Forum - View topicForeign love interests for protagonists?
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Raftina
 Posts: 3282 |
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I am curious as to how often anime writers decide to put a foreign love interest against at least one Japanese love interest for the affections of a Japanese protagonist, then give the foreign love interest a plausible winning scenario.
Some explanations for the goal of my question, to hopefully avert the stretching of definitions. 1. It's common for anime writers to use an audience surrogate with a Japanese sounding name and a relatively Japanese appearance in a setting where culture distinctions are no longer matter, or it's a fantasy land. I do not think titles like these really answer the point of the topic. Examples are Hikaru Ichijo from Macross, Shiro Amada from Gundam 08th MS Team, etc. 2. The plot has to be written in a way such that the audience can plausibly believe the writer will end the story with the foreign love interest as the winner. In series where the writer gives more than 2-3 love interests equal share, the most likely ending is that the author will not resolve the romantic plot--or, at least not before a decade passed, many developments not predictable from the anime adaptation occur, and the source LN/manga ends. Examples where the writer makes the foreign love interest a member of an equal harem includes Infinite Stratos. 3. There's an entire trope where the point of the anime is the story between the meeting between the protagonist and a love interest from "fantasy land". These are built from the beginning to be the story between the protagonist and the "fantasy land" love interest. These stories are apparent at a glance and technically fits the question, but they are uninteresting to mention because the resolution is mundane and expected, once the audience reads the 1 paragraph summary. Examples of anime in this category are Crescent Love, Fate/Stay Night, The Familiar of Zero, etc. It is only unusual to note when the love interest is from a country on Earth. This is the sense in which I use the word foreign. Examples that come to my mind: School Rumble Protagonist: Harima Kenji Foreign love interest: Eri Sawachika Nationality: half English, half Japanese There is a significant amount of ship tease between Harima and Eri. Despite being the nominal protagonist and Harima's crush, Tenma gets very little screen time with Harima and essentially no romantic interaction. Eri and Yakumo's time with Harima are approximately equal, but there's more response on Harima's part with Eri than Yakumo. Nisekoi Protagonist: Raku Ichigo Foreign love interest: Chitoge Kirisaki Nationality: half American, half Japanese This is like the fantasy land examples, where the story is from the start about the romance between the Japanese protagonist and non-Japanese love interest. Her only competition, Onodera, has her interaction with Raku limited to both parties blushing furiously, so it seems Chitoge will be the winner by default. In both these examples, the girl: 1. is half Japanese; 2. has a Japanese name; and 3. essentially behaves as a person born and raised in Japan, with the only foreign behavior being that she is less reserved. I do not know if these are required criteria. Perhaps the responses will permit us to find out. Examples that came to mind, but I thought did not fit: Card Captor Sakura: The lead romantic interest is Syaoran from China, but his only plausible rival was Yukito. I thought Yukito was interested in Sakura only in so far as he enjoys the company of his best friend's little sister, but perhaps the situation looked different to the young Japanese girls the show was intended for. [EDIT: Made the title less long-winded. -TK] |
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Tuor_of_Gondolin
 Posts: 3524 Location: Bellevue, WA |
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Uh... Asuka with Shinji from NGE? That's the only one I can think of... oh, wait... Sasuke with Kanami from FMP. I'm not sure if that counts.
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Yttrbio
 Posts: 3653 |
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I could see Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse fitting the rules, with Cryska having a shot against Yui for Yuuya. Of course, Yuuya himself might not count as a Japanese protagonist...
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yuna49
 Posts: 3804 |
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I rarely see a foreign romantic interest in recent shows though I don't watch many romantic comedies. Perhaps a change of taste in the Japanese anime audience?
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Vaisaga
 Posts: 13230 |
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That's the only show that popped to my mind that didn't have the "but not too foreign" attached to the girl. Source material spoiler: spoiler[Cryska wins too.] Having a foreigner girl transfer in is a pretty common occurence though they are usually half japanese. |
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WhiteHairGirls
 Posts: 4713 Location: New York City |
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In Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo the main girl, Mashiro Shiina, is a foreigner. I think she is half Japanese and half British.
