TV romantic cliches *clenches fist*

[Cilas]

*Waves* First topic here, I just felt the need to rant, and believe that my opinion will feel right at home here :)

My topic concerns T.V, anime, and my irritation at the fact that almost all of them aimed at girls are almost romantically based

First off, I'm a girl

Secondly, I personally have no interest in romance

Thirdly, having romance in some tv shows I can tolerate, but, in Peter Griffen's words.. It really 'grinds my gears' at the fact that most every female lead has a romantic interest

I suppose the only thing I have to say is - WHY?!

I really dislike the stereotype that every little girl wants to fall in love and marry the guy of her dreams. My childhood was NEVER filled with such thoughts.. I never liked wearing dresses, and I think I was interested more in other things (I liked Fighting movies, to be honest XD) than I ever was/am in romantic fluff.

Having said that..I would also like to rant a little about Ouran High School Host Club.. and moreso the character of Haruhi Fujioka.The thing that makes me love Ouran, and like Haruhi so, soo much is the fact that she coudn't care less about romance..

I just think it's incredibly rare to find such a character, a girl, in a shojo anime, who doesn't have an interest in romance. and to be perfectly honest, Haruhi is really the only shojo girl that I don't find annoying..ugh.chracters like Sailor Moon, Karin, Ichigo (Tokyo Mew Mew) and others who were obseesed with romance always irritated me.

Haruhi's totally different, she's not ditzy or idiotic, she's cool and calm..an handles the other guys in such a way which always bring a smile to my face.. I mean, who else do you know would be so inidifferent to a guy licking her face? and her brushing off of Tamaki (please stop your sexual harrassment, senpai) made me laugh so much, as well as the other times she give him the glare

So in the end, I really, really, REALLY don't want Bisco Hatori to have Haruhi fall in love, to me, it would be so out of character, and I don't want her to destroy the one predominant thing which drew me to this wonderful manga/anime in the first place..

I have to say that my opinion on Ouran.. doesn't have that many supporters *laughs*

I'm sure some of you guys have experienced it as well.. Other people you meet only care about the two main leads hooking up? I really don't want it to happen here, and it seems as though with every chapter that comes out, the only thing that I hear when I read the summaries is TAMAHARU?!

*sigh*

Oh well,, let me just end that with my of my favorite pictures from the whole series

So yes, I guess all I'm saying is that I"m really irritated at the fact that there aren't more female leads in anime which have more than boys on the brain -_-

I've have seen my fair share of anime, so if anyone wants to prove me wrong and show show me decent female leads, than by all means do so.. It would make me very happy to find characters I can actually relate to moreso

But yes, anyone else out there agree with me on this topic?

[Hallucigenia]

The fact that you mentioned anime made me immediately think of Ouran High School Host Club, so it was awesome when later on in your post you started talking about it. *huggles that show* (I've only seen the anime, but I might pick up the manga one of these days.)

I get the feeling that not every asexual would enjoy Host Club, because so much of it is about girls being hyperromantic fangirls and boys trying to impress them - but that's what makes Haruhi's asexuality/aromanticism all the more obvious and awesome.

[Nico-Nico Friendo]

Sounds like an anime that might be funny/amusing to watch.

I saw the opening song and it looked really 'romatic-y' though. EEK! :o

It definitely has got that 'Shojo' look to it . . .

[Hallucigenia]

I saw the opening song and it looked really 'romatic-y' though. EEK! :o

:D :D KISS KISS FALL IN LOVE! :D :D

Yeah, the anime itself isn't as twee as the opening song. It gets very, very silly most of the time, though.

If you want to check it out, it's widely available on YouTube. Here's the first part of the first episode:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBQRfrfTRYE

[Mr. Ten Below]

That's the only anime of which I've watched more than a few episodes. Which kind of surprises me, because it's not exactly my style of show in general. But Haruhi is great.

[Everhope]

I've not watched much anime, but I definatly understand the type of character you're getting at within the ones I have watched.

The only one that wasn't this way, was Mai Hime/Otome - though that's also to do with the fact it supported more of a girl/girl thing, and was set in a school of all girls and therefore there were little boys for them to get all gooey eyed over.

It is also a very common triat to use the girls as sex objects, with almost at least one episode in any anime series involving girls in short skirts and some kind of monster with tentacles.

