Why the "Childhood Friend" Always Loses

Summary

The video explores the recurring anime trope where childhood friends often lose out to new, more dynamic characters in romantic relationships. Using examples like 'Nisekoi' and 'Toradora,' the discussion delves into why these childhood friends usually don't win, citing their familiar and sometimes bland characteristics compared to the fresh, exciting traits of new characters. The host also invites viewers to share their thoughts and examples of anime where the childhood friend either wins or loses, aiming to spark a discussion on this prevalent theme in anime and manga.

Takeaways

• 🕰️ The concept of 'best girl' in anime and manga is not a new phenomenon and dates back to shows from the 70s and 80s.
• 📺 Audiences have long debated over the 'best girl', often comparing the main character's childhood friend to a new love interest introduced in the story.
• 👫 In many anime and manga, the childhood friend is often portrayed as losing out in the romantic stakes to a new character introduced later in the series.
• 💔 The 'childhood friend' trope often involves a character who is more basic in design, with common features like black or brown hair, contrasting with the new, more dynamic character.
• 🌟 The new character typically has a more striking personality or appearance, which can overshadow the childhood friend and attract the main character's attention.
• 🔄 The dynamic often changes when a new character is introduced, prompting the childhood friend to take action and try to win the main character's affection.
• 🤔 The script suggests that the audience may find the new character more interesting and relatable, which may influence their perception of the 'best girl'.
• 🎭 The script uses 'Nisekoi' as an example, highlighting the contrast between the childhood friend Onodera and the new character Chitoge, and how this affects the main character's feelings.
• 📚 The childhood friend is often introduced as a safe, familiar presence in the main character's life, which can lead to a sense of comfort but also complacency.
• 💡 The new character's introduction can act as a catalyst for change, shaking up the status quo and prompting the main character to reconsider their feelings.
• 🎉 The script concludes by inviting viewers to share their thoughts on the 'childhood friend' trope and to comment on other anime where this dynamic is present.

Q & A

What is the main topic discussed in the video script?

The main topic discussed in the video script is the 'best girl' debate in anime and manga, particularly focusing on the trope of the childhood friend often losing out to a new character introduced in the story.

Why does the speaker believe that the 'best girl' debate goes back further than commonly thought?

The speaker believes that the 'best girl' debate goes back further because they can imagine people in the 70s and 80s watching older anime like 'Romeo x Juliet' or 'Urusei Yatsura' and debating about their favorite female characters.

What is the general pattern the speaker observes in anime and manga regarding the childhood friend character?

The speaker observes that in many anime and manga, the childhood friend character is often introduced first but ends up losing to a new character who appears later in the story, especially in terms of romantic interest.

What are some examples of anime where the childhood friend character is contrasted with a new character?

The script mentions 'Nisekoi' as an example where the childhood friend, Onodera, is contrasted with the new character, Chitoge, who has a different personality and appearance.

Why does the speaker think the new character often wins over the main character's heart?

The speaker thinks the new character often wins because they bring something new and different to the table, which can be a fresh breath of air for both the main character and the audience.

What does the speaker mean by the childhood friend being 'cucked'?

In the context of the script, 'cucked' is used to describe the situation where the childhood friend character is overlooked or loses out in the romantic aspect to a new character.

What are some of the character traits that the speaker associates with the childhood friend type?

The speaker associates the childhood friend character with traits like having a more basic design, such as regular uniform, black or brown hair, and being more familiar and comfortable to the main character.

How does the speaker describe the dynamic between the main character and the new character in the story?

The speaker describes the dynamic as one where the new character often has a different personality, a different way of treating the main character, and a fresh perspective that can lead to a new romantic interest.

What is the speaker's opinion on the 'childhood friend' trope in anime and manga?

The speaker's opinion is that the 'childhood friend' trope often puts the childhood friend at a disadvantage from the start and usually leads to them losing out in the end.

Can you provide examples of anime where the childhood friend character does not lose out in the end?

