Meme.
Meme stolen from wonderful_words ^_^ :
SIX PAIRINGS I LIKE:
#1. Ares/Lynn (Fire Emblem : Seisen no Keifu)
#2. Hector/Florina (Fire Emblem : Rekka no Ken)
#3. Shido/Madoka (GetBackers)
#4. Dias/Chisato (Star Ocean : The Second Story)
#5. Midori/Seiji (Midori Days)
#6. Kaoru/Luna (Mujin Wakusei Survive)
THREE SHIPS I'VE ABANDONED:
#7. Satoshi/Kasumi (AKA Ash/Misty ; Pokémon)
#8. Precis/Leon (Star Ocean : The Second Story)
#9. Johnny Cage/Sonya Blade (Mortal Kombat series)
THREE SHIPS I'VE NEVER LIKED:
#10. Riiko/Night (Zettai Kareshi !)
#11. Claude/Precis (Star Ocean : The Second Story)
#12. Mist/Boyd (Fire Emblem : Radiant Dawn)
TWO SHIPS THAT HAVE PIQUED MY INTEREST:
#13. Mizuho/Akiba (Ottori Sousa)
#14. Mio/Yoshio (Tokimeki Memorial 1 series)
Questions are under LJ-cut, because the answers are long.
QUESTIONS:
1. Why do you dislike #11 so much?
(Claude/ Precis) It's not that I really dislike it, it's just that I find Rena and Ashton to be a way better match for Claude and Precis respectively, rather than the two of them being together.
Poor Ashton is heel-for-heads for Precis, and I really admire how hard he works to try gaining her love, even more so in the Blue Sphere manga (which is, BTW, an Ashton/Precis haven for fans of this pairing : it's very well developped, and it doesn't fall in the "oh girl madly falls for the guy in the end despite how much she ignored her in the beggining" trap").
And Claude and Rena are so obviously in love in all SO2-based iterations, it's dazzling.
2. Who do you know that ships #13?
(Mizuho/Akiba) Nobody, unfortunately. I even doubt I'll ever find an Occidental fan of Ottori Sousa to begin with, unless I try creating a webpage about it to try perking people's interest on it. Yua Kotegawa's mangas have such a lack of love from Occidental readers (aside from Anne Freaks, which is over-rated and IMO the weakest of her mangas), it's painful. T_T
3. What would be your ideal scenario for couple #3?
(Shido/Madoka) Madoka has always been the special one for Shido : before meeting her, his heart was filled with loneliness and sadness (as Ginji said before : "It's always raining in his heart"), always wandering as he was chased by the Kiryuudou, and shut his heart to others. Her bright personnality and the courage she displays despite her blindness handicap, is really what he searched for and made his life stable. His desire to protect her with his life, especailly during the Kiryuudo arc, is really heart-driving. I think they just need to stay like that, as her giving her all the support and stability in his heart he needs, and him giving her all the affection, tenderness and protection she deserves.
4. What is your favorite moment for #1?
(Ares/Lynn) No doubt the moment where Ares finds Lynn in Darna, after Bramsel's defeat. The way they get together, reconcile, and swear to never separate again is adorable IMO.
5. How long have you been following couple #6?
(Kaoru/Luna) Since nearly the begginning of the series, but especially from that episode (n°23, if memory serves right) where Kaoru reveals to Luna his past, and how she reconforts him and help him clear of his guilt. That episode was IMO one of the best of the series, and I was all in "waa-waa" mode at the episode (n°40, if I remember right) where Kaoru gets jealous of Bell who kind of "proposed" to Luna. The twig thing was hilarious and adorable :D
6. What's the story with #8? What made you stop caring?
(Precis/Leon) It's not like I abandoned this pairing, I still like it a lot (their bratty personnalities mixed together are awesome), it's just that Ashton/Precis became the dominant pairing for Precis in my heart. At the beginning, I was totally opposed to it, mainly because of the 4 years age gap and the fact she's 16 in SO2, but hey, by then I came to like some well-developped, storyline-wise, pairings with a bigger age gap (Mizuho/Akiba, with a 10 years gap, and Yumi/Ueda of Chobits fame, with no less than a 21 years gap, comes to mind), and the narration on them in both SO2 and SO : Blue Sphere (already explained in question #1 ; and I'd like to add that in Blue Sphere, Precis is aged 18 since the story occurs two years after SO2, and in the end of the manga version of the story, she's 21) helped win this pairing's cause in my heart.
7. Which ship do you prefer--#2 or #4?
(Hector/Florina) or (Dias/Chisato): #2, without a doubt. I love Dias/Chisato to bits, but Hector/Florina just happens to be one of my very top ranked pairings, and Florina herself is my 3rd fave fictional character, behind Ashton Anchors (Star Ocean 2) and Saki Nijino (Tokimeki Memorial).
