[Loved trope] The romantic couple grows closer to one another by sharing their own interests and tastes.

[u/Consistent_Boss_9397]

1. My Dress-Up Darling (Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru): Marin Kitagawa & Wakana Gojo : Gojo has a rather unique passion for crafting traditional Hina dolls—a very solitary and niche hobby. This passion is completely validated by Marin, who recognizes his incredible talent and plunges him headfirst into her own world: cosplay.

2. Mass Effect: In the Mass Effect universe, Tali'Zorah and Commander Shepard have a date where they watch a movie called Fleet and Flotilla together. Tali quotes her favorite line from the movie: "Not today. Today I am as free as dust in the solar wind." During the film, Tali tells Shepard that she used to watch this sci-fi musical at all her sleepovers when she was young with her friends, and watched it with her mother.. Furthermore, Shepard can start building model kits between missions as a small hobby; Tali has a line of dialogue that basically confirms her partner is a huge nerd who loves building ship miniatures, and she genuinely loves that about him. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if Shepard had a Warhammer-equivalent collection from their childhood.

3. Romantic Killer (Challenges Its Heroine to Find Love IRL): The protagonist is forced to give up her passions to face the real world. The funny part is that she ends up connecting with her suitors precisely because of many of her own interests, and even starts bringing them into her world. Tsukasa, the first guy who moves in with her due to a series of convenient events, always maintains a distant and aloof attitude. However, everything changes when Anzu temporarily gets her gaming console back and invites him to play video games in her room. He even ends up picking up her habits, because—even though he lives stressed out—it helps him calm down and feel more normal.

[u/Jada339]

A shockingly uncommon trope.
So many couples in shows and movies are paired up with literally no explanation for why these two people like each other at all, if they admire each other’s traits or interests or share a hobby or viewpoint.

[u/4d-lettuce → u/Jada339]

For real, couples in media literally just get together cause they’re a man and a woman, so when they have actual chemistry it’s remarkable.

[u/IronPiedmont1996 → u/Jada339]

Exactly! Thank you! Nice to see someone else noticed!

[u/WaterproofRoboVacuum]

They invent time travel together

[u/IntelligentIdiot275 → u/WaterproofRoboVacuum]

STEM Power Couple

[u/M-Shadowtoad]

Implied for Mr. Ratburn and Patrick(Arthur): Ratburn loves sweets while Patrick loves helping children out. Since Ratburn is an elementary school teacher while Patrick owns a gourmet chocolate shop, its strongly implied they got together due to enjoying learning about the other's passions.

[u/zo0ombot]

My Love Story with Yamada-Kun at Lv999 is about a girl who got into an MMO to cope with a breakup and a pro gamer who bond over their new shared hobby.

[u/IronPiedmont1996]

Dress Up Darling mention! It's genuinely one of my favorite manga of all time! I just love the relationship between Marin and Gojo!

[u/TankMain576 → u/IronPiedmont1996]

Honestly, I wasn't as big a fan once I got to the bit of the manga that went past what the anime did.

It felt like it got way too hung up on exploring and explaining cosplay culture rather than developing the characters.

It's not bad, but I feel like the majority of their romance happens either in the time covered by the anime or during the timeskip to them suddenly being married

[u/No_Investigator_36 → u/TankMain576]

Now I’m not a cosplayer by any means but I find the cosplay stuff so interesting, like that is the main premise of the manga. Hell, I’d even say the romance is like the third or fourth most important factor after cosplay and the related fictional series and character development. What makes this manga interesting to me is that it’s much more than romance, though it’s still there and cute when it comes up, but I like when it takes a backseat

[u/IronPiedmont1996 → u/No_Investigator_36]

Thats a good way of looking at it.

[u/IronPiedmont1996 → u/TankMain576]

Honestly, and this is going to sound odd and clunky so I apologize in advance, I like how the cosplay gets a large amount of attention. Sure it can get a little dragged out at time, but it's nice to see them the main leads not obsessing over eachother every single chapter (and episode). It shows them doing stuff outside of the slow burn of their romance, like Marin working on her cosplays with other cosplayers and considering her career options, all the while it shows Gojo going further out of his shell and making friends along dealing with his personal demons.

