Let's talk about romance in shounen

I think this is worth a conversation. Why does it seem like some people are surprised by a lot of end pairings of main characters? I can't think of a single end pairing for main characters in a battle shounen that was a surprise. The closest, and I'm stretching really hard here, would be that Bulma ended up with Vegeta in DB since that really did kind of come out of nowhere, but by the same token, Goku gets proposed by Chichi? Oh look they got married. Kuririn gets kissed by 18? Oh look they got married. Videl shows a slight interest in Gohan upon first meeting? WOW LOOK WHAT HAPPENED! Usually this shit is telegraphed a mile away, even as far back as very early chapters.

What I'm wondering is how the fuck is it so hard for people to see through these? These are not meant to be romance epics. They are primarily comics for a young male audience. If they throw a few shippy moments in there, that doesn't mean that this is what the story would focus on. They don't need to. I agree that a lot of these relationships end up feeling shallow without enough buildup but my point is on the actual end pairings themselves. The authors plant this early so they don't have to focus too much on it

I mean, to this day there are people still butthurt that Naruto and Sakura didn't end up together 3 years later and more recently, Ichigo and Rukia when I personally thought it was pretty obvious. There are still people who think Natsu will end up with Lisanna, are you kidding? People actually shocked Alibaba chose Mor? Raku ending up with Chitoge? Diane finally kissing King recently? And my personal favorite, anybody who seriously believes Ochako and Deku isn't written in stone. Show of hands, who seriously thinks Boruto isn't going to end up with Sarada? Like this shit is obvious.

tl;dr, Shounen are predictable with this shit, even in romcoms and harems. So why do people choose to ignore the obvious?

Other urls found in this thread:

imgur.com/a/XKwJ4#0
twitter.com/SFWRedditGifs

...

Here's the foolproof strategy for shounen at least when it comes to the MC in terms of end pairings

1. The first girl to love, properly love, the MC will win
2. Unless that girl is secondary to a more main girl who properly loves the MC, in which case that main girl will win

And I think the reason for this is because really it would be absolutely cruel to fuck over someone who puts their heart out to an MC particularly in battle shounen when lives can be on the line. (speaking of which, if a girl ever does something like pic related, ie, confess while knowing they're gonna die or otherwise indisposed, they will win. This applies to all anime on that note)

I mean, there are three, THREE, new shounen that came out that had the MC crushing on a girl early so there wouldn't be too much doubt (U19, Dr. Stone, Amalgam of Distortion)

And why the fuck did anybody think she had a chance? She wasn't even the second option, she was fourth. Fourth!

Because the obvious pairing tends to be absolute shit, with there being one or more far better girls getting screwed over just because the author feels compelled to stick to the very most old and tired cliches.

>And I think the reason for this is because really it would be absolutely cruel to fuck over someone who puts their heart out to an MC particularly in battle shounen when lives can be on the line. (speaking of which, if a girl ever does something like pic related, ie, confess while knowing they're gonna die or otherwise indisposed, they will win. This applies to all anime on that note)
That really isn't true, sadly enough. Hinata winning was a rare miracle where best girl won. In most series, any heartfelt confession will be ignored or even used to vilify the girl if she's up against a generic tsundere. Doesn't matter whether she's a childhood friend or the main character is her only ray of hope in life, a violent mary sue bitch can and will casually waltz in to take him away from her all while saying she doesn't "really" care about winning him. If the girl whose feelings are pure and honest tries to resist that, the series tends to portray her in a negative light from that point on, no matter how kind she was before.

>any heartfelt confession will be ignored or even used to vilify the girl if she's up against a generic tsundere.
But in those cases, was the confessor in the situation they that they knew they would die, or be otherwise indisposed like being separated from their loved one forever?

Pretty sure the latter happened to Yoshida in Shakugan no Shana, to name one example.

I mean, I know it feels like one but this thread is supposed to be about shounen manga, not otaku LNs

Also who really thought Yoshida was the better girl? Maybe I should make another thread about LNs and be like "If the title of the LN has the name of the girl in it, that one is going to win"

The answer is in the demographic of the reader.
While shounen manga is generally marketed towards young boys, there are a lot of adult fans too and they spend more money on merch than the kids, so I can understand why some people feel like they're entitled to something.

I'm still amazed about how fast we forgot about Nisekoi.

Who's Touma Kamijou from the Index series gonna end up with oh wise one?

It was shit

That's an LN user. If you want me to use my powers, give me a battle shounen

Though if I wanted to guess, it would probably be Index. I hope I get a Chrome Shelled Regios curveball and he ends up with the actual best girl Misaka.

The otter has moved on greener watermelon.

