Forum - View topicUnderdeveloped Romances in Anime
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DemonDragonJ
 Posts: 116 Location: Somewhere in the United States |
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I love romantic relationships in Japanese animation, but far too many are not developed fully, and that frustrates me. Anime series of this nature include Bleach, Full Metal Alchemist, Scrapped Princess, and Neon Genesis: Evangelion. I know that the primary focus of these series and others is action, not romance, but that is not a good reason, in my mind.
What does everyone else have to say on this subject? |
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Wolverine Princess
 Posts: 1100 |
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The reason the relationships in these particular anime are not developed is because they are shonen series. Boy don't like gushy love stories, they like watching people's heads get ripped off by demons (I'm being sarcastic, I don't mean to offend anyone by this statement). Plenty of relationships are fully developed in shojo anime and manga. You just have to look in the right places for romance.
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Stupidman007
 Posts: 394 |
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There are still plenty of shounen series that do have fully developed romantic relationships. Just to name a couple, there's InuYasha, and both of the Rurouni Kenshin OVAs.
In most cases in shounen action series, including full romance would change the action of the characters, and often times, they need the characters to act a specific way. If you really want romance, then don't look for shounen type series. Try for the drama types. |
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jaybug39
 Posts: 552 Location: Oregon, Is it FOOTBALL yet? |
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I would think anime creators do this for the same reason Superman didn't marry Lois Lane, why Spider-Man didn't marry Ms. Watson. Afraid it would kill sales.
Or it could be that changing the dynamics of the situation would require a lot of thought and planning. Everyone would be looking at the couple differently, as each one of said couple would look differently to the other. It could also be that the creators wish to retain the innocence of their characters. By maintaining the virtue of those characters, the creators can still show an ideal. |
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NaotaInko
Posts: 13 Location: in pot city, digging my potato |
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How is Evangelion a shonen series exactly? It's hardly anything like a shonen anime |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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I strongly oppose that opinion. SutePri is the only anime title which has taken spoiler[survivor's guilt into a love triangle. I feel sorry for Leopolde: he might be able to win Pacifica's heart within a few years, but he can never fill in Fulle's shoes, whose position is higher than any potential persuer of Pacifica because he took care of her during her most helpless and vulnerable hours, not to mention he later sacrificed himself in order to help her flee.] Last edited by dormcat on Fri Apr 07, 2006 10:33 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Wolverine Princess
Posts: 1100 |
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I have never seen Giant Robots in a shojo series. The two simply cannot co-exist. And Evangelion has OBVIOUSLY male-targeted merchandise like this: http://tokyotoys.com/images/medium/SA_NGE_SUMMER_EXP_FSET_M.jpg and this: warning: explicit http://www.japan-net.ne.jp/~saladin/fig5.htm (Is this real merch or fan-created? It looks too high-quality to be a fan thing.) |
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Pleroma
 Posts: 443 Location: Eromanga island |
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You've gotta be kidding me, Inuyasha is the epitome crapy romantic development, NOTHING HAPPENS that actually affects the next episode significantly. Seriously, even stuff like DBZ did it better as people actually aged, married and had children as it progressed. Personally I hate nothing more that these unfinished relationship so common in anime, its infuriating and reeks of pandering to the worst type of otakus (I even stopped visiting certain forums in utter disgust at the attitude of some "fans"). Personally I will never understand why anyone in the audience would object to characters actually living developing in romantic ways. However a series does not have to be Shoujo to have good romance. Most recently I have really enjoyed the romance element in Eureka 7 and I think Mai-Otome didn't do too poorly either. I prefer to get my romace from dedidicated romantic shows like KNGE or Koi Kaze, but I definitely agree that if the writers of any show choose to include romance as an element they should see it through to completion. |
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NaotaInko
Posts: 13 Location: in pot city, digging my potato |
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And is the main focus of Evangelion "giant-robots"?
