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Just rambling about my favorite ships and what interests me in them.

What I like about Amu & Ikuto (from Shugo Chara) is how casual they are with each other. Especially in an anime; that is really rare, because in basically every other anime that exist, boys act like it’s forbidden to enter a girl’s room or that a girl shouldn’t enter a boys room alone (because who knows what might happen...) It’s super traditionalistic and I hate how it’s still a popular idea in anime today...
As you can see , Ikuto is just casually lounging on her bed, he doesn’t care, she doesn’t care. They act perfectly normal with each other all the time, they banter, which is refreshing to see since it’s super rare.
He teases her ; you could even picture them as brother and sister, that’s how comfortable they are with each other.
The only problem I have with them is the age difference; she’s in primary school and he’s in highschool... (she’s like 10 and he’s like 15) Thankfully there’s nothing romantic going on between them (he hugs her and teaser her, but that’s it). But still, they did not have to do that. Well it’s not the anime’s fault, it’s the author’s fault. In fact I’d say it’s Japan’s fault, with their lolita “fashion”. If they wanted to make her younger, they could have made her 14 and him 16. They didn’t have to make her younger than that.
Also, she doesn’t act like a 10 year old, she acts a lot more mature (I’d say her mental age is like 17), so that’s another reason that it doesn’t work. And It’s not just her, but her classmates too; all of them act a lot more mature than they should be. I never could picture her as a kid. Which makes the age once again completely stupid.
So I personally choose to head-cannon that they are the same age, and only focus on their interactions. And then if you think about it that way, it makes it so much nicer (and wholesome), because they really do care for each other in a mature way. And that is, in fact, what makes me like them. Because the problem with a lot of stories that I found is that characters often don’t know how to interact with each other very well.
So, while the anime is progressive on certain parts (and I’m grateful for that), these progressive moments get completely shut down and thrown out the window because of another part that make this manga uncomfortable to watch, which is very very unfortunate.

With Luka & Marinette (from Miraculous Ladybug) I like how they compensate each other. Luka is calm and patient, which helps Marinette who get’s easily flustered. They are also completely open with each other because they trust each other. I don’t think you can find a more wholesome ship to be honest.
Honestly, that’s why I don’t have much to rant on about them, because they are perfect in my opinion.

While Luka and Marinette compensate each other, Yato & Hiyori (from Noragami) battle with the same kind of problems. I’ll let you read this in regards to Yato. Yato & Hiyori both want what’s best for the other but are both afraid of showing their feelings. This stagnates and really slows down their progress with each other. This ship is more of a bitter-sweet kind, since we know it can’t end well, but we desperately want it too. They both have sweet moments and heart-breaking moments, which really tug at your heart.
But the reason they tug at your heart is because of how well written they are. A bad character can’t create give you so much feelings. They went through so much together since they’re in a long running series, they had time to do many many things. And it’s all the added things that they did that make it so much more heart-wrenching when they can’t tell each other their feelings.
But I digress. What is the reason that makes them so interesting? The struggles that they go through are struggles that almost anyone has gone through. Many people have praised Noragami for creating characters that hit so close to home, and that is exactly what Yato & Hiyori do.
Take Silent Voice for example; a manga that is also meant to give you feels with characters that experience real life situations. To me it isn’t as impactful because you can’t relate to them as much. There’s a bully and that’s the only feature that describes him. Yes, his journey is about becoming a better person, but if his only feature is him being a bully, he doesn’t have much to go for him.
Yato also hurt people, but he’s shown to be more than that. He’s shown he can also be in fact caring, he can be funny. He also loves people and wants to help the people he loves. He makes mistakes, and he gets back up. He’s shown to be 3 dimensional; he’s shown to be a person.
All the characters act their age: all the Gods show that they can be wise when they want to, even though they’re not always that way; Yato can be reasonable and mature when he wants to (he takes care of Yukine even if he’s still learning, and he knows what’s best for Hiyori - he didn’t turn her into a shinki when she was an ayakashi), so he can be wise when he wants to, even if most of the time he’s not. And Tengin, who is suppose to be the wise man, can also be immature and tease Yato when he feels like it . And I really appreciate that because that really gives all the Gods different personalities.
And all the humans are limited in their perspective, which is linked to the way they lived. However, Yukine is shown to develop and change, while Kazuma is shown to stagnate, which also shows how different humans can be, and shows a wide range of different personalities in them too. And Hiyori act her age: your average high-schooler, which is not easy to do because in a lot of stories, the author either make their characters younger or older than they actually are.