Um, hard question since I do enjoy their interactions, but I'm gonna say yes. I think the romance part of their relationship is a weee bit overrated. Their relationship has many sides: they're subordinate and superior, they're comrades and survivors of the Ishbal massacre, they're rebels stuck in the same boat, vying for the same dream, etc.

To Roy, Hawkeye is his closest friend besides Hughes. Hughes and Hawkeye (and probably his mom too!) know more about him than the rest of his subordinates combined. She's somebody he can trust and that's a lot when you live in a country led by crazy, psychopathic artificial humans who was to use you as a sacrificial lamb.

To Hawkeye, Roy is probably the last real 'family' that she has, since she's estrangered from her deceased parents' relatives. He's the most important person in her life (and I don't mean this in a romantic way) and the key to making herself feel better about what she did in Ishbal.

So that's why I don't really like people just focusing on how 'They make such a cuuute couple. And Hawkeye is sexay!1! And Roy is HAWT1!!!1. No... just, no...
(But you shouldn't listen to me, I'm allergic to romance and I might be biased lol!)

^ I agree, I support the pairing, but compared to edwin, there isn't actually that much romantic support scenes i dont think, neither roy or riza have actually openly admited their feelings, whereas edward and winry have (well ed as good as *thinks of riza's accusations when he spat his drink in hayates face with that classic 'how did you know!?' face* XD I think their relationship has been growing, particually during the burn envy buuuuuuuuuurn chapters, but yeh i want some more scenes to take greater steps with their relationship

In my opinion yes Royai is way overrated. I personally find the couple rather dreary(no offense) I personally think the main reason people like Royai is because it is the only stable couple in FMA. And if Bones didn't supposively ruin Winry, EdxWinry would probably be the most popular. Royai doesn't really have the spunk or significance to be an overly-popular couple(in my opinion) there for I think it's overrated and this thread proves that it is.

Eh, if a pairing is popular, people are going to accuse it of being overrated. Personally, the subtlety between the two is the very reason I enjoy the pairing. Of course, there are times when I think that fans focus too much on the romantic aspects and forget the other elements in the relationship. So maybe the romance is overrated, but not necessarily the partnership between the characters themselves.

I'm a Royai fan, I'll say that first of all. However, I always try to stop short of outright fangirling over the pairing. I feel like a traitor for saying this, but I voted for just a tad. I think the fans (and I'm guilty of this myself) tend to focus too much on the romantic aspect of their relationship, so that it overshadows everything else. There's so much more to their bond than just romance, be it friendship, comraderie, trust, guilt, loyalty, respect, whatever. I don't think it's fair to accuse a pairing of being overrated just because it's popular because there's usually a reason why it's popular. The whole girl beating up the guy thing has been done so often in Shounen mangas in particular that I think people are sick of it, and want a more mature and stable sort of relationship between two characters.

Popularity is not the same as overrated.

Hm...personally I don't think so, but I come from a fandom where everything is overrun by shipping, so my opinion is probably skewed more than a bit XD;

Just because Royai is popular does not mean it is overrated. And Ed and Winry can have some overrated moments, such as girl beating up the guy.

Most of the time in shows where there are pairings, I usually root for the secondary pairing. Which I thought was Roy and Riza when I began to watch the first anime series. I always believed that Ed and Winry would hook up, because he is the main male lead. So I assumed that he and Winry would be together in the end. But then the movie happened, and that threw me for a loop in their relationship.

I am also a sucker for those "office/forbidden" romances.

I second all of this.

Ignore my username, avatar, and signature, and please try to take me seriously

A lot of people are saying that people who support the RoyAi relationship overlook their trust, devotion, and deep bonds while looking for romance when, in fact, it is these three aspects of their relationship, along with the others mentioned before, that makes their relationship as a whole so popular. RoyAi isn't just about hugging and kissing and 'I love you', or other romantic cliches: it is those deep bonds of friendship, understanding of one another, strong trust and honesty with one another, and the way they've gone through things together and overcome hard times that makes it so appealing. It is because it isn't a typical romance that it is so attractive to fans: it doesn't have to be about lovey-dovey stuff - it's like a real-life relationship, where the two people care deeply for each other without having to say it all the time, and that they love each other on other levels than just romance or physical attraction (or any other romantic stereotype): they are family, friends, and comrades as well.

