Mr Poltroon

Perhaps they've got it the wrong way around? An increase in levels of depression causes people to up the time they spend on social media - for consolation or some other reason, possibly.

Well, to start with, if you never experience them there's probably something wrong: it could be with you or with your circumstances. Allow me to elaborate: You only fall in love if the conditions allow it. The conditions in question tend to be as follows: if you're in a particularly happy time of your life or if you're just plain satisfied, then your body believes you're in a good time to procreate. Another alternative, I'd say, is the exact opposite - when you're in a period of great strife. You require emotional support and somebody who'll provide it. Have you ever heard of the "Suspension Bridge Effect"? It is an effect where one misunderstands what their feelings mean - that is to say, you attribute the hormones your body releases to the wrong cause. The example of this Suspension Bridge Effect is that a woman and a man, standing in a perilous bridge, attribute the release of adrenaline and other chemicals to the presence of their partner, and not to the danger of the bridge. For this situation, let us assume that you're heterosexual. Now imagine that you live in an environment where you typically you only interact with men - under these circumstances you are predisposed to not fall in love. On the other hand, if you were to find a woman, it wouldn't be exactly wrong to compare your circumstances to those of a dog in heat. That's hyperbolic, of course, but you are conditioned to fall in love with a female, and therefore, it wouldn't be wrong to assume you would, given the opportunity. Finally, much like you can be an heterosexual, you may be someone who simply isn't interested in intercourse. I understand that the way I put it, it almost seems like your sexuality is directly connected to the feeling of falling in love - I conjecture that this isn't true. After all, the hormone releases connected to sexual pleasure are mostly different from the ones connected to falling in love. Still, if you, as a human, are not predisposed to engage in procreation, the emotions of being in love are as useless as you are to the species as a whole, from a biological standpoint. If, as I mentioned previously, some sort of genetic defect leads you to be uninterested in sex (which goes against instinct), some genetic defect may lead you to lack the necessary hormones or to fail to react to the specific stimuli that would lead to falling in love (which also goes against instinct, in that there's less one mechanism that would lead to reproduction). By this I mean that even if all the circumstances are right, and all the planets are aligned, you may simply fail to react and be completely unable to fall in love. In summary I highlighted four main points: You need to find a potential partner appropriate to your own sexuality, you may need to be willing to have sex, you must be able to fall in love, and you need to be in the right frame of mind for it, too. Of course, I'm not an expert in love (I'm just an expert in cherry-picking situations which favour my arguments), or the science behind it, but, going from what we know about falling in love, we should be able to formulate some hypothesis as I just did. This is what I think, and perhaps someone knows better or can disprove my ideas on the topic. In a tangential topic, I don't quite know how it works, but given how inbreeding leads to genetic defects, maybe falling in love with close family is harder for some reason? Maybe the smell does not provoke your brain to release the appropriate hormones or something?

Here's a court skit in preparation for a DLC for AA6. Basically, a non canon fully voiced 'mini-trial' with nonsensical elements to introduce us to the actual, full length, DLC. Beware, this spoils a character who's returning for the DLC and there's an untranslatable pun related to his name in this skit. Enjoy! https://youtu.be/PQkGQpxvXqQ By the way, here's the poster art for AA6 in case you were interested - it spoils certain characters who will be in any way present in the game, if you want to go in entirely blind: In yet another piece of old news, here's the "prologue" to the game. They made a competition on twitter and this anime prologue was unlocked. This cutscene is fully cannon and official, detailing the events from shortly before the game started, or so it seems. As usual, if you want to go into the game completely blind, save this until you play the game, eventually.

No I don't, but with your help, I can get 1,118 likes. A nice read, yes. I most definitely think that while it is true that arranged marriages can go wrong, that's mostly for a couple of reasons: We are in a modern society where media, values, culture and just about everything influences us into thinking that love is that initial infatuation that we feel - that "falling in love" is the important part. So, arranged marriages without any of that are clearly evil incarnate. Historically, arranged marriages are also typically depicted as something bad because that's what makes for a good read. Who cares about the millions who turned out well? The hundreds who ended in tragedy are the interesting ones. And even when they do end in tragedy, it's because we, humans with something philosophers like to call 'reason', fail to resist our instincts and immediately flock over to those we've fallen in love with. Despite what I've just said, falling in love with the wrong person is tragedy in of itself. That our body and brain would treat us so... Assuming it has nothing to do with falling in love with someone else, failed arranged marriages occur when only one of the partners is interested in loving the other and devoting themselves. Eventually they'll feel unloved, tire themselves out, think that arranged marriages are literally Hitler, yada yada. Again, wanting to feel depended on, wanting to be the most important thing to a person, the only important thing, and wanting to rely on just one person. To me, all those are depictions of love. Now you'd just need to find a partner who values things similarly.

