>>44706072Mostly, unnatural social progressions and "off" interpersonal chemistry that seems to excuse the relationship rather than develop it. Portraying a relationship as a thing one character obtains from another, and writing characters as relationships, rather than as characters who happen to end up in relationships.
The last part tends to be the most damning; it's one thing for a couple to be written with the other character in mind, "two-person characters" are a completely fine thing, but it's very much another when a character exists to be in a relationship with another, much more in focus character. It tends to create very bizarre "non-people" characters, that can indirectly harm the writing of other characters that interact with them.
It also tends to be made into a more important deal than it should be, especially for writers that have had no, or perhaps even worse, only one romantic experience.
X kinda liking Y is not what X should be thinking about when the building is on fire.
It's also another place to get bogged down, even IF done well. Writing an entire chapter about X and Y trying to get their feelings out is great if people are here for X and Y's relationship, not so much if they are here for X's Wartortle coming to terms with balancing with its new tail, if that makes sense.
Finally, I don't know what else to call it, "Kirito Syndrome", where basic human decency causes someone to fall in love eternally and endlessly, is never not cringe, and tends to undermine whatever the author may have been hoping for with the character besides, and is a particular pitfall of people with no relationship experience, raised on a diet of anime. It's not a judgement thing, it's just something that is very very visible when it happens, and almost unavoidably causes immense damage to the characters involved.