A "RoyAi moment" for me isn't just things like the hug scene, but also scenes where they can laugh together, or how they look after one another, or how they learn more about one another day by day. It's because it isn't all about romance that this pairing is so appealing to me, and I assume most of the other fans.

This is based off of the manga solely. Anime 1, in my honest opinion, has no appealing aspects to their relationship whatsoever and actually annoys me at times, and it's too soon to say for Brotherhood.

- rant over -

I hope that made sense. I had trouble putting that into words. I bet Turdaewen could have said it perfectly, but I'm not always so good at this XD

It is overrated... as is any pairing in any fandom: there is always people who love way too much their couple. But regarding Royai itself, it can't be overrated more than just a tad, whether it is considered romantic/non-romantic/both^^ or canon/non-canon.

That's exactly how I feel about EdWin, lol.

I don't think there IS such a thing as a "typical romance" when it comes to Arakawa. She is a genius when it comes to developing her characters and the relationships between them. Doesn't matter if it's Royai, EdWin or LingxRanFan...all FMA canon pairings have incredible depth and meaning in them, and they all raise the bar romance-wise. For me, anyway.

I noticed something cool about them, BTW. You wanna know why these romances are so un-typical?

My dad is a pastor and marriage counselor, and he's given me a lot of tidbits about love, how men and women tick and how they complete each other in a relationship. No I'm not an expert, but I do know a few things. It's kind of like a dance. Traditionally, in an ideal love relationship, the man leads and protects his women, the women follows and supports her man, and they both lift and encourage each other and work together through everything. They trust each other, support each other, put the other first. It's selfless, committed and unconditional.

Sadly, you don't see that kind of love very often nowadays. Not in many movies or TV shows, at any rate. But I've been seeing a LOT of all that being reflected in both Royai and EdWin, and it's made me all the more crazy about them. No WONDER these pairing are so amazing! Maybe if more people tried to build love like theirs, the divorce rates wouldn't be so high...

Bleh, sorry! Got slightly offtopic there, ehehe...

Do I think Royai's overrated? Ehhh...just a little bit. Not much though. The pairing is awesome; it's just the fans can get a little crazy, lol. And after a while it gets discouraging to see Ed and Winry constantly being overshadowed by Roy and Riza in the polls. If anything, I start feeling resentful towards Royai because it seems like it's hogging most of the FMA fanbase (pairing-wise), and EdWin isn't getting nearly enough of the attention and appreciation it deserves. I hate hate HATE it when Royai people or anyone else brush EdxWinry off as being "not as amazing as RoyxRiza cuz Roy and Riza's Twoo Wuv was written in the stars and they were MADE for each other and NO ONE ELSE'S love is as deep as theirs blah blah blah NONSTOP GUSHING blah..." I could go off on a whole rant about this, but I won't do that to you right now lol.

As much as I love Royai, I still make time for Ed and Winry. Love is love, I can see them equally in that respect, it's just their circumstances are a bit different is all. Ed and Winry are cute together anyway.

I think someone who loves a pairing so much that they totally disregard any other relationship as 'not as deep' is a bit too engaged in that pairing. Not everyone is like that though, all the people I've talked to who like Royai are pretty cool people.

It's no more overrated than Ed and Winry.

I find that there's far more EdWin fans bashing Royai fans than the other way around, in general fandom of course, not just this site. I don't get it really since the ships don't really effect one another? I'd understand if one character was in both pairings, but... no? So what if one pairing overshadows the other, there's usually good reason for it.

