History PlatonicWritingRomanticReading / AnimeAndManga

* Anime/KirbyRightBackAtYa:
** Kirby and Tiff are supposed to have a mother-and-child or sister-and-brother relationship, but many of their scenes together can be taken in a romantic way.

* [[Creator/OsamuTezuka Tezuka's ]] ''Manga/LostWorld'' originally had a plant woman and Kenichi as the OfficialCouple, but ExecutiveMeddling made him have to portray them as LikeBrotherAndSister. It doesn't work because of how the story invokes the [[spoiler:AdamAndEvePlot at the end]], and the art and body language still make it obvious they're supposed to be falling in love ''romantically''.

* [[Creator/OsamuTezuka Tezuka's ]] ''Manga/LostWorld'' originally had a plant woman and Kenichi as the OfficialCouple, but ExecutiveMeddling made him have to portray them as LikeBrotherAndSister. It doesn't work because of how the story invokes the [[spoiler:AdamAndEvePlot at the end]], and the art and body language still make it obvious they're supposed to be falling in love ''romantically''.

* ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'' has Yusei and Akiza, who are meant to be {{Implied Love Interest}}s, but though Akiza's clearly attracted to Yusei, his status as TheStoic and Akiza being DemotedToExtra means that it's rarely reciprocated and his relationship usually comes across as arms-length. By comparison, he's extremely close to Jack and Kalin, and his interactions with them drip with HoYay, not helped by their shared history of running around in tight vests calling themselves "Team Satisfaction." And just when the series started playing up Yusei and Akiza, along came Bruno, who is, if anything, even more openly close with Yusei -- Akiza is even visibly jealous of Bruno at one point when she sees them bonding. The whole thing comes across less as the apparently-intended ShipTease and HeterosexualLifePartners, and more as Yusei hopping from one gay relationship to the next and unsure of how to let Akiza down gently.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' centers almost entirely around the relationship between its protagonist, Ichigo, and the Soul Reaper Rukia, with whom he fights LikeAnOldMarriedCouple with. They are described as the most important person in each other's lives, and the series' best known arc, the Soul Society arc, is about Ichigo fighting against all odds to rescue her from execution. Nevertheless, Ichigo ultimately ends up with his friend Orihime, who emerges from being primarily a DistressedDamsel and comic relief character to a serious romantic contender in the Arrancar arc, while Rukia, thanks to [[RankUp her new promotion to Lieutenant]] after a timeskip, becomes too involved in Soul Reaper matters to hang out with Ichigo's friend group to the degree she used to. With all the emotional weight given to the relationship in the earlier arcs, more than a few shippers were very surprised and displeased. Not helping matters is that the anime adaption added extra ShipTease material not present in the manga. Genre conventions are another issue; shounen manga that feature a platonic male-female friendship as centrally as ''Bleach'' does are rare, and that list only shortens when you exclude the ones that don't end in a LastMinuteHookup.

** Surprisingly Mikasa, and Eren used to be this. Since in interviews and character sheets, the author made it clear that Mikasa saw Eren as a [[LikeBrotherAndSister brother]] whom she had to protect, even the majority of the fandom assumed that she is in love with him, to almost obsessive levels. Eventually he The author changed his position, and decided to write it as a romance in a more open way.

* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'': During the period of Manga Chapters 92-93 several readers assumed Gabi had a crush on Reiner due to her blushing around him, constantly clinging to him, following him everywhere around, her insistence on holding his hand, and the fact that [[DoggedNiceGuy Falco]] clearly seemed to be [[LoveTriangle jealous of her behavior towards him]]. But, chapter 94 revealed [[spoiler:that they're cousins]].

** WordOfGod by Creator/TakeshiShudo, the head writer for the first season, is that Ash and Misty were not supposed to be a couple. Their relationship ''does'' often come off as romantic though, be it unrequited Ash's side or not. They have a BelligerentSexualTension type friendship throughout the Original Series and [[ClingyJealousGirl Misty has shown jealousy]] towards girls' behavior around Ash (especially in the second movie). This was not at all helped by American dub writers leaning into the pairing, with them even producing two songs sung from Misty's perspective that flat-out says she loves Ash, but CannotSpitItOut[[note]]"Misty's Song" from the 2BA Master album and "Under the Mistletoe" from Pokemon Christmas Bash, if you're wondering[[/note]]. The American-produced ''Theatre/PokemonLive'' musical also featured a romance between them.
** In later seasons, Zoey and Dawn had a noticeable fumble early on as Zoey constantly appears to be flirting with Dawn (especially in the Japanese version). Dawn's reactions don't help (blushing in response in one instance), and neither does the "Prince and Princess" motif of their Contest clothing. Numerous fans thought that they were intentionally writing in a lesbian pairing, or at least a heavy HideYourLesbians (or PseudoRomanticFriendship case), as their dynamic is very similar to their predecessors May and Drew (who have ''did'' have ShipTease). Later episodes toned it down into Zoey being Dawn's mentor.

