“Unrequited love is harsh.”
–Riphal Edea, King of Gastark (Legend of the Legendary Heroes)
Love is in the air. With Valentine’s Day upon us, we thought we would take a moment to delve into the subject of Love in Anime, but what specific type of Love? A kind that anime seems to depict all too often: Unrequited Love. Greg will be leading us in this rather wistful look at the heavier side of affection.
So, from our vantage point on the school roof of the Fandom Post’s Showa-era high school (on the north side of our sprawling office complex), looking down on all of those happy couples passing chocolate–and those sad singles gazing longingly and jealously at them–it’s time for some drinks and to get started.
At this point, we’d like to issue a general spoiler alert for all of the romances-that-aren’t which appear in this column.
Greg Smith: Boy meets Girl (or vice versa). They kiss. It’s happily ever after. All too trite, all too boring. But Love is not that easy. There are plenty of times when things don’t work out, leaving only tears and regrets. That’s what we’re going to look at today.
I don’t know what you want to drink, but perhaps a nice scotch, a good stiff drink with character, would best suit us as we toast all of those we have loved but could not convince to love us back.
Brian Threlkeld: A good rye, maybe. You know, “drinking whiskey and rye, singing this’ll be the day that I die”? For this topic, that’ll work. Or, to the source, I’ll just sing “Maybe Baby”, instead. … I’m going over to the jukebox.
GBS: I think I’ll opt for a single malt, perhaps from Islay. The more distinctive character, which is not entirely pleasant, is most fitting for our theme.
BT: Okay, so while I was loading some music, you start sounding like you’re inserting a commercial on the side here. Are we getting free scotch? Great, I like a peated single malt.
GBS: Free for us, since Chris is paying. Well, drinks settled, I think we’ve delayed enough, averting our eyes from the bittersweet emotions connected to unfulfilled longing. Let us plunge right in. Unrequited love is a subject that gets depicted in anime quite often, perhaps more often than one would think. There’s even one particular auteur whose entire body of work is focused around the theme: Makoto Shinkai.
BT: I’ll confess not having much of an appreciation for Shinkai’s work beyond his first, years ago now. I just recall a general nostalgic and bittersweet wistfulness that seemed a little heavy-handed. Didn’t recall that the unrequited curse was more the singular theme. (I expect to be corrected…)