I like the idea of Roy and Riza being together, because of how subtly it's done, and because they complement one another well. I'm not fussed if they end up together. Plus they're both adults, and they've progressed through the various stages of their relationship with some touching moments. It's not based on awkward blushing and sudden random realisation that they're "in love" with the other person. (That's something that irks me about anime in general; can't teenagers crush on one another without INSTANTLY being in love? I think I'd tolerate EdWin a lot more if everyone wasn't 'oh do you LOOOVE Winry?' and more 'So, do you have a crush on her?')

But yeah, I don't think Royai is as overrated as EdWin is. It doesn't help that Brotherhood is pretty much shoving the pairing in our faces, whereas it was done so much more subtly in the manga.

ALL pairing fans brush off other pairings as not being as amazing as their OTP. It's not exclusive to Royai fans.



Quoted for truth. Especially the bolded part.

People on this forum tend to be mature and achknowledge one another's interests, but I can relate to this both ways: when there are several chapters with EdWin in a row (such as 69-73), RoyAi fans can get aggravated and start complaining about EdWin. Likewise, when Roy and Riza get several chapters focused on them (such as 94-101), EdWin fans become upset and complain about RoyAi. Why is this? I have no idea. I obviously prefer RoyxRiza, but I still adore and ship all of Arakawa's other pairings!! It's all right if people don't like a certain pairing, but is it Roy and Riza's fault that there's no EdWin, or vice versa? Because there's no romance in a few chapters doesn't mean it's one pairing's fault (besides, who reads FMA primarily for the pairings? If you are, you're already prone for disapointment, since its not the focus).

EdWin gets more focus in the manga because they're more outright with their relationship. RoyAi gets more attention from fans because the anime1 people can enjoy it as well (how, I don't know...anime 1 did it no justice, even as an unromantic relationship). I don't get it. Sometimes I feel as if it's turned into "Team RoyAi" vs. "Team EdWin", and I don't get that because I like both the pairings, and want to ship both. Just because I prefer one doesn't automatically mean I'm an enemy to EdWin...

And people hate AlMei no matter what. But I'm not going to get into that, since I'm already getting off track.

Go through a lot of these threads here, namely the Edwin vrs Royai, and even the Winry vrs Riza. There's an awful lot of EdWin fans stamping their feet because Royai/Riza are edging out a bit by quite a lot. The general accusation for not like EdWin is because 'they want to be with Ed themselves'. I'm sure it goes both ways, I'm just saying what I have knowledge on.

And Al/Mei, as cute as it is, really isn't in the same league as EdWin or Royai. It's had barely a quarter of the time focused on it.

I totally agree.

it's like Royai is taking over the anime... but i'm quite happy about that... Gives me more time to panic...

Lolz...

Oh no, there is like, two guys who complain about not having Winry or EdWin in the last chapters, always the same people (and they're annoying, yes). But when the action was focused on Briggs? Oh my god, every turn "Roy is not there! Outrageous!", "Where is Riza??? Did Arakawa forget her???", "Bring Roy and Riza back, Arakawa!", every chapter, on nearly every page. It was getting really, really old At least it stopped when they came back...

As for why I think Royai is overrated, I think I already said some of it : the "I can't live without you" part. As much as I love it in Code Geass with Shirley's unrequited love to Lelouch, I think it's too much here, with two very adult and strong characters. For Riza to go from "Work, Colonel!" to losing any will to live after Roy's presumed death, I found it ridiculous. Actually, it's also one of the reasons I'm not too big a fan of the Lin X Ranfan pairing.
There is also the whole "more realistic" bit that I think is just overrated : they are a two people that are obviously in love, yet they never said it, nor admitted it to themselves, just like in every other "couple" in shônen. Plus the whole thing that Riza has with throwing ribs at Mustang is also so typical of this kind of romance : verbal humiliation if not physical one.

I don't think it's so much that Riza "can't live without him". I think she can. It's just that she doesn't want to. That's what I think, anyway...though I'm not a RoyxRiza expert like everyone else is. xD Most everyone here seems to get why Royai is awesome, but not why EdWin is; so since Royai is thoroughly covered, I've decided to focus mostly on defending the other main canon pairing.

Mmm, this reminds me a certain mistranslation of chapter 95...

