Romance Anime to Make Your Heart Flutter

This Valentine's Day, why not cozy up with your favorite person and enjoy some of the best love stories that anime has to offer? Our editorial team has the best picks below, from romantic comedies to dramas and everything in between!

From its title alone, you might expect this anime to be one of the countless rom-com anime out there that are little more than moments of fanservice tied together by nothing but a collection of cliché romance scenes. However, this couldn't be further from the truth. My Teen Romantic Comedy - SNAFU! is a romantic comedy played straight—where the humor comes from the wit of our characters, and the relationships are every bit as messy as they are in the real world.

Spread across three seasons (and a few OVAs), My Teen Romantic Comedy - SNAFU! is the story of the love triangle between its three high school-age leads, Hachiman, Yukino, and Yui. Hachiman is a loner who sees being a non-entity in class as the easiest way to make it through high school. On the other hand, Yukino is the school's ice princess—beautiful, intelligent, and unflappable—which has likewise left her socially isolated. When the two are forced to work together in a school club charged with helping the student body with their problems, they have social butterfly Yui as their first client. This starts their story of love, heartbreak, and personal growth.

What makes My Teen Romantic Comedy - SNAFU! stand out is that it's less a series of romantically-charged scenes and more the story of the three of them growing as people to the point that they are capable of having a healthy relationship. At the start, all three have critical flaws that prevent them from loving themselves, much less each other. Hachiman uses his pragmatism as a shield to protect his emotional core, while Yui is a slave to peer pressure. As for Yukino, let's just say that her issues are as deep and complex as the other two combined (and that getting into them would spoil a good chunk of the plot).

What draws them together is that, deep down, all three search for something "real" in their superficial high school lives. They long for a real human connection—but fear the hurt such a connection can bring. Along their emotional journey, the three make many missteps—they hurt themselves and those around them. But each time, they learn a bit more about who they are and can at least keep moving in the right direction.

My Teen Romantic Comedy - SNAFU! is also one of the rare shows that do little in the way of hand-holding. Hachiman is our viewpoint character, but his own biases and interpretations of the events he witnesses make him an unreliable narrator. And as the characters often don't know what their issues are (much less each others'), you are expected to think about what you watch and then read between the lines to understand what is happening. Or, to put it another way, this is an anime where what's not said is often as important as what is.

Yet, somehow, despite the show's deep dive into the psychology of young adults and the drama caused by it, it still manages to be hilarious. Hachiman and Yukino have the role of "deadpan snarker" down to a science—and their verbal jousts carry many scenes by themselves. Beyond the verbal humor, this is one of the shows where many things are funny simply because they reflect the real world all too perfectly, be things like meaningless corporate doublespeak or the mixture of ego and delusion within so many people.

Overall, My Teen Romantic Comedy - SNAFU! is not just a fantastic romance anime but an amazing anime in general. It is one of those shows that get better with each watch. Every time you see new details jumping out at you, it further redefines how you view the story. I've seen the full anime three times and spent tens of thousands of words talking about how great it is. And even now, my only regret is not writing more. It's simply a modern-day masterpiece—regardless of whether romance anime is your thing or not.

There are plenty of ways to define what makes a good love story. Maybe you love the characters' personalities, find something relatable in their relationship dynamic, or devour the mountains of drama surrounding their whole situation. I love all that stuff, too, but there's something to be said for a piece of art that can capture the sheer joy of being in love. While I'd love a more substantive adaptation of Hiromi Takashima's Kase-san and... manga, this hour-long OVA manages to distill so much of the delirious, love-struck charm of the original that years later, I find myself revisiting it, and adoring the funny, touching beginnings of Kase and Yamada's love story like it was brand new.

There's a reason a gif of Yamada's reaction to just talking to her girlfriend on the phone has gone viral multiple times, ironically coupled with the romantic sentiments of straight folks who have never seen the whole OVA. If you've ever been in love with somebody else – be it a crush, a short-lived relationship, or a life-long romance that will outlive every star in the sky – you can find something deeply relatable here. Perhaps it's in the way Yamada loses herself in thought when Kase's absent, her mind constantly turning towards her lover like a compass needle pointing to the horizon. Maybe you've also been fixated on your partner's lingering scent until the fading fragrance almost makes it feel like they're still next to you. It might even be as simple as sharing a kiss and thinking to yourself that you love them so much that you don't know what to do with yourself. There are a million little moments like that here, where the mundane moments of life feel magical and ethereal, all because you're with someone you love.