No, it's the examination of the human psyche, instruamentality, loneliness, and other themes like that. Sure it doesn't have the most developed romantic relationships *though there would be some there, if the characters restricted themselves from doing so, like Shinji and Asuka, Shinji is too scared to get close to anyone, but he does have a respect/love for her, and Asuka due to her stubbornness , even if she likes Shinji can't admit it to herself*, but Evangelion while it does have "action" , that is not the main focus of it, hell it only has 13 or so fights in the entire series *or 14 more or less if you include the movie, that whole Asuka verus entire Eva series thing* Also ever fight lasts maybe up to 3 minutes max, that's hardly a shonen series. I hardly would classify Evangelion as a shonen series, when thats not really what it's about, and when there's hardly that much of it compared to other series. Do people really watch anime to buy figures? Not really, they watch the anime for the anime, and who cares if theres that stuff, that wasn't even in the series. It doesn't matter if your male or female, whatever you are, you can enjoy Evangelion. |
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Wolverine Princess
Posts: 1100 |
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No, and I completley agree with everything you said, but the program does contain giant robots. Name one shojo anime with giant robots. Even the ANN enclyclopedia lists Evangelion as shonen, among other things. You can generally clasify all anime as either shojo or shonen, regardless of it's fanbase and who can enjoy it. The Matrix and Star Wars ould both be shonen, even they have large female fanbases. (Of course the male fanbase outnumbers the females, but Evangelion also has a larger male fanbase, as indicated by the type of merchandise it spews. Have you ever seen an action figure of Kaworu glomping Shinji? Or any action figures of Shinji and Kaworu at all? No? How about Rei glomping Asuka? Naked Askua? Naked Rei? Naked catgirl Rei and Asuka?) |
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NaotaInko
Posts: 13 Location: in pot city, digging my potato |
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Hmm, you make a good point *about the shonen and figure thing*, but I still really wouldn't clasify Evangelion as shonen or shojo, if it had to though I guess it would end up on shonen, for the fighting with giant robots it does have, though it kinda has some elements of shojo, they really don't develop that far, so in the end it would end up in shonen i guess.
Last edited by NaotaInko on Fri Apr 07, 2006 10:31 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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uberfrosch
Posts: 48 |
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Magic Knight Rayearth. The Vision of Escaflowne. Yes, they're fantasy not science fiction, but they have things that certainly look like mecha. |
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JoshuaStChristopher
 Posts: 351 |
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You have obviously never heard of the original GunBuster, my friend. : ) I don't know why it's calssified "shounen" in the database, because it's obviously not in the least. |
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Stupidman007
Posts: 394 |
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I mentioned InuYasha as an example with respect to the anime series that the OP mentioned. In Bleach, FMA, and Scrapped Princess, there clearly isn't any romantic relationships. Whereas in InuYasha, although not complete, there is a strong hint to the romance. Kagome and InuYasha, Kikyou and InuYasha, Sango and Miroku. Although their relationships are questionable, their will and desires are clear. However, with Bleach and FMA especially, the desire isn't there, and therefore there is a lack of romance.
What I understood from Scrapped Princess was that spoiler[At the end, Pacifica had a blank in her memory about what had happened involving Fulle. Therefore, there would be nothing in that degree holding Pacifica back from being with Leopalde. Also, before separating, Fulle, by sacrificing himself to help Leopalde and Pacifica escape, he as basically given Leopalde permission to be with Pacifica.] I agree with the OP about Scrapped Princess being an underdeveloped romance is due to Pacifica not returning Leopalde's feelings. However, there still was a fully developed romance between the other couple (forgot their names). |
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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Wolverine Princess, how do you find the things you find.
Getting back onto the subject, isn't there supposed to be something between Ran and Shinichi in Case Closed? Obviously there's not a lot you're going to do if you're a seven year old kid, but I feel that their relationship over the past I don't know has definetly brought them closer. |
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