"The squick factor of getting with your bestfriend's (who died to save you) girl violates the biggest of bro-codes."
Who better to take care of the woman you loved than the best friend you died to save? This seems very romantic to me, not squicky at all.
That's exactly the reason Zack/Aerith/Cloud become my OT3. It'd be perfect if Tifa didnt exist because real Cloud had always been loving Tifa haha.
But maybe those who oppose this idea watch too much Pearl Harbor lol, it gives bad taste.
There's a better JP movie with WWII setting about a soldier who opposes kamikaze because he wanted to return to his wife, but in the end, he decides to protect his pupil and ask him to take care of his wife.... and this story makes me bawl.
Also, I think Zack/Aerith/Cloud is close parallel to Chappu/Wakka/Lulu, too bad Cleriths spread their propaganda that it's like Seifer/Rinoa/Squall.
idk it's just silly to be that invested at this point, given that the Compilation follows shounen tropes more staunchly the longer it goes on.
Btw, I want to add one that is very similar to SOLDIER!Cloud dynamic without having an alien cell in your body. This comes from 90s soccer manga that wins Kodansha Awards for best shounen, the title is SHOOT! The manga was ongoing in 1990-2003 (37 volumes) but it also has a prequel, sequel, spin-off, and live-action.
The story is about the main character becomes the legend's successor/legacy. Toshi (16 yo) admires Kubo (17) and idolizes him so he studied in Kakegawa High to join its soccer club. Kubo is the captain, and a talented player with a bright future whom Japan media predict would become a legendary football player since he joins a junior team of a football club in Germany because his parents worked there. As his family returned to Japan, many school wanna recruit him but he prefers to be the founder of his own team in a school that has just been established. Well, he's idealized but also wants more freedom. In his first year, the underestimated team reached semi-finals of the prefecture qualification. Popular and getting attention from the media, Kubo is everything Toshi wanted to be. But Toshi is just an awkward dork despite his talent.
Anyway, Kubo has a girlfriend he had dated since first grade, Minako, a playful girl who would like to take Toshi's hand and drag him to accompany her in the cafe whenever Kubo is busy with his fangirls. Meanwhile, Toshi has a crush on the club's manager, Kazumi, but he never could admit and show it (anime turn them into sweet childhood friends though). Instead, their relationship is more like bickering close friends. And actually, she also feels the same. They are slow-burn romance.
Just a few months after Toshi joined and trained, in summer tournament, Kubo died too young because of leukemia. The manga just reaches 8 volumes of 37! He didn't tell anyone on the team about his illness, he didn't listen to his doctor to stop playing football, and sometimes he cried alone in the club room knowing his life is short. He died shortly after making a goal to goal and pass 11 players from the opponent team in semifinal to make a draw 2-2, giving the team hope, and he trusted Toshi to make a goal in the last 10 minutes with the deadly shot he had trained him. The team wins their first prefecture semifinal but they lost their beloved captain. Still grieving, they can't play properly in the final next day and lost by score 7-1. The smile Kubo gave Toshi right before the semifinal match and asked him "Toshi, do you like soccer?" is something he would remember forever.
The team slowly moves on and prepares themselves for winter tournament. But when Toshi is given Kubo's jersey, number 10, he doubts himself and feels the weight is too heavy for carrying Kubo's legacy. Kamiya, Kubo's bestfriend and also the new captain, tells Toshi this is Kubo's decision before he died. But he's too nervous because the media set a high standard about him since Kubo becomes a legend and he isn't ready to be compared with Kubo. In the first match in the tournament, the team wins 7-0 but Toshi, as center forward, doesn't make any goal. Kazumi tries to support Toshi genuinely but it never ends up well. Minako, then fills this blank.
With how Minako handles Toshi, he starts to get attracted to her. She told him that he and Kubo are similar in how they pursue their dream and passion for soccer and she gets why Kubo picked Toshi as his successor. Minako tries to make Toshi believe that he can be like Kubo. But... she also always go on date with Toshi in the place she dated Kubo and gives Toshi cola after club because it's Kubo's favorite drink although Toshi prefers Pocari Sweat. Though, after few meetings, Toshi becomes more confident and cocky that he can do everything Kubo did in the field. At first, in few matches, it works and the team is happy. Only Kamiya reacts indifferently about it.
At this point, I think this is similar to SOLDIER!Cloud copying Zack's mannerism and 'become' him... with Aerith attracted to Cloud because of their similarity and miss Zack so bad.
And finally, Toshi makes blunders because he always tried so hard to copy Kubo's technique, become Kubo. But Kamiya saves the team. After match, he's angry at Toshi and punches him because this is not what Kubo meant Toshi to be as a legacy, that he and Kubo is a very different person in the field, that he should trust himself and be himself. Realize his mistake, Toshi meets Minako and tells her to not meet him again. And he says sorry because he isn't Kubo. She cries and realizes her mistake too, admitting that she feels very lonely because Kubo is gone.
Skip the story, Toshi ends up with Kazumi. The compilation of SHOOT ends with Toshi becomes a player in Real Madrid and win a match in World Cup against Germany (not a final though haha).
Kenshin loved Tomoe, but she dies and he ends up with Kaoru.
I'm interested more with Kiyosato/Tomoe/Kenshin though. The way Tomoe slowly loves Kenshin (although she has agenda to get revenge for Kiyosato's death) is similar to how Aerith falls for Cloud (although it's started because she saw Zack in him). The second man gives them happiness. They died shortly because she protected him and handled the enemy alone after realizing their feelings . Kenshin meets Kaoru 10 years after Tomoe died, so it isn't similar to Cloud and Tifa's story.
But yeah, romance in FF7 Compilation follows shounen's trope