The speaker mentions 'Golden Time' and 'Waiting in the Summer' as examples where the childhood friend character might not lose out in the end.

What does the speaker suggest about the audience's perception of the new character versus the childhood friend?

The speaker suggests that the audience, like the main character, might be more drawn to the new character due to their novelty and different characteristics, which can overshadow the childhood friend.

Outlines

00:00

📺 Anime's Best Girl Debates and Childhood Friend Tropes

The speaker delves into the history of 'best girl' debates in anime, suggesting they date back to the 70s and 80s with shows like 'Romeo x Juliet' and 'Urusei Yatsura'. They discuss the common trope where the childhood friend is often overshadowed by a new, more dynamic character introduced later in the series. The speaker uses 'Nisekoi' as an example, contrasting the 'safe' and familiar character of Onodera with the more exciting and bold Chitoge. They explore why the new character often wins the affections of the main character, suggesting it's due to their novelty and the fresh dynamic they bring to the story. The summary also touches on the audience's perspective and the emotional investment in these character dynamics.

05:00

🌟 The Impact of New Characters on Anime Romances

This paragraph examines the role of new characters in shaking up established relationships in anime, particularly focusing on how they can disrupt the comfort and familiarity of a childhood friend's relationship with the main character. The speaker uses examples such as 'Toradora' and 'Ore no Imouto' to illustrate how new characters can outshine the childhood friend, often leading to a shift in the main character's affections. They also mention 'Nisekoi' again, praising its ability to create compelling characters that challenge the typical 'childhood friend loses' trope. The speaker invites the audience to consider their own preferences and expectations when it comes to these character dynamics and to share their thoughts in the comments.

10:06

🎶 Closing Remarks and Engagement Invitation

In the closing paragraph, the speaker, Dakota Broski, thanks the audience for watching and encourages them to like, comment, and subscribe for more content on manga and anime. They invite viewers to share their thoughts on the 'childhood friend' trope in the comments section and to suggest other anime where this dynamic is present. The speaker also promotes their Patreon and other social media platforms, inviting viewers to join the community for further discussions and content.

Keywords

💡Best Girl Debate

The 'Best Girl Debate' refers to a common discussion among fans of anime and manga regarding which female character is the most likable or preferred. In the script, this concept is explored through the lens of character dynamics, particularly the contrast between 'childhood friends' and 'new girls' in various series. The debate is a central theme of the video, illustrating how different character introductions and developments can influence viewers' preferences.

💡Childhood Friend

A 'Childhood Friend' is a character trope often found in anime and manga, representing a close companion from the protagonist's early life. The script discusses how these characters are frequently portrayed and how they typically fare in romantic storylines. The term is integral to the video's theme, as it examines the common narrative pattern where the childhood friend is overshadowed by a new character, as seen in the example of 'Onodera' from 'Nisekoi'.

💡New Girl

'New Girl' is a term used in the script to describe a character who is introduced later in the story, often bringing a fresh dynamic to the protagonist's life. This concept is key to understanding the video's exploration of character relationships, as it highlights how the introduction of a new character can disrupt the status quo and potentially lead to a shift in romantic interests, as exemplified by 'Toge' in 'Nisekoi'.

💡Tsundere

Tsundere is a character archetype in anime and manga, characterized by a person who is initially cold or hostile ('tsun') but later becomes warm and caring ('dere'). The script uses this term to describe a type of 'New Girl' who may start off as obnoxious or loud but eventually shows a softer side, contributing to her appeal and often leading to a shift in the protagonist's affections.

💡Character Development

Character development refers to the process by which a character evolves over the course of a story. In the script, this concept is discussed in the context of how new characters can drive the narrative and influence the protagonist's feelings, leading to changes in the character dynamics and relationships, as seen in the shift from 'Onodera' to 'Toge' in 'Nisekoi'.