8. You have the power to make one ship non-existent. Choose from #10 or #12.
(Riiko/Night) or (Mist/Boyd): Oh crap dammit, #10 without a second thought. I can cope with Mist/Boyd, but Riiko/Night is without a doubt the only canon pairing I've ever seriously disliked in manga/anime/games, as I nearly always approve, or at least follow without any problems, any canon pairing a story develops and concludes to. I always thought Sôshi was a better match for Riiko any day of the week.
9. What interests you about #14?
(Mio/Yoshio) This one came basically out of the blue for me when I discovered it. Indeed, most of the Tokimemo 1 games tended for a strong relationship between Yoshio and Yuko (Asahina) as they know each other since a while and share basically the same interests. But upon discovering both Nijiiro no Seishun and the Radio Drama CDs, I saw the interesting potential of this pairing, especially if used in a Nijiiro no Seishun canon version of the TM1 universe (aka a canon where the main character's love interest is Saki, and not Shiori), as in this canon especially Saki and Mio are best friends. And the main char and Yoshio just happen to be best friends... Plus, the idea of the quiet and soft bookworm going out with the goofy and funny guy... Hmmm... :p
10. When did you stop liking #7?
(Satoshi/Kasumi) When I realized the Pokémon anime was going in circles and would never be more than a series used for promotion of the games (i.e. around the mid-middle of the Johto saga). Don't get me wrong, the anime is not stellar, but is at least okay : but back then I expected too much from it. And I still like this pairing, it's just that I don't care for it anymore, seeing that Pokémon had never, and will never have any serious romance in it.
11. Did your waning interest in #9 kill your interest in the series?
(Johnny Cage/Sonya Blade) Nope. It's the games themselves becoming sucky after Mortal Kombat 3 which deviated my interest from these series.
12. What's a song that reminds you of #1?
(Ares/Lynn) Can't think of any right now.
13. Which of these ships do you love the most right now?
I'm torn between #1 and #2, AKA Ares/Lynn and Hector/Florina.
14. Which do you dislike the most?
#10, Riiko/Night. As said earlier, only canon pairing I ever really disliked.
15. If you could have any of these pairings double date, who would they be?
Double date ? Ugh, really not inspired there... The only one I could see a match would be Midori/Seiji and Mio/Yoshio. Because nearly all of the pairings have a silent badass or something of that kind as the male, and I think a double date would need to have at least one funny guy in there to not make it bland. And only Yoshio fills that role in there. As for why with Midori and Seiji, that's because they're all high school students and in the same modern era setting.
16. Have #2 kissed yet? Elaborate if yes.
(Hector/Florina) Not in the game. But Florina is the most likely mother for Lilina (Lyn being IMO a more likely candidate for being Sue's mother, sorry Manna :/ , and Farina fitting better with Dart IMO), so they should have kissed at least once during the time between FE7 and FE6, for crying out loud !
17. Did #4 have a happy ending? Do you think one is likely?
(Dias/Chisato) They're the canon pairing in the Blue Sphere game and have a very cool ending in SO2, so we could say yes. But not in the way "marriage", "lovey-dovey" and such, this don't fit this pairing at all. It's just a simple, stable, and soft pairing.
18. What would make you start shipping #14?
(Mio/Yoshio) I already started shipping it. But it's not the dominant Yoshio pairing yet : it's currently a fifty/fifty between this one and Yoshio/Yuko. I like them both, just like I liked both Astrid/Gatrie and Astrid/Makalov in Fire Emblem : Path of Radiance for example. Both routes are viable and nice.
19. If only one could happen, which would you prefer--#2 or #6?
(Hector/Florina) or (Kaoru/Luna): Wow, that's a toughie here. Florina has only Hector as a pairing choice (no, Lyn doesn't count), and Luna's only other choice is Bell, which I do not find really fitting (and that's not speaking of Kaoru, who utterly don't have another choice but Luna). And Florina and Kaoru are both in my top 12 fave fictional characters as well.
Can't decide, so I'll just go with the highest ranked fave character between Flo and Kao, and that's Florina : thus, Hector/Florina is my (very reluctant) choice.
