>>106591970>>106592536>>106592722>>106592829>>106593087>>106593540(continued)
And that finally brings me to the romance. THIS IS WHERE W.I.T.C.H. REALLY WIPES THE FUCKING FLOOR WITH EVERY OTHER CARTOON IN EXISTENCE - COMBINED. Fucking shit, the depth, sincerity, and just plain "correctness" of the romantic relationships in this show is an EMBARRASSMENT not only for Western animation but also virtually all modern media.
The standout examples of course are the two main relationships, which are not coincidentally with the two male characters who get an enormous amount of screentime in this supposed girl show. Let's start with the obvious first: THEY ACTUALLY KISS IN THE FIRST SEASON. Can you IMAGINE that? Second, unlike ATLA the romance is developed from BOTH directions right from the START. Aside from a few minor teases very early on (Because why not? It's cute.) the upcoming pairings are very obvious yet still hit you out of nowhere because you don't expect them to get together that fast, or in the way they do.
But then you have the more plot-relevant aspects. Caleb's story involves one of the only WELL-WRITTEN love triangles in all of history, proving once and for all that tropes are not bad. But it's Matt who as mentioned before completely obliterates any preconceived notions of what a cartoon relationship is like, and produces raw emotion in the viewer of a type that nothing even in the great Avatar: The Last Airbender, the supposed champion of cartoons, comes close to. What an incredible story - and what an upgrade from the comics, I might add.
Finally, the other girls get into relationships (or try to in one case) with characters who have very little screentime. But this show makes even that endearing somehow, by maximizing every second said characters do get to show off not only why they get together but also their own personality traits.
(Man, writing this is exhausting. But there's still all the technical stuff: dialogue, animation, and music...)