I'm just waiting for this to load on youtube now though and I'll give it a fair watch.[/i]

[Nico-Nico Friendo]

I just watched the entire first episode on YouTube. It's a bit . . . um . . . flowery, but Haruhi is a pretty interesting character. And that one blonde guy made me laugh because he acts so ridiculous! LOL! ^_^ What's up with that little boy? He's suposed to be a high school senior, but it looks like he needs a little HGH (Human Growth Hormone) or something. Unless he's like some genius kid who skipped a bunch of grades. :?

I liked the part when they found out she was a girl. It was funny!

But . . . What's the meaning of the flashing light bulbs? :idea: Can anyone explain their significance? :?:

[Cicero]

I think they lit up whenever someone realised she was a girl. Unless I've understood that completely incorrectly!

[Cilas]

I think they lit up whenever someone realised she was a girl. Unless I've understood that completely incorrectly!

Yeah, I think that was the symbolism for them

Ouran might be classified as shojou, but it definitely isn't as girly as the.. rea opening suggests.. if Haruhi is the only reason that is the case..What I really love is the fact that she stands on her own with the boys, in most cses if you put any other girl in her position she'd probably just spend the day oggling at them >_<

The manga is still ongoing.. and it's pretty cool.. Unfortunately like I've said before a great portion of fans are just essentially reading the manga to see Haruhi hooked up.. I think I've lost count of the times in which I've said that Haruhi doesn't need to fall in love for the story to be great..the thought that the manga writer would place Haruhi back into that convention saddens me. because characters like her are sooo damn rare, which is why I don't want to give up my image of her

I hope that made sense XD

[Charlieee]

I love Haruhi. She is amazing. The end. :D

I have to admit though, I love the last moments of the anime (yeah, spoilers here), when Tamaki and Kyouya's fathers are fighting over which of their sons gets to marry Haruhi. :lol:

I tend to stay away from shoujo, just for that romancey reason. A few weeks ago I picked up a shoujo manga (The Gentleman's Alliance? Something like that) and I seriously couldn't finish reading it. It was that girly. :lol:

But, if you want more examples of awesome anime girls, I'd check out Bleach. (It's shounen, aka targeted towards boys) Lots of strong girl characters. :D Like Rukia, the shinigami who gives Ichigo his shinigami abilities. Very kick-butt, not romantic at all. :D Sure, there are some really big-chested women (like Inoue), but that doesn't stop her from getting over everyone's expectations that she's just a weakling. She ends up being a huge asset to the other male characters. :D

And Hallu, you now got Sakura Kiss stuck in my head. :lol: *bounces*

[Hallucigenia]

What's up with that little boy? He's suposed to be a high school senior, but it looks like he needs a little HGH (Human Growth Hormone) or something. Unless he's like some genius kid who skipped a bunch of grades. :?

Yeah, he really is a high school senior. He just happens to be really, really tiny and young-acting. Apparently there are some girls in Japan who are into that. :?

I'm sexual and romantic, but I agree, Host Club would lose a lot of its charm if Haruhi hooked up with someone seriously. The whole point of the series is the contrast - how she always keeps her head while everyone around her is moe-ing. You can't appreciate one without the other.

[Wolf X Omega]

uh? I've never watched that one, but i can say i'm a big fan of shoujo anime, sometimes i get mocked for it but what the hell, i like shoujo anime because they always get better stories than shonen anime/manga(Saving Beck: Mongolian chop squad which is great And Obviously Nightwalker which is perfect @_@) I've never paid attention to this but i've noticed what you're trying to point, but i don't think i care much about it, If you want me to point another asexual(In an anime at least) there's Ichigo from the Onegai Teacher anime.

[Kuroneko]

So yes, I guess all I'm saying is that I"m really irritated at the fact that there aren't more female leads in anime which have more than boys on the brain -_-

I've have seen my fair share of anime, so if anyone wants to prove me wrong and show show me decent female leads, than by all means do so.. It would make me very happy to find characters I can actually relate to moreso

Here are some shoujo and non-shoujo anime series/movies with awesome female lead characters (and has nothing to do with romance):

The Twelve Kingdoms - Yoko is an ordinary girl who suddenly has to fulfill her destiny of ruling a battered kingdom but to accomplish this, she needs to learn how to find her inner strength.

Rose of Versailles - female lead dressing as a man and is the leader of the royal guards in Versailles before the French Revolution. It's a bit of an older anime but still good.

Tsukikage Ran (a female samurai who's a lead character and she can use the sword better than the guys!)

