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Bad arranged marriage/forced relationship

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Member


9 years ago
Posts: 182

I've noticed looking over stories about arranged marriage, they tend to be treated in a surprisingly positive way. In some cases one or both parties are incredibly excited from the get-go (like Ai Yori Aoshi); I remember there was one where a girl was told her only value was to marry a specific man and bear his child, and resistant as she was she was quite eager once she saw his face; most seem to have a belligerent couple that gradually fall in love, like Ranma 1/2. But just about every time a person is forced to spend the indefinite future together with someone or told that they're to be married, this decision is treated as ultimately a positive thing. Even when you have something like a guy personally forcing a girl into marriage it's not treated as a bad relationship. One part of Denpa Kyoushi has a girl desperately trying to get out of an arranged marriage where some young CEO bought out her parents' company and demanded her hand in exchange for some accommodations to the company. Her teacher manages to save her, but the CEO declares that he still intends to win her heart properly, to which she blushes and the teacher says they'd be good together.
My point is, when a person is forced into marriage, it's almost always treated like they're soulmates. So my question is: what good stories are out there in which an arranged marriage is treated as a legitimately bad thing that the hero and/or heroine need to put a stop to? I can only think of one right now. Sword Art Online (Novel) has in its second arc a horrible villain who trapped the heroine in a virtual world, unable to wake up, while convincing her parents to allow him to marry her while she's unconscious. This section of the story then has the hero Kirito desperately trying to find a way to get his beloved Asuna out of the game, catch the villain and stop all his plans, including the marriage.
So then, please give me more examples of people who are either arranged to marry or otherwise permanently bound to a member of the opposite sex where the "partner" is not treated as "destiny" or in any way a good thing. Love triangle is acceptable IF the arranged partner loses, but I'm mainly looking for stuff where the partner is treated as an extremely inappropriate match or even the sort of person who would use her/him as something more like a fun toy than an actual partner.


Member


9 years ago
Posts: 501

So basically you want an arranged marriage where the other guy is basically the antagonist and the main girl loves the male lead?


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Member


9 years ago
Posts: 370

It's not easy to find this kind of story because of values dissonance.
If I recall correctly, the female lead in Onidere is engaged to some random dude, and the male lead has to go through some ridiculous feats to stop him. Lum in Urusei Yatsura is engaged to a guy she utterly despises. In a story from Detective Conan, Satou makes a bet that would get her to marry her colleague (not a bad guy, but one she has no feelings for) should she lose. And that's about all I can think of for now.


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