It all comes together into something that's almost a sensory experience, soaking in the atmosphere of first love in all its beautiful, silly, and occasionally distressing splendors. My only real complaint is that it eventually has to stop and never gets to approach the further evolution of Kase and Yamada's relationship. Yet wanting more is exactly the right kind of problem to have, and what we get of our central couple growing closer, learning more about one another, and opening up about their private insecurities is more than enough to stick with you.

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, Scum's Wish is practically a checklist of all the ways love can make people their worst, most miserable selves, but is no less deft at articulating those feelings. Being in love can – and should – be a wondrous thing. Still, those powerful emotions can easily get tangled up in our worst instincts or be marred by the damage and baggage accumulated along the way, and every member of this show's cast exemplifies it. Whether it's unrequited feelings stirring up poisonous self-loathing, characters using sex to hurt others as well as themselves, or the toxic and possessive kind of love that can only arise from the worst corner of the soul, every character is wading through elbow-deep muck of their creation. Even the show's numerous sex scenes are filled with angst and deep uncertainty as characters get lost in their head and cling to one another out of a desperate desire for comfort while knowing all that easy warmth will fade far faster than their misery.

It doesn't make for a pleasant viewing experience, but it's a gripping and powerful one nonetheless. The ways Hanabi, Mugi, Sanae, and Akane express what love means to them are striking and honest even as they're depressing and serve as examples of how being in love, even with the "right" person, can bring out the worst of you. Yet it never feels like it's judging any of them, even when they're at their most despicable – the story wants to explore the ways these people themselves and one another and what realizations might help them to change. It's an ugly, grim, beautiful, and evocative love story, unlike anything I've ever seen.

Aka Akasaka's Kaguya-sama: Love is War is one of the most brilliant and effective romance manga/anime subversions ever created, reinventing the school romance genre with one simple change — rather than the protagonists, Miyuki Shirogane and Kaguya Shinomiya, being too afraid to confess, they're too proud. Envisioned to be "two tsunderes who like each other having battles of the mind," Akasaka wanted to do intellectual battles like Death Note but with clashing romantic emotions, which is precisely what Love Is War is, and it's brilliant.

Shirogane and Kaguya are made for each other, but instead of just going for it, they play mind games so they don't have to be the first to confess. It's bonkers, the two scheming up hair-brained plots to get the other to confess to them first, like "forgetting" their umbrellas to force the other one to share theirs on a walk home (but they were both trying to do this so neither had an umbrella), or rigging games in the student council room to lead the two of them with tickets to a movie "by happenstance." All of these usually fall apart, though they succeed in giving the two opportunities to show affection for each other in ways only they can read.

These antics are all based on classic romance anime tropes, and that's where the series shines. Rather than these moments being par for the course, they are recontextualized. Kaguya and Shirogane want to be in the "just one umbrella" or "oop,s we have to go this thing together," but it won't happen, even if they try. It's like the two tsunderes are the same polarity, pushing each other apart. Everything boring or repetitive about romance anime is reinvigorated by the brilliance of Love Is War's premise because love is war, and neither of them intends to lose.

The series also hits you right in the heartstrings when you realize the two are aching for each other, and pride, class, circumstance, and other elements are getting in the way of being together. Maybe they are too afraid to confess; maybe they want the other to confess first to face these obstacles together. Maybe their past trauma makes it hard to dive into loving someone. It gets you invested in the relationship! What starts as a humorous cat-and-mouse of two high schoolers trying to trick the other into confessing their love turns into tragic attempts to scream out their love — they wish they could have the romcom anime cliches but have to dance around them. It's beautiful and funny and heartbreaking and heartwarming all at once. I can easily say Kaguya-sama: Love is War is my favorite romance anime, easily the best to come out of the last decade.

Full Metal Panic! is my runner-up for my top romance anime because the romance aspect is technically not the main focus of the series, but without it, there are no character arcs, and a significant chunk of the story is missing. Full Metal Panic! follows Sousuke Sagara, a teenage mercenary for MITHRIL who is tasked with bodyguarding Kaname Chidori, an outspoken, tough-as-nails Japanese high schooler; he attends class with her and watches her in secret to protect her from those who seek to kidnap her.