I talked to you about Yanderes, didn't I? To me, possessiveness is also something connected with love. Mostly a male thing, you see it in a lot of animal societies. In this case, though... The feeling that you want something you care for to be yours seems somewhat natural to me. Even though I hate some forms of possessiveness (will make a post about this at some point), people express their love differently, though mostly based on a variety of set patterns - and possessiveness is one of them. That is to say, some will express love through intimacy, some through art, some through possession, and various combinations of various factors. From what I know about you, I'm sure your own convenience is probably the most important factor, though.

DISCLAIMER: All that I mention represent my views mixed with basic scientific theories floating around. To 'Love', and to be 'In Love' I believe these two to be different. One does not necessarily love those they are in love with, and one is not necessarily in love with those they love. Sound confusing? Allow me to elaborate. To make this as clear as possible, let's take "romantic feelings" out of the equation. Would you say you love your parents? Or that you are in love with them? Maybe both expressions work for you? The way I see it, one (generally) loves their family, yet is not in love of them. To be in love with someone is the sort of feeling you have towards a crush, that almost irrational slight obsession and redirection of your thoughts in their general direction. Perhaps your heart will beat faster, perhaps you will become slightly euphoric, perhaps you'll get embarrassed; all just by being near the person in question. What I've just described most certainly does not apply towards your parents (unless you're into some really weird nukige). But you still love them, right? You act kind towards them, you are affectionate with them, you take their presence for granted and would sacrifice immensely for their sake. Mayhap, this even applies to your friends? Friendship love. You see it all the time in manga, girls loving each other, but not being in love with each other. You care for your friends much like they care for you. Finally, for all you older folk out there, if you're a parent: would you say you love your children, or that you are in love with them? Because if it's the latter, that would make you the worst kind of scum in the eyes of society. Only when it comes to romance do these two things get interwoven together. Love is a complicated mess, which I will now attempt to arbitrarily classify in a way that makes sense to me. All the previously mentioned situations represent love, yet they are different from falling "in love". As you know, or should know, humans are animals, they are living beings whose purpose is to live. All animals, all plants and all living beings have that very same objective, and they evolve and adapt in order to make sure their species continues to live. One important thing about being a living being is our instinctual desire to reproduce. If we didn't reproduce, the species would go extinct - Giant Pandas are the resident experts on the topic. In order to compel the race to reproduce, our body releases various hormones impelling us to do various things. Falling "in love" is one of these. You'll find that often, the person you develop romantic feelings for, is not one that is particularly close to you. This is what I believe being "in love" is. When you develop feelings for a person, which serves as the selfish catalyst that leads to romance. Having fallen in love, we humans do a bunch of silly things involving spending time with our pleasurable partner, which makes us happy (due to the hormones), and containing our sexual desires, which are also stimulated by the hormones. Probably not the most romantic way of looking at it, but "falling in love" is a mere boost towards romantic love, but I do not think it is romantic love itself. On the contrary, trying to resist this "in love" feeling is, quite literally, against our instincts. Thankfully, human beings are, for the most part, able to resist their instincts given that their conditions are favourable. If everyone ended up marrying their first love, society would be rather different than what it is right now. Now then, I keep mentioning "romantic love", as if it weren't influenced by hormones. Really, you can say that just about anything is influenced by hormones and this is no exception. The usual situation