What’s the most feels-inducing thing I could possibly write about? OTP’s. Be ready for fangirling, which can include a variety of virtual screaming, crying, laughing, and strange dying animal noises. Here it goes: my top five OTP’s. I’m limiting myself to five because that’s all my emotions can handle. Also, I am not counting the OTP’s in which I ship myself with fictional characters, because that would be weird.
5) Kirisuna – Kirito and Asuna from ‘Sword Art Online’ I stated before in a post that I liked season 1 of SAO but not so much anything after it. That holds true, but the show still has one of my top OTP’s. I remember beating the heck out of my best friend when Kirito kissed Asuna the first time. It made me so happy and at first I couldn’t exactly explain why. I’m not sure you really need to have an explanation with fangirling, but I think I’ll give it a shot.
One of my top criteria for a good couple is that both people in the relationship need to have goals beyond just being together. I find it pretty pointless if both parties are like ‘nothing else matters but him/her!’. Also, the ‘love at first sight’ thing is just redundant to me. Their relationship builds from acquaintances trying to get through this game to allies when they’re both strong, to friendship, and then (quite suddenly) romance. They appealed to me because while they do develop emotions that border the whole world revolving around each other ideal, it makes sense. They’re stuck in this game, fighting for their lives. All they want is to get out and live their lives together in a real setting. They fight for each other, are willing to sacrifice everything for each other, which shows just how much they do care about each other. And that’s why I love them so much.
4) Rivetra – Levi Ackerman and Petra Ral from ‘Attack on Titan’ This one hurts. If you haven’t seen ‘Attack on Titan’, I would still recommend it, but skip to number 3 right now, please. Spoilers ahead.
Honestly, there aren’t many ‘ships’ in the AoT realm if you look at it from a realistic perspective. You see Levi/Eren and Marco/Jean and Eren/Armin and just so many strange ships that just aren’t even there that I’m not sure there are any real ones. If I’m perfectly honest with myself, Levi and Petra may never have been a thing either, but I still ship it just like everyone else ships their relatively creepy ships. I mean come on, Levi is double Eren’s age. It’s creepy.
Here’s my reasoning behind Levi and Petra and where I think it might actually be canon. After they come back from the mission where Petra is (most depressingly) killed, in which Levi is more deadpan than usual, Petra’s father comes up to Levi. He’s rambling as he’s talking to our favorite little corporal, and if you listen closely, he mentions something about marriage. Back it up. He’s speaking to Levi, Petra’s commanding officer, telling him that he thinks his daughter is too young for marriage. Now why would a commanding officer, no matter how high up the chain, have any say in whether one of his subordinates gets married or not? He wouldn’t. Therefore, I have a suspicion that Petra was engaged to none other than Levi himself. We never really get to see them alone together so we don’t get to see how they speak to one another.
Another factor is that Auruo clearly had feelings for Petra, unreturned feelings. However, it’s pointed out several times that he’s trying to emulate Levi, noting his hair and how he sometimes speaks and acts. I suspect that he was trying to emulate the person that Petra had feelings for, in an attempt to turn her attention his way. This is technically just a theory, unless I’ve missed some important interview, but it’s one I will hold on to as canon until the show and/or manga proves otherwise.
Also, they’re both short. And she’s a little spitfire. And she can clean. If any woman could turn Levi’s head, I have a deep feeling it’s Petra, which is what makes that one horrifying episode so very sad to me.
3) Luca Forelli and Lia Betarrini from the ‘River of Times’ series by Lisa T. Bergren As far as I know, they don’t have a ship name. It’s a lesser known series and I can never find anything on it. The fanfiction for this series is so depressingly few it physically hurts sometimes.
This isn’t the main couple of the series, but it’s still my favorite. Technically Luca breaks my rule of ‘love at first sight’, but in his defense, aside from Gabriella (who was clearly already falling for Marcello, his best friend), he had probably never seen a beautiful woman ready to defend herself tooth and nail like that. For a while, he faces unrequited love and he struggles to get out of the medieval Friendzone. It’s never exactly clear the moment that Lia begins to turn his way, or at least I don’t remember if there is one, but Luca slowly draws her heart in. He’s so loyal to her and so incredibly patient that the guy really deserves a medal. It takes him years to win her over and even when he does win her over, she’s still too terrified of what she knows is coming to agree to marriage. And then when she does agree to marriage, all heck breaks loose. He just can’t catch a break.
