Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Anime's most abusive relationships

There are all sorts of reasons why we love anime.  Some might like the way anime looks.  Others may be interested in the heaps of fan service that some shows offer.  For me, I watch to get into the character relationships.  I feel that anime does a really good job with developing characters and giving them good reasons to grow feelings towards one another.  I'm not talking about just feelings of happiness and love, though!

We all enjoy seeing anime love stories from time to time, but there are a lot of other relationship types out there.  There's more than one anime that focuses in on abusive relationships.  I'm not talking about truly abusive ones in a serious tone.  I'm talking about those relationships where two characters just can't seem to get along no matter what the situation.  They may work together for a few minutes, but right after they're back to yelling down each others' throats.


One of my favorite abusive relationships has to be that of Lupin and Zenigata.  How much more of an abusive relationship can you have?  Zenigata is on a constant mission to capture and lock up Lupin, all the while Lupin knows that Zenigata doesn't possess the necessary skills to capture a thief of Lupin's skill.  This means that Lupin toys with Zenigata all the time, and it truly steams Zenigata beyond belief.  The poor guy is just trying to do is job, but Lupin is always one step ahead, if not more!

I think what makes this abusive relationship even more interesting to watch is the fact that Lupin actually does have a soft spot for Zenigata.  There have been a few times that Lupin pretends to let Zenigata capture him, just because he knows how much it means to Zenigata.  On top of that, Lupin has a couple loving names for Zenigata, such as 'Pops' and 'Old Man'.  That just makes it that much more endearing when Lupin is screaming those names out while Zenigata is chasing him down.

I've given my thoughts on an abusive relationship in anime, now it's time for you to share!  What characters do you think struggle with each other more than any other?  Leave a comment and fill us in on what pair you pick!

2 comments:

  1. I always liked how abusive Senjougahara is to Araragi in Bakemonogatari. Even though the two were dating in their weird way, she was pretty good at picking on him....like turning him on in the backseat of the car with her dad driving.

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  2. Pretty much every shōnen I've seen has em. Like Naruto/Sasuke, Ichigo/Rengi, Natsu/Gray, etc...

    And yeah even though they may "hate" each other they always have that little admiration for the other *rolls eyes* lol

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