However, Sousuke has been a mercenary his whole life and doesn't know how to behave as a high school civilian, leading him to blow up the shoe locker because he found evidence of tampering, assume all interactions are threats, and brandishing a gun against teachers and faculty, all for which Kaname punishes him for. However, through all this over-protection, a slow-burn romance forms, which helps Sousuke regain his humanity and allows Kaname to lower her guard and feel comfort and safety in Sousuke's protection. It's a relationship that gives me warm fuzzies just thinking about it, and I highly recommend Full Metal Panic! to those looking for a unique anime romance.

I've sometimes wondered about the semantic difference between a "romance" and a "love story." All romances have love stories at their core, but they seem more dramatic and showy, while love stories are quiet tales about hearts coming together. I enjoy consuming both, but at the end of the day, my favorites are always the love stories, the sometimes peaceful, sometimes not tales where the central factor is the characters' slow growth into their feelings. Sweet Blue Flowers encapsulates the genre for me. It's a deceptively quiet story about childhood friends Fumi and Akira who think about and work towards changing their relationship, and while there are the usual trappings of the genre – rival characters, school events, one party knowing their feelings while the other is trying to figure them out – the way the narrative handles the tropes gives them a realism that yuri anime often eschews. There's a need for (or at least a space for) realistic queer anime, and the character-driven plot pays heed to the intricacies of changing relationships. This is one of the best examples of the friends-to-lovers romance genre; Akira and Fumi grow into their new relationship in a natural way. It's not always comfortable for them, but it doesn't have to be, especially since Akira has to think about her sexuality as part of the change. It's no coincidence that the play performed in the middle of the series is Wuthering Heights; Emily Bronte's novel is, among other things, a story of a lost childhood love seen through a Gothic lens. Using Bronte's story is a way to explore the girls' feelings externally and make us wonder if they'll end up like Cathy and Heathcliffe or find a way to make it work. Happily, Fumi and Akira don't have nearly the amount of issues Bronte's protagonists have. Still, even with an expected happy ending, Sweet Blue Flowers manages to remind us that the course of true love never did run smooth (a line from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, which episode nine is named after) while still assuring us that true love can win out in the end.

I struggled to pick a runner-up, and I was first going to go with Boys Over Flowers; it's as problematic as anything, but there's a special place in my heart for it. But that reminded me of another series featuring a heroine who has trouble at school, and suddenly, the choice was much easier (although My Little Monster would be another good one…). Say, "I Love You". relies on a trope I don't always enjoy – the popular boy transforming the shy girl – it does so with genuine warmth. Yamato truly loves Mei and wants to help her be more comfortable in the world. He's not trying to change her; he just wants to help her feel safe around people and understand that not everyone will turn on her like her elementary school friends did. Mei's trauma is real; she's not just "shy" or "withdrawn," but the story also doesn't suggest that she needs to be a social butterfly or do what everyone else does or that she needs to be "fixed." She's allowed to be Mei, and she helps Yamato deal with some of his underlying issues. Despite one nonconsensual kiss early on, their relationship is built on mutual respect and burgeoning feelings. It's a standout in the high school romance genre, and the manga is even better.

I gave myself a personal challenge for this article: I had to try and find any anime that wasn't Teasing Master Takagi-san to take my top spot for this list. Of course, this is not because I don't think that Teasing Master Takagi-san is an S-Tier Legendary Super Ultra Deluxe Romance Masterpiece—it totally is, and I will fight anyone who disagrees with me—but instead, I feel like I hype up Takagi-san so much already, and I don't want to start seeming like a one-trick pony. So, in the spirit of the season, I decided to take this opportunity to shout out the all-time favorite romance of my valentine, aka my wife, Kate. This was a straightforward show to write about, too, both because I adore my wife and also because Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun kicks ass.

Like most of my favorite anime romances, what I love about Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun is that it manages to weave a compelling and fascinating adventure where romance is the essential core of the whole story. Don't get me wrong; I'm not a rom-com hater or anything. I tend to prefer the formulas and archetypes of other genres more. I'm also a giant freaking sap that will devour the sappiest of romances so long as the chemistry between the characters is good enough.

In that sense, Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun is my ideal Valentine's Day concoction. The backdrop of Kamome Academy and its Seven Mysteries is a perfectly spooky premise bolstered by the anime's incredible haunted-pop-up-book aesthetic. Terrifying mermaid spirits, grumpy spider librarians, malicious identical-twin ghost boys, and nightmarish mirror hellscapes would make for great supernatural mysteries to investigate under almost any circumstance, so much so that, honestly, I would love this show even if the adventures of Nene Yashiro and Hanako the Toilet Ghost Boy remained purely platonic.

