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So Valentine's Day, the one Holiday that everyone seems to forget that it exist once they get out of School and unless you have a girlfriend or a wife chances are that you forget it is even a thing. Hell you kids probably don't even have that much though about it other than it's the day you trade movie tie-in cards and get free candy. You only see it as the last filler holiday before the real celebrated holidays come back (Xmas & Halloween).
Well I count myself as the only one who, no joke here, actually anticipated Valentine's Day. Okay here's the thing and let's get back into our children mentality like it used to be (or IS for some of you), In Halloween we eagerly awaited that night were many of us would go out to get candy and some of us we hoping for a night of scares. In Christmas we awaited to catch a sight of Santa and then open the presents the next morning. For me, I awaited Valentine's Day because every time I thought "This will be the time that I finally get a crush, or a girl get's a crush on me". So in my own head I created a mythical being for Valentine's Day, The mystery girl. A girl that I awaited to get a valentine's day from and forever change my life.
Of course the dream girl never came because they don't make them like they used to and life isn't a work of fiction. But still despite that wake-up call I was still inspired by Valentine's day because overall the day celebrates what no other holiday celebrates, Love. Romantic Love to be exact because that's the entire point of the merchandise and by this point it's becoming an open knowledge that the heart design is based on a girl's sexy rear end rather than a actual organ.
So for me during my time in school, Valentine's Day was a month for me to reflect on Romance and girls. It was a time that I did fanfics and stories that revolve around love. Some of my early raunchier stories were done during this month and even later I went even further with those scenarios when I featured my favorite characters and did more darker entries that discuss exactly what qualifies as true love and what is just lust. Going to some dark places that most people won't do or touch due to the sensitive issue. All thanks to Valentine's Day.
Yes, close to that. BTW No joke but that comic was made AFTER I wrote my ElsaXJamie story trackforce.deviantart.com/art/… Coincidence? Who knows but honestly I'll say that we can thank Jelsa for that. Once people saw that Elsa being ship with Jack Frost, a underage ghost, became the internet's darling people said "What the hell, Shotacon is widely accepted now!" and the floodgates were opened. Don't say I didn't warn you all.
So anyway back to what I was talking about, you think Valentine's Day would be a big deal with the overall online community. That it would be as much as appreciated as Christmas or Halloween since it would be the time of year that allows them to be all about their favorite hobbies, Shipping, Lewd stories and fanart and their waifus. Or at least see lists of favorite Valentine's Day movies and specials. But there are none because there are few Valentine's day specials and when it comes to movies there is even fewer and the only ones with the title about the Holiday are horror movies who just shove the day into the movie. A guy in mining gear killing people.. WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH VALENTINE'S DAY?
Seriously is there any holiday left that wasn't turn into a Horror movie? Cinco De Mayo maybe?
Is easy to understand why there aren't that many lists on Valentine's Day movies since that falls on the category of the dreaded Date Movie where nothing but clique plots of bad romance examples roam free and continue to just get worse every year (Nicholas Sparks and 50 Shades I'm looking at both of you!).
So it is for that reason that I'm here today cause I wanna give people something completely different and a alternative to celebrate the Day of love without making it about horrible movies that feature the worst examples of romance. You won't see Twilight in this list. I should mention that for those looking for actual Valentine's day specials should see the Familiar Faces special "12 Forget-Me-Not Valentines" www.youtube.com/watch?v=adUtKL… A video that I recommend for people to see since I won't be featuring those same specials in this since just like my previous list of Christmas movies trackforce.deviantart.com/art/… I'm going to offer movies that might not look like something about the holiday but are appropiate for the month since they contain some trait that can go well with the holiday.
So let's start!
FROZEN: THE SECRET ADMIRER
In the book selection we have a Frozen tie-in. This past December Disney released a book called "Anna Loves Elsa" www.amazon.com/Frozen-Anna-Lov… where we explore the sisters relationship to each when they were growing up. Stores are putting the book at the Valentine's Day recommedation display but a more appropiate book would be the Anna & Elsa: The Secret Admirer book where the issue of Elsa and her having a romantic interest is actually brought up and discussed. I already did a full detail review of it in a previous journal entry trackforce.deviantart.com/jour…
Not much to say about it other that it's my favorite of all the Frozen tie-in books as the book is basically Disney itself telling us exactly what they think of Elsa having romance (She's happy without one) and a hint of what could happen in Frozen 2. I'm crossing my fingers that Freddy shows up in Frozen 2 cause he's that adorable with Elsa. In a time when the fans are losing their minds over people not being a part of the Jelsa Dictator Empire or taking a side, The Secret Admirer is telling us to relax and let's have some fun. Elsa might or might not meet her true love down the future but for now the only person she loves the most is her sister Anna. Let's enjoy the moment folks.
