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The List - 7 Anime for Grown-Up Romantics


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Agent355



Joined: 12 Dec 2008
Posts: 5113
Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready...
PostPosted: Sun Aug 23, 2015 2:02 pm Reply with quote
Natsuyuki Rendezvous was the first anime I thought of when I saw the list. It might not be the most well regarded or remembered show (I personally never finished it), but it's definitely about adult relationships.

Not sure if I'd want Annie from Attack on Titan to be redeemed unless she acknowledges how much she spoiler[seemed to enjoy *torturing* the soldiers she killed. Bertolt and Reiner might be better choices]
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Clyde_Cash



Joined: 03 Dec 2011
Posts: 376
PostPosted: Sun Aug 23, 2015 2:18 pm Reply with quote
Ah! My Goddess: Why the hell doesn't Keiichi have a goddamn backbone?

Also, if humans, gods, and demons all evolved separately, unrelated, each on different worlds, HOW THE fudge ARE THEY SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO INTERBREED? Their physiology shouldn't allow it and yet they all, or at least gods and demons, can interbreed (e.g., Urd)! Then you have the angels. Vertebrate hexapods, and even worse still, feathered mammals. Oh boy.

First, I'll address the hybridization issues. Humans, gods, and demons in the Ah! My Goddess world are all conveniently based on the same template but with their own unique modifications such as weird facial markings, funny hair/eye colors, and definitive behavioral disorders. They're all basically the same thing and the fact that they can interbreed suggests they must be closely related subspecies at least within the same genus and thus derived from the same source. But if they all evolved separately, independently, unrelated, each on different planets, their most fundamental physiology should be dramatically different.

Hell, Ah! My Goddess isn't even the only offender. Star Wars has humans, Twi'leks, Gungans, whatever Yoda is, etc. Star Trek has humans, Klingons, Romulans, Vulcans, Borg, Ferengi, Cardassians, etc. Dr. Who has humans and Time Lords. RahXephon has humans and Mulians. The World of Narue has humans and Narue's species. Outlaw Star has humans, Ctarl, and other species. Dragon Ball Z has humans, Saiyans, and whatever Frieza, Buu, Mr. Popo, and King Kai are. Eureka Seven has humans and Coralians. The list goes on and on.

THEY CANNOT ALL BE UNIQUELY ORIGINAL YET SUPERFICIALLY IDENTICAL, INTERNALLY INCOMPARABLE, AND GENETICALLY COMPATIBLE ALL AT THE SAME GODDAMN TIME! In our biological reality, we can and have had instances of convergent evolution where members of distantly related taxa later play identical roles and adapt accordingly:

--Wolves, hyenas, and Tasmanian tigers
--Sharks, swordfish, ichthyosaurs, thalattosuchians, mosasaurs, and dolphins
--Raccoons and Tasmanian devils
--Foxes and Malagasy civets
--Temnospondyls, mesosaurs, champsosaurs, crocodilians, spinosaursids, and basal cetaceans (e.g., Pakicetus, Ambulocetus)
--Saber-toothed cats, barbourofelids, nimravids, creodonts such as Hyaenodon, Thylacosmilus (a sparassodont), and Permian gorgonopsids
--Rodents and multituberculates
--Flying squirrels and colugos
--Birds, bats, and pterosaurs
--Trees, bamboo, tree ferns, and Carboniferous club mosses
--Ants and termites
--Hooves among cetartiodactyls (sheep, camels, cows, hippos, whales, etc.), perissodactyls (horses, tapirs, rhinos), and paenungulates (hyraxes, manatees, elephants, etc.)
--Rhinos, embrithopods, brontotheres, and ceratopsians
--Moles, sengis, and golden moles
--Shrews, solenodons, tree shrews, opossums, and morganucodonts.

But they'll never become the same and can never hybridize. It doesn't matter how much living things look alike on the outside. The physiology determines what it is. The more distantly related they are, the deeper you have to look for similarities. But if they're related at all, then the deeper you look, the more similar they'll be. This branching tree of cousins and common ancestors marches all the way back 3.5 billion years and never deviates. If you trace the common ancestry of, say, chimps and humans back far enough, you'll come to what seem like a pair of similar siblings. If you go back further, tracing the ancestry of all catarrhine primates (Old World monkeys, including apes), you'll come to something which no longer exists and looked like none of the modern forms. What it did have were traits suited to its time and place that had the potential to develop into what those later animals became. Trace the ancestry of all mammals exclusively and you'll come to something built vaguely like a solenodon or echidna (it was neither). Trace the ancestry of all amniotes and you'll come to something like Solenodonsaurus, which is often mistaken for a lizard but isn't even a full amniote in any sense of the word.

