#why always romance?

[alpaca-clouds]

Anime movies and those straight teenagers...

It's Saturday and that means I am rambling about some anime topic, right?

So, let me talk about something that has to do with anime movies. Especially those big movies that usually get attention in the west. Those that actually do have a budget and marketing and what not.

They are... so darn straight. And that in a way I personally just kinda find cringe.

Okay, let me prephase this with one thing: I never got into teenager romances. Not even when I was a teenager myself. Sure, this also was because I am aromantic no doubt. But also because of one thing I personally just learned: Teenage romances tend to be overdramatic - and most of the time they do not last.

And sure, yeah. There are teenage romances that last. Obviously. I have a friend from highschool who got together with his girlfriend when they were 16. First ever relationship for both. He is now 35. Still married. Two kids. That does happen.

But it is not the norm. Most teenage romances burn bright, but burn out fast. And that is okay. Absolutely okay.

But... it kinda makes me so annoyed about those big ass anime movies that most of the time will definitely focus around some teenage romance in the center. This is less true for Ghibli, but if you look at Makoto Shinkai and half those newer anime movie releases produced through Netflix, it is definitely true.

Someone on YouTube (I do not know who) once put it so nice: "And then in the big finale like always with those movies we have that teenage boy and the teenage girl and they are dramatically running towards each others!"

And yeah, that is kinda the thing.

I have talked before about how I do not like Makoto Shinkai movies that much. Like, they are BEAUTIFUL and visually stunning. But most of them - to me - are ruined through the romances, that just... do not really work.

Because they kinda do the thing that is so usual for all sorts of media... But kinda make it worse because of the characters being teens. That is the idea that a male and a female characters cannot exist around each other and NOT fall in love.

And it is just this typical hetero- and allonormative worldview.

And I know, I know... Shinkai actually wanted to create a lesbian romance in Suzume and just did not get allowed to do that. So, yeah, it is maybe not even his fault there. Or the fault of the other creators.

But man... I just wished those movies, that often have like really strong hooks, ended up having a finale that does not somehow involve that teen girl and teen boy dramatically running towards each other.

But it without romance. Or be it, like... gay romance. Stuff like that. Something different. Just once. Just... Please. I cannot deal with this teen heteronormativity anymore. Q-Q

[myrkulitescourge]

the way that one line from the new epilogue in an astarion romance is going to HAUNT me

just. what a profoundly intense thing to confess to someone.

like, just these six months of newfound happiness with you exerts a force on his heart equal and in direct opposition to two centuries of endless torment, the gnawing hunger and exploitation. this flashbulb-bright fraction of his long life holds the same gravity to him as years upon years of darkness and suffering.

in all likelihood, he hasn’t even known his lover for as long as his worst memory lasted, that year sealed away to go mad from starvation and sensory deprivation, yet he still tells them this brief time has been so fundamentally and powerfully important that the weight of even that unimaginable hell is vanishingly small compared to this present he has now and the future ahead of them both.

how am i supposed to act normal about this.

[graveyardcuddles]

Spawn fans: arguing with Ascended fans.

Ascended fans: arguing with Spawn fans.

Me, a true Astarion Enjoyer:

[even-michael]

Michael Romans at the rock and roll hall of fame under “songs that shaped rock and roll”

They’re eligible to be inducted in 2027 I think

[fizpup]

valentine, you're a horse ❤️

[girl-of-stupidology]

I LOVE PENTIMENT SO MUCH!!! WHERE WAS I WHEN THIS GAME HAD A COOL FANDOM BACK IN 2023 😭😢

As a person that never played a single video game besides Hades this year, never have I found a niche game that is legit made for me if not for Pentiment by Josh Sawyer. If you are an art historian lover, Illuminated manuscript lover, or love silly men and monks GO play it.

[frnkiebby]

he’s just so done~🎃

[selenekallanwriter]

Every single time

[penceykills]

My Chemical Romance live @ Club Krome, New Jersey// Oct 31, 2003

[nonbinarygerard]

a gouache spread of revenge gerard from last year <3

[schmaddi]

So uhm... guess who tripped and fell HARD for Coral Island's merman Semeru. Definitely not meeee~ Anyway, here's a quick sketch because I can't get him out of my head and I really need to share my obsession with sOMEONE.

(also, i know that he's currently rather grumpy, distrustful and not that outgoing, so the expression that i gave him might be a litttttle OOC for him (for now). HOWEVER. BUT. Just imagine him doing his job guarding the kingdom and stuff and keeping an eye on MC-farmer because y'know he still doesn't really trust us and all that quak, but then farmer does something dumb that he finds mildy amusing, which is why he'd have this sliiiight very tiny smile on his face. That's the kinda expression I wanted to give him. Also shoutout to @fyreiswriting because their work on Ao3 is what kept me alive these past few weeks, months? Hi fyre. Love your stories.)

[lgbtlunaverse]

The thing that really gets me about xiyao. that will never NOT get me about xiyao. Is that they met in circumstances where for just a moment their respective stations in society didn't matter. Not to each other. Their relationship started outside of social conventions. And they spend the next 17 years trying to preserve that time, that relationship outside of society. And society crept in anyway.

[selfship-quotes]

AU where your F/O(s) and S/I(s) are neighbors in the same apartment building

[welcometogrouchland]

Also I am. Constantly forgetting how fucking funny Hunter is. We never give him enough credit for how funny he is because his life is so fucked up but I swear 90% of his lines are just bit after bit after bit. He's not even trying either. Anytime he actively tries to make a joke it falls flat but if you just put him in a Scenario he'll find a way to be so over invested and yet out of touch/at odds with whatever's going on. He's so autistic

[they-hermes]

the worst part about reading fanfiction of american characters/characters that live in america is that eventually you will find the 9/11 memorial fanfic

[scruncheduppaper]

do you guys ever think abt v1 getting stained more and more with blood as they go thru hell and ending up looking like v2. like ik that not how it work but man even in death theyre still there yknow. like how v1 keeps v2 alive technically thru their arms.