AnimeSuki Forums

cheesie · 2009-05-21, 22:23

May-December pairings refer to couples who have an extreme age gap between them.

Most notable example for this season is Ristorante Paradiso, a 21-year old woman who went to Rome and fell in love with a dashing gentleman twenty years her senior.

I've seen:

Anime
EF Tale of Melodies : Kuze x Mizuki (30? x 17)
Ristaurante Paradiso : Claudio x Nicoletta (40+? x 21)
Guin Saga : [Spoilers]

Rideback : Rin x Kiefer (37 x 21) <-- Though it goes 2x deeper in the manga.

Manga
Till Death do us Part : Mamoru x Haruka (30+? x 12)
Note : Just to clarify, this is not a loli pairing. You'll see why when you read.

On that note, May-December pairings do not refer to pedophile relationships. I prefer my heroines to be at a certain age range (16+ and above).

I'd also like the heroines to be decent, none of those moeblobs, abusive tsunderes and useless shoujo heroines who worship the air their men breathes.

jedinat · 2009-05-21, 23:35

Suki - the girl is in high school and the guy is in his early 30s
Help!! - student/professor
Miriam - in the first half of the manga the girl is 8 and the guy is 17... the romance takes place in the second half where they are now older.
Ichigo no Gakkou - student/teacher married with infant
Jinbe - father-in-law/daughter, tasteful as far as this kind of story can be
Koi Kaze - the incest overshadows the (rather large) age gap
White Dragon - similar basic plot to Till Death do us Part
Switch - student/teacher

Fevvers · 2009-05-22, 01:43

Heh, I was thinking the same thing too, although more along the lines of Ristorante Paradiso, but I suppose I'll take what I can get. ^^

Otoyomegatari - A historical piece set along the Silk Road in the 19th century; by the creator of Victorian Romance Emma, so it goes without saying that the artwork is lush, well-researched, and gorgeous. Curious thing here is that the main pairing (or what appears to be the main pairing, though circumstances could change later on) involves an older woman and a very young boy (about 10 to 14, maybe?). It's nothing sleazy; if you've read Emma, you know the kind of treatment to expect.

Blade of the Immortal - Not romance per se, but 16 year-old Rin (who is far from annoying by the way, she's awesome!) is crushing on her 30 year-something bodyguard, whether or not the bodyguard likes her back is still too ambiguous for now though I'm not really rooting for them, prefer AnotsuxRin. Amazing art (from anatomy to the backgrounds) and execution, with a lot of very easy to sympathize with characters.

Vampire Girl - Young girl and a twenty-something guy, who is much older than he looks. I know the title's nothing special, but the content surprised me a whole lot and made me an eternal Fujiwara Kaoru fan. Dark, slow-paced and pensive, focuses on the psychological aspect rather than the typical shoujo high school hijinx. Nothing like Vampire Knight.

Eternal Sabbath - Though I prefer Fuyumi Souryo's Cesare, this is still quite a solid sci-fi manga. 17-ish young boy with a mid-20s woman.

jedinat · 2009-05-22, 02:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by kafka

Blade of the Immortal

I would avoid that if I was looking for romance... though as just a pairing I guess it works.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kafka

Vampire Girl

I loved that manga for the first volume or so... it becomes absolutely horrible towards the end... muddled borefest about angsty vampire pasts... though I guess if you don't hate Anne Rice like I do it might be likable. Anyways, I don't think vampires and supernatural creature romances really do the same things as a normal age gap. They are something else entirely, most of the time.

The other two are pretty good... Otoyomegatari especially. Awesome art in that.

Fevvers · 2009-05-22, 03:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by jedinat

I would avoid that if I was looking for romance... though as just a pairing I guess it works.

Rideback's not romance-focused either from what I've heard, haven't read the manga yet.

