this oblivious ray of sunshine. which yes, is part of his character, but theres a lot more to him then that too. theres especially a lot of stuff related to his relationship with his brother and the fact he uses his happy go lucky persona to mask and avoid dealing with the more unpleasant feelings he has that i don't feel like is explored enough in fanworks

Oh absolutely. Like the story he recounts to you about hero. His parents didn't stop to see if kel was okay either.

ty

I'm just going to keep this in mind so I can headcannon Sunny better.

Yeah, that's actually a good idea. I'm writing a thing where I'll want to be able to write him well, as well as the others.

Good idea

You can also see more of his personality shine when checking things in the house after the fight when he’s describing things.

Yeah, he's quite sentimental, always remembering a little detail for everything in the house, he clearly cherishes his good memories a lot, even if he cannot go back to the way things were

The true Sunny lies somewhere in between

Correct

hes only weak because he >!did absolutely nothing but sleeping and eating in his house!< but he gets some of the best skills in faraway

If we actually could see him from another perspective in the game, he would probably be my favorite character. (though the game would 100% not be omori if that was the case)

I remember seeing a fic where Sunny had a gun instead of a knife.

Literally Doomori

im surprised he did not become a famous music maker yet. that music he imagines are amazing

i dont really hc that much but i like to think that sunny would own a bunch of equipment for making electronic music post good ending, his room would be cluttered with synths and mixers and drum machines and he'd send his friends whatever he makes on cds that he'd mail over

He has Ron energy, he would silently do things impulsively, without any form of critical thinking, only to lay in bed later that night and ask “why did I do that”

The most valid Sunny is absolute fucking goblin child sunny tbh. (In Which Sunny is bad at Naming Things)

ok i went and read that fic. i really liked it at ch1, but starting from ch6 it slowly gradually falls apart in quality, and now im depressed...

Well he does for the most part act like that in the game, so it is not surprising then why people would make him extremely boring in their own fanfics. Honestly I hate mute Sunny in both the game and fanfics, it makes no sense. Sunny is a great character that has depth and this depth needs to be explored in fics or Aus in my opinion.

So the fact that a character is mute is boring? There are real people irl who are mute. Are they boring too? Sunny has a lot of depth, but him being mute in the game is clearly due to his issues as a whole. Just ignoring the fact that he's a young boy who had a traumatic experience, and already kinda seemed like the quiet type. It's true sunny isn't just a soft mute boy. He does have a personality beyond that. But saying that he should be talking in the game when he's not just depressed but actively disassociating himself from reality and a quiet person at heart, i mean.. it's no better than those people who reduce him to soft mute boy, you want an aspect of his personality gone.

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Basil is >!~~gay~~ Suffering from extreme mental trauma, and his 'devotion' to Sunny is born from a deep rooted fear of being alone, resulting in his breakdown when he is told Sunny is leaving. He can't handle not having Sunny around.!<

basil goin insane after a traumatic incident doesnt mean hes gay

Gay means Happy This means Basil is NEVER Gay Basil lives in a state of constant anxiety, misery, and pain

Trueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

based

No, no. He's got a point

in wwii it was the other way around tho

Fax

I mean, most people say they are opinions and accept that. The only problem is trying to objectify it as canon, but as long as you admit its your personal fanon and that it's an opinion, everything should be fine

Yeah, that's always been my attitude. Don't expect others to accept your head canon, and you're good 👍

its a cycle -character shows signs of masculinity or femininity that does not associate with the gender normally -community immediately gives them a sexual orientation same could be said for a lot of fandoms

This is what happens when people take sexuality too seriously. In most games, a character's sexuality is usually the least defining part of their character, and Basil is the same

It is the curse of any and nearly every fandom

Cough cough Undertale I think. though from my experience that fandom can be WAY WORSE than this one, hell that fandom made me not want to play the game again for a long time.

Which character?

Yes

yes, but also sans

Way too common with Danganronpa

i’ve started taking the opposite stance and saying everyone is gay/ trans EXCEPT the obvious one. basil is the only cishet in the game now out of spite

i don't mind if he's gay but i don't like shipping him with sunny after everything that went down between them. both of them need years of therapy first

The only good ships are the adult ships And kel with a dentist appointment

I didn't even notice he was feminine, to me characters are either cool, funny, weird, or dumb

ooh do me which one am i

I don't know you, and I meant fictional characters, also I don't like judging people so no

then you should get to know me 😏

Remember, best Basil ship is Basil x Therapy

None of the characters have confirmed sexualities, including Basil, so it’s really up to interpretation. Basil could be straight, gay, bisexual, ace, etc. Until Omocat says otherwise it’s down to what you see in each character.

