Category: Anime

Story of Saiunkoku, A crane standing amidst a flock of chickens.

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Alright, we have a double feature of review goodness! We try not to but there isn’t much news to talk about as of late and besides we sped through Saiunkoku. This was mostly my fault as I basically refused to stop watching for most of Sundayand there by forced Hisu to continue as well. But it was totally worth it!

I battled being sick and being sleepy just to finish the last six episodes Saiunkoku but it was well worth it. A delightful fusion of comedy, drama, intrigue, and romance made up for a killer headache and a generally woozy feeling. The Story of Saiunkoku starts with Nabiki … I mean Shurei Ko who is a rather unusual princess. She has taken to doing odd jobs such as playing the erhu and teaching at the local temple to keep her family afloat. A recent civil war has devastated the land and left a great many people in dire straits. Her family has fallen on hard times partially due to the fact that during the civil war they spent much of their money and resources taking care of the needy people in the neighborhood. One day one of the chief advisers of the Emperor offers to pay Shurei as small fortune to tutor the young Emperor into a man worthy of the throne. It seems that since the new Emperor has taken power he has completely withdrawn from interacting with the court. Shurei has to turn the seemingly naive slacker into a proper and strong ruler of a troubled kingdom.

She accepts the offer before even hearing the request fully! But Shurei greatly cares about the well-being of her country and people and is there by very disappointed the Emperor is not taking it more seriously. As she dreams of being a government official (which she eventually succeeds at) she vows to do her best to help and support the Emperor so that he has the good of the people at heart. This stories focus is Shurei but also the kingdom itself with its politics, families, nobles, troubles, triumphs, and romances. If it wasn’t set in a fictional place I would call it historical fiction. I see this series as shojo but also a family-type show, it airs on Saturday mornings. I imagine that is why it is already two season of 39 episodes each. There is a bit of everything thrown into the mix: romance, drama, action, comedy and tragedy. It is one big play with one huge cast of characters.

I remember we were trying to figure out what age group this show was targeted at and we had an amusing conversation about whores. As it turns out, there is a brothel with a rather interesting madame that is the focal point of several stories in the “second arc.” The fan-subs we saw constantly referred to the women who worked at the brothel as whores which seemed rather harsh and vulgar with what is otherwise handled rather delicately in the rest of the series. It’s never implied that the brothel is anywhere but a place where men pay to have sex but it is clearly a high class brothel with a distinct air of class. It was therefore an odd choice for the fan-subber to pick one of the harshest terms for a prostitute in the subtitles. I’m curious if this is just a poor word choice or just a straight but odd translation from the original.

All the episodes titles come from famous Chinese proverbs. The proverbs always are critical to some plot point in the series and are often uttered by someone in the cast. I suppose that also shows that this was meant to be a show for the whole family. Often times family shows go out of there way to teach some little lesson or moral while also being entertaining. It just shows that as long as you are classy in your storytelling you can incorporate brothels into your family programming in Japan.

I mentioned this series having a lot of focus on the kingdom and therefore there are a lot of big players in this. Off the top of my head I counted 20 important people (not including Shurei and the Emperor) to the story and that was just thinking about it without looking at a character listing so I know I’m forgetting some. You have the royalty, the nobles, all the government officials, and various other players. I think the cast is really amazing though, almost as if I’m watching a play, I think of them as real people. Their interactions are dead on. And there is every type of person you can imagine all the way from a madame to head of the finance department who wears a mask at all times. The way the characters are folded into the story is done very organically and you know once you see someone they will eventually pop up again.

And it is all those wonderful characters that make the show come to life. If these characters were not so well made, I don’t think the story would be the masterpiece that it is. There are some rather mundane and standard plots in the series. But the realistic characters breath life into them. I was going into the characters individually but it seems a waste for two reasons. The first reason is that all the characters are slowly and skilfully brought into the show. Each new set of characters are added with just enough time for you to learn who they are, but never enough for them to ware out their welcome or reveal all of their layers. The second reason is that talking too much about the characters will spoil their little secrets and quirks. There is a certain charm in learning who everyone is and what their story is. Many of the characters are shown in a light that leads you to believe they are one type of character but later actions or interactions will reveal that they have more going on or different motivations than they would originally seemed to.