Quote:

I loved that manga for the first volume or so... it becomes absolutely horrible towards the end... muddled borefest about angsty vampire pasts... though I guess if you don't hate Anne Rice like I do it might be likable. Anyways, I don't think vampires and supernatural creature romances really do the same things as a normal age gap. They are something else entirely, most of the time.

If it means anything, I absolutely hated Anne Rice and found the only similar thing between her works and this VG are... well, the vampires. Neither did I find it a muddled borefest either, although I wouldn’t put it pass others to find it so; what may be a claustrophobic and engaging atmosphere for me could be completely tedious to another.

As for this being a supernatural romance, since I’m not really familiar with the rest of Cheesie’s list, I just thought what the heck.

cheesie · 2009-05-22, 03:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by kafka

Rideback's not romance-focused either from what I've heard, haven't read the manga yet.

Yeah, the anime barely touches on it, with the exception of that shoujo rideback scene in ep 9.

Spoiler for Click for Kiefer x Rin spoilers:

With that, I'll go and read the recommendations that are posted here. Thanks so much, keep them coming!

Fevvers · 2009-05-22, 03:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by cheesie

Yeah, the anime barely touches on it, with the exception of that shoujo rideback scene in ep 9.

Spoiler for Click for Kiefer x Rin spoilers:

Hur hur hur, I like.

Too bad it's not licensed and scanlations have stalled. Where did you find the raws, btw?

Natsuki Hyuga · 2009-05-22, 06:13

LOL WHUT?! Cheesie ships MamoruxHaruka?!

Why did I feel you're taking safety route here than shipping? :P

Also, do Ojii-sanxgirl pairing counts? If yes, I think the portrayal of one of Adachi Mitsuru's manga (whose name I kind of forget) fits there. Google it lazy Cap'n!

Oh wait, jedinat has already given it >3> It's Jinbe.

@kafka

She, as an obsessive fangirl, will do anything, even to the point of PM-ing the person who did the translation of the manga and have the RAW D:

cheesie · 2009-05-22, 06:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by kafka

Hur hur hur, I like.

Too bad it's not licensed and scanlations have stalled. Where did you find the raws, btw?

Contrary to the picture that Natsu tried to paint, I did no such thing, as a friend bought the manga and scanned the specific pages for me. The manga ended on a... highly unusual note, and I'm afraid that's all I could say lest I accidentally spoil some poor soul.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Natsu

LOL WHUT?! Cheesie ships MamoruxHaruka?!

Till Death do us Part was given as an example to highlight the theme I was looking for in this thread, in case people wanted me to be more specific with my request.

Fevvers · 2009-05-22, 07:23

@Natsuki

I see no wrong in that! ...She doesn't wait for things to be handed on a silver platter unlike me XD

@cheesie

I certainly don't mind being spoiled on anything KieferxRin related, even briefly, seeing as scanlations have been dropped, I think.

jedinat · 2009-05-22, 15:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fevvers

If it means anything, I absolutely hated Anne Rice and found the only similar thing between her works and this VG are... well, the vampires. Neither did I find it a muddled borefest either, although I wouldn’t put it pass others to find it so; what may be a claustrophobic and engaging atmosphere for me could be completely tedious to another.

I actually just put in that Anne Rice comment without thinking about it much, lol, so you're probably right to deny any correlation. I am particularly bitter over Vampire Girl because I was closely following it from the time scanlations began.. I went so far as to add it to a couple manga databases, upload mirrors of chapters... it was one of my favorite manga for a while... then, IMHO, it became awful, everything I liked about it was put aside, and as you said "claustrophobic" is a good term to describe it. It went a similar path to various manhwa I've read and hated... all wrapped up in itself, not showing or doing anything I wanted to see... or so I'd like to say from my dim memories of it; it's been quite a while since I read the thing.

Anyways, in the spirit of being useful, more age gap manga:
Dear Mine - one of my favorite manga... may be viewed as shotacon or whatever, but the mental maturity of the kid denies that a bit I think
Faster than a Kiss - student/teacher secretly married
Itadakimasu - high school boy and divorcee

Irkalla · 2009-05-24, 16:12

This thread rocks! And thanks everyone for all the tips.
The only thing that you guys haven't said and comes to my mind is Daddy Long legs.