💡Romantic Stalemate

A 'Romantic Stalemate' is a situation where a romantic relationship between characters seems stuck or unchanging. The script uses this term to describe the relationship between the protagonist and their childhood friend, which often remains platonic until a new character is introduced, prompting a shift in the dynamic and potentially leading to romantic progress.

💡Protagonist

The 'Protagonist' is the main character of a story, around whom the narrative revolves. In the context of the script, the protagonist's romantic preferences and relationships with other characters, particularly the childhood friend and the new girl, are central to the discussion of character dynamics and the 'Best Girl Debate'.

💡Anime and Manga Tropes

Anime and Manga Tropes refer to recurring themes or devices in these forms of Japanese storytelling. The script delves into specific tropes such as the childhood friend and the new girl, analyzing how these tropes play out in various series and contribute to the narrative and the viewers' perceptions of the characters.

💡Narrative Pattern

A 'Narrative Pattern' is a structure or sequence of events common in storytelling. The script discusses a particular pattern found in anime and manga where a new character often outshines a childhood friend in terms of romantic interest, providing examples from different series to illustrate this pattern.

💡Viewer Engagement

Viewer engagement refers to the level of interest and involvement viewers have with the content they are consuming. The script touches on how the introduction of a new character can increase viewer engagement by providing a fresh perspective and new storyline possibilities, as opposed to the familiarity of the childhood friend character.

💡Character Contrast

Character contrast is the juxtaposition of two or more characters to highlight their differences. The script uses this concept to discuss how the traits of the childhood friend are often more subdued compared to the more flamboyant new girl, and how this contrast can affect the protagonist's and viewers' preferences.

Highlights

Discussion on the historical context of 'best girl' debates in anime, dating back to the 70s and 80s.

Contrasting the common trope of the childhood friend versus the new girl in anime and manga.

The tendency for the childhood friend to lose out to the new character in romantic narratives.

The introduction of a new character often triggers a shift in the dynamics of the main character's relationships.

The childhood friend's character design often lacks the contrast seen in the new character's design.

Use of 'Nisekoi' as an example to illustrate the childhood friend trope and its comparison to the new girl.

The psychological aspect of why the main character and the audience might prefer the new character over the childhood friend.

The role of the new character as a catalyst for change in the main character's life and the story's narrative.

The childhood friend's position as a safe and familiar option versus the new character's novelty.

The trope's impact on the audience's perception and expectations of character relationships in anime and manga.

The potential for the childhood friend to be overlooked due to their perceived blandness or predictability.

Examples of anime where the childhood friend wins, challenging the common trope.

The importance of character development and the introduction of new elements to keep the audience engaged.

The contrast between the audience's initial impressions of characters and their evolving relationships.

The role of the new character in shaking up the status quo and prompting the childhood friend to act.

The creator's personal preference for new, flashy characters over the traditional childhood friend archetype.

A call to action for the audience to share their thoughts on the childhood friend trope and provide examples of anime that subvert or follow it.