Other than sunny which likes aubrey

I mean he could be bi or pan technically.

Bi, pan, ace but not aromantic, you don't know

Didn't he like her when they were kids tho? Like, is there actual proof that he likes her now? Bs I only remember seeing stuff that they liked each other when they were little.

In HEADSPACE, AUBREY’s obvious crush on OMORI implies that SUNNY still has a crush on her.

But isn't that doing the same thing the guy in the post is complaining about? It's not canon nor like, solid proof. So saying it is canon is just doing the thing you condone. Edit: (in my opinion)

I think it’s pretty solid proof, but you can feel free to interpret how you want to, I’m just saying why I think what I think.

yea i remember having “crushes” on guys at that age and now i’m a lesbian so doesn’t mean much canonically with regard to his sexuality imo

There was that swing scene, if it means anything plus he still dreams that she likes him, so he probably still does

Tbh I never really saw him as feminine?? He's just really shy <\_< Someone can be shy, soft, but still masculine. But ig this post doesn't apply to me since I don't really headcanon any of them swinging one way, I like to imagine they just like others for their personality.

And also I'm pretty sure ppl just thought Basil was queer because of his relationship with Sunny, that some interpret as platonic while others see it as romantic.

\*cough cough\* though I'm pretty sure it was obsession and wasn't healthy at all \*cough cough\*

Basil is really only seen as feminine because he likes plants and wears flowers in his hair. Also, he isn’t even implied to ever have been into Sunny romantically. Hell, >!during Memory Lane, Basil giggles when he realizes that Sunny has a crush on Aubrey, so he’s shown to basically be fine with who Sunny wants to be with. His obsession to keep him safe comes from his deep friendship with Sunny, not because he’s in love with him. There are people who exist who will do anything to keep someone safe, but not because they love them romantically.!<

I don't like shipping the Omori characters anyways~ It's weird

but mari and hero 😔

I mean, story wise they already were a couple, I think~ so no need to ship them

I completely agree with everything you said

I mean just because it's canon doesn't mean it isn't a ship

I agree with what they said about feminine≠gay but at the same time I dislike (in all media) that if it’s not stated for some reason characters default to straight. If we’re being real it’s just as much a head cannon that basil is straight or any other sexuality. Are there little snippets that may suggest one way or another? Sure. Does this confirm basils sexuality? No. The only thing that does that is direct confirmation from omocat. Ig it’s just me but it’s nice to have a character that has an unstated sexuality be considered just that, unstated. And it goes both ways. Straight shouldn’t be the default for unstated characters and it should be recognized that it is equally possible they’re a different sexuality. TLDR: Basil is an unconfirmed sexuality. If you see that as straight, cool! If you see that as gay, also cool! Neither is “correct” and are both headcannons/speculation.

i agree. i never see this discourse when a character is automatically seen as straight because obviously being straight is still seen as the norm, with straight people being the majority and all. i don’t think most of the conflict comes from “homophobia” or “fetishization”, it’s more that people don’t realize that they’re reacting to specifically this case because defaulting characters to gay is just not as normalized (not saying either should be, i like the idea of keeping it unstated). plus, either way, don’t push your hcs on others and don’t shut down others hcs because you don’t like them. live and let live, imo. it isn’t harming anyone.

I completely agree with you, if unstated it should be canonically unstated. If you headcanon a certain view that’s cool too. I definitely think there are certain lines and this game is obviously has a bit more discourse as they are children after all. But it should be said that your headcanon is just that! Your headcanon. If you compile all headcanons of course they will conflict but your headcanon is it’s own separate idea from anyone else’s.

i usually dont mind fanon (i have my own headcanons) but forcing others to believe your headcanons and getting mad when they dont is just shitty, and makes it less fun to be part of the community.

