| Romance is probably my favorite anime genre but it certainly feels insanely oversaturated over the last few years. With oversaturated I refer to most romances feeling like the same copy paste shit over and over again (most, not every single one). The main reason for this, I reckon, is that in its core every romance anime is basically the same (with this I mean that other genres like battle shonens or literally anything else, even including isekais, have way more ways of diversifying the plot or the endgame of the story): a guy and a girl are in love with each other and ultimately they end up as a couple, but you need to stretch that thing for several hundred chapters. The problem that comes from this is that you need to attract the potential viewer's attention and the only plausible way of doing that is to change the main gimmick or concept of the show (the same thing that end up happening to isekais). Like this time the girl can't talk because she has anxiety, this time the girl bullies the guy, this time the girl talks in russian and thinks nobody can understand her but the MC can, etc. A lot of these romance animes end up being flat because the author only focuses on coming up with a "new concept" to convince people to watch it, and that gimmick ends up getting old like 4 episodes into the show. The main focus of any romance anime firstly should be the characters, and from the characters organically the concept should change. A romance most of the time is just a slice of life where coincidentally 2 characters start to like each other. A slice of life (and therefore a romance) needs interesting characters because the plot doesn't really matter, you literally just watch for 24 minutes these characters interact in mundane situations (it is like a sitcom, it depends completely on the characters). That is why shows like Kaguya Sama and Horimiya are much better than the average romance: the characters are interesting and the centerpiece of it all, and from that both the plot and the concept end up being interesting. |
| "Those words are meant for those that dare defy god's final warning... An epigraph of their stubbornness" - Maho Hiyajo (Steins;Gate 0)  |
| It's either Romance or Battle Shonen to be honest. Slice of life behind those two. |
| :O |
DarkFirefly72 said: With oversaturated I refer to most romances feeling like the same copy paste shit over and over again Sounds like sports anime, they are mostly the same, only the type of sport is different. |
| Romance should be a subplot not the main focus. But, if you want to focus solely on it, you should write a short story not a fucking 20-volume manga. |
DarkFirefly72 said: Romance is probably my favorite anime genre but it certainly feels insanely oversaturated over the last few years. With oversaturated I refer to most romances feeling like the same copy paste shit over and over again (most, not every single one). The main reason for this, I reckon, is that in its core every romance anime is basically the same (with this I mean that other genres like battle shonens or literally anything else, even including isekais, have way more ways of diversifying the plot or the endgame of the story): a guy and a girl are in love with each other and ultimately they end up as a couple, but you need to stretch that thing for several hundred chapters. The problem that comes from this is that you need to attract the potential viewer's attention and the only plausible way of doing that is to change the main gimmick or concept of the show (the same thing that end up happening to isekais). Like this time the girl can't talk because she has anxiety, this time the girl bullies the guy, this time the girl talks in russian and thinks nobody can understand her but the MC can, etc. A lot of these romance animes end up being flat because the author only focuses on coming up with a "new concept" to convince people to watch it, and that gimmick ends up getting old like 4 episodes into the show. The main focus of any romance anime firstly should be the characters, and from the characters organically the concept should change. A romance most of the time is just a slice of life where coincidentally 2 characters start to like each other. A slice of life (and therefore a romance) needs interesting characters because the plot doesn't really matter, you literally just watch for 24 minutes these characters interact in mundane situations (it is like a sitcom, it depends completely on the characters). That is why shows like Kaguya Sama and Horimiya are much better than the average romance: the characters are interesting and the centerpiece of it all, and from that both the plot and the concept end up being interesting. What you’re describing feels less like a “recent plague” and more like a chronic condition romance Anime has had since the 2000s. Back then it was shit like “tsundere girl with magic powers” or “childhood friend love triangle,” now it’s “girl only speaks Russian” or “girl can’t talk from anxiety”. The gimmicks changed outfits, but the skeleton underneath hasn’t moved in over 20 years. Typically if the characters aren’t interesting, the romance runs out of steam faster than a filler episode in some pseudo-serious Macho Battle Shounen Boner Material. And modern Anime doesn’t help itself much when half the casts look like they were crossbred in the same Moe laboratory. lol |
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Reply to OmarSehrawy
Romance should be a subplot not the main focus. But, if you want to focus solely on it, you should write a short story not a fucking 20-volume manga.