Of course there is one character we have to look at in depth, Shurei. She is the pillar of the series in which the show is either supported by or falls apart around. Being the most important character means that your enjoyment of her personality is one of the biggest factors in determining weather or not you will enjoy this show. That being said, Shurei is definitely a character I can get behind. She is a strong female character who can take care of herself. She is both willing and able to support and protect herself but not unwilling or unable to accept help when she needs it. She displays the kindness and softness that many a female character does, while also avoiding being a wilting flower. She is smart partially because she is naturally smart but also backs that up with the willingness to put hard work into study. She is definitely frugal but always in a realistic and often times charming manner. She is the type of woman you would want to marry. She is the type of woman I would want to marry.

Shurei at first glance seems to be a too perfect I-wish-I-was-that-girl type but that quickly dissolves as you get into the meat of the story. She is extremely intelligent, on par with her male peers, and shows little intimidation in the many political situations. In fact, she is much more confident when it comes to facts and figures than her own heart. I think this is a popular theme for strong females but shojo usually sticks with the average girl and so Shurei seems to be a departure from that.

The only cliche thing about her is that she has a fear of thunder. Having seen several shojo series and a lesser number of shonen series where they pick a phobia to give a character vulnerability. It’s not unexplained phobia and when when learn the story of why she is afraid of thunder it gives it you insight into her and several other characters. It definitely was not just added to be added so it’s not a bad mark on the show itself. It did on the other hand come to the revelation that giving a female character some phobia is a common and easy method of fleshing them out. It might be common knowledge to everyone else but it only just clicked in my head. It might also stick out because another character I just read about had the same phobia.

Well, you can’t have a good protagonist that doesn’t have fears and flaws (unless you’re seinen). If Shurei was never afraid of anything she would be completely unrelateable and unrealistic. And I think that is what’s so great about this show. While it lives in the storybook realm all the characters’ personalities are like people you know, it gives a nice kick to the fairytale angle of the whole series.

Her relationship with the Emperor is interesting because it a unusual mix of storybook romance with realistic angles. They both seem to be able to often see right through each other but at the same time have a good deal of uncertainty about what the other one is thinking. I also really like they they both support the other one’s dreams and ambitions. All too often we have the wish fulfillment fantasy of the provider who asks for and needs nothing in return. They also play well off each other. They have an amusing chemistry that makes you want to root for them. I know that it does not hurt that the Emperor is definitely the type of character that Narutaki loves.

If you looked at my Top 5 couples list, you will see these two on it. They make me all jumpy inside! This series does a fantastic job of creating a fairytale romance that isn’t a fairytale but almost practical. I never feel they are a forced coupling where nothing is explained it just is. All of their feelings and emotions come from a part of their past or personality. But you still have the fairytale because he is the Emperor and she is a princess. Ryuki is in love with her but he never hinders her path. No matter how much he may want her to stay in the palace, he recognizes and wants her dreams for her as much as she wants them herself. He recognizes her strengths and helps her, without doing things for her, even when those things take her further from his side rather than closer. Okay, so I’m totally in love with Ryuki myself. Sue me. He isn’t perfect, even though my description was glowing. But you do see a lot of growth in the first season. He becomes committed and serious about his job, but doesn’t lose all of his silly and sometimes naive thinking. Their relationship is really the driving force of the series for the first ten episodes or so but then it starts to take a backseat to the politics of the country. It is really there to show growth, change, and also to set up a love story that takes place over years and distance.

