Forum - View topicThe List - 8 Alternative Couples Sure to Touch Your Heart
|
Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chagen46
 Posts: 4377 |
|
|||||
|
Are we still at the point that simple homosexual relationships are considered "alternative"?
That's just...depressing. |
||||||
|
||||||
Cecilthedarkknight_234
 Posts: 3820 Location: Louisville, KY |
|
|||||
your from a different generations then some of the mid to late 20's posters on this site, you have to keep in mind that this was a huge different level of exposure for my generation at the time. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
誤称
Posts: 549 |
|
|||||
|
There really doesn't seem anything really alternative about any of these couples. These are all pretty darn mainstream in their respective fandoms. Unless of course you mean that gay = alternative. Gay people are normal too and its kinda sad and homophobic to suggest that there's something "alternative" about being gay.
Because the adapation was horrible? They skipped four tankoubon and expected you to know what happened before magically. Not to mention, the early chapters are the best part of the story. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
ANN_Lynzee
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 2944 Location: Email for assistance only |
|
|||||
Haruka and Michiru were literally my first exposure to homosexuality in media and real-life relationships. Their respective season wouldn't air on Toonami for another 5 or 6 years, and I was about 12 when I found out they even existed as characters, thanks to the Internet. This was before Will & Grace or Ellen DeGeneres came out (and do I remember the horrible backlash that caused). Gay couples are still a minority in mainstream media and they aren't always portrayed in compassionate ways in anime either. It was not my intention to denote the word "alternative" with "abnormal". I used the word "alternative" to signify couples that are not considered the standard, mainstream examples accepted by a hetero-centric culture. Instead, it was meant to denote that there is something else, and these examples can draw emotion from the audience and offer a way to relate for those of us that do not fall into society's expectations of what love and romance are supposed to encompass. They are no less legitimate, real or honest. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Chagen46
Posts: 4377 |
|
|||||
|
I understand what you meant; I wasn't decrying you personally, but merely making a statement on society in general.
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
ANN_Lynzee
ANN Executive Editor
Posts: 2944 Location: Email for assistance only |
|
|||||
I understand. The title choice has been brought up a few times, so I thought it was best to explain why the word choice was made. |
||||||
|
||||||
Fencedude5609
 Posts: 5088 |
|
|||||
I wasn't implying that they should all be on the list, I was just providing a selection, almost literally off the top of my head, of what I felt were better examples for that particularly slice of "alternative" And considering that Juri and Shiori made the list, I don't think Chikane/Himeko is much of a stretch. (and its actually a requited love, despite Chikane's best attempts to the contrary) |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Cecilthedarkknight_234
Posts: 3820 Location: Louisville, KY |
|
|||||
oh i understand that completely but coming from a Conservative state back growing in mid 80's and 90's these type of couples in animation or any-form of media where rare if non existent. Hell I'm remember watching the episode of Roseanne that broke the ice on gay marriage and the out-lash against it. You pointed out that it's still rare and not common however we are slowly progressing along despite all the media buzz when a lesbian/gay couple do come up in entertainment media, Hell my mother show is devout in religious beliefs got a huge kick out Boston legal ending and is more open minded than her mother was. It takes time for things like this happen.. and there I go again rambling on |
||||||
|
||||||
|
musouka
Posts: 707 |
|
|||||
While I do agree that there are better couples out there than Shiori and Juri--I might strongly dislike Nanoha as a character, but she and Fate have a nice relationship--the initial tenor of your response made it seem like the issue was less with quality and more with quantity. My list would probably be pretty different from both yours and Lynzee's, but ultimately it's a matter of personal taste, so I don't see the point in making a fuss. |
||||||
|
||||||
Agent355
 Posts: 5113 Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready... |
|
|||||
|
In a medium chock full of fantasy and science fiction, I expected to see at least one cross-species (either alien, animal, or "monster" such as vampire, werewolf, zombie, ghost, angel, etc) or robot or cyborg & human couple on this list.