Any Documentary on The Valentine's Day Massacre
For those looking for a non-romantic example and crave that horror clique as well as want to see some interesting history about the holiday then any History special that talks about the Chicago Valentine's Day Massacre en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Va… should be a must see for the occasion. Why watch some movie that wants to shove horror into the day of love when in reality that actually happened? And ties to the famous American gangster of all time Al Capone!
Peanut's Special
So you know that Mystery Valentine's Day Girl I created in my mind? Well there's a origin for that and is all thanks to Charlie Brown who pretty much created the template for Valentine's Day for me. The specials are "It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown" and "Someday You'll Find Her, Charlie Brown" which both deal with having a first crush and a search and anticipation for meeting her in person. I saw both at a very early age and actually thought it was the same special until I searched for it and realized that my mind must had though it was the same movie.
"It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown" deals with Charlie Brown finally getting a chance to meet the Little Red -Haired Girl for the first time and the moment that he finally kisses her the entire thing takes a dream-like quality as Charlie Brown's life is forever change after doing something he never though he'll do (Plus it's the 70's and everything animated had Trippy effects). "Someday You'll Find Her, Charlie Brown" has Charlie searching for a girl that he saw in the stands during a game and together with Linus they search for her. They eventually find her but Linus ends up falling for her and get's the girl to crush on him since Charlie is to shy to meet her at the door. It ends on a sour note as Charlie realizes that she wasn't the true love he wanted and that someday he'll find true love.
For a better enjoyment of these two I suggest to see them the way I did. Watch "Someday You'll Find Her, Charlie Brown" First and then "It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown" as the last one in order to get a more upbeat ending.
Just About Any Disney Princess Movie
The movies that revolve around the holiday of love should in my opinion have a drop dead gorgeous woman as the main attraction, so no other films do that better than the Disney Princess Movies.
Originally I was going to feature only Frozen and Sleeping Beauty as Valentine's Day specials since Sleeping Beauty was the first ever Princess movie I saw and Frozen was the movie I anticipated for years to finally see made. But is hard not to forget the other princesses in the Disney canon as each one gave me a reason why I think Disney is the best at making the most memorable women in animation (Screw you DreamWorks.)
Is hard to pick one as being the one deserving to have Valentine's dedicated to themselves since each one was special in their own way. Aurora was the Princess I wanted to have as my babysitter, Alice was the girl I wanted to date in school and her movie got me through some of the worst times in school, Ariel's first time as a mute human made me wish I was her crush, Jasmine gave me my first funny feelings and so did Esmeralda, Megara was the girl I wanted to have as a guide and friend in high school to teach me the reality of life and so on. Really it would be unfair to pick one or two above the rest of the Disney women so here is up to each person to watch whatever Disney Princess or princesses was their first crush or waifu.
And speaking of Princess Movies..
Princess Bride
If there's one movie that I think is the best live action version of a Disney fairy tale (even more than their own live action adaptations) is the classic Princess Bride. It's a small simple film that I would be spoiling too much if I went into the details of it, I want people to be surprise by how great it is. If you need a preview of it and understand why is so iconic I recommend watching the Honest Trailer for it www.youtube.com/watch?v=E28KDh…
The 90's Sailor Moon Movies
Sailor Moon tackle the issue of love in so many episodes and was the only animated series to do so in my childhood, which is why it made Anime back then so attractive and big in the 90's. When you remember being a kid in the 90's Sailor Moon was unlike anything else and something that people had never seen before (In North America at least). Yes the anime was about magical girls but it also deal with their personalities and issues about life and love. You didn't saw that with other animes at the time which were about giant robots fighting or crazy action and planet destroying powers. So is for that reason that I recommend any of the 90's Sailor Moon anime movies as a good choice for Valentine's Day incase you want to see something superhero related. The beautiful senshi aside, the art style for the anime was impressive and in my opinion as stood the test of time. The style of the backgrounds really give the anime a very dreamlike fantasy feeling that I have yet to see any new show or movie do something similar to it.
