Dating and marriage

Start here

• Hunter × HunterWhy Did Meruem Love Komugi? Memory Retrieval, Reversed Hierarchy in Gungi, and Attraction to the Only Opponent Who Could Defeat HimMeruem’s feelings did not begin as ordinary romance.
• Why Do People Call You Kind When You're Just Curious About Them?“You're so thoughtful.”
• Badly in LoveBadly in Love Season 2 Was Less a Dating Show Than a Human-Behavior Death Game — Chihuahua Taichan, Mislearned Rules, the Looks Market, and a 14-Day Durability TestThe show becomes surprisingly readable if the only task is predicting who will match.

This week’s archive picks

Each week we rotate in a few older articles from this theme, taking turns through all of them.

• A breakup review at midnight; “I can't marry or work” by morningMidnight: “I'll just work out why we broke up.”
• Do vintage clothes make you more attractive? Patina vs neglectDo vintage clothes make you more attractive?
• When family reopens the couple's decisions: boundaries in marriageTwo adults talk something through and agree.
• Do higher autistic traits mean less affection in romance? AQ studyOnce you fight through the headline and reach the paper, the story becomes much less dramatic.
• "Move Over, I'm the Bride": A Joke About Wanting a Savior in MarriageThere's a line that goes: "If someone would fix all my worries, my family's worries, my life problems, and give me the life I want, I'd marry them even if they…
• Can a same-sex couple tell if they're turned on at the bathhouse? The "you were staring" problem, explained by physiologySame-sex couples get a very concrete everyday perk, as long as the facility's rules let both of them use the same bath.

