10 Good Romances from 2020

10. The Half of it [movie: on Netflix]

This is at number ten mostly because it’s not technically a romance, but I thought it was worth fitting on this list somewhere considering it’s themes of longing, friendships, and familial bonds. It’s a slower paced film but it works in the story’s favor for the most part. You do end up wanting to see more by the end, more so because it doesn’t feel like much happens in the film other than the characters were engaging. One of the stronger points might just be the clear love and passion put into this project by Alice Wu. This was crafted with careful hands and I have a lot of respect for it. The engagement factor was it’s fault.

9. Happiest Season [movie: on Hulu]

Happiest Season is a Christmas romance movie that had a significant amount of talk around it for most of 2020 and of course it did, it’s a lesbian holiday film. It’s largely a comedic film, though the plot is the journey of someone coming out to their conservative family. It serves its purpose well. It’s entertaining, funny, and features Kristen Stewart.

8. Ao no Flag/ Blue Flag [manga]

You could also probably argue that Ao no Flag isn’t a romance but I’d have to disagree in this case with it’s major themes questioning the boundaries between platonic and romantic feelings. It also makes attempts at examining and looking into sexuality, although sloppily. At times even negative, but the intent never felt insincere . The art style is absolutely beautiful. The main three are wonderful. It would have benefited from a more thought out plot but it’s good for what it is.

7. My Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom [anime]

A sweet and hilarious fantasy romance with a unique premise. The anime has a cast of very endearing (although also incredibly dense) characters. It’s not at all what I’d expect from an otome-turned-isekai harem. It’s outrageous and has a vast love web to complicate matters, but all the characters are well meaning enough that it’s all quite fun to watch. This anime, if anything, is an interesting phenomenon and actually pretty clever. I’d strongly recommend it.

6. Love is War S2 [anime]

It has continued to be hilarious. More side characters are involved and the old ones have only been more active in the plots of this season. Production continues to be phenomenal. There’s not too much to say on this one. It doesn’t stray from the first season, so if you like that you’ll like this.

5. Feel Good [tv series: on Netflix]

The chemistry between the main two characters is amazing and what keeps the show so engaging. I watched the whole thing in one night. While entertaining, there are plenty of frustrating scenes as well and events and pieces of dialogue that I wish were written differently. The series is short, at only 6 episodes but manages to bring an emotional experience. Drug addiction is a heavy theme in the series along with loneliness, poor friendships, dependency, and codependency. I’d say it’s a drama with lots of wit. It’s a solid Netflix original if you have the time to watch it.

4. Adachi to Shimamura [anime]

With it’s slow pacing and confusing message via the alien character (if you know then you know), Adachi and Shimamura’s enjoyment relies on the characters, and the main two certainly carried the series. While the chemistry between them was questionable, their dynamic and their inner monologues reflecting on the relationship resonated with my own high school experiences to such a personal degree that these characters have become all time favorites of mine. I have to say that the mangaka did a really good job at capturing the experience of when queerness and friendship intertwine. Of course if you can’t relate to the characters this will be hard to watch, but give it try.

3. Fruits Basket S2 [anime]

Massively improved in soundtrack and execution compared to the first season of the reboot. Season two remains loyal to the manga’s story (which was expected) so naturally there’s more drama and deeper development given to a majority of the characters. It was by all means a good second season and I look forward to the finale.

2. Normal People [tv series: on Hulu]

Normal People is the type of story that emphasizes the flaws in people more than the strengths, but doesn’t polarize the characters and allows them to be relatable and human. Both main characters are deeply insecure, and end up being the only person they openly talk about their insecurities with. The story is divided by different phases of the main characters’ lives (high school, college, post). This structure serves for a sort of yin and yang narrative between the main characters not only in personality, but in their position in life at a given time. The camera work is simple, but beautiful. So much of the show is just talking and yet I was always fully captivated. If you have Hulu please give it a shot.

1. A Summer’s End- Hong Kong 1986 [visual novel]

The relationship between the two girls was rushed, but never to the point of ruining my enjoyment and the leads remained endearing and likable. The dialogue was dry at times, however it was sincere and delivered well in emotional scenes. With gorgeous visuals and an enticing soundtrack, it’s clear the visual novel was a passion project taking into consideration the independent studio behind it (Oracle and Bone). Despite its flaws I think the positives make up for it enough to create an emotive experience. I couldn’t recommend it enough.

10 Good Romances I Watched in 2019

As the title may suggest, not all of these romances are from 2019. I just happened to watch all of them this year. In these trying times we don’t get a lot of romance content. Go blame producers, not me.

