2017-12-02, 02:48
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Link #22 |
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Osana-Najimi Shipper
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Mt. Ordeals
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My first introduction to Japanese romcom was actually Dual Parallel Adventures, and shortly after that pretty much every Tenchi Muyo. I actually despised romcom at the time, and only later did I realize it wasn't the actual genre I didn't like, but it was that the endings in particular were highly unsatisfying. If literally everyone is a winner, did anyone truly win? It always felt like the maker couldn't decide on which girl would win, and so he couldn't be bothered to write anything worthy and they copout the ending using the 'everyone wins!' so happily ever after.
At least with 'Main Heroine' series, the maker actually tries to make a story about the winning girl (and is the reason why the winning girl has the most screentime). I may not like the winning girl or the way they built up the story/character, but I still appreciate the effort that they tried. Every time a childhood friend loses in such a story I'm always upset, but when I ask myself "Would I've been happy if it ended in a harem?", my answer would always be 'Maybe when hell freezes over'. Believe me, I wasn't a big fan of the winner (or pretty obvious future winner) of Nisekoi, or Saekano, or Hayate no Gotoku. Two of the three, sure the heroine met the MC as a kid or is a kid at the time of the story, but I still had my favourite. I think I was very vocal in this very forum about one of those stories, that while I really REALLY adore the other heroine because she's voiced by my favourite VA in the anime, even I can see the slow progression of the main heroine. She basically went from foe, to someone you occasionally hang out with, to friend, to best friend, and finally their lover, and it was a slow and steady buildup that one could see if they stepped back and seen the overall story. It was sad to see the MC go from all being giddy just at talking with my favourite heroine, to him slowly changing over time where the main heroine is the one always in his mind. And in the other I knew it was over when my favourite heroine gave back the box AND the ring to the MC, being a metaphor that the MC's body and heart no longer belongs to her. It's actually very low key and subtle on what it truly represented, so even though it was a short thing, I appreciate that the author attempts at the symbolism. The third one I actually expected it, since the author wrote two spinoffs where the other girls were the main heroines. So it makes sense that the winner of the main one would NOT be one of the two with spinoffs, but the actual main heroine. Of course there's the faint hope that the side heroine with no spinoff may win, but even now I think it's very unlikely.  In any case, while I may not liked the direction the above three stories took, they did their best to argue the case that the eventual winner is the winner because of whatever happened in the story. This is especially true in the third story, where there was a lot of joy in my seeing the the MC and my favourite heroine connect so well as kids, disappointment that they couldn't keep their relationship due their immaturity at handling their peers, hope in seeing that they make up again in the present time, and anger seeing that the girl would stunt her growth in her artwork if she stays near the MC. Would ANY of those emotions be there if it was going to be a harem ending? No, because there wouldn't have been any story in the first place. That entire sequence is literally only possible if it wasn't a harem ending, as the story of my favourite heroine is how she had everything handed to her in a silver platter but still failed, and when she is about to make up for her past transgressions, she finds out she has to make a difficult choice between her passion and her love life. It's a bittersweet story, but one that could only be told IF she could fail, just like the other two stories mentioned. And there's none of that in a harem ending. And IMO? Harem ending in Go-toubun no Hayaome would be an ever bigger copout than the other stories. I mean, the girls already look identical, it would be so easy (and expected even) to give them identical endings. The author already went to the trouble to differentiate the quintuplet's personalities, and recently, their own personal backstories. It would be a real shame if he took the easy rode by not differentiating their endings as well.
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| Tags |
| dumpster fire, first girl after all, harem, privileged main heroine, quintuplets, retcon, student-tutor, train wreck |
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