QUOTE (Kaori Ayanami @ Nov 14 2009, 05:37 PM)

QUOTE (Dearheart @ Nov 14 2009, 10:55 PM)

QUOTE

As for why I think Royai is overrated, I think I already said some of it : the "I can't live without you" part. As much as I love it in Code Geass with Shirley's unrequited love to Lelouch, I think it's too much here, with two very adult and strong characters. For Riza to go from "Work, Colonel!" to losing any will to live after Roy's presumed death, I found it ridiculous

I don't think it's so much that Riza "can't live without him". I think she can. It's just that she doesn't want to.

Mmm, this reminds me a certain mistranslation of chapter 95...

@Kaori Ayanami - I know.

I wish, if anyone would form opinions on FMA characters, at least do so based on what's actually in the FMA chapters. ^^

But, good luck "correcting" them of the "mis-information." Yap, I've already tried many times with my lengthy posts detailing what the correct translation should read, IMO. But, basically, many would not hear it. >.<

By now, what I suspect is that some of these people might already had some form of pre-formed opinions/notions about these characters leaning toward these "misconception" even BEFORE the mistranslation, and then that mistranslation "confirmed" their opinion, and so they don't want to hear it when the translation that's more closer to what the raw is actually saying in that chapter is presented.

It's as if the "selective hearing" mechanism takes over their minds and conveniently allow their brains to by-pass whatever the correction we post, so that they can hold on to this precious "evidence" they got that "proves" their perception of these characters. XD

And by the way, this seems to work for BOTH sides of "hard-believers," as I've seen this on extreme-Royai-romantists, as they going "awww... ahhhhhh" over this basically what amounts to "fan-fiction" presented as a form of scanlation (speaking of that particular part only, and in a stand point view of how "creative" that part is. ^^) while it seems some anti-Royai/anti-Riza people would choose to holding on to this mistranslated piece as part of "evidence" of how Riza is weak, or how flaky Royai relationship is, etc. etc.

And, the kicker is... when, somehow, finally see that that wasn't what the raw chapter said, I get the feeling that many of these people may go "Whey didn't anyone inform me of this before!"




So... let me add my two-cents/insight I got on the subject over the above stated experience:

I think, some part of Royai overrating is happening due to people projecting their own "fantasized" version of this relationship onto this pairing, and I think this pairing happens to allow it to be many things to many people, and in one sense that's part of the reason of why this pairing is popular, but also part of the reason why this pairing seems to get "overrated"...? (If this makes any sense to anyone... ^^ )

This makes absolute sense to me. And I agree thoroughly.
I have noticed this often in the ENDLESS ROIAI THREAD on these forums, and on various LJ groups as well.

There is a definitely a segment of the fandom who likes to impose a "Hearts and Flowers, Rings and Babies" type of fantasy onto RoiAi, and this, IMO, is simply NOT realistic for the pairing (at least not based on what Arakawa has written thus far in the manga.) The beauty of Roy and Riza's relationship lies NOT in the outward expression of romantic love, but rather that of a mature, unspoken understanding between two people who have spent many years of their lives in close proximity to each other.

I think that this has a LOT to do with the AGE GROUP of many of the fans. I think it reasonable to believe that a LARGE number of participants in fannish/shipping outlets (LJ, forums, Fanfic, RP groups) are teenagers-- often EARLY teens. One's concept of "love" is VERY different at this age. (Believe me. I've been there. I was guilty of this myself.) The idealised 'fairy tale romance' where a man sweeps a woman off of her feet seems to be what young teens identify as 'love', for it is the stuff of teenage crushes. Also, a lot of concept of "love" at this age is also correlated with sexual lust and exploration-- as is natural during puberty, when hormones are raging... Teenagers in general are not yet old enough to have experienced a different and mature kind of love for themselves, and will therefore project what their age group defines as 'love' onto the romantic relationships they like within a given fandom.

