BT: From scholarly reading of the condition—or just whatever some random guy wrote on Wikipedia—there’s this impression that, in story, unrequited love can only be told successfully from the lover’s side. That the target’s view is irrelevant. But anime has managed to turn the trope upside down and inside out so much that other possibilities have presented themselves.
GBS: Well, Wikipedia is full of lies and uninformed opinions.
BT: Take the character and show I sometimes bring up when love in anime is argued: Nozomi Daichi from The Daichis: Earth’s Defense Family. Silly little show about the deterioration of the Japanese nuclear family, but it turns some funny little ideas on their head. Nozomi’s most important episode, “The Day Love Destroys the Earth”, sees her expressing over and over her total hate for love, partly from typical teenage low self-esteem, partly as the result of seeing it fall apart between her parents, leaving her with the mess to clean up (literally).
GBS: Anime is full of little extremists, isn’t it?
BT: And extreme ways for the universe to get back at them. Focus of the episode is a giant alien heart stealing all the world’s love. But while Nozomi has to worry about that, two suitors, full of unquenchable unrequited love for her, compete in a carnival effort to win her heart. We see that they’re both idiots (and anybody in love for that matter) but we mostly see how much Nozomi just hates the affection—and how, in the end, she can’t escape.
GBS: Perhaps that’s the dirty little secret to it all: the creators of anime themselves want to decry the whole act of loving but know deep in their hearts that they cannot escape it. All of these unrequited passions are their doomed lament in the face of Love’s unstoppable power.
BT: And as Nozomi—precisely because she cannot escape it—would say: “I hate love.”
GBS: Indeed, though it’s all in vain. In contrast, we can spring free of the clutches of Love’s power…by ending this column.
BT: Wow, good timing. My drink’s empty, and I’m out of quarters for the jukebox.
GBS: The jukebox still takes quarters? Wait, you can still get jukeboxes?
BT: I’ve asked Chris to get one of the newer digital ones for the rooftop cabana up here. Still waiting.
GBS: Then perhaps it’s time to lock the roof access for the moment. As we head down the steps and out the door, any thoughts on where we might be headed next?
BT: Not exactly sure. But I’ll leave an opening…
GBS: And on that note, have a Happy Valentine’s Day everyone.