Has there been any good shonen romance series those two genres seem to have some poor synergy with one and other, and if any attempt attempted is made it can usually fall into at least one of three categories.

First comes first serves: as OP pointed that first characters introduced regardless of overall interactions/chemistry will usually end up together with a few exceptions.

Oh yeah that exists: Starts promising but ends up being shuffled to the end of the priority list with it only being brought up every dozen or so chapters and overall is not the reason most people read it for.

Ecchi = Romance fallacy: Mindset behind this is because since both interactions typically result in blushing and or embarrassment, they must be the same thing.

>I hope I get a Chrome Shelled Regios curveball and he ends up with the actual best girl Misaka.

>Raku ending up with Chitoge?
Considering how the ending pretty much spits on Raku's character?
Yeap.
In order:
>Christmas tree arc character development completely retconned as the next arc started
>Chitoge pushed to hell and back until she finally won a poll, last one before the ending
>Raku breaking a promise, when it's been clear for most of the series that being a man of his word until the end is his defining trait
>Raku becoming a yakuza leader instead of getting his hands clean of the whole business as he intended

Sure, the whole choosing having fun over stable happiness would make sense for most hot-blooded teenage MCs, but insofar Raku had wanted a more peaceful life. Almost feels like the MC struggles against fate for the whole series and then randomly gives up at the end of it all.

Dreams do come true

That's still not changing my point that the end result was still predictable.

I mean, it is called Nisekoi, not "I want a peaceful life"

This was pretty damn unexpected.

No it wasn't user. Renji's flashback set that in stone.

Even if you don't want to admit it, both of those end pairings were obvious

Nisekoi was different. Anyone could have won

>This was pretty damn unexpected.

Seriously? I thought Renruki was obvious for endgame when Ichigo threw Rukia to Renji after saving her, and told Renji to "protect her because that's his job" back in the SS arc, and then we see them attached at the hip after that. Ichihime on the other hand was obvious since the beginning since Orihime was introduced with having a crush on Ichigo and was endgame the moment she confessed her love in the next arc.

Absolutely not

No user.

Nah. Chitoge had the one-shot, and she was the main heroine, and mascot of the series on top of that. In every JUMP cover, it was Chitoge that was featured; not Raku. It's obvious that Komi only wanted Chitoge to win which is why he pushed her everywhere.

chitoge a shit but she was always endgame

>shounen romance
Seinen romance are same. The only difference is the magazine.

I don't read enough seinen so I can only apply knowledge of what I know the most. Also I don't think seinen get as many shipwars as battle shounens do

Kubo had been shitting on so many things in the final arc that I never expected him to actually pair people up.

It was the opposite for me. I expected him to pair people up especially Ichihime because those relationships were one of the few consistent things in the entire series + I always expected Kubo to go for the whole happy ending with the new generation being revealed.

Me neither. But I figured if he did, it would be the easy choices

OP here. I think I should stand corrected on one thing.

This one. I legitimately don't know who, if any, the main characters will be with here if Oda decides to pair anybody up at all. I mean, using my own logic, obviously it would be Hancock for Luffy right? You don't even have to write it, that would be the implied ending but because Oda is Oda, it's not really something anybody thinks of

Yeah, OP seems like it might be more difficult to predict, but I would bet on Hancock for Luffy as well if he ends up with anyone at all. Do you think Eren in Snk will end up dead or with Mikasa?

If you asked me about 2 or 3 years ago, I'd say "Everyone's gonna die" but with some recent events, I'd say yeah probably Mikasa

Especially after this chapter

Alright let's do this:

Luffy-Hancock
Zoro-Tashigi
Sanji-Nami
Usopp-Blonde lady who gave hime Going Merry
Chopper-Carrot
Robin-Franky
Brook-Madam Shirlay
Jinbei-dies

Screencap this niggers

...

With Mikasa, I don't see Isayama actually killing them off after that one interview.

I think the part of the reason people argue about this is because Isayama didn’t do much with their relationship after this chapter and because Isayama said Mikasa was more like Eren's mother and they will seperate or something. The arguing mostly seems to come from people who don't like the EM pairing or prefer Eren alone or dead or with someone else though.

>luffy
>having sex
Pick one.

>Robin-Franky
The only acceptable pairing in this mess of a list.

Japanese romance series are never going to work for us because they are never made for us.
In a better world, a good harem would be an actual harem where the MC actually likes and fucks all his women. Problem is Japan is ACTUALLY obsessed with blueballing. See World's End Harem.