will be for one to develop a romantic relationship with the one they fell in love with. In turn, this "in love" boost will eventually die down leaving you only with a person that you are intimate with, that you share your flaws with, that you care for... and your sexual partner. Sex is yet another source of rather pleasurable hormones, and one important for long-lasting relationships. After all, a proper relationship requires sacrifices, and most of us selfish humans wouldn't be all that interested in maintaining a relationship for little reward. This is, of course, another of our instinct's plans. If a couple doesn't stay together and does not reproduce, then the whole "falling in love" business will end up having been useless. All this said, let us surmise: Because of our innate need to reproduce, we fall in love. Falling in love gives us a boost and creates an easy path that will lead to loving someone. Eventually, this boost dies down - at this point, a good couple would love each other as is (or else, divorce. Good lord, today's society...), with the help of sex. The pleasure sex provides creates hormones that increase our affection for our partner and that generally makes us interested in sex, connecting directly to our species' main goal: Children. The way we look at it today, everybody wants to be with those they're in love with, and lose interest when the magic of "falling in love" dies down. I, however, firmly believe that people are able to love even those they are not in love with... provided the circumstances aren't dead set against you. The main example I wanted to tie this uncultured rant to is this relationship I saw in Ao Haru Ride... I'll elucidate you right off the bat: I didn't like Ao Haru Ride as a story. This does not, however, mean that it was bad. In fact, it gave me enough food for thought to write this whole pointless blog post because of it. In Ao Haru Ride, because both our protagonists fail to act on their feelings in a timely manner because "emotions", they, despite loving each other, end up entering a relationship with someone else. Spoilers ahead. Futaba is our main protagonist, and she clearly falls in love with Kou in the first few chapters. This Kou fellow is the main love interest, who is also in love with Futaba, but who, due to circumstances and "emotions", rejects her advances. Seeing this, another boy, called Touma, felt bad for Futaba, and this kickstarted his feelings, leading him to fall in love with her. Eventually, Futaba, seeing Touma's dedication and depictions of love, enters a relationship with him and tries to love him back. Given this scene, Kou, jealous, surpasses his "circumstances" and "emotions" and tries to win Futaba back. Futaba, on the other hand, doesn't want this. She is not aware of Kou's feelings and really wants to love Touma back - something I consider a most earnest and great wish. However, because that's just the way things are, Futaba is unable to love Touma whilst in love with someone else, and she wouldn't stop being in love so long as Kou didn't stop - and he had no intention of stopping. Therefore, Futaba breaks up with Touma and gets together with Kou. Happy end. This entire turn of events depresses me. I dislike when a main character enters a relationship which just wont last. Totally not the kind of stuff I read manga for. I really hate how she spent most of the manga dating someone who is not the main love interest and the one she'll end up with. Yet, it does bring something to the table I really admired, and those were Futaba's attempts at loving Touma back, even when she wasn't in love with him. People these days always seem to think that they should marry someone they're in love with and whatnot - when I'm a fervent believer that anyone is able to romantically love even those they aren't in love with. Still, even still, we're wired in such a way that we're rather likely to fall in love with those we attempt to love, anyway, so it's almost a moot point. I believe that what Futaba tried to achieve is one of the most idealistic, selfless and admirable forms of love - though that's precisely why it doesn't happen often. It is, after all, much more convenient to just love those you are in love with This is why historical romances interest me so. They're about loving the husband or wife that was arranged for you by your family and not by your hormones (who choose based on what amounts to a whim). But then again... what the hell do I know about love?

