Been watching Sword Art Online, and this show brought up a subject I wanted to bring to y'all. This is a subject I glanced over in the top 10 anime forum, and wanted to bring to you.

First things first: I love romance in my anime. I like romantic comedies, action animes with a relationship between the protagonist and a female admirer, I like it all. Which is one reason I do not like Code Gease since But in all, I love romance in anime. At lest, that is what I thought; until I saw SAO. Now, lets get one thing strait here, I think SAO is a great anime and I'm going to watch it to the end and you all should too. But there is a point halfway through the show where our protagonist marries a character that has been in the show for a while. And when they do, well, OK, what you need to know is that SAO is an action-packed anime that is amazing, but when he gets married, the next episode is pretty much their honeymoon. They buy a house, they go on a walk around the local lake, and... well you get the idea. But all the episode before this one (I think this all started around episode 12 or so, too lazy to check) were of the protagonist fighting and doing shonan anime stuff. And now, THIS. It was text book definition mood whiplash, and it made me question: Is romance still good in anime. Is it better for shows like this to change the pace all in the name of romance, or is there some places where romance should be a no-no.

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Romance in Anime for me has to be the same as in Videogames or overall franchises, but I'm mostly focusing on Anime/Manga and Videogames here. The romance must not be out of nowhere, starting up suddenly or be seen as anything great. Starting with a crush is fine and all, that's how love tends to start, but don't have them fall instantly in deep love with another person.

And I especially hate it when the romance is unrealistic, with no real basis going on. Too often, I see a pairing in a videogame or anime and their only reason for being together is... well, they're together. That's all there is, they may have a former connection that is mentioned off-hand, but other than that, there's no real reason given to why they are a couple, why they love each other enough to stay together or anything that means the relationship could work out in the long run.

For example, I overall liked Fushigi Yuugi - it focused on the legend of the Priestess and fights, bringing down the villain, with some family drama added of being under pressure to perform well in school. And also the romance between Miaka and Tamahome. Now, I know a lot of people complained about Fushigi Yuugi's romance, that Miaka and Tamahome have nothing really going on. He first saves her, and Yui, and she's instantly attracted to his cool looks. Through more saving and him protecting her as a warrior for the priestess, she falls for him and he eventually for her.
Peopel complain that there's not much going for them, other than saving... and I have to agree with that. But perhaps that's how the story of the Suzaku priestess was written, after all, The Universe Of The Four Gods was basically turned into a Self-Insert story with the girls when they read it. So I guess I can sort of understand why their romance seems a bit... unbelieveable. Even the volumes 14 - 18, which are technically Suzaku-Only section and not the large struggle between Suzaku-Seiryuu, make it seem at times like their romance isn't that great, but they do love each other.

Same mangaka, but now we have Zettai Kareshi. I know this may sound insane, but even though Night is a humanoid robot android whatever thing made to Riiko's ideal type of boyfriend, I actually feel like there was something between those two. I actually sort of cheered for them when they got over a hurdle... and now I'm remembering the end of that manga... *sniff*

But outside of anime, even some manga I can't understand the romance. Some genres that don't focus on romance are, of course, okay to not have them all that relateable. Toriyama himself said that he doesn't think he's got the talent to write a believeable and romantic romance, but Chichi and Goku seem happily married and eventually Vegeta and Bulma, too. Of course... then we have the genres that do focus on romance and even there the romances can end up not being believeable at all... I still don't see the reason in most shoujo mangas why the hell the heroine would end up happily with this jerk, whose been nothing but an insensitive jerk for a long time, because nothing that happened seems like it would be understandable or relateable.

I sort of lost the point I was making... anyway, I don't mind romance in anime or other franchises as long as A) it isn't out of nowhere B) shoved in my face repeatedly C) doesn't stretch out that awkward "Oh I let something romantic slip, uh, well, I never said that, hahaha!" phase too long D) doesn't detract from the original plot and E) they have more going than simply being shoved together for the sake of having a romance.

Boy, do I have demands on romance in franchises...

C-A

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Well, you made some really good points and I have to say I pretty much completely agree with you.

However, hypocritically enough, I loved the romance in Fire Emblem: Awakening, and pretty much all of them can be summarized with the oh-so-popular phrase "boy, that escalated quickly".

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I might sound harsh, but most anime writers have a huge problem with the use of romantic subplot, and female characters altogether. This is one of the reason I watch animes mainly for the plot : I just can't take romance (and to a lesser extent many kinds of relationship depicted) seriously in them. A good 4 times out of 5, it looks like it was written by a 40 old virgin that never ever spoke to a real woman in his life. Main characters spending like 2000+ episodes not realizing their love is requited and never asking each other out, male main characters acting like perverts and female acting like brain damaged 9 years old, sex and even mere kissing being completely inexistant, romantic scenes systematically boiling down to the word "awkward"...


I know I'm making generalizations here (and I might be watching too much kindaichi and conan for my own good), but ugh.

I'm gonna have to agree, I'd like to see a bit more..variety in the romance, like it's not 'twu wove' right off the bat and that the girl instantly knows that this one guy is the one.

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Depending on the age of the girl, I can fully understand her going for the "twu wuv" idea. Most young teenagers have the idea that First Love = True Love and blindly charge into it, being literally turned stupid by love and end up in more trouble than it's worth. Of course, since a ton of anime have heroes in their late teens, it tends to crop up a lot.

A reason why I liked Zettai Kareshi. Yeah, Riiko repeatedly has her loves and crushed. When she gets the chance to create her android formed after what she wants in a lover, it is a ton and kind of cliché - you know, a bit pervy, but overall very caring, nice, considerate, coddling her, etc, etc - it's not too much into the supreme cliché romance that goes on. At least I never thought so while reading the manga, I was too busy laughing at the comedy. But what I liked is that, later, Riiko actually thinks and realizes that maybe her goal was never to really have a boyfriend, but to just have someone there for her as company and being nice to her, what with her parents gone a lot.

Okay, it may sound like a sympathetic backstory and people say I hate those, which I agree, but... well, she's not a villain, so...

C-A

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I'm going to have to agree with you (why am I even on this thread when all of my thoughts are being posted and explained far better than I ever could?).

However, you also forgot the "inexplicably drawn to the douchebag" girl, who doesn't seem to mind being treated like crap. I know there are a lot of relationships like that in real life, but this is fiction, and we're supposed to be rooting for those two to get together...or something.

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I mostly route for the girl to grow some balls a backbone. Cause if she had one, I wouldn't be so annoyed at her all the time. Of course, we eventually will get scenes where she snaps, but it's about as believeable as a hissy fit...

C-A

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To be honest I never fully believe when a girl snaps unless I already know she's someone that I wouldn't wanna make mad. Besides the guys have just a big a problem with the disease known as 'Being the most idiotic man on the planet when it comes to romance' since it seems like they NEVER get the entire picture unless it's spelt out and drawn in crayon for them.

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Romance in animes is a topic that is pretty much - for me at least - overrated.

Sure, animes are here for watching and being interesting and all above that, but romantic feelings in an anime, even if it's just a soft one or a really brutal one, romance should be left out of it.

Of course, I enjoy seeing some flirts here and there, maybe even going further than just flirting, but if it's going above kissing then that's not really romantic anymore. Most animes - mostly the boylove ones - do have some mature scenes. That would be okay for me, but I'm someone who wants to enjoy a really nice anime without wondering why there are so many scenes between two lovers who are just getting at it.

I know, I sound stupid now, but it's not in my interest to see this. A bit romance is okay, but that's that.

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