Typical situation:
1) a dark-haired guy who is either loud & hot-headed or the strong-and-silent type
2) a blond or silver-haired guy who is either super sweet or the mysterious-and-aristocratic type (the second one often has long hair and wears formal clothes of some kind)
3) the dark guy gets the girl
4) the blond guy either becomes evil and obsessive, or he's been a villain from the start, or he gets desperate and has to be saved by our kind girl before he says goodbye to her. As a twist, the blond villain in this situation can suddenly experience a change of heart and redeem himself through sacrifice.
I wonder what lies in the basis of this trend. ^__^ Especially considering the funny fact that despite the cultural differences, the same can be noticed in a lot of Western romantic stories.
I think
Spoiler (mouse over to view)
Tamaki from Ouran
is the single exception from the rule. He's also a mix of types, he's aristocratic but super sweet. Other examples of not breaking the rule:
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Shounen Dolls, Full Metal Panic, Kyuuketsu Yuugi
. Even seinen manga has some of this, Spoiler (mouse over to view)
Berserk
anyone?Ah, and Furuba, so obvious.