Cars Harem Anime Scenario

I just had a random idea about which Cars characters would fit which role in Ouran Highschool Host Club. I personally see Francesco as the Tamaki Suoh of the group, being flamboyant, princely-type with all the chickies falling for him, Mater would be Kaoru since of the twins Kaoru is the nicer half and more social while still being prankster and I guess Lightning would be the Hikaru or Mori... Maybe? I don't know. I know I had Holley and Sally share the role of Haruhi, but anyways.

So I found this meme and decided with beginnings of the Cars 3 hype I'm on, I'd fulfill this weird dream via a meme. These choices are based on the roles in canon, the roles described in the original meme, and of course my years of reading and observing of Cars fanfictions and the mental statistic I made. Trust me, Lightning has been paired with Doc, Mater, Sally, and surprisingly Francesco.

Though Francesco I can honestly see as bi because sometimes he kind of give Lightning bedroom eyes throughout Cars 2. Along with teasing him in a way Lightning sees as Francesco being a jerk, while from an outside or out of context perspective his teasing can be seen as a weird sort of flirty. Take for example at the party in Japan and how Francesco introduces himself to Lightning face to face:

FRANCESCO:  Yeah, nice to meet you too. You are very good-looking. Not as good as I thought, but you're good.

Francesco didn't need to say that Lightning was good looking. Especially since Lightning's already bitter about his... well... Well Cars 2 made it clear that Lightning was the jealous type with Sally only saying that Francesco looks good and being all "it's three syllables, not ten". Then again in the Art of Cars 2 one of the animators did say they based Francesco's character concept and his open wheel on the type of actors who always has their shirt off making all girls swoon. In other words, Franny's constantly a shirtless hot guy like the Jacob from Twilight. The analogy makes sense since his concept arts date from 2009-2011 which when shirtless boy came in. Anyways, just before the race in Italy, when Lightning's still upset about his bro-break up with Mater Francesco comfort-ish Lightning in a way that seems very... interesting. Get all up close like "Oh you miss your friend, I understand completely" getting to Lightning at his most vulnerable and...

Okay how did I make Cars 2 look like a bro-love-friendship-square thing. I say square instead of triangle because I'm counting Miles Axlerod since he kind of affects within LM's relationship in Cars 2. Mater, Francesco, and Miles all have an effect on Lightning.

Francesco- Lightning hates (at first)
Mater- Best friend, but kind of feels embarrassed about
Miles- Trusts and feels embarrassed for him when it came to Mater (at first)

In the end, Mater's the one the that became Lightning's One True Bro once more since Miles wanted him as dead and Francesco, like Lightning, was an unknowing pawn in the World Grand Prix scam. Oh and Lightning learns that just because your love one ogles at another dude doesn't mean they don't love you.

Anyways... Roles from the meme. Boy that was a long tangent of a slash justified ship that I don't even ship because I prefer canon ships.

Lightning McQueen as The Main Character

The Main Character in the role of a harem anime is to be the object of attraction to the members of the harem. In Lightning's case, it's a bi-harem which I don't think actually exist within the Harem anime genre except if the lead is androgynous in appearance and gender identity, but whatever. Anyways, while typically the main character of a harem anime is usually a blank slate so the viewer may put themselves in that position or is the awkward loser, Lightning I see is more of the cocky Jock type of lead who with the harem's help becomes a better person in different ways along with making the others better as well in some ways. He's primarily into women but does kind learn a bit of experimentation or is just unsure of certain feelings he may have for the same sex. As I said before, Lightning, as seen in Cars 2, is the jealous type so when Francesco comes into the picture and starts flirting with everyone in the group except for Doc since he's old(er), LM will get jealous and intimated by Franny's flirtings and charms.

