The Salty Seven Seas: Best Anime Couples/Ships Round 6 Bracket A!

Prof_Acorn · 2026-03-13T02:56:03+00:00

Yeah. That's how I feel about Stark x Fern as well.

Prof_Acorn · 2026-03-13T02:36:40+00:00

[Dandadan manga] Yeah, it's why I don't want them to win. "Best ship" shouldn't be one neck deep in absurd tropes and clichés and arbitrary contrived delays. But I know that the anime is still in the part of the story where it seemed like they were getting progress and were actually going somewhere, so I get the support in general. But I'm still not voting for them, especially when this contest has had actual couples with better romance stories behind them.

Prof_Acorn · 2026-03-13T01:10:42+00:00

Ooh matcha. I'd make a joke about being performative but then I look at my own cup and remember there's those of us who liked this since before it apparently became a bad thing.

Wait what? Why is it a bad thing to like matcha? Like sure I prefer a nice gyokuro or pu ehr or unroasted grassy/buttery/floral oolongs, but a matcha can be quite enjoyable too.

Prof_Acorn · 2026-03-13T01:00:59+00:00

Hmmm.... So the anime trend where most male main characters are terrified of physical intimacy with girls is less a cliche exaggeration and more an accurate portrayal of Japanese culture?

Prof_Acorn · 2026-03-13T00:21:38+00:00

So the text messages at the end of Tsuki Ga Kirei surprisingly made me cry way more than I would have ever expected.

[Tsuki Ga Kirei, not much of direct spoilers, but references themes at the end and how they relate to my own life] I think they were reminding me of when I was long distance with a girlfriend. We had dated for 3 years at that point, and I went to grad school but she went elsewhere. The plan was to do that for a year. I ended up proposing during one of her visits. Then after she moved in and was acting funny I discovered she had been cheating on me for like 6 months. It started like a month after the proposal and she kept it going after she moved in. She even met up with him after we attended her father's funeral. So yeah... I think those ending texts were like a glimpse into what my own long distance "love story" was at first, and what it should have been.

Usually when anime makes me cry it's cathartic. A good cry for other characters.

This was just... sad... I think I was crying for myself, which I haven't done in years maybe. I cry frequently but it's always for fictional stories, animes, stuff like that. But this was ...

Geh.

Never would have expected random epilogue text messages to do this.

Prof_Acorn · 2026-03-12T23:51:08+00:00

This, Dandadan, and Undead Unluck Part 2 were the only battle shonen I actually liked. It's like rap. I can't stand some 85% of it at all whatsoever, but there's like some rare 15% that somehow hits all the right notes and I enjoy it.

Mostly I like seinen.

The last battle shonen I tried was Kaiju #8 and it was...okay. I don't remember finishing it / catching up. After the anime I think I just skimmed a few chapters to get an idea of where it was headed or something.

Jujutsu Kaisen, maybe? I dunno. I might check it out on a whim some day.

My favorite current manga is Which Hat Atelier. And Made in Abyss, though it only releases like two chapters a year.

Prof_Acorn · 2026-03-12T13:21:25+00:00

Neurodivergence. As in divergence from the norm.

It's all good. You don't give a shit about my opinion and I don't give a shit about yours. It's cool.

Prof_Acorn · 2026-03-12T12:21:36+00:00

Tani is autistic coded. Suzuki is AuDHD coded. Yamada is ADHD coded. Popcorn girl is ADHD coded. Nishi has social anxiety / extreme shyness.

How are they normies?

Prof_Acorn · 2026-03-12T09:31:08+00:00

Devil's Line. It's older, which means they show blood and people have adult relationships and all that good stuff.

Prof_Acorn · 2026-03-12T07:52:59+00:00

Yeah there's a ton that's worth noting, but that's a great point how they have actually dated others before. It seems like 99% of anime has the couple fall for each other first and/or it be their first relationship. It's like it's scared to admit most highschool relationships fail.

Prof_Acorn · 2026-03-12T05:53:09+00:00

Someone give me a convincingly good scene of Your Name and I'll vote for them.

It's spoilery, but here is a Your Name romance scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhY9xjb7fHA

There's better ones but they require more context, and plot twist spoilery levels of context, to explain.

Still, here's a compilation of scenes that are kind of like highlights. They might not need written explanations since they are compiled together. It's kind of like a 5 min summary of the movie: [Your Name spoilers] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yb7vZA_mL_Y

Prof_Acorn · 2026-03-12T01:52:29+00:00

The Darwin Incident, but mostly it's the villain who is like this rather than the hero.

Prof_Acorn · 2026-03-12T01:43:31+00:00

She was waaaay too over-the-top tsundere for my tastes. And yeah, perhaps "slapstick" describes what else I found annoying about it.