All “Dating and marriage” articles, newest first

Newest first

• The Real Point of the “Chiikawa Abuse Detector” Is Not Chiikawa“People who get irritated by Chiikawa are emotionally abusive” is far too crude to function as a psychological test.
• Mother-Daughter Conflict Is Not Just Fighting: Parents’ Old Expectations and Passing the Pressure to a PartnerMother-daughter conflict is often not just emotional fighting.
• Marriage = Happiness.exe is OFF by defaultMarriage is not a “complete happiness” button.
• Do You Need Marriage to Feel Secure? Freedom and Mutual Care in a RelationshipThe closest sociological concepts are hypergamy and the marriage/mating gradient.
• Time Does Not Stop in *I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day* — Sheena and Mimi’s Confession, Kisses, Marriage, Unequal Aging, and DeathThe world of I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day contains restoration magic that can directly repair damaged bodies.
• If You're Not Nervous Around Your Crush, Is It Even Love? That Logic Breaks the Moment You Start DatingThere's a dating rule floating around: if someone really likes you, they'll be too nervous to talk. If they chat with you easily, you're apparently out of luck.
• “I don’t want to marry them” to wedding plans: where are the 8 missing episodes?Earlier, the person reportedly said, “I can’t see this relationship leading to marriage” and even “I don’t want to marry someone like that.”
• Badly in LoveBadly in Love Season 2 Was Less a Dating Show Than a Human-Behavior Death Game — Chihuahua Taichan, Mislearned Rules, the Looks Market, and a 14-Day Durability TestThe show becomes surprisingly readable if the only task is predicting who will match.
• My Partner Never Plans Dates. Is That a Red Flag—or Just Our Dynamic?One person researches every date; the other cheerfully says yes.
• My Partner Has Controlling Parents. Do I Have to Deal With Them if We Marry?Love the person, not necessarily their parents. How to handle intrusive in-laws, location tracking, shared finances and boundaries without demanding…
• Is Wanting Daily Cuddles a Good Reason to Get Married? Love, Independence, and Real LifeDescription: Want to stay affectionate after marriage without giving up your own time?
• Why Can Masturbation Feel Satisfying Yet Still Not Replace Sex With a Partner?Description: Orgasm and physical stimulation are only part of what some people want from sex.
• ChiikawaThe biggest shift: stop taking responsibility for other people's unspoken mindsThe most exhausting part of relationships may not be what people actually say.
• Why Do I Overanalyze My Partner, Then Melt When We Meet?You can scrutinize every detail of your relationship and still turn into a lovesick fool the second your partner appears.
• Why Poor Anxiety Processing Can Turn a Relationship or Marriage into a Loss-Making OperationWhat matters in a relationship or marriage is not whether your partner never feels anxious.
• Hunter × HunterWhy Did Meruem Love Komugi? Memory Retrieval, Reversed Hierarchy in Gungi, and Attraction to the Only Opponent Who Could Defeat HimMeruem’s feelings did not begin as ordinary romance.
• Do You Have to Visit Your In-Laws Every Holiday? The Cost of Family ObligationsVisiting your partner's family can mean more than an expensive trip.
• Why Do Some Women Prefer Tall Men? The Feeling of Being ProtectedDescription: A tall partner may seem protective, but does a height-gap hug truly feel safer?
• When Your Partner Lets a Text Expire Until Date Night: Avoidance or Just Slow Replies?A delayed text alone is not evidence that your partner avoids difficult conversations.
• Why Leonardo da Vinci Never Married — and Why His Apprentices May Have Been a Human AI WorkshopLeonardo da Vinci never married.
• Series TitleThe goal before marriage is therefore not to find a flawless person.
• Asking “Do You Really Love Me?” Again: Trust and Unspoken ProblemsIf months of care are heavily discounted by one slower reply, one quiet day, less physical affection, or a partner spending time with friends, security has to…
• Three Months of Dating-App Fees, a Relationship in One: Was It a Waste?You pay for three months on a dating app. One month later, you start seeing someone seriously and stop using it.
• Your partner's parents track their phone. When did dating require a chaperone?You're finally dating someone you like. Everything feels brighter. Even dinner tastes better.
• Why Do People Call You Kind When You're Just Curious About Them?“You're so thoughtful.”
• Does Marriage Make You Happy?｜The Trap of “Marriage = Happiness,” Cinderella-Style Expectations, Misdiagnosed Problems, and Relationship QualityThe belief that “getting married will make me happy” is not entirely false.
• Hello, I'm a Witch and My Crush Wants Me to Make a Love Potion: Rose Declares Heartbreak Before Asking One QuestionYour crush shows up at your door. He's got a request. Promising start, right?
• The fix is ready, but the relationship is over: making room for “no”You may intend to stop at a no, but your partner may struggle to say it. No kissing permit required: ask, listen and actually stop.
• “You’re Like a Big Golden Retriever”: Does That Mean They’re Not Into You?If someone you like says you’re like a big dog, the golden retriever type, that alone doesn’t put you in the friend zone.
• The Relationship Steps Fiction Leaves OutThere is a strange gap in the way romance is shown in media.
• Do 23-Year-Olds Usually Have a Boyfriend or Girlfriend?Twenty-three can feel like the age when everyone suddenly seems coupled up.