The angels. Oh [expletive] boy. Birds and some mammals can have scales on at least part of their bodies because they both derive from a form historically and traditionally referred to as "reptiles". However, MAMMALS CANNOT HAVE [expletive] FEATHERS NOR CAN THEY PRODUCE ANY GENE THAT WOULD PRODUCE FEATHERS! For one, feathers aren't fur. They're both based on two different types of keratin. Mammals have alpha keratin. Sauropsids (turtles, lizards, tuatara, crocodilians, birds) have beta keratin. Mutations can produce scales which superficially look like feathers (e.g., the hockey stick-shaped long scales on Longisquama) but aren't actually feathers. Feathers are a more complex construct than hair, scales, or pycnofibers which developed in a series of sequential stages represented by several successive species. It is a statistical improbability for an exact duplicate of this level of complexity to coincidentally emerge again in mammals. Then you have the structure beneath. A tetrapod skeleton is already incapable of supporting a third set of limbs. You simply cannot have the arms of a dinosaur grow out of the body of a catarrhine monkey, nor a horse. The flying monkeys from The Wizard of Oz, the girl in the sky from Air, and winged aliens from Flash Gordon are right out. If we ever found this or any of the other freakish chimeras devised for any myth or movie, it would totally destroy the phylogeny currently attributed to evolution because neither the fossil record nor any organism's genome can account for mammals with two arms, two legs, and two other limbs, but certainly not if they're fully avian wings.

TL;DR: Ah! My Goddess has officially joined the list of Anime and Manga Ruined by Science.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11348
PostPosted: Sun Aug 23, 2015 4:37 pm Reply with quote
invalidname wrote:
I guess I should try one of Gina's yaoi recommendations?

I wasn't necessarily "recommending" those titles, they just seemed to fit the criteria. Smile Junjou Romantica is frustrating (and the same-face syndrome makes it confusing as well), but it's very popular, so I guess as a research item, it's worth watching. I personally enjoy it just for hearing Takahiro Sakurai playing an airhead who's constantly freaking out about everything.

I would recommend Antique Bakery, Mirage of Blaze (you'll need to take notes to keep everyone straight (npi) unless you're a Japanese history buff) and Winter Cicada (and its manga forerunner Haru wo Daiteita, which also has an OVA, and maybe is another adult romance that could have been on the List), and definitely Ai no Kusabi (I prefer the 90's version - Justin liked it too).

It's really difficult to find yaoi with healthy relationships though. They tend to get kind of rapey, and the characters tend to be in denial about even being gay (they more fall into the stupid "I'd go gay for him!" trope). :/

@ Lili-Hime: I've seen Noir and Aoi Hana, but didn't consider the former a romance, and the latter was about high school girls. It would never have occurred to me that Candy Boy was about lesbians! Smile I might have to have a look at Devil Lady, which I'd heard of, but never checked out, so I didn't know it had any yuri elements. Thanks for the input!
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Lili-Hime



Joined: 05 Jun 2014
Posts: 569
PostPosted: Sun Aug 23, 2015 4:53 pm Reply with quote
Gina Szanboti wrote:
It would never have occurred to me that Candy Boy was about lesbians! Smile I might have to have a look at Devil Lady, which I'd heard of, but never checked out, so I didn't know it had any yuri elements.!

Yeah no clue why it's called candy boy it has no male characters really. Trigger warnings on Devil Lady, full of violence and at one point yuri rape; though it's not very graphic. There's actually... three or four girls in love with the main character Jun if I remember correctly. She does choose one of them too Smile It's very much a Chiaki Konaki work (the writer responsible for Serial Experiments Lain, Hellsing TV, and the Big O). As such expect a lot of WTF moments especially at the end.

Quote:
It's really difficult to find yaoi with healthy relationships though. They tend to get kind of rapey,

This. This is my main problem with yaoi that prevents me from enjoying it. . One I'd reccomend with adult characters is No. 6. Such a great show, so cute. Is there a yaoi recommend thread??

