Really, it stays open only because this site doesn't fear open, honest debate.
you mean cloti lies
but then, when the standards and goalposts keep moving further away for one side (but strangely more lenient for the other) you have to do what you can
not to mention take everything and find the best (not the most logical or simply or narratively coherent) interpretation of it and bingo. cloud is a selfish bastard who only saves people because he thinks they'll give him money, unless aerith melts his cold heart with a cool island song and then he just cares about her and her alone. also he lives with tifa just to mess her around because that's what you do when you're a fine upstanding gentleman who could go anywhere he wants in the world. (he's still better than zack who is now apparently a massive cheater despite only seeing him in a substantial relationship with just one woman.)
if you really want to, you can find an alternative viewpoint on everything:
Cloud thinks Aerith’s eyes are “impressive” —->
People comment on Cloud's eyes, but that isn't necessarily romantic. She's the last of an extinct race, they might have a strange glow to their eyes like SOLDIER do. 'Impressive eyes' is not intrinsically romantic.
Cloud thinks Aerith’s smile is a “good purchase” —->
In a desolate and depressing place like Midgar, it's probably nice to see someone smile.
Cloud leaves his initial meeting with Aerith with a “mysterious feeling” —->
Because he just met the last Ancient. 'Mysterious feeling' is not intrinsically romantic (unless that feeling was in his pants).
Cloud agrees to be Aerith’s bodyguard for the price of one date —->
They were just joking around, and it's now a reference to Zack thanks to CC.
Cloud laughs for the first and only time in FFVII with Aerith [he is attracted to her personality] —->
'Attracted to her personality' is just something you've read into it and are trying to use as fact now. You can laugh at something people say without being attracted to them as a person. You don't even have to like them most of the time, you can still laugh.
Cloud is triggered into a flashback about romantic relationships in Aerith’s house —->
Where you hear that he was 'not interested' in what his mother suggested (someone like Aerith) and he proceeds to leave her house without telling her.
Cloud and Aerith share an intimate date in the Sector 5 park where Aerith brings up her previous boyfriend, thus bringing romantic relationships to the forefront of the story —->
Only Aerith's past relationship, which serves the purpose of foreshadowing Zack's existence and is swiftly forgotten about when Tifa appears. That isn't in the 'forefront of the story' if it last for all of 15 seconds and you spend the next half an hour trying to dress Cloud like a lady.
Cloud tells Marlene he hopes Aerith likes him —->
Cloud was willing to leave Aerith's house in the middle of the night and never see her again hours before this.
Barret observes that Aerith seems to be the first person Cloud cares for besides himself —->
Barret later thinks Cloud is after Marlene. Barret is not the definitive source on what Cloud is like, he barely knows Cloud at this point. Then again Barret implies there is something between Cloud and Tifa when they return from the first bombing mission. As do other characters like Johnny.
Cloud is willing to risk his life to save a girl he just met —->
Cloud risked his life to save a doctor he didn't know from AVALANCHE in BC, and dozens of kids he doesn't know from Kadaj in AC, he even rescued Priscilla from a monster in FFVII. It's been noted that Cloud takes protecting people very seriously.
Tifa is jealous when she sees CloudxAerith flirting in the Shinra jail cell—->
Tifa is an insecure person who puts up a strong front. She hears an innocuous comment where Aerith jokes about a date and takes it the wrong way.
Cloud says he will always be there for Aerith in Cosmo Canyon —->
You've just totally twisted that into what you want. That isn't what he says.
Cloud and Aerith share a date at Golden Saucer —->
Where she talks more about his identity crisis and Cloud is oblivious.
SE intentionally includes a “wedding prediction” about Cloud and Aerith’s affinity that becomes “more painful” after Aerith’s death —->
That's not what it says. It says that Cait Sith seems to expect a wedding.
Cloud expresses a desire to be with Aerith in the Promised Land at the end of FFVII —->
He says he 'can meet' Aerith (that's not quite the same as desire), and the writers decided to have Tifa tag along with him on this so-called romantic venture.
Cloud visits Aerith’s Church in Advent Children and Tifa’s “complicated feelings” as a woman towards Aerith continue to this very day —->
That doesn't say anything about Cloud's feelings, just Tifa's perception of things.
SE says that Cloud is Aerith’s “koibito” —->
Tifa was called the "~~koibito~~" of someone by Nomura, and no one with any common sense would suggest that Tifa would be in a serious romantic relationship with anyone but Cloud. We're never given any evidence to suggest this. And as it is Tifa who is the *koi bito* (thus the object of affection of someone) and the only logical partner is Cloud, this tells us what Cloud's feelings are: he loves Tifa. Aerith's quote only says that she loves him.
SE includes a romantic cameo of Cloud and Aerith in FFIX —->
Only English fans seem to consider this a reference to FFVII. When the Ultimania Omega listed FFVII cameos in other games it didn't say a word about this. It mentions the Cloud sprite in the PS1 verson of FFV, it mentions character's names appearing in other games, but not this. FFIX's section mentions Zidane talking abotu a 'spiky haired guy with a big sword', but doesn't mention anything about a romantic cameo of the true couple of FFVII? (Apart from 'Knight #7' and a flowergirl, there isn't anything to suggest that Weimar is a reference to Cloud since his personality is nothing like Cloud's.) At least it's not as bad as the 'Summer and Winter' monkeys in FFX-2.
SE says that Cloud and Aerith have a “special bond” —->
So do Cloud and Sephiroth. 'Special bond' is not intrinsically romantic.
SE says Cloud wavers between two love interests —->
Irrelevant to how it ends. They were talking about the conception of the story, not its final conclusion.
SE makes Cloud and Aerith Emperor and Empress —->
In a little spin-off game where Zack and Tifa are the school kid couple for some reason. Do SE think that's a 'canon' coupling too?
that didn't take long to come up with, except the ffix one where i looked at the book again and do a little web search (there is not one hit for 'ff ワイマール　クラウド' or 'ｆｆ プルート隊　クラウド' or others, i guess japanese fans don't write these things online. they must just pass notes secretly like an underground cult.)
it's half facetious, but some of it is serious. but can you tell which is which?
I love that argument. That SE would include Tifa attempting to cockblock Cloud IN THE END SEQUENCE.
