Discussion Main / NoHuggingNoKissing

Linking to a past Trope Repair Shop thread that dealt with this page: Word Of God-admitted examples only, started by captainpat on Nov 5th 2011 at 7:12:05 PM

• Dog Days is very weird about this. Practically the entire cast is All-Loving Heroes who will proudly declare their love for one another (even to members of the same sex), engage in lots of hugging, glomping, and petting, and at one point each of the three Heroes shares a bed with their respective kingdom's ruler (which includes a male/female coupling). However, it's only ever portrayed as very close friendship without a single trace of sexuality involved, probably in large part because most of the characters are in their early teens. Actual discussion of romance is extremely rare, like the scene where Princess Millihiore and Rebecca discuss their feelings for Cinque and each encourages the other to pursue him. The weird part comes from the fact that the series can be very fanservicey at times, with lots of Clothing Damage, Gainaxing, and a few Accidental Pervert moments. When the second season introduced an older male character who engages in perverted behaviors like peeping, one blog referred to him as "The only character in the series who knows what a vagina is."

I've only seen the first two seasons but so far it seems to me that it's clear it's not an example. Their closeness is portrayed as a Puppy Love rather than friendship. Like the entry said, the characters are early teenagers, it's hard to expect anything serious from them. There is a LOT of hugging, some kissing(okay it was an Accidental Kiss, but still), at least two love confessions, and a possibility of getting married in the future is openly discussed.

Does Word of God need apply for a show to be this trope? Or can it be a show that doesn't have/barely has any romance despite the setting implying it should? Example: a show based around teenagers yet no romance ensues.

Alastair Reynolds works are actually a bad example. Though yeah, they don't focus on romance that much, it's weird to consider them having no romance at all. I guess the troper who added that entry hasn't read his works closely or has a pretty different definition of "romance". At least three to four couples appear in explicit romantic relationship in the Revelation Space series alone. I'd hardly call the stuff that goes on No Hugging, No Kissing. Sorry for the spoiler, but I'll give an example: Ana Khouri is separated from her husband and her life is in shambles when she realizes she might never meet him again (slower than light travel, long story). She soldiers on, later hooks up with a bumbling La Résistance guy, has a child with him, the guy dies off screen and her daughter becomes one of the main characters in the final installment of the trilogy. And in the same book, she is eventually reunited with... Well, take a wild guess. I'd hardly call that "nonexistant romance" or "romance inconsequential to the plot". Just because Reynolds' works are mostly noirish space operas doesn't mean the characters are a load of impersonal automatons (some are, but the main cast is mostly closer to the relatable Average Joe). Just my two cents on why I think the entry is Square Peg Round Trope.

I'm a little unsure about this example:

• Despite the fact that the relationship between Rosette and Chrono is a major part of the story of Chrono Crusade, the word 'love' does not appear in the manga, in any context, ever. It's also open to debate whether or not the two ever kiss (The angle on their final scene on the Pandaemonium leaves it ambiguous).

I don't want to sound like a crazy fangirl or anything, but I'm nooot sure the final scene kiss is really all that ambiguous. It's at an odd angle, yeah, but it's still pretty clear that they're kissing (particularly with the build up their relationship has after volume 6). And while the word "love" is never mentioned specifically, there's a ton of romance-specific tropes used to flesh out their relationship, and they are seen hugging several times in a way that seems pretty romantic, both in-story and in official art. I honestly don't think Chrono Crusade fits the trope description very well, and I'm tempted to delete this example. Would that be fair at all? Or should I keep it in?

This is a Love Trope, as in 'romance' trope, right? The use of it as an aversion/subversion on the Professor Layton pages is confusing since it's used for when Flora and Luke hug the professor too :| Pretty sure that's not how it goes?

This trope's description and most of the examples talk about works that are intended to contain no romance at all. However, I've seen claims to examples of this trope in works with lots of romance and in-universe shipping but little or no physical affection (e.g. Jane Austen's Pride And Prejudice and Emma). I consider the latter to be quite distinct from the former, and significant enough to be a trope unto itself.

So do both no-romance works and no-touching romantic works belong here? If we were to split these into two tropes, what might we call each of them?