Otaku Digest: Anime Valentines
Happy Valentine’s Day to all you otaku lovers out there!! Today we’re going to be taking a break from dissecting the new anime series of the season to commemorate the day that’s in it, with our special edition of Otaku Digest: Anime Valentines.
Anime has given us some of the most powerful, cute and at times, mind baffling couples in history so I thought I would give a quick countdown of some of my favourite anime couples. These are all actual couples from different anime series, but there is most definitely another list to be made for most shipped anime characters (those who we wish were a couple) I’m looking at you Mustang and Hughes from Fullmetal Alchemist. Disclaimer, these are my top five favourites, and whether you agree or disagree with my choices, I’d love to hear in the comments below. Also, be warned, there are some spoilers ahead if you have not yet fully immersed yourself in these anime!
- Chii and Hideki – Chobits
An obvious choice, I know. Chobits is basically the love story or Chii and Hideki. They are quite low down on the list because they are so obvious. These two are the cutest couple, but what makes them special is their own development and how these developments impact the each other. Hideki at the beginning of the series is greedy and mainly self-obsessed, no shock that his parents sent him to work for his own tuition. But he slowly becomes a more widely developed man, as he is tasked to look after Chii (he did technically steal her from someone’s trash). You slowly see him grow up mentally when he realises that he and Chii need each other to move on.
Chii’s development is far more in your face. As a persocom she is a humanoid robot, but you literally see her learn how to be human from her interactions with others, especially Hideki. Her development is actually really sad since she becomes obsessed with finding that person who is just for her. The two end up completing each other as the anime explores the idea of relationships between humans and robots, or in this case persocoms. They may hit a few speed bumps along the way but Hideki and Chii make it work.
- Tohru and Kyo – Fruits Basket
I can hear the screams now, technically these two never officially got together in the anime but they did in the manga which continued after the anime ended. So I am choosing to include them in this list. I love these two as a couple. It’s never clear throughout the manga or anime who Tohru will end up with; Yuki or Kyo. Thankfully since the manga continued the story past the rushed anime, our questions were answered and Tohru winds up falling for Kyo. There is a whole lot that goes on in the manga about this relationship and if you have not read it I highly recommend it but the basis of their relationship comes down to acceptance and understanding of the other person. Kyo as the cursed cat of the Chinese zodiac knows his untimely fate and he goes out of his way not to get close to anyone until he meets Tohru who herself had resigned herself to a lonely life of working hard for everything following the passing of her mother. Take out the supernatural aspect to this anime, and you have maybe one of the most believable relationships in anime to date. These two are so devoted to each other, it launches Tohru to take on a new mission in her life which is to break the curse that traps Kyo (and everyone else). You can’t help to rejoice as you see them get their happily ever after.
- Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus – Sailor Moon
For anyone thinking, wait, are they not cousins? I highly recommend that you watch the subbed version of Sailor Moon. In the original version of the anime there two are actually in a romantic relationship (Their interactions make more sense now, right?). It is very much expressed that these two are in a lesbian relationship in both anime and manga but just ‘super close’ in the dubbed version. The two are in fact the only openly homosexual characters in the anime series, where others are presumed to be, it has never been proven bar with Neptune and Uranus.
As members of the outer Senshi we are not introduced to these two until later in the series. Even then we only really get glimpses into their lives, but from what we do get to see of the two, they are very loving toward one another and very often have flirt casually. This was a big no-no for the Englis dub who chose instead to portray the loving relationship as a familial one. Neptune and Uranus, keeping things real in anime for decades.
- Edward and Winry – Fullmetal Alchemist
No shock at all here really. For that entire series you are waiting for Edward and Alphonse to complete their mission so that they can go back home, and Ed and Winry can finally live a life together (not just so she can fix his automail). These two provide maybe some of the greatest comic relief for this entire series since their interactions involve a lot of Winry whipping him around the place with a very large wrench, for wrecking her automail. But you can definitely see her love for him. Knowing each other since they were children Ed and Winry’s relationship grows from strength to strength since she is one of the only other people who can call Edward out on his issues and push him to deal with them. Where Edward thinks he is lost he is actually being guided in his need to protect the ones he loves aka Winry. There is no denying that through the entire series, every interaction these two have, fans are screaming for this partnership to move along. We are rewarded for our patience with one of the most adorable proposals known to mankind.
- Bulma and Vegeta – Dragonball Z
Yes I did not put Goku and Chi Chi here because I think as a couple, they are disaster. Lets not forget that Chi Chi actually bullies Goku into marrying her, and Goku is just terrible and puts no effort into that relationship bar getting her pregnant and leaving. So I choose the clearly better couple of Vegeta and Bulma.
These really are an unlikely couple. Up until it is announced they are a together, they totally hate one another and make no secret of that fact. But once they are together, they are truly together. Even though at times they came off cold to one another, it never stops either of them defending or coming to one another’s aid. It even becomes clear to Vegeta what is important to him. Before, he was ashamed of his emotions, as he felt it made him look weak, accepting his family. But he does accept this in the Majin Buu saga and later sacrifices himself in the name of his family. These two are the best example of a complimentary relationship. As Vegeta annoys but calms Bulma’s sometimes overbearing attitude and she softens his ego while also making him grow as a person. Seeing more than power and titles is important in life. These two survive through life and death.
Who are your favourite anime couples? Did I leave someone out? Let me know in the comments!
