Most of the romance anime I’ve seen are based on a high school setting or something similar.
They were good and all but all have this typical format with the usual shenanigans like Love triangle, beach and fireworks festival episodes, useless love interests that have a shelf life of a hamburger… Etc.
And the memorable ones have me feeling nostalgia for memories I’ve never even had. And in some cases its almost like waking up after a fever dream but with chest pain.
P.S - From the top of my head- the only grown up romance setting I can think of is Wotakoi. Maybe it’s time I venture more into K-dramas for the romance, I remember seeing one named “Twentyfive twentyone” which was absolutely amazing.
Oregairu could be something you could like. While it’s setting is typical, it is much more atypical in how it deals with the romance.
Oregairu was really well executed. I really liked it. I kinda feel bad for the second girl with the pink hair ( I think her name was Yuigahama? ).
Oh man I feel old now… Its been what? 4 or 5 years since it got it’s final season anime adaptation huh… I was watching it while it was still airing.
On a completely unrelated note, I think it was last year when I watched an anime called “The terrors in my heart” it was one of the memorable ones I’ve seen as of late. I just remembered it when you mentioned Oregairu for some reason.
The Ancient Magus’s Bride is a nice slow-burn romance/adventure series that skips a lot of tropes and isn’t in any kind of rush. The setup is pretty uncomfortable, though.
The first few episodes were so uncomfortable I couldn’t get through them. :(
It’s definitely a series that rewards persistence. Watching Chise come into her own and grow got me hooked.
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So many good ones here. I’ve watched a few from the ones you mentioned. All of them I pretty much enjoyed a ton.
- Re Life
- Bunny girl senpai
- Sakura-sou no pet na Kanojo
- Boku no kokoro no yabai yatsu
- Kimi no nawa
Re life, kmi no nawa and bunny girl senapi gave me depression for a short while back in the day. Boko no Kokoro no yabai yatsu was probably one of the better ones to come out in recent times.
I also think I watched the first 2 episodes of Kaicho wa Maid Sama a long time ago… I almost forgot it existed.
Hiscore girl, tsuki ga kirei and Spice & wolf are in my never ending watch list, thanks for reminding me again. As for gosik, it’s my first time hearing about it… Will check it out tho.
Also please go ahead and comment the experimental ones you mentioned, I think I’ll find something interesting
Also my apologies for not mentioning the ones I already watched in my post.
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Nanais about a typical ‘head filled with romance’ type of protagonist but with a more mature take. It also has amazing music too.I think Bloom Into You is good. However, you’ll need to switch to the manga halfway through since the anime is incomplete (and will probably never be finished).
[off topic]
The Thin Man movies. Classic Hollywood B+W with a pair of adults having a great time solving a murder mystery.
Other than Wotakoi, the only ones I can think of, and are worthwhile imo, are ‘Science Fell In Love, So I Tried To Prove It’, ‘Astro Note’ and ‘Recovery Of An MMO Junkie’ though the latter 2 aren’t really full on romances.
I can think of a few manga though, if that’s okay with you:
- Manga by Yamada Kintetsu (Sweat and Soap, Telework Yotabanashi, Kasane to Subaru)
- More Than Lovers, Less Than Friends
- She Loves To Cook, She Loves To Eat
- I Have A Crush At Work (currently also being adapted into an anime, but only 1 ep is out, so…)
Hey thanks for all these suggestions. I’ll check out all of them. I’ll add those manga to my reading list.
No worries. Have fun.
You made me check out Telework Yotabanashi again and I found out that there apparently was an official translation released, so thanks to you too haha
I am late to the party, but here are some picks I have:
- The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity
- Gosick
- Higehiro: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway
- Isuca
- Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts
- The Foolish Angel Dances with the Devil
There is a bit of everything in those, you might like some of them.
Watch Itazura na Kiss
And Strawberry Panic, which has a more mature story (but still plays in highschool)
I’ve not heard about both of them before. I’ll check these out. Thanks
Ahh, and maybe also Saekano, which is one of my favorite animes of all times (make sure to watch the movie at the end)
Is that the one where the main character tries to develop a girl into an ideal heroine for his novel or something along those lines ?
I didn’t completely watch that show, so I’ll check it out some time. Thanks for reminding me tho.
Yeah, a bunch of young talents try to develop tthe perfect visual novel. It can feel slow at times but the payoff when watching the final movie at the end is amazing.
Violet evergarden. Its a series with also several specials and movies. Worth watching, as the story building on that show is fantastic. Animation and audio work was also well done. I benched it all during a week. Ill eventually rewatch it again dubbed this time cause I want to experience the English performance.
