Why are romance manga so... bad?

[knight_evangel]

So my title is a bit misleading; rom-coms are my guilty pleasure. I love them despite being completely out of the target demographic.

However, I just finished HoriMiya. And it's not a BAD series, I don't want to dump on it or anything because they all have the same issue: the authors don't know where to go with the story after the MCs get together. And I don't understand why they're ALL like this - it's like the old Disney 'they lived happily ever after' nonsense, but why is this so prevalent? There is SO much more story that could be told there, why aren't we seeing couples go into college or the workforce? It's like the only plot device they can think of is goofy misunderstandings based on teenage angst. I've been fuming on this for a while now as I blow through more and more stories only to find the same brick wall of plot development and I just need to know WHY. Why do these authors just write the same stories over and over again?

And I mean, sure there are some cultural differences here but you can't tell me the domestic audiences don't have the same gripes about stories spending forever in plot limbo.

It is a product. Products generally follow two major rules.

1. Do what makes money.
2. Don't take risks.

Both of those things create a process of elimination that overlap. The end result is gimmick and cliche.

Neither of which are inherently bad until creative control is lost. An easy way to lose control is to make a lot of money and not take risks because the work then becomes an asset-protecting an asset becomes slightly more important than improving it.

That 'slightly' slowly creeps into creative control until having done too well turns the product into something generic from taking too little risks and catering to making money.

And the older you are, the more you recognize the process until they all blend together. And that's why things you grew up with sometimes seem better than they really are. What you're feeling now is an extension of that.


Someone who grew up with Horimiya might think you're full of shit until five years later when they complain about a new romance manga that's like all the rest.

Spoiler

Or it could be that the Horimiya author sucks at writing. : }