The director always keeps the pace of the story moving. All too often stories with political intrigue can get bogged down in their own weight of there story but Jun Shishido avoids that trap. That being said, I sort of wish we could have stayed a more focused on the Emperor but the story naturally drifts away from him being the most important character in Shurei’s life. The anime makes it clear that this is Shurei’s story and Ryuki is one of the most important people in her life, but he is not the be all and end all. Love is an important and generally fascinating part of her life but it’s only one aspect of it.

Friendships also play a big role (as do rivalries). They help to give depth to the series and also create a meaningful and rich history. I especially enjoy watching this relationship grow between Ryuki (the Emperor), Ran (a General of the Shaorin army), and Koyu (Vice-Secretary of the Civil Affairs). They have a familial feel to them. They work together but they also poke fun at each other, fight foes, and talk. So as the story moves away from them I was visibly disappointed. However, all the other characters pick up the slack. Such as the bond between Seiran and Ensei which is both mysterious (you find out more as the story goes along) and wonderful because there is trust.

I also liked Seiran’s relationship with Ryuki. It was unexpected and interested me. I would like to talk about it but it is a major spoiler. It really makes me think we should add a spoiler thread to the forums so we can discuss certain things after people have watched the series. In fact, after we post this I going to do just that. I know there is one character that you really want to talk about because you super love him and want to have his babies. Babies of super love.

Women are sparse in this series which only adds to the setting. It is an ancient time when women were not considered on the same level as men. But throughout the series we meet characters that challenge and break-through these ideas to help push the society forward. We literally get to watch as a new era is being born. All of the women that do appear show stature, intelligence, and courage while not losing their femininity. You have women in roles like: head of family, running their own business, and progressing the country. The series also reminds you of the responsibility of being a lady in waiting and not looking down on such roles for women.

I like that Saiunkoku gives women power but does not do it in ways that are incongruous with the setting. Shurei’s rise to being an official is fraught with hardships and massive resistance. They make it clear that she is very lucky that things have come together in a way that she can break the normal restrictions of society. Had she tried as hard as she did at some other point in the countries history, she probably would not have been able to become an official.

I would not recommend that you watch this show sick as I did because it is a show where the little details are important. Little facts, items, and relationships will come up when you least expect them to. There are some very good uses of Chekhov’s gun. You will often wait with baited breath to learn why something casually brought up in one part of the series with effect people later on. Nothing as bad as Audrey’s letter in Twin Peaks but you might wonder when a certain report is going to come into play.

OMG! Audrey’s letter! You saw me, I was practically pulling my hair out for four episodes. I like that Saiunkoku takes these things into consideration because I get obsessed with the little things. Especially since they sometimes come waaaaaaaay later, to the point you almost forgot (unless you’re me). I like that things come full circle because the writer really thought ahead. I think this somewhat stems from them originally being novels. Which incidentally I desperately wish someone would license.

Or Lothos. Lothos will see it all coming a mile away. (Lothos is a reader of this here blog). I don’t think it’s an impossibility for the novels to get licensed. The manga and book market is far healthier than the anime market. I think the probability is directly linked to how well the Twelve Kingdom novels did. If Twelve Kingdoms sold like gangbusters, then this is a sure license. If it sold poorly it is a long shot. It would have a much greater chance if someone saved the anime license from Geneon but I don’t think that is going to happen anytime soon. Prove me wrong Funimation. Prove me wrong.

If anything gives this series away as being shojo it is certainly the character designs. I can honestly say I’ve never seen a series with more beautiful guys, and the cast is 85% male. Not that I’m complaining or anything. And hey most of the guys can back up their pretty faces with fighting skills or cunning. So, hot and useful totally works in my world.

Also I would say almost all of them are very likable. How many times have you seen the pretty boy who is good at everything but you want to beat some positive personality into them? And I think our minds have been tainted by cute male (a place on 4chan) and it makes me sad. There are quite a few scenes that were clearly fodder for countless doujinshi. When you have likable beautiful male characters in compromising positions you know that the fan-girl mind is sparked like a powder-keg to draw and write smut. Nothing in the show is horribly exploitative but anyone who has seen enough doujinshi will know that certain scenes are going to be used.

