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How come a common cold is such a big thing in Anime?


atreyuavenged

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It's probably just a storytelling device to show progression in a relationship without having to put anyone in any real danger. Alternatively, it could be an indication of what's to come--it's just a cold this time, but later it'll turn out to be something worse or their weakened immune system allowed for the infiltration of something more life threatening. Depends on the story, I guess. TV Tropes has something about it.

This may be in order to pad out the season, to provide an excuse as to why that character isn't present when their skills or powers would wrap up the plot neatly in a few minutes, or to give the love interest an excuse to nurse him or her back to health. In romances, the sickness is all about the worried, tender nursing. And in the comedies, they frequently end with the sick character now all healthy and looking forward to doing whatever... only for their friend to suddenly start sneezing.

In Magical Diary, if you follow Professor Grabiner's path, he eventually falls ill to a mild cold and the other professor asks if you can bring him some soup and tea. If you agree, then it earns you brownie points with Grabiner and you can see him start to soften up to your character.

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Well, as stated, it is a way to have development between characters. And well, in day to day life, the common cold is a lot more common than hiking accidents or other means by which someone would be bed-ridden. The Constitution penalty is obviously why their colds are more threatening than one would expect. You should be glad that they use a method which is semi-believable, rather than something like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_death. Honestly, they could do a lot worse in finding reasons to develop relationships between characters.

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Have to agree with EO on this, it's usually just for character development although sometimes I've noticed when a certain character is sick they tend to miss out on some important piece of information or something and no one tells them it, so it may also be a way of not including a character in a scene when they should obviously be there. Sick is a pretty good way of taking a character out for a while

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Its only for character development? I'm kind of disappointed by that. I was really hoping there was some other meaning.

It doesn't have to "only" be for character development. It can portend larger events as previously mentioned--it's a cold now, but in the future they find out it's something worse. Or, as Dark Angel points out, it can put characters in a position where they miss out on vital information or a significant event. It can easily move the plot if used effectively. That it's mostly used to show a male character requiring the nursing ability of his love interest says more about the creators than the trope itself.

And even if that were the case, that it's "only" for character development, what's wrong with a little character development? Flat, static characters aren't much fun to watch--in my opinion, anyway, haha. I know it's less important for more action oriented media, but it's hard to care about what happens to a character you can't relate to.

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