Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Difference between revisions

This dynamic can also show up in a lot of [[Boys Love Genre]] works. If one of the partners is really cheerful and sweet, [[Foil|the other partner]] is probably an angst-fest waiting to be unleashed.

 

{{examples}}

 

== Anime & Manga ==

* Several Shoujo type manga will have the main male and female pairing like this. Not ''every'' single one, mind you.

** Priest Seto, the preincarnation of [[Anti-Hero|Seto]] [[The Rival|Kaiba]] whose life pretty much sucked just as much the first time around, and [[White-Haired Pretty Girl|Kisara]].

** "[[Split Personality|Yami Yugi]]" and [[The Power of Friendship|Anzu/Tea]]. Their "[[Not a Date|date]]" consisted of large amounts of Yami brooding over his mysterious past/ mysterious destiny and Tea trying to cheer him up via talking to him or taking him to arcades before going to the museum.

* The manga ''[[Hana no Namae]]'', "The Name Of The Flower", '''lives off this trope''': the 'brooding boy' being a famous writer of depressing, nihilistic works, who himself has a tragic past and struggles with deep depression, the 'gentle girl' being the distant relative he takes in after her parents die in a car accident, who grows flowers in his yard, is quiet, soft spoken and kind and in love with him. The story resolves around her desire to love and save him from his depression and his feeling that he doesn't deserve it, or can never bring himself out of it enough to do anything but drag her down with him.

* What the main couples in [[Mayu Shinjo]] mangas are ''supposed'' to come up as. Bad thing, the "Brooding Boy" ends up as a [[Bastard Boyfriend]] and the "Gentle Girl" is almost always a [[Love Martyr]].

 

 

== Literature ==

* ''[[Mara Daughter of the Nile]]'': Thutmose and Inanni would be this if Thutmose was the least bit interested in going through with their [[Arranged Marriage]]. Inanni even has an [[Internal Monologue]] about how she "would be a good wife to him and comfort him when his headached" (She has been led to believe that severe headaches are the reason he is a [[Mood Swinger]].)

 

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* Clare and Eli from ''[[Degrassi]]'' are like this. Clare is a sweet, mostly innocent Christian girl, and Eli drives a hearse.

** Well, when Gunn and Fred began expressing interest in each other, neither were particularly broody. [[Heartbroken Badass|Wesley]] on the other hand...

** Connor and {{spoiler|Not-Cordelia}}. With a twist in that the Gentle Girl is evil, is only gentle while he's watching, and is manipulating him into serving as her [[The Dragon|Dragon.]]

 

 

== Video Games ==

* Kyosuke Nanbu and Excellen Browning from ''[[Super Robot Wars Compact 2]]''. Note, however, that Excellen is not gentle ''per se'' (she's a certified [[Manic Pixie Dream Girl]], more [[Genki Girl]] and [[The Tease|teasing]]), which should be a subversion of this trope, but she's genuinely sweet, patiently loves him and provides the emotional support and companionship he needs.

** A relationship with Anders has tones of this as well.

* ''[[Persona 3]] Portable'''s Moon Arcana S.Link between the Female Main Character and Shinjiro. They're the ''very definition'' of this.

* While it was more of a brother and sister relationship, Shadow from [[Sonic the Hedgehog]] had this kind of dynamic with Maria - he's a brooding [[Anti-Hero]], while she was the [[Littlest Cancer Patient]] and [[The Pollyanna]]. [[It Got Worse]] for them, however, as [[Dead Little Sister|she died]] and Shadow almost became a [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]].

== Webcomics ==

* Spoofed in [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/2/28/ this Penny Arcade strip].

"I still love you. Even though you're so cool and rad." }}

 

 

== Western Animation ==

** Beast Boy and Raven are another gender-flip. Even though they never have an official relationship on the show, the popularity of this [[Fan Preferred Pairing]] led to them getting together in the comics.

* Lance and Ilana from ''[[Sym-Bionic Titan]]'', although their relationship isn more familial and platonic than romantic.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Red Fish Blue Fish]]

[[Category:Love Tropes]]

[[Category:Duo Tropes]]

[[Category:Ensembles]]