Forum - View topicThe childhood friend.
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ggqt
 Posts: 149 |
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In most shows with a romantic premises you have at least a love triangle going on, and almost always one of the points is a childhood friend. Now that being said, the childhood friend pretty much never wins out in the end. Good examples are Shuffle!, Ano Natsu de Matteru, Toradora, ect ect.
Now looking at it from an objective standpoint the most logical choice is the childhood friend because they've know the other person the longest, and know the most about them. It almost seems like the shorter the girl knows the MC the more of a chance she is going to end up with him, and I don't get why. Any ideas? |
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4750G
 Posts: 546 |
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Oh, I loved Kaede from Shuffle!. She was the perfect wife - spoiler[even after she went psycho and all]. I don't get why the MC chose Asa, really.
I think the reason the MC goes for the girl he just knew is because it's kinda more romantic, don't you think? It's a whirlwind romance. I mean, you can't exactly call it love at first sight if you've known the girl forever but it just took you way too long to realize your feelings for her. (Romantic) people (and by that, I mean me) always look for their other half. You expect someone to enter your life and sweep you off your feet. You don't necessarily look at the people who've been with you your entire life - a.k.a., the childhood friend. The childhood friend is not a surprise; she's been there all along. She's not a challenge; the MC has known her his whole life. Lastly, she's not new; she's not an alien presence that turned his life upside down the moment he landed his eyes on her. The childhood friend has always been there. The MC, when looking for love, looks at what's in front of him. He doesn't necessarily look beside or behind him. Of course, these are only my own speculations. And hey, there are good romance shows that revolve around childhood friends. I can't think of one now but I definitely will. |
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Boomerang Flash
 Posts: 1021 |
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How well the childhood friend fares seems to depend on her competition. If there is a single mysterious girl who suddenly comes into the main character's life, then the childhood friend is out of luck. However, if it's a large harem of fairly interchangeable characters, then you'd expect the childhood friend to win. Of course, there are still exceptions to this pattern.
Examples, which I will not label as following either pattern or being exceptions for the sake of avoiding spoilers: 1. Kamisama Kazoku: spoiler[You have the single, mysterious newcomer into the protagonist's life, but it ends up with the childhood friend winning.] 2. Infinite Stratos: spoiler[The harem consists of largely interchangeable country representatives. So this series has the (first) childhood friend winning. The second childhood friend is one of the interchangeable haremettes.] 3. Ceres, Celestial Legend: spoiler[I'm not sure how to classify this one. We have the single mysterious stranger. All signs point toward him winning. He does, in fact, win. However, he dies shortly after "winning," so the protagonist ends up with her childhood friend for a much longer period of time. The childhood friend seems to think they both won.] 4. Kannagi: spoiler[Single mysterious stranger? Check. Tsundere? Check. Loli body? Check. Yes, the childhood friend is screwed.] |
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EireformContinent
 Posts: 977 Location: Łódź/Poland (The Promised Land) |
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Including the most embarrassing things in your life, knowing you to the point when you have nothing to hide. No secrets, no excitement and- as it was said-no reason to fight for him and his attention. Have you noticed that most of those stories based on switching from friends to romance perspective take reunion after long separation as premise? Being stuck in one role makes the change of the perspective harder- you simply don't see them as a love interests, but as a friends. Heck, it's even herd to look at someone as sexually attractive person when you live side by side and still remember him as that chubby boy with whom you shared soda after PE or that girls with bloody knees who could catch the snake with bare hands. |
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ggqt
Posts: 149 |
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You say that like the childhood friend hasn't had a crush on the MC for as long as she's known him. As par the norm the MC is oblivious to her feelings, so she has just as much reason to try and get his attention. But is it really that crazy an idea that the MC would also have the same feelings? why is it always so one sided? I was kind of figuring it had something to do with Japaneses culture. |
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Crisha
Moderator
 Posts: 4290 |
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Without looking to TV Tropes, I'm trying to recall series where the childhood friend wins out in the end.