Ghost in the Shell - the lead is a female cyborg but still female and more intelligent than almost anyone else in the movie.

Kino Travels the Beautiful World - Kino kicks ass! :D

Niea_7 - A struggling independent college student trying to juggling making ends meet by working in a bathhouse, while trying not to go crazy with an alien rooming with her.

Revolutionary Girl Utena - kind of romancy shoujo but different. Utena has the duty to protect the princess.

Haibane Renmei

Any of Miyazaki's films ^__^

[Cilas]

Thanks you guys, I'll keep your suggestions in mind..

I've seen Ghost in the Shell, and I do think Motoko's pretty cool

I love Haruhi. She is amazing. The end. :D

I have to admit though, I love the last moments of the anime (yeah, spoilers here), when Tamaki and Kyouya's fathers are fighting over which of their sons gets to marry Haruhi. :lol:

I tend to stay away from shoujo, just for that romancey reason. A few weeks ago I picked up a shoujo manga (The Gentleman's Alliance? Something like that) and I seriously couldn't finish reading it. It was that girly. :lol:

I take it you like the ending huh? I have to admit, the ending could definetely have gotten into a direction which I didn't like, so as far as I'm concerned I'm not dissapointed

HOWEVER..Spoiler..I really did think the air hug was cheesy, I mean really...

(But yeah, I'm so grateful they didn't kiss, cause if they did *clenches teeth*

But yes, I can relate..There are times in times where there are scenes which my stomach simply cannot take

Any of Miyazaki's films ^__^

He has a thing for strong female leads, doesn't he? XD

I'm sexual and romantic, but I agree, Host Club would lose a lot of its charm if Haruhi hooked up with someone seriously. The whole point of the series is the contrast - how she always keeps her head while everyone around her is moe-ing. You can't appreciate one without the other

It's really nice to finally have more people agree with me on this :D

and since I feel generous, I'm gonna post pictures.. for Haruhi fans and for those who haven't seen the anime yet

hehe.. Haruhi's expression says it all doesn't it?

When he tries to convince her to wear that dress..

Yes, there's alot of fangirls in this anime, to be sure..

[Nico-Nico Friendo]

I'm kind of grossed out about the thing between the twin brothers. Eew. They call it 'brotherly love' . . . but that's not what I'm seeing.

[Charlieee]

I'm kind of grossed out about the thing between the twin brothers. Eew. They call it 'brotherly love' . . . but that's not what I'm seeing.

Their twincest? That was to please all of their 'customers.' They're close as hell, yeah, but not really in that way.

[TeddyMiller]

Did you ever see Azumanga Daioh? It's about a group of high school girls, and focuses on their daily lives and school activities and friendships rather than on romantic or sexual involvements.

[Nico-Nico Friendo]

Their twincest? That was to please all of their 'customers.' They're close as hell, yeah, but not really in that way.

Errm . . . are you sure about that? :?

[Charlieee]

Their twincest? That was to please all of their 'customers.' They're close as hell, yeah, but not really in that way.

Errm . . . are you sure about that? :?

*shrug* That's the impression I got... I mean, my best friends and I, we hug, we kiss each other on the cheek, we might "joke around" every once in a while (so much fun to freak people out...), but that doesn't necessarily mean we're in love or anything.

Did you ever see Azumanga Daioh? It's about a group of high school girls, and focuses on their daily lives and school activities and friendships rather than on romantic or sexual involvements.

Yes! :D I love that anime.

[Karami]

another anime that has a strong female role is Ergo Proxy. Its female lead, Re-L Mayer, has a very strong-willed and independent personality. One would expect that an anime female character like her would start out like your typical bitch-on-yer-face and then soften up near the end while falling in love with her male co-star. But it doesn't like that. She's aware during the last half of the series that her male partner has a crush on her but it doesn't go farther than that.

[yay]

what irks me about romantic comedies is that Woman and Man fall madly in love when they don't even know each other. they've known each other for 3 days and they act like they're married and they've found "the one."

already the guy is bending over backwards to impress her and the woman is running down the street to his house. seriously, what is up with that? the last movie i saw like this one with Cameron Diaz, Jude Law, Kate Winslet and Jack Black. i don't remember the name, but i remember thinking that Cameron Diaz's character was totally ridiculous. she bases all her feelings on one one night stand in england and spends her days wasting time thinking about this guy. then after 2 weeks of knowing him, she just quits her job, never goes home to LA and lives happily ever after.

............what?! that's not how life works at all! you don't just throw away all that you've worked for for some cute guy! they should make movies that shows what happens AFTER you do all that..

[Frigid Pink]

Yeah, I had a dude lick my face last summer and I froze up (I didn't even realize people did or enjoyed that).

I wish I could have been like your heroine and called him out on it, or like Buffy and said, "What the hell are you doing?"

Regardless, I just became really scared and ran away. I've always seemed to be more of the "deer in headlights" and "flight" part of "fight or flight," although I would like to be more assertive. I'm working on that, but it's difficult for me. Even in serious conversations, my body just freezes and tenses and I get all choked up and stumble over words. It's frustrating!

[jett]

I'm not really a big anime person, but i gotta say for me, the biggest dissapointment was Scully from The X-Files, who for the first 6 seasons was, as far as I'm concerned, asexual (albeit mildly bi-romantic).

so, I mean... I was in junior high and highschool throughout The X-files' run, struggling with my own sexuality like never before, and here's this character who not only did I identify with, but she was THE COOLEST CHARACTER ON TV as well!

then come the last two seasons, Chris Carter finally gave in to all the fans who figured it would be super cool if Mulder and Scully did the deed. Only they didn't even give the Shippers the satisfaction of a romance scene. Just Scully mentioning in season 8 that Mulder had gotten her pregnant in season 7! AAARRGGHH!

so the Shippers weren't one bit satisfied, the well developed character of Scully was cheapened by doing something that out of character, and I was once again forced to realize that asexuals will probably never be represented on television by a lead character, or a cool character, or in most cases ANY character.

[Gorax]

I've never been into anime that much, but I totally know what you mean about characters. I usually like the ones that don't have very little or no sex/romance drive :P

But then I search for fanfics including said characters, and they're all filled with slash and sex :?

[Everhope]

I've never been into anime that much, but I totally know what you mean about characters. I usually like the ones that don't have very little or no sex/romance drive :P

But then I search for fanfics including said characters, and they're all filled with slash and sex :?

Oh god yes, do people actually write fanfic WITHOUT sex?

[Cilas]

Errm . . . are you sure about that? Confused

I believe that it's all an act too..I think it's too exaggerated to be realistic.. and I think in the manga Kaoru says that he has feelings towards Haruhi also..

I'm not really a big anime person, but i gotta say for me, the biggest dissapointment was Scully from The X-Files, who for the first 6 seasons was, as far as I'm concerned, asexual (albeit mildly bi-romantic).

so, I mean... I was in junior high and highschool throughout The X-files' run, struggling with my own sexuality like never before, and here's this character who not only did I identify with, but she was THE COOLEST CHARACTER ON TV as well!

then come the last two seasons, Chris Carter finally gave in to all the fans who figured it would be super cool if Mulder and Scully did the deed. Only they didn't even give the Shippers the satisfaction of a romance scene. Just Scully mentioning in season 8 that Mulder had gotten her pregnant in season 7! AAARRGGHH!

so the Shippers weren't one bit satisfied, the well developed character of Scully was cheapened by doing something that out of character, and I was once again forced to realize that asexuals will probably never be represented on television by a lead character, or a cool character, or in most cases ANY character.

Awww man...I can really understand where you're coming from... cause I think it's one of my biggest fears.. what the author will do to Haruhi Fujioka..

Like you, I identified with her more than I could any other character practically in existence..my first initial feelings where "FINALLY a feamle lead who didn't care about falling in love and boys!"

Let me tell you, that is very, very rare

But the rest of the fans basically just want her to be paired up and believe she will be cause the anime is categorized as a romantic comedy.I would hate to think that Hatori's attempts to go for something actually original...essentially go to waste. Unfortunately I often hear people say how she's changing her and it's not OOC for her to fall in love. I get saddened by that thought, though having said that I'm not quite sure whether alot of that opinion is affected by bias

Why can't aseuxuals and aromantics get decent representation? It's not asking too much to have at least one lead not worry about love and romance, right?

[AotoSora]

I'm kind of grossed out about the thing between the twin brothers. Eew. They call it 'brotherly love' . . . but that's not what I'm seeing.

Heh, yeah it's a show they put on. They're really really close, but they aren't incestuous when they're on their own...

The twins are pretty much my favorite characters(I'm glad they got more attention than twins from other series).

I love Ouran<3

[Parth]

I watched that first episode... and WOW! Haruhi is basically the only character I've been able to relate to as much as this! :D