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Who would you give Valentine's Day chocolate to?
As most manga and anime fans know, in Japan it's traditional for girls to give chocolate to the boys they like on Valentine's Day--and also sometimes "giri choco" ("duty" or "obligation" chocolate) to male coworkers and relatives. The guys are supposed to return the favor on White Day (March 14th) and give gifts to the girls who gave them chocolate. In South Korea, there is also a Black Day, which I found pretty amusing when I read about it in a newspaper article--on April 14th, singles can get together and commiserate over black bean sauce noodles!
Anyhow, over on Manga Bookshelf, Melinda Beasi made up a list of which three "dreamy manga boys" she would give chocolate to if she were a Japanese schoolgirl, and encouraged her readers to do the same. There's lots of fun and interesting discussion in the comments, and it inspired me to make my own list...
I have so many favorite manga boys that it would be hard to pick just three! Onozuka would be at the top of my list, except that my fanon version of the Prince probably wouldn't appreciate it--see my fic Valentine's Day Surprise, in which he complains that "I always get more chocolate than I can eat, and it's a hassle to have to reciprocate on White Day." (He would, of course, accept my chocolate with a gracious and princely smile before throwing it on the huge stack of chocolates that he got from all his other fans and female costars! ~_^) And in my fanon 'verse, Kikuchi probably wouldn't appreciate me giving romantic gifts to his Prince!
Which made me realize that most of my manga dream boys don't really need my chocolate--Leon already buys plenty of candy and pastries for Count D on a regular basis, and Iwaki has Katou to give him chocolate and vice versa. And although I don't write xxxHolic fic, I love Doumeki (one of the guys on Melinda's list), but he has Watanuki to cook for him in canon, even if Watanuki does it grudgingly and with a lot of complaining about how ungrateful Doumeki is! ^_^ (They're one of those CLAMP pairs who are technically not a couple, but have so many slashy overtones that they might as well be one, for all practical purposes. Hakkai and Gojyo of Saiyuki kind of fall into this category for me, too.)
So I've decided to compile a list of single manga guys who could use some chocolate, and maybe a few hugs for good measure!
1) Tezuka Kunimitsu from Prince of Tennis. You guys know how I can't resist bishie guys with glasses, and his stoic "fight on through the pain for the sake of the team" demeanor appeals to me, even though I think it's foolish of him to risk permanently damaging his injured arm for the sake of a middle-school tennis tournament. But hey, that's how shonen manga heroes are, right? I feel a bit skeevy about including a 14-year-old boy on my dreamy manga guy list, but in my defense, Konomi-sensei draws almost all of the guys except for Ryoma looking as though they're high school age or older, even if they're still in middle school, and it's a running joke in the manga that Tezuka looks older than he is.
Coincidentally, Konomi-sensei always includes an annual feature in the manga of how much chocolate each of the characters received on Valentine's Day, and I believe that Tezuka usually ranks in the top 5, or at least the top 10. I find it pretty funny that readers actually send in real chocolate for fictional characters! (Although Konomi-sensei usually gets some chocolates in his own name, too. I wonder if fans send chocolate to Nitta-sensei addressed to Iwaki and/or Katou?)
2) Shiki from Love Control--he's the very efficient nephew/secretary of Okumura, who often gets exasperated with his uncle's tendency to sneak off from work to chase after Kei, and with Okumura and Kei's habit of constantly fighting, breaking up, and making up. I like Shiki's practicality and feel like he should get some chocolate for putting up with all his uncle's drama. He's quite handsome and intriguing himself, and I'd like to see him become the protagonist of his own story--and maybe get a lover of his own. And if Hasukawa-sensei doesn't write it, maybe I will someday! ^_^
3) Nekozawa Umehito from Ouran High School Host Club--he's the president of the school's Black Magic Club, and he's probably an odd choice for a Valentine list, but his creepiness is so over the top hilarious that I love this character! Plus, I like the creepy-cute hand puppet (Bereznoff) that he always carries around. He turns out to be quite princely-handsome under his cloak, but I like him better in his sinister hooded cloak and long black wig. I once cosplayed him at an anime convention--the costume is easy, since all you really need is a hooded black cloak (borrowed from a friend, who used it to dress as a Sith on Halloween once) and a Bereznoff puppet (simple enough that I was able to hand-make one with my very rudimentary sewing skills). I don't really ship him with anyone, although I love the way that he terrorizes Tamaki with his sinister overtures of friendship.