>I think the part of the reason people argue about this is because Isayama didn’t do much with their relationship after this chapter
Well it's still a shounen so

>Roger
>having sex
>Dragon
>having sex
>Shanks
>having sex

Okay maybe Shanks is a bit more believable

>In a better world, a good harem would be an actual harem where the MC actually likes and fucks all his women
So you like those romantic dramas with the love interests the hero/heroine fucks all the time?

Also, School Days, Uwakoi, it's not common but they exist. They're also shit

It wouldn't be so obvious if shounen girls love interests weren't specifically made to love the MC with few interests of their own. I knew NaruHina would win since part 1 but I'll forever be upset about how it happened and how Kishi used Neji instead of giving them proper development.

I dropped the series back when they were in the middle of overthrowing the government, but from what I remember people argued a lot about Levi and his pairings too. I always thought it was obvious he would die or end up alone and watch over the next generation like Kakashi.

And what greener watermelons are there?

I really just miss Nisekoi and its occasionally-weekly threads.

I don't like EM but shit man, it's pretty obvious shonen formula is gonna be at work here. It's whatever, really.

If I were to write a romance in a battle shounen, I would do the exact same thing as you have described, except at very end the mc would die in the final battle and no girl would win.

I've noticed that EM isn't as popular/supported by the fanbase as other shonen manga male MC/female MC pairings such as Natsu/Lucy and Inuyasha/Kagome.

>still people who think Natsu will end up with Lisanna
They still exist?
>People actually shocked Alibaba chose Mor?
The denial here was bordering on retarded.
>Diane finally kissing King recently?
There's people butthurt about this?

Been there, done that.

This intrigues me too. Part of me thinks it's because of the whole "incest" thing (even though, let's face it, it's not at all) but even Sup Forums follows the rule and we all know how it is out here.
Then again, the snk threads contain far too many tumblrinas.

OP here. I know I said that shounen manga don't focus on romance but SnK especially doesn't.

So besides Natsu/Lucy and Ochako/Deku (maybe Eren/Mikasa too), are there any pretty obvious shonen couples that aren't together just yet? The OP ones are mostly canon already.
I need this information for reasons.

I haven't read FT in years, but if I had to guess people who think Natsu is going to end with Lisanna are either delusional or paranoid because Naruto and Ichigo married a girl who wasn't the female MC so they think Natsu is going to snub the female MC Lucy and end up with a supporting female cast member like Lisanna.

Then surely they haven't been actually reading the manga (can't even blame them, FT has been especially shitty lately) because Mashima actually dedicates time to romance. Which, granted, is unusual for shonens but still.

I really like NH, but I do agree that Kishi could've written it a lot better; I think the main problem was the fact that they had little screentime together throughout the entire series, we never just get to see them hang out since Naruto was never in the village too long in Part 2 + he's the MC so he obviously has to always be on a mission or helping to save someone in some way. NH always had dramatic moments(the blood vow back in part 1, her confession in part 2, the hand-holding) but those moments weren't enough for some readers and I could understand.

Mashima has been really obvious with not only Natsu/Lucy, but Grey/Juvia, Jellal/Erza, and Gajeel/Levy and a few other side pairings like Zeref/Mavis.

Bolt/Sarada, and Erina/Souma are the only ones that come to mind.

Erina/Soma, Meliodas/Elizabeth, Yato/Hiyori, Norman/Emma (though the manga's still fresh, you'll be waiting for years). That's all I got.

Cannot wait for this paring to become canon. FUCK ALL YOU DELUSIONAL SOMA & MEGUMI SHIPPERS

I really wish Naruto would've given Hinata the bouquet of flowers that Konan gave him after his fight with Pein. He could've responded to her confession then instead of making her wait so long.

Thank you. Only one from the list I'm not reading right now is SnS so I should get on that.

I like Soumegu and will always prefer it, but never deluded myself into actually thinking it had a chance. Calm down user.

>but never deluded myself into actually thinking it had a chance.
That's what deluded fags always say...

That's the thing that's weird about SnK. There's virtually no focus on romance yet the fanbase is full of shipping and shipping wars. I heard there was a big timeskip so maybe Isayama will confirm some ships and then people can celebrate or be asspained and then move on.

Hall of Anal Devastation Part 3 when.

Best romance in shounen is unsurprisingly done by women.

Yato/Hiyori is easily one of the best shonen ships.

Nah, I knew it had no chance since Erina was the one-shot girl. You can still ship something despite knowing it has no chance at canon. I mean look at the Narusaku and Ichiruki shippers that still hold on to their ships despite getting BTFO.