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10. Gilmore girls

A show with a homey atmosphere and small town charm. The writing trips over itself from time to time in the earlier seasons and often in the later ones. The protagonist probably had the least interesting love interests out of the characters we follow with the exception of Jess. The humor in Gilmore Girls is definitely hit or miss, being extremely corny. It’s a hard show to recommend but hard to blow off as well. If you make it through the first season odds are you’ll develop a soft spot for it.

 

 

9. Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches

It is both a blessing a curse that I go into shows without ever reading the synopsis. In the case of Yamada-kun, it’s a bit of both, considering I would’ve gone into the show with entirely different expectations if I knew it was a harem. All I noticed at first was the character designs and opening that ended up being far cuter than the story itself. Despite all this, I enjoyed the show. The concept of who and why girls from the school were witches was really interesting to me and the characters were interesting enough. I will say that the premise of the show is that witches can only activate their curse through a kiss meaning that, you guessed it, the lines of consent in this are often blurry so I wouldn’t recommend watching this if that’s something you can’t overlook.

 

8. Carole and Tuesday

The Sloppy storytelling and directing took a turn for the better in the second half. The sci-fi setting was also a lot more fleshed out in the second half and felt like it had a purpose. It became more clear that Carole and Tuesday had something to say with it’s premise and setting. Something Carole and Tuesday had from the very beginning was wonderful chemistry between our two protagonists (as the title would suggest). Adding the clumsiness of the first half, character chemistry, a good soundtrack, and solid animation; it earns a snug little spot in this list.

 

7. Love, Rosie

Had a really strong beginning. The rest of the film was good as well, but I found myself less invested near the end. The characters were mostly likable, the camera work was nice and Lily Collins is really pretty. Also a good actress. That too. Pretty good. I don’t have much else to say on this one.

 

6. End of the F***ing World, Season 2

Not sure what took the second season so long to come out, but I’m happy we got it. Our edgy teenagers are now, much more somber, young adults. The story once again focuses on the relationship between James and Alyssa to highlight both of their behavioral and emotional issues. Just like the first season, the camera work is great. The soundtrack is both endearing and fitting. We get more of Alyssa’s perspective this season along with the addition of party member, Bonnie. Bonnie’s role helped emphasize how the the other two had changed since the first season while also being a constant reminder of the two’s past. By the end of the season, for the first time, it felt like things might actually work out well for Alyssa and James.

 

5. Kono oto Tomare

Kono oto Tomare has its second season to thank for being so high on this list. It was originally going to be at nine or ten due to the poor delivery of dialogue and underwhelming punches in the first season,creating what generally felt like a melodramatic sports anime. However even in the first season I adored the characters, who were interesting and empathetic. The premise also reminded me of Glee- which I liked. Even at its worst Kono oto Tomare was still a good show. The second season fixed most of the issues I had with the first, creating the heartfelt drama that it was so clearly trying to be from the beginning. It built on the characters even more and developed the romances hinted at in the first season in a satisfying manner. As a sports/music anime it’s no surprise that the soundtrack is phenomenal. It stands out in this area compared to the others on this list.

 

4. Oresuki

I don’t think I’ve ever watched anything quite like Oresuki. Every episode the story would be flipped entirely upside down. The conflicts and even the premise were in a constant, rapid change. When you think you figured out where the plot for the series is going, that storyline gets wrapped up in a single episode and adds a few plot twists just make things a little more complicated creating a unique watching experience for the viewer. It’s witty sense of humor along with parodying common character archetypes in slice of life romances makes the show incredibly entertaining as well as hilarious .

 

3. Gamers

Gamers surprised me in a number of ways regarding the characters and plot. It’s unique in a much more subtle way than Oresuki.  A lot of things I expected to happen didn’t, and the characters ended up being a lot more facated than I expected from them. This series had a lot of fun with the absolutely ridiculous misunderstandings the characters consistently fell victim to and you know what, I had a ton of fun watching these idiots too. It’s short, fun, and adorable. I couldn’t recommend this one enough.

 

2. Kaguya-sama: Love is War

Love is war is amazing in every possible aspect. It’s witty, quick-paced, endearing and has incredibly likeable characters that are so ridiculous and yet still manage to remain empathetic. The soundtrack matches the tone of the series perfectly and I have no trouble listening to it on it’s own either. While the structure of the show is episodic, resulting in a bit of repetitiveness, there was always a sense that through each ordeal the characters changed a little bit or learned something. None of them are in the same place by the end which is something the show didn’t really need to do but was better for it. Love is War is genius but I’d recommend watching it when you’re in the mood to read a lot of dialogue and fully invest your attention. It’s quite a ride.