Dammit, couldn't it be one of them against #5, Midori/Seiji, instead ?! At least in this pairing there's the awesome second option of Ayase, my fave char in Midori Days, for Seiji !! :/
20. You have the power to decide the fate of #10. What happens to them?
Riiko realizes earlier that Sôshi loves her, and Sôshi having the guts to confess to her before she even ordering that evil doll that is Night. But then again there would be no story if that was the case. :p
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Now that I finished writing the answers, I realize pairing #5 got the shaft in this meme (I hardly ever had the opportunity to talk about Midori/Seiji), while there's too much emphasis on questions #1 and especially #10 IMO. :/
SIX PAIRINGS I LIKE:
#1. Ares/Lynn (Fire Emblem : Seisen no Keifu)
#2. Hector/Florina (Fire Emblem : Rekka no Ken)
#3. Shido/Madoka (GetBackers)
#4. Dias/Chisato (Star Ocean : The Second Story)
#5. Midori/Seiji (Midori Days)
#6. Kaoru/Luna (Mujin Wakusei Survive)
THREE SHIPS I'VE ABANDONED:
#7. Satoshi/Kasumi (AKA Ash/Misty ; Pokémon)
#8. Precis/Leon (Star Ocean : The Second Story)
#9. Johnny Cage/Sonya Blade (Mortal Kombat series)
THREE SHIPS I'VE NEVER LIKED:
#10. Riiko/Night (Zettai Kareshi !)
#11. Claude/Precis (Star Ocean : The Second Story)
#12. Mist/Boyd (Fire Emblem : Radiant Dawn)
TWO SHIPS THAT HAVE PIQUED MY INTEREST:
#13. Mizuho/Akiba (Ottori Sousa)
#14. Mio/Yoshio (Tokimeki Memorial 1 series)
Questions are under LJ-cut, because the answers are long.
QUESTIONS:
1. Why do you dislike #11 so much?
(Claude/ Precis) It's not that I really dislike it, it's just that I find Rena and Ashton to be a way better match for Claude and Precis respectively, rather than the two of them being together.
Poor Ashton is heel-for-heads for Precis, and I really admire how hard he works to try gaining her love, even more so in the Blue Sphere manga (which is, BTW, an Ashton/Precis haven for fans of this pairing : it's very well developped, and it doesn't fall in the "oh girl madly falls for the guy in the end despite how much she ignored her in the beggining" trap").
And Claude and Rena are so obviously in love in all SO2-based iterations, it's dazzling.
2. Who do you know that ships #13?
(Mizuho/Akiba) Nobody, unfortunately. I even doubt I'll ever find an Occidental fan of Ottori Sousa to begin with, unless I try creating a webpage about it to try perking people's interest on it. Yua Kotegawa's mangas have such a lack of love from Occidental readers (aside from Anne Freaks, which is over-rated and IMO the weakest of her mangas), it's painful. T_T
3. What would be your ideal scenario for couple #3?
(Shido/Madoka) Madoka has always been the special one for Shido : before meeting her, his heart was filled with loneliness and sadness (as Ginji said before : "It's always raining in his heart"), always wandering as he was chased by the Kiryuudou, and shut his heart to others. Her bright personnality and the courage she displays despite her blindness handicap, is really what he searched for and made his life stable. His desire to protect her with his life, especailly during the Kiryuudo arc, is really heart-driving. I think they just need to stay like that, as her giving her all the support and stability in his heart he needs, and him giving her all the affection, tenderness and protection she deserves.
4. What is your favorite moment for #1?
(Ares/Lynn) No doubt the moment where Ares finds Lynn in Darna, after Bramsel's defeat. The way they get together, reconcile, and swear to never separate again is adorable IMO.
5. How long have you been following couple #6?
(Kaoru/Luna) Since nearly the begginning of the series, but especially from that episode (n°23, if memory serves right) where Kaoru reveals to Luna his past, and how she reconforts him and help him clear of his guilt. That episode was IMO one of the best of the series, and I was all in "waa-waa" mode at the episode (n°40, if I remember right) where Kaoru gets jealous of Bell who kind of "proposed" to Luna. The twig thing was hilarious and adorable :D
6. What's the story with #8? What made you stop caring?
(Precis/Leon) It's not like I abandoned this pairing, I still like it a lot (their bratty personnalities mixed together are awesome), it's just that Ashton/Precis became the dominant pairing for Precis in my heart. At the beginning, I was totally opposed to it, mainly because of the 4 years age gap and the fact she's 16 in SO2, but hey, by then I came to like some well-developped, storyline-wise, pairings with a bigger age gap (Mizuho/Akiba, with a 10 years gap, and Yumi/Ueda of Chobits fame, with no less than a 21 years gap, comes to mind), and the narration on them in both SO2 and SO : Blue Sphere (already explained in question #1 ; and I'd like to add that in Blue Sphere, Precis is aged 18 since the story occurs two years after SO2, and in the end of the manga version of the story, she's 21) helped win this pairing's cause in my heart.
7. Which ship do you prefer--#2 or #4?
(Hector/Florina) or (Dias/Chisato): #2, without a doubt. I love Dias/Chisato to bits, but Hector/Florina just happens to be one of my very top ranked pairings, and Florina herself is my 3rd fave fictional character, behind Ashton Anchors (Star Ocean 2) and Saki Nijino (Tokimeki Memorial).