• Why can dating for marriage lead to adjustment disorder? Rejection, comparison and the exhaustion of “starting over”Someone says they developed adjustment disorder while trying to find a partner for marriage.
• Does Love Really Make You Stupid? What Research Says About “Love Is Blind”Kind to dogs, harsh with the waiter: one good trait does not erase the other behavior.
• Why Couples Break Up When Neither Person Is the Bad GuyWhen we look back on a breakup, we love to find a culprit.
• "Move Over, I'm the Bride": A Joke About Wanting a Savior in MarriageThere's a line that goes: "If someone would fix all my worries, my family's worries, my life problems, and give me the life I want, I'd marry them even if they…
• Why Am I Always the One Planning Our Dates? How to Tell Who's Carrying the LoadWritten: July 15, 2026 Updated: September 24, 2026
• It's Not Enough to Want to Be Together Forever: How Does Love Erode When Daily Shared Management Differs?daily-shared-values-and-marriage-mismatch.md
• Still Thinking About My Ex After 4 Months, But Not Going BackAfter a breakup, your head replays the same relationship over and over.
• We Had a Great Relationship, but We Couldn't Run a Marriage Togetherrelationship-fun-but-not-marriage-project.md
• Why does a slow reply from a partner annoy you when a friend's never does?Friend doesn't text back: "Probably busy.
• What to Do When Your Partner Says "I Didn't Like It" the Next DayDating can throw some really hard situations at you.
• Is a 17-year-old dating an 18-year-old illegal in Japan? Why birthdays decide, and how other countries handle close-in-age couplesPicture two people who start dating at 16 and 17.
• If One Problem Happens, Is Trust Over? — How “Zero Failure” Security Can Freeze Love, Career Changes, and Independent Living, and What Research Says About “Repairable Security”Consider two anonymized people, A and B.
• The Breakup Is Over, but Your Ex's Netflix Login Is Still AliveYou broke up.
• Does a Girl Calling You "Cute" Mean She Likes You? What the Research SaysEvery so often this one floats around social media:
• Breaking Down the Weight of Love, Marriage, and Work: A Series RoundupThis series isn't just about "I don't like people who don't want to work," "gifts feel heavy," or "kids scare me."
• Can a same-sex couple tell if they're turned on at the bathhouse? The "you were staring" problem, explained by physiologySame-sex couples get a very concrete everyday perk, as long as the facility's rules let both of them use the same bath.
• Why a Great Dad Can Make You Not Want to Get MarriedA quick note first: this article isn't a knock on fathers who worked their whole lives for their families.
• Happy Single but Want a Relationship? Choose One That Makes Life BiggerYou can enjoy being single and still want a relationship.
• Is Marrying Young Really a Win? Looks, Vibes, Kids and Cooling Marriages, by the NumbersOpen LINE (Japan's main messaging app) and the profile photos of your female classmates have turned into wedding shots, babies and family portraits.
• Why a Breakup Can Feel Like Losing Part of YourselfA breakup is usually described as the loss of someone you love.
• Looking for a spouse turns dinner into a job interview. Watch how they handle “no,” not just where they liveYou sit down to dinner and start scoring the person across from you: could I marry them?
• Do higher autistic traits mean less affection in romance? AQ studyOnce you fight through the headline and reach the paper, the story becomes much less dramatic.
• I Tried a Free City-Run Matchmaking Service, and Dating Had Become a WorkflowWhat happens when a public agency designs a matchmaking app seriously?
• Love Catcher Is Romantic Werewolf—Except It Stops Being Werewolf Once Feelings Become RealAt first glance, Love Catcher looks almost exactly like a dating-show version of a social-deduction game.
• The day the next table became a relationship reality showI was sitting in a family restaurant, eating pizza and tapping away on my phone.
• Why Some Slow Repliers Feel Easy to Be With: Coordination Cost and Living-Together CompatibilitySome people do not reply quickly.
• Zoro, Please Stop Turning Enemies Into Live Training Dummies — His “Combat CPU,” Conqueror’s Haki, and Why Mihawk and Shanks Stayed Hidden for So LongThis article discusses events through Chapter 1194.
• When "just cuddling" matters more than sex: everyday touchDiscussions of physical intimacy often jump straight to intercourse.
• I miss my ex, but I do not want to get back togetherRelationship memories sometimes produce logs that look completely broken:
• I reviewed 10 dating tips and had done most: don't over-optimizeOne day, an acquaintance sent over a ten-point summary of dating and marriage advice meant to improve the odds of a serious relationship.
• A deep talk on the first meeting does not mean you want a relationshipSometimes a first conversation becomes strangely deep.
• Attractive enough to get there, but my body wouldn't bootSometimes intimacy moves faster than relationship labels.
• If "want to meet?" makes people vanish, try "call or meet?"Something odd happens on dating apps.
• The romance looked doubtful. The new town still sounded fun“Let’s call.” “Let’s meet.” The invitations came from my match.
• The brain said yes unanimously, but reality got no minutesA strange kind of relationship bug appears in dating and at work.