Look, I don’t want go into this too much. But if cute male has taught us anything, it is this: characters don’t even have to know each other to have smut made about them! So, a series rife with beautiful men is just asking for stories to be written about it. And unfortunately, Saiunkoku doesn’t show up on cute/male very often. Did I say unfortunate? I totally meant fortunate. Yes, that is what I meant.

I will off handily mention there is the occasionally supernatural element to the series. I would say about 90 of everything that goes on is mundane and normal. There are one or two characters, and they are mostly more minor characters, that have blatantly magical powers. They will usually only pop up ever five or six episodes and their powers are usually subtle. Magic seems to be understood to exist in the world of Saiunkoku but it also seems to be very rare. I wonder how much the supernatural comes into play in the second season. I assume they keep the same balance of mundane to supernatural but there are hints that might not be the case. I suppose the only way to find out is for me to watch.

Oh and watch we shall! Probably have to review the second season as well, that is when it’s done. I want the rest of the DVDs that fit it the awesome little case that Geneon made for it! And it had little postcard posters, which are now hanging in my office. Poor Geneon, you were a service to fans! But we had to hunt for it, found fan-subs of it before it was licensed since there was really no alternative. This series is great. We have babbled on about it long enough you’d think. But no, I could go on and on about all the little things that make this series a winner. Let me just say that this is one of the best shojo series to gace television in a long time. That is my final thought.

I really hope we sell people on this series because it is another series that can easily fall by the wayside if people don’t talk about it. I think it is one of the smartest, most entertaining, older family friendly shojo fantasy series. If you watch the series and you like it tell people about it. I really want someone to pick up the anime again. I think it is the best way to get the rest of the related materials. I think that there are some series that do some things better but not as many do as many things very well as Saiunkoku. It is definitely better than Fushigi Yugi. Zing Fushigi Yugi. Zing.

UPDATE: Funimation has picked up this show along with other Geneon titles!

Violinist of Hameln, It’s sort of an anime.

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Imagine there was a director who read the original Slayers novels and said,”This is good. A really good fantasy adventure. I just wish there was not so much goofy comedy.” Then he went and took out all the breast jokes and the eating gags. Then he just makes the whole plot about Lina and her companion’s quest to save the world from Ruby-Eye Shabranigdo and his horde of demon warriors. Then he took all the characters and did not totally rewrite them but he made them all serious business. That is basically what they did with the Violinist of Hameln. It does not make the Violinist of Hameln a bad anime in the least. It just makes it based on the original work but not a direct adaption. The anime reveals itself early to be a dark fantasy epic that hits the ground running. I suppose it is also one of the only ways to tell a 37 book story in 26 episodes.

Sometimes veering from the original is a horrible mistake and sometimes you get two interesting pieces of work that are individually good. As soon as I read more of the manga I can make my call on that one. I became interested in this show a good number of years ago now. I was looking for something in the fantasy realm. And as most fans know, good anime sword and sorcery epics are few and far between. This is one of those obscure shows with a cult following. It has a quirky gimmick with a very serious and dark plot. Although, in the anime the quirks quickly fade as the story progresses.

Hamel and Flute both grew up in the idyllic little village of Staccato. Hamel is an introverted boy man who carries around a rather large violin and has a talking crow, Oboe, for a pet. Flute is his upbeat and cute friend. One day, Flute stumbles upon an injured knight and tries to nurse him back to health. Eventually the Knight brings major trouble to the village and Hamel is forced to protect Flute on her journey to the capital city to meet Queen Horn and where she can be safe. Along the way they are joined by a pianist, Raiel, who seems to know Hamel and a young Prince, Trom, of the Sword Kingdom. We slowly learn that there is more to everyone in this little adventuring party and that they all play a role in much larger events that will shape the future of everyone in the kingdom.

