#banana WEY AAA

[xitty]

Hello.... If you don't mind me asking, who are your favorite romantic relationship's couples in books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series (can be canon or non-canon)? Feel free if you want to write the reasons or not of why you love them...Thanks if you want to answer....

Ohohoh, I don't mind at all! I've been fujoshi since forever (and I mean it, one of the very first anime I watched was Gravitation), so this is dominated by m/m couples, of various states of canon... Warning: long post.

My OTPs are Wataru/Eichi from Ensemble Stars and Yuki/Momo from IDOLiSH7. I could write essays (and sort of have done) about Wataru and Eichi, I sometimes joke I don't need romance novels because Wataru and Eichi provide all the twists, from graduation rooftop "proposal" to flirting in front of their unitmates to jealous fits to bragging about their relationship to others. There's almost 9 years of lore here so I'll just say here that their story is superb and they are my jam.

Yuki and Momo are just the most married and cute and funny couple. And funnily have some similar beats as Wataru and Eichi, where one (Yuki, Eichi) was devastated by something to point they didn't really see any reason to continue and the other (Momo, Wataru) came to drag them out of their gloom.

I have other Ensemble Stars ships I enjoy too: Tatsumi/Mayoi, Nagisa/Hiyori, Izumi/Leo, Rinne/Niki... I usually go for ships that have fair amount of canon material and these do.

I have one more OTP: Shizuma and Minato from Therapy Game. Aaa, their relationship is great because Minato *knows* all his own faults and tries to be rational but it's so hard, and Shizuma understands that and has patience of a saint. But Shizuma also doesn't always understand how some of his innocent actions towards other people look to Minato. But they are really cute and hot too. And I bow to Meguru Hinohara for her storytelling and art, her other series, The Dragon's Betrothed is good too.

Other manga couples I like are Hirano & Kagiura from Sasaki & Miyano, and their own spin-off series of course. I like Sasamiya a lot too, they are really sweet but I find myself being more invested in Hirano and Kagi's thing.

Ok, what next... I just finished The Case Files of Jeweler Richard novel vol. 7, so Seigi and Richard. If there ever was what's-actually-gonna-happen?? slowburn, it's here. Seigi is damn slow and Richard communicates in riddles but man I'm invested. I also bow to Nanako Tsujimura for these books, love them.

Speaking of slowburns and slow realizations and dumb communication (/affectionate), the danmei royalty of Hua Cheng and Xie Lian and Lang Wangji and Wei Wuxian. Both are very good. I love the trope of love transcending time and all that, so Hua Cheng waiting for 800 years for Xie Lian ticks this box so hard.

I'm also basic, so of course Viktor and Yuuri from Yuri On Ice are on my list. Same also for Ash and Eiji from Banana Fish. Touya and Yukito from Cardcaptor Sakura. Oh, I quite like Cherry blossom and Joe from Sk8 too.

I have a bunch of Genshin Impact ships I enjoy. I'm most invested in Alhaitham/Kaveh and Diluc/Kaeya. I like ships that have a past, I'm sure you noticed.

Ok, should I mentioned relationship that nobody probably knows about... But I keep thinking it a lot. There's this BL visual novel called Tokyo Onmyoji, the main character Rei is dealing with all kinds of supernatural problems as onmyoji. One of the routes is with his childhood friend Suguru and that route is beeeest. It's so good, deals with trauma and family trouble and their past and aaa now I'd like to read it again.

Also, Dramatical Murder is my least favourite Nitro+Chiral visual novel but damn, Koujaku and Aoba are so good couple, it ticks again so many boxes for me. (why oh whyyyyy that gorgeous figure of them is so expensive?! I can't justify myself to get pieces of plastic that cost two month's rent...)

Alright, let's pretend for a moment I'm not completely rotten woman... One of my favourite game couples is Eirika and Seth from Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones. It again gives me the "I've always liked you but I have kept my distance for reasons". I'm also in the Cloud/Tifa (minority?) camp for FFVII ships.

Kiyoka and Miyo from My Happy Marriage are het couple I'm really behind. I like how they are in the "so good for each other" category and how they've had to work on their relationship. The anime didn't show Kiyoka's thoughts that much but in the books he's also still learning how to be a good boyfriend/husband.

Shin and Lena from 86. Often I'm just "ok" about obvious couples like these but they are the exception. I think maybe it helped that they were separated soon after they got to know each other and then had to sort of got to know each other again.

Oh btw, I do read yuri too but I'm usually more into the series as a whole or one character's personal growth rather than their relationship. Like Sayaka from Bloom Into You. She's my favourite character from the series and I like her spin-off light novel series but I'm most into her finding peace with herself and love in general, if you understand what I mean. But! Hanako and Alice from Goodbye, My Rose Garden manga are my favourite yuri couple! Escaping relationship/marriage that people expect for you but you don't want, to unite with your true love is a trope I'm really fond of.

But Xitty, do you have any Western media couples you like? Well, murder husbands aka Hannibal and Will Graham I think of fondly and love forever. I was very very big Sherlock and John shipper (BBC ver.) and you can't take that away really. I'm also basic when it comes to Doctor Who, so Tenth Doctor and Rose make my heart flutter and eyes cry for their doomed (kinda) story. I just find myself watching less and less Western shows, so I don't even know what's happening there nowadays.

Umm... maybe that's it for now? Thank you everyone who read till the end. :D