Roses are Black

Chapter 9, Part 4 is up (late again)…And with that chapter 9 is finally finished.

(and why it should stop forcing it)

SVTFOE does a lot of things right. Writing interesting female characters, a lively world, and making commentary on worldwide issues, such as discrimination.

However, I have noticed that the one thing it has utterly failed in is romance. And it does this in a really weird way. Most stories fall short in romance because the characters are not that interest. Or because they don’t have romantic potential.

But if you’ve taken a look into the famdom, you’d see that this is not the case. The potential is there. Thousands of fans are spread across the fanbase, shipping so many things you can barely count them. This means that the characters are full of charisma, full of things that could work in canon.

Then why? Why does such a shippable cast is being wasted? And how? I mean with so many people willing to ship a lizard and a queen, you’d think it would be super easy to get them on board with anything you throw at them.

Well…

Let’s think a bit about the classical Magical Girl story line that rules the genre of romance- which may I remind you is the basis of SVFOE. AKA, bringing Magical girls into a western atmosphere-. It’s usually just one girl chasing after one boy. And the boy is one, completely disinterested in the girl or in love with their alter ego. Taking this concept into the western is quite easy, we see it perfectly done in miraculous ladybug. Hell, they even take the concept one step further and make a whole square romance with slow burn.

But the thing is, Star doesn’t have an alter ego. She’s just Star. So, how do you make this concept work? I think they tried to do it with Oskar, but we all know how that went…

Okay, but that’s not the first time it’s done. Jumping from love interest to love interest, it’s actually a Disney Channel thing. Hanna Montana, Wizards of Waverlyplace, they all jumped from one love interest to another.

I have the feeling they tried to emulate KimPossible. In that animated show, the girl ALSO doesn’t have hide her alter ego! And she even ended up with the friend!

…

You see, with Kim Possible it worked because they…really didn’t realize their feelings until their very end. And you watched them work as friends through a lot of stuff before you watched them end up together. Star and Marco…Well, their feelings got tossed into us at the end of the second season!

And, may I remind you, that Kim and Rons relationship’s problems were…RELATIONSHIP PROBLEMS. They were dating, so the problems were jealousy inside of relationships or not being able to go on dates. Star and Marco, once aware of each other’s feelings, are not even IN a relationship!

So, then? What’s the purpose of this all mess? There’s no clear love interest for Star or Marco, their relationship cannot be built upon friendship because they already tossed that into the drain…So what?

Sighs

Which leaves us with…The Love Square.

I’m not a particular fan of the love triangle, but sometimes it can be interesting if handled correctly. The thing about the Square Triangle is…Honestly?

It’s REALLY hard for it to work.

Ladybug managed to pull it off because all people in the love square are the same people, but that’s cheating.

Aside from ladybug, the only anime I’ve seen that managed to make it work is Princess Tutu.

A love square is when there are four people involved in the unrequired love shenanigans. A loves B and B loves C and C loves A .

And it’s really hard to pull of…because it’s even more annoying than the Love Triangle, because there’s more people in it. It’s a bigger mess. It’s SUPER hard to make someone not an asshole when they’re in love with someone who is in love with another one, and is aware that someone else is in love with them.

Princess Tutu managed this by having a guy literally not have feelings.  Ladybug managed it by everyone being the same person.  

But imagine how much of a horrible thing it would be if Ladybug and Marinette WERE different people. Ugh.

Anyway, my point is, it’s hard not to make people seem like douches. How to solve it? Have a lovable cast! That way, no one can hate on whoever is making this whole mess.

Now…

Where did the bad romance started in SVTFOE? The moment Jackie dumped Marco.

It would have make a really good Love Square to have Jackie be the one who Marco dated. Why? Because we all loved Jackie! She was fun, she was nice, and we had warmed up to her. We also liked Tom, he was fun to be around! This was a good set up.

But by getting rid of the only other girl who had a lot of weight narrative wise…Yeah… bad move.

(And if Oskar had been more thought out, it would have made more sense for him to get with Star. But since by this point Tom was a fan favourite…I can see why they did it)

BUT PRINCESS -you say- YOU FORGET THAT MARCO NEEDED TO DUMP HER TO GET BACK INTO THE MAGIC WORLD!

…exactly how?

You could have developed Jackie in a better way. Maybe she could have turned out to be magical herself and left with Marco. Or maybe they keep dating but in a long distance relationship. It would have been cool to see her interact with Mewni when Marco brought her along (we know they do it to Janna). I would have loved to see Jackie interact and learn about magic much more than see the poor attempt of a substitute that is Kelly and-

I like Kelly. Or more, I would have loved what Kelly could have been. But right now, she’s just another Marco obsessed chick. Another disposable girlfriend. That’s why, when Marco kissed Star, I worried about Tom and I worried about Star buT I DID NOT GIVE A SHIT about Kelly.

Because I simply hadn’t spent as much time with her as the others.

Furthermore, with Marco being a brat who changes girlfriends on a whim…He’s kinda become a douche. Star is having her own set of troubles and while Tom is not the best of boyfriends, he’s trying. That makes him likable and understandable. Marco? He doesn’t seem to be trying that hard. Maybe as a friend he’s doing a great job. But as a love interest? Man, he’s terrible.  

