Love Don’t Cost a Thang: Anime Couples off the Beaten Path

Kenshin and Kaoru. Usagi and Mamoru. Miaka and Tamahome. Ranma and Akane.

Surely, any regular anime fan would recognize at least two of the four pairs listed above. These very well-known couples are much loved (or reviled) in their respective series. Despite various obstacles thrown at these celluloid sweethearts, they inevitably overcome them and find happiness and a nice domicile in the suburbs, courtesy of the power of love.

Far be it for me to carp on said couples (which would only garner me an avalanche of flame mail), though. However, let it be said that I vastly prefer romantic relationships in anime that are somewhat... different. I hesitate to use the word "realistic", since I recognize that biting the bullet for one’s paramour (which occurs in the below pairings, although I won’t say how many times) is a somewhat fanciful notion anyhow.

Anyways, below are four sets of people that I can tolerate in their respective romantic situations, along with my biased opinions on why they rock. I’m only listing canon couples, though, so I won’t be inflicting my twisted fantasies of boy-boy love on the unwitting public (unlike the other columnist on Japanimation.com).

And on with the show:

Shishio and Yumi
Series: Rurouni Kenshin

Upon first sight in the Kyoto arc, Yumi seems to be merely arm-candy for everyone’s favorite maniacal mummy. However, as the series progresses, Yumi demonstrates a fierce, if somewhat misguided, loyalty to her man that easily equals that of Kaoru to Kenshin. As Shishio says to Kenshin during their final fight, [paraphrased] "No one knows this woman better than I do, and no one knows me better than her." Their mutual innate understanding of each other that can only be interpreted as love, albeit a rather unhealthy sort. Which ends tragically, naturally, since Shishio is a villain and all. Sigh.

Julia and Spike
Series: Cowboy Bebop

Precious little about Julia, let alone her and Spike’s relationship, is revealed in Cowboy Bebop, leaving some fans to wonder if our chain-smoking hero would be better off with Faye. The creators do show, though, in brief glimpses just how much Julia and Spike care for each other. The latter refers to the former as his "other half"; strong words, for a seemingly cynical slacker. In the "Jupiter Jazz" episodes, at the mere mention of her name, he leaves Jet, his partner for several years, without a second thought. Seems like a strong argument for love there.

Although Julia gets about fifteen minutes screen time total, one has to consider what kind of woman would haunt Spike freaking "Uber Laid-Back" Speigel even after three years. She must have some positive qualities to perform such a feat.

And if one still has doubts about those two, I suggest you watch the "Real Folk Blues". That should dispel any notions about their relationship. (Not to give anything away, but it might depress you for a while too, though.)

Gatts and Caska
Series: Berserk

Talk about getting to a slow start: it takes roughly four years for the mentioned couple to even kiss. The circumstances of their first meeting probably didn’t help; in a skirmish with the Band of the Hawk, Gatts easily defeats the previously unbeaten Caska and catches the attention of Griffith (the leader of the band). To further complicate matters, Griffith happens to be the object of Caska’s unrequited affection.

Slowly, though, their reactions to each other (annoyance on Gatts’s side, unbridled hostility on Caska’s) change into mutual respect, if not exactly friendship. Finally, when Gatts makes a drastic decision, Caska is forced to come to terms with her true feelings. It’s not as cheesy as it sounds.

Setsuna and Sara
Series: Angel Sanctuary

Setsuna loves Sara, and Sara only. Sara loves Setsuna, and Setsuna only. They live fairly close to each other in Tokyo, and are about the same age. With no third party, no social/economical/species differences, or initial dislike of each other to overcome, where’s the drama? Well, there’s just one little biological hitch-they’re blood siblings.

So begins the plight of the comely teenagers in Angel Sanctuary, only amplified by the appearance of various supernatural beings and the fact that Setsuna is the reincarnation of the great Organic Angel Alexiel, who started a failed rebellion against God. Naturally, Setsuna is destined to die a painful, violent death according to Alexiel’s punishment (y’know, for the whole rebellion thing). However, Sara soon beats him to it when she shields him from a surprise attack. Cue the angst, and the subsequent epic in which Setsuna journeys to Hades to retrieve his beloved’s soul.

