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The Best of Valentine's Day Edition
Written by Charles Webb
With Valentine’s Day hitting on Sunday, we at Manga Life thought we’d throw out some of our recommendations for manga and anime titles to share with your significant other, or to just enjoy on your own.
First up, Park weighs in:
The first thing I can think of is the love story in the anime Cowboy Bebop. However, that might not be the most sweetly romantic choice for Valentine's Day, so let's not go there. The next one that comes to mind is Ah My Goddess, aka Oh My Goddess*... But the romance there never really resolves. So, instead, maybe Maison Ikkoku by Rumiko Takahashi? That's a long romance that resolves at the end, unlike a whole, whole lot of what Rumiko had worked on.
I can think of three manga from Tokyopop, and I know someone who worked on each of them. The romance angle in Forget About Love should be obvious, and Barbara adapted that. It's still one of my favorites, for its humor. I hope it starts back up someday... Next is Fruits Basket, naturally, which our colleagues the Nibleys (columnists here at MangaLife) translated in its entirety. It's hard to overlook the romance in that title. Finally, Barbara is the current adapter on V.B.Rose, and I must inform you that the romantic angle is not being neglected. I won't say anything about volumes 8 and 9, which yes, I have read, but I'm nonetheless not going to say anything... people who have read volume 7 know that the romance part is kicking into overdrive.
BTW, Barbara says that she liked Kare Kano aka His and Hers Circumstances up until right before the "Steel Snow" play.
*[Editor’s note: some of the best romances never resolve, so that’s cool.]
Next up, the Nibley’s throw in their entries for some of their preferred titles for Valentine’s Day:
I didn't think we were in the "bitter about Valentine's Day" camp, so I guess it's just a sign of how twisted we are that the first thing we thought of was the “Cotton Drifting” arc of Higurashi (aka When They Cry). It really is a very sweet love story... until things go horribly, horribly wrong.
But actually, we really do like sweet romances, so we have to recommend another series by the author of VB Rose: I Hate You More Than Anyone. The title may be deceptive, but just think of how many epic love stories start with the protagonists hating each other. Besides, most of the hate isn't between the two main love interests. And it's very rich with great characters.
Also, since we're such big Banri Hidaka fans, we'll throw in a recommendation for Tears of a Lamb, another great story by her. It doesn't really focus on the romance as much, though, so you might want to wait until after Valentine's Day for that one. Or you could just read it reallyreallyfast before V-Day.
Ysabet gives us a couple of her own picks:
Most of the romance-oriented things I like are really bittersweet/angsty/etc., like Fruits Basket (my favorite thing ever, and has some very sweet romantic aspects, but I wouldn't personally call it romantic overall), Sand Chronicles and We Were There.
I’d suggest Mars, but it's been a long time since I've read it.
If you're okay checking out things we work on, Shinobi Life (which I adapt and absolutely love) might be my favorite romance series. Great characters with believable chemistry, and a lot of focus on the relationship without excluding other factors.
Our newest contributor Zack shares a personal memory about one of his favorite titles:
Love, sweet love. I am going to be a total softy here and admit that love has absolutely everything to do with my initial attraction to Japanese animation and manga. Specifically, the love between a young boy and a very attractive robot.
In the year 1980, for reasons beyond my possible comprehension, the Robin Williams live-action adaptation of Popeye was released as a double-feature with the Roger Corman adaptation of Matsumoto Leiji’s Galaxy Express. A young and impressionable lad of eight, I was taken to the films by my mother, who was unaware that she was about to create a life-long obsession. Popeye was all well and good, but what I really made an impression was the love story of “Joey” (as Tetsuro’s name was changed to) and the android Maetel.
It wasn’t an obvious love story, and really the implications of it are all sorts of wrong; Joey is just a little kid and Maetel is an android made from the dead body of Joey’s mother; but the realness of the love story captivated me. Cartoons did not have romance. Superman, Wonder Woman and the rest of the Super Friends were all sexless, emotionless do-gooders whose emotions were flatter than cardboard. Maetel, on the other hand, got naked and took showers, cried and showed emotion, and even kissed the young Joey goodbye. I never realized the two-dimensional world of cartoons could have such depth.
I was hooked. And twenty years later I think I am still a little bit in love with Maetel.
Finally, Penny tells us about a series that still gets her choked up to this day:
I admit it. Rumiko Takahashi's Maison Ikkoku always brings on the warm fuzzies when I read it and the final volume never fails to bring on a bout of happy sniffles. It's romance done right. Set in a rundown Tokyo boarding house, the cast features a variety of zany characters caught in comedic situations. The focus of the story, however, is on the developing relationship between down-on-his-luck student Godai and his fiery-tempered, widowed landlady Kyoko. Unlike many romances the characters in Maison Ikkoku aren't just "place-holders" - bland ciphers that allow the reader to imagine themselves as the hero or heroine. No, Godai and Kyoko are real people. They get tired and angry, say the wrong thing, and have trouble paying the bills, but they also laugh, work, and fall in love. We want the indecisive Godai to get over his insecurities and for Kyoko to learn it's possible to find love and happiness more than once in a lifetime because if these two can overcome all the crazy real and imagined obstacles to their relationship, then there's hope that we can have our happily-ever-after too.
Whether you’re flying solo or have some romantic shenanigans planned for Sunday, have a happy Valentine’s Day from the MangaLife crew!
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