Hi everyone, JR here. As Kaldath is taking some time off from the blog, I'm going to fill in for him for his Wednesday posts this week (we'll see what's going on next week before I completely take over). I apologise about the following post, I haven't watched as much anime as Kaldath so some of my examples may seem a bit different to what he usually puts.
This week we'll talk about something that's loosely related to what Kaldath was talking about last week; Shipping. In basic terms, Shipping is a fan term for the belief that two characters are/ should/ could be in a relationship (the term coming from the ship in relationship). The term was originally used for Mulder and Scully from X-Files, but has migrated to the world of anime, and also to other serials (the Harry Potter series for example).
The names of ships can vary, with there being lots of different ways to name a ship. You can have the names of the two characters with a / between (character1/character2), a word followed by the word shipping (e.g. Rocketshipping from the Pokemon franchise), portmanteau combinations of the two characters (e.g. Narusaku- Naruto and Sakura from Naruto) being the main ones used.
Of course, not all ships are canon, and many spring up through casual (sometimes unintentional or even dub edited) hints or through pure fan fantasy. Shipping is especially prevalent in series with multiple lead characters (often when there is one lead male and many female leads like in the harem genre), and often leads to rivalries between supporters of the different ships, especially if the issue of romance in the series isn't resolved.
Now that we know a little bit more about it, what are your opinions on shipping? Any ships you support? Discussion below.
I haven’t watched much anime, but I remember an interview on a netflix DVD. It talked about how Batman was the only animated character in the group (superfriends? jla?) to jump after Wonder Woman into debris when no one saw her get out of the wreck. He ruined his gauntlets, they exchanged a look–and the fan speculation took off. The writers hadn’t intended it, but liked the idea enough they started thinking about it.
Personally, I think shipping is relied on too heavily to float series, serials, etc. It’s just too overdone.
buffy/faith. fuffy!
Moe and Tsundere. Two important word in the world of animes. But i personally like the not “ideal couples” like Gaara and Deidara 😛 or Izaya and Shizuo 😛 or my Yuri picture. :P. But without joke the classic example of the shipping for me the relation of Asuna and Kirito. The relation of the start is tsundere and near the series 1 end real love. KAWAII…..
I’m going to say one that is far from anime, and is from the Warrior Series by Erin Hunter. JayfeatherXStick. It wasn’t really considered a “ship”, per se, but it is close enough. It’s considered more of a joke than a real fan-relationship because it plays on Jayfeather’s extreme obsession with a stick he found once.
My favorite anime ship is the Ichigo/Rukia/Orihime triship from Bleach. He goes through hell and back several times to save both women (though I get the impression he sees Orihime as more of a sister), and stays faithful to both, even in the face (so to speak) of busty temptations like Yoruichi and Rangiku. It’s a deep, meaningful friendship-and-more-that-doesn’t-go-there-even-though-the-show-goes-there-and-everywhere-else. I hope that made sense because it sounded hilarious coming out of my fingertips.