As you can see, many characters and most places have musical names and the ones that don’t use magical music. I really love the character designs, very extreme costuming and a use of bright colors. This is where a lot of its quirkiness lives. It’s a real contrast to the world surrounding them because everything is dark and mysterious. I think the series constantly juxtaposed things this way. Even the way the story is told, it starts off seeming like a simple story about demons and a kingdom and turns into being a look at moral ambiguity.

I still find that fact that Raiel has a huge R on his hat and carries around a mini piano rather hysterical. I really liked Sizer’s character design although her scythe also has a huge S on it and doubles as a flute.

Hamel wakes up one day to find he has sprouted a horn. Odd. He is a very silent and aloof kind of guy, I know hard to believe in a shonen series. His original objective is to protect Flute but as the series progresses it really becomes a discovery of who and what he is and where he fits into the fate of this world.

Not to give too much away, but I will say that no character is exactly what they appear to be at the beginning at the anime. Things that seem like unexplained plot holes or odd character decision are often explained later in the series and actually make sense in retrospect. Okay, maybe Cornet is not hiding dark secrets but that is mostly because she is sort of annoying so no one wants to include her in sinister plans. I also feel that one of the main themes of Hamel is an examination of love in the romantic sense, the platonic sense, and the familial sense. How much can you love someone despite what they have done in the past and might do in the future? How much are you willing to sacrifice to please the one you love? How much are you willing to sacrifice the happiness of another to make the one you love happy? How much are you willing to sacrifice another person to make yourself happy? Everyone in this series has to answer these questions at some point in the story.

The supporting cast is strong and that is where my favorite characters, in all series, frequently come from. Raiel, who we meet is a childhood friend of Hamel’s and a traveling musician. So he actually uses his magical music for more than fighting foes. I think Raiel is a good character stemming from his constant turmoil from loving and hating Hamel. This becomes more prominent as the series progress and creates moments where you really don’t know how he will react. Then you have mostly useless Flute, the female love interest; all knowing Obo, the crusty badass crow; Trom, the high-spirited, sword-swinger; and Clarinet, the one everyone thinks is annoying but I didn’t really find her so. Also you have have Clairi(net) who is a powerful wizard! I LOVE HIM! He works for Queen Horn who protects the kingdom at all costs. Everyone contributes something at some point and therefore makes for a well-rounded cast.

I seem to remember us joking that Mohinder tended to drop the ball less than Flute who mostly seems to wander around with the party and be nothing more than a plot point for quite a good deal of the story. When she is not being useless she is actively making things worse. She does contribute at several key points in the story so she is not a totally useless character. Raiel is an oddly conflicted character and makes him a wild card in the series. I feel that several of his changes of heart that seem to come rather suddenly and at times a tad bit unexplained. I think most of them in part are related to shifts in dispositions of Raiel in the manga. And I wish we had seen a little more of Trom. He was very important when he was introduced and then somewhere near the middle he seems to appear in every episode but does next to nothing other than at the climax. I’m curious if once again he was supposed to be more important but due to the problems that seemed to plague Hameln’s production. Oboe is just made of manly voice and encyclopedic knowledge. The only huge plot hole in the series is that one even bats an eye about Oboe’s existence as a talking crow. You you think he had the same convenient plot invisibility that Andre does in Rose of Versailles. You liked Clairi? Unpossible. It is not like there are legions of fan girls (and quite a few fan boys) for him. I think you summed it up best with, “The most popular doujinshi pairing is not Clairi and a specific character, it’s Clairi and anyone and everything.” As a side note, I felt that Ocarina was thrown into the anime just because she was a rather prominent character in manga. She could have been easily removed from the anime and it would have had no real effect on the plot.

So, what the hell is everyone fighting against in this series? Well, we really don’t get to know too much about them except they are demons and they want to revive their demonking because he is their demonking! Some of our villains have intricate pasts that weave them into the relationships with the characters and some are just plain evil.