@OmarSehrawy That's true for most modern anime romance shows because they're cringe and unfunny, but that didn't prevent Rumiko Takahashi from making a stupidly funny and long romcom in the 80s. I'm with @ColourWheel here, romance anime became lame af once waifu culture, dere types and moe became the rage. Toradora!, Kimi ni Todoke, Your name, just shoot me dead please that crap is unbearable. |
Prophetess of the Golden Era  |
| Yes but Romance have more variety than other genre. It can be comedy romance, drama romance, etc |
  What Does Pot of Greed do?  |
| I think the problem isn't that all romance boils down to a single plot. It's that most authors aren't daring to write different plots. I don't think anything stops a romance of having the main character end with someone the reader wouldn't expect from the summary, having an unusual relationship development or even having some sort of bad ending for example. Nothing besides the lack of courage of the author (and the editors/corporations/investors involved). |
Reply to Sen1793
I think the problem isn't that all romance boils down to a single plot. It's that most authors aren't daring to write different plots. I don't think anything stops a romance of having the main character end with someone the reader wouldn't expect from the summary, having an unusual relationship development or even having some sort of bad ending for example. Nothing besides the lack of courage of the author (and the editors/corporations/investors involved).
| @Sen1793 It's got nothing to do with authors there are many romance manga with the plot you mentioned they are simply not adapted to anime since this type of plot is not really marketable to the anime consumers who are mostly teens and prefer happy relationships. But there are some anime that takes a different and less than happy approach to romance like https://xss.now.cc/anime/147/Kimi_ga_Nozomu_Eien and https://xss.now.cc/anime/2129/True_Tears |
| most romcoms have similar plots. the ones that have different make all the difference. those are amazing. a little twist, early confession, going with the childhood friend etc. these plot twist gives the anime new twist and make it more enjoyable. but no romance isn't oversaturated at all, there isn't enough romance. need more quality romance without the waifu baits and ecchi. |
 The end of an era. Thank you Wit, Mappa and Isayama. Feeling half happy, half sad. Kawaii waifus and precious best girls <3333 |
| I dont care. Romance anime are peak experience. We need more romcoms. |
If you enjoyed the time you wasted, then its not a waste of time.  |
| As long as it's not incredibly generic, then it doesn't matter whether or not it's already been done, but but a lot of things are generic, hence the problem. |
| If you reply back to me and I never respond, I lost interest and don't care. Sorry about that. |
Reply to JoeChip
@Sen1793
It's got nothing to do with authors there are many romance manga with the plot you mentioned they are simply not adapted to anime since this type of plot is not really marketable to the anime consumers who are mostly teens and prefer happy relationships.
But there are some anime that takes a different and less than happy approach to romance like https://xss.now.cc/anime/147/Kimi_ga_Nozomu_Eien and https://xss.now.cc/anime/2129/True_Tears
It's got nothing to do with authors there are many romance manga with the plot you mentioned they are simply not adapted to anime since this type of plot is not really marketable to the anime consumers who are mostly teens and prefer happy relationships.
But there are some anime that takes a different and less than happy approach to romance like https://xss.now.cc/anime/147/Kimi_ga_Nozomu_Eien and https://xss.now.cc/anime/2129/True_Tears
| @JoeChip That's why I said most and also included the editors and investors at the end. But I'm willing to amend my argument to make it clear that it's because the readers don't signal enough to the industry that they want different plots (possibly because they don't actually want them), the industry bets on safer choices and too many authors stick to basics that will definitely appeal instead of risking different choices more often. Maybe my experience with romance manga is biased, but while I agree it's more varied, to me, it doesn't seem that much more. It's just that since there are a lot more works, there are also more works of the less common types. |
| There's nothing much you can do about that tho, i feel like this genre already explored so much, you start to think its repetitive, think about it like music, if you listen to a spesific genre over and over, you will eventually get bored of it. But for new lads out there every new series must feel like a new journey. |
 |
| There's a lot of romance, but it's because people like it. Even in series that aren't romance, shippers dominate a lot of the discussion. People like romance. |
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