The perfect balance of warm hearts and slapped knees.
For many people, the word “Anime” suggests epic battles, high stakes, and action heavy plotlines. And if watching seven-episode fights in Naruto or Demon Slayer is your thing, that’s awesome! But for some of us, the thrill of Anime comes from watching two people fall in love painfully slowly. Bonus points if there are cute and comical side-characters.
Enter the Rom-Com; perfect for the sensitive weeb. Rom-Com Anime has been around for decades, but as a massive fan I’ve weeded out the best of the best. So, if you’re looking for something to get emotionally invested in, here’s my take on the five best Rom-Com Anime ever made.
5. Ouran High School Host Club – 1 Season, 26 Episodes (Complete)
A beloved classic, Ouran High School Host Club follows Haruhi Fujioka, a boyish first-year girl at the wealthy Ouran Academy. The series begins with her wandering into a music room to study and accidentally interrupting a meeting of the school’s Host Club: a group of handsome boys who spend their free time entertaining rich female students. On her way back out, though, she manages to break a vase worth a whopping 8,000,000 Yen. For most Ouran students this is chump change, but Haru is on a full ride scholarship and has no way to pay off such a huge debt! She couldn’t even afford the school uniform.
That, along with her name and short hair, is why the host club assumes she is a boy. To pay off her new-found debt, they strong-arm her into joining their ranks. This delightfully wacky premise, and Haru’s immediate chemistry with club president Tamaki, are the perfect formula for 26 episodes of She’s The Man style Rom-Com gold. This series has a lot to say about gender and how it relates to love, while staying very comedy forward, so it isn’t hard to see why it’s been a long-standing favorite of LGBT anime fans.
Watch Ouran High School Host Club on Netflix.
4. Komi Can’t Communicate – 2 Seasons, 24 Episodes (Currently Ongoing)
A more modern addition to the romantic anime sphere, this series only started airing in 2021 and has already made quite an impression on its audience. Shouko Komi is a beautiful young girl who holds the title of “most popular” everywhere she goes and rules the school with her beauty, or so the rumor goes. In reality, she suffers from extreme social anxiety and finds it impossible to speak to anyone on her own. She’s so shy that she doesn’t even know she’s popular! When an average boy named Hitohito Tadano befriends her, he’s surprised to learn that her goal in life is to make one hundred friends. That sounds like a solid Anime premise to me.
I convinced my boyfriend to watch this one with me, and he described it as “a platonic harem anime”. Honestly, that’s kind of what it is; each episode revolves around Tadano’s efforts to make Komi happy by recruiting more friends for her, all the while the two develop feelings for each other that are obvious to everyone except themselves. On top of this perfect Rom-Com format, the show is also quite progressive. It talks openly about mental health and anxiety, as well as features an openly gender-fluid character. Komi Can’t Communicate is a wonderful, adorable watch for just about anyone!
Watch Komi Can’t Communicate exclusively on Netflix.
3. Horimiya – 1 Season, 13 Episodes (Complete)
Another recent series, Horimiya, became an instant classic to fans for its slow and calm depiction of real relationships. The title is a ship name for the two main characters, Kyoko Hori and Izumi Miyamura- Horimiya! The two are high school students in the same class who come to find that they’re both hiding secret lives from their classmates. Hori, the queen-bee type popular girl, is really a mother-like caretaker for her brother. Her parents are rarely around to take care of the house, so she does all the cooking, cleaning, and childcare. Miya, on the outside, is a quiet and self-conscious introvert who feels the need to cover his body. In reality, he covers up and keeps to himself to hide his plentiful tattoos and piercings, which are extremely taboo in Japan (especially for someone so young).
When their secrets are revealed to each other, they decide to start meeting after school every day at Hori’s house. This way, she has someone to help with her chores, Miya has somewhere he doesn’t have to cover up, and they both have someone to talk to with no pretenses. The plot is admittedly loose, and the relationship develops slowly, but that’s a large part of this show’s charm. There’s something sweet about watching these two fall in love slowly and then all at once.
Watch Horimiya on Crunchyroll.
2. Princess Jellyfish – 1 Season, 11 Episodes (Complete)
This one is a bit more obscure, but one of my all-time favorites. Princess Jellyfish centers around a young adult woman named Tsukimi, who is completely obsessed with Jellyfish. She’s one of five very introverted and awkward women who live together in an all-female apartment building. One night, she’s out looking at a rare jellyfish when she realizes it’s tanked with a breed that is aggressive and alerts the clerk that if it isn’t moved it will die. The clerk doesn’t care, and as they’re arguing about it, a mysterious and beautiful woman appears and rescues the rare jelly by buying it for Tsukimi. This beautiful woman then escorts Tsukimi home and promptly falls asleep on her floor.
When the sun rises, we learn that this mysterious woman is actually a mysterious man named Kuranosuke. It should be mentioned that, as far as the show displays, Kuranosuke is a straight man and not gay or trans. He just loves to be in drag. After meeting Tsukimi and all her friends, he takes it upon himself to start hanging around in full drag and pushing them out of their comfort zones. He also very quickly begins developing feelings for Tsukimi, leading to a delightful love triangle. This show is so rich with unique and memorable stories and characters, and in its short 11 episode run it manages an astounding amount of character progression for almost everyone. Do yourself a favor and give this one a binge.
Watch Princess Jellyfish on Crunchyroll.
1. Fruits Basket – 3 Seasons, 63 Episodes (Complete)
I would be hard pressed to make a list of Rom-Coms and not include Fruits Basket. Arguably the most influential and successful in the history of romantic Anime, Tohru and company have more than earned this spot. If you don’t know already, Fruits Basket is based on the legend of the Chinese/Japanese Zodiac. The central plot revolves around a high school girl named Tohru Honda who, due to complicated circumstances, moves in with the strange but kind Sohma family. She quickly learns that certain members of the family are cursed to turn into zodiac animals when hugged by someone of the opposite sex.
Perhaps the most Anime premise to have ever existed, and somehow, it’s not the focus of the show. The bulk of the show is really about Tohru exploring her feelings and identity amongst a host of handsome and eligible bachelors. Not to say the plot isn’t important, but there is no shortage of love trapezoids and will-they won’t-they tension. Even rewatching the series nearly 16 years after my first viewing, it’s impossible to ignore the charm and chemistry woven into the story. Fruits Basket truly is a classic in the Anime world, and it’s not hard to see why.
Watch Fruits Basket on Hulu.
There you have it, my hard stances on the best Rom-Com Anime the world has ever known! Every one of these shows is near and dear to my heart, and I hope you enjoy them just as much as me!
Everyone is different and I’m curious; what are your thoughts? Did I miss something that deserved to be here? Do you think any of these shouldn’t have made the cut? Sound off in the comments, please and thank you.
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