Last year, the internet introduced me to White Day. What we do for Valentine’s Day in the US is split into two holidays in Japan; whereas Valentine’s Day is the day where women express affection for men in the form of chocolate, White Day (celebrated March 14th ) is the day where the men reciprocate, also in the form of chocolate, but the white variety, hence the holiday’s name.
So in celebration of White Day, I have compiled a list of anime moments where ladies get their candy. So to speak.
In the interest of balance, my co-conspirator Steven Hubbard, who wrote the Valentine’s counterpart to this article, has a contribution to this discussion, so he’ll weigh in at the tail end of this.
I Love You Warts and All—Durarara
One of Durarara’s strengths is its incredible dialogue. All of the characters are downright philosophers, with unique and carefully thought out ways of seeing the world. When a Durarara character busts out with a monologue, you know it’s going to shake your shit, and Shinra’s bizarrely beautiful love confession to Celty is no exception. Celty is a Dullahan, a type of fairy whose head is not attached to its body. Rather the Dullahans carry their heads and ride through the night on black steeds (think the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow). Celty is immortal, but lost her head long ago, a fact that gives her great anxiety. She discovers that Shinra, a human doctor and her best friend of many years, has hidden information from her that may have helped her find her head, and she is furious. Shinra explains, then, that he does not want her to find her head. He says that he is in love with her, and