In times of great tragedy people turn to sex to cope and probably as a survival of the species mechanism. With how many mooks die the inserted position would be strange though it may be to have offspring and pairing people up. I think it's evolutionary psychology playing in the backs of these people's minds that turn into conscious thoughts of shipping. The one fault this hypothesis has is the gay shippings. That could just be an expression of repressed fetishes maybe. Could also be that SnKfags are more primal in nature.

>Narusaku
That's actually a thing!?

>They still exist?
I was in a recent FT thread where people were insisting on it so yes unfortunately

Jesus man.
It's just because at least half of the fanbase for SnK are probably women.

imgur.com/a/XKwJ4#0

Enjoy user.

Also that.

This. The nip fanbase is full of fujos.

>There's virtually no focus on romance
That is precisely why there is a lot of shipping wars?

You sure it wasn't falseflagging? If not then wew the retardation is real.

>Hinata winning was a rare miracle where best girl won.
She was literally the only girl madly in love with Naruto. What other love interests could he possibly have had?

I swear you Hinatafags are more delusional than Sakurafags.

It honestly is funny how Hiyori, being the most normal girl there is on the planet, makes such a good match for Yato.

You'd think the vanilla choice would be the most boring one, especially with such a varied female cast.
Not this time.

School Days is shit because Makoto is a shitty person who is the son of an even shittier person who got women despite being a jerk.
I just want a harem where the guy is nice and caring, works hard to earn his harem, and treats them like a person treats a single girlfriend but as a group. Also he isn't OP because 'Fuck you' he's OP because he worked to be OP.

Acceptable enough for you to screencap it and be eternally BTFO when I'm right?

Hiyori being normal is why it works so well. Yato is crazy enough for the both of them so she helps balance it out.

It has a lot to do with the writing. They could've made some dramatic bullshit where the normal girl is always in trouble and dependent on him for being a god but Hiyori's actually a pretty good character. She knows how to deal with Yato and he's the one who goes crazy over her even if she clearly feels the same. They have a very good dynamic.
Good shit, man.

LMAO! It's so funny reading comments from deluded fags who cannot accept their opposing OTPs xD

>School Days is shit because Makoto is a shitty person who is the son of an even shittier person who got women despite being a jerk.
However in the game Makoto is much nicer and you can actually lead him down the path of being faithful to a girl.

School Days is an interesting case where everyone is flawed/insane, but at heart are decent people that can be corrupted through jealousy and desire.

New chapter when??
>mfw Kofuku tied together Hiyori and Yato at the god's party

>LMAO
>XD
You have to leave.

In like two weeks probably.
The author took the month off because of personal reasons IIRC(God, I beg you don't let it be a cold).

Also:
>Kofuku tied together Hiyori and Yato
Considering it's Kofuku, this might end in a disaster.

I'm guessing they'll definitely be facing some problems but I expect a happy ending. The manga has drama but overall things usually turn out pretty well at the end of each arc.

>See World's End Harem
How about we don't see it.

Speaking of drama, the last chapter ended on a fucking bomb.
You think that's a ruse?

What about HxH, user?

I seriously have no idea if Nora's serious or not. She seems like she does things on her own sometimes but we ignore ignore the possibility that she has second intentions too. She's so mysterious I really don't know what to expect of her.

>HxH
>having a proper ending

we can't ignore the possibility*
Oops.

I didn't say every shounen ever had romance

I'm more inclined to believe it's a long term plan to drive a wedge between Yato and Yukine.

But then again she did seem weary of father in the past, so she might be acting on her own accord. It's really hard to tell.
Is this the mythical "good writing" I have heard so much about on the internet?

>There are still people who think Natsu will end up with Lisanna, are you kidding?

I don't think there's anyone left who thinks Mashima will actually have Natsu end up with Lisanna. Just people who think he could easily do that if he wanted to, that it'd be a better fit for the story, and that was Mashima's original intention in bringing her back before the Natsu/Lucy fans started to pitch a fit and he decided to try and avoid fueling a shipping war.

After all, for all people like to say that Mashima's being so obvious about Natsu and Lucy, he told Lucy's Japanese VA during the Tartaros arc that he wouldn't be drawing anything romantic for them. When the interview mentioning that hit the internet, he was forced to clarify on twitter that he'd just been talking about the Tartaros arc then. Then go on to emphasis that the rest of the story wasn't set in stone, mention that authors get requests for pairings all the time but they can't do all of them as they draw with their own convictions. Then tell people to stop sending rude comments to the anime staff and to other fans. Then a few months later the collection of omakes were released, and the afterword for the one talked about not having had any intention of writing a romance for Natsu and Lucy and unintentionally making readers expect it. Then say he was currently writing them as more than friends less than lovers, which you can ask the IchiRuki fans how Kubo saying that about their pairing turned out for them.