 

1.Fruits Basket (manga)

Yes, Fruits Basket is on this list again and I can’t promise I’m not crazy enough to put it on one of these again once the reboot is finished. I might not though, because the main reason I feel justified in using Fruits Basket in a list once again is because of the major differences and additional storylines in the manga that were not a part of the 2001 adaptation. Also I can say with full confidence that the manga is a masterpiece and I don’t think it would be fair of me to not give it it’s own place on one of these lists when the original anime did. Fruits Basket is ultimately a story about healing from trauma that neatly presents itself as a cute, shoujo romance. It promotes positivity through melancholic storytelling. The characters (particularly our main three) all change and go through strenuous character development out of their own will while also being inspired by those that care for them. It’s a story filled with heartfelt messages and themes making Fruits Basket not only an amazing series, but an important one as well.

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Some honorable mentions of manga that would’ve made the list if it weren’t for them being ongoing series:

Ao no Flag

Given

14-kai no Koi

Oh and if you’d like to know what made my list in 2018 you can head over here on Tumblr.

A Shitty Analysis of the New Fruits Basket Op

I meant to post this months ago

I love this opening so much more than the first one but that’s beside the point. The only thing that matters right now is how loaded with symbolism the second opening of the reboot is.

[mild manga spoilers ahead]

The opening shot is Tohru opening her umbrella in the midst of a cloudy sky that the sun is slightly peeking through.

Then we get the title sequence as Tohru runs up a flight up of stares.

At the top (and in front of Shigure’s house) she throws the umbrella up in the air, no longer needing it based on the her now sunny surroundings. 

We then see the rest of the characters looking up from their umbrellas and what’s really important is to note from what angle the shots are.

Kyo and Yuki’s shots are both upward and you can’t see any part of their umbrella but the inside. Looking back to the very first time Tohru’s umbrella is shown in the opening, you can notice the inside is the only visible part aswell. The only difference is that her face is completely out of shot and all we can see is her extending grip. 

With Shigure and Hanajima you can see the front of their umbrellas as well as the inside. I think this is indicating that these two are the main observers of our main trio. Neither of them are looking upward either, but straight ahead of them.

Something else important to notice would be how Shigure is only one with a shaded face- a hint that he isn’t as good-natured as we originally might think. Also note that he’s staring right into the camera which I think represents how shameless he tends to be about his more questionable actions and morals.

Hanajima, on the other hand, is barely shadowed but has one eye covered. I think this is mostly referencing her eye on Kyo, especially in scenes like when they visited Kyoko’s grave or later volumes when it became overwhelmingly clear that Kyo had romantic feelings for Tohru. Hanajima’s concerns and observations are a lot more genuine than Shigure’s. While she’s not afraid to interfere with how things play out (we see this during New Years), she does it from a place with her friends in mind rather herself (such as Shigure)

 The rest of the characters are shown with their umbrellas from afar.

Then we get this super precious shot of young Tohru running with her mother into the sunset happily and carelessly as they lower their umbrellas.

For symbolic purposes, I’m assuming that Kyoko’s umbrella is black in this shot. It’s a fair assumption considering Tohru’s umbrella is different from the one we’ve seen her carrying in earlier in the opening and the brownish overtones suggesting this is a memory. If that wasn’t obvious enough the sunset should be clear symbolism of Kyoko’s death.

Then we cut to Tohru, who is still at the top of the stairs in front of Shigure’s house. It’s sunny again and she’s not holding her umbrella which means everything we’ve seen after she threw her umbrella up has been through her eyes.

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We then get a super adorable sequence of all the characters dancing in direction to the camera. Based off what we’ve seen of all the character’s umbrellas, this whole sequence is in Tohru’s mind considering the pink background.

This is especially evident with the lingering Kyo and Yuki, just for Kyoko to be the next person. She’s the only character in the sequence that doesn’t move to the camera. She stands in the center of the shot. Her umbrella is also now a bright red with a butterfly on the side of it. This all further emphasizes that we’re in Tohru’s head right now considering Kyo and Yuki’s growing influence and her determination to keep her mother at the forefront.

The next noticeable thing I want to mention is this shot of Kyo and Yuki as Tohru runs towards them. Ignoring the minor animation error of Kyo’s magical floating umbrella, both of their bodies are facing the direction the sun is about to protrude. Their backs are facing Tohru, but they’re both turning slightly in Tohru’s direction. Their body language is matching the symbolism of Tohru throwing aside her umbrella in the beginning–opening up.