The indelible connection the two share makes Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun into something special, though. In the middle of all the weird ghostly nonsense that they have to deal with on a day-to-day, Nene and Hanako share that enduring sense of genuine chemistry and affection that is damned hard to get writing in any medium, let alone in animation, and that goes doubly so when we're talking about middle-schoolers. I mean, just look at that screenshot up there, and tell me to my face that you don't want these two crazy kids to figure out somehow a way to defy all of the laws of nature and reality and find a way to be together. That's right, you can't do that because they're just so cute, dammit!

So, thanks again to my wife for inspiring this entry in our Valentine's Day celebration. If you haven't Given Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun a shot yet, then today's the perfect day to cozy up to someone you love (or even just like-like) and catch up on a modern classic.

Oh my God, I did it. Despite every fiber of my being crying out for me to take to my pulpit and preach the Good Word of Her Most Foreheaded-ness, the Master of Teasing, I demonstrated some actual self-restraint and talked about a different and equally deserving anime love story again. Now, though, the time has come. My editors tell me I have a 600-word limit for this write-up, so I must be concise. Here, at long last, I am going to explain once again why Teasing-Master Takagi-san is the Based King GOAT of All-Time Peak Romance Anime, starting with—

I love plenty of romance anime, including all-timers like Kaguya-sama: Love is War. In this case, I want to highlight an old personal favorite in 2014's Engaged to the Unidentified. It's an adorable series that sneaks up on you with all the things it's really about and why it works, being built on expecting the unexpected. The series opens by dropping the premise straight in the laps of both the audience and lead character Kobeni: she's been arranged to marry the mountain-dwelling boy Hakuya, and now he and his little sister Mashiro are moving in with Kobeni's family. Engaged to the Unidentified is in the mold of a quirky comedy. Still, the exact details of Kobeni and Hakuya's relationship are designed as more of a slow burn. It gradually becomes apparent that there is much more than meets the eye to the nature of these characters and their history together, driving some wild surprises and heartwarming payoff.

While the unique spins Engaged to the Unidentified puts on tropes like an arranged marriage to get it going, the series' real secret weapon is how loaded with character it is through and through. This was one of the anime that put Studio Doga Kobo on the map for me as a powerhouse of character animation, as just watching the cast move as they converse and interact with each other is entertainment. Mashiro quickly emerges as the series' breakout star, being a tiny ball of goofy energy thoroughly sold by Yuri Yoshida's vocal performance. The adversarial relationship she develops with Kobeni's absolute weirdo of an older sister, Benio, drives a whole other side of the show's comedy and builds up the idea of a family coming together around this odd arranged romance. It's a unique, unusual, uncommonly sweet series.

Initially, I was going to pull a tonal 180 and shout out Flowers of Evil and its vicious teenage emotional catharsis as my other favorite romantic example. But at the last minute, I was reminded of Kyoto Animation's ode to adolescent cringe, so I had to give Chunibyo its due. As a comedy, Rikka Takanashi's adventures and over-imaginative allies are a riot, filled with relatably painful portrayals of teenage fantasy. KyoAni indulges these with gorgeously animated setpieces that sell what the climactic battles feel like in the heads of the characters, only to cut back to them flailing around like awkward goofs. How could it not also accurately represent the mortifying emotional roller coaster that is teen romance?

Chunibyo's approach to romance is thus just as earnest as its engagement with the titular middle-schooler syndrome. Yuuta doesn't appear the most descript romance anime lead at first, but he quickly comes into his own as he alternatively attempts to distance himself from his past cringe while acknowledging it as part of what made him who he is. It intersects with his relationship with Rikka, letting the two understand each other in that profound way only schoolkids can, even as Yuuta's life is also being turned upside-down by the adventures the other hangers-on attempt to inflict on him. As the deeper reasons for Rikka's delusions become clear, her relationship with Yuuta also takes on elements of support, making the pair feel like an odd but knowing and good fit for one another. Chunibyo is an anime that made me laugh until I cried. It also made me cry because the magical maelstrom of emotions it embodies is just that dense, especially concerning romance and relationships.

