An aversion of Love Dodecahedron (and other polygons). No competition, no rivalries—Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends was in play from the very beginning, and everyone falls in line with their destined other in a stable relationship.
Often goes with Everyone Must Be Paired, as the pairings almost invariably involve all the main characters, leaving no singles. If a character is left out of a relationship in stories that do this, it's usually because the character is heavily implied to be gay or lesbian, or explicitly asexual.
Compare with Pair the Spares (when the loves intersect at first but end up going on separate ways), and No Going Steady, which breaks up Love Dodecahedrons in a more chaotic fashion...
Not to be confused with All Love Is Unrequited, the polar opposite of this.
As this is in some cases an Ending Trope, unmarked spoilers abound. Beware.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- In Eureka Seven, there are seven consistent couples, and the characters involved in these relationships make up most of the main cast. In this story, love is a theme, so these couples are used to make a point.
- Except for Ling's short-lived, played-for-laughs flirting with Winry and some references to early rivalry between Ed and Al over her, Fullmetal Alchemist has a lot of romantic tensions without rivalry. This lack of Love Triangles may account for why many fans of the series declare their favorite couple to be completely canon, despite the fact that no popular couple entered a real relationship during the bulk of the series, and even by the end only one pairing was completely confirmed in-story to have gotten anywhere, though a second one was as good as confirmed in some notes of a later released artbook. By contrast, the 2003 anime adaptation ultimately lacked any focus on romance.
- In Love Lab, each of the five main girls eventually get their own pairings, all of which are different boys.
- Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Each of the main pilots has one and only one potential female love interest, and each female have an obvious male interest. None of the relationships ever actually explicitly go anywhere, and shippers have a field day with the series anyway (mostly the Yaoi Fangirls).
- In Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, it's established early on that the main couples are Sakura x Nozaki, Hori x Kashima, and Seo x Wakamatsu. Mikoshiba was supposed to be paired with Mayu, who was intended to be a girl at first, but the author scrapped the idea. According to the rejected chapters section of the official fanbook, she also regularly scraps chapters that would break this steady balance because she simply doesn't want to deal with keeping love polygons straight in her head.
- Similarly, the Nabari no Ou manga has a complete lack of love triangles, so the three main relationships progress at their own paces and pretty much just fall into place.
- Outside of some teasing early on, the main cast of ReLIFE is quickly paired up in such a manner.
- The Sailor Moon manga hinted at, and Sailor Moon Crystal made explicit, the romance of Endymion and his guards with Serenity and her soldiers. Each guy pairs perfectly with a counterpart girl with no overlaps of any kind. Ironically, while Serenity and Endymion hook up in their next lives as Usagi and Mamoru, the others' next lives develop no positive feeling because Endymion's reincarnated men were mindcontrolled by their enemy until shortly before they're killed. The first anime removes any mention or hint of romance between any them (and the reincarnated men besides Mamoru are flat-out evil).
- The main cast of Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight is paired up this way often, with the pairings being Maya/Claudine, Junna/Nana, Futaba/Kaoruko, and Karen/Hikari (though oftentimes in promotional material Mahiru is also grouped in with Karen and Hikari as a trio so she isn't left out). In fact, in the anime, any character interaction outside of these designated pairs leads to conflict, as seen in a handful of episodes. In the Re:LIVE game, there is much more intersecting in their interactions, but they still tend to keep their more heavily Les Yay coded moments confined to these pairings. This doesn't stop fans from shipping and creating content outside of these pairings, though, as you'll find a plentiful bounty of fanart drawn for pairings such as Karen/Mahiru, Karen/Junna, Maya/Nana, Hikari/Mahiru, Futaba/Claudine, and more.
- The 8 recurring characters in Tonari no Kashiwagi-san are all neatly paired off into four couples (though to be fair, two of the pairs were already in a relationship before the series started). The closest thing to conflict is when Kou asks Tina if she has a crush on Yuuto due to how much she talks about him (she doesn't, she's just a really strong Yuuto/Kotone shipper).
- The cast of Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku is made up of Alpha Couple Narumi and Hirotaka (who starts dating at the beginning of the series), Beta Couple Kabakura and Koyanagi, and Naoya and Kou—who have a lot of Ship Tease. While Narumi does show some signs that she might find Hanako attractive, it's not played very seriously and she's still devoted to Hirotaka.