• What Does a Marriage-Hunting EQ Assessment Measure? Reading the “Can’t Tolerate” QuestionsThe phrase “EQ assessment” may suggest a general emotional-intelligence test: Can you read emotions?
• Everyone in the city is in profile-hidden mode: attraction HUDsYou see an attractive stranger walking down the street.
• Parrot: "mate material." Cat: "I just turned around": rear near faceA social-media clip shows a small parrot pressing and rubbing its rear against its owner’s face.
• If your partner were an animal: why "large dog" is so strong“What animal is your partner like?”
• We broke up, but “so annoying” stayedSomething gets annoying, and out comes “so annoying”—in that particular way my ex used to say it.
• Why Does Love Look Like a Choice Between “The Person I Like” and “The Person Who Likes Me”?“Do I date the person I like, or the person who likes me? Romance is an either-or choice.”
• When dating-app chat feels like a job interview: why replies backfire“My hobby is listening to music. It helps me refresh between study sessions.”
• No hobbies, no friends: will marriage make you happy?Weekdays are a loop between home and work.
• Can affectionate touch make you trust a partner too much? Keep “safe person” separate from “final approver”A partner hugs you, strokes your head, lets you rest against them, and your whole system relaxes.
• A breakup review at midnight; “I can't marry or work” by morningMidnight: “I'll just work out why we broke up.”
• Give up a job change or investing for a partner? StabilityA partner may say: “I don’t want you transferred,” “I don’t want to move far away,” “I never want debt for investing,” and “I want a predictable life.”
• Can you date a nurse or other shift worker? Night shifts and datesYou meet someone online who seems genuinely nice.
• Can a Haunted-House Joke End a Relationship? When a Mismatch Is Fixable“If you get scared in the haunted house, you should jump into my arms!”
• Is It Basically About Looks? — From a “Sexual Reward After 100 Meters” to the Awkwardness Network: Relationship Science Turned the Dumb Conversation Into Risk ManagementThe opening question was ridiculous: if someone who perfectly matched your sexual type were waiting 100 meters away and finishing the sprint meant you could…
• Do vintage clothes make you more attractive? Patina vs neglectDo vintage clothes make you more attractive?
• How can you know whether your partner really loves you?Your partner hugs you, holds your hand, comes to see you, and says, “I love you.”
• Who does the work after "I need this"? The family project managerLong after a relationship has ended, someone somehow finds themselves analyzing the former partner’s family future.
• When family reopens the couple's decisions: boundaries in marriageTwo adults talk something through and agree.
• Do Couples Need the Same Hobbies? Why Freedom, Physical Affection, and Financial Security Can Matter MoreHaving the same hobbies is fun. You can watch the same films, travel to the same places, play the same games, and always have something to discuss.
• What Are “Dating Games,” Really? From “What Did That Mean?” to “Am I the Household Project Manager Again?”—Actions Reveal More Than WordsThe hardest part of early romance is that nobody necessarily has a finished answer yet.
• I stopped replaying the breakup: “BANG, the mental zoo is closed”After the breakup, I reached the main conclusion within days.
• Love on Retrial: Looking Back at a 1.5-Year RelationshipFor about a year and a half, this was a genuinely happy relationship.
• Why can affection fail to get through? Partners have no tailsOne of the hardest things about relationships is that the amount of affection sent and the amount stored as security are not the same thing.
• Four months after a breakup: how do men and women feel?On average, many people are well past the most acute phase by then.
• Four months after a breakup: do men and women recover differently?Four months after a breakup, the internet often offers a beautifully simple schedule:
• What Is a Truly Composed Man? Breaking Down a Friend’s First-Date Story Where “His Mind Was Calm but His Lower Half Started a Quality Audit”“Being a composed man” is not a formal psychological diagnosis or personality type.
• Become Hachiware, Not the Bulldozer: In Marriage, Evaluate the Relationship OS and Family Governance, Not Just the PersonBefore anything goes badly, partner criteria are usually simple: kind, fun, attractive, compatible, easy to talk to.
• When a Partner's Parents Grill You: Does Your Partner Shield You?A widely shared public post described someone visiting their partner’s parents before marriage and being harshly blamed over the partner’s previous divorce and…
• Why Do Two People Who Might Like Each Other Keep Missing Their Chance?You used to chat with someone without giving it a second thought.
• It Wasn’t Marriage That Felt Too HeavyWhen thinking about marriage or raising children, it is easy to feel, “I need to earn much more or this will never work.”
• English Adaptation: Cortisol, the Body’s Crude UI, and Why Modern Stress Hits So HardYou fail a job screening. Someone rejects you. Your boss gives vague instructions. A reply does not come. A decision is pending.
• Why anger comes back after a breakup, even when it was rightAfter a breakup, you may keep arriving at the same conclusion.
• You don't have to ruin good memories with an exAfter a breakup, anger often fades with time.
• How Unlikely Is It That Two People Who Meet by Chance Will Also Match Well Enough to Run a Marriage Together?When I look at married couples, I sometimes think: