THE PRINCE AND THE PRINCESS LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER

How Romance Story Should Be VS How It Actually Is

Romance : Expectation vs Reality

Quick announcement, I didn't make a post in the past few weeks cause I'm actually working on a project with some friends to create Intion's YouTube channel. We gonna be doing anime reviews and stuffs there so stay tuned if you're interested to see Intion's posts in video.

So back to topic, the reason I suddenly write something like this, is because I just read ReLife up to chapter 205. It wasn't bad, I love chapter 197, if you haven't read it, I suggest opening a new tab and read it right now side by side with this post.

However, just as good as it is, it's also quite frustrating knowing that this series is progressing in a very slow pace. I'm guessing at this rate, they will end during the climax in reader's heart, that is when both test subjects go back to their life and then accidentally or purposefully meet up at some point, eye-to-eye contact, and then the series ended. Classic, really classic. Wanna know which series do exactly the same ending? Kimi no Na wa, Angel Beats, Ano Natsu de Matteru, and many more that I couldn't think of.

To be completely honest, there's nothing wrong with using that cliche as ending. It's just doesn't feel right when you desperately extend a story by adding some more chapters of the characters loitering around, going back and forth, no progression at all just because you have to meet the quota with the ending you want for the story. If the story ends at one point then just end it there. If there's still some quota left, make some extra chapters or something, or just change the ending into something that will work better with given amount of chapters.

I'm talking like I understand anything behind the scene here, but I assure you I don't. I'm just a fellow story writer that got irritated seeing a story like this. So I did some research, and I finally found where this Rom-pocalypse started.

Have you ever heard the sentence "And so, the prince and the princess live happily ever after... "?

That, is the root of all these no-story-after-life things. This sentence is mostly used to end a story, an ancient story like The Beauty and The Beast, Cinderella, etc.

How is this sentence related to today romance anime?

The answer is simple. This powerful sentence gives the author a freedom to not developing the story anymore, they don't have to think about the characters, don't have to think about progression, and so on. This sentence simply put an end that everybody wants, a happy ending to a romance story, and let the author take a leave from the series.

Of course they don't simply say the sentence out loud in the end of a series. They camouflage it into something more acceptable for people. Example #1, Angel Beats. [Spoiler Alert] The end of Angel Beats is basically Kanade and the main guy left in the void while everybody else has already reincarnating. Apparently, Kanade also reincarnate just when the main guy hugged her and that is so sad. However, by happy ending rule, there's an epilogue in where Kanade and the main guy reunited in the real world. It ended when Kanade was about to reach out to the main guy's hand and POOF! That's the "Ever after" sentence.

Still not convinced yet? Example #2 Charlotte. [Spoiler Alert] After going through hard times, collecting power throughout the entire world, the main guy has to be satisfied with a group video. Damn, what a bummer. I mean let's be honest, it'd be nice if the author put an epilogue in where the main guy and the girl together since the romance happened at the end part of the series.

Do you get what I'm saying this whole time? These are endings that gives us a glimpse of what happy ending the characters have when the story ends. Just a piece of it, no more.

Now another good example is Stens: Gate. [Spoiler Alert] The end of Steins: Gate we can see Kyouma encountered Kurisu on his way, and then he acted as if it's a "Unmei no Deai". At this point, the series ended, it is indeed an "Ever After" ending, but apparently they released a Steins: Gate movie that takes time after the main series in which Kyouma and Kurisu already going out together so that's fine. I said that is fine, then the others should be fine too right? Since they might be making another season or movie in the future. Well maybe, but have you seen season 2 of Angel Beats or Ano Natsu de Matteru? Nope.

Another example is from manga, Hadi Girl, my favorite manga back then, ended with 30 or so chapters. After finally being able to confess to the she likes, they ended right when they were about to accidentally kiss each other's lips. So cute yet so annoying.

Final words, there is nothing wrong in simply using "Ever After" ending. That being said, don't go ahead and forcefully extend the chapters of your story to meet the quota and then end it with an "Ever After" while you just loitering around with no progression for 20 chapters. Hadi Girl ended like that cause of the chapters limit, but it's a good time to end use "Ever After" ending and not drawing random chapters where the main couple don't even interact with each other. If, for some reason you really want to use that, then pull a Clannad, or a Tasogare Otome x Amnesia in where the couple become official early and have some after story before it actually ends.

If you're interested in romance manga, check out my scruffy Ano Natsu de Matteru Review!