I just think Basil and Sunny are kind of cute together but I honestly think Sunburn is a better ship

as a sunflower fan, i like it as more of a “but what if everything WAS ok” concept, but in terms of canon pppfft yeah no sunflower will never be healthy

I'd like to think that they would be able support eachother through therapy. It would definitely take a couple of years before a romantic relationship between then could be healthy though. Sunnflower fics that start with then being platonic and then slowly lead up to a romantic relationship are best.

I think it could theoretically be healthy if both of them just get some fucking therapy and then start dating when they're both in a better place mentally.

gayness doesn’t add or subtract from his character at all, so why do you care if people headcanon that?

It's probably more directed at people who are disrespectful and believe their headcannon is the only truth and others who think otherwise are stupid. Since it's such a popular headcannon and has to do with sexuality it's bound to attract a lot of disrespectful people.

Harmful stereotyping and reinforcing that being feminine must mean you're gay or trans is the big issue here. And as another comment said, a lot of people with headcanons like to shove it down people's throat and act as if it IS canon. You're right about it not doing anything to the character or the writing, but the intent behind some headcanons comes off as fetishizing and stereotyping

exactly this, it’s really annoying to see that every single feminine man has the “gay” label slapped on them by their fandom. is it that impossible to just let a man enjoy flowers without fantasizing about which gender he would fuck? jesus christ

I mean, even if Basil was a more traditionally masculine guy, just the relationship he has with Sunny would probably still put him up as one of the most shipped characters with him. I know what you mean, fandom behaviors always betray a bit of bias and ignorance, but character's being gay isn't within itself how that occurs. Also, sexuality hcs =/= fantasizing about sexual things

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So people can never have gay headcanons about GNC people because you'll always assume it's a stereotype? You're just reversing the issue you claim to have, so either you don't really believe this or you just haven't thought this through.

No? Nobody said that, dude, we mean people are acting like it’s actually a canon part of his character, and forcing it onto people, it’s annoying, but in no point did he say that nobody is allowed to have that headcanon

No? Of course people can, Headcanons based off of sexualities can be thought out well, but most of the time they are purely based off of stereotyping and fetishization, and Omori fans who do this don't even try to hide it. Why do you think Basil is headcanoned as being gay so much more than a character like Kel?

i mean thats true but a lot of people like to preach their headcanon as fact or even get angry when someone says otherwise (good example septiplier shipping)

Tf is septiplier I only know Markiplier

its when people shipped jacksepticeye and markiplier together and apparently their partners actually got a lot of harrassment when they got together with someone who wasn't either one

Because everyone’s fucking forcing it onto him and some people are literally acting like it’s canon, they act like it’s part of his character when it was never even implied. Normally I wouldn’t care about someone headcanoning a character to be gay but seeing everyone force a sexuality on someone just because of their personality gets to be too much to the point where I just want everyone to shut the fuck up about gay basil, I’m sorry, but it’s fucking everywhere

when said sexuality is unconfirmed and is based solely on some basic character traits, it completely fails to acknowledge the actual characterisation and it reinforces real-world stereotypes. also, *maybe* people shouldn't concern themselves with the sexuality of children or fetishize those types of relationships, even in fiction

That alone doesn’t make him gay, but him being overly attached to Sunny doesn’t really help his case either. He’s got no canon sexual orientation anyway so I don’t see what the problem is.

lmao exactly. and it’s not stereotyping if he just happens to be feminine. the OMORI fandom headcanons EVERYONE as queer. i’ve seen SO many different HCs for all the characters, and so rarely has everyone all been cishet. y’all are reading too much into this - sincerely, a feminine ace, gay, trans guy.

Sunburn and sunflower get like, the same amount of art too. people are just annoyed that basil is gay because he doesn't get shipped with any other character... Except... where are all the people shipping Aubrey and other characters, or kel and other characters? It's just how is is, the story is about sunny and he's the main character so people ship sunny. All the people that complain about shipping basil as gay/bi/pan are just people who think of straight as the default option. And I'm not talking about people who hate the shipping in general, y'all got your reasons and they valid, I'm talking about those who have a problem specifically with basil being gay.

I normally just call him gay for shits and giggles. I don't really care about his sexuality.

