This tendency is by far the least well-defined of all the stacks (only one obsure article uses the term), but I'll give it a go. I found an article where a Komori Kentarou distinguished between "Jump-kei" and "Sunday-kei" in the 80s/90s ("kei" means type/lineage). According to him, Shounen Jump was more inclined to feature nekketsu/battle shounen stories, while Shounen Sunday had a lot of romcoms. He used the two terms to contrast the usual storytelling between the two. "Sunday-kei" romcoms were often very episodic, with no over-arching narratives to speak of. Even so, what "Sunday-kei" and "Jump-kei" share in common is that they defer the 'ultimate resolution' as much as possible.
For instance,when Goku has become so strong that none of the current characters could beat him, the author introduces a new character that is even stronger, or perhaps even defies the current power scaling system in its entirety. Up until the end, there will be a new opponent to beat. In a "Sunday-kei" romcom, most episodes will have a tease, a 'will they wont they' climax, that makes you believe that 'the confession' might happen, but no wait it actually won't, due to various possible reasons.
In other words, sandeikei anime mostly rely on a repeated postponement of romantic resolution in order to maintain narrative tension, instead of the threat of a Big Evil, or drastic character conflict. The tricky bit here (and what makes this a work in progress) is how to define "mostly rely". I made a stack for this tendency because I felt like it could be a good non-judgemental term for the recent rise in "waifu-bait" anime. But how devoid of drama must such series be in order to qualify as sandeikei? In one of the episodes of My Dress-Up Darling, Gojo heavily overworks himself to have the costume ready on time for an event. Obviously, the stress he goes through here creates some narrative tension.
What I'd argue, however, is that the thing that maintains tension in the overall narrative as a whole, is the unstable relationship between Gojo and Marin and how a 'friends to lovers' development could seemingly happen at any moment. That, I suppose, is what makes it a sandeikei.
In Kare Kano, the love interests actually end up with each other early on. However, being inexperienced teenagers, their emotions go all over the place, and it could be said that even here, the main tension in the story lies in how their relationship will develop. Except this time, it's not "when will it start?", but "how will it go on?".
I call it "sandeikei", rather than "Sunday-kei", because this narrative structure didn't originate from shounen, but from shoujo. "Sandei", in this sense, refers to both Sunday and sundae (charcters exclaiming "umai" after eating something sweet also comes from shoujo). Kind of cheesy, but this way, sandeikei isn't restricted to the realm of shounen.
Hopefully this makes it a bit clearer, although as I said, this tendency isn't really used by anyone as far as I know, and the definition here is mostly based on my own musings. I haven't seen all of the titles on the stack so I can't guarantee they all actually fit, but hence the "work in progress" disclaimer.
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For instance,when Goku has become so strong that none of the current characters could beat him, the author introduces a new character that is even stronger, or perhaps even defies the current power scaling system in its entirety. Up until the end, there will be a new opponent to beat. In a "Sunday-kei" romcom, most episodes will have a tease, a 'will they wont they' climax, that makes you believe that 'the confession' might happen, but no wait it actually won't, due to various possible reasons.
In other words, sandeikei anime mostly rely on a repeated postponement of romantic resolution in order to maintain narrative tension, instead of the threat of a Big Evil, or drastic character conflict. The tricky bit here (and what makes this a work in progress) is how to define "mostly rely". I made a stack for this tendency because I felt like it could be a good non-judgemental term for the recent rise in "waifu-bait" anime. But how devoid of drama must such series be in order to qualify as sandeikei? In one of the episodes of My Dress-Up Darling, Gojo heavily overworks himself to have the costume ready on time for an event. Obviously, the stress he goes through here creates some narrative tension.
What I'd argue, however, is that the thing that maintains tension in the overall narrative as a whole, is the unstable relationship between Gojo and Marin and how a 'friends to lovers' development could seemingly happen at any moment. That, I suppose, is what makes it a sandeikei.
In Kare Kano, the love interests actually end up with each other early on. However, being inexperienced teenagers, their emotions go all over the place, and it could be said that even here, the main tension in the story lies in how their relationship will develop. Except this time, it's not "when will it start?", but "how will it go on?".
I call it "sandeikei", rather than "Sunday-kei", because this narrative structure didn't originate from shounen, but from shoujo. "Sandei", in this sense, refers to both Sunday and sundae (charcters exclaiming "umai" after eating something sweet also comes from shoujo). Kind of cheesy, but this way, sandeikei isn't restricted to the realm of shounen.
Hopefully this makes it a bit clearer, although as I said, this tendency isn't really used by anyone as far as I know, and the definition here is mostly based on my own musings. I haven't seen all of the titles on the stack so I can't guarantee they all actually fit, but hence the "work in progress" disclaimer.