Agent355 wrote:
Not sure if I'd want Annie from Attack on Titan to be redeemed unless she acknowledges how much she spoiler[seemed to enjoy *torturing* the soldiers she killed. Bertolt and Reiner might be better choices]

spoiler[Bertholt and Reiner are far worse imho. Saying they didn't enjoy what they did is just projecting on to them. They're pretty much responsible for a quarter of all humanity dying. I've heard people try to sympathize with Bertholt, Reiner and Annie but I frankly don't care WHY they did what they did; they still killed thousands of people to do it. ]
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Mohawk52



Joined: 16 Oct 2003
Posts: 8202
Location: England, UK
PostPosted: Sun Aug 23, 2015 5:06 pm Reply with quote
War_Destroyer wrote:
Did I miss something? Where the hell is Spice and Wolf!? I really loved that show... I hope that someday they'll make a third season.
Here, here! There's plenty of story to animate after the second, no mistake.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11348
PostPosted: Sun Aug 23, 2015 5:41 pm Reply with quote
I think the one anime with adult maybe-lesbians that I can think of would be Sol Bianca: The Legacy (haven't seen the earlier 2 part OVA). The very butch Jan seems to be a lesbian in denial (and defensively homophobic when she encounters a non-stereotypical gay man), as are April and Feb, who are portrayed as just crewmates/friends, but act like an old married couple. Smile While they have hetero relationships, they pine for each other like love-sick puppies when they're apart, and they're the ones who end up together instead of with their male flings. Feb calls April "her sun" and when she leaves the ship, her good-bye is a reversed Tarot card, The Lovers. So there's something there reading between the lines, but alas, nothing overtly stated.
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malvarez1



Joined: 17 Nov 2008
Posts: 1665
PostPosted: Sun Aug 23, 2015 6:49 pm Reply with quote
Man, the poll was so hard...so many people I could vote for.

In the end, I just submitted BlackWarGreymon (I mean...I guess you could argue that he was already redeemed, but still)
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Hyperdrve



Joined: 03 Jun 2015
Posts: 276
PostPosted: Sun Aug 23, 2015 8:03 pm Reply with quote
Mikeski wrote:
Hyperdrve wrote:
I'm afraid that this week's poll about which anime villain is most deserving of a redemption will just turn into a popularity contest.

That's the secret, Captain. They're always popularity contests.

Because...
(a) people love being part of the "in crowd", so they vote for things that other people vote for,

(b) there's no age limit on the poll, so you get kids voting for Inuyasha for "best dog in anime" because they don't care what the poll is about and Inuyasha is cool, and

(c) most importantly, it's hard to have an opinion on a show you haven't seen, or don't remember well, so popular shows win, and recent shows win. Always.

It was worse when anime was on Adult Swim every night. You could pick the landslide winner before the first vote was cast if there was only one [as] show represented. Even if it wasn't really a good choice. Kinda like the eyebrows thing this week, or Attack on Titan being 1/6th of the vote for "best zombie show" a few weeks back, or the recent "idol" shows having to be thrown out of the voting on "anime bands." (Yes, some of the problem is "add your own choice" polls vs. pre-set polls... a committee is only as smart as its dumbest member. Mr. Green )

I've done the math on this before.

Yeah it makes sense to note that people usually vote for what they recognize. I guess, as far as these polls are concerned, there's no solution for that. I usually don't vote on these polls except on this one where I added my own option, and there's no way (that I know of) to add your own option without voting.

And the part about Attack on Titan gaining so many votes for the best zombie show and it even making its way into the poll in the first place was just silly.
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browneyes23



Joined: 16 Nov 2011
Posts: 4
Location: Midwest US
PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 12:22 am Reply with quote
Are we limited to TV series?
If not there are multiple Ghibli offerings, from Howel's Moving Castle to Porco Rosso, to The Wind Also Rises.

Not anime but definitely romance: Densha Otoku

side elements of romance: Hataraki Man, Salaryman Kintaro, Le Chevalier D'eon, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Princess and the Pilot
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Ali07



Joined: 01 Jun 2014
Posts: 3333
Location: Victoria, Australia
PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 1:16 am Reply with quote
War_Destroyer wrote:
Did I miss something? Where the hell is Spice and Wolf!? I really loved that show... I hope that someday they'll make a third season.