Comic Books
- Legion of Super-Heroes, from the late '60s to the early '80s. Commonly held to be for an unusual reason. In the '60s, there had been a few stories of the "Adult Legion", showing the team's future. Apparently, in however many years, nobody broke up, and most members got married. (By the usual method, this was one of the first pieces of Fanon "evidence" that Element Lad was gay.) Because DC Comics, or at least the Weisinger-edited titles, had a strict predestination rule in effect at the time, "alternate futures" simply weren't allowed. Eventually - mostly through non-romantic means - that future became implausible, editorial policies changed, and it was reclassified as an alternate timeline. Around the same time, the 1960s relationships started changing.
Fanfiction
- In Bordeline
, a Winx Club fanfiction, the protagonists conclude that this trope is self-fulfilling. They reason that even if class differences had prevented them from entering a permanent relationship, their friends would have definitely hooked up, and so they would have been around each other all the time, and the tension of that combined with their existing attraction would have meant they started dating eventually.
Literature
By Author:
- In the fantasy works of David Eddings, most of the companions have a love match whom they end up with without any serious problems. This is eventually lampshaded at a couple of points, and is implied to happen due to, essentially, divine intervention.
- And in some cases, quite literal divine intervention, as a particular goddess takes pains to clear up any tangles before they become problematic.
- Still, it's not like some love isn't unrequited. In The Belgariad, Silk loves a woman he can't have, and Mandorallen practically revels in holding up under the noble love of a woman he can't have — her husband even approves of their love! — at least until said husband conveniently dies, leaving the field wide open.
- Comically, Mandorallen was so prepared to have his love unrequited for his whole life that he has no idea what to do with her and is very uncomfortable with the entire concept of actively pursuing her. Belgarion clears that right up. Via a lot of shouting and a not-at-all-natural thunderstorm.
- Ryohgo Narita, the author of Baccano! and Durarara!!, really likes this trope. In both series, there are no significant cases of characters competing for romantic affections, all the more remarkable due to Narita's love of putting his main characters in relationships. Major exceptions are Namie/Seiji/Mika/Celty's Head and depending on how serious one thinks Masaomi was in his pursuit of Anri, there is Mikaso/Anri/Masaomi/Saki.
By Title:
- Animorphs. Marco exhibits some interest in Rachel early on, but it doesn't really go anywhere or get more serious than a teenage crush. By a few books in, the dynamic is firmly established as Jake / Cassie and Rachel / Tobias, with Marco and Ax unattached (outside of fan-fiction, anyway). At the end of the series, Jake and Cassie don't end up together and Rachel dies, so...not so much with the happy endings.
- In The Ending Chronicle, everyone in the main team is in a relationship with one partner that's established from their introduction (Sayama with Shinjou, Izumo with Kazami, Ryuuji with Mikage, and Dan with Heo). There's also a few married couples formed by side characters.
- In Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere, Toori and Horizon are the main couple. Several supporting characters are or become paired with other supporting characters, with no romantic competition ever occurring. In later volumes, this gets somewhat subverted as Toori gains two other girls as love interests, but Horizon not only accepts it, but actively encourages it.
- Pretty much the entire world of Xanth. Justified since the land itself apparently likes it that way. In nearly four decades and dozens of books there are two exceptions:
- The very brief triangle between Bink, Trent, and Iris - which was only a "triangle" as much as Iris was openly power-hungry and looked to side whichever one of the two men came out on top. A lot has changed in the series since then.
- The semi-magically enforced triangle between Dolphnote , Electra and Nada Naga. More info on this can be found under Ascended Fanon.
Live-Action TV
- Firefly. It's obvious from early on that you've got Wash/Zoe, Mal/Inara, and Simon/Kaylee, and any hints of any other pairings are quickly dispelled: Wash gets a little jealous of Zoe's Fire Forged Friendship with Mal before being told he's an idiot; one aspect of Mal and Inara's Belligerent Sexual Tension is his obvious jealousy whenever she has a client; and River and Simon have the occasional moment of Incest Subtext due to their very close and mutually protective relationship.
- Victorious, although it's still early, out of the 7 main characters, 4 girls, 3 boys, Jade/Beck/Tori is the only real rivalry thus far. The prevalent pairings in the fandom follow this trope to the letter so far, with most of the support going to Tori/Andre, Cat/Robbie as a Beta Couple, and leaving Jade/Beck together. The Les Yay pairings have more support than other Het variations like Tori/Beck, Jade/Andre, Cat/Andre, etc.