Transcripts

you know i think the best girl war goes

back way back than what we think it does

i mean i can imagine people

in like the 70s and 80s watching rom and

the half

or uh udaci yatsura or

other older anime and debating about

what's

what's who's best girl you know is the

childhood friend is it the new girl who

mysteriously appears

and more than likely enough what i've

seen in the habits of

anime and manga and uh their the

childhood friend kind of always gets

cucked and more instances and often

animan manga you'll see

a uh a group of characters that are all

the main characters you have your main

boy and or girl

and then you have the childhood friend

that is normally introduced and then in

that first episode you have

another love interest or main character

come in

and uh in some way shape or form whether

this be an alien or some kind of

character they haven't met yet in school

or a transfer student also

and throughout the show no matter what

it only goes back around to

romance after you know it could be a

drama action yada yada but somehow

if it's introduced this way more than

likely it's going to end off with one

character being with one character

um or a group of characters being with a

bunch of other characters and

like i said it normally is the childhood

friend who loses in the new girl

that is introduced winning and by

winning i mean being with the main

character

the childhood character is a little bit

more basic design you know

regular uniform black hair barack of

brown hair

it doesn't necessarily make them a dull

character or a boring character but it

definitely shows contrast to the other

character for example

uh for example is nisikoi now nisa koi

had onodera which is a

pretty beautiful uh brown haired girl

with a

hair thing going to the side and back

when this show was airing there was a

big best girl

war going on with this onodair was

introduced

raku the main character really fell in

love with uh

you know onodera really had a big crush

on her and then some circumstances

happen

to toge transfers into school and then

they have to fake a relationship and

this

gives them the connection they need to

further develop and then later on

through the series

until they realized that she liked raku

and raku kind of like maybe i do like

another

more than one girl you know what's going

on and maybe owner there isn't the one

that i

truly want to be in love with or for the

rest of my life but you see here the

kind of stark contrast that the show is

trying to give you with the

the safe protective onodera with brown

hair and then the

sassy loud uh obnoxious blonde haired

tsundere that is

toe game now i'm not going to sit here

and go into big detail about every

single show where the childhood friend

loses but more

of likely just kind of going into why

the childhood friend is kind of put at

this advantage to begin with and why

normally uh they lose so i'm not gonna

be trying to spoil

any new shows or anything like that or

something crazy plot development so you

know

now first let's focus on the childhood

friend sometimes you get really

interesting characters at a childhood

friend

also sometimes you get like the really

[ __ ] ones that are like you know

boring and bland and kind of annoying

she gives the main character or the main

character gives her security

comfortability familiarity

and this normally comes through growing

up together sometimes the main character

likes a childhood friend sometimes

childhood friend likes the main

character but they never address this

while growing up and he reaches

comfortability where they just never

tell each other

and they reach this kind of relationship

stalemate this is where the relationship

stays at least until we're uh introduced

to them and that's where they are in the

first episode or the first chapter of

the series

and this normally doesn't really is

going to change you could see that it

would never change

unless something happened this is

normally triggered by a

new character and introduced whether

that be you know alien monster yada yada

most likely transfer student and one of

the reasons why i believe the main

character normally ends up with this new

girl is because she brings something new

to the table

maybe she has a completely different

personality that he's not used to

or maybe she treats the main character

in a different way or a new way that the

main character's not used to

really taking and by the time that this

childhood friend sees what's going on it

normally triggers them to you know get

their butt into gear start like you know

i gotta go

i gotta get in there you know i i'm like

to the party you know i don't wanna lose

them i'm gonna just

i'm gonna start doing things that make

him like me and by this point it's

almost already too late

and it makes the main character more

confused than anything like i said the

new character is basically

introduced as almost parallel to the

childhood friend

whether it be a new personality a

totally different hair color

a different upbringing a different look

on how they treat the main character

not only are they a new breath of fresh

air for the main character give them a

new interesting

uh person to talk to and person interact

with and new feelings to feel

this is also a nice breath of fresh air

for the story that we are watching as

viewers

because more than likely we're not gonna

watch a show or a series or read a manga

that has these two characters are first

introduced to

without this third party coming in like

i love nisikoi but without

shitoge i'm probably not gonna read it

hell with all this time already wasted

before the series starts with the main

character and the childhood friend the

childhood friend may have already gotten

subconsciously friend zoned by the main

character by saying

oh she's just a friend from childhood

there's no possible way that you know

we could ever have a relationship we're

just that good of friends we've been