Well, I think that the last novel volume is going to be released next year in the U.S. Doubt that they're going to be making more anime, but you will be able to see how things go after season 2 and the ending of the whole series if you decide to spend some time and money on the novels.
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wonderwomanhero





PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 11:40 am Reply with quote
I was looking at the poll and I noticed someone put Kristoph Gavin from the Phoenix Wright series. That's a video game, not an anime...
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mandisaw



Joined: 12 Sep 2008
Posts: 140
PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 1:27 pm Reply with quote
Gina Szanboti wrote:
invalidname wrote:
I guess I should try one of Gina's yaoi recommendations?

I wasn't necessarily "recommending" those titles, they just seemed to fit the criteria. Smile Junjou Romantica is frustrating (and the same-face syndrome makes it confusing as well), but it's very popular, so I guess as a research item, it's worth watching. I personally enjoy it just for hearing Takahiro Sakurai playing an airhead who's constantly freaking out about everything.

I would recommend Antique Bakery, Mirage of Blaze (you'll need to take notes to keep everyone straight (npi) unless you're a Japanese history buff) and Winter Cicada (and its manga forerunner Haru wo Daiteita, which also has an OVA, and maybe is another adult romance that could have been on the List), and definitely Ai no Kusabi (I prefer the 90's version - Justin liked it too).

It's really difficult to find yaoi with healthy relationships though. They tend to get kind of rapey, and the characters tend to be in denial about even being gay (they more fall into the stupid "I'd go gay for him!" trope). :/

The "rape as meet-cute" trope is one of the biggest concerns I tend to have with yaoi series. I only pushed past it for Junjo Romantica because so many folks who know my tastes recommended it (the who's who cast is a plus, too). Gravitation and Level C (IIRC) don't use the trope (though they have their own trigger warnings) so I can recommend those. Fake and Yami no Matsuei were really good too, until the story(ies) took a nosedive.

Second the rec for Mirage of Blaze - that's been on my "wish the novels were translated" list for over a decade now. It pushes my history buff, supernatural war, and yaoi fan buttons Smile
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Mohawk52



Joined: 16 Oct 2003
Posts: 8202
Location: England, UK
PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 2:20 pm Reply with quote
Clyde_Cash wrote:
Ah! My Goddess: Why the hell doesn't Keiichi have a goddamn backbone?
spoiler[he eventually grows one in the last few chapters of the manga. ] Wink


Quote:
TL;DR: Ah! My Goddess has officially joined the list of Anime and Manga Ruined by Science.
How so? Fantasy and science. I thought the two complimented each other.
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zensunni



Joined: 05 Mar 2010
Posts: 1293
PostPosted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 1:17 pm Reply with quote
Mohawk52 wrote:
Clyde_Cash wrote:
Ah! My Goddess: Why the hell doesn't Keiichi have a goddamn backbone?
spoiler[he eventually grows one in the last few chapters of the manga. ] Wink

Not to mention that... spoiler[his lack of backbone is actually EXPLAINED in the manga!]

Quote:
Also, if humans, gods, and demons all evolved separately, unrelated, each on different worlds, HOW THE fudge ARE THEY SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO INTERBREED?

Where exactly is this interbreeding you speak of? To my knowledge there are no human/Goddess children born in the series, or human/Demon for that matter... If you mean Urd, that isn't a major deal. There is nothing that suggests that Goddesses and Demons are from "different worlds", they just have different domains which are closed off from the other. That doesn't mean that they aren't essentially similar species. not to mention... [see below]

Quote:
Quote:
TL;DR: Ah! My Goddess has officially joined the list of Anime and Manga Ruined by Science.
How so? Fantasy and science. I thought the two complimented each other.

OK, The Goddesses and Demons in Ah! My Goddess are actually N-Dimensional beings. The form they take when on Earth is basically an avatar of sorts designed to function in a three-dimensional world. The magic they perform is basically advanced science and, as Arthur C. Clarke pointed out, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

Fujishima-sensei based much of the world of A!MG on string theory, as it was understood in the mid to late 80s. In a sense, it is actually more science fiction than fantasy.

As for the interbreeding issue, there isn't really any reason why beings with as advanced abilities as Belldandy or Hild wouldn't be able to manipulate genetics enough to make a viable hybrid.

Of course, in the end, it is a FANTASY series. The suspension of disbelief is pretty much essential to enjoying just about any fantasy, whether it is anime, manga, novel, or live action movie.

[BTW, the concept of interbreeding in Star Trek is handled quite easily by the "Progenitors"... spoiler[who were a race of advanced beings who are believed to have seeded planets all around the galaxy with the basic materials needed to evolve bipedal humanoid life.] That is a fairly common concept in Science Fiction, actually...
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