hontou ni
18Aug/1013

[Stripey] BakeMono Tribute – 5 favourite anime romances

Sengoku Nadeko - Where a cap is fine too

Bakemonogatari has to be one of the best anime romances in recent years (in the league Toradora and True Tears). Was so smitten that I had to bust out a favourite anime romance list so that BakeMono can be forever enshrined on the tanuki charts. Just a short preamble the how these series made the list -

1) Credible and well-substantiated basis of love/attraction between couple.

2) A coherently developed relationship that is consistent with the characters and preferably supported by the plot.

3) The characters themselves grow/mature as individuals as a result of their love/interactions.

While only a couple (on the list) does these 3 perfectly (BakeMono was one of them),  all of the below-mentioned come highly recommended by tanuki kind.

Without farther ado and in no order of preference, here's a very personal list of favourite anime romance.

A) Bakemonogatari

The biggest testimony to the very worthy Araragi-Senjougahara love was that at no point in time did the tanuki hanker for a Sengoku-Araragi pairing despite the uber-lolicious allure of Nadeko chan. Even the alleged-lolicon Dark Stripey (who had pictures of Sengoku in negligee plastered all over his lair) approves of the AraSenjou Connection.

B) True Tears

One of the best anime romances in recent years and accomplished without panty flashes or near topless Sengoku 14 yr olds. Artistic masterpiece with solid storytelling and memorable characters. Hiromi is the only bishoujo-goddess who came this close to ousting Shirakawa Kotori as resident bishoujo on Hontouni.

C) Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu

Iriya manages to deliver poignant, powerful emotional moments in its short 6 OVA run where few with such limited airtime have succeeded. You'll cry, you'll laugh, you'll rage, you'll contemplate about time and finally pine for its TV series like this tanuki.

D) Da Capo

Surely not unexpected given that some of the older bloggers know me as "Da Capo Stripey" and it was this series that misled many into thinking I'm a siscon :P Let me be honest and state that D.C is not all consistent. The real meat only occurs towards the mid-series and then, it's a heavenly spread til the end. Again, how I'm a THROUGH and THROUGH Kotori fanboy, there is no question that Junichi and Nemu is THE designated couple. The tale justifies and demands so.

E) Toradora

I've raved about Toradora before and my 2nd seating with Wife chan strengthened that love. Toradora does 'the process of falling in love' exceptionally well. There is not a shadow of doubt that Ryuuji is worthier than any of the 3 Toradora girls. Frankly, he deserved better but love was never really about being deserving. Wife chan made an interesting comment about Minori - "If you knew your best friend has just this one shot at love in her entire life, you'd probably just give him (Ryuuji) up too." She probably didn't give Taiga enough credit but we both know that our admiration of Ryuuji is not misplaced.

The truth is I have planned for a top 15 list but the rigours of work today and deadlines tomorrow compels me to stop here. Either way, I've pimped my love for BakeMono which is the main thrust of this post. For those who are curious, no. 6 - 15 are as below (not in any particular order)

1) Kannazuki no Miko

2) Byousoku 5 cm

3) Zero no Tsukaima (Season 1.. ONLY! :P )

4) Canvas 2

5) Onegai Twins

6) Otome wa boku ni koishiteru

7) Ef ~ A tale of memories

8) KimiKiss ~ Pure rouge

9) D.C.II S.S

10) SHUFFLE!

Do take a peek if you have the bandwidth. They're also compulsory viewing for those taking my course on "How to be a harem-lead" (specially prepared for my son if I'm blessed with one :P ).

Picture source - e-shuushuu

Artist - Takeiooki

Related posts:

  1. [Stripey] Angel Beats! tribute – Top 10+1 light-haired lolis
  2. How popular are your favourite anime bishoujos?
  3. Anime tribute ~ Losers in love

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Filed under: Bakemonogatari, Fun Lists Leave a comment
Comments (13) Trackbacks (1)
  1. Asrialys
    August 19th, 2010 - 00:45

    Loved Iriya and Da Capo. Haven’t seen the rest yet though.

    Zero no Tsukaima, seriously? It always felt like they reset every season. Unless you choose to ignore the second and third seasons…

    And 5 Centimeters makes me sad…

    Anyway… loli Kotori, loli Sakura, and is that a young Juunichi? Nemu and Miharu (hair looks slightly different) seem about the same (height) though.

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  2. Stripey
    August 19th, 2010 - 01:16

    Woah thanks for the highlight Asrialys! D.C. Mahou shoujo loli remake?!? WHAHAHAHAHAAH!!!

    Yes only ZnT season 1. :) S2 and S3 tops my ‘anime to remake’ list XD

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  3. Xellos^_-
    August 19th, 2010 - 02:06

    You have Onegai Twins but no mention of KGNE? I can understand Onegai Teacher but twins?

