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Love Bubbles

◊ one lovestruck girl.

◊^note

Momoko: Shojo bubbles? This can only mean that he's a good guy.
Pluie: OMG, that ring is fabulous! It Must Be Mine!
Momoko: What? The bubbles... lied to me?

— Wedding Peach Abridged

A romantic moment in anime is often accompanied by a pastel background with lots of bubbles. Nobody knows who wanders into all these series with an invisible bubble machine, but maybe they should stop before they get soap in somebody's eye...

This is a technique taken directly from manga, and often accompanied by a Bishie Sparkle for one or both of the characters involved.

Alternately, the background may have a floral pattern rather than a bubble pattern. In yuri manga, the flowers may be lilies, because yuri literally means "lily". Roses are common otherwise, although any kind of flowers may be used, at the artist's whim, including odd things like passionflowers and clematis.

See also Cherry Blossoms and Flower Motifs.

Examples:

Anime and Manga

Nodamiki and Kisaragi from GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class make them appear while sharing a rather intimate moment.
Occurs in a Filler episode of Naruto when he dreams that he and Sakura are about to kiss.
- Love bubbles accompany Karin's audible reaction when Sasuke bites her arm.
Fruits Basket
Ouran High School Host Club — both straight and subverted.
Zone Of The Enders Dolores i — if a humongous pink mecha with god-like power isn't enough, it also has a preteen romantic personality prone to love bubble moments.
Azumanga Daioh, when Kaorin is daydreaming about Sakaki.
In Peacemaker Kurogane, Soji and Tetsu share a bubble moment during the Poetry fluff episode. This is never explained or referred to again.
Digimon Adventure 02, when Daisuke is daydreaming over Hikari-chaaan. It's also done for laughs in the following season:
Leomon: (twitches) Would you please stop doing that?
Played both humorously and straight in Sailor Moon.
Speed Racer does these with camera flashes.
Used in a number of fantasy sequences in Midori no Hibi.
Happened all the time in Marmalade Boy.
Rosario + Vampire ("Tsukune!" "Moka-san!")
Confined to a zone in episode 34 of Zettai Karen Children, to the depression of another character.
Used a lot in Aishiteruze Baby.
Gunbuster uses a floral background pattern when Noriko first meets Kazumi.
- Diebuster also does this during the first meeting of the main two characters.
  - This is done as a reference to Aim for the Ace!. Hiromi sees bursting floral patterns and bubbles when Reika does any especially awesome tennis moves, only adding to the unintentional Les Yay.
Paradise Kiss uses a floral background pattern when Yukari first meets George. In this case, it is made to look like an embroidered floral pattern on fabric, which matches the subject matter (clothing designing) of the series.
Fushigi Yuugi uses love bubbles and sparkles, flowers, colorful backgrounds, etc.
The end song of the Transformers Zone OAV shows Cain and Akira running through a field of such bubbles.
Yume and Yuuki from Kanamemo are grandmasters in evoking these.
Achakura and Yuki in Haruhi-chan, after Yuki rescues her from a cat.
Used in, of all places, Death Note. They appear once, when Misa plays Ring Around the Rosie with Light and L.
L: (deadpan) Yay, fun.
Either the bubble or flower version, or possibly a combination, occurs in Fullmetal Alchemist whenever Winry waxes poetic about automail.
- THESE LOVE BUBBLES HAVE BEEN PASSED DOWN THE ARMSTRONG FAMILY FOR GENERATIONS!!
In the Gundam Wing doujin "Ground Zero" (not to be confused with "Episode Zero") these were used in some particularly tender scenes with Heero and Relena.
- Also used in the actual anime while they danced together, though in this case it was part of Relena' Instant Fan Club fantasizing what she'd look like in her party dress (which she ripped to make bandages for Heero a couple of episodes prior).
In Aquarion, Tsugumi gets this for Reika.
So overdone in Ion that the mangaka later said she was embarrassed of it and she'd get rid of them if she could.
Appears frequently in Kimini Todoke, so frequently in fact, that it would be rare to see a chapter (or an episode) that wouldn't have at least two scenes made of it.
In the chapter 423 of Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple, in the scene where Kenichi and Miu hold hands for one whole minute, they stare wide-eyed at each other standing inside a whirlpool of Love Bubbles.
Pok�mon: Any time Brock imagines himself wooing the local beauty.
A variation happened, accompanied by a Luminescent Blush, in Wandering Son when Nitori asked Anna to go on a date with him.
Kaichou wa Maid-sama! uses a lot of both bubbles and flowers. Maid Latte's manager practically has it as a skill, which occasionally goes out of hand.
Ichigo from Tokyo Mew Mew often sees these around Masaya, and once she and Ryou danced in a field of Love Bubbles.
Zetsuen No Tempest's Hakaze does this every time she has an internal monologue about what attracts her to Yoshino.
Happens in M�R after Ginta accidentally kisses Snow the first time. Interestingly, this is pretty much the only time it happens, outside of someone's dreams. Though there's plenty of other Ship Tease later.