Despite the rather sensitive issue of incest, Sara and Setsuna’s relationship is realistically portrayed-they become pariahs when the truth is discovered, and both wrestle with the fact that their feelings are "morally" wrong. In fact, one can’t help but smile slightly when Sara follows her heart, so to speak, and dashes off from her impending flight to Europe into the arms of her brother.

I suppose that’s just the romantic in me.

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Death and the Fangirl: a Compilation of Anime's Finest Demises

Note: The following column contains major spoilers for Grave of the Fireflies, Akira, X (the movie), Escaflowne: A Girl in Gaea (movie), Rurouni Kenshin OAVs, Trigun, and Cowboy Bebop. In that order. Proceed with extreme caution.

The title says it all. I know, it's an extremely morbid topic. Nobody likes seeing his or her favorite character die, and few can say they enjoy watching death scenes. But the avid anime fan can't deny the sheer artistry/power/coolness in some displays of 2-D mortality. (Plus, Columnist's Block had recently besieged my vacation-addled brain, and had I not churned out something, the folks at Japanimation.com would have done some Very Bad Things. To me.)

So without further ado, I present the first item:

Grave of the Fireflies: Seita and Setsuko
I saw it coming from a mile away; heck, in the first two minutes of the movie, the audience knows that the two siblings are goners. However, during the course of the film, one grows attached to Seita, the hero, and faintly hopes that maybe he might save himself and his little sister from the horrors of post-WWII Japan. No luck- starvation and loss of the will to live eventually drag Seita and Setsuko to their inevitable fates. Utterly heart-wrenching (at least to warm-blooded people).

Akira: Tetsuo
Unquestionably one of the more traumatizing spectacles to grace my young retinas in my childhood. Basically, Tetsuo (the semi-antagonist) looses control of his newfound power and his body mutates into this... giant blob of writhing flesh that engulfs about a square mile. And crushes his well-meaning girlfriend in a shower of blood with its sheer mass. Finally, Tetsuo is put out of his misery, screaming "KAAAAAAAANEEEEDAAAAAAAAAAAA!" all the while. Did I mention it was traumatizing?

X the Movie: Fuuma
This item and the next in the list are not actually "great" death scenes; in fact, they're the opposite, being SO incredibly awful that they transcend banality and become almost genius.
   People, I got three words for ya:
   Whack.
   Thump.
   "FUUUUUUUUUUMAAAAAAA!"
   For those confused readers, the "whack" would be the sound of Kamui's sword slicing through Fuuma's neck like melted butter after a whole movie's worth of intense buildup. The "thump" would be the noise of Fuuma's severed head hitting the ground, along with my jaw. The cry of Fuuma's name would be emanating out of Kamui's pretty mouth as he cradles the detached body part of his former best friend.
   Do I really have to say any more?

Escaflowne: A Girl in Gaea: Folken Lacour "I Got Offed by Jajuka [JAJUKA, for mullet's sakes!] in One of the Most Embarrassing Climaxes in Anime History and All I Got Was This Lousy Bon Jovi T-Shirt" Fanel
I don't want to talk about it.

Rurouni Kenshin/Samurai X OAV: Tomoe
As another character in the RK TV series demonstrates, there's dying for your man -- and then there's dying for your man. Or to be more specific, running in harm's way to protect your fiance and getting impaled (albeit accidentally) by said man's katana. But Tomoe's beautifully-choreographed death wasn't in vain; if she hadn't grabbed Tatsumi's knife-wielding hand, the blindly-charging Kenshin would have been killed. And he wouldn't become the cute, "oro" -- ing focus of the television series revered by so many today.
   Also, in her dying moments, Tomoe doesn't babble endlessly on about love or some sentimental crap as she lies in Kenshin's arms and sakura petals float by. Instead, she shakily picks up the dagger dropped by Tatsumi, whispers "I'm so sorry, darling", and carves a single scar on Kenshin's cheek, creating the infamous "X" mark. Then she dies.
   That alone won her major posthumous brownie points in my book.

Note: I know I've already said it, but the next two items are REALLY BIG SPOILERS that could possibly damage your enjoyment of Trigun and/or Cowboy Bebop beyond repair. Or at least depress you for a few days. There's still time to click back.

   5...

   4...

   3...

   2...

   1...

   APPROACHING MAIN CHARACTER DEATH DISCLOSURES

   And here we go.