Cross Game: spoiler[Ko and Aoba end up together in the end despite some competition along the way.] Hanasakeru Seishounen: spoiler[A reverse harem scenario, Kajika ends up with Lee-leng - one of the reasons I'm enjoying this series.] Angelic Layer: spoiler[Okay, so it's not the MC, but two side characters, Kotaro and Tamayo, end up together. Kotaro was one of the two love interests for Misaki, the MC, but neither he nor his romantic rival, Ohjiro, were childhood friends of Misaki. What's interesting is that these pairings are completely different in the manga: Misaki ends up with Kotaro and Tamayo ends up with Ohjiro. I prefer the anime.] Err, that's all I can think of right now. |
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EireformContinent
Posts: 977 Location: Łódź/Poland (The Promised Land) |
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Because without that there wouldn't be a drama. Question in pair with "why big cities in anime usually have a river". |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18430 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Toradora! isn't a good example because its "childhood friends" relationship never actually figures into any of the romantic entanglements. Kitamura and Ami (I assume that's who you're referring to) never show any romantic interest in each other; instead, each is always interested in others. In fact, it's one of the rare series which has a male/female "childhood friend" relationship that doesn't become a romantic complication. Otherwise, this is a potentially interesting topic and one that I've actually thought a lot about lately. Equating "childhood friend" and "unrequited love" has been done so commonly in school-based anime over the past few years (especially in harem shows) that it's become possibly the most pervasive anime relationship cliche; there have even been some same-gender cases of it. (This season's Nyarko-san might be one such example, though whether or not you can truly call Nyarko and Kuko "childhood friends" is debatable.) Seeing something fresh done with the concept is rare, although Cross Game does put a few interesting twists on the concept. |
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Alan45
 Village Elder Posts: 10012 Location: Virginia |
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In fiction, Japanese or other, its because that is the way they wrote the plot.
In real life, most people tend to not fall in love with someone they grew up with. There is nothing sexy or romantic about someone you have known since you were children. The childhood friend most likely wouldn't be interested either. It may be instinctive to keep away from too much inbreeding in small communities. |
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EireformContinent
Posts: 977 Location: Łódź/Poland (The Promised Land) |
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@Key Anime is aimed mostly at teenagers- turning friend into love interest is a good way to stress all changes that the protagonist must go through. Add a new potential love interest as a rival and you have the drama about priorities in life when "old friend" symbolise home and tradition while the new one wants you to leave the rarbour and head to the open sea.
But while using ChFR cliché it's hardly to avoid the impression of lazy-writing. ChF, just add water to have a romance. You have no problem with making the characters meet, changing their feelings, making them both realise what's going on, fighting against all odds, overcoming troubles that always appear when two people with different pasts start a life together. Just write that one (always a girl!) had always had a crush on other and viola! I hate this cliché- in modern setting it seems just odd, not to say creepy. Especially when they weren't actually fiends, but just have seen each other for a while and- booom!- love forever. Only Rumiko Takahashi had a courage to write that's dangerously close to murderous obsession. |
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ggqt
Posts: 149 |
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Sure there can bem have you watched Hanasaku Iroha? Though this show kind of contradicts my point. Key, Toradora I was referring to Ryūji and Minori, though now that I think about they were not so much friends as they were acquaintances. Ryūji just happen to like Minori for a long time before the story started.
Alan45.... where are getting incest out of childhood friend? |
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Polycell
 Posts: 4623 |
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The anti-incest part of the brain doesn't give one whit for genetic relationships(it's all interaction). If the friendship started soon enough, it's entirely possible for the childhood friend to get filed into the "FAMILY - DO NOT SCREW!" category.
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 18430 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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I wouldn't classify them as childhood friends, though. In fact, unless I'm forgetting something, there's no clear indication that their association predates middle school (or possibly even high school).
In general I agree with this, although that's far from universally true. (Cross Game is a definite strong counterexample, for instance.) |
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ggqt
Posts: 149 |
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Lol, you clearly have not been watching anime very long. Eight times out of ten there is romantic feeling between actual siblings. But I'm not even going to start arguing that topic. You're starting a classic nurture verse nature argument, which is pointless. Sure we can scientifically explain a "soul" now, but that's not going to really deter the 'nurture' people
Yeah, that's what I said. I was kind of just assuming he knew her for a while because he had that big box of poems/tapes/letters that he made for her. All I was really getting at is that he knew Minori well before he even met Taiga.
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Spastic Minnow
Bargain Hunter Exempt from Grammar Rules  Posts: 4630 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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The ones that succeed may be the ones who formed a supportive relationship early on.
Mayoi Neko Overrun features a pretty standard orphan couple of childhood friends and though the series ended before anything resolved it seemed obvious that that pair were the likely pairing. Ai Yori Aoshi is all about mutual support, those two need each more than just about any couple I've ever seen in anime and that relationship was set from childhood. Even though it took a years delayed reunion to solidify it. Whereas the childhood relationship in Shuffle, (and of Nerine to a lesser extent) is based on textbook unhealthy codependency. It's all about obligation, responsibility, and guilt. There's also genuine respect and admiration but its a hard sell to me and it demonstrates pretty readily how suffocating the relationship can get. |
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