2009-05-21, 22:23	Link #1
cheesie Dame Cheesie Graphic Designer Join Date: May 2004	Anime/Manga : Looking for May x December Pairings May-December pairings refer to couples who have an extreme age gap between them. Most notable example for this season is Ristorante Paradiso, a 21-year old woman who went to Rome and fell in love with a dashing gentleman twenty years her senior. I've seen: Anime EF Tale of Melodies : Kuze x Mizuki (30? x 17) Ristaurante Paradiso : Claudio x Nicoletta (40+? x 21) Guin Saga : [Spoilers] Rideback : Rin x Kiefer (37 x 21) <-- Though it goes 2x deeper in the manga. Manga Till Death do us Part : Mamoru x Haruka (30+? x 12) Note : Just to clarify, this is not a loli pairing. You'll see why when you read. On that note, May-December pairings do not refer to pedophile relationships. I prefer my heroines to be at a certain age range (16+ and above). I'd also like the heroines to be decent, none of those moeblobs, abusive tsunderes and useless shoujo heroines who worship the air their men breathes.

2009-05-24, 16:12	Link #12
Irkalla I asked for this Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Winterfell Age: 35	This thread rocks! And thanks everyone for all the tips. The only thing that you guys haven't said and comes to my mind is Daddy Long legs. __________________

2009-05-21, 23:35	Link #2
jedinat Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Age: 38	Suki - the girl is in high school and the guy is in his early 30s Help!! - student/professor Miriam - in the first half of the manga the girl is 8 and the guy is 17... the romance takes place in the second half where they are now older. Ichigo no Gakkou - student/teacher married with infant Jinbe - father-in-law/daughter, tasteful as far as this kind of story can be Koi Kaze - the incest overshadows the (rather large) age gap White Dragon - similar basic plot to Till Death do us Part Switch - student/teacher

2009-05-22, 01:43	Link #3
Fevvers a regular van veen Join Date: Feb 2007	Heh, I was thinking the same thing too, although more along the lines of Ristorante Paradiso, but I suppose I'll take what I can get. ^^ Otoyomegatari - A historical piece set along the Silk Road in the 19th century; by the creator of Victorian Romance Emma, so it goes without saying that the artwork is lush, well-researched, and gorgeous. Curious thing here is that the main pairing (or what appears to be the main pairing, though circumstances could change later on) involves an older woman and a very young boy (about 10 to 14, maybe?). It's nothing sleazy; if you've read Emma, you know the kind of treatment to expect. Blade of the Immortal - Not romance per se, but 16 year-old Rin (who is far from annoying by the way, she's awesome!) is crushing on her 30 year-something bodyguard, whether or not the bodyguard likes her back is still too ambiguous for now though I'm not really rooting for them, prefer AnotsuxRin. Amazing art (from anatomy to the backgrounds) and execution, with a lot of very easy to sympathize with characters. Vampire Girl - Young girl and a twenty-something guy, who is much older than he looks. I know the title's nothing special, but the content surprised me a whole lot and made me an eternal Fujiwara Kaoru fan. Dark, slow-paced and pensive, focuses on the psychological aspect rather than the typical shoujo high school hijinx. Nothing like Vampire Knight. Eternal Sabbath - Though I prefer Fuyumi Souryo's Cesare, this is still quite a solid sci-fi manga. 17-ish young boy with a mid-20s woman.

2009-05-22, 07:23	Link #10
Fevvers a regular van veen Join Date: Feb 2007	@Natsuki I see no wrong in that! ...She doesn't wait for things to be handed on a silver platter unlike me XD @cheesie I certainly don't mind being spoiled on anything KieferxRin related, even briefly, seeing as scanlations have been dropped, I think.