Pychology of shipping

Why do people ship (non, generally gay) couples in shows that are clearly not romantic?
Literally all animes have more of such fanart that funny or action fanwork, many times like in One Piece , or kaiji ,the characters are clearly rough rather than cute.
So;why do so many japanese and western fans indulge in this trend'?
I'm curious.

Because they like to self insert into the characters. That's why they get so butthurt when the ship loses or a character does something they didn't want them to.

Additionally for the fun of it. Its like betting for a sports team or playing a game of chance against other people that have other ships.

While its generally harmless, its disgusting when shipping becomes the main drive of the fandom and it overshadows the plot. Ex. Olicity's organic, Oregairu's muh genuine or Saekano's shipping wars.

It's not necessarily self inserting, though obviously it happens.
This is an old question. It's maybe more about that humans mostly just want some inter-character development.
That via any other than romantic relationship just isn't sufficient to some.
One theory was that women, who apparently are more invested in shipping, want more of the kind of emotional feedback a romance (sub)plot provides, so in the absence of it they feel the need to ship.

A common story among those who had sisters is finding their sisters playing dolls with their action figures, making them a couple despite it not making any sense at all.

Shipping is basically the same thing, but now your sister have internet access. And the focus on gay ships is simply because women like to fap to gay.

do women fap?

Because women are degenerates

Eldest brother to two younger sisters. Can confirm.

If I was a grill, that would be the first thing I'd do.

Mentally investing in notions of fictional romantic or sexual relationships helps fill a void of love/sex in people's lives.

It's that simple.

Maybe even more pronounced with anime and manga characters, who are often already designed to be loved/sexualised by viewers.

This. And writers like to feed the fires for shipping even more because its proven that it helps a work sell.

was the scene where Levi kicks Eren done to fee sado-masochist yaoi ship?

People like porn and it's even better for some when you're emotionally invested in the characters and they're 2D perfection.

Also if one guy/girl is hot, two is hotter.

>Oregairu's muh genuine or Saekano's shipping wars.
Romance is the main focus of those series though. In a harem/romance series I think shipping nonsense is pretty much inevitable. It's practically what they exist for.

Unfortunately OP I do not have an answer to your question though I am also curious.
>Additionally for the fun of it. Its like betting for a sports team or playing a game of chance against other people that have other ships.
I don't think this can be used as an answer to
>Why do people ship (non, generally gay) couples in shows that are clearly not romantic?
because no one ever does win in a series like that. No one even plays. (I mean the characters in the series.)

THIS. Best answer, very concise.

How do fujos self insert in a homo ship?

>I self-identify as an anime boy

bump

>Why do people ship (non, generally gay) couples in shows that are clearly not romantic?
Because "clearly not romantic" is not obvious for everyone. That's it.
What's more, some authors don't see difference between relationships and sometimes their characters act more like a couple rather than friends.
And the worst part is when authors specially do some hints which can be interpreted differently. Add to this crazy fans who see only what they want and you get what you get.

When a character is well-written and becomes "alive" in a fan's mind, if they like that character (and it's not a love-to-hate situation where you recognise the character is complex and entertaining but literally hitler), they'll easily start to root for them and wish that good things would happen to them; that they'd develop, reach their goals, grow and mature, find happiness. You get emotionally invested in the character and their well-being or journey or whatever.

Romance is often a big part of this, the fan wants the character to be happy and find a partner that's good for them. So they start to pair them up with the person in the available surrounding cast who in their eyes, with their interpretation of the characters, would be best. If no such characters exist in the cast they can even resort to crossover shipping, if their emotional investment is so great a suitable mate must be procured.

Shipping wars happen because people are different, like different things, interpret the same characters and their actions differently and project different experiences or emotions or needs to the characters.

Often it's not really conscious. I never used to ship anything, but have within a couple of years started to ship a couple of pairings. It's not a decision, you just get hit with the shipping feels.

But shipping has definitely been around for a long time. I think shipping fanfictions appeared at least in the 1800s when people wrote fan endings to Pride and Prejudice, for example. Probably earlier than that. It's a very human phenomenon.

>in the 1800s when people wrote fan endings to Pride and Prejudice
Elizabeth x Charlotte is best ship

Fuck you, Charlotte x Colonel Fitzwilliam is where it's at

This. Don't know if intentional, but without that scene the popularity of the ship would be nowhere near where it is. It is a true fetish pairing.

>age difference/underage
>student-teacher (or superior-subordinate)
>abuse/verbal abuse (shitty brat)
>hurt-comfort or SM, depending on how you want to take it

It just baffles me how SJW can openly support pairings like this or Sasusaku.

>not wickham x darcy

First of all, romance is force-inserted into everything. There are hundreds of movies where the romance is just forced, whole characters existing just as love interests. People are used to it, fed it since they are little kids. If there are characters, at least some of them MUST fall in love. Otherwise it feels like a cast full of robots.

Plus, people enjoy seeing weakness. They like to see those people hurt, bleeding... but in the end, winning. Romance is similar... people enjoy seeing someone suffering and having a weakness for another... possibly being heartbroken and then having the satisfying happy ending. It's everywhere. Some people self-insert, but many just like to feel pity and epathize. And it feels rather good to see those strong, badass, idealized characters 'humanized' by love.

That is also behind the popularity of M/M pairings, women think it's hot to see a cool character act vulnerable. In 99.9% of cases they won't get it in straight pairing, since the man will always be dominant there, he will not be the emotional and vulnerable one. That besides the obvious reason of looking at two hot dudes instead of one.