Sally Carrera as The Main Love

As I said before I prefer canon couples when reading fanfics and since Sally is Lightning's canon love interest then duh she's obviously the endgame for Lightning in the Harem anime scenario. Sally as the Main Love would probably be the most grounded in reality or the straight man to the Cloudcuckoolander Mater, the Casanova Francesco, Shy Spy Holley, Cruz who I kind of picture as a calmer but more in charge Honey Lemon from Big Hero 6 (I'll talk about this on a later date), and the quiet, much older and mysterious Doc. Like Sally is in canon she'd be the one to tell Lightning and everyone else off when there going crazy or way over there head in whatever scheme there doing, kind of like the Applejack of the group. Despite the other women in the group Sally doesn't seem to be the jealous type since she did just let her boyfriend go on an around the world trip (including Japan and seriously the group of six adult men go to Japan and sightsee and don't go to a Hostess Club!) and he just got back from a racing season. That's pretty trusting on her end and she and everyone else left the town to both support Lightning and find Mater.

What I'm getting at is I think that a relationship relies on enough trust in your partner and your friends and that you still find another person attractive but love person you're with. In short, I don't see Sally as the screechy, clingy, jealous girl that appear harem animes from what I hear. The twins, Mia and Tia, maybe, but Sally didn't really see them as a threat as much as Lightning felt nervous about saying he remembers them in the videogame.

Ah... 2006, the year of my first realized OTP.

Francesco Bernoulli as The Sexy One

I've basically made it clear on why I think Francesco is in the role of the Sexy One. However, I like to address though that Francesco is not a bad guy, he's a jerk but more of the enjoyable side. He's good-looking in-unverse and knows it, but he does have a certain niceness and likability. Additionally while my interpretation of Francesco being bisexual is because I see him as a flirt and his interaction with Lightning I should make note of the stereotype. A person who is bisexual does not make him or her an excessive flirt who will screw anything that moves. I'm not trying to seem like I believe in this stereotype and if I came across as promoting it I apologize and if you can please come forward and talk to me.

Now anyways, I also chose Francesco as for this role is because surprisingly there are a lot of fanfiction of Lightning and Francesco as the main pairing: www.fanfiction.net/movie/Cars/…

Granted, a lot of the more recent Lightnesco(?) fics are in spanish the link I have shows others with the two in English if you're curious.

Anyways, Francesco would be the character who starts out as a man-whore but as he spends more time with the group he kind of becomes much more respectful person who becomes romantically interested in Lightning and even some of the women in the group who challenge him rather than immediately fall at their feet to him.

Holley Shiftwell as The Shy One

The meme's definition of the Shy One is this: The one who is quiet but is also somewhat of a stalker of the main character. Holley being a spy would naturally be capable of the whole "stalking crush" shtick in anime. However what makes her shy and quiet? That is actually quite easy. Throughout Cars 2 Holley while knowledgable about the rules of spy and espionage is still a newbie. She makes it clear when talking to Finn that she's never actually gone into the field work of an agent. She's more confident in her knowledge than when there's something that she can't expect and needs to face head on. Finn telling her to go to the men's room to get the agent was not what she expected and was nervous and hesitant. Same with talking to Mater who to her kept talking and socializing with her in away that she really wasn't expecting and just kind of got use to his oddities. Holley is focused on her goals and is by the book in what but when it comes to a situation or something that she doesn't expect she's freaks out in some way and by the end of the movie, specifically the clock gears escape, it's her quick thinking that saves her and Finn. She learns to be bolder and learned not to just go by the rules. That could be her development in the Harem anime with the more social members of the group giving her the encouragement to trust them and go after things instead of looking from beyond. That she can't predict everything and needs to think fast and take a chance. In general, that is the development of the Shy One.

I also like to make it clear there's the difference between shy and introverted. An introvert often prefer to be alone or spend time alone. They can be social, but they prefer to do their own things by themselves. Someone who is shy is rather awkward and quiet in social situations. If I'm wrong on the later, please tell me.

Tow Mater as The Best Friend

Mater is in fact Lightning's Best Friend so there's that. He's also one of earliest Cars slash fanfiction with him being paired with Lightning in many a fanfics since 2006.