** Jessie's and James' relationship definitely counts [[note]]Pokemon fans claim that that their "Rocketshipping" was one of the first and actually inspired the term "shipping"[[/note]]. They're very, very good friends (even if [[VitriolicBestBuds they don't always get along]]), with multiple episodes themed abut their relationship. James' [[PuppyLove childhood crush]] and fiancee is an IdenticalStranger to Jessie, they fit the MasculineGirlFeminineBoy cliche, and they're also very touchy with each other. Despite this, in the twenty years the anime has been running there hasn't been any undeniable ShipTease for them. The closest scene was Jessie blushing when James was on top of her in "Training Daze" (and that happened early in their friendship, so you can argue she lost any attraction over time). The XY series finally seemed to hint at something a little more concrete in episode 63; which revolved around Jessie deciding to leave Team Rocket to pursue a doctor she has developed a crush on, with the episode playing up James' reaction as [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy letting Jessie go so she can be happy]].

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' centers almost entirely around the relationship between its protagonist, Ichigo, and the Soul Reaper Rukia, with whom he fights LikeAnOldMarriedCouple with. They are described as the most important person in each other's lives, and the series' best known arc, the Soul Society arc, is about Ichigo fighting against all odds to rescue her from execution. Nevertheless, Ichigo ultimately ends up with his admirer Orihime, who emerges from being primarily a DistressedDamsel and comic relief character to a serious romantic contender in the Arrancar arc, while Rukia, thanks to [[RankUp her new promotion to Lieutenant]] after a timeskip, becomes too involved in Soul Reaper matters to hang out with Ichigo's friend group to the degree she used to - and from the start, the author had described their relationship as "more than friends, ''less than lovers''". With all the emotional weight given to the relationship in the earlier arcs, more than a few shippers were very surprised and displeased. Not helping matters is that the anime added extra ShipTease material not present in the manga. Genre conventions are another issue; shounen manga that feature a platonic male-female friendship as centrally as ''Bleach'' does are rare, and that list only shortens when you exclude the ones that don't end in a LastMinuteHookup.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' centers almost entirely around the relationship between its protagonist, Ichigo, and the Soul Reaper Rukia, with whom he fights LikeAnOldMarriedCouple with. They are described as the most important person in each other's lives, and the series' best known arc, the Soul Society arc, is about Ichigo fighting against all odds to rescue her from execution. Nevertheless, Ichigo ultimately ends up with his admirer Orihime, who emerges from being primarily a DistressedDamsel and comic relief character to a serious romantic contender in the Arrancar arc, while Rukia, thanks to [[RankUp her new promotion to Lieutenant]] after a timeskip, becomes too involved in Soul Reaper matters to hang out with Ichigo's friend group to the degree she used to - and from the start, the author had described their relationship as "more than friends, ''less than lovers''". With all the emotional weight given to the relationship in the earlier arcs, more than a few shippers were very surprised and displeased. Not helping matters is that the anime added extra ShipTease material not present in the manga.

** This trope plays a rather big part in why the series' DistantFinale (where Yamato and Sora were revealed to be married) was controversial for many fans. Hiroyuki Kakudou [[WordOfGod states that]] he always intended for [[{{Determinator}} Taichi]] and [[TheHeart Sora]] to be [[PlatonicLifePartners just friends]], and for Sora to fall in love with [[TheLancer Yamato]] as a way of subverting the usual pattern of the main boy and girl ending up with each other. This was also the plan for ''02'' until ''Our War Game!'' complicated this, because writer Creator/MamoruHosoda was unaware of the intended OfficialCouple and laid the Sora and Taichi ShipTease thick in the movie. When Sora began dating Yamato in ''02'', many people were confused at the sudden change in love interest. Even the voice actors expressed surprise at this. When ''Anime/DigimonAdventureTri'' rolled around, this time with a new writing staff, they began implicating once more that Taichi and Sora did have some tension and began marketing their relationship with Yamato as a LoveTriangle. Jeff Nimoy, who was in charge of the English dub, [[WriterOnBoard shipped Taichi with Sora]], and left lines in the original implying Taichi had a longtime crush on Sora intact (ex. "I want some of Sora's love, too," became "I felt something -- I think it was your love shining through"), while making the friendly conversations between Yamato and Sora rather awkward and even hostile at times.