Those of us who are older (I would say 21+, but most certainly 25+...) have had more diverse life experiences with relationships and can appreciate how a "couple" can "love" in a more subtle manner. Those of us who have had longer, more enduring relationships can appreciate how it truly is to have another individual in your life who makes you feel like a better person yourself-- just by being present in your world. THAT is the kind of "love" that RoiAi is. It is two people supporting each other in a mutual way. You know that if one were to lose the other, the impact on their lives would be unbearable. Just because there is no kissing, sex, etc etc, it does not make the "love" any less real. And projecting a more superficial kind of relationship onto it just seems fake... forced... unrealistic... and, Yes, OVERRATED.

phss i don't care i just know i am an addict to this pairing.

I think Edwin fans are protesting that Royai is overrated because they keep on losing to Royai on polls..ex: Royai vs. Edwin.... Riza vs. Winry.

I mean we aren't doing anything wrong to them... we just voted for Royai and then they get mad 'cause they lost....

The least of what Royai fans can do is accept the accusations and just keep quiet...we know in our hearts that Royai isn't overrated

LOL, for the last, like, month everytime I've gone to the Character's Dicussion page the one on the top of the list is the Royai Thread. It's certainly very popular! More popular than EdxWinry, it seems. No, I don't think it's overrated. In fact, I like relationships with people who are not teenagers, AND relationships that have happened over the course of a long time. It's so much more realistic!

Well, put yourself in our shoes. Wouldn't you get discouraged too if your favorite main canon pairing was constantly being overshadowed and underappreciated? I can guarantee you that if our positions were switched, Royai fans would be reacting the exact same way. It's nothing personal; it's just how shippers are, lol. I can't speak for all EdWin fans out there, but for me personally, I don't mind Royai being popular. Heck, I'm an avid supporter of it too! If you love Royai, jolly good for you! I just wish that more people would give EdWin the credit it deserves too. Maybe if the poll results were a little closer to each other instead of one being totally creamed by the other, it wouldn't feel so bad.

Don't mind me; just thinking out loud here...



I agree; it's refreshing to see a relationship that isn't teenage puppy-love or love-at-first-sight. Not only is it more realistic, but it's more beautiful. Love at first sight doesn't have any real weight or meaning in it; it's just "wow, you're good-looking, and I'm good-looking too! It MUST be love! Let's get married and live happily ever after in a pretty little house with rainbows and unicorns and kittens and puppies and little paper hearts and have a gazillion babies!"

HOWEVER, I don't think it's right to brush off Ed and Winry's relationship just because they're "teenagers". (I'm not preaching this to you, Hagaren; just saying it in general lol.) Think about it. Both of them grew up too fast and went through a lot of heavy stuff together; the unrealistic-teeny-bopper-love thing doesn't really apply to them. (Except for the hormones, of course...but that's normal for anyone.) Also, remember when Winry realized that she loved Ed? Look at the manga panels or the scene in episode 23.

http://www.onemanga.com/Full_Metal_Alchemist/48/31/
http://www.onemanga.com/Full_Metal_Alchemist/48/32/

Did she blush or get sparkly eyes or any of the usual warm-fuzzies? No. And what was she thinking about? Was it normal teenage fluff, like his looks and personality or how he made her feel?

No. It was about their journey and how far they had come. And she observes to herself that her love for him didn't happen overnight. She can't pinpoint exactly when it started because their relationship goes back so far. It just crept up on her. It was quiet and subtle; it grew slowly and became deeper over the course of the journey. They have a lot of history together. She promised to support him every step of the way; he promised to fix everything and make her cry tears of joy. Their relationship is anything BUT your usual "teenage romance".

Gee, this all sounds pretty similar to another awesome couple I know... Which is why I'll never be able to understand why people are turned off by EdWin just because they're teenagers. Being in their teens has nothing to do with it, IMO. Royai and EdWin both have a lot of similarities, and they both have tons of depth and meaning in them. Which is why they're both awesome pairings that are worthy of obsessing over.

