This being an anime, of course, means that Lyuze stabbing Casshern through the hand is the only kind of physical intimacy the two are ever going to participate in - - even after we’ve seen an entire episode devoted to the girl realizing she’s in love with the guy. Maybe there’s a grad school thesis paper somewhere out there about how the Japanese are wont to exhibit a strangely… compartmentalized philosophy about affection in their anime. I, myself, still prefer to believe that Standards & Practices over the pond absolutely forbid cooties on Shonen shows.
Sure, there are plenty of valid criticisms about the disproportionate acceptability of violence over sex in Western programming; but at least you rarely ever see sustained romantic tension on screen that somehow never manages to culminate in even a kiss. I’ll never get over the ending of FMA: B where Ed’s 64-episode courtship with Winry was able to skip right on to kids without any icky consummation; nor the desperate infatuation Misa had for with Light in DEATH NOTE that inexplicably avoided getting physical; nor the slow-burn “Will they or won’t they?” sub-plot between Vash and Meryl in TRIGUN that kept more moisture off the Humanoid Typhoon’s lady-killing lips than blood off his ardently-pacifistic hands.
Again, I never really bemoaned the lack of lovey dovey in my stories before I started reviewing for Watch & Learn. But this is the often the equivalent of a show steadily stoking the flames of a grudge match and then cutting it off before any punches are exchanged. Why tease about it when you aren’t going to see it through? It's one of the more puzzling tropes of anime.
We’ve got five episodes left, of course. I may yet have to eat the words of this whole diatribe, certainly… but I’m pretty confident that I won’t have to. And that means that “I Wanna Be A Star” theme song is basically going to be like a slow dance song playing over a sad, empty dance floor.
Watch this episode, “Believe in the Flower That Lives in Your Heart” here and decide for yourself, then read my comments on the previous episode here.
Tom Pinchuk’s a writer and personality with a large number of comics, videos and features like this to his credit. Visit his website - - tompinchuk.com - - and follow his Twitter: @tompinchuk