Playing Sleeping Dogs, because I'm the kind of scumbag who will buy triple A games on sale years after release for a couple of euros. The catch? Got it on PS4. Turns out I'm pretty different than I used to be 15 or even 10 years ago. I've always been primarily a PC gamer but wow am I terrible at console games.

I'll take you on! This doesn't mean that all I'm going to recommend are great titles. I'll be recommending anything from masterpieces to decent stuff. After all, all that bollocks is subjective anyway. *ahem* Let us start with... Itazura na Kiss - Comedy and Romance, this has them both. I've never seen a romance that goes so far with its plot, and I must therefore recommend it. It's flaws? A cold as ice male romantic interest who will constantly suffer from what I can only call some sort of bipolar disorder, his tsundere levels are off the charts, and not in a good way. The female is the sweetest thing ever, though. Expect the supporting cast to change with the times, which is great. Compare to Nodame Cantabile. Reiterating Fred's Kimi ni Todoke. If you can somehow last through the first season (not that hard, diabetes inducing in many ways besides the romance), it'll only get better. D.C.: Da Capo - Very tentative recommendation, because I dropped it. Not because it was bad, but because I watched it at a bad time. It felt very fun, very classic. I enjoyed it greatly, but I have no idea how it ends. It's also a VN adaptation so... Kimikiss: Pure Rouge - Can't exactly recommend it in good conscience because I ragequit when my preferred love interest lost, meaning I don't know how it ends, but I got a pretty good sense of where it was going, so I wouldn't worry too much on that front. I would compare this to Amagami SS, so if you liked that, you'll like this - with one key difference. As I implied earlier, Kimikiss follows one continuous storyline. Only one female will triumph and the rest will be left to eat dust and tears. Kaichou Wa Maid-sama! - Will give you the typical "confession during the final episode" sort of thing. Also, spoiler alert. For the most part, it's a comedy with an average plot and whatnot. Want something decent to pass the time? This will do. Romantic comedy at its most stereotypical. Although the premise is somewhat unique. Special A - See Kaichou wa Maid-sama! Emma: A Victorian Romance - Literally just found out this existed. Will recommend in virtue of the great manga and decent MyAnimeList score, but be aware it's a wildcard. Fortune Arterial - I've been told many a time I have terrible taste. That I absolutely adored this terrible VN adaptation is evidence of that. If you have any intention of playing the VN (like I did, and liked the partial patch), steer clear of this one. Otherwise, I really liked it, for some reason. Love interest is clearly defined in the end. I liked the conclusion. Comedy Department Working!! - Give it a try. See if you like the comedy. If you do, keep at it. You may even get romance as a bonus. You liked Azumanga Daioh? Then- oh, wait. It says 'decent'... Doesn't matter! Give Lucky☆Star a try anyway! Watch a couple of episodes. If you don't like it that's that. Keroro Gunsou - I never watch long running series. I watched this one. Sgt. Frog is hilarious. If you don't want a big commitment, just try the English dub, since it only covers about 40-something episodes. It's like an abridged version of the first season, but equally good if not better. Do you prefer English or Japanese pop culture references? Like any comedy anime, I'd recommend you try it first and make a judgement later. There's really no review that could possibly make a comedy anime justice. If I dig deeper, I can probably come up with more stuff. Still, I'm sorry I don't have any hidden romance masterpieces you've somehow never heard of before (except Itazura na Kiss). I was expecting to pull something out of my hat... I didn't. @Fred the Barber Would you recommend it to me? It's been on my list for a while, and I've been slowly expanding to 'good anime' beyond pointless comedy and romance.

As has been said, Tsukaima's later seasons only get better, but it manages to consistently introduce hiccups all the way through. I still believe it was worth it anyway. It is notable, however, that I didn't just enjoy it for the romance or for the comedy: The fantasy setting helped immensely. I believe that if you manage to endure a couple of seasons, you may grow invested in the story, and the rest will just flow naturally. In other news, I am currently watching Musaigen no Phantom World. Nice episodic series about an... interesting premise. Must confess I really just like the protagonist and it's remotely interesting, so I'll just go with it.

For your information, the official statement is that because they have been localising Ace Attorney 6 during it's development, the localisation team couldn't work on two games simultaneously. That is to say, AA6 development and localisation had started long before Dai Gyakuten Saiban's release.

And here I thought my skills were unrivaled.

I shall reiterate and steal Rooke's opinion for myself. I'm sure it's great and all, but not my particular cup of tea. Entirely my fault for preferring off-brand tea knockoffs than the good stuff.

I've been on top of this game since it was first confirmed for localisation months ago, but no problem. I'll bite. HYPE

Despite other people's repeated attempts, I do not drink. Alcohol, that is. Frankly, it tastes terrible. Coupled with the fact that it's bad for my health, and that it's associated with debauchery, I don't care for it in the least. I rather like being the last sober one left, interacting with a bunch of drunkards.

Huh... What do you think I've been doing?

Oh, no. So far as they go, Ao Haru Ride's fine. The problem is that I recently changed genre's. All I've been reading lately are comedy shoujo and Josei manga with the official relationship set up almost from the get-go. The cultural differences when compared to that sort of manga are just too large, producing the cultural shock reflected in this post.