But there is one movie that I think captures a dreamlike quality and applies to reality perfectly. That movie is ..
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
Based on a comic that I have yet to read, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World is in my opinion one of the few best video game movies out there (Only good movie based on a video game so far, Mortal Kombat). The story is about a hipster slacker who finds himself fighting for the love of the new girl he just met, and when I say "Fight" I do mean it physically as he must engage in a series of video game inspired battles against her former exes. Aside from being a movie inspired by video games, this movie is also a live action version of a Anime. From characters behaving over the top, defying reality to words being manifested into actual hearts (such as a girl saying the world "Love" and it actually comes out of her mouth as a pink cloud) this is for me what I imagine for a anime comedy fantasy romance movie to be it if where live action. I like the resolution and final fight as Scott discovers the true power of love but also sees that there's a bigger more powerful force out there than the overuse clique Power of Love (even if in this world it takes the physical form of a 8-bit laser sword).
And I know that for my top choice people probably expect Romeo and Juliet to be here, and I would if I actually got around to seeing that Romeo X Juliet anime I saw in JesuOtaku's review www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_gQoS… but I'm not a fan of Romeo & Juliet.
Okay to be more precise, I'm not a fan of what most movies and the shipping fans have done with the story (With that fanfic of Jack and Elsa as Romeo and Juliet being the most cringey example). Romeo and Juliet has just been done so much to death that I think it's overrated and that people are really missing the entire point of Romeo and Juliet. Everybody knows what the story is about and glorify it, but nobody questions the logic behind.
As Tv Tropes says it best in their YMMV page
"A ridiculous number of people with bad reading comprehension skills (or that haven't actually read the play) think that this is the way to have a relationship, ignoring the fact that the couple dies at the end."
I fall into the more critical crowd that has these following opinions about it
" Romeo just wanted to get into bed with her, or Juliet was looking for a way out of marrying someone she doesn't like and out of her controlling family and Romeo happened to be that way."
"It could also be argued that what Romeo and Juliet thought was true love was in fact just romantic infatuation intensified by Forbidden Fruit."
"On the other hand, there's people who assume it's not actually a love story and that Romeo and Juliet are just stupid teenagers who should have listened to their parents, even though those parents are too busy being locked in a completely pointless feud to really do any sort of parenting (which is a big cause of why Romeo and Juliet's relationship is doomed) and even though their lines about being in love are some of the best poetry Shakespeare's written. Romeo and Juliet mishandled their love for each other, but they were in love"
So while I would love to include some version of Romeo and Juliet is hard to find something as similar that has the same tragic moments.
Thanks to anime there is a story that is not only similar to Romeo and Juliet but I think is more powerful than any recent remake of Romeo and Juliet.
Windaria: Once Upon A Time
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEHQVp…
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhi5Qf…
THIS is the perfect Valentine's Day movie for me.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEn1rN…
1986's Windaria or Once Upon A Time as is called here in North America, is the fantasy fairy tale about two kingdoms who go to war with each other and the two stories of lovers caught between it, one being the Princess and Prince of those kingdoms and a farming couple who reside in the valley that becomes the battlefield.
I saw this movie somewhere in the mid 2000's and it was checked-out from the library by my mom. I didn't know what to expect and the synopsis for it was strange and confusing as the back of the box said it was a story taking place before the Great Deluge (it really has nothing to do with anything to our world). However I loved anime so much back in those times and I wanted to see what the story was. This movie really was unlike anything I have ever seen before except for it being a Romeo and Juliet type of story but it was so much better and a refreshing retelling.
The movie has some of the most memorable characters in the Romeo and Juliet genre ever and the style and design of it really make this look like what a Love story should (Anime in my opinion is best suited for Romance). The music is great and in my opinion the best romantic score ever. Theme Of Druid is the best love theme I have ever heard vidsshare.com/watch/Windaria-O… the track sounds what a fairy tale romance should, childhood innocence, the love of your life who you can't imagine life without, magic, simple life and having a reason to exist yet it also feels tragic and sad. Theme of the Druid is for me what led me to where I'm now, being a fan of Disney and still loving the Princess Fairy tale genre. The music is one of the big inspirations that led me to create Frozen Runaway. The deconstruction parts of it aside the story is really my tribute to the Theme Of Druid track as it explores what real love is and the tragic loss of it.