But in the end, it comes together nicely and they live happily ever after, so to speak. Their relationship is just so realistic in how patient he is and how Lia reacts to everything. It’s not just ‘girl gets thrown into the past, turns away from all she knows to leap into the arms of the handsome knight’. No, she handles it like a girl would actually handle it. She’s wary of staying in the past, she misses their mother, she’s logical about it all. When crap hits the fan five books later, she has an incredibly realistic breakdown and it takes her time to get over it. And through it all, they have each other. That’s why I absolutely love this series and this couple in particular.
2) Edwin and Royai – Edward Elric X Winry Rockbell and Roy Mustang X Riza Hawkeye from ‘Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood’ I literally can’t pick between these two and since it’s the same anime, I count it as one. Both couples mean so much to me. I shall now explain why, individually.
Edwin. This is a couple that builds up from a friendship as children to eventual marriage. And yes, it is indeed canon. Watch through to the ends of the credits and you’ll see a picture of all of the characters older. Ed is holding a little boy that looks just like him and Winry is standing close by with a baby girl that looks just like her. The picture is reminiscent (on purpose, I believe) of the picture their mother had taken with Ed, Al, herself and their father. It shows how Edward has taken a different path and has chosen his family over alchemy. Of course, Al and Mei are there in the final credits picture as well, which is another OTP entirely.
I always admired how Winry handled everything in ‘Brotherhood’. She took her own path in life and even as she suspects that she’s beginning to fall in love with Edward, she continues doing what she has to do believing that they’ll reunite later. Her constant fear that something will happen to both him and Al breaks my heart for her but she doesn’t let it slow her down. Then you have Edward who is completely focused on getting his little brother’s body back. He doesn’t have time for romance and I don’t think he ever once stops to evaluate how he feels toward Winry. He just feels it and that’s very clear in how easily defensive he becomes of her. When he calls to make sure she’s okay. When he jumps between her and Scar, even though Scar’s nearly killed him once already and Winry has a gun. When he doesn’t even have to act angry at Kimbley for Winry getting ‘kidnapped’ by Scar, because he’s legitimately that angry she got put in that situation. He cares for her, deeply, and for the longest time I don’t think even he realizes it. And let’s not forget he seeks solitude in her room when they’re hiding out in Resembool. To summarize, their relationship goes way back and there’s a great number of layers to it, which is what makes it so great.
Royai. If ever there were a true contender against the number one OTP on my list, it might be these two. I honestly don’t even know if I can fully explain what I love about this ship but I will try.
Roy and Riza go way back. Not as far as Edward and Winry, but Riza is part of Roy’s past and a big part of his future, and vice versa. They’re war buddies, so to speak, and Riza loyally follows Roy just about everywhere to make sure he stays out of trouble.
At first, I think Riza begins following him because she sees that spark of leadership in him. She sees what he’s capable of and she wants to help him get there, keep him safe in the process. So she becomes a super awesome sniper. My personal opinion is that Roy probably had a crush on her before the war, from meeting her after her father’s death. I think she ends up becoming his ideal woman, though, because she’s not only beautiful but actually terrifying. If there’s one person who scares Roy Mustang, I think it would probably be Riza Hawkeye. She’s not afraid to tell him what’s up and to butt heads with him when need be. That’s exactly what Roy needs and what makes them an incredible power couple. And if you have any arguments about whether they have feelings for each other, go back and watch how they look at each other after Mei heals Hawkeye. If that’s not love, I don’t know what is.
(Also, you can watch the AMV I made for these two here! Please enjoy. The above mentioned ‘look’ is at the very end for reference. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OHvzoRIsnA )
1) Percabeth – Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase from the ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’ series by Rick Riordan
Read the series. You’ll understand.
Honestly, I could leave it at that. From start to finish, these two are relationship goals. They start off as barely even friends. They aren’t even supposed to be friends, because of who their godly parents are. They should be natural enemies, but they’re not. Somewhere along the way, they become best friends. And sometime after that, Percy begins to realize he sees her as more than just a friend. They’re each other’s first kiss and first relationship. In the ‘Heroes of Olympus’ series, Percy is very clearly thinking of a future with Annabeth in it and not just going to college with her. Everything about these two is perfect because their relationship isn’t perfect. They argue but they make up. They disagree but they find compromises. They get thrown into life threatening situations and find a way to get out together. It’s truly beautiful. Beyond that, there isn’t much I can say about this OTP to beat all OTP’s. The Percy Jackson world has completely taken over my life so it’s no surprise that these two are the top in my OTP book.
And I think that’s about it! If you read through all of that, I commend you. May you all have a great week! Until next time, nerd dudes and nerdettes!
Avoiding Reality as a Nerd 