Many people in this site are really fixated on sexual tension to validate a romantic pairing when it really doesn't have to be that way. The show simply isn't very sexual (unless you count Secelia's mere presence sexual). You can see it in the het pairings too, they didn't have any sexual tension either. Norea and El5n, Petra and Lauda, or even Guel's crush on Suletta, these are clearly romantic (it's a more ambiguous with El5n and Norea because of their extraordinary circumstances but I think it's pretty clear that the show is trying to convey it) but there was no sexual tension at all. The closest we have to anything sexual is El5n creeping on Suletta. It's just how the show is, you could call it prude sure, but Sulemio completely falls into what this show categorizes as romance.
This doesn't mean the characters are ace either (god the absolute shitshow everytime there's an ace pairing on this site), some relationships in media simply don't explore the character's sexuality and that's completely fine. When you watch "Inception" or some shit, do you question that Leo and his wife's relationship was romantic just because there wasn't any explicitly sexual scene? And if you walk away from Ep 17 thinking, "Ah these 2 are just platonic" I have no idea what to say to you.
Ask yourself this and answer honestly, if these two were a het pairing, would there be any doubt that their relationship is romantic? I just "love" how if we were watching a show like SAO, there would be no question that Kirito would end up with Asuna from the very first scene they are together but if the pairing is gay we second guess even when they are married.
The show IS most definitely rushed though. Just another season would've made it a truly great anime I feel.
last edited at Jul 6, 2023 4:17PM