That reminds me of this post I made about realism in Honey and Clover. It was as a response to some people who were saying H&C was unrealistic because the guys should have all been more interested in lust and partying than clinging onto unrequited love for years. My response was along the lines of yours, that people’s own attitudes determine what they consider realistic, and there are plenty of people who can understand where the H&C characters were coming from.

And about being both at the same time, I interpreted Author’s question to mean, “Can the same person acknowledge both drama and melodrama within the same series”? Like you mentioned, I think it colours the viewer’s perception and sympathy of the characters too much for anything else to be as effective.

Experiences would be another factor affecting our perception of this, as Owen also asked sometime ago in his 5cm/s post, “how much life experience must [we] have to appreciate 5cm/s?”. At one point our impression of a certain anime might be “meh melodramatic” or “too emo”, but experiences would paint a different picture of how we see things, and allow us to empathize with the characters and their situations.When I first read Nana I was like, “ugh too emo”, but I would have to revisit it sometime and see just how much my perception of it has changed over the years.

As to whether or not a series can be both dramatic and melodramatic, I say yes, because in the end, it’s all a matter of perspectives. Some people might see Honey and Clover as melodramatic, others dramatic, depending on how they see it, and which aspects they focus on to arrive at that conclusion.