Yes, it is a definite problem, that fangirls seem to want to interpret any intense relationship as the physical/sexual/romantic. Then again, some of that is just taste - I said this once on a comm and was answered by a romance fan, 'no, I fully understand there *are* non-romantic relationships, I just like reading about romance more!' Which I can't argue with! I just happen to be programmed differently...a lot of times, the non-romantic relationships interest me more.
And it does depend on the rival pair in question - I'm a mild SasuNaru fan myself, though like you said, they're not exactly true rivals. And good point that building a future relationship depends partly on what they're rivals over, and the intensity of the obsession, and what other things they have in common. And also, perhaps, what other relationships they have - I think there's a fangirl trait as well to focus on one relationship to the exclusion of others, as if someone can only have one person in their lives. A man can have a wife, a child, a best friend, and a rival, and have them all be important to him, all part of what makes him who he is...
There's also, for me, some times I think a romantic relationship could potentially work between two chars; I just don't have any interest in reading it...personal tastes, like I said, and mine are a little odd ^^;
Prince of Tennis, eheh, I've had several people try to get me into it...part of my problem is that I really don't like sports or sports manga (they bore me...yeah, and card games bore me too, but at least in YGO they're risking lives/souls a lot of the time ^^;) and partly that I really don't need a new fandom right now...I also have yet to get into HikaGo for similar reasons. Someday, maybe ^^;;
--and YGO, yep, I'm in it, and I am writing fic for it, though I should warn you it's not yaoi (or het) - it's all gen, and all Kaiba-focused (I think of Kaiba as an asexual and am more concerned with fooling with all his Issues than putting him in the sack with anyone. the boy's got so many delightful buttons to push...!)
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And it does depend on the rival pair in question - I'm a mild SasuNaru fan myself, though like you said, they're not exactly true rivals. And good point that building a future relationship depends partly on what they're rivals over, and the intensity of the obsession, and what other things they have in common. And also, perhaps, what other relationships they have - I think there's a fangirl trait as well to focus on one relationship to the exclusion of others, as if someone can only have one person in their lives. A man can have a wife, a child, a best friend, and a rival, and have them all be important to him, all part of what makes him who he is...
There's also, for me, some times I think a romantic relationship could potentially work between two chars; I just don't have any interest in reading it...personal tastes, like I said, and mine are a little odd ^^;
Prince of Tennis, eheh, I've had several people try to get me into it...part of my problem is that I really don't like sports or sports manga (they bore me...yeah, and card games bore me too, but at least in YGO they're risking lives/souls a lot of the time ^^;) and partly that I really don't need a new fandom right now...I also have yet to get into HikaGo for similar reasons. Someday, maybe ^^;;
--and YGO, yep, I'm in it, and I am writing fic for it, though I should warn you it's not yaoi (or het) - it's all gen, and all Kaiba-focused (I think of Kaiba as an asexual and am more concerned with fooling with all his Issues than putting him in the sack with anyone. the boy's got so many delightful buttons to push...!)