This Valentine's Day, I'm rewatching Given, an intoxicating combo of angst and fluff that alternates back and forth whenever one side verges on overwhelming. As much of a story about grief as it is about love, Given is messy because it's not a single romance in a vacuum. The story begins when the two leads, Mafuyu and Ritsuka, meet and begin playing guitar in a band together. But neither of them is a blank slate: they bring all their past experiences and emotional baggage along with them to their budding relationship, giving their romance a rawness that makes their willingness to—despite everything—try again and show affection for one another feel both braver and more tender.

If you haven't watched this 2019 Noitamina series in a while, I encourage you to revisit it, especially episode 9: "A Winter Story." (If you haven't heard of it, this episode reverberated around the fandom with an intensity to match Yuri!!! on Ice's episode 7.) After eight episodes of build-up through band practice, heart-to-heart conversations, and fraught misunderstandings, the plot reaches its apex at the band's first live show. Here, Mafuyu puts lyrics to his grief in front of a live audience, and his vulnerability inspires Ritsuka to kiss him backstage impulsively—one act of bravery rewarded with another. This intermingling of old hurt and new love is Given's secret sauce and the powerful musical soundtrack works as a conduit to amplify these feelings. It's proof that a romance can spend ages building up to a kiss, and even though the audience has been fully expecting it, the emotional payoff is so acute that they still aren't ready.

Mafuyu and Ritsuka's arc of love after loss is only half of what Given has to offer. The second major love story, between drummer Akihiko and bassist Haruki, comes with an equal helping of character history. We learn that Haruki has been pining from afar for a very long time and that Akihiko still lives with, and has a turbulent hot-and-cold relationship with, his violinist ex. It takes a lot of angst to get to their inevitable happy ending, but the ride is worth it. As an added bonus, the titles of each episode are taken from a fitting and thematic song to reflect the characters' ongoing drama, which makes for a bittersweet playlist.

Anime is saturated with stories about teenage protagonists navigating love triangles between school trips and midterm exams. We rarely get a solid romance featuring adults. I suspect this has to do with a misconception that shows with adult characters are considered more niche. Not surprisingly, Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku had a nonstandard origin as a fan comic on pixiv before finding mainstream success as a serialized manga and then as a Noitamina show. The story's four main characters are office workers in their late 20s who juggle their careers, their hobbies, and, eventually, their connections with one another.

The first four main characters depict two types of relationships: a nascent romance and an established marriage. Narumi and Hirotaka, an undercover fujoshi and a low-profile gamer trying to make it in the professional world, are grown-ups who don't need any love triangles or "who will she choose" plots to make their story interesting, unlike so many teen love stories. Sure, this trope can be done well, but I'm tired of it. I found it refreshing to see these characters find interesting conflict and eventual romance through different means, namely plots involving their hobbies. It's easy to stay interested in these characters since they are so relatable—passionate otaku like the show's intended audience. And I'd be remiss not to mention it: the show has an intro song so catchy that it's playing in my head even as I write this.

To be honest, I thought of choosing something else. I feel like pretty much every time one of these multi-author features comes up, one of my picks is Maison Ikkoku, and one can only write a few hundred-word blurbs about the same series so many times. But if we're talking about our favorite romance anime, I must be true to my heart and…

"Just say the line, Caitlin!"

Sigh

Maison Ikkoku is one of the greatest love stories of all time.

It stars Yusaku Godai, a young man in a run-down Tokyo tenement house studying for college entrance exams after failing them once before. His neighbors constantly torment and tease him, and he can't wait to get out. But then, the building gets a new manager, a beautiful woman named Kyoko Otonashi, and Godai falls instantly in love. On the other hand, Kyoko is a recent widow, and even if she were interested in Godai, she wouldn't be ready to receive his feelings. Time marches on, the two grow and change, and after knowing each other for years, they eventually fall in love.

Many long-running romances become increasingly frustrating over their runs, as circumstances and comic misunderstandings artificially force the leads apart when it feels like real people would have either figured it out or moved on. Don't get me wrong, Kyoko and Godai can be frustrating. Enormously so, even. But that agonizing frustration ties deeply into the series' themes, as it's just as much a coming-of-age story as a love story. When the two first meet, Godai is highly immature, Kyoko is freshly grieving, and at 19 and 21 years old, they are little more than children. Over 15 volumes or 96 episodes, depending on the medium you're engaging in, the two slowly mature, get to know each other, and find themselves in a place where they're both ready to be together without it ending in an ugly, bitter breakup. Despite the exaggerated personalities and sitcom antics, Maison Ikkoku is, at its heart, a story of healing, growth, and devotion.