Which speaking of, I will have to have spoilers here in order for me to justify why I think this is the best romantic animated featured. So you might wanna stop now and try to find a page that has this movie available online or buy it www.amazon.com/Once-Upon-Time-…
SPOILERS
tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php…
As I mentioned this story is a good retelling of Romeo and Juliet and boy does it makes it even more tragic by having not just one but two tragedies with both couples. It also is more effective and makes more sense overall.
With Romeo and Juliet you get the sense that the entire feud with both families is just petty. There really could had been ways to work out their differences than having extreme attitudes about their children falling for each other. Here in Windaria you actually do get a sense that there is a reason for the fight and the stakes are higher and serious since it involves two Kingdoms fighting for valuable resources. They even mentioned that the two young royals where at one point engage to settle the dispute before it all fell apart.
When tragedy strikes both, Prince Roland speaks out against his father and kills in self defense when he wants to murder him for treason while Princess Veronica's mom dies and makes her promise her on her death that she'll defend the kingdom at all cost, you can't help but fell the pain as the two lovers are forced to wage a war that they don't want against each other. It is heart breaking when the two re-united again in the field and meet in the same bridge they used to hang out. The Princess against her own emotions decides to kill her true love.. and then she kills herself. It was one of the hardest moments I ever had to see in animation due to how much I liked both characters and I really wanted both to have a happily ever after, even live action movies with similar scenes fail to move me.
The farming couple, Allen and Marie, don't have that same turmoil as they are already married but it get's a similar tragic end of which you could blame Allen, the hero of the story for it. Allen wants more out of life and sees the war with the two kingdoms as a opportunity for a greater life or to be part of something more than juts being a farmer. Rather than move out of the valley he decides to get involve with the conflict. After a tearful farewell with Marie (Where the theme of druid is used) Allen goes out on a quest to deliver some information for the Prince's kingdom of Paro which is pretty much the bad kingdom in this fairy tale as it depends on industrial work that has polluted the land as oppose to the more environmentally friendly kingdom of Itha.
He accomplishes his goal but get's the task to sabotage the kingdom of Itha in order to get his reward. He causes a flood that wipes out the entire kingdom and completely forgets about his home and decides to be rewarded as a hero in the city of Paro where he's given gold and a younger woman.
However the mysterious (and obviously evil) benefactor who got his help and rewarded him decides that it's time to get rid of him so Allen must flee and return home.
He finds Marie waiting for him just liked she promised, only to turn out that she's now a spirit and must join the Ghost ship in the sky (Yes, there's this weird floating bullet looking ship that carries the souls of the dead which resemble red birds) Despite Allen's pleas she goes and he must now deal with life without her. He get's some words of advice from a near by maiden named Juliet who's husband not only passed away but also became the ferryman for the ghost ship and tells him that he must find the courage to move on.
Allen ends up before the giant tree of life of the valley and mourns everything he loss. This is where the film ends but the true ending is actually at the beginning of the film..
The intro scene not only shows what happens to people when they died and where their souls go but also your seeing Allen's funeral years later, and he's narrating the entire story before us. From what he tells us and what we can take after the result of the battle, Paro won the battle with Itha's destruction but despite this the Queen of Paro didn't saw this as a victory as she lost both her King and her son the prince leaving her the only royal of her Kingdom, the survivors of Itha and the residents of the valley where able to rebuild the kingdom and Allen helped in his construction becoming a hero to the Kingdom. Despite his achievements he never saw himself worthy to be a hero and welcomes his death as he will finally be able reunite with his beloved Marie in the after life.
The film ends in a sad note and we don't get any sense of good prevailing as the guy who was responsible for Allen's tragedy, the mysterious cloaked figure, get's no comeuppance. What's more saddening is not only Marie's death but the fact that Allen completely forgot about her the minute he was given money and fame. The entire time he was enjoying his fortune in the Kingdom Marie was a ghost in their house who couldn't rest in peace until he came back for her. However this teaches a very important lesson that we often don't see in Romantic stories, Despite our love for someone is something we can easily forget about it as soon as we are given bigger opportunities or things that satisfy our desires.