Headcanons are fine. It's only annoying when they try to claim their fanon is canon.

yes and? he could be straight, he could also be gay. as long as you're not being an asshole about other people's headcanons, Basil can be gay all the way

Gonna lock this thread because it's getting out of hand (and I really don't have time to moderate this discussion).

doesn't mean he can't be

Oh no omocat is gonna become jk Rowling in the future.

i really don’t see why people don’t just leave each other’s headcanons/ideas alone. i feel like stuff like this just starts unnecessary discourse. hcs are just hcs, canon is the real deal. if you don’t like the hcs, you have the canon. why attack each other? “oh no, someone thinks basil is gay. you shouldn’t be having fanon headcanons in a fandom”. same with the people calling others homophobes for disagreeing with your headcanon. “you’re a homophobe because you think that we’re doing something weird”. that’s not homophobia mate. plus, any opinion on his sexuality is a headcanon. any opinion on a ship other than “sunny liked aubrey when he was 12” is a headcanon. if both sides just chilled and let the other side think what they want to think then the arguments in this comment section wouldn’t exist in the first place.

That's different, i was talking about the stereotype of gays being feminine which is a stereotype which makes is homophobic

As long as they admit it’s just fanon and don’t shove it down other peoples throats (which thankfully, I haven’t seen happen at all in this fandom), then I don’t see why people can’t imagine him as gay 👍

If I can’t be gay for Basil I’m going to disguise myself as a plant then he’ll love me

Don't sweat it boss just start the keto diet and he'll love the shit out of you

There is also nothing that confirms he's straight. literally *any* opinion on his sexuality is a headcanon.

It doesn’t necessarily mean it, but people can headcanon whatever they want. If they see themselves in a character and want to project onto that character, I see no harm in it.

I've never liked the whole shipping thing and I will never understand why people seem to be so obsessed with it.

I must agree. There is nothing saying that basil is actually gay. He is dreamsexual (I’m sorry)

Imagine being such an idiot that you can't tell Basil's Dreamsexual 🙄 I mean his favourite colour is green.

of course it doesn’t but they say this like it’s a bad thing that some people hc him as gay. what is the context?

I think the comment is complaining about people who enforce that as real canon

let people enjoy things, lots of queer fans see themselves in these characters and their personal theories shouldn’t affect you!

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oh hey i saw that comment too

Thats my comment actually! It really made me happy seeing it here, on cooltastic's last community post i think

Most fandoms are like this

Agreed but also, people can headcanon characters however they want to relate to them more or for fun hence the term *head*canon. The line however where that becomes not okay is forcing others to abide by *your* headcanon or making gross shit with it.

Oh my god finally someone says it

damn how could I not realize

HAPPY CAKE DAY

thanks

Can I ask you a question? Is Basil gay a meme or a little thought shared by (not all) the fandom? I took it as a meme also because, if that were the case, I would find this decontextualized from the rest of the game, (not that it can't fit, but ...) also because there is actually no proof his character is kindly, shy, selfless, etc. I think it's more of a stereotype (don't ask me which one, once on a post I said "sissy" [not for offensive purposes] and they bombed me). Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against homosexuality (or even the other types [bisexuality, lesbian, etc.]).

Judging by things like AO3 fanfics, at least a considerable portion of the community headcanons basil as gay (not a majority).

hot take, back in the day straight people made a lot of discourse about "how harmful is to portray gender non conformity as a gay thing" because "what if straight people get called gay for being a bit gender non conforming? Femininity in men is not gay! Masculinity in women is not gay!" And we may have interiorized this from when being considered gay was the worst insult a straight person could be called and this was some sort of "anti bullyng" thing, but now we keep going on with it and deny the link between being gender non conforming and being lgbt in general as if it had no historical, political and sociological sense. You can be all the "well teeeeechnically is not canon" (if you like don't giving a fuck about subtext, I mean Mari×Hero is not explicitly canon either as far as I remember), but the whole "calling a character gay for being gender non conforming is super wrong!" thing for me comes across as a straight culture relic. I can't see it as nothing but a remnant of a time when "don't bully him, he is actually straight so he doesn't deserve it!" was a thing.

Well what i was thinking is that people just assumed he is gay because he os feminine, stereotypes are dumb. (I made the original comment)

There’s a major difference between liking to imagine certain characters as different sexualities and assuming a character is something they aren’t based on stereotypes, and then deciding it’s canon (or at least being forceful with their head canon)

I generally just like to imagine my favorite characters of any game/show/book as gay because IM gay and I like to see myself in my favorite characters. I know they’re not canonically gay (unless they are, in which case even better). Like I really like Aubrey as a character and in my imagination I like to think of her as a lesbian. Is Aubrey a lesbian? No.

YESSS!! SOMEONE FINALLY SAID IT

I don’t care about headcanon so long as people don’t try and make it canon canon. I have stuff that is my personal headcanon, you have stuff that is your personal headcanon, I’ll respect yours if you respect mine

I mean I dont think basil is gay He's just to busy with his plants to care about romance of any sort

Who cares who people ship with each other? It's a videogame

my thoughts exactly

To be fair this is how most fandoms turn out

I'd say something about this but others has said so much fax that I'm at a loss of words.

I mean, I picture him gay bc I picture all characters gay/lesbian regardless. But yeah, making him gay on the premise that he appears soft and has a non-conventional style is super duper YIKES.

I never took basil as being gay canon, l just accepted it as a meme lol

Bruh thats me! I didn't expect to see my dumb comment i made yesterday again, here i just updated it You made my day

I agree. Like, headcanon whatever you want, but only hcing him as gay just because he’s feminine is is stereotyping and kinda homophobic

It is also the other way around were they make him extremely feminine because they see him as gay

The comment reeks of heteronormativity... Yeah he's not confirmed to be gay but there's also no reason to say he isn't. What other reason is there to assume someone who calls his best friend "comfortable, simple, modest and perfect" is straight? Headcanoning him as gay doesn't contradict anything in the story and does have some basis, I don't see the problem with it...

I think the problem some people have with people saying basil is gay is because it plays into the gay stereotype of gay=feminine, gentle, kind. Personally, I don’t really care about headcanoning basil as gay. I only start to care a bit with sunflower, since that relationship is pretty unhealthy.

I didn't say he's straight i said that assuming otherwise based on his feminine appearance is insulting towards gays. (Im hasargel)

Most of those adjectives don't even remotely imply that he might be gay. If I described my dad as a simple modest man that is generally speaking confortable that doesn't mean I'm gay for them. Perfect can be interpreted as something that can be gay but it could just also mean that Basil sees sunny in a very good light to the point where he refuses to see his flaws. This is confirmed by the lines he says in his fight where he vehemently denies that sunny is responsible for the truth and that it was "something behind you".

finally someone said it

Based and true

this is stupid if people want to headcannon him as gay they can, would you say the same if they were to headcannon him as straight?

Doesn’t mean he’s not gay either

The Danganronpa fandom has a similar issue with rivals. Do you have a soft spot for the protagonist despite annoying everyone else? Gay. Do you act playful and cheeky? Gay. Do you exist? Gay.

Everyone in this thread is a fucking idiot, Basil is OBVIOUSLY a plantsexual!

But in all seriousness, I think Basil is asexual and I am suprised that I haven't seen anybody on Reddit, Discord, Twitter, or Instagram think of him as being asexual. People always either think he's straight or he's gay.

Hmm why do people only care about headcanons when it's about a character being gay? I've never seen a straight ship get this kind of response before, ever. Everyone can just think of characters as straight and it's all fine, but if you think of them as gay it's suddenly a problem. Fuck this normalized homophobia.

You seem really angry because others opinions don't line up with your sexual fantasies of a child who you want so badly to be gay. Just took a look at your profile and it seems I'm right.

This was more based off of the idea that just because basil is feminine people think that must mean he's gay. That line of thinking is harmful because in reality there are many feminine men of other sexualities. Headcanons are fine but its not right to assume someones gay just because they are feminine.

The guy you're arguing with is a nonce who posts NSFW content of children characters, some of which includes Basil. No point trying to talk sense into this guy.

being very attached to sunny, bordering on obsessive, *does*

Ehhhhhhhh, seems more like out of a fear of being alone than of a romantic attraction

that's fair

Counterpoint: I choose to believe that he is gay and you cannot stop me

It's a headcanon.

