Rant on romance in FMA
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.
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.