This week's poll was suggested by superspartan177. Do you care about romantic plotlines for series that aren't focused around romance, such as Naruto and Hinata?

You can submit poll ideas here
http://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=3903

Question: What level of plot complexity do you prefer?
Choices:
Easy and uncomplicated (ELI5) - votes: 61 (3.3%)
Straightforward with maybe a smart twist or two - votes: 724 (38.8%)
Genius story with incredible foreshadowing and lore - votes: 1081 (57.9%)
There were 1866 total votes.
The poll ended: June 29th, 2024 10:47am PDT

Heavy on the story, eh? Too bad most video game stories suck

A just ruler amongst tyrants

That's hard. If it's a good romantic plot line in something else, then yes I care. If it's just thrown in like in most shounen then no, I dislike it. Especially if the whole story was focused on friendship and then out of the blue that gets tossed aside so it can have a romance ending with barely any lead up to it; then I really hate it. Friendship manga should have friendship endings, hmph (insert old man grumblings).

But hate is caring too, I guess. So, not sure what to put.

On another note try indie games lambchopsil

Probably a little to not at all. Depends on if there's anyone I'd ship the MC with. And even if there is, but they don't end up with each other or they end with someone I don't like, I'd just be a little disappointed and move on.

Ah...but it's not that I don't like romance. I just don't like focusing too much on the romance when it's an action or fantasy focused story. Especially since a lot of those authors aren't very good when writing about romance and it catches you off guard.

A lot
a bad romance subplot can ruin the whole story for me and vice versa

Depends. Although if it's brought up, I'd like to see a conclusion to it regardless the outcome. Even if it's a simple "let's marry if we're both single by 30", or like in Kanata no Astra where one of the guys just went (paraphrasing)

"Oh, I thought we were already a thing" . That's pretty much my minimum.

The early bird may have caught the early worm, but the late worm survived!!

If it´s a proper side plot that influences the story and character development then I will care a little or even more. If the romance is badly written with a foregone conclusion, romances in MCU films, then I won´t care at all. The way Jump manga do romance, let´s say Yu Gi Oh, is, of course, total crap. Remove all of that or go somewhere. Mob confessing and being turned down is a valid conclusion and leads to a final bit of character development.

The way games operate isn´t all that conducive to quality storytelling so it makes sense that most devs put writing on the backburner or barely care. A quality plot simply can´t add much in a lot of cases on top of that. Super Mario Odyssey wouldn't have improved if you added a complex story or developed Cappy. Like putting wings on a racecar. It will only slow it down.

I also read EU/US comics and am a librarian.
Manga-Masters, My ANN-Lists + Imdb

I don't really care about romance if it isn't main plot. It can be nice addition for story, but it can also just...be there for no real purpose. It doesn't progress the story and makes interactions between characters in love awkward. It angers me when characters have great friendship and all of the sudden they love each other. No! Let them be just friends!

It depends on how into the characters I get. Usually just a little, but if I take a particular liking to the story's characters (Bleach), then I care a whole lot. For the record, I was neither team Rukia nor Orihime. But I just don't see Ichigo and Orihime working out long-term.

That said, the list where I get like above is short.

Also, lambchopsil, if you can get to the Sumeru story and onwards in Genshin Impact, you'll be very pleasantly surprised. But you'll need to do a lot of the big world quests to get all sides of the story. Honestly, lots of video games have great stories... what genres do you prefer?

I'm a jack of all trades but master of none. Too many jars and not enough hands.

I care a lot. Romance shows up as the top liked genre on my profile for a reason...

I am envoy from nowhere in nowhere. Nobody and nothing have sent me. And though it is impossible I exist. © Trimutius

Not at all. Romance manga have their appeal (I loved Kaguya!) but if the focus is far removed from romance, I find romance plots to just be a distraction. Oda's approach to it is best.

I care a lot. Romance shows up as the top liked genre on my profile for a reason...

Sounds like the poll needed a 5th option for you lol, "I only like manga that are focused around romance". Manga that fall under the romance genre are specifically excluded from the question, so it's kind of weird for you to even bring it up that way.

'As long as MC ships with who I want', sort of. It's not about whether the love interest is my favourite so much as whether I'm invested in the characters and whether the plotline is decently constructed. I want the writer to make me believe that characters A and B should be together and show me at least a little of the process of them getting there.

You put my thoughts into words far more eloquent than my own. This is the reason behind why some stories can make me care about a romance subplot in a non-romance story and others (most) don't.

I'm a jack of all trades but master of none. Too many jars and not enough hands.

While i suppose it sounded weird... I do read some non romance mangas... And if they have a romantic subplot my attention will focus on that a lot...

I am envoy from nowhere in nowhere. Nobody and nothing have sent me. And though it is impossible I exist. © Trimutius

Leave that romance crap out. Always the same topic, so annoying. If an author can't write a good story without romance, they suck.