Forum - View topicTwo Questions About Romance in Anime
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DemonDragonJ
 Posts: 116 Location: Somewhere in the United States |
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Although I primarily enjoy action in Japanese animation, I am also very fond of romance as well. I enjoy seeing this form of interaction between various characters, but two questions have arisen in my mind, and so I shall ask them here.
First, what is the point of love triangles (two separate characters being attracted to the same person)? I know that this device is used to better develop plots and personalities, but it can be both confusing and annoying at times. There are so many examples of love trianlges in anime that I am not going to bother mentioning any here. Second, why does it seem that a large number of characters (mostly males) are completely unaware of another character's attraction to them? For example, Winry Rockbell is attracted to Edward Elric in Full Metal Alchemist, Hinata Hyuga is attracted to Naruto Uzumaki in Naruto, and Orihime Inoue is attracted to both Ichigo Kurosaki and Uryu Ishida in Bleach, but none of these males are aware of such feelings. I cannot understand how this can be the case, for, to the best of my knowledge, no one is this oblivious in reality. I find this device to be highly insulting, for I am a male, and I believe that if a female were attracted to me, I would notice. What does everyone else have to say on this topic? |
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Niceguy9418
 Posts: 82 |
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I figure there can be two explanations - either they are playing on the stereotype that men in general are insentitive (ignorant) of peoples feeling, particulay women's -OR- the male lead is just really good about being in denial. (I think this is the case with Ed & Winry from FMA.)
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LydiaDianne
 Posts: 5634 Location: Southern California |
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The point of love triangles or, for that matter, harems is to provide conflict, doubt and angst. After all if there wasn't the love complications the anime would be over in just a few episodes. And that doesn't make $$$s
 
As to why anime guys don't notice that a girl is in love with him, I'm going to have to go with Niceguy9418 - the stereotype of being insensitive or in denial. |
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suna_suna
 Posts: 550 Location: Ohio |
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The love triangles can be used at a plot device. e.g. two "men" love one "woman", she picks one of them and the other is scorned and vows revenge. Note that that is not an actual plot that i have seen, it's just an example. they can also be used as a comedic device, like fighting over someone in a funny way.
as for male being ignorant, sometimes, that male is just plain stupid and wouldn't get it even if it was shoved right under his nose. either that, or yes as my peers say, they are just in denial. Why? because they might like someone else or some reason like that. Also, i don't believe that Orihime is attracted to Uryu in that kind of way. |
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frentymon
Forums Superstar
 Posts: 2362 Location: San Francisco |
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1) Love triangles can be very effective in anime. Kimi ga Nozomu Eien builds most of its drama and serious plotline on a love triangle, leading to, as LydiaDianne said, conflict, doubt, and angst. Because of this very love triangle, everybody likes Kimi ga Nozomu Eien (well, almost everybody...).
They can be effective on the other side of the spectrum as well. School Rumble builds a great deal of its comedy on top of a love triangle, leading to rejection, typical harem-style violence, and hilariousness. Because of this love triangle, everybody likes School Rumble (almost). 2) Well, you're picking out all of the heroes from mainstream shounen titles. The main character is usually oblivious to the girls around him and their feelings because he doesn't really concern himself with matters so irrelevent to his goal (which is extremely important to him). Also, shounen action titles are just not meant for much romance. If they were to have the main character realize that someone has feelings for them, it would greatly distract them from pursuing their goal. It's the same way in other shounen titles, namely harem, because it would spoil all of the fun and it would no longer be light-hearted. For example, Shuffle! |
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crow-kun
 Posts: 155 |
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I always thought love triangle were there so you could feel happy for the two that get together and have sympathy for the one that gets left alone.
In the other question it also doesn't help when they don't really show any attraction for the character. In the anime Winry didn’t even give hints that she liked Ed, and it’s “Fullmetal” not “Full Metal”. The only person Orihime likes is Ichigo I don’t know where you got Uryuu from, and the only people who know are the girls she hangs off with, the same for Hinata the only person who has some idea that she like Naruto is Kurenai, plus Naruto might be a little oblivious. |
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Zalis116
Moderator
 Posts: 6921 Location: Kazune City |
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The issue with series like Bleach, Naruto, and FMA is that they're all shounen series with a main audience of ~8-14 year-old boys. Boys that age (generally) think that girls have cooties and that romance is gross, so the authors don't put these romances in the stories in order to avoid alienating this fanbase. If you watch some shoujo anime like Marmalade Boy, Aishiteru ze Baby, and Ultra Maniac, you'll see some more manly/respectable males who aren't oblivious or in denial.
