Is animated romance dead?

[kageri]

Personally I'd have to agree with the others, only partly because I'm just not really interested in romance much. I particularly agree with ptps -- it's sometimes nice to have no defined "pairings" so that people can draw their own conclusions. They fight over it online and create fanworks that make me want to cry myself to sleep, but it's no worse than when there is a definite pairing -- perhaps even better, because then the people who like one ship can't argue about why theirs is more "canon" than another. People will always analyze the most inconsequential, near-invisible clues, though, so you can't really win either way.

Plus, developing a relationship over time is continuity, and many kids' cartoons are purposely designed so that they can be watched out of order and you won't miss a thing. Character development is also usually absent, so it would be weird with one and not the other.

And let's be honest -- do we really want some of these characters in romantic relationships? Many cartoons aimed at a young audience star characters who are young themselves, as well as characters who are not only young but also have absolutely no depth whatsoever (Billy).

And on the topic of romance in anime, anime is aimed at a wider range of audiences and I don't believe romance in it is dying or ever will -- in fact, some of them are too romantic and focus on nothing else. I'm tired of shows about a meek, bland, spineless dude who is surrounded by buxom, foxy women, or a couple who is obviously meant to be a pairing but spend 358734553462347847823782 episodes/volumes denying it and beating the crap out of each other.