    Oh wait, almost forgot Stripey is a siscon. but still no mention of the painful (in a good way) romance of the decade, which predates everything on your list.

    and admit it you only watch bakamono for Nadeko’s “Oniichan“

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    • Stripey
      August 19th, 2010 - 02:14

      Heh, sasuga Xellos^_-. KGNE was once a favourite of mine but somehow it didn’t age well. Both in terms of character development and basis of attraction, only Suzumiya Akane makes the mark (which explains why I’m still in love with her). Still KGNE is probably on my top 20 list. :)

      And a minor correction – it’s “Koyomi onii-can” (Nadeko has this interesting lisp when she says ‘chan’ :P ) *melts*

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  4. relentlessflame
    August 19th, 2010 - 04:44

    Happy to say that I’ve watched (and own a copy of) all of these but two: Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu (I have the first volume, though), and 5cm/sec. (probably only because it’s a movie I never got around to it). Should aim to remedy this situation shortly!

    And yeah, Twins vs. Teacher is one of those age-old debates. I agree with your selection, but I’ve personally never been a big fan of the teacher archetype either. I also kind of see what you’re saying about KgNE as well – it’s a show I have a hard time rewatching, unlike many of the others. (Though it is a fun show to coerce other people to watch using the “just watch the first two episodes!” argument… evil…)

    Anyway, good list!

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  5. Stripey
    August 19th, 2010 - 20:51

    Glad you concur with/enjoyed the list! :)

    And now that you’ve mentioned it, I just realised I own 12 out of the 15 listed. (So that’s my ‘missing’ savings have gone XD).

    Still deliberating if I should get the

    1) blu ray or R3s for BakeMono,

    2) US R1 or Taiwan R3 for KimiKiss.

    Haven’t seen a license for Ef ~ A tale of memories outside of Japan, so am hoping someone will pick that up. Was ‘coerced’ into buying R2s for DCIISS and Iriya no Sora – not fun for the wallet :P

    As the Twins vs Teacher debate, Twins has always been the clear winner for me. :) As I admire greatly the young who exhibit maturity beyond their age, I conversely ‘despise’ adults who don’t behave their age. XD Mizuho examplified the latter. Had also found the Twins tales more compelling to watch with the mystery of who’s the REAL sister. (Honestly, I had hope for a harem-end ala Futakoi Alternative). :)

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    • Asrialys
      August 19th, 2010 - 23:18

      I like both Teacher and Twins, but I think I like Teacher a bit more because of Bridget Hoffman’s voice acting in the English dub. She voiced Mahoro too :P Hm…then again, there was Kari Wahlgren as Miina. Anyway, I suppose I can say that I did find the story for Twins more interesting.

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      • Stripey
        August 20th, 2010 - 12:27

        Wow those were some pretty big shoes to fill given that Kawasumi Ayako gave a fantastic performance as Mahoro. :)

        Wait a min, I believe I’ve heard Mahoro’s dub before and found Mahoro’s English voice actress quite decent though I was condemned by peers for even suggesting so XD

  6. suguru
    August 20th, 2010 - 23:54

    Good list, sasuga Stripey – and yeah, Toradora really does capture the process of falling in love well, it probably felt the most true-to-life of any anime series I’ve seen that way. What amazes me the most about Toradora is the writer came up with such a compelling story only using events that could happen in everyday life – although I’m a sucker for magic sakura trees as well…

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    • Xellos^_-
      August 21st, 2010 - 01:41

      i have to go with the Original Macross as the best of the series with process of falling in love and being able to maintain a coherent love triangle. Notable runnerups would be Escaflowne which also handle the meshing of the romance and and action aspects of the shows really well.

      and i notice on Stripey’s list a bias to harem types and anime from within last 10 years.

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      • Stripey
        August 21st, 2010 - 17:14

        @suguru : I think it really helped that Ryuuji was a worthy man to fall in love with. :) It’s interesting that only during my 2nd sitting did I realise that ‘definitative’ moment where the various girls fell-in-love or realised-their-feelings for Ryuuji. You know it’s a great show when you enjoyed its 2nd sitting even MORE than the first :) As for sakura trees… I’m marathoning my DCIISS dvds now… I’m sure you’ll concur that Otome is awesome…. :)

        @Xellos^_-: Heh you have very accurately pinpointed the beginning of my 2D passion. I only picked up a voracious appetite for anime about 2001 (together with the bitorrent boom) so I suppose anime from those years on had deeper impact. As for the harem slant, the truth is I like me bishoujos and harem/romance typically have wider offering though not necessarily better :)

  7. Xellos-_^
    August 21st, 2010 - 22:17

    i am a big believer in quality over quantity. In action type shows at lease the girls have the good taste to fall in love with a real man rather then the loser that seems populate Harem anime these with being nice as their only redeeming feature. i mean it is any wonder we getting so much yuri anime these days as the HML (harem Male lead) has gone form good to avg to loser in the span of a decade.

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  8. Stripey
    August 23rd, 2010 - 12:53

    Heh heh, actually I’ve had quite the opposite experience. I thought harem leads have improved over the decade. I still remember lame leads back in the days of Yumeria and Girls Bravo. I suspect it may be because I’m learned over the years to be more discerning in choosing my harem show resulting in an overall enhanced view of the genre. :)

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