This is why Arakawa is so amazing. Because she writes such realistic, subtle romance AND just relationships in general that you can understand and relate to, unlike with other mangas, either shojo OR shounen, where it's all fantasy where some hero sweeps the heroine off of her feet. Although these stories can be fun sometimes, it's because Arakawa writes such deep relationships that you can really feel and relate to that people enjoy hers more, overall. You don't need to use your imagination to picture Ed and Winry together. You don't have to fantasize to say that Roy and Riza share a deep bond. It's all real, and it's all unique. She doesn't have to resort to things like, "opposites attract" because her characters naturally compliment one another without being pitch black and brigth white when standing side by side (they have more human traits; smaller ones that balance more subtley) She doesn't have to pull old cliches out of a hat to show their love (I'm referring to not only these two ships, but any others from Ling/Ran Fan to Hoho/Trisha) because it fits into their lives and the story perfectly, because it isn't a stretch: their love is just part of their lives and who they are.

And this is why I love Arakawa, and yes I realize this is an irrelevant rambling I just had to.... I hope someone takes something out of this.

Yes, yes, YES!! Preach it sister! Totally agree with everything you just said. I wish I knew Japanese so I could write a big long letter to Arakawa gushing about what a genius she is and how much I admire her for putting such an epic story out there with amazing characters and relationships...no shallow cliches, no unrealistic characters or forced relationships...just pure gold. I'm not into romance AT ALL; I think it's creepy and weird and gross...and yet I'm CRAZY about these pairings. That alone speaks volumes to me. How does she DO it??

*blissful sigh* I love you, Arakawa! There's no such thing as a perfect story, but in my opinion, FMA comes pretty darn close.

I don't think the paring in and for itself is overrated, but I do think that many fangirls overrate it and even put it in a way that's simply not there.

But that's not a problem with Royai paring and it doesn't even mean that they're not a cannon paring (I do believe they ARE), it's the problem with fangirls and they'll take it wherever they are and to whatever anime they watch. And, for some reason or the other, fangirls chose Royai in FMA. Its just something normal to have in a certain age (I know I did when I was a teen. I was more discrete about it, but I had it.), and they'll grow out of it. Right as rain.


I do think some Royai scenes are important to the plot, not because of a romantic sort of view about their relationship, but simply because they relationship is important to understand their characters and their decisions throughout the manga. What I think is interesting about Arakawa is that, when she puts a cannon paring in her stories, she makes it so to for a sort of link between those characters in order to work the story around that, and not to make fanservice.

But the relationship is there. Not to make us happy, but to build the character, just as well as Havoc is a smoker, and Ed is an 'orphan', Ran Fan is devoted to Ling and Olivia has a complicated relationship with her brother: they define who they are, where they come from, how they think like, what their reactions will be like in a certain situation.
THAT's character building. Intelligent character building.

Perhaps the main problem is that the current anime fans (or at least most of them) are more used to a certain type of story and plotline that not all anime follow and all of Arakawa's work fall in that category, so they try to read FMA the same way they would another anime of their choice, being that a shounen or a shoujo or whatever, and tend to sorta 'block out' the other aspects of the story.


So, am I a fan of the paring? Yes, they're my favorite FMA couple, in fact.
Do I think they're cannon? As long as Arakawa's way of writing, I don't doubt it for a second.
Do I think they're perfect? Not at all! And that only makes it more interesting, since they do look like real adults and not 'animelike' creatures.
Do I think they'll be together in the end? I have no idea. And I would hate to see a mushy, melodramatic 'shoujo' sort of ending for them.
Do I think they'll marry and have loads of children? Hell NO.

Even because, this is a manga written by a very clever and creative woman in her 30's, not a 14 year old teen.

Oh, believe me, I'm not brushing them off. When I said, "relationships with people who are not teenagers, AND relationships that have happened over the course of a long time", I was kinda saying that as an and/or thing. If the relationship happened over the course of a long time, I don't really mind if they're teenagers. But it doesn't really work the other way around, I don't like ADULT "love at first sight" stories, either....