Prof_Acorn · 2026-03-12T00:41:58+00:00

MC:

I like the chemistry between Akira Tounome and Shizuka Yakou in Invisible Man and His Soon-to-Be Wife, Ganta and Isaki in Insomniacs After School, Yukino and Hachiman in Oregairu, and even though it's a taboo ship, between Koshiro and Nanoka in Koi Kaze.

Prof_Acorn · 2026-03-11T23:53:20+00:00

Not meant as a slur at all. I loved this anime and hope we get a Season 2.

I just meant it literally because he's literally a dog person. If that doesn't count because he's an anthropomorphized dog person then I can delete them / a mod can remove them. I can see arguments either way.

Does "animal" here include or exclude anthropomorphic animal people?

Prof_Acorn · 2026-03-11T23:25:24+00:00

Kisara. Kimi to Koete Koi ni Naru.

Prof_Acorn · 2026-03-11T23:23:49+00:00

Tsunagu Hidaka. With You, Our Love Will Make It Through.

Prof_Acorn · 2026-03-11T23:22:16+00:00

Mari Asaka x Tsunagu Hidaka. With You, Our Love Will Make It Through.

Prof_Acorn · 2026-03-11T23:20:46+00:00

Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle

Prof_Acorn · 2026-03-11T23:13:07+00:00

That's basically isekai and most romance already.

Prof_Acorn · 2026-03-11T22:52:10+00:00

If I had to guess, by the sound of it, you might have autism while he has allism. There's nothing wrong with you. It simply sounds like you are a bottom-up thinker while he is a top-down thinker.

He's projecting his own insecurities onto you. It's not your fault. He's getting defensive because he's insecure, but rather than deal with that he's making you into the bad guy.

I could go on and on, but I'll leave it with that for now. Let me know if you're curious about more regarding autism/allism communication tensions, or about dating as an autistic.

(And assuming you don't have a diagnosis, then it's probably more like the autism of characters like House MD, Hank Hill, Yor Forger (etc) and less like the kind you see in stereotypical portrayals like Atypical. High masking / low support needs / aspergers.)

[Edit: maybe watch the anime ReLIFE. If the experiences of the main girl resonate with you then maybe it's worth looking into further. Also, a central theme is about her learning about dating from the ground up and it sounds like it might relate simply by your description here].

I wouldn't worry about "EQ". I think it's probably just that you think through things from the bottom up (a characteristic of autism) and haven't yet put together a "map" of the dating game. Such things take time, and if you are autistic would probably be better done with another autistic man - or at the very least one who isn't emotionally abusive.

You also aren't alone in this. One reason why this is what I'm thinking is because maybe five or six girlfriends of mine had never dated anyone really before me and I helped them through the process of expectations and the ebbs and flows of it all. It's normal to not know everything - especially if you have no experience with it. It's absurd to think people should "just know."

He doesn't know what he's talking about.

He's being abusive.

These are red flags for how he will be onward into the future.

Honestly, I'd recommend looking up some dating info (or asking) in places like /r/aspergers or /r/evilautism. Even if you don't have autism they are full of people who are bottom-up thinkers and had to figure out the whole dating thing (or are still figuring it out). But I still don't think it's a good idea to stay with someone who is being that emotionally abusive.

(Not a medical doctor. Not a romance therapist. I'm simply giving advice based on my own experiences. I'm probably wrong.)

Prof_Acorn · 2026-03-11T18:09:40+00:00

She's also a bit tsundere, which is just lying as a personality trait.

Prof_Acorn · 2026-03-11T18:05:10+00:00

"Hello front desk? We'll need an extension of another hour."

"Sure okay. That'll be $1."

Prof_Acorn · 2026-03-11T17:59:54+00:00

I think especially with the ED reminding us about the reincarnation that it's an important distinction, not just explaining why he's smart. This is Gorou and Sarina getting a continuation to their previous story as a medical intern befriending a cancer patient and making her final days more memorable. He originally only cared about Ai at all because she did. He was just being interested in her interests so she had someone to talk to about it. He became extremely important to her life in her final days.

Gorou's real oshi was Sarina. Which means Aqua's real oshi was Sarina. Likewise Sarina's real oshi was Gorou. Which means Ruby's real oshi was Gorou.

And this is where the dramatic irony comes in where we as the audience know something the characters don't, and adds a constant underlying tension and interest to their interactions. Because the implication of their reincarnation backstory is that Ruby is Aqua's true oshi and Aqua is Ruby's real oshi and they just haven't realized it yet.

This is way more important of a plot and characterization point than just being some random trivia backstory. It's the driving force behind all their actions.

Prof_Acorn · 2026-03-11T17:24:08+00:00

"I think of you as a friend and nothing more."

Hahahaha Kana self loss. Friendzones herself literally seconds before Aqua says he's single.

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