While my first choice was inevitable, choosing my runner-up was difficult. How could I choose just one out of the dozens of love stories I adore? After days of wracking my brain and staring at my bookshelf, one floated to the top: Doukyusei -Classmates- by Akemi Nakamura.

The story is simple and free of gimmicks: Hikaru Kusakabe and Rihito Sajo are classmates in an all-boys school. They have little in common. Hikaru plays guitar for a rock band, smokes, and swears. Rihito is quiet and buttoned-up, stuck at a low-tier school because of his test anxiety. Despite their differences, the two connect and fall in love. There are dozens of romances exactly like it, so why this one?

It isn't easy to describe exactly what makes Doukyusei unique in text and to be honest; it only somewhat comes through in the anime. The best way I can find to describe it is how Nakamura marries the emotional and physical aspects of Hikaru and Rihito's relationship. Touch is about so much more than sex; it's connection, communication, comfort, and refuge from the harshness of the rest of the world. I find the physical elements of most anime relationships lacking; too often, we see the characters kiss once and then never touch on-screen again. For Hikaru and Rihito, on the other hand, the two sides are intermingled and inseparable. Nakamura's artwork has a rare sensuality that pushes it heads and shoulders above similar stories, making it one of the best romances I've ever encountered.

While my top Valentine's pick isn't classified as a romance anime per se, the central couple's romance drives the protagonist to incredible means to secure his desired end – ensuring the very existence of the woman he loves. Steins;Gate is one of my top three anime shows of all time, and while its satisfyingly complex plot is the main reason for my love, that plot wouldn't exist if it weren't for the spiky, confusing relationship between self-proclaimed “mad scientist” Okabe Rintaro and his “assistant” (not actually his assistant, as she frequently complains), scientist prodigy Makise Kurisu.

Okabe is an overgrown man-child prone to babbling nonsense into an inactive cellphone, playing with silly gadgets in his decidedly low-tech laboratory. At the same time, Kurisu is a respected scientist traveling the world and lecturing on her theses. Together, they perfect Okabe's eccentric time machine cobbled together from kitchen appliances, and Okabe proceeds to ruin the world with his ill-thought-through timeline changes.

Only once Okabe realizes the true depths of the damage he's caused to his friends and loved ones does he learn to truly rely on Kurisu's advice, seeking out her wisdom with every jump to new, multitudinous world lines (alternate timelines). Through Okabe's increasingly desperate time jumps to save the doomed life of dear childhood friend Mayuri, he and Kurisu open up to one another about their struggles and weaknesses, each treating the other as true intellectual equals in pursuit of a shared goal.

Unfortunately, saving Mayuri means sacrificing Kurisu, and Okabe quite literally moves Heaven and Earth to save the woman he loves from her destined death. Although “interquel” season Steins;Gate 0 is nowhere near as high quality as its progenitor, episode 8 – where a depressed, dejected, PTSD-ridden Okabe is briefly reunited with his beloved, lost Kurisu – is one of the most emotionally affecting anime episodes I have ever watched. That brutal ending reduced me to shuddering tears. Steins;Gate is an anime that depicts the damage that loss and regret does to a human soul. That regret is caused by love, and few anime characters have been as driven to reunite with their one, true love through eternal, Sisyphean ordeals as Steins;Gate's Rintaro Okabe.

My runner-up is also not a typical anime romance but an achingly beautiful character study of two damaged individuals who happen to help one another achieve their true potential. After the Rain follows intense high school student Akira Tachibana, former track team star, who has Given up her beloved sport following an Achilles tendon injury. She becomes infatuated with 45-year-old divorcee Masami Kondo, the reserved but kind manager at her part-time job. Despite being almost three decades her senior, Kondo's kindness and intellectualism (he's an unsuccessful novelist) endear him to the vulnerable Akira, who pursues him single-mindedly.

Upon its initial release, Western anime fandom was wary of After the Rain, labeling its “age-gap romance” problematic. If critical fans had stuck with the show, they'd have realized there was very little that was problematic, with Kondo, at least. He's acutely aware of the social power differential between himself and Akira, yet is intimidated by her intensity. He's too kind and timid to let her down, so instead focuses on being her friend while keeping her at arms' length. It's only a romance from Akira's perspective – although Kondo likely finds her attractive, he never oversteps boundaries.