Music is of course a huge part of what makes this series unique and a joy to listen to. Like we mentioned there is magical music and that music is classical pieces played by either the violin or piano. Oboe jumps in to tell you the name of the piece and why it is significant to use at that point in the story. So if you know nothing about classical music, which I don’t, then is both entertaining and educational.

I remember the President of the anime club at college loved Hameln because of all of the classical music. The only sad things is as the series progress I feel that the music becomes less integral as it is in the beginning. Anime needs more series with classical music soundtracks other than Legend of the Galactic Heroes.

I think we have to talk about everyone’s biggest complaint with this show. It is a rather unfortunate thing, but it must be addressed. This series is about 50% (maybe even less) animated, the rest being filled in with still and pan shots. I remember people having a similar complaint of Record of Lodoss War: Chronicles of the Heroic Knight, too. Let me tell you, that has nothing on Hameln! I at least take heart that it isn’t poorly animated, it just isn’t animated a lot of the time, haha. While this doesn’t bother me too much, I can see the annoyance. There are times even I am cracking up from the lack of it. Sometimes you wonder, “why did they animate that! Couldn’t you have animated that fight scene more?” So it watches more like an illustrated storybook with limited movement.

Hameln is fine if you go into it with the right expectations. You have to realize that watching Hameln is more like watching a slightly animated manga rather than watching an anime. If you this, you can give in more of a fair shake. There are clearly going to be people who just can’t watch this show. In many scenes they don’t even animate the characters talking; or even try to hide the fact the characters are not moving their mouth’s like in later episodes of Evangelion. This show was obviously not given a real budget but for some reason could not or would not prune down the number of episodes to accommodate this.

This series had me guessing and asking questions from the get go. And I feel a number of things were not fleshed out enough and left me with many more questions but I tend to obsess over minor things that I notice. The over arcing plot and ideas that it was trying to get across were wrapped up with finality but certainly not with the “happy ending.” The play between what is truly good and evil is really explored with compassion. I enjoyed the overall heavy tone of the series that is lightened by its character designs. It somehow made it a little more bearable and less pessimistic. I really do think this series has a lot to offer as a story but as a animated piece it clearly lacks any really luster. So you really have to choose which is more important.

Hameln definitely helps fill in the lack of serious European fantasy anime. Fantasy fans cannot live on Record of Lodoss War alone. I feel the ending would be considered the True Ending or Normal Ending if it were a video game. You finished the game but not everyone got the ending they were hoping for. It was not a BAD END path but not the Good Ending or Happy Ending. All in all I feel that you should at least give the show a shot and see if you can deal with it’s problems and accept it’s original and engaging story.

Oh, and be forewarned that the fan-sub of this show was mediocre and becomes worse as the series goes along. There are even times whole sentences aren’t translated and they use really poor grammar. But it is not UNWATCHEDABLE just laughable at times.

Boys’ love is a funny thing.

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Anyone who was ever dated can easily attest to the fact that men and women have very different ideas on romance, courtship, and love. Fiction written for men and women and fiction by men and women is therefore distinctly different as well. Almost universally you will see that shonen and seinen manga treat love and romance completely differently than shojo and josei manga. I would daresay that the magazine a manga is published in is more important to how romance in handled in manga than the sex of the author. Score another point for the power of the editor in manga. We are very clearly going to be talking about generalizations. I’m sure there are a dozen examples to counter each claim we make below. Especially since most manga magazines want crossover appeal they tend to try to add elements from magazines for the opposite gender in at least one manga in their anthologies. Most of the times the manga that break the rules we set below are the exceptions that prove the rule.

I think it is funny because as many difference as you can find, you can find almost as many parallels that are just dressed up a little differently. I can think of examples of shonen series that treat love in a very natural and organic manner, certianly, but that sure isn’t the norm. Love seems like this cast-off that is thrown in when need but never really becomes a solid or believable part of the story. Most characters personalities just aren’t suited to it so you can feel when it is being forced.

