for all these posts about shoujo you'd think i actually liked the genre
I was curious so I read the summary for Toradora. Because of my dismay at the ending and how they dealt with the romantic situation because that is the main reason why anyone actually reads/watches shoujo, I was able to determine the kinds of het romance that I like:
1) Female and Male Leads Get Together At the Beginning
In Love Roma, the boy confessed to the girl a couple of pages into the first chapter and she ends up accepting by the end of the chapter and the rest of the series deals with their trials as a couple. I like strong, decisive characters who will speak up when they want something and ones that can make a decision (do I want this relationship? Yes I do); these are rare in shoujo as mostly there are several volumes of unresolved sexual tension and the girl ends up spending several chapters denying any sort of attraction. And anyway, if they get together, there's no chance to have the hateful characteristic of strong female characters weakening because they're in love. Therefore, we learn more about the character in the context of the relationship, and they're usually portrayed as strong characters in that situation.
Scott Pilgrim was also a pretty good series for this trope.
2) Female and Male Leads Never Get Together
Toradora had a pretty good premise. I read a review that sort of backed up my thoughts: they should have remained great friends with the intention of getting the other with their respective crushes. I love the idea of a female/male bromance. I befriended a guy solely because I was the mediator between him and my other female friend he was pursuing (it didn't work out) and he was the mediator between me and another boy (we didn't work out??). I could never see myself going for him, or him for me. I think this is pretty realistic and I really like the concept of boys and girls being just friends.
3) Or if the Female and Male Leads MUST Get Together At the Very End...
I like the story to have covered several of their love interests and their actual lives! Fruits Basket is a pretty stereotypical shoujo manga, but I stayed until the end because the romance was second to the plot, and that Tohru did not spend volumes chasing after the guy she ended up with. All the relationships established in that plot were ones that I approved of, and they were all het. Of course, there are het pairings I will die for, but I enjoyed the progression of her crush from Yuki to Kyo so that the end was much more satisfying than 'she-got-who-she-wanted-at-the-end'. Now, of course, the female lead has to be likeable, since this was also the plotline for Kitchen Princess and I roll my eyes at that series.
I guess tl;dr is that strong female characters are amazing and should be dealt with accordingly when it comes to their romantic love interests!!