together since we were in kindergarten

and then when the big reveal happens of

like oh i like you it's like

but i don't see it working this new

character will be a taste of something

new for the man for the main character

something mc never really sees with the

childhood friend

maybe more flashy more bold than the

childhood friend

for years even their whole entire life

the childhood friend has found comfort

in the main character more than likely

and doesn't want to change that and

maybe if a new character was never

introduced at some point in the future

there would be some kind of development

that happened to get them together but

because

they waited too long or they're just

really comfortable with the way things

are now

something new coming in just totally

shakes that up like this process is

almost

formulated to always work against the

childhood friend and work for the new

character coming in

not really a talking point just

something i want to throw out there but

like most of the time the childhood

friends like a really boring bland bland

brand head character that i just never

really care about and then a new

flashier character comes in that's

always my go-to for best girl uh it says

a lot about me i'm looking at you linda

also from a viewing perspective of you

know the audience us we're reading or

watching this series

events happen we're first introduced to

the main character and the childhood

friend first

and they were like okay this is the

story goes yadda yadda and then bam

the new character will come in i'll

flashy uh give our

attention that normally draws our

attention the same way the main

character does

where we're more focused on them now we

like their impression

more than these simple my name is

a guy who goes to school and this is my

childhood friend

and we've been um just together forever

and that's how we're introduced

and then you get the new kid creator

just kind of walks in like yo my name is

he told me and i am a

totally random model from france that

does a lot of japanese modeling and i

just came here to go to a regular school

because that's what i want to do

also i'm an alien did i know that also

we're gonna

be living together and all those other

wacky crazy stuff and the main and the

childhood friends sitting there like

i can make a chocolate heart on

valentine's day

so more than likely i understand the

people that do love the childhood

friends because it's a lot more uh

simple you feel bad for them

yada yada but more than likely the new

kid is going to be a lot more

interesting and have a better dynamic

that's why i adore nisa koi because

nisku is able to create

two girls that even though she was a

childhood friend that really didn't do

much her

cute and moe and daddy attitude was just

uh really fun to look at so although i

was a big toge stan like i really loved

chitoge

i saw why people loved onodera say

instead of the pet giro sakaraso where

uh the new girl our pet girl sakuraso is

amazing and then the other childhood

friend is you know

not as that good they're boring they're

basic

unless you're like oresuki where you're

just kind of [ __ ] from the beginning

from everybody

examples of you know having really

interesting uh probably going to win

main characters uh and childhood friends

that are

you know not going to win probably are

like shuffle golden time uh petrosso

you're lying april well technically by

default the

childhood friend won waiting in the

summer on a not today mataru nisukoi or

emo

kind of oremo why don't i put orimo in

there that's not

uh darling of the franks is one and

obviously toradora to his extent

these are cases where a new girl was

introduced to a childhood friend or the

main character had a pre-existing crush

on this one girl and then another girl

just kind of

wrapped right in and kind of won their

hearts i put toradora in there because

our main character we usually had a big

crush on meanerie and then

wanted to pursue her for most of the

show was pursuing her but through

tyga being introduced as a friend and

all this stuff they kind of developed

feelings for each other at the end of it

and although minority is not a basic

boring childhood friend character that

i've been talking about describing she

is also one of the characters that has

been

introduced and outdone by another louder

more

interesting character but there are some

animes that have the childhood friend

winning you know and i

although i can't really name them right

now but uh more likely there is other

ones out there that you know

and please let me know in the comments

section of other animes where the

childhood friend either loses or wins

uh what you think about the whole

childhood friend situation does it

get boring does it play a trope do you

go into a show expecting the childhood

friend to lose

or not with that being said my name is

dakota broski thank you guys so much for

tuning in if you like this video please

remember to like comment

and subscribe to all this amazing manga

stuff we talk about

a lot we talk about a lot and again like

i said let me know in the comment

section of other childhood friend anime

that you might wrote like romance or

slice of life where the main character

may end up with one or the other and

more likely or not what's

gonna happen do you go into a show and

automatically just expect them to lose

or do you think it's gonna be a fighting

chance it makes it a little bit more

interesting

let me know in the comments section but

other than that shout out to my patreon

on patreon.combroski where we

uh get a link to my discord and all this

stuff and go on twitch.tv slash to link

my discord

and uh all that stuff we talked about a

lot a bunch of mob there's so much

[ __ ]

we talk about a lot most of which we

talk about on the show so if you drop

one there maybe i'll read it and do a

video on it with that being said take

care

and i love you guys

[Music]

so

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you