This is especially evident considering Tohru tosses aside her umbrella when she caught up with Yuki and Kyo and grabs their hands [insert she has two hands for a reason jokes here].

Something worth noting is that now it’s Tohru grabbing their hands and not the other way around. She’s now the one pulling them forward.

Everyone else then joins in on the fun and tosses their umbrellas in the air.

There’s not much to say about the umbrella’s positions themselves except that Tohru, Yuki, and Kyo’s are noticeably closer to the camera. We’re also looking at the outside of the umbrellas for once.

While it’s kind of obvious why, realizing Kyoko’s umbrella is the only one from the opening that isn’t there definitely hits in a weird, painful way.

As for what the umbrellas themselves symbolize…I could see it representing a personal shield; each character is using their umbrella to protect themselves from something that’s beyond their control. Tossing away the umbrellas could symbolize no longer needing the protection because there’s nothing needing protection from. Thus, throwing the umbrellas in the air as well as Tohru tossing her’s once she gets to Shigure’s house. Considering this also brings a new light to the fact that we only see the inside part of Kyo and Yuki’s umbrellas. This could just boil down to Tohru being the closest to the two, thus grasping the trauma they went through especially. It could also be a representation of how these two are particularly stuck in their past compared to the other Sohmas.

A bonus:

As I was writing this I noticed that there’s a cat on young Tohru’s umbrella which is really cute and I had to share with you all.

Fruits Basket (2001): Subtle Romances and Fake Love Triangles

This piece has actually been sitting on my tumblr for a while now, but with the Fruits Basket reboot coming in March (yay!!) I thought why not post it on here?

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Fruits Basket really surprised me with what it offered. I went into the show with a preconceived notion that it was going to be some average, flowery shoujo that gained its popularity out of nothing more than good timing.

Man

I was so wrong.

I mean, Fruits Basket isn’t even all that much of a romance in my eyes. There are romantic overtones, sure, but the show focused a lot more on the friendship that Tohru made with Kyo and Yuki than her possible romantic dynamic with them. To me, Fruits Basket is a lot more about finding good friends, trauma, and how those friends can help you heal from or move on from those traumas.

Fruits Basket is a lot of things.

A lot of things that make it so much more than any ole romance or shoujo.

The heart of the show is in the dynamic between Tohru, Kyo, and Yuki.

Fruits basket did a good job of getting me to like both, Kyo and Yuki, equally. I remember thinking around the tenth episode mark how I would be happy with Tohru ending up with either of them. As more episodes went on, however, the more I realized that Fruits Basket wasn’t about which guy she would pick and end up with. It wasn’t about her romantic feelings for them. It was about how all three of them shared similar struggles and how they could help each other through them and I wasn’t expecting that before getting into Fruits Basket at all. I feel like I’m repeating myself, but this is really crazy to me because I really thought Fruits Basket was going to be a regular romance shoujo with a love triangle. In the end, who was supposed to end up with who romantically wasn’t even important. What was important is that Tohru, Kyo, and Yuki needed each other. All three of them. I think in a way they were made for each other. The three of them were platonic soulmates if you will.

This is something that really frustrates me because I put off Fruits Basket for the longest time because I thought this was a going to just be a romance with a shitty love triangle. But the “love triangle” isn’t really even a love triangle, because Tohru never “picked” between the two, and I don’t think there would have been a point for her to pick between them. All I really wanted was for Tohru, Kyo, and Yuki to be happy. And I don’t think this could’ve been achieved without all three of them being together.  At least not in the anime (I haven’t read the manga, but I’m working on it. I am also aware that most people say the manga is way better than anime. Again, I’m working on it).

However, as I said, I ended up liking Yuki and Kyo equally. I would’ve been happy to see Tohru end up with either of them until I finished the show and actually realized it would’ve been a bad idea for her to pick sides (and wouldn’t have made much sense considering her character). When I was still looking at the three of them as a love triangle (this would be somewhere around the halfway mark), something that I really admired about it was how instead of the girl (Tohru) causing the two guys (Kyo and Yuki) to dislike each other, it’s actually the other way around. Kyo and Yuki have always disliked each other but it’s Tohru who builds a sort of bridge between the two. She’s the reason they get closer rather than the reason they’re relationship worsens.

So even when I look at Fruits Basket as a romance, and the relationship between Tohru, Kyo, and Yuki as a love triangle, it’s still really well done. Except for the fact that there’s no romantic endgame, that’s kind of a no-no in romances.