Romance stories don't need their central romances to be reciprocated – After the Rain is all the more potent for allowing its characters to mature, help one another, and move on. It's a beautiful, life-affirming story.

As someone who regularly consumes romance anime like my life depends on it, one series remains one of my favorites of all time. It encapsulates everything a good romance anime should have while holding up over ten years later. Toradora! is a series that uses its predictability to tell an incredibly enriching story about growing up. It's about coming to terms with your perception of yourself, how that clashes with others' perceptions of you, and how sometimes romance needs to coincide with what it means to grow up. Teenagers are sometimes desperate to grow up because they think everything will suddenly make sense once that happens.

The irony is that the characters who hope for that to happen have their lives dictated by adults who continue to act like children. Ryūji and Taiga come from households that feel very real and grounded. There is no tragic death or intense physical trauma, it's just two kids that feel neglected because of the circumstances that their parents forced them into. Ryūji has an outgoing single mom who tries to fill the void with all of these stories about a badass father who died out on the streets when, in reality, he was a bum who knocked her up and immediately left. The only thing his father left Ryuji with was a face that made him always look like he was scowling and made it hard for him to make friends despite being one of the softest boys I've ever seen in media.

Contrast that with Taiga, who looks small and diminutive but has an attitude because she's always in survival mode. She is a child of a divorce who is sometimes used as a bargaining chip by her father while feeling replaced by her mother's child from a new marriage. She feels like a doll in an empty house that can't be her own person. These two want to live everyday high school lives, crushing on their classmates, but how can they do that when they're not even allowed to express themselves how they want to?

These two are brought together through an incredibly cliché setup to create an environment where they can be themselves. Through each other, they find a means of being more true to themselves, but Toradora! still shows them putting in the work. They need to be happy with who they want to be before they can move forward with their romantic prospects, which isn't going to be easy. A good romance series doesn't just highlight why our two protagonists should get together. It also needs to highlight whether or not the characters are mature enough to handle the responsibility of a romantic relationship. Can they communicate? Do they understand who they are and what they want out of that relationship with another person?

Toradora! wasn't breaking new ground like many other romantic series in the past few years. However, I think Toradora! perfected what you could do with a high school romance series at the time, and it is still worth a watch all these years later.

A lot of nerds probably dream of meeting their nerdy dream girl, but seldom do we see romances from the other side: a guy having to make heads or tails of a woman who is hopelessly obsessed with something and needs a crash course on it all just to understand it all. Part of a healthy relationship is understanding all of those little obsessions that your partner has—and part of a healthy relationship is respecting them, not just waving them off for being silly. This is where Gojo and Marin come in. It's not just that Gojo goes along with Marin's obsession with a character from an eroge; he understands her passion. In the same way Marin is dedicated to being the best Shizuku-tan possible, Gojo is dedicated to being the best doll-maker he can be—and he's been burned for that before. Meanwhile, Marin appreciates not only that Gojo is willing to do everything with her and learn all about her hobbies—she appreciates his sincerity behind it all. We see earlier that even with Marin being conventionally attractive as she is, people can still be judgmental of her hobbies.

It's easy to think that Marin is the dream girl here, what with her being a cute girl who loves cosplays and texts cute pics of herself. But actually, they're mutual dreamboats. A guy who can make costumes, as well as Gojo, is the kind of friend any cosplayer would take a bullet over. Being as sweet as Gojo is makes it even sweeter. (That, and he's pretty easy on the eyes—Shinichi Fukuda knew what she was doing when giving Gojo the Gucci eyebags and the mole under his eye!)

We should all be so lucky to find someone who is nurturing and supportive in our lives, be it towards our hobbies or in general. Having the same hobbies doesn't guarantee a happy relationship, but being accepting of each other does.

I love Call of the Night for many reasons (e.g. Anko's character design makes me want to scream into a pillow), but I especially love it as an off-kilter romance. The outline seems basic: Ko's insomnia leads to an encounter with an eccentric girl named Nazuna, who startles him during their first excursion by sucking on his jugular vein. There are more vampire romances than you can shake a bat at, so what makes this one special? In a word, vibes.

