Rant on romance in FMA

[dragonimp]

I'm thinking Arakawa shouldn't tackle romance. The only ones that work are the ones that happened in the past - meaning we see the happy couple, not what led up to it. Trisha/Hohenheim, Izumi/Sig, Maes/Gracia - and Roy/Maes. The ones she's trying to do within the series - eehhhh.

I'm not saying this because I'm anti EdWin - most people have relationships that aren't good for them, teenagers are notorious for it - or anti Royai. Both of those would have been perfectly fine, except that she's mangled the characters in favor of the 'ship. I buy Winry's feelings for Ed, but Ed, damn it, falls out of character every time his supposed "feelings" show up, right from the first "Oh, she's cute when she's submissive" moment. Plus, whenever he comforts Winry, a prime moment to showcase hidden feelings, it's damn near identical to how he comforts Al. Which tells me that the affection he feels for Winry is more brotherly than anything else.

Royai gets a double blow. Roy treats her no differently than his other subordinates, which is actually a shame considering how long they've known each other. There's been no hint of deeper feelings on Roy's side, unless you also want to admit (even stronger) evidence for Roy/Havoc and - of course - Roy/Maes. Riza, poor thing, falls out of character and completely loses her edge, the prime example being her giving up once Lust tells her Roy is dead. The fact that the Royai shippers have been even worse than the yaoi shippers for reading in subtext every time they have two seconds together in a panel is pretty telling.

The only ongoing romance I can think of that's believable is Ross/Broche, and I'm starting to think it's because we don't ever see them.

Okay. Rant over.

Comments

[priestess-grrrl.livejournal.com]

Total agreement here. I'm generally against romance in shonen shows as a rule. It just doesn't work. No one really wants to see it: not us, not the 15 year old Japanese boys for whom the genre is written. It's much more interesting when it's left in the OST/subtext stage. Once they go there, it's just boring IMHO. If you want to write romance, go do shojo. That genre is made for it. Don't try to force it in where it doesn't belong.

Also, I have an especially hard time when a show starts off as gen, and the fandom goes on for years and years like that, and then all of a sudden out of nowhere at the end of the series, there's all this shipping crap. That happened with Kenshin, too, and it was so bad I actually left that fandom and never finished the manga (the fact that they apparently used the 3rd series of the anime to wipe their asses didn't help, either). It's totally unfair to yaoi fans, who think they are safe with a gen show to take it in any direction they like, only to be forcefully heteronormalized for no apparent reason at the end (e.g. JKR - don't even get me started on that).

I mean, I wouldn't have so much of a problem if it weren't done so stupidly. Did we really need Edward spewing coffee all over himself like a total idiot when Riza asked him if he liked Winry? I mean, I didn't mind like FMR was saying earlier, the scene in the first anime where Riza's cutting up apples. That was fine. And I was even fine with Riza getting really upset and calling Roy by name when she finds him all shot to hell by Archer. That made sense; anyone might have flipped out like that. But to have her go suicidal...? Was that really necessary?

Plus, there are just so many better ways she could have gone if she REALLY wanted to go there with Royai. Like for example if Riza had been legitimately suicidal, not because OMGIHEARTROY, but because of her guilt over Ishbal. And if the two of them had bonded over their shared guilt and angst, like with HughesxRoy. That would have been totally believable. Obviously I like HughesxRoy better since I'm a yaoi fangirl, but I could see Royai if it were written like that. Or, if it were like RoyxEd, where they both feel like they're too screwed up to ever fall in love, or not worthy to receive love.

But the way she has it set up, it's so much better if she just leaves it up to the imagination. That way we can go there with RoyxEd, they can go there with Royai or EdWin or whatever, and we can all go home happy. But why throw in this half-baked crap at the last minute? It's just really disappointing.

[greedy-lover.livejournal.com]

What pissed me off about Harry Potter is how out of nowhere Harry and Ginny are OMG SO IN LOVE even though they had like no feelings revealed! I know you like Harry/Draco, I love Harry/Luna. Harry had more feelings and emotions with them then Ginny. Good grief, there was more Harry/Herm and Harry/Ron then there was Harry/Ginny which is why I'm annoyed. If she had to go het, it would have been much better and made more sense if she went with Harry/Luna, they seemed more like a couple then Harry/Ginny ever did. Harry even spent more time with SNAPE. So the Harry/Ginny was WTF to me >_>

I like Ginny, just not Harry/Ginny cause there was never scenes of it, you know?

[dragonimp.livejournal.com]

Ug, Rowling - teenage romance does not usually last your whole goddam life >_< and even teenage crushes need some leadup!!

Anyway.
Romance can work in a shounen series, but except for things like harem plots it really shouldn't be showcased. Pulling the developing romances out of an action series like FMA is not going to detract from it at all. But if it has to be in there - at least let the characters dictate the ship, not the other way around. Like with Riza, having her empty her guns into Lust and then, I dunno, attack with her bare hands would have made much more sense. It's still more or less a suicidal move and still Riza losing her mind, but it's active, and more importantly, it's strong.

I would also have an easier time with Royai if there was some hint of feeling from Roy, but there isn't. I guess men don't do romance. Or Roy's secretly gay.