It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye
Yes, this post is about CLAMP.
Certain events in the course of the day made it necessary that I construct a list of what I might consider the healthiest character romances in CLAMP, accounting both for health-disqualifying factors (like causing the other party bizarre psychological trauma) and for squick factors (like, "WTF?! He's your teacher!!" -- and I can name four of those off the top of my head. Anyone care to go for five?). Thanks to sumeria for going over options with me.
This is CLAMP, so finding five entries to go on the list at all wasn't easy, but here we go. There may be spoilers, so consider yourself warned. My top five in order:
1) Li Syaoran x Kinomoto Sakura (Cardcaptor Sakura)
There's a reason I read this manga when I need to feel better.
2) Kinomoto Touya x Tsukishiro Yukito (Cardcaptor Sakura)
The facts that 1) Yukito was constructed to hide the moon guardian from Sakura's deck of magic cards and that 2) Touya had to transfer a quantity of his soul energy in order for Yukito to survive do not seem to affect how gosh-darned well-adjusted they are.
3) Doumeki Shizuka x Watanuki Kimihiro (xxxHoLic)
I'm beyond caring if they're canon or not, although I should catch up on the manga to find out. Even if one were to say they're not engaged in a romance, they have a more closely interwoven partnership than most canon romances could ever aspire to depict. I had a little bit of trouble deciding whether I should call them "healthy", though. In the end, Doumeki appears to me to be an actively good and irreplaceable influence on Watanuki's psyche, and I'd say they both appreciate each other. So, there you are. One of the "lost an eye" pairings actually made the "healthy" list. Because they're sharing an eye. ::facepalm::
Ignore me. I love them. I really do.
4) Lantis x Shidou Hikaru [x Eagle Vision] (Magic Knights Rayearth)
You can also chalk this one up to the power of characters who are wilfully well-adjusted against all odds. Lantis and Eagle both start out pretty screwed up, and a lot could go wrong with the relationship[s] above, like the total collapse of one or more universes, but umm... I'm not sure what else I can say about this. It all seems to work out somehow.
5) Ookawa Utako x Ijuuin Akira (CSD/20 Mensou)
Yeah. The kindergarten princess and the ten-year-old thief/detective/chef extraordinaire. This entire project existed to see if I could find enough relationships I considered healthy to knock them off this list, because although I find them cute in small doses and I appreciate the fact that they're only four years apart and limit their dates to thefts and age-appropriate tea parties... ::sigh:: There are some problems with this one, and I'm actually talking about their adult lives as well as their depiction as children. As a married couple, they're so rot-your-teeth sweet that even I am a little scared. That's not a sustainable system.
CLAMP. Why do you do this to me?
Which leaves me open to any number of fair questions, like "What?! You don't think So-and-So has a healthy relationship with What's-his-name?! You're crazy!" and "How are you defining 'healthy', anyway? That's pretty vague."
Yes, it is vague, and very much subject to individual opinion. I'm not a dating expert. I probably wouldn't be able to create a standard set of criteria for what I consider a "healthy relationship" if I worked on it for a hundred years.
That said, it's now time to answer the burning question that's really on all our minds!! Or not...
sumeria and I weren't actually able to come to a definite conclusion on who had the most unhealthy relationship in all of CLAMP, in our considered opinions. We were only able to narrow it down to two:
1) Sakurazuka Seishirou x Sumeragi Subaru (Tokyo Babylon/X)
2) Taishakuten x Ashura-Ou (RG Veda)
It's a tough call.
Certain events in the course of the day made it necessary that I construct a list of what I might consider the healthiest character romances in CLAMP, accounting both for health-disqualifying factors (like causing the other party bizarre psychological trauma) and for squick factors (like, "WTF?! He's your teacher!!" -- and I can name four of those off the top of my head. Anyone care to go for five?). Thanks to sumeria for going over options with me.
This is CLAMP, so finding five entries to go on the list at all wasn't easy, but here we go. There may be spoilers, so consider yourself warned. My top five in order:
1) Li Syaoran x Kinomoto Sakura (Cardcaptor Sakura)
There's a reason I read this manga when I need to feel better.
2) Kinomoto Touya x Tsukishiro Yukito (Cardcaptor Sakura)
The facts that 1) Yukito was constructed to hide the moon guardian from Sakura's deck of magic cards and that 2) Touya had to transfer a quantity of his soul energy in order for Yukito to survive do not seem to affect how gosh-darned well-adjusted they are.
3) Doumeki Shizuka x Watanuki Kimihiro (xxxHoLic)
I'm beyond caring if they're canon or not, although I should catch up on the manga to find out. Even if one were to say they're not engaged in a romance, they have a more closely interwoven partnership than most canon romances could ever aspire to depict. I had a little bit of trouble deciding whether I should call them "healthy", though. In the end, Doumeki appears to me to be an actively good and irreplaceable influence on Watanuki's psyche, and I'd say they both appreciate each other. So, there you are. One of the "lost an eye" pairings actually made the "healthy" list. Because they're sharing an eye. ::facepalm::
Ignore me. I love them. I really do.
4) Lantis x Shidou Hikaru [x Eagle Vision] (Magic Knights Rayearth)
You can also chalk this one up to the power of characters who are wilfully well-adjusted against all odds. Lantis and Eagle both start out pretty screwed up, and a lot could go wrong with the relationship[s] above, like the total collapse of one or more universes, but umm... I'm not sure what else I can say about this. It all seems to work out somehow.
5) Ookawa Utako x Ijuuin Akira (CSD/20 Mensou)
Yeah. The kindergarten princess and the ten-year-old thief/detective/chef extraordinaire. This entire project existed to see if I could find enough relationships I considered healthy to knock them off this list, because although I find them cute in small doses and I appreciate the fact that they're only four years apart and limit their dates to thefts and age-appropriate tea parties... ::sigh:: There are some problems with this one, and I'm actually talking about their adult lives as well as their depiction as children. As a married couple, they're so rot-your-teeth sweet that even I am a little scared. That's not a sustainable system.
CLAMP. Why do you do this to me?
Which leaves me open to any number of fair questions, like "What?! You don't think So-and-So has a healthy relationship with What's-his-name?! You're crazy!" and "How are you defining 'healthy', anyway? That's pretty vague."
Yes, it is vague, and very much subject to individual opinion. I'm not a dating expert. I probably wouldn't be able to create a standard set of criteria for what I consider a "healthy relationship" if I worked on it for a hundred years.
That said, it's now time to answer the burning question that's really on all our minds!! Or not...
sumeria and I weren't actually able to come to a definite conclusion on who had the most unhealthy relationship in all of CLAMP, in our considered opinions. We were only able to narrow it down to two:
1) Sakurazuka Seishirou x Sumeragi Subaru (Tokyo Babylon/X)
2) Taishakuten x Ashura-Ou (RG Veda)
It's a tough call.