That's in fanfic terms yes but the fire of slash was fuel even more so with Cars 2 and how at this point in time slash pairings (canon and non-canon) were becoming a normal and accept part of fandom in general. Best friends of the same sex were basically shipped as term turned into "people who start out as friends but grow into lovers". However it's also worth addressing though that majority of characters in the Cars movies are male so when you have an extended amount of time with characters feeling emotionally attached to their "best friend" you often get "Gay lover". In Cars 2's case with Lightning and Mater, well here's a list of what goes between them throughout the movie in chronological order.

1. Mater gets excited and rushes up to Lightning and they immediately hang out together. (Knowing John Lasseter did the same thing to Hayao Miyazaki who seem to only want a handshake but got a hug makes it pretty funny)
2. Mater being sad when Lightning leaves him for a date with Sally
3. Mater defends Lightning when Francesco talks bad about the latter.
4. Lightning defends Mater when Francesco insult the tow truck.
5. Lightning offers Mater to go travel around the world with him for the World Grand Prix and May-May gets excited. (Hey they went to Japan so I'm calling him that)
6. Montage of them doing stuff in Japan (plus two flamboyant Italians and a hippie and military dude who are ALWAYS next to each other ) set to a very slash-y sounding song.
7. Lightning feeling embarrassed of Mater despite him not telling the guy who has NEVER LEFT THE COUNTRY how to act. (Oddly enough another John Lasseter type thing though it was a party in Milan, Italy and he was wearing a Hawaiian shirt with jeans at the glitzy and glamourous party.)
8. Lightning very confused/weirded out when Mater asked over the headset if Holley wants flowers. (Fillmore, Sarge, Luigi, and Guido... you are terrible babysitters if the four of you didn't even notice your friend leaving the area nor contact McQueen to say that May-may is not in the pits)
9. Lightning and Mater get into a fight and have a bro-break-up. A bro-ke up if you will.
10. Mater leaves in feeling like he's holding Lightning back, leaving a letter to Lightning seem almost devastated about it. Granted Mater got kidnap by Finn but eh... he's surprisingly cool with it.
11. Lightning in Italy talks with Uncle Topolino about his and May-May's bro-break-up and how hung up he is about. (Dude just get your ice cream and watch sad movies... wonder how Titanic goes in the Cars world...)
12. Francesco tries to comfort Lightning missing Mater.
13. Mater blows his cover once he hears Lightning is going to be killed because LM decided to listen to Fillmore the Useless.
14. Lightning actually believed that Mater was calling out to him and just barely missed him.
15. Lightning and the rest of Radiator Springs come over to help him find Mater (you guys last heard from him in Japan, I don't think Scotland Yard goes as far as to investigate a missing person in Japan. That's kind of out of their juristiction.)
16. Sally encourages him to do the race for Mater and that's why Lightning continues on with the race. (Unknown to Sally the guy who wants her boyfriend dead is literally ten feet in front of her when she encouraged him to race.)
17. Mater escaping in order to save Lightning.
18. Lightning is immediately relieve to see his Mater and chase after him in apologizing.
19. Mater avoiding Lightning to protect him from the bomb on him.
20. Lightning saying he won't let Mater just as Mater was about desparately get away.
21. Mater putting himself in front of Lightning when a lemon tries to charge at him and stops them.
22. Lightning putting immediate trust and faith into Mater's theory on Miles Axlerod (before Hans and the Disney Villain Surprise became a thing).
23. Lightning promising to bring Mater to all races after that.
24. End credit show the two of them travelling the world and then coming back to Radiator Springs.

Twenty four moments I listed that people can easily manuever and interpret as a slash pairing.

Mater in his role of the Best Friend in the Harem Anime would be the weird wacky guy who would happy either way with his relationship with Lightning being platonic or romantic as long as he can still be a part of his life. He and Holley would grow closer when they see the stronger romantic connect Lightning would have with the others in the harem.

