Happy Valentine's Day! I have found that there is a circle of 5 things that I really enjoy in fiction which I refer to by colors and while fully explaining each of them would be hard as they involve a lot of vibes per se the best way to do so would be through examples. So I wanted to talk about relationships in fiction and how they can appeal to each of the Colors as an expression of them and what I like in fictional relationships
White: Relationships that appeal to White are those where the two character represent things to each other, where their relationship represents symbolically the relationship between two opposite forces and the two character each take on a role in their relationship.
Example: Nanoha x Fate: Nanoha and Fate represent the Mundane World and the Magical World both in general and to each other. Nanoha was an ordinary girl at first and Fate was cloned by the Mage Presea and abused to get Jewel Seeds to resurrect her daughter. To Nanoha Fate was representative of the Magical World, one dangerous but which had a potential to be good if nurtured and where she met her friends and found her purpose. Even more to Fate, Nanoha represents the safety and security of the mundane world, with one of my favorite scenes in the series is seeing Fate getting to normal school with her classmates after spending her life that time the unloved abused creation of Presea. I really enjoy this relationship for how the two represent the two worlds coming together, something important to a lot of the genre.
Yellow: Relationships that appeal to Yellow are those where the two characters' relationship develops at a quick entertaining pace, where they don't have any stupid misunderstandings or pointless drama keeping them apart, where both act like they're actually interested in seeing the relationship develop and prosper.
Example: Asuna x Kirito (Abridged): Kirito and Asuna's relationship development is constantly entertaining in SAO Abridged, these two sociopaths of different types complementing each other and having lots of great banter and the one time they have a "romantic misunderstanding" it's not only a very realistic teenage one but they almost immediately figure it out and it becomes an amusing entertaining mind game between the two. Watching them develop as persons and as a couple together is great and they get together early on and their relationship develops at a good pace.
Red: Relationships that appeal to Red are those that are treated as sexually mature and open. They are the opposite of sterile prudish sensibilities, the character feel passionately into each other, there's no shaming either partner for their desires (The guy isn't demonized for being a perv, the girl is encouraged to be active in vocalizing and chasing her partner, etc.)
Example: Starfire x Nightwing: If you compare the New Teen Titans from the 80s to its contemporaries, it is dripping in sex and nowhere is that more clear then in the relationship between Nightwing and Starfire. Nightwing has to this point been the Silver Age Robin and needed to both shed that image to the public irl and in-universe as well as learn to feel more with his heart and less with his head. In pops Starfire, a woman full of emotion, sexually voracious even moreso then her boyfriend yet the nicest girl you could imagine, truly a big step to present in pop culture. Their relationship is so wholesome as Nightwing is a perfect gentleman to Kori and she pushes forward their sex life consistently. Her sexuality is never framed as making her lesser as a hero, and she encourages his sexuality, he's actulaly the one who pushes for monogamy with her. It's really sweet to see, especially how Starfire helps awaken Dick's heart through intimacy, physical and emotional.
Pink: Relationships that appeal to Pink are ones where one character takes a very distinctively feminine role, and usually with the other partner taking a very distinctively masculine role, though two femmes is also not uncommon. I just really like femininity, and I find traditional romantic gestures between the masculine and the feminine really cute. These ones tend to be more relatable to me.
Example: Ichigo x Masaya: So I think Ichigo x Masaya from Tokyo Mew Mew's a really good example. Even though they are both secretly superheroes, Ichigo definitely takes the traditionally girly role in their relationship, which I find both really cute and really relatable and Masaya takes the more traditionally masculine role. When I was younger I related to Ichigo a lot and wanted to have a relationship like hers, the way Masaya protects her and she can trust him with her entire self, and the way she frees him from the secret emotional turmoil he's going through feels very traditional gender-y to me and I really like.
Blue: Relationships that appeal to Blue are ones that have a lot of emotional support, where both sides are uniquely vulnerable and help each other through their vulnerabilities, helping to fill in the place where the other is vulnerable in a complementary sorta way. These ones also tend to be more relatable to me.
Example: Amity x Luz: A Lot of TOH's best moments came from Amity and Luz's vulnerabilities being more exposed to each other and I appreciate how they're juxtaposed with Luz's vulnerabilities coming from insecurity born by the absence of her father figure and Amity's coming from being subsumed by her parents desires essentially. The thing I really love about Luz x Amity as a relationship including even prior to them being in one is how their development is tied to them slowly lowering their walls to each other and trusting each other more and this allow each to help the other more. I found it really emotionally and compelling seeing these two girls fill the void in each other lives as they're more willing to trust each other.
As you can tell the five are arranged in a way where they tend to occur most often with the adjacent colors, bleeding into each other.
And obviously my favorite ship is the one that appeals to all these. 😉