As Short Round said in Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom, “Hey, Dr. Jones, no time for love.” Most shonen fighting and tournament manga seems to have a similar philosophy. There are definite examinations of relationships and romance in these titles but it almost always happens in the background. Most fighting manga tends to focus on themes of friendship and teamwork. Girls will express romantic feelings most of the time and sometimes male side characters will express their love for someone but the protagonist will usually only have platonic feelings for the women around him in the beginning. This leads to love having two main proposes in fighting manga. Powering up the protagonist in his darkest hour and to create comedy in between the action.

Girls are known much more for being emotional and able to express their feelings better than males. So it is no surprise that this is often the way it is portrayed in shonen series. The girl might not be direct but she will express her feelings to a side character or make it extremely obvious through her actions. I think the age of most shonen protagonists is an age where guys are thinking about the physical side of woman rather than the emotional. So a girl has to worm her way into a boys heart because they really aren’t looking for it, it might not even occur to them.

The protagonist tends not to show much in the way of romantic feelings for girls. Ichigo Kurosaki is a prime example of this. You would assume that he was an asexual plant most of the time except for a few occasions and they seem done for comical effect. He often goes out of his way to protect Orihime and Rukia but he seems to do so in the same way that he would protect any of his friends. We clearly see that Orihime has romantic feelings for Ichigo and is is often hinted that Rukia has feelings for him as well. The only male side characters that seem to show any interest in women in general are Mizuiro Kojima, Keigo Asano, Kisuke Urahara, and Shunsui Kyoraku.

I wonder if it just doesn’t come up because the target audience is around 10-12. Although this doesn’t stop it in literature. Perhaps because for young boys love doesn’t seem very manly so if it comes up in stints it is more tolerable. I really don’t think it has a negative effect personally. I mean series like Kenshin were quite popular! It adds a layer of depth but it can be hard to balance it correctly in a fighting series. I think that is the big problem knowing when to throw it in and when to pull back.

Most of the time when the hero realizes that he has feelings it isn’t until some critically point in the story. Usually he discovers his love either after the girl is kidnapped, threatened, or killed. Sometimes they also realize their love when it looks like they can’t win but then the girl shouts out their name. Also if the girl has been corrupted by evil the hero often realizes his love for his heroine which helps break her free of the controlling influence. No matter what the scenario it is this realization of love that lets the hero either spring back with renewed energy or a new found power. It seems Samurai Deeper Kyo can’t go for three books without Yuya having to shout out someone’s name to bring them back up to full fighting form. You think she was a monk using Chakra in Final Fantasy Tactics. Also Damon and Rain are able to overcome the Devil Gundam’s influence and power up when they realize they love each other. I bet you dollars to donuts Ichigo is only going to realize he has feelings for Rukia during a battle if it ever comes up at all.

Thank goodness we don’t have to wait for those moments in real life! But it does make for some great dramatic moments! Fighting series are soap operas for men, really! Always friends becoming enemies, romance, deception, mystery, and someone always ends up being an old acquaintance or relative or some such. And even though a lot of times you can predict wants going to happen, it doesn’t stop you from sitting on the edge of your seat for it. The added romance is no different. It has to be this huge culmination of many situations and then it must burst forth for ultimate dramatic effect! However, I am always thankful for situations that aren’t solved using the power of love.

There is also the whole section of manga known as shonen romance manga. This category is most often mistaken for shojo manga by casual readers. The general assumption is shojo manga are all about romance and love so any manga about romance and love is a shojo manga. It usually involves a milquetoast protagonist that through some series of events gets some girl he would normally consider out of his league to spend time with him an eventually fall in love with him. There are usually alternate suitors for both the boy and the girl who try and woo them away.

