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anpansparking
Joined: 08 Apr 2014
Posts: 42
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Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2021 6:36 pm
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Quote: | what's also interesting to note is that the epilogue section of the final chapter takes pains to show us that high school love may turn out to be True Love for some people, but for others, it's just a stop along the way. |
Is this referring to one of the main four pairings? I kind of thought it might be referring to Ayumi and Taka, since she announces she's going to America, but his text about learning English seems to imply he's going with her.
At any rate, I really enjoyed Hatsu*Haru overall, but I have to admit that I hate the whole "couple winds up in a long distance relationship at the very end of the series" trope so much that it almost ruined it for me. It seems to be weirdly common in shoujo manga, for some reason.
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Princess_Irene
ANN Associate Editor
Joined: 16 Dec 2008
Posts: 2657
Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City
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Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2021 8:06 pm
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anpansparking wrote: |
Is this referring to one of the main four pairings? I kind of thought it might be referring to Ayumi and Taka, since she announces she's going to America, but his text about learning English seems to imply he's going with her. |
That is what I meant - despite volume twelve (eleven? I read them all at once and they kind of blurred together) trying to show them as working out, I never quite bought them as a forever couple. But maybe I'm just being cynical.
Quote: | At any rate, I really enjoyed Hatsu*Haru overall, but I have to admit that I hate the whole "couple winds up in a long distance relationship at the very end of the series" trope so much that it almost ruined it for me. It seems to be weirdly common in shoujo manga, for some reason. |
Same. It is a weirdly common trope and I am thoroughly sick of it. A friend and I were talking about odd shoujo tropes, and that and Debt Dad are probably the two that I find the most bizarre.
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Triltaison
Joined: 03 Jul 2011
Posts: 797
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Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 12:27 am
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Princess_Irene wrote: |
Same. It is a weirdly common trope and I am thoroughly sick of it. A friend and I were talking about odd shoujo tropes, and that and Debt Dad are probably the two that I find the most bizarre. |
Has the protective ojou with her two cronies in tow constantly yelling at the main character for being within eyesight of whoever finally stopped being a thing? I haven't seen it in a while, but I also haven't read many newer shoujo series lately. That might be number one for me, and I would welcome its death.
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meruru
Joined: 16 Jun 2009
Posts: 475
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Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:33 am
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After reading so many of these, I've gotten the impression that in Japan it's considered romantic in a tragic sort of way for a couple to be separated by a twist of fate, hence the reason for these types of endings.
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lys
Encyclopedia Editor
Joined: 24 Jun 2004
Posts: 1017
Location: mitten-state
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Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 4:12 pm
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I've known a few friends who went through some period of geographic separation from their partners (teaching or volunteering abroad, etc, not specifically with the intent of a relational separation) and they would say it was a really important/good experience for giving them distance to view and understand themselves and their relationship, before taking a step into something more significant like marriage. Hearing those stories gave me a little more patience for the trope in manga, if an author can otherwise use the situation to show some fresh aspects to the characters/relationships. BUT it absolutely does seem like the easy way to throw in a quick "big conflict" to wrap up the series, in most (if not all) cases.
(on another note, i am all for a "true love" reading of Taka and Ayumi's relationship :D i read shoujo for the happy endings! (but i make no insistence that my interpretation must be the correct one.))
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