Maybe not Vampire Knight or Chibi Vampire because those are designed as romances and vampire/human is fairly typical these days, but couples along the line of Mina/Akira from Dance in the Vampire Bund (he's a werewolf, she's a vampire, she has a few centuries on him age-wise) or whatever was up in Sankarea (I haven't seen it). Sci-fi couples can be interesting gender-wise, because not only are there herotive (sp?) typical couples and gay couples, but there are couples in which an individual may not ascribe to either gender, or ascribe to a non-human gender. They are usually veiled allegories for a variety of atypical couples presented specifically to get more "conservative" minded individuals comfortable with so called "alternative" relationships (the same way that Star Trek, et al often used aliens to do stories about race relations and the like. Heck, most sci-fi still do racial allegories). Most of the human/non couples that I am familiar with are from Western works (I've been watching Sym-Biotic Titan and spoiler[robot Octus and human Kimmie] become an interesting couple. Various Star Trek and other live-action sci-fi couples, a few American comic book couples (anybody reading Brian K. Vaughan's Saga?) Golath/Elisa from Gargoyles... ) But I'm sure people here can come up with more anime and manga examples! |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Fencedude5609
Posts: 5088 |
|
|||||
Really? Huh, did not mean to come across that way at all. Heck, there are three lesbian couples on the list, which makes them the most represented group (even if I highly disagreed with two of them). |
||||||
|
||||||
Mad_Scientist
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 3011 |
|
|||||
|
Interesting list. I don't have a lot to add, but I would like to address some of the comments this column seems to get a lot.
One thing I've noticed with this column is that it seems more and more like a lot of the comments are simply some variation of "why the hell wasn't such and such included?!", with various degrees of rudeness. I don't have any issues with people bringing up other potential choices for the list (I myself expressed my surprise that Gankutsuou wasn't on the visually striking anime list), but there's a good way to do things. "I think series X would have been a good fit for this list, because of reasons Y. I'm actually very surprised it didn't make it. Have you seen that series Lynzee, and if so, what did you think?" vs "why isn't series x here?! It should have been at the top." @octopodpie I enjoyed the list, but I do have one minor nitpick regarding the title of the column. Not the "alternative" part: I understand the complaints about that, but I also understand your reasoning, and I'm not sure what the best alternative (no joke intended) title would have been. What I want to bring up is the "to touch your heart" part. Technically, it's true for this list, since just because something is touching your heart doesn't mean it's doing so in a good way. But I think a lot of people (myself included) think of something like "heartwarming" when we see a title like that, and aren't expecting couples that are potentially tragic/disturbing/unhealthy. I think this misunderstanding is responsible for some of the complaints in this thread. @Zac Minor suggestion, but perhaps this feature should be changed to "Lynzee's List," like the old "Gia's List." One thing I've noted is that a lot of people seem to approach this column like it's supposed to be some comprehensive view on all of anime, as opposed to a personal list written by one person who obviously hasn't seen every single series. I think this is another reason for some of the complaints. Perhaps changing the title to reflect the personal nature would help? Probably not, but I thought I'd throw the suggestion out there. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
TnAdct1
Posts: 117 |
|
|||||
|
What? No Library Exporation Club (from Mahou Sensei Negima) in the after-school club poll?
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
Mikeski
Posts: 608 Location: Minneapolis, MN |
|
|||||
First one to mind as "alternative" would be the Appleseed couple, given what the male half of the duo looks like, though I haven't watched it recently enough to comment on their heartwarmingness. Chobits, also, since the ambulatory computers in that universe aren't supposed to spoiler[be able to love you back]. Ghost in the Shell, at least two instances. spoiler[The major attracting the "eye" of a being that was entirely software], though it's hard to call that one "heartwarming." Better, spoiler[you could argue Batou/Kusanagi as a bisexual couple, with Batou once telling the Major, in GITS:SAC, that she could fight better with a "male chassis." He also didn't seem at all wigged out about the juvenile chassis she wound up in, either. Though, both being cyborgs, it's not a human-to-otherwise couple.] Steel Angel Kurumi II has a lesbian robot/human love quadrangle. Not terribly heartwarming, being over-the-top comedy, but mentioning it because it's a lesbian robot/human love quadrangle. For spirit/ghost/alien-human couples, I'm having a tougher time. Almost all of those are Magical Girlfriend-style harem comedies to begin with. (Or they're Zakuro.) I'd make an argument for the human-to-spoiler[embodiment-of-the-powers-that-be, who was a male+female disassociative personality for part of the show] relationship in The Garden of Sinners, since that one's heartwarming as anything. Back to "normal" human couples, I like the Kashimashi/Girl meets Girl couple. Definitely heartwarming, and spoiler[starting as a hetero couple and winding up as a lesbian one should qualify it for this list]. That happened in spoiler[Aoi & Mutsuki too. (Is this still a spoiler when the show is subtitled "a pair of queens"?)] How about Midori Days for "alternative"? I haven't seen it, but someone who's in love with the other half of their magically-conjoined-twin body needs honorable mention for the wackiness. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Mikeski
Posts: 608 Location: Minneapolis, MN |
|
|||||
|
This week's poll: gotta go with the SOS brigade. Only because being in it seems to require you to have supernatural powers of some sort. I could use some supernatural powers.
|
||||||
|
||||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group