I would be a little scared to receive chocolates from Nekozawa, though, because who knows what he might have put in them? *sweatdrop*
And because I can't stick to just three, here are the runners-up:
4) Kasanoda Ritsu, also from Ouran. He's the young yakuza heir with a scary face and a heart of gold. His scary face makes people think that he's a tough guy, but he's actually shy and sweet, the kind of guy who cries during sentimental movies and rescues stray kittens. How can I not love a guy like that? I'd give him chocolates, but I secretly ship him with his retainer, Tetsuya, who left a rival yakuza clan to serve Kasanoda because he admired Kasanoda's sense of honor and kindness, something that his own family lacked. When the truth about his family comes out, Tetsuya begs Kasanoda, "Allow me to stay by your side!"--that's irresistible fodder for a yaoi fangirl like me!
5) Miyama from Arashi no Ato (After a Storm). This one's a bit obscure since the manga hasn't been officially translated into English, but I hope that it will be picked up someday because it's a great story. I found a review of it and the companion piece Double Line here. The premise of the story is that the main character Sakaki is a gay man who falls in love with a straight guy named Okada that he meets through work. Naturally, he's afraid of rejection--if I recall correctly, he fell in a love with a straight guy before and is afraid of getting burned again--so he pushes Okada away, even though Okada seems to be developing feelings for him, too. Miyama is actually a minor supporting character--he and Sakaki are lovers, but it seems to be a friends-with-benefits type of deal. Miyama claims that he likes Sakaki because he's cold and doesn't care about other people's personal lives, but he actually seems to care a great deal about Sakaki and tries to drive Okada away from him--partly out of jealousy, I think, but also because he doesn't want to see Sakaki get hurt. It's a very intriguing story, and I like that both Sakaki and Miyama are openly gay--Sakaki's employees know that he's gay and that he's seeing Miyama--and not just "gay for that one special guy," although Okada seems to fall into that category. I also like that it doesn't gloss over the difficulties that a gay and (formerly?) straight guy would encounter together--both Sakaki and Miyama fear that even though Okada cares for Sakaki now, that it might be just a whim or experiment, and that later he might change his mind and break up with Sakaki.
Anyway, getting back to Miyama, I felt really sorry for him, because he seems to be a good guy beneath the cynical front that he puts up--hmm, now who does that remind me of? ~_^ (Although he's nowhere near as much of a schemer as Onozuka!) And I felt badly for him because I think that he really was in love with Sakaki, and despite his misgivings, stepped aside when it was clear that Sakaki had fallen in love with Okada. So I would give him chocolates and a hug, although he probably rather have a hug from a cute guy! Someday I'd like to write him a story where he finds the right guy for himself. (Maybe I should introduce him to Shiki?)
Anyway, that's my Valentine's list! F-list, which characters would you give chocolate to? And you don't have to stick to my conditions--gay or straight, single or paired off, manga/anime or book/film/TV fandom--go for it!
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Eiri Yuki - Just because. And probably Shuichi too -- why play favorites, and then I'm not singling Eiri out. I don't know if Eiri eats chocolate candy, but canon tells us he likes cake.
Goku, because it'd be wasted on Sanzo. But Goku might try to give him a piece or two (of candy, of course) because Sanzo could use fattening up.
It might also be better to give chocolates to John rather than Sherlock; Sherlock probably wouldn't appreciate the gesture. And Lestrade deserves chocolates, too, just for putting up with the insanity that is Sherlock.
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Goku would definitely appreciate the chocolates most out of all the Saiyuki guys, and I like the idea of him trying to fatten Sanzo up! ^_^