In his author's notes, Kotoyama frequently pokes fun at his narrative improvisations, which take the series from comedy to horror to battle shounen and beyond throughout the manga's 200 chapters. But despite the unpredictability of serial storytelling, the foundation remains a strong and grounding force, and that bedrock is Ko's relationship with Nazuna. Ko's adolescent ennui and Nazuna's aimless escapades complement each other. She guides him into a liminal nighttime space that agrees with him more than the daytime doldrums, and he injects vibrancy into her previously monochrome life. They bond via the gentle hedonism of sneaking into moonlit pool parties, befriending drunk salarymen, and taking flight far above the city skyscrapers. They have a fun and natural rapport. They teach each other. They game. They chill. They exchange bodily fluids (mostly blood). Their mutual comfort gives the series its laid-back backbone. No matter how tense the story becomes, we can always count on them eventually talking things out.

Call of the Night is at its most interesting when it integrates its romantic themes into its vampiric ones. On the surface level, Ko's wish to become a vampire can only happen once he falls in love with Nazuna. As the series digs deeper, however, our knowledge of the story's unique vampire “rules” becomes fuzzier and more complicated, and so too does Ko and Nazuna's perspective on romance. What does a healthy relationship between a vampire and a human look like? Is it even possible to have one? And does that even matter? Furthermore, loving any person involves some degree of vampirism. We need, and we need to be needed. And all we have to go on is a confusing and contradictory corpus of romantic texts alongside our own experiences. Whether we're humans or vampires, it's all the same. We're all just winging it through life.

The anime only scratches the surface of these concerns, but it does an excellent job of establishing the baseline of Ko and Nazuna's romance. While their bond may be built on late-night pleasure-seeking (with silly and horny escapades aplenty), at its core lies the profound maturity of trusting another person. And sometimes that means abandoning a date plan because your vampire girlfriend wants to play Minecraft all night. What is that, if not true love?

Sometimes, we want romances that sweep us into the fairytale flutters of a fated couple whose conjoined hearts show us a love we can aspire to experience, and other times, we want to gaze so deeply into a trash fire that we can perceive the individual molecules of soot shaking in agony. Domestic Girlfriend provides the latter. This exquisite pile of soap opera sleaze contains incest, cheating, student-teacher relationships, and several salacious combinations thereof.

It shares some DNA with Scum's Wish, but while that series has artfulness in its messiness, Domestic Girlfriend is pure junk food. I don't mean that disparagingly, either. Mangaka Kei Sasuga has an admirably deft hand when concocting lascivious trysts and tasty betrayals, all under the same roof. The main concept is that our hero gets a pair of stepsisters, one of whom is the teacher he has a crush on, and the other is the one-night stand he had to take his mind off the aforementioned teacher. I recommend cracking open a cold one and letting loose the melodrama.

I'll be the first to admit that I don't watch a lot of romance-focused series or the more popular romantic comedy subgenre. This is true for both live-action and anime; something about it makes me squirm a bit, like I'm privy to something intimate that I'm not supposed to know. If I sit down to watch a romantic drama, I have to actively combat that feeling to stay engaged. What's strange is that this is a new development; I did not have this issue in my teen years when I voraciously devoured as much shōjo as I could get my hands on.

While my interest in the genre has waned, My Love Story!! holds a place near and dear to my heart. Its unabashed earnestness separates it from many of the "will-they-won't-they" situations that define the genre. Rinko and Takeo begin dating almost immediately while continuing to confront their insecurities. Takeo is used to being looked over for his handsome friend Makoto and seems to have accepted that he isn't desirable because his looks are not considered traditionally attractive. He has a body type more suited to American football than J-pop, has a darker complexion, full lips, and a bushy brow. His attributes might not be en vogue, but that doesn't mean they aren't desirable in their own right. Rinko finds his physical looks really hot in a masculine, albeit a bit traditional, way. Takeo is like Marlon Brando to Makoto's Harry Styles. Even though Takeo is accustomed to romantic rejection, he is too sweet and genuine to develop a complex about it, still remaining kind and considerate despite it all.

Rinko is also more than she appears. My Love Story!! would be merely cute if ultra-sweet Takeo and cute Rinko continued with their saccharine relationship. The story continues to play with expectations when Rinko, who had mostly matched Takeo's livability and cuteness, confesses that she's also interested in intimacy and opens up the conversation about taking the physical part of their relationship further. It's refreshing when all kinds of media nowadays center on purity, especially from the female partner. Rinko thinks Takeo is hot, so kiss her already, dude!