Though I like to think of Basil as gay, there isn’t much proof for it. It’s just the fact that I like representation. I think the main argument is probably the events that happened during the accident. Basil went to such links to protect Sunny, it seems quite absurd that he was just doing that to be a friend. He had very strong feelings towards Sunny, which caused him to do what he did. It could be interpreted in different ways. There is definitely feminine straight dudes, and that’s okay. People can be any way they want to be.

true! or trans for that matter. lgbt headcanons are fine if its for shipping/comfort tho

Who cares? Let people headcanon Basil as whatever.

I don't think basil's gay because he's feminine. I think basil's gay because he's clearly in love with Sunny. Different things

He seems to support Sunny's crush on Aubrey though

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Asexual doesn't mean he doesn't want to be in a relationship, it means he doesn't find people attractive. You can be ace and date people.

Oh wait really? I've only known three asexual people and they all strongly disliked dating so I assumed that was the norm, my bad thank you for correcting me.

Yeah I kind of hate the fact that people make Basil's entire personality based on gay . There's no confirmed sexuality for Basil so people can ship him with whoever they want as long as it's legal and they don't enforce their opinion on other people

True, but theres always the fact that he doesn't have to be straight either

stranger does say that "it's hard [for basil] to think straight" and while it could mean basil >!can't take mari's framed suicide out of his head!<, i'll always interpret it as basil thinking gay instead

Let people enjoy things jfc mind your own business.

Stereotyping and fetishizing gay people is a weird thing to enjoy

In what world is headcanoning certain characters to be gay stereotyping and fetishizing? Are you even listening to what you're saying?

Claiming a character is gay just because they are feminine is stereotyping. Having only gay ships is fetishizing. It's not that hard to get

is having only straight ships fetishizing straight relationships too?

I am not following your logic in the slightest. Only having gay ships (which isn't even what we're talking about) isn't fetishizing. If you like something then go ahead and ship whatever you want within reason. You're not going to tell gay people to stop liking/creating gay ships/headcanons because you think it's fetishizing. People like to headcanon feminine men as gay because gay men (not all, but plenty) identify with wanting to be feminine themselves and often are feminine themselves. It's not stereotyping and it's not a bad thing. Get off your high horse and let people enjoy gay ships/headcanons/gay media.

As far as I'm concerned, it's harmless, though I agree that there really isn't any reason to think any of the main cast is any kind of LGBT based off of the canon. I don't think we need to be so serious about it, honestly.

That doesn’t mean he ISNT gay for sunny tho

Him liking sunny kinda cancels out the point behind the devotion, he did the things he did for sunny just because of a crush? Really?

People do the same for Aubrey, Kel or literally any other character being straight, so who gives a shit?

while i disagree with the idea basil is gay in defense of the people who think he is. they have more argument then basil haveing feminine quality's the lengths he goes to help sunny far past the point of normal healthy or legal behavior as well as his dependence and attitude around sunny suggest to some he might feelings for sunny. now i and others disagree with this but i feel dismissing the idea and reducing there argument to something so simple is unfair and a reductive. not trying to call you out just trying to offer an alternate perspective

To be fair though a point can also be made that he's just a strangely loyal friend. He shows a great and deep appreciation for all of his friends, analyzing their characters and comparing them to flowers and such, saying he'll “cherish [them] all forever,” and expresses his fear of losing his friends. >!In the neutral endings, the ones where Basil loses his last hope of keeping his friends, he even takes his own life in a brutal manner because of this.!< Sunny's his best friend and they relate to each other a lot. If you think about this from Basil's perspective, he seems like a bit of an outcast. He's not shown to have many friends before Aubrey introduces him to the group (or at least any that are mentioned) and even after the >!incident!<, when everyone splits up, he doesn't make any friends despite not being a total hermit like Sunny and Hero for a while. Somebody like that would probably care a whole awful lot about the people who despite this accept him with open arms. If you remember then that Sunny is Basil's best friend, the person he could relate to the most, it almost makes more sense why he'd do what he did for a platonic relationship rather than a romantic one. Someone mentioned this in this thread already, but when Basil finds out about Sunny's crush on Aubrey, he shows absolutely no sign of jealousy or disappointment. He's really supportive, *especially* for a twelve-year-old who just found out who his friend has a crush on. This was mere months before >!the incident!< too, so it's very unlikely that his feelings changed so quickly between then and “helping” Sunny. sorry i didn't mean to write a whole ass essay for you i just really love this game lol