8. You have the power to make one ship non-existent. Choose from #10 or #12.
(Riiko/Night) or (Mist/Boyd): Oh crap dammit, #10 without a second thought. I can cope with Mist/Boyd, but Riiko/Night is without a doubt the only canon pairing I've ever seriously disliked in manga/anime/games, as I nearly always approve, or at least follow without any problems, any canon pairing a story develops and concludes to. I always thought Sôshi was a better match for Riiko any day of the week.
9. What interests you about #14?
(Mio/Yoshio) This one came basically out of the blue for me when I discovered it. Indeed, most of the Tokimemo 1 games tended for a strong relationship between Yoshio and Yuko (Asahina) as they know each other since a while and share basically the same interests. But upon discovering both Nijiiro no Seishun and the Radio Drama CDs, I saw the interesting potential of this pairing, especially if used in a Nijiiro no Seishun canon version of the TM1 universe (aka a canon where the main character's love interest is Saki, and not Shiori), as in this canon especially Saki and Mio are best friends. And the main char and Yoshio just happen to be best friends... Plus, the idea of the quiet and soft bookworm going out with the goofy and funny guy... Hmmm... :p
10. When did you stop liking #7?
(Satoshi/Kasumi) When I realized the Pokémon anime was going in circles and would never be more than a series used for promotion of the games (i.e. around the mid-middle of the Johto saga). Don't get me wrong, the anime is not stellar, but is at least okay : but back then I expected too much from it. And I still like this pairing, it's just that I don't care for it anymore, seeing that Pokémon had never, and will never have any serious romance in it.
11. Did your waning interest in #9 kill your interest in the series?
(Johnny Cage/Sonya Blade) Nope. It's the games themselves becoming sucky after Mortal Kombat 3 which deviated my interest from these series.
12. What's a song that reminds you of #1?
(Ares/Lynn) Can't think of any right now.
13. Which of these ships do you love the most right now?
I'm torn between #1 and #2, AKA Ares/Lynn and Hector/Florina.
14. Which do you dislike the most?
#10, Riiko/Night. As said earlier, only canon pairing I ever really disliked.
15. If you could have any of these pairings double date, who would they be?
Double date ? Ugh, really not inspired there... The only one I could see a match would be Midori/Seiji and Mio/Yoshio. Because nearly all of the pairings have a silent badass or something of that kind as the male, and I think a double date would need to have at least one funny guy in there to not make it bland. And only Yoshio fills that role in there. As for why with Midori and Seiji, that's because they're all high school students and in the same modern era setting.
16. Have #2 kissed yet? Elaborate if yes.
(Hector/Florina) Not in the game. But Florina is the most likely mother for Lilina (Lyn being IMO a more likely candidate for being Sue's mother, sorry Manna :/ , and Farina fitting better with Dart IMO), so they should have kissed at least once during the time between FE7 and FE6, for crying out loud !
17. Did #4 have a happy ending? Do you think one is likely?
(Dias/Chisato) They're the canon pairing in the Blue Sphere game and have a very cool ending in SO2, so we could say yes. But not in the way "marriage", "lovey-dovey" and such, this don't fit this pairing at all. It's just a simple, stable, and soft pairing.
18. What would make you start shipping #14?
(Mio/Yoshio) I already started shipping it. But it's not the dominant Yoshio pairing yet : it's currently a fifty/fifty between this one and Yoshio/Yuko. I like them both, just like I liked both Astrid/Gatrie and Astrid/Makalov in Fire Emblem : Path of Radiance for example. Both routes are viable and nice.
19. If only one could happen, which would you prefer--#2 or #6?
(Hector/Florina) or (Kaoru/Luna): Wow, that's a toughie here. Florina has only Hector as a pairing choice (no, Lyn doesn't count), and Luna's only other choice is Bell, which I do not find really fitting (and that's not speaking of Kaoru, who utterly don't have another choice but Luna). And Florina and Kaoru are both in my top 12 fave fictional characters as well.
Can't decide, so I'll just go with the highest ranked fave character between Flo and Kao, and that's Florina : thus, Hector/Florina is my (very reluctant) choice.
Dammit, couldn't it be one of them against #5, Midori/Seiji, instead ?! At least in this pairing there's the awesome second option of Ayase, my fave char in Midori Days, for Seiji !! :/
20. You have the power to decide the fate of #10. What happens to them?
Riiko realizes earlier that Sôshi loves her, and Sôshi having the guts to confess to her before she even ordering that evil doll that is Night. But then again there would be no story if that was the case. :p
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Now that I finished writing the answers, I realize pairing #5 got the shaft in this meme (I hardly ever had the opportunity to talk about Midori/Seiji), while there's too much emphasis on questions #1 and especially #10 IMO. :/