| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
|
|
Cryssoberyl
Joined: 17 Jan 2009
Posts: 240
|
 Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2023 8:33 pm
|
 |
|
| Piglet the Grate wrote: | | The drama of romantic attachments would ruin the iyashikei aspect of most of these shows, so it is odd that some viewers always want to "ship" characters together. |
Oddly reductive idea. As someone for whom it is one of the greatest daily comforts of my life, romantic love doesn't need to be dramatic. It can be gentle, supportive, enriching and healing too - both to give and to receive.
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
Piglet the Grate
Joined: 25 May 2021
Posts: 593
Location: North America
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2023 10:38 pm
|
|
|
| Cryssoberyl wrote: |
| Piglet the Grate wrote: | | The drama of romantic attachments would ruin the iyashikei aspect of most of these shows, so it is odd that some viewers always want to "ship" characters together. |
Oddly reductive idea. As someone for whom it is one of the greatest daily comforts of my life, romantic love doesn't need to be dramatic. It can be gentle, supportive, enriching and healing too - both to give and to receive. |
We are discussing anime here - ever watch a romance anime where at least one of the main characters did not have a personality issue of some sort? I have not.
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
Daze3x
Joined: 03 Sep 2021
Posts: 21
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2023 11:23 pm
|
|
|
|
A great article. Honestly agree that we should focus more on friendships in anime. Feels like shipping culture has become the predominant mode of engagement with anime and related media, and we miss out on the meaningful friendships. Idk if this is the aromantic in me but I'd much rather focus on what's actually in the text then focus on a meaningless headcanon. Not everything needs to be about romance. I like myself a good romance show, I've been on a romcom spree as of late. And I really enjoyed the relationship between Suletta and Miorine in Witch from Mercury. But if there is no romance in a series, then can't we leave it that way? I watched a decent portion of the anime on this list and it feels like there is a shockingly low number of people who focus on the friendship aspect when it's almost the entire point of most of these.
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
Cryssoberyl
Joined: 17 Jan 2009
Posts: 240
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2023 3:08 am
|
|
|
| Piglet the Grate wrote: |
| Cryssoberyl wrote: |
| Piglet the Grate wrote: | | The drama of romantic attachments would ruin the iyashikei aspect of most of these shows, so it is odd that some viewers always want to "ship" characters together. |
Oddly reductive idea. As someone for whom it is one of the greatest daily comforts of my life, romantic love doesn't need to be dramatic. It can be gentle, supportive, enriching and healing too - both to give and to receive. |
We are discussing anime here - ever watch a romance anime where at least one of the main characters did not have a personality issue of some sort? I have not. |
You're contradicting yourself, because the situations under discussion where people "ship" characters...aren't romance anime. If anything, you're only providing a compelling reason why people should enjoy headcanoning characters together outside of "romance anime", because those tropes and character dynamics aren't present. Absent those concrete "rules" of a given situation, people are free to imagine less dramatic, more healthy and functional relationships.
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
Yuvelir
Joined: 06 Jan 2015
Posts: 1594
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2023 2:36 pm
|
|
|
| Heishi wrote: | | For me, the whole yuri subtext thing is a major problem I have with alot these "cute schoolgirl type" shows., especially if they are from Manga Time Kirara that is NOTORIOUS for this sort of thing,
They like to claim that this is all "oh, they just friends" nonsense but you can't help but roll your eyes when they try to jerk people around with their yuri baiting. It's so incredibly irritating. Either just make them lesbian or quit jerking us around with the subtext crap. |
As much as I love Kirara series, I must admit that the tendency of some series to do a series-long crescendo of romantically-coded scenes with no climax can get annoying (this week Hoshizuku Telepath had a cut so charged that taken out of context anyone would think it was from an actual yuri series, let's see if it's an outlier).
That said, often people make giants out of windmills and I suspect it's from translating tropes from different kind of series, like a girl acting cute and kind/supportive being interpreted as "romantic interest" - because that's the main purpose of female characters in some genres.
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
Yuvelir
Joined: 06 Jan 2015
Posts: 1594
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2023 10:45 pm
|
|
|
| kotomikun wrote: |
| Piglet the Grate wrote: | | How about A-Channel, Akebi's Sailor Uniform, Asobi Asobase, Azumanga Daioh, Chronicles of the Going Home Club, Flying Witch, Nichijou, Non Non Biyori, Squid Girl, Three Leaves, Three Colors, YuruYuri, and Yuyushiki? |
Flying Witch is magical realism (witches). Nichijou, Squid Girl, and Asobi are unhinged/surreal comedies (the last one is a deliberate bait-and-switch), and arguably Azumanga as well. YuriYuri is, well, yuri. Akebi's Sailor Uniform... based on the trailers, it appears uncomfortably suggestive, and therefore not something I'd count as wholesome slice-of-life, though that could be a misinterpretation on my part.
The remaining few probably count, but I didn't say there were none at all, only that it's uncommon. Anime are mostly TV series, after all, so they usually need some kind of hook/theme/gimmick beyond just "calm and charming" to stand out and keep people watching. |
Akebi-chan is far from putting fanservice as its centerpiece and it's actually a slow that gets emotional very often without having any specific goals.
That one as well as A-Channel, Kitakubu, Three Colors and Yuyushiki, among many others that get released every year, are just about girls going about their daily lives with no magic, shared hobbies or goals to tie them together.
I'd also argue that YuruYuri isn't really about yuri but it leans heavily on comedy anyway.
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
VirgilTB4
 Subscriber
Joined: 04 Jan 2018
Posts: 6
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2023 11:36 am
|
|
|
|
One series that would fit the criteria that's also based on a Kirara manga is Hidamari Sketch. The Sae/Hiro relationship is the source of many comedy elements implying a possible yuri relationship, with the other leads making jokes about it. But I've also read the full manga as well as watching the anime and its made pretty clear that their relationship is a very close friendship and not romantic.
The actual yuri implied relationship in the series also involves Sae (who both the anime and manga do imply may be lesbian) but is with character of Natsume. Natsume's interest in Sae seems to be romantic and even Natsume's friends who are always encouraging her to engage with Sae seem to believe so as well.
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