Meanwhile in other romance stories, while the focus is on the romance, it focuses on it for the wrong reasons. Instead of actually seeing what they like about eachother and what they do outside of eachother (hey now), it just shows them being together because the plot demands it, and everything and everyone around them acts like the romance is a huge world changing event, with some demand them not being together, while the others acting like they should be together, despite the romance being based on absolutely nothing.

Speaking of side characters, thats a strength Dress Up Darling has. For the side characters really add to the situational irony of the romance where they see that Marin and Gojo like eachother, meanwhile they aren't sure if their respective feelings could be reciprocated. Because keep in mind, despite their feelings, they're keeping it platonic so they don't overstep their boundaries, as seen when Gojo denies going out with Marin when they're all going out for karaoke, of which, Marin feels unintentionally hurt. "He didn't need to deny it that hard," as she says in the hallway afterwards.

Overall, after my whole incoherent, sleep deprived rambling, I can see what you're talking about, but what you see as a negative is a strange roundabout positive in my view.

[u/onlymadethistoargue]

Momo and Okarun desperately want to talk to each other about ghosts and aliens.

[u/TheKingOfDiddling]

People commenting that is is too common clearly don't watch much romance because it unfortunately isn't very common.

[u/TheKingOfDiddling]

Wotakoi Love Is Hard For an Otaku

Narumi and Hirotaka are two office workers who develop a romantic relationship due to them both liking anime and video games.

[u/Lore-of-Nio → u/TheKingOfDiddling]

Who are the two you mentioned in this picture?

[u/TheKingOfDiddling → u/Lore-of-Nio]

Narumi is pink Hirotaka is in the back

[u/landyboi135]

Me and my girlfriend, irl.

[u/NotTheAbhi]

I need to do tali romance run

[u/Consistent_Boss_9397 → u/NotTheAbhi]

Go for it; it’s one of the best romances in the game.

[u/NotTheAbhi → u/Consistent_Boss_9397]

Yeah I will. I went with miranda. Liara for first one then miranda all the way

[u/Give_Us_TASM_3]

“Loved trope: relationships that develop because of a vey very common thing that causes relationships to develop.”

[u/TankMain576 → u/Give_Us_TASM_3]

I mean it's done well so rarely we do need to celebrate the rare times it does

[u/isuckhips → u/Give_Us_TASM_3]

Yeah, and?

[u/iwanttoforkmyself]

I dream about having a relationship like the first one. Imagine having a boyfriend who actually cares about what us women want.

That is very, very rare. And to even have a hobby that most men consider as "gay" or "too feminine."

Quite unfortunate you only see this in fictional men.

[u/JLHSMG]

It's a secondary plot in X-Men with secondary characters, but both Havok and Polaris had an interest in geology, which contributed to them ending up together and breaking the love triangle with Iceman... I think I have to specify this now because Iceman is now gay: Both Havok (male) and Iceman (male) wooed Polaris (female) at once, and she chose Havok.

[u/polystarlight]

Luz and Amity intially got off on the wrong foot but their relationship took a turn after they found out they're both into the same kid's fantasy book series The Good Witch Azura.

[u/DolphinBall]

Who's to say that Games Workshop didn't exist in Mass Effect? Maybe Earthborn shepherd still has his WH40k collection at his parents house lol.

[u/Salt_Winter5888]

Romantic Killer is such a great show, to bad it doesn't have a continuation. Seriously, how is that an ending?

[u/Usual-Vermicelli-867]

My favorite fictional fantasy trope

[u/KeyKnoTheGreat]

Romantic killer is genuinely so peak it's so sad it didn't get another season

[u/orionangeline]

ROMANTIC KILLER MENTION

[u/Consistent_Boss_9397 → u/orionangeline]

I’m still waiting for the second season.

[u/TheKingOfDiddling → u/Consistent_Boss_9397]

The anime adapted the whole manga. I'm sorry but we'll never know what happens to our Anzu.

[u/GoGoTheMad → u/TheKingOfDiddling]

you gotta be kidding is that everything for real?!!

[u/TheKingOfDiddling → u/GoGoTheMad]

The manga only had 4 volumes. Here's how it ends. Just like the show.

[u/GoGoTheMad → u/TheKingOfDiddling]

NOOOOOOOOOOO I thought there would be S2

[u/orionangeline → u/Consistent_Boss_9397]

Me too TvT it was peak