As for the love triangles, they're a plot device that has been used in literature around the world for ages--they get tiresome at times, but love triangles aren't going anywhere. |
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Pleroma
 Posts: 443 Location: Eromanga island |
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Ugh, no, just no. I found this the most annoying part of SR and I think iot would be a much better anime if the relationships actually developed. I too hate love triangles and Harems with leads that resemble no normal male in exitance. It only works in extreme situations like Elfen lied for example (major backstory and the fact that one side of the triangle has a high probability of ripping your head off) or with a clear one-sidedness like Midori no hibi. I have also found the relationshiops in Haruhi to be pretty realistic if not outright romantic yet and shoujo shows like Nana or Ouran Host club also work well on this level. The best romances however IMO are the ones with only two sides, my all-time favorites being Saikano, Koi Kaze and Hantsuki. |
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opaquescum
Posts: 235 |
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All stories of any genre require conflict to sustain them. A love triangle is a form of conflict. That is all there is to it really. Conflicts are the basis usually for strong character developement, and plot developement. I suppose it is pick your poison if the characters are not fighting something on the outside then they must be in some internal struggle. Many of the best shows involve multiple conflicts, and that adds alot more for the audience to get into.
Now as for male characters being oblivious. Well to be honest alot of people are oblivious about alot of things. People just see the world differently. Some people are astute as to the motivations of others. Some people draw a blank when it comes to how other people feal. Now some people may feal its stereotypeing, or it is cliche. The truth is though that yes it happens, and has been known to happen. I have seen it happen myself in real life. Thinking to myself how the hell can't this person see this. They are fairly intelligent, and can spot it in others. There is also the paradox that some people see these things, but subconciously bury it outside of concious thought. Afterall acknowledgeing something means you must confront, and deal with it. So you can always say that the character might sense something, but since they are not ready for whatever reason to accept it. Then the character could seem oblivious. |
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DuelLadyS
 Posts: 1705 Location: WA state |
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I knew my boyfriend for a year before I told him how I felt about him- he hadn't a clue. Furthermore, at the time, he had a crush on my best friend. Yes, this crap really does happen in real life. |
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Stupidman007
 Posts: 394 |
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This topic reminded me of my own problem with love triangles.
As a guy, why is it necessary to only pick one girl? Can you have both? or all 3-1000 in some cases. If the girls are that crazy for this one guy, then I would assume that they'd be willing to share for their own benefits. My own mottos of being a guy is to take it head on and be in control. If you're getting in problems just because lots of girls like you, then something's wrong. @DemonDragonJ: Your examples with FMA and Bleach I very much disagree with, because I feel that the romance in there were too vague to consider it anything more than friendship. I haven't seen Naruto, so I won't comment on that. |
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Mohawk52
 Posts: 8204 Location: England, UK |
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One has to remember where and why these types of plots and stories are made. We tend to look at these with a western eye but in Japan there aren't that many children with bothers, and/or sisters. Also children grow up in somewhat isolated conditions even in a crowded city like Tokyo. There isn't that much interaction between the genders with a great many socially inept when it comes to intergender relationships, in short "clueless". One just needs to look at the childhood of most otaku there to see what I'm on about. So the fantasy by a said 14 year old of having more than one girl, or boy devotedly in love with them is a popular story plot. Tenchi Muyo anyone?
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Jadress
 Posts: 812 Location: Seattle. It purdy and nerdy! |
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I'll support DuelLadyS' post- weird relationship drama happens all the time. Gross example, but just look at trashy daytime talk shows with all their "My best friend's in love with my wife" themes and crap. And also, about male characters not noticing girls' feelings towards them- I don't think there's any statement being made about guys being insensitive jerks. In my experience a lot of guys really are clueless- I've seen so many girls show blatant interests in guys who had no idea at all. I'm not saying that all guys are clueless about these things, but it can be common. You see this theme in a lot of movies and tv shows as well, not just in anime.
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selenta
 Subscriber Posts: 1774 Location: Seattle, WA |
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Well, of course the love triangles are there almost entirely to create tension. While they can be used as plot devices, this is nearly always a second thought.
Just look at every show on American TV, just about every single one of them is chock full of nothing but attempts to create drama. "Hey, lets get this racist guy and make him go out with this 65 year old black lesbian jew! It'll be great!", "Now just eat these 500 fruit flys and you can go on to the next round!", "Carol slept with your husband not 2 days after he slept with Mindy, ZOMGS!", blah blah blah. Just another plot device authors use to create generic sexual tension, nothing particularly deep about it in my mind. Why are the males oblivious? Someone touched on it, but I'll say it again: it's the otaku fantasy to have girls chasing after them. I'd also argue they the fact that they don't realize it is another tension device, but there is quite a bit of truth to it. I'm kind of embarrased to say this, but in High School I was completely oblivious to the girls around me; well this was kind of true, I was aware, but I (for some god knows why stupid reason) convinced myself that I wasn't interested in those girls. I wasn't on the football team, but I was hardly a social outcast and I had a lot of friends. I never once had a girl friend in all of high school  but when I went to college I thought to myself "wtf am I doing?" and have been considerably more popular with the girls since. My point is that these ignorant guys out there do in fact exist and it would be much better if I could just write them off as "just another plot device". My assumption is that a lot of the otakus in Japan have a similar problem, they're shy and deathly afraid of taking action with a girl so they convince themselves they're not interested and end up playing out the role you see in the shows.
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