Video Games

Kimmy Howell, Loony Fan of Travis Touchdown in No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, weaponizes these.
They appear in Sengoku Basara whenever Tsuruhime tries to confess to Fuuma. Or just around Tsuruhime in general.
Often happens to Fuuko in Clannad whenever she gets overwhelmed by the cuteness of something (usually starfish). The scene often pulls back and shows everything looking as normal, but with (starfish-shaped) bubbles appearing only around Fuuko.
- The worst case Fuuko has though is when Nagisa hugs her, causing her to be out for several minutes. Of course, Tomoya won't let that chance pass by...
- Also used with Kyou in an extreme deredere moment during the "Trapped in a Room" scene, while misconstruing Tomoya's intentions towards her.

Web Comics

You can spot these every now and then on Misfile.
The floral variant is used in this El Goonish Shive to drive home Tony's attraction to Tedd.
Girl Genius has this in That Kissing Scene.
Played for laughs in Bittersweet Candy Bowl. Paulo and the (inanimate doll) Alegria; it still makes the girls giggle. Lampshaded with McCain getting a headache from the bubbles as he stares at Sue.

Parodies/Examples Played for Laughs:

Anime and Manga

Spoofed a lot in the Pretty Sammy series.
Used utterly satirically in one episode of Soul Eater after Soul and Black Star attempt to combine their power and fail.
Saiunkoku Monogatari occasionally plays these for comedy, as when Shuurei suspects that Ryuuki and Shuuei, or Ryuuki and Seiran, are in love. Ryuuki himself has a fierce case of Love Bubbles at the beginning of the first episode of season two, also mostly played for humor.
Parodied in an early episode of Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo.
Played for laughs in Pretear—every time Himeno's stepsister runs into one of the Leafe Knights, she sees them in this way.
Used hilariously in the Maiden Rose OVA omake. Apparently the only reaction possible to neko-Taki surrounded by Love Bubbles is attempting rape.
The title character of Hayate the Combat Butler can summon Love Bubbles, Bishie Sparkle and Dramatic Wind at will to look cool and convince people.
In The Legend Of Koizumi Hitler of all people has this when he first appears and whenever he talks about the Pope.
Bleach: The anime plays this for laughs at the end of Episode 142. Renji gets more than he bargained for when he asks if Kenpachi and Byakuya were waiting long when timing their dramatic entrance - Kenpachi pulling a Bishie Sparkle while surrounded by love bubbles◊ as Byakuya lays on the innuendo is as terrifying as it's hilarious.
Ranma �: Played for laughs during a parody of the Lady and Knight trope.
One Piece: Boa Hancock always sees Luffy like this, even if he's picking his nose, eating like an animal or completely ignoring her or her advances. He also appears cooler or more romantic before her eyes.

Web Comics

The Alt Text in this Mokepon mentions how silly it is to draw them for candy.
Played for laughs in The Adventures of Dr. McNinja when the Doc gets them merely from being complimented by the Ultimate Diplomat. Link.

Web Original