I thought, for a very long time, that Marco just cared for Star as a friend, because they never sent explicit responses. Marco didn’t blush, didn’t seem to stare long at her, didn’t even see her in pink colored lenses. Why all of the sudden is he taking romantic interest for her? It doesn’t make any sense! It seems more like he’s just swapping to another girlfriend. As if Star were another Kelly, another cardboard cut-out. As if she were not a human being, as if she weren’t dating Tom.

Oh, and Tom. Tom is a shitty boyfriend. He sometimes makes me angry, but you can see how he tries. And for some, god awful reason, it’s painted as bad. As if Tom is less for not sharing Star’s interest but trying to understand. As if Marco is more for sharing interest but taking Star for granted.

At this point, the only genuinely likable and kind character is Star. She’s trying to save Mewni and the monsters, as well as trying to help Eclipsa. She has a lot of stress to be under; she made up her mind a long time ago, and for some reason Marco keeps butting in. For some reason, Tom keeps butting in. Her best friend are asses who care more about themselves than others. The only real friends she seemed to have were Buff frog and his children -who just left.

She’s suffering for genuine reason, and everyone keeps pushing this high school drama into her. Everyone is being shitty towards each other. The once lovable cast turned into this mush of assholery that gets nowhere. Kelly is underdeveloped. Tom is trying. Marco is a douche. Star is in pain.

How are we supposed to care about these characters? How are we supposed to care about this romance?

We can’t. That’s the answer.

The only way to salvage it, is the creators making up their mind. What do they really want the endgame to be? And push forward to it. Keep all the bullshit, all the square triangles and mixed messages.

Make us care for what you’re making. Not just assume we’ll follow whatever you say. You lost that privilege long ago.

And if you can’t make a love story interesting.

I have my own issues with this show’s pacing and how it doesn’t really know how to properly merge all of its character and plot development, but that’s a topic for another time. That didn’t get me to stop watching the show, that just got me less interested.

But THIS STUFF. I’m far past giving a pass to bad writing, especially when it’s so easy not to make these mistakes. By far, in terms of characters, the most interesting dynamic was Star and Marco. Whether you ship them or not. (I guess I’m pro-starco, but I’m fine with them being friends as well cause any type of relationship can be emotionally gratifying for the viewer if written well enough).

Like you said, they were trying to go for a Kim Possible feel, and for the first half of the show, they were succeeding. Star and Marco had good chemistry as friends, nothing felt forced, there was no obvious “hey they’re gonna be together, hey, hey” in your face stuff. They just cared about each other and weren’t all blushy and nervous about it. It was very refreshing to watch.

I think the issues started even earlier than Jackie dumping Marco. The second they teased Star liking Marco and her wanting to keep it a secret for no real reason was where they screwed up. Sure, there’s gonna be some pull back when you realize you like your best friend, but plotlines like these should be short and contained, 3 or so episode dealing with it and then what the ultimate outcome is. Kim Possible did this with a movie, SvtFOE could’ve done this with the Marco going to the dance with Jackie plot.  This whole are star and Marco gonna date plot should’ve been over and done midway through season 2 or at least by the end of it. And yeah other stuff was going on but why can’t multiple plot lines be happening at once? Again, mixing character development with plot development. And there were a lot of filler episodes that could’ve been swapped out for episodes dealing with this whole romance mess.

Having all of this uncertainty and distance robs the show of one of its greatest aspects, which was the fun and cozy dynamic Star and Marco had. Now everything’s awkward and they’re forced with other people that they don’t have as good of chemistry with (Marco and Jackie were pretty close, though, which is why her dumping him and being written out of the show really sucked).

I really don’t understand why shows are so afraid to just put two people together and have them be in a relationship early on. I get that they waiting till the end it will ensue that non-shippers won’t stop watching and that shippers will continue to see when it’s finally gonna happen, but you literally can’t please everyone, I don’t get why anyone even bother’s trying.  The only reason you shouldn’t do it is if that’s not the story you wanna tell. But if it is then just tell the story you wanna tell, writers! You wanna write a starco endgame? Fine, do it. And do it when it makes sense narratively. I guarantee that your show will get even more positive attention for being one of the few cartoons to get their main couple together early and actually dealing with dating issues.

And if you didn’t want to write a starco story, then, hey, don’t. Again, if that’s not what you wanna do with your characters then please don’t force yourself. But then how about teach viewers the value of friendship, and how just because they don’t wanna kiss and all that crap doesn’t mean that they can’t write their friendship as a dynamic plot point that ends on an emotionally gratifying note.

Saturday Sketch #5

Some matching sweaters! I’ve always had the idea to call France “French Toast” in my head, but a commenter on Webtoons a while back called Ken a “cute muffin” and it’s stuck with me ever since cause it totally suits him :)

A little ( a lot) late, but still up before midnight, Chapter 9, Part 3 of “My New Friend is a Cat” is up now!

Saturday Sketch #4