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!

TSUREDURE BEST GRILL!

Top 5 Tsurezure Children Best Girl

Tsurezure Children

What's up? I'm back from the dead, and I'll tell you how did I go back from being dead.

The answer is one series. Tsuredure Children. This series is a savior above Jesus for me. The first time I saw the manga series, I actually saw an angel descending from the sky... tears flowing down my cheek when I read the stories of idle teenagers. Its just simply beautiful.

But that's the story for another day, this is not a review, this is a top 5 and as we all now, Tsuredure Children consists of many many young couples in the series. That means there's a lot of girls and waifu material in that series. As per usual rules since Nisekoi, we have to vote for the best grill in the series and here we go :

5. Ryouko Kaji

'Sup? Your waifu got last? Well thats normal since Ryouko is basically just your typical tsundere girl in a romance anime. However, Masafumi is the one who actually brings her score up by spicing their relationship. Although I wont deny that she is cute, but she's flat and again, you can find tsundere anywhere in the anime universe.

4. Fuyumi Toda

She's actually on par with the #1 position, she has a unique personality and that's being very dry like a dried fish. Its just so funny seeing this awkward couple doing couple stuffs, and its very sweet seeing she's for once actually being lovey dovey like that one time in the manga.

3. Yuki Minagawa

Being on the attack, Minagawa is a girl who loves to play around with Furuya's feeling. However being a man he is, he returned her feelings and started going out. They're really cute and Minagawa is a good example of a female attacker in a romance series. She did play around but she has a good "pull out" sense to make Furuya admitted his feelings.

2. Patricia Caulfield

Patricia is an airhead. She act by her nature. The author even described her with "her thought process is a mystery". She is an exchange student from America, and everything she's done is just simply funny cause they're spontaneous and stupid. One thing for sure though, she has huge boobs and those are admired by basically every female in the series. Another thing is that her 'sushi' thingy. Do you know what 'sushi' actually means for Patty? comment below (please).

1. Ayaka Kamine

Kamine is simply cute, beautiful, and every single word to describe perfection. She actually very similar to my real life girlfriend. She's very doting towards Gouda, like a spoiled child she is, never back down asking to held hands, hug, kiss, ask Gouda to come over to her room during field trip, and so on. You can see that she really loves Gouda from the bottom for her heart. Gouda on the other hand, also a man-at-arms and never back down on being lovey dovey with Kamine.


Overall, this are Intion's top 5 best grill in Tsurezure Children. Tell us about your best grills in the comment below. If you like this post, you might also like Top 5 Kancolle Shipfus!

KEMANA BINTANGNYA???

Anime Review : Sousei no Onmyouji

Twin Star Exorcist

AAARGGH!!!

GUA BANGKIT DARI KUBUR!!

Sousei no Onmyuji (2016) by TV Tokyo. Tipikal anime dari TV Tokyo, langsung booming meledak di seluruh belahan dada dunia. Jauh-jauh hari sebelum ada berita soal animenya, gua sudah baca manganya dan ketika berita itu muncul gua sedang dalam masa menunggu chapter manganya numpuk buat dibaca, tapi kemudian anime nya muncul jadilah gua menunggu lagi untuk anime nya finished airing. Ketika selesai airing, cukup kaget juga melihat jumlah episode yang superior begitu (50 episode). Sepeninggal gua, manga nya masih sampai chapter 30-an, apa cukup story nya dibuat 50 episode? Jawabannya jelas, filler.

Waktu pertama kali baca manganya, gua salut banget karena tahun-tahun ini jarang sekali ada cerita action-romance yang 'living up to expectation'. Komposisi romance dan actionnya pas. Poin besar ini juga dibawa ke animenya, namun dengan sedikit racikan yang salah.

Mulai dari episode 1 - 20 an itu masih nyaman, dimana alurnya masih ikutin manga. Tapi episode 20+ mulai ceritanya jadi janggal. [SPOILER ALERT] Pasangan Benio-Rokura berhasil menemukan jurus ultimate yang hanya bisa dilakukan mereka berdua, yaitu "RESONANCE". Oke, jurus ini kuat dan bisa ngabisin musuh, tapi kenapa harus dispam? Serius, selama 30 episode yang dilakukan pasangan ini cuma spam kata "RESONANCE". Ini yang bikin gua hampir ketiduran pas marathon episdoe 20 - 50 nya.

Buat yang belum nonton, episode 20 - 45 an itu mimpi buruk. Toh gua akuin, endingnya bagus, gua suka, jadi Sousei no Onmyouji dapat score 3.0/4 Thumbs.

Hal yang lebih menyedihkan lagi, ketika gua cek, popularitas SnO turun hingga covernya bahkan tidak terlihat lagi di halaman utama. Kemana bintangnya?

CHARACTER REVIEW

Enmadou Rokuro, disuarai oleh Natsuki Hanae. Rokuro itu karakter utamanya, dan karakternya ngga berubah dari manga ke anime, bagus. Gua suka masa lalunya Rokuro, bener-bener memberikan depth untuk karakternya. Sayangnya sifat pemaafnya ngga bisa gua maafin. Ini juga yang buat seriesnya turun dari 3.2 ke 3.0, yaitu karena villain recycling. Ini umum terjadi dalam anime-anime yang punya episode berpuluh-puluh hingga ratusan (Fairy Tail). Villain recycling menunjukkan kalau author tidak konsisten, apalagi setelah villain tersebut sudah dihajar habis-habisan sebelumnya. Well, itu bukan salah Rokuro, dia tetep dapet nilai A.

Benio Adashino, disuarai oleh Megumi Han. Benio juga salah satu karakter yang bagus. Gua suka tekadnya untuk matiin musuh meskipun mengorbankan sebagian dirinya. Sayang sekali Benio punya segudang karakter-karakter perusak suasana, seperti familiarnya yang entah siapa namanya. Di manga seinget gua Benio ngga punya familiar yang rusuh, kalaupun ada dia nggak rusuh. Benio sendiri dapet A, tapi familiarnya?

Otomi Mayura, disuarai oleh Yuu Serizawa. Perempuan paling kasihan dalam sejarah anime bagi gua. Dia kehilangan Rokuro, dia berubah jadi Kegare, dia ngga berbakat jadi onmyouji... hadeh, kesedihan-kesedihan aja yang menghampiri perempuan satu ini. Walaupun dia memang dapat jodohnya sendiri, tapi 50 episode ngga cukup untuk membuat Mayura bahagia. Sayangnya score B+ harus bikin Mayura tambah sedih.

Kinako, sampah. F.