Royai is definitely my favorite pairing in FMA, but I definitely understand why some consider it overrated... Well, I think actually that it depends on what one means by overrated. If it means that teenage fan girls blow it out of proportion into a huge melodramatic romance sometimes, then yes it is. And honestly, I have to say that I'm a bit guilty of it myself. I'm not going to lie. Right now, I fit awkwardly in between going "D'AWW" at every moment and drawing cheesy fan art and really appreciating the complexity and depth of their relationship in more of an adult way of looking at it. Either way, it's the best pairing I've ever come across, and I think that I'll be a big fan for a long time. I think that in the more mature way of viewing Royai, there's something that everyone can appreciate about their relationship. Therefore, I don't think that it's overrated in the sense that there's nothing to appreciate in it because there definitely is.

As for the whole EdWin vs. Royai and how much attention they get respectively, I think that Arakawa writes both relationships very well, but for some reason, I've always felt more of a pull to Royai. Maybe it's because I saw anime one before I read the manga , and developed a distaste for Winry to begin with. Don't get me wrong, I like her a lot better than I did then (She's a much better character in the manga and in Brotherhood thank God...), and I think that hers and Ed's relationship is lovely (definitely unlike the typical teenage romance), but the first anime may be the reason I never became a huge EdWin fan. I support it, I just don't love it as much as Royai. What's weird is that I think it was the very mature love of Royai that drew me to it.... So why did I ever let my inner fangirl make it something it clearly isn't? I'm trying not to let that happen anymore....

Honestly, I'm the same way with EdWin. So don't feel too guilty. I've always considered myself more of a "fanboy" than a "fangirl" because I care more about the story in general than I do about "cute couples". Yet I find myself squeeing over every EdxWinry moment (and Royai moment too, lol). And thanks to that shippy EdxWinry picture BONES released, I think I've officially been turned into an EdWin fangirl. However, like you, I look at it in a mature, thoughtful way and try hard not to fangirl too much.

And yeah, I understand where you're coming from. I do think FMA1 has a lot to do with the Royai vs. EdWin thing and the general dislike for Winry. Don't get me wrong; I'm one of the few here who ADORED the first series and still does (well, the first half of it at least)...but if there's one thing I hate about it now, it's that they totally cut out Ed and Winry's awesome relationship. And because of that, Royai gets all the love while EdWin gets either:

"I like it, but not as much as TEH EPIC LOVE KNOWN AS ROYAI"

Or: "ZOMG i hate winry n i hope dat ed and winry never get together cuz i HATE THAT COUPLE!!!11 (ed iz mine lulz)"

OR: "Meh, I think it's just a brother/sister thing. It's better if they just stay friends. Winry might love him, but it's just a little crush and it won't last and it's one-sided blah blah blah..."

ORRR - "NOOOOOOESSSS IT MESSES WITH MY PRECIOUS ED/ROY SHIP!!!"

BTW, I'm fully aware that these are just stereotypes and not everyone fits into them. But from everything I've seen, these are the most common reactions. And I blame it all on FMA1. Grrr...

Well, but flaming any couple, especially cannon ones (which we all can agree that both EdWin and Royai are) is just plain stupid and pointless.

I mean, if you don't like the way the autor portraied the characters, than don't read the manga/watch the anime!

And if people overreact over that paring (which they do!)... well, that's short lived, even more so now, that the story is coming to an end.


I like EdWin a lot, too. And I probably just like Royai better 'cause they're a couple closer to my age/sort of relationship than EdWin, so I relate more to them.

I think that, if so many people like Royai is just because Arakawa made a wonderful work on their relationship than makes you interested and cheering for them, and I don't see anything wrong about that.

^The thing is, I just don't understand how they DON'T like it! (Edwin and Royai alike) How is that even possible? I mean, here you have story where these two people since the very being have had this attraction and love each other, don't you want them to end up together? When I watch a show, and it has been made apparent that these two are in a couple I don't sit there like, "Wow, I hope those two don't end up together" I just... how?! It does NOT make sense to me.

If I will get to choose, I still prefer RoyAi than EdWin... why ? Simply because I like it ! And it's kinda fun to watch two grown-ups acting like teens ... soo cute !