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Raftina
Posts: 3282 |
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I've been told that Princess Lover and Ladies vs Butlers fit the description.
Having not watched either, I find it hard to determine whether they are series with no forerunner (like Infinite Stratos) or a fantasy world with a Japanese-inspired audience surrogate as the lead. Does anyone know enough to comment? |
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15484 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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I think Aria from Aria the Scarlet Ammo was half British and lived in England. Cat Planet Cuties has Eris, how foreign does an alien catgirl count as? I might add Minami from Bata to Test just as a note that she suffered a language barrier problem from living in Germany most of her life. Fear Kubrik from C3, even if it is that she is an object. Erica Blandelli from Campione, she is the main heroine and there is also a Japanese love interest. Does Rose from Dragon Crisis count? How much do we count fake sisters from another dimension like in Aesthetica of a rogue hero? Old Gods like Nyaruko from Haiyore Nyaruko-san, there is a Japanese girl there? Tanarotte Unithirteen from Macademi Wasshoi, a demon god thing, but maybe counts, although the Japanese love interest is his cousin. A Certain Magical Index, which guess the titular Index is foreign and has a good chance regardless of fan favourite Mikoto.
If Absolute Duo includes a Japanese love interest, then maybe that. This reminds me of the time I looked over all series I had seen to make not of if large busted characters were viable or simply used to fill a role where they stood no chance against flatter characters. My results found that flatter characters were far more likely while larger breasted characters are often an exotic thing to look at but not keep. |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18210 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Titles like CPC and Nyarko-san fall into Raftina's category #3.
Princess Lover! definitely qualifies, though. I had to double-check to make sure that the male protagonist is actually Japanese, but both of his leading romantic interests are purely European, with only the secondary options being Japanese. Can't speak on Ladies vs. Butlers since I never got around to that one. One that might peripherally fit is Freezing, although there isn't really a Japanese love interest option in that one; both of the main potential love interests for the male protagonist are foreigners (one British, one Mongolian?). One interesting variation on this is Ai Yori Aoshi, where the most traditional Japanese girl is theclear winner but there are two foreigners (one British, one American) in the harem. |
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st_owly
 Posts: 5234 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland |
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Suu from Love Hina is foreign, not that she ever came close to winning.
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Zethus_Thorne
Posts: 21 |
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Asuka Langley Soryu from Neon Genesis Evangelion.
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar  Posts: 16939 |
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Wouldn't Belldandy from Oh My Goddess technically count? I mean she's a goddess from heaven. That's pretty foreign if you ask me.
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Mai Yukino
 Posts: 217 |
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I guess Shaorin Shugogetten of Mamotte Shugogetten! would count as one because she is a guardian spirit that originated from China and she is the love interest of protagonist Tasuke Shichiri. I think this would qualify for category #3.
Also Shampoo of Ranma ½ for Ranma Saotome, she is quite popular enough to be the fan-favorite choice for Ranma. This would fall under category #2. Then there's Marlene Angel of Blue Gender who is a Caucasian character and love interest for Yuji Kaidou, I believe it would fall under category #1. |
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Cam0
 Posts: 4888 |
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Doesn't that fall under category #3? To Love-Ru would also fall under that category I suppose, as would Shakugan no Shana. I'm sort of confused about the purpose of this thread. Is it to examine and list the possible variations? Or is it to find instances that don't fall under the #1 and #3 categories like Infinite Stratos(?). Instances where the love interest isn't only half-Japanese or something and actually is a foreigner. |
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Night fox
 Posts: 561 Location: Sweden |
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@Cam0
It seems to have turned into (mostly) a listing of plausible, or actual, couples. Maybe people (including myself) are just too lazy to expand on the subject? 
One love-triangle that comes to mind is Tsumugu (Japanese), Chisaki and Manaka (both "foreign"), from Nagi no Asukara. I don't think there's a Japanese love interest to compete with the two sea-dwellers, though. There's also Shuffle!, with its gods, demons, half-human/demons, and whatnot, all trying to "steal" Rin (Japanese) away from Kaede (Japanese). These two examples would fall under category 3, no? |
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