Don’t mind me, I just wanted to write it.
You know that the real problem with SS (and so much other het ships) is not that it’s unhealthy (well it is a problem, but not the main one, that’s just not the point of my post tonight), but that there’s no development, or only a bad one.
I just want to compare SS with the het ships that I ship. Because YES, I ship unhealthy ships, as well as healthy ones and I fucking know it, but the main difference is that there is love in both parts, and that there is development through the series/show.
So, we’ll make it with examples. (It’s gonna be a pretty long post, so I excuse myself right now...)
Zero/Yûki (Vampire Knight)
So, by the end of the manga, they end up with each other, have children, and all... but not so long before, Yûki tried to erase Zero”s memories of her, against his will. And I was SO mad at her, don’t get me wrong, I hate the IDEA of erasing anyone’s memories.
But they do love each other, and I KNOW it. How do I know ?
Because she tries to help him while he was starving blood by giving him hers. Because he entlisted her the task to kill him if he gone mad, because he protected her from harm, because he was so hurt when he thought she had betrayed him, because .... BECAUSE THE WHOLE MANGA.
They’re not always good for each other, but they love each other.
Easy to find the unhealthy part right there...
Yeah, Nana asked him to die with her, yeah, Ren did say he almost wanted to really kill her to keep her with him, yeah, they always end up doing sex while they should have been dicussing their issues.
But the first one to say to me they don’t love each other... I kill him.
They love each other WAY too much. That’s kinda the problem.
Hm... SO we begin with an underaged prostitute and a woman who is seven years older than him. (So healthy)
But in the end, he knows her secrets and almost chuckles during her interviews, he doesn’t want money anymore, he learns a song for her, they have matching rings, and IF someone hadn’t say “Stop” to them, because if they were discovered, it would have been dangerous for her carrier, they would be still together.
But they had so much good development, fuck.
And, yeah, while I’m at it, I also ship het pairings that I find healthy, like... Kirito/Asuna (SAO)(Ya may find this anime shitty, but their couple is fucking well handled), Lucie/Rephaïm (The house of the night), Bellamy/Clarke (The 100, I only read the books though)
But in SS, there is NO positive development, we start at “I’m a shitty block-head girl, who fantasize on you because you’re hot, even if I don’t know you, that talk to you about how being orphan is such a bad thing, without knowing you’re an orphan too” to “I’m still a shitty block-head girl that don’t know you and want you back as the mysterious bad boy as still you hadn’t evolved as well.”
I don’t even CARE about the fact that this isn’t really healthy, Sasuke never loved her, he cared about her as a comrade for a while, but that’s all. He said so SEVEN chapters before the end, that she was daydreaming. He hasn’t change his mind because of a FIGHT. (Or he hits his head or something)
And Sakura loved him for the wrong reasons, she loved him because he was HOT. AND THAT’S ALL. And no, I won’t ship something like that, who is one-sided and only based on physical appearances.
I don’t mind angst. What I mind is fake love.
You want me to talk to you about angsty love ? Ren/Nana is just what you searched for. So much love that they hurt each other in the process. And I really know how it can be entertaining and pleasing to watch. (SNS and IS are that as well, tbh)(Especially IS)
But SasuSaku isn’t that. SasuSaku is a one-sided relationship which happened to be unhealthy. And sometimes, out of the blue, there will be a fanservice scene, which is not included in any kind of loving relationship.
Don’t tell me SNS is unhealthy, because I fucking know, but it’s at least reciprocal, and they love each other for what they are, not for what the other looks like.