Doc Hudson as Too Old

The Doc/Lightning ship is also surprisingly common in the realm of fanfiction. While the Cars fandom would interpret Lightning and Doc's relationship as a father-son type deal, it's actually the more strain type. Lightning is excited at Doc being someone he can relate to after finding out he's a racer before Doc calls Lightning out for being a brat when he was trying to connect with him. That's rather classic in the whole son who hates his dad who acts rather distant and when he finds something that he shouldn't have that relates back to his own interests he suddenly want to bond with him. They both are in the wrong with Lightning only interested in Doc originally because he challenged his skill and pride, it was a negative reinforcement of wanting to "show him". His positive interest in Doc comes after he found out he was a racer to which Doc reacted negatively for obvious reason. However, Doc was also in the wrong because he's an opposite extreme in reguards to his feelings on his racing career. He's ashamed of it. He's bitter that eventhough what happened wasn't his fault he was basically pushed out and not worth the time in the early racing world. He hid his former fame not because he wanted to be treated like a normal person, but because it's a reminder of what could've been more for him.

In some ways, Lightning and Doc are the same, with both having a stubborn and prideful personality, saracastic and snarky, giving death glares, and as of what is known about in Cars 3, being pushed out of the sport they love. The difference is in the extremes of which their fame effects them, for Doc he hid away any part of his past as racer, lying by omission. Lightning was incredibly egotistical and has no problem with saying how awesome he is. Basically, he was Rainbow Dash four years before she came to existence.

Anyways the similarities and differences between Doc and Lightning make some sort of sense in terms of shipping with both prides working for and against each other. The whole father-son relationship that is often depicted can also lead to a pairing as well since Lightning and Doc aren't biologically related. It's weird sort of way of thinking, but then you get Elsanna which if you take out any sort of mention or reference that Anna and Elsa are sisters than you could probably just as easily turn Frozen into a romance between two women who had to be isolated and separate in order for one to protect the other.

In general the Too Old type of character in the Harem anime is the one adult who has the hots for the protagonist much to the squickiness of the audience. However, the Too Old type character is usually reserved for women while the Main Character is male because Double Standard is a bitch you know? Woman creeps on a guy? Oh it's harmless/You shouldn't worry about it/You can take her/You should be lucky/thankful. When a man creeps on a girl? Lynch the man!

However, I'd make them the adults they are in canon rather than teens to avoid this type of creepiness. Hell Doc's feelings for Lightning would be more or less out of confusion and himself trying to figure them out while being a sort of father figure to the rest of the group. He'd also die sometime before the end having finally deciding and admitting his feelings of Lightning.

Cruz Ramirez as Too Young

She hasn't even been seen other than in concept art, nor has a voice actress been announced, yet I chose her for the Harem Anime meme. There's really a lot we don't know about her because despite Pixar having a lot of plans for movies, they're are weirdly secretive about them. Hell, I found it frustrating that we were a year away from Cars 3 and I knew more about Coco (Nov. 2017) and Toy Story 4 (2019) than Cars 3. Then May 30th came and I finally got a plot and characters!

There are a few things that we do know about Cruz with the more obvious being the category she's placed in: she's young. That is, younger that Lightning in Cars 3. She's also a latina which honestly kind of confuses me in how cars don't really have races or ethnicities unless you count vehicles that aren't cars (lord it must suck to be a train). Flo and Ramone are played by an African American woman and a Hispanic man, but again they're cars! It confuses me more when I looked on the Disney wiki once and Flo is in the category as African American. I just found it rather confusing you know?

Anyways, Cruz is young, Hispanic, and McQueen's new mentor in helping him keep up with the next generation of rookie. This information is already getting me ideas on how the relationship will be.

So the Too Young role is usually reserved for really young or just childlike character with the crush on the main character in the Harem anime. The main character usually doesn't fall the Too Young person because it is creepy on the other end as well. But seeing how I'm making them adults like their canon ages that Cruz will just be the more young, energetic and ambition in her job. She would develop a crush on Lightning and vice versa because Harem anime but by the end she'd be just happy to be his friend, maybe developed into a more brother-sister or even father-daughter type relationship like how I think it will be in Cars 3.

Well, that's the explanation for the Cars Harem anime scenario. Hope you like it and comment what you think. Agree or disagree? Love it or hate it? Right or wrong? You decide lovelies.

meme belongs to