Trigun: Nicholas D. Wolfwood
*Sniff*. I knew it was coming- I mean, the title of episode 23 was "Paradise". What would one expect? And surprisingly, Nic doesn't expire with an exquisitely-rendered, two-and-three-and-four-and-more guns-blazing flurry of bravado. He drags his Cross Punisher, symbolism and all, along with him to an abandoned church and kneels at the altar. He rambles and reflects and gets angry and even cries because he doesn't want to die.
   And it's just so beautifully sad.
   *Sniff*.

Cowboy Bebop: Spike Speigel
Once again, the creators of this wonderful series retain the eerie power to completely shatter my wee little heart with a single word. Is there anyone that ISN'T affected by Bebop's show-stopper that broke several very important unspoken rules of anime, including "Never kill off the main character"?
   A mind-blowing final battle between Spike and Vicious sure to cause involuntary urinating among fanboys, followed by one of the most gorgeous scenes ever to grace television. The image of Spike, rapidly loosing consciousness as shown by the white-toned perspective, stumbling down the blood-stained steps of the Syndicate headquarters where a mob of armed henchmen await. As the stunned men look on, our intrepid hero raises his head, points his index finger in the gesture of shooting a gun, and utters a four-letter word containing volumes of pathos and pure ultra-coolness that most directors would give human sacrifices to achieve:
   "Bang."
   Cue the killer ending song "Blue", accompanied by the sound of my sobbing.

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Spotlight on: Underexposed Males (Screen time-wise, I mean... *cough*)

This is just a short little column to shed some light on the anime males that are, for no apparent reason, given a pitiful (in my opinion) amount of screen time in their respective series. These guys match, if not surpass, the total spiffy-ness of the protagonists, and I think they deserve a little more. So I shall commence with the praise, in hopes that you, the reader, will exclaim "Zoinks! She's right!" and rush out to buy what scant merchandise said characters have. Or something to that effect.

Asaba | Kare Kano
Why you should love him: He's a spastic uber-rich slacker playboy with semi-questionable taste in clothing and a thing for sheep (well, not that kind of thing). Rather, Asaba considers the scores of girls madly in love with him as his "sheep", and fantasizes about collecting a bunch of them to make "Asaba Merry Land". It sounds quite disturbing when described here, but it's utterly hilarious in the anime. Really. And you haven't lived until you've seen Asaba's striptease, a direct parody of all the fan-service-y males designed to please the female audience (take that, Weiss Kreuz!).
Why he needs more screen time: However, despite all Asaba's wonderfulness, he's pretty much relegated to the background as Kare Kano focuses on the main couple, Arima and Miyazawa. Although the trials and tribulations of Arima and Miyazawa's relationship do provide for the meaningful, acclaim-winning portions of the anime, they just can't beat a good old-fashioned male striptease.

Legato Bluesummers | Trigun
Why you should love him: Legato is a villain. He loathes the human race. He kills a lot of people using his psychic-telekenesis-ish-powers. He burdens our lovable hero Vash with lots of angst. He doesn't give a flying flip about his villain-posse, the Gung Ho Guns. However, Legato looks like Aoshi with blue-rinse tresses, and he's often shown munching on sweets on the show while managing to look menacing. Those two latter factors alone atone for the previous facts. Oh, and he's the far more likable than Knives, the resident other main villain and numero uno bunghole of Trigun.
Why he needs more screen time: Despite Legato's rather important status as the second antagonist, he only has substantial scenes in about four to five episodes. Which is really a shame, because Legato is very cool and precious little background information is given on him.

Fred Luo | Outlaw Star
Why you should love him: Because I am of the firm belief that every anime show needs a genki gay rich guy named Fred. Fred Luo is genki, gay, and rich. And he's named "Fred". Need I say more? ... okay, maybe I do need to say more. Mr. Luo is a merchant who supplies Gene Starwind, the intrepid hero, with illegal expensive stuff, like weapons and, uh, stuff. And he takes the opportunity to glomp Gene very often. Like every 5 minutes. And he has the same hair-do as Sakuya from Shin Tenchi Muyo.
Why he needs more screen time: Because the way he says "Geeeeene, save meeee!" is completely beautiful in its hilarity. Because we like to see straight heroes squirm. Because there are way too many battle scenes that drag on in Outlaw Star.

Vicious | Cowboy Bebop
Why you should love him: Vicious is by far the coldest, most utterly sugoi villain to grace the 2-D world. This glaring, long-haired albino fights with a katana in the gun-dominated universe of Bebop. And he kicks some serious arse with it, too. He commands the Mafia-like Syndicate and has a major grudge against his former best friend, main character Spike Spiegel. In his debut episode, "Ballad of Fallen Angels", he begins by slaughtering a prominent Syndicate leader, holding Faye (the female lead) hostage, and as a grand finale to the second-best fight in the series, tosses Spike out a church window. Ouch.
Why he needs more screen time: Vicious is only shown in four out of twenty-six shows, due to Bebop's episodic nature. A little more time on screen would have more fully fleshed out the feud between Spike and him. And, as much as I adore Spike, I would've gladly sacrificed a filler episode or two to devote more time to Vicious, since he IS the main villain.

Saitou Hajime | Rurouni Kenshin
Why you should worship him on a hand-made altar decorated with candles and pictures of his image: (Please forgive me if I become a little indulgent, because Saitou is my absolute favorite character of all time. Those looking for a semblance of objectivity should probably leave - now.) "Saitou Hajime", simply put, is Japanese for "B.M.F." (Can't fill in the blanks? Think "B" as in "bad", and the rest will follow.) He's RK's resident glaring cop who dispenses dry humor between puffs of cigarette smoke when he's not Gatotsu-ing random baddies and good guys alike (Kenshin included). He gets some of the most wicked lines in the series, and (horrors of horrors) he's married. Gasp.
Why he should get more screen time: Actually, Saitou does get a significant amount of air time throughout the Kyoto Arc in RK, which lasts for a whole season. In the manga, he plays a secondary part in the Revenge Arc, and he has a cameo in the RK movie. However, his presence is distinctly missing in most of the third and all of the fourth season. And boy, was it needed. Think about how much better the last twenty-something episodes could have been with Mibu's Wolf to berate Kenshin and Company. Or at least a shot of him dancing in the rain on the streets wearing only his spiffy policeman hat.

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Fan Service

Ah, fan-service.

What anime watcher hasn't experienced it in some way in a series? Unless if you're the discerning sort of otaku who only views critically acclaimed anime that requires actual thought (and if so, you probably shouldn't be reading this), chances are you've stumbled upon a good amount of fan-service during the course of many shows or movies. Whether it's series that exist solely to fulfill the apparent gaping void for animated panty shots in the world (Ahem, Agent Aika), or females with glorious, gravity-defying boobies (Naga from Slayers being a prime example), or all the superfluous shower scenes in animated history, fan-service is an integral part of anime. Opinions on whether that's good or bad vary greatly, usually according to the gender of the person (gee, wonder why).

But wait - not all fan-service caters to males. Otaku females (myself included) get more than their share of gratuitous scenes/shots to drool over. You know what I'm talking about. It's the broody, enigmatic bishounen with long, silky bangs and Tragic Tragic Tragic Past, harboring secret feelings for the spunky female lead. It's the chivalrous, romantic bishounen that cavorts off to save the spunky female lead every five minutes, often losing his shirt in the process. It's the cute, extremely feminine-figured-to-the-point-of-almost-anorexia bishounen that simply adores the spunky female lead. Can you see where this is going?

Almost all anime series contain at least one, if not all three, of the archetypes above. No one complains about sexism there. And although female-oriented fan-service may be usually more subtle than its male counterpart, some instances can be as blatant as a panty-shot. (Witness the estrogen-entertaining vehicle that is Weiss Kreuz, complete with guys wearing mid-riffs, wet T-shirts, and pants tight enough to cut off the groin's circulation. Then run away as fast as you can.)

And don't forget what is possibly the one of the most prominent examples of female fan-service: the yaoi (a.k.a. homosexual) genre. The mysterious appeal of two gorgeous men together has created a huge fandom among straight girls that exceeds that of the yuri (lesbian) fandom. Just ask any Gundam Wing fan.

So, there you have it, folks. Fan-service doesn't merely constitute of giggling, short-skirted schoolgirls and Gainax bounce. You have to throw in some bare-chested, broody CLAMP men, too. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go re-watch the fleeting shot of Spike Spiegel naked in Cowboy Bebop ep. 6. Be still, my rapidly beating fangirl heart!

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