The three of them needing each other makes a lot of sense too. The dynamics of these three is amazing.

All three of them struggle with feeling alone, not belonging and you see the different ways they cope with those feelings. They have the same insecurities, just for different reasons.

I just…really love these three. Their characters work well off each other. They’re all already likable on their own, but together they have this charm that’s kind of hard to describe.

I think this might explain why it took me a while to watch Fruits Basket as well.

Outside of me avoiding it because I didn’t think it would be anything special, there were two times I tried watching Fruits Basket before in which I only made it halfway through the first episode. I was close to doing it again the third time I picked up Fruits Basket, but I kept watching and when Kyo showed up the way his energy contrasted with all the other character’s immediately gained my interest and then Tohru ends up falling on them and poof, Kyo and Yuki turn into animals and the first episode ends and by that point I’m actually invested and want to get to the next episode as soon as possible. Then I continued to watch and fell in love with our three main characters as well as being surprised with just how sad this show could get. The whole thing makes me feel silly now.

So if there’s one thing I’m trying to say in this it’s that Yuki, Tohru, and Kyo are a pretty good unit. (And also that Fruits Basket is more than seems)

However, this brings me to probably the one real problem I had with the show. There was too much time spent on side characters. It’s a fault of its time in all honesty. A lot of early 2000’s anime fell into that episodic trap of focusing on different side characters every episode. In Fruits Basket’s defense, the same side characters went back and forth through the episodes and they all had the same insecurities of not belonging as Kyo, Tohru, and Yuki and a lot of the times they would help reveal something new about the main three characters. While the only side characters I ended up genuinely liking were Tohru’s best friends, they all suffered from the same things Tohru, Yuki, and Kyo.

Everyone in Fruits Basket was an outcast. In one way or another.

And I think that might be why I and so many others love this series. We all know what it’s like to feel like you don’t belong somewhere, or that you don’t fit in, or that there’s no way you could be accepted for who you really are.

Some of us are like Tohru, who avoid bothering/annoying those around them at the price of their own wellbeing.

Some are like Kyo and lash out at everyone around them as an attempt to voice their frustration and emotions while avoiding being too vulnerable.

Some of us are like Yuki and constantly monitor our emotions to keep ourselves from feeling too strongly, just trying come off as a pleasant person while keeping in the fear that they might never make intimate friends.

I think everyone can relate to all three of these to some degree.

So yeah.

I cracked the code to why Fruits Basket is so beloved. And I’m a little annoyed about it. I’m annoyed it wasn’t marketed for the emotional and moving series that it was.

In the whole eight years that I’ve been watching anime, I’ve always thought Fruits Basket was widely liked because it’s a cute romance! And the boys are cute! Or drama! (because I thought the love triangle was going to be a big thing).

Now, this isn’t to say being a romance show or having romance in a show is a bad thing. I mean, what is this blog if that’s the case. There are even shows I can think of that would’ve been better off as romances than the genre they were. I’m not trying to say that Fruits Basket can’t be all these amazing things and a romance as well, either. Or that it can’t become a romance, or that there will never be a time in the story where Tohru could become romantically involved with one of the boys in a way that would make sense (I’m assuming there is an endgame in the manga). This post has to do a lot more with how I personally didn’t see it as a romance after finishing it when I had spent such a long time assuming this would be an average romance. I don’t want this to sound like I’m bashing romances. And the whole issue of calling something “just a romance” is a whole other issue that I don’t think I could cover in this blog post.

I just find Fruits Basket’s marketing strange. It’s not (just) a flowery shoujo. There isn’t that much flowery about the show. It deals with trauma from family and friends, and insecurities around being an outcast, and the extent to which Tohru tried not to burden others would actually scare me sometimes. Sure, it’s light-hearted at times, but I always felt this lingering feeling of sadness even during those scenes.

I could go on about all the other things I liked about Fruits Basket, but this is getting long. So, I’ll just leave by saying that I love Fruits Basket and if you haven’t watched it, I would seriously recommend it

Is this something that anyone else questions? I haven’t really looked at other reviews or other opinions people have on this show. There isn’t exactly a lively fanbase to fall on either. I can’t be the only one to come to this consensus, right?

I would love to hear what other people think of Fruits Basket. I’ve heard that the manga is a lot more depressing (as they usually are). To what degree would you consider Fruits Basket a romance? Do you think Tohru not ending up with Kyo or Yuki at the end was a pro or a con? Honestly, I’m really interested in people’s thoughts on this show.