Awesome romance anime

*Includes spoilers. All media credits go to their owners.*

First of all - I know I missed last week, my conscience told me. But since I needed sleep between sessions of hardcore studying, I couldn't help it :( Anyway, this week I'm continuing with my practical writing exercise, so yay for me!

I've never really liked full romance animes. I mean, I've always LOVED romance in animes - but only if the anime was of any other genre than romance itself. The school-love combo just gives me nothing - it's full of horrible melancholic moments and weird choices by the main characters, from wether to admit their feelings to bla bla bla...

Please don't be offended

But! This season I've been forced to eat my words - I think probably for the first time ever. Because I'm sorry to admit it, but I didn't really like Clannad. The After Story was great (let me specify - the marriage story was great), but the regular Clannad was so damn boring. Seriously, I considered skipping it all in all. Eventually I had to force myself into watching it because I wanted to properly see what After Story, the nr 1 spot on ANN was about. But it was just another story about how people form groups in a collectivistic society that will likely be their only network of connections next to their colleagues for the rest of their lives... damn I'm glad I live in the West.

After Clannad I've seen a bunch of faliures - that at least I thought were meant to be romance animes. Like Chihayafuru - okay, maybe it was meant to be a 'sports' anime, but seriously, wasn't everyone hoping for the storyline they began with the triangle to evolve.... ? Was that just me...? Woopsie... <.<
And then Natsuyuki Rendezvous. Bad. So bad. I had such high hopes - I was cheering for it until the very end. But it ended in complete randomness. I would like to take this time and ask: Excuse me, but what was the point of that entire anime? We all knew the ghost would have to give up Hazuki's body in the end, we all knew how sad that whole situation was... what exactly did this anime give us? The ghost was still floating around even after his wife had died after living decades and decades with another man.... So in the end there was no closure, no nothing. Stupid.
I also checked out Arcana Famiglia, which I knew was shoujou, but I tried anyway.... was bad, so whiny. Yuk!

Junjou Romantica

Okay, I guess I did like one romance anime, but that was probably because I had never seen one like that before. And it had sex, lots of sex. I like sex :x
I'm not even entirely sure this should be counted as romance - but they are doing romantic stuff, right? And the title says so... Perhaps a pretty straightforward anime pick for my very first yaoi, but then again it had some mushy feelings in it and all that. It's not like it was Ai no Kusabi reborn :D (oh yeah, those who have seen it blushed a little there). Didn't have lots of school in it - still evolved around a university, so I'm guessing that counts. Anyway, that was kind of fun and fresh. So, coolio. I'm borrowing this phrase from a friend. Cooli-o. Coolio.

But other than that I had never seen a traditional romance anime that I'd actually like. Until Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun (My Little Monster) came along! Alright, maybe it's not very traditional in the sense of what goes on in there, but basically - it has romance, it has school life - I think I've found my perfect traditional exception, finally! 

First of all, it's funny - anyone who sees it and isn't completely derived of a sense of humor, should see that. Sometimes the fun is situational, sometimes it's just the things they say and the responses they give. The characters are special and not your typical: worn out hero-type gentle high school guy, who keeps coming to the rescue with only pure thoughts in his head; and the kind and useless lead female. No. This time the hero is a genius-boy who has extremely weird tastes, is brutal, a bit dirty-minded and actually has feelings he's not afraid to admit. But for a change, the girl doesn't get overshadowed - she's smart, blunt, knows what she wants and isn't afraid to say it either. Basically they're both downright honest - not such a common thing in anime, eh? So throw in a bunch of rich delinquents, a nice baseball dude, a cute but dumb girl who is also incidentally an internet geek, and a shy class-rep who isn't so shy after all when she falls for the male lead - and you get a mixture crazy, funny and romantic that actually resembles real life. Oh, and don't forget the rooster - the rooster is important!

I mean it isn't so unusual to kind of fall for your best friend, now is it? And it isn't unusual to tell the person you like them, try to figure things out. So where the regular romance anime goes on for episodes and episodes of denying their feelings, trying to be just friends, this one comes right out and says it: "Now that I realised I have feelings for you, I want to do all kinds of things to you..." - Haru.

So far in this show, they've confessed like four times, changed their priorities, realised the world isn't black-and-white, kissed, gone on dates, stopped dating - and it's still at episode 7! Every week I just cannot wait for another episode, it's freaking awesome! I'll throw in a few pics to illustrate my point.

Haru and Shizuku

Haru forces Shizuku to go eat out with him

Oshima having a moment with Haru... and Nagoya

A bit of the philosophy that drives Haru

Shizuku announces her ambition, Haru backs her up

Shizuku and Haru, almost there...

Shizuku flushed after a kiss attempt

Haru thinking about Shizuku

Basically - watch this anime or you'll miss out on a helluva lot of epicness!

More grains to spill next week - share your thoughts in the meanwhile!