Wednesday, February 14, 2018

T5W#131-Top 5 Favorite Anime Couples

Well it’s Valentine’s Day.  You know what that means: love is in the air, people are confessing their feelings or celebrating long time relationships.  Love is an essential part of most Anime series.  It can either be a Romeo and Juliet style tragedy (i.e. Zeta Gundam) or just played for laughs before high amounts of unnecessary drama (Love Hina, Ouran High School Host Club).  What we also get out of these are “ships” that we support and defend well past their resolution points.  While I’m not talking about my own personal ships (not that I think I have any atm really save for one you’ll see below), today I am talking about my Top 5 Favorite Anime Couples.  Most of these are official pairings but I have slipped in at least one that I think is going somewhere (especially considering this series hasn’t really wrapped and will hopefully return one day).  They can either be filled with glittery eyed love or the toughest of challenges to overcome.  These couples all prove that “Love Actually is…all around” (yes I went there).




#5-Priss and Leon (Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040)

I kept wishing right until the end that hard rocker Priss and cute office assistant Lenna would end up getting together.  Alas, hopes were dashed but Priss still found a nice guy to end up with after all.  Leon may look like your stereotypical muscle bearing cop but deep down he’s a softy when it comes to beautiful women.  Enter Priss, the rock star and secret Knight Saber, who cannot be won no matter how hard he tries.  Suffice to say, Priss looks past the cop and sees the guy who is willing to give it all for her.  And she doesn’t even have to wear her sexy leather outfits (or her equally sexy battle armor) to impress him.  Leon sees the good beneath the bad ass and that’s enough to melt Priss’s hard exterior.  Also, I cant overlook they both share names with two Blade Runner Replicants (though Priss was with Batty and it’s implied Leon and Zhora were a thing…still cool though).


#4-Rock and Revy (Black Lagoon)

Frak yes, this is clearly going on and it will be recognized should Black Lagoon return one day.  Rock and Revy didn’t start off on the best of terms: Rock’s a brilliant, but whimpy newbie to the pirate life and Revy is a hot chick with two guns and a penchant for violence. Yet some of the series’ best episodes have come from these two confronting their different ideologies and finding some common ground.  Rock helps Revy recover some of her lost humanity and, in return, Revy ends up putting her life on the line for him, “I could protect you through the f***ing Alamo,” she even says at one point.  Their little peacemaking moment of Revy using Rock’s cigarette to light her own features facial experessions that make it clear one or both are interested in something a bit more down the line.  It’ll get there, if it hasn’t already, God that would be awesome.


#3-Kaname and Sosuke (Full Metal Panic)


Through it’s rough times and its better ones, one thing you could always rely on with Full Metal Panic is the pairing of Kaname Chidori and Sousuke Sagara.  While Kaname does spend a lot of time whaling on poor Sousuke for his military antics on school grounds, this bond of theirs does grow over the course of the shows (current) three seasons.  We see Kaname go from irritated with Sousuke’s odd quirks (and penchants for constantly blowing stuff up) to seeing her show concern for him in battle.  Likewise, Sousuke, the battle hardened soldier from a young age, begins to see Kaname as more than just a someone to protect for Mithril, she’s someone he wants to protect for his own heart.  It doesn’t get any clearer how these two really feel than when Sousuke and Kaname are separated during the second half of Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid.  Kaname becomes terrified, Sousuke questions his order and loses his confidence.  Seeing the trials they both go through to find their way back together sells that this coupling is destined for greater things down the line.  Will Kaname and Sousuke officially be dating come Full Metal Panic: Invisible Victory? Only time will tell.


#2-Haruka (Sailor Uranus) and Michiru (Sailor Neptune) (Sailor Moon S)


The only thing better than seeing two cute girls in love is being able to look past censorship BS and see that “they’re not really cousins are they?”  Uranus and Neptune share a bond that most of the Sailor Senshi wish they could share with each other.  The depth of their love and trust and each other is infinite and it shows in their teamwork on and off the battlefield.  Michiru clearly keeps the more hotheaded Haruka in line with her soft spoken wisdom.  But that doesn’t mean that Michiru wont get a little reckless to protect her love either.  This was the romance that defined a generation of Anime fans for a really long time.  From antagonistic towards the other Senshi to becoming their most powerful allies, Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune were the true Guardians of Love and Justice everyone wanted to (and still wants to) be.


#1-Inuyasha and Kagome (Inuyasha)


This was one of the first big Anime romances I ever took full stock in.  Sure id seen occasional romance pop up in Robotech or Tenchi Muyo.  Inuyasha and Kagome were a different story.  Their romance was front and center through every single bit of the series (that didn’t focus on how OP Naraku was or how Miroku would never give up on Sango).  A lot of the usual romance tropes came up in this relationship: bickering, Kagome causing Inuyasha random pain with “Sit Boy”, arguing in the middle of a battle.  And yet, when Inuyasha was at its lowest points, you could always count on the true and emerging romance between these two to get you through it.  Not to mention, Kaoru Wada’s beautiful soundtrack that plays during Inuyasha and Kagome’s more tender moments is worthy of a tear.  I always wanted to root for Inuyasha and Kagome, no matter what.  Even though I never finished the show, I know my stock paid off.  They are my definitive Anime couple.

 


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