Did I say shoujo? I meant just about every sodding romance manga. Back when I started reading manga, most of what I read were shoujo manga's. Very, very long shoujo manga where the couple only get together at the very end, if at all. Whilst I nowadays stand against this practice, for reasons I will later disclose, I can understand how one would enjoy the "dramatic" situations, "romantic" moments, standard "comedy", and stories about friendship and high school experiences. What I just described composes 90% of all manga I've read. After all, these elements are to my taste. Unless done badly, as they are many a time. Typical plot development goes something like this: Female Protagonist is a loner or has bad friends. Love interest resolves these issues. Alternatively, skip step one and start with good friends already. Because of some random event or plot convenience, the Female Protagonist is either attracted to or forced to interact with Love Interest. Tales of Friendship and slightly romantic events ensue. Eventually, one (or both) of them realise how close they've become, and consequently act overly conscious. This leads to their partner misunderstanding the situation. Somehow, the issue is resolved, and the couple grows closer still. When things are looking particularly good for our couple, the love rival arrives, and somehow makes more progress in two chapters than the main couple in twenty. Misunderstandings ensue. They clarify the misunderstanding, still, some other event causes yet another. Rinse and Repeat. (Optional) The couple actually enters a relationship. Done well, I can live with it. After the initial misunderstandings, it's only natural for the couple to realise how much they actually care for each other and confess. But that's not how it goes in manga. Oh, no. The only ones they are fooling is themselves Scratch that, They aren't even fooling themselves. After a certain point, the main couple is very much in love, and very much care for each other. Yet, for some mind-boggling reason, the author must find a way to ensure they are not in any condition to confess, either due to unforeseeable or uncontrollable circumstances, or because of some incomprehensible misunderstanding that always pops up at that opportune moment for a confession. This can still be done well, assuming I'm not reading a 200 chapter manga. But guess what? A great deal of manga prefer to be segmented into smaller chapters with a spread out story; and it shows. I can hardly imagine the amount of money the mangaka would lose if they condensed their "150 chapter" manga into a measly 40. What if instead of having a new misunderstanding crop up every couple of chapters, they actually acted on their feelings? Boring. It'd end in no time at all. Because, as should be obvious, it must end after the confession. Any more than that and you're into blasphemous territory. I kid. If the manga has the guts to progress past the confession, I will almost certainly enjoy it. So those aren't the ones I'm fulminating against. If out of 100 chapters, 40 of them involve an after confession relationship, then you get my seal of approval. Go ask Kimi ni Todoke (which, for some reason, just refuses to end). Back into our slow romances, I can't claim to be particularly satisfied when out of over 200 chapters, only about a couple of them involve an official relationship. Looking at you, Mr. Hana yori Dango. Then perhaps something more accessible, say, about 88 chapters, would be better? Shiawase Kissa 3-choume didn't bother to grace us with so much as a kiss, so I'm not sure about that (not that a kiss is necessary in a romance - CLANNAD knows what's up). If you want a slow romance done well, follow Cross Game's example: Make it more of a side thing that's continuously going on, but don't ride the plot on it. Until an official relationship is established, romance doesn't make for all that strong a mount. Don't like sports? You prefer more "shoujo-like" topics, like friendship and goodness? Fruits Basket has you covered. Though I guess those are kind of avoiding the issue. Can you make something almost purely romantic entertaining, even if there's no official relationship? Dengeki Daisy says yes. Even if it's about 100 chapters? "Why not?" answers Kaichou wa Maid-sama. Clearly it can be done well. This all on the table, can someone explain to me how the highly rated Ao Haru Ride manages to be one of the most irritating romance manga I've read? It has a quarter of Hana yori Dango's size and triple the pointless drama! In one chapter, the couple (who still hasn't confessed to each other) go from kissing to having the biggest distance between them yet. And things just keep getting worse and worse. Despite how literally everyone, including themselves, know they love each other. This whole manga is very painful to digest as is, so I had to go add copious amounts of . It should now be fine.

Onigase's would be the best... everything-wise, really. As for Tsumugu's, I thought the way it was presented and delivered was hilarious. Like, bloody brilliant. However, it seems the method may not be particularly popular. Much like the game.

Whining in all its forms is great. Vents stress, makes the other person feel trusted or annoys the other person. All positives. Nevertheless, I understand your thinking, and I probably wouldn't have done the same because I suck at social life.

On a whim I decided to start ERASED. Definitely not my thing, but I cannot deny the appeal of the mystery going on. This second episode is what'll decide if I keep at it or just give up.

Well, fantastic. Seems I'll be able to play FPS's other than the original few CoD and Battlefield games. Edit: Though, truth be told, I just prefer the World War setting. I actually don't dislike the newer games too much, it's just that I've never played them. If I'm going to be forking over 60 euros for an FPS, it might as well be in a setting I'll enjoy in single player.

Let me see... As the other person feels lonely, the logical course of action is not to talk to them, lest you cruelly annihilate said loneliness. Okay, no. I understand. Perhaps "loneliness" may not be the most appropriate conversation topic for a lonely person... or is it?

I've finally concluded the walkthrough for this trial, in case anybody cared about how much they may or may not have missed.

I disagree. Those people have social lives with other faceless characters and whatnot. If you're anything like me, you're one of those background loners. Before the handsome, social and benevolent main character graces the loner with his presence and forces him to partake in increasingly harder social tasks until he gets completely brainwashed into becoming one of the mindless teenagers in the main character's social group. All this, of course, before the anime airs. And it eventually gets cancelled whilst in production. It never airs. That's our role.