Allen's entire story is that he was a guy who already was happy living with his wife Marie in the valley but because he wanted to be part of something more or gain fortune beyond his wildest dreams he loss it all. He got ambitious and he let those ambitious blind him to the woman that he love. Even before he departed on his quest Marie told him that she didn't want him to go as she was afraid of what could happen. The film gave us a love story with the Prince and the Princess that was doom to end in tragedy and one that could had been prevented if Allen had decided to just stay out of the battle than to get involve but he didn't because he wanted to be part of something bigger. The story can be seen as a cautionary tale even more than Romeo And Juliet, Feuds cause suffering for many and wanting to have more in life could make us blind to appreciate what we have before us.
Is for those lessons that I consider Windaria to be in my opinion, The best romantic movie I have seen of late (and I saw this in 2005) and a better recommendation than Romeo And Juliet. The tragedy is more tragic and true love isn't always something that will always keep us to who were are or do the right thing, we are human after all not some romanticize character types written by some naive teenager who has no idea what true love is.
The Anime is pretty obscure which is a shame but seems to be gaining a bit more attention recently and there was even a Nintendo DS game based on it which even included redesigns for the characters
www.youtube.com/watch?v=98i_Xi…
So if you are lucky to read Japanese and own it you can count that as a Valentine's Day appropiate video game.
Overall this is the reason I don't do those Top Best Animated Films of 201meh like so many people and DA kids because Windaria has raised the bar for it. A more appropiate list would be "Top best animated films of the DECADE" and Windaria for me would be right on the top 5 along with Miyazaki, Tangled and Frozen coming near it. Is this movie why I'm harsh on so many popular animated movies that fans praise as being magical despite having zero effort into. Windaria is the emotional drama mythic fairy tale that Rise Of The Guardians WISHES it was downright to it's box office success trackforce.deviantart.com/jour… . Even if Anime isn't you think Windaria is a Must See Film before you die. It is truly a romance movie unlike no other.
So those are my recommendations for Valentine's Day however since the day is also known for chocolates I decided to toss in some treats, works made by the fan fiction community.
THE LOUD HOUSE - I LOVE MY BROTHER
by JumpJump jumparoundjumpjump.deviantart.…
(A.K.A The Yandere Luan Comic)
The comic that explores a Luan who has a crush on her brother Lincoln, one of which I already talked about trackforce.deviantart.com/jour… as well as created my own theories about the overall story trackforce.deviantart.com/jour…
It would be criminal of me not to put this as a Valentine's Special because it fits perfectly for the occasion. A girl goes full Yandere and kills anyone that stands between her and the object of her desire. The incest is something that many people will be uncomfortable with but honestly there's way more worse stuff online and if this is not your cup of tea then you should quit while your ahead. The story works on so many layers for me, Drama, Romance, Comedy and Thriller which I'll like to point out how this would be a more appropiate horror movie for Valentine's Day than one that features a killer in a miner's suit. However a movie about a killer in a miner's suit is still a better Valentine's Day movie than the one about a perverted millionare playboy who can't have sex with a woman without physically abusing her and excusing it as BDSM roleplay, 50 Shades Darker My Ass.
Despite the premise and the ships that go in this story, I'll like to say that this story is a great deconstruction of the whole sibling ship as unlike other fanfic stories of the past this one get's realistic and it doesn't portray the situation as good or fantastic as everything looks like it could turn into tragedy any minute in the story. Luan herself despite being a yandere is actually relatable in her struggles and at times I can't help but feel that she really does deserve to have Lincoln and that maybe everything wouldn't be so messed-up if only Luan was allow to express her feelings for Linc rather than force herself to hide it from everybody. Overall a fanfic story that is appropiate for a Holiday that centers on Love, an emotion that many of us really don't know that much about and many youth badly think they know what True Love is.
So enjoy your Valentine's Day and indulge in whatever fetish, fan art, ship, fantasy, fanfic, game or story represents the day of love for you.
No matter the PC boundaries or how lewd it is to some. As long as it's not hurting anybody.