Manhwa
- In Need a Girl! there are four main couples, the four main boys a little bit perverted so they usually tend to scheme some harassment pranks towards one of the main girls, the girl may change depending on the arc; still, when things get romantic is each to his/her own, no love triangles or decahedrons.
Theater
- Love's Labour's Lost has four noblemen and four noblewomen, who coincidentally have been in love since before the play started and spend most of the play pretending not to notice each other.
Video Games
- The Tales Series usually doesn't go into this, but Tales of Destiny 2 essentially had two Official Couples in the end in the form of Kyle/Reala and Loni/Nanaly, with no teasing moments given between any other characters with the paired characters. The only slight aversion to this might be Judas, because he is Leon Magnus, who gets Ship Tease moments with two characters but doesn't get together with either of them.
Visual Novels
- In Zero Time Dilemma, Official Couples are Junpei/Akane, Eric/Mira and Sigma/Diana. None of these six shows interest in anyone other than their respective Love Interest, and other characters don't show romantic interest in anyone particular at all. It does help that one of the pairs was an established couple before the game even begins (with the third member of their group being a prepubescent child) and another pair were always in love with each other, though their situation was complicated.
Web Original
- With most characters comes in couple pairs, and some other single characters get their lovers later on, this trope is inevitable in Chaos Fighters.
- In Sonichu, a given Sonichu and Rosechu seem to fall for the first member of the other Electric Hedgehog Pokemon species they see that hasn't been thus taken. Played with slightly in that the original Rosechu fell for Sonichu not when she saw him, but when he asked for food, and slightly more so in that it took several more issues after their meeting for Blake to reveal his feelings for Bubbles. This was clearly Christian Weston Chandler's intent for Punchy and Angelica, but changed it due to a request by a fan (they both immediately hook up with the broken halves of the other would-be couple). No conflicts, no problem. (Downright averted for humans and humans that transform into Electric Hedgehog Pokemon.)
Western Animation
- In American Dragon: Jake Long, the main romance plot is strictly between the main character and Rose.
- Phineas and Ferb: Isabella likes Phineas. Ferb likes Vanessa. Candace likes Jeremy. Stacy likes Coltrane. Etc. Pretty much everybody is either paired up or likes someone else with the implication of a future pairing.
- Steven Universe: Steven and Connie are close friends with a fledgling attraction, Lars and Sadie have shared Belligerent Sexual Tension for years, and Ruby and Sapphire have been Sickeningly Sweethearts for over five millennia. There is a major Love Triangle in the past—both Greg and Pearl loved Rose—but the only romantic competition during the series timeframe is when Ronaldo flirts with Sadie once (which doesn't go anywhere, and Ronaldo ends up getting a different girlfriend offscreen). Any drama with these relationships may involve the potential for breaking up/apart, but never present the idea of either party finding/looking for love elsewhere.
- Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!: Chiro and Jinmay are an Official Couple from the start. Sprx and Nova have Belligerent Sexual Tension for the whole series, but they do get together at the end. Other characters never show romantic interest in anyone whatsoever.
- The Winx Club and the Specialists. You'd think with two groups of attractive teenagers you'd see a lot more romantic trouble, but it rarely happens. The only complications (besides the usual teen angst) are one-off or side characters. The closest exceptions are when Riven flirted with Bloom once, and when Riven thought Musa was kissing Nabu (she was actually cuffing him, but he saw it at a bad angle).
- Though there was a Love Triangle in the first season between Riven, Darcy, and Musa, with Brainwashing to bring Riven's darker traits out involved.
- Interestingly enough, this carries over into WC fanfiction as well, where canon relationships make up a large majority of stories.
- W.I.T.C.H. does this with very little in-fighting over boys amongst the five main female characters. Will ends up happily with Matt, Cornelia ends up with Caleb, Taranee ends up with Nigel, and Hay Lin ends up with Eric. The only one who isn't definitively paired up by the end of the second season is Irma, and it's heavily implied that she's fond of Martin. The comic series is a bit more complicated, emotions change and real life interferes frequently in the relationships.
Real Life
- It's become something of a half-joke/half-promise that if you become a Staff Member of Bulbagarden Forums, you're going to meet your soul mate during your service, with no romantic conflict and plenty of support from the other staff. Currently, there are 5 couples that began while both members served on the staff, with hints of more to come.
