I think cliches/typical tropes have become ingrained in manga/anime. There are so many cliches... and though at times annoying, sometimes they're used effectively. I.e., creating a a lead up to a cliche and suddenly inserting a twist. But a majority of romance, really do follow the stereotypical romance plot. That being said, I really enjoyed the leaving for a foreign country and not returning for years in Hana Yori Dango. It was moving and sweet.

Quote from jedinat

Well the manga isn't over yet, I've just caught up to the scanlations which ended off at a really lousy point. The manga is Kirai; not the greatest manga ever, but I did just take the time to read about 7 volumes, so I was indeed invested.

Oh, really? I really like Kirai. I know the kind of ending you mean, with one of the characters leaving right at the end and then possibly an epilogue showing them a few years later as they reunite, (eg. Beauty Pop, Koukou Debut--still liked the mangas, though) but I don't think Kirai is going to do that. There are three volumes still to be scanlanted and it just wouldn't work at all with where the story is right now. The two clearly need to resolve some things first. I guess this sounds kind of silly, but they are having troubles in their relationship, what with the Hanada's trust issues, and if the girl thinks that this is necessary I'm going to trust her, and trust the author, who's done a great job so far, to handle this admittedly tricky development properly. Of course, if it gets screwed up I'll be very upset, but I'll have faith in it for now. 😀

I wonder if the 'studying abroad' excuse will work in real life. 😀

You're right! I've never noticed it before, sadly >_> A lot of shoujo romances do have the long distance romance thing in them...Hana Yori Dango, Tenshi Nanka ja Nai... Now it's going to bother me when I come across it!

www.foryouranime.com

I wonder how many of you are asians who stays in asians county? cause hmm studying abroad are quiet popular here lol. I mean in real life.

Its ok to have it incorporated to the manga, but maybe if every damn shoujo manga that we read are like that it can get on your nerves.

Thats why... i gave up on shoujo long ago... well i still read Skip Beat, but i think i can go crazy if Kyoko suddenly thinks that she want to pursue her study overseas.

Quote from Whatever

It's especially annoying if the character's career or goals was never a big focus. In something like Gokinjo Monogatari it makes sense since it did focus on the character's goals and dreams and not just romance. That makes sense. It fits in the story. It's just an annoyance when it's randomly thrown in. Like when school, work, or career is never focused on but all of a sudden out of nowhere the character wants to go abroad to study or something.

Completely agree.

Btw, I'm studying medicine abroad (I'm European, studying abroad, but it's still in Europe) and I have so many taiwanese, japanese, malaysian classmates...I mean - most of them are from some asian country. There's only a few of us who are like me, still from Europe.

Quote from jedinat

I don't get how anything, let alone "studying abroad", can take precedence over "love." In this context at least.

I think this have something to do with the Japanese culture where the work (and the education connected with it before that) is the most important thing.

[img]http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/6674/naturebyabhishekultimat.jpg[/img]

Ruler of the Yaoi world