I remember that horrible woman…what was her name? Oh, yes! Jessica Chobot who had a list of the “best shojo manga” or some such thing. And smack dab in the middle of the list was Love Hina. NO! NOT SHOJO! NOT EVEN CLOSE.

The most popular variation is one we have discussed before. The harem manga. In a harem manga there are usually almost no guys of significant importance other than the protagonist except a possible mentor figure or rival. The only thing that is required is that almost every attractive female is slowly drawn to the hero as the series goes on. Anything by Ken Akamatsu follows this formula to a tee.

I think I would say “hero” lightly. I mean most of the time it is super wish-fulfillment because the guy does absolutely nothing to warrant people falling for him left and right. At least if he was a hero, as in did something heroic, there would be a reason!

Well, most shonen romance is wish fulfillment pure and simple. Who would not want someone beautiful and caring will come and just fall in love them them? Considering that most otaku are not the most suave people on the planet. The concept of being able to find love just they way they are has an undeniable appeal to someone like that.

Everyone wants that, it is true. A good portion of shojo is the same way. You are dealing with a main character who is average (if that in shonen) and all of a sudden the hottest people on the planet want their bodies! Although, the person always has some wonderful quality deep down inside. This is basically how everyone feels and all they need is someone who can recognize their greatness.

Romance in seinen is much less prevalent. There is a whole lot more sex but not much love. I feel that shonen manga is usually about a young man’s journey to become the best. Seinen manga is all about the guy who is already the best and he just has to take care of all the punks that get in his way. The same thing relationship exists between shonen and seinen manga when dealing with love. In shonen manga the hero slowly learns about love and wins that love. In seinen the hero is the man. He has mastered the game of love. He does not need to court women. Women come to him.

Seinen involves everyone wanting your booty, even thought you may not want theirs! Or it is about how love gets in the way of your manly quest. As I have said before…everyone girl/woman from the age of 4 to 400 wants Guts! Even if they don’t know they want him, they do, you can see it. But funnily enough he doesn’t get too much action. I guess he has that whole saving the woman he loves and weird fetus creature sightings to deal with. I don’t read too much seinen to see patterns but I feel that there is never that definite lovely ending to it. There is so much drama, blood shed, and whatnot that that type of ending would seem out of place. I expect a massacre at the end of Blade of the Immortal and not much else.

There is some actual romance in manga aimed at men but it is harder to find. I feel that Rumiko Takahashi’s Maison Ikkoku is a good example of a legitimate romance manga from a seinen anthology. Maison Ikkoku has several interconnected love triangles and several women are interested in Godai; but, it is mainly how Godai and Kyoko fall in love over the years. I also feel that Hachirota “Hachimaki” Hoshino and Ai Tanabe slowly develop a natural and organic relationship in Planetes.

I think any series involving “real” love can easily attract a female audience. Heck, lots of shonen has the crossover appeal that shojo will never, ever see. I think most things that are straight up romance fall into the wish-fulfillment category, on both sides. Everyone has their own ideal qualities in a significant other so it is hard to say when things really ring true. This is one of the reasons why doujinish are so prevalent, even of characters that have little romantic interaction. For me, stories that involve a larger plot that one romance have a fuller feel to me. And this is how it is handled in shonen for the most part.

Narutaki Currently!
Watching Cat’s Eye
Reading Gakuen Alice
Listening to Hajimari no Kaze (Saiunkoku opening)

Hisui (Brainwasher Detective) Currently:
Watching Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei
Reading Blade of the Immortal
Listening to “AFRO Gunsou” by DANCE MAN

Top 5 canon couples
1. Kyoko Otonashi and Yusaku Godai (Maison Ikkoku)
2. Kanji Sasahara and Chika Ogiue (Genshiken)
3. Jinto and Lafiel (Banner of the Stars)
4. Anemone and Dominic Sorel (Eureka Seven)
5. Kazuya Hasukawa and Igarashi Miya (Here is Greenwood)