Romance plays a major role in the anime industry, and the best romance series rank among the most popular titles of all, such as the legendary Fruits Basket and the sweet, sentimental Kimi ni Todoke. The tricky part is portraying young love realistically, as many anime series are known to add wild, fantastical elements that may totally skew the romantic narrative.
On top of that, even non-fantasy anime tends to be colorful and highly dramatic or fanciful, and plenty of love stories end up as gratifying harems or get carried away with melodrama to the point of feeling highly unrealistic. Fortunately, some high-quality romance anime series are more grounded with their love stories, engaging audiences with the everyday, nuanced reality that makes romance so personal.
Tomo-chan Is a Girl! Is About Love & Self-Image
One especially relatable topic of young love is self-acceptance and self-image. Many teenagers and young adults are insecure about their appearance, how others see them and their overall self-worth, so this may complicate any relationship where the person or character fears they're not worth being loved as they are. This realistic, sympathetic issue is directly addressed in the delightful rom-com Tomo-chan Is a Girl!, starring the tomboy Tomo Aizawa. She loves karate and speaks roughly, but she also loves her childhood friend Jun and fears that he doesn't see her as a beautiful girl. Tomo must find a way to balance her true, tomboyish self with the feminine image she wishes to project and finally get Jun's attention without abandoning who she truly is.
Horimiya Shows It's The Little Things That Matter Most
Some romance anime series hit hard with dramatic, larger-than-life scenes involving heart-wrenching melodrama or even supernatural events, such as Fruits Basket, but in everyday life, it's the little things that tend to count the most. Horimiya is a popular romance anime that proves this, showing the gentle male lead Izumi Miyamura and the female lead Kyoko Hori fall in love simply because they share their humble everyday life experiences with one another. It's a low-drama romance anime that depicts all the little things adding up into a strong, cozy relationship, which makes it more relatable and more comforting to watch.
Komi Can't Communicate Shows How Hard It Is to Truly Express Oneself
While rom-com series like Horimiya and Tomo-Chan is a Girl! portray love-struck teenagers who can freely express themselves, if imperfectly, Komi Can't Communicate turns honest communication into the biggest, most sympathetic obstacle to young love. Speaking honestly and expressing one's true feelings to a lover isn't easy for anyone for countless reasons, and that's especially true for inexperienced, insecure teenagers who aren't sure what they're doing. Learning to express one's true self and show their true feelings is a scary but worthwhile challenge, and in Komi Can't Communicate, the dandere heroine Shoko Komi faces her communication disorder head-on so that she can tell Hitohito Tadano what she really thinks of him.
Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie Reminds Anime Fans That Relationships Require Constant Work
Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie does more than flip the script with an athletic, bold female lead and a gentle, vulnerable male co-lead who needs protecting. This charming rom-com anime reminds fans that any worthwhile relationship takes work to build and maintain. A romantic relationship is a group project, requiring mental and physical effort to run, and that's something anyone who starts their first relationship will soon find out. In particular, Shikimori constantly defends her boyfriend Izumi Yuu from comical physical dangers, such as his own clumsiness or even drifting newspapers, and Shikimori's work ethic is what makes her a popular student, athlete and girlfriend. It takes more than a single, dramatic love confession or a box of Valentine's Day chocolates to make a relationship happen -- every person in a relationship needs to open their mental toolbox and get to work building something wonderful, one emotional bolt and screw at a time.