Forum - View topicRomance anime recommendations.
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angel_lover
 Posts: 645 Location: UK |
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If by "lately" you mean recent ones, then for me it's Kanon (the remake) and Kasimasi.
I find it hard to believe that someone thought the art of Kanon was bad - maybe they were thinking of the inferior original version. The Kyoto remake is beautiful and full of moments that make you want to press the pause button just so as you can appreciate them fully. From trees silhouetted against the sky so the whole thing looks like a giant snowflake to the golden cornfields of childhood memories to the "bullet time" close-up of Ayu's falling tear as spoiler[she kisses Yuuichi] to the crushed strawberries staining the snow like blood after spoiler[Akiko's accident], the artwork is stunning. And I really don't know where people get the idea from that spoiler[Ayu died], either. After spoiler[her fall, I thought she had broken her neck and would die - especially as you see her briefly as an angel in the opening credits - but you get to see Ayu alive and awake well before the show ends.] As for Kasimasi, it's not every day you come across a schoolgirl sex-change lesbian love triangle  If that alone isn't enough, it's a romance with a gentle touch that manages to handle its apparently outrageous subject matter with great skill, and plenty of humour along the way.
Last edited by angel_lover on Mon Sep 10, 2007 4:50 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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EngrishFan
Posts: 75 Location: Somewhere in chilly Canada |
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I'm surprised no one's mentioned this series yet, though I suppose this is one of the more niche series out there within the genre. Oh well, here goes.....
(Trying to follow the guidelines and format used in other genre recommendation threads) Victorian Romance Emma - The budding romance between Emma, a maid, and William, a member of the gentry, set to the backdrop of late 19th century London, England. Unique amongst the sea of highschool romances, Emma recreates the Victorian atmosphere of the busy London streets and the British countryside, providing a more realistic view towards forbidden love and the divide between social classes. It may be slow for viewers used to romantic-comedies, but those who take to time to watch the series will find a rich rewarding experience unlike any other in the anime world. .....Damn, that description sounds corny. Note to self: work on my creative writing. |
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar  Posts: 16935 |
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I see this thread got re-titled into the official Romance Recommendation thread. I was waiting for that. Since it's the all purpose general thread and not just for recent romantic titles here's one I'll add to the mix.
Please Teacher--- Imagine going for a walk at night. Imagine seeing a bright light in the sky. Imagine stumbling upon an alien woman and running for your life. Imagine the next day that the super hot alien woman is your new teacher and she knows that you know who she really is. What do you do when you get caught alone with her as she tries to sort things out? You claim you're married of course what else. That's the premise behind Please Teacher. It's a romantic comedy that focuses more on the romance and drama and uses the comedy as a sort of support so the show doesn't get too serious. I found it to be more realistic then most romantic shows. Kei and Miazuho wind up having to pretend they're married to the principle if you will, while hiding it from everyone else. During the show they come to terms with their own feelings for each other. I find the show realistic in the sense of the daily struggles and arguments they have. Petty jealousy when one spends more time with someone else. Despite the fact she's an alien their relationship is very true to life of what a real couple might go through. I found the show to be very touching and the ending was a real tear jerker. Plus the show has some pretty decent animation behind it. The show has gotten mixed reviews from what I've seen but I still enjoy it and think anyone looking for a more serious and touching romance show ought to give it a try. It's also only 12 episodes anyway so it won't take up much of your time. |
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kizzmequik_74
 Posts: 302 Location: QC, Philippines |
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Hey, no love for Paradise Kiss? It's been characterized as an animated soap opera, with the leads dancing a masochism tango around each other, but its length (12 episodes?) forces the story into a nicely measured pace, without the typical soap-operatic dragginess. Plus, the art (character designs, and costumes. Oh, the costumes..) is wonderful. I recall that I sat straight through the entire series when I first saw it, got myself hooked instantly.
Honey and Clover is plainly awesome. Personally, I think that it's THE slice-of-life/romance anime. I dunno, but the spoiler[Rika x Mayama pairing] is easily my favorite, probably because I've always had an attraction to women with spoiler[a combination of trauma, depression, and a risk of suicide]. Bodes ill for any RL relationships I may have, but, meh. 
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ElementSun
Posts: 106 |
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5 Centimeters Per Second
This romance anime is really depressing and to me, has one of the most heartbreaking endings ever. Don't watch it if you're in the mood for something optimistic, but if you're in the mood for something profound with a firmer grasp on reality, then I definitely recommend this anime. Additionally, the animation will just blow you away, easily the best animated series/movie up to modern date. |
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HetBaasje
Posts: 75 |
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It's a shame i saw the most of the anime named here.
Doesn't anyone know a good anime whitin this genre a unique one ?
Aniways i saw many good anime in this genre . Kanon,Suzuka,Kimi Kanozu Eien,Air,Da Capo, Peache teacher, pleache twins ect, are anime that many people will say when asking about their favorite anime. Althought there are more good anime whiting this genre. I didn't think anyone Announced Saikano , A great and unique storyline whitin a Love-Romance (drama) Twist. Sola Tv Another great story line wich i think is quite unique and separetes this anime from the most common anime in this genre. A great artwork and also good music. Chobits : It suprised me no one didn;t mentioned this anime, but everyone knows this one when u are talking about Love-Romance anime. A great peace of anime caus of the humor and great artwork combined whit a littlebit of drama, and a great realistiv humoristic twist. Well this is it because admins will probably delete my list or somthing like that, sometimes i think the admins here are to strickt. Does anyone a anime wich will probably fits this list? PS: sorry for the crappy english 
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marie-antoinette
 Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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There's been some really interesting recommendations here, including a fair number that I wouldn't even call "romance" really (Welcome to the NHK? Really?
 ). But I guess we are being fairly open with the definition and talking about anime that have romance elements in them, which of course widens the horizon a lot.
I'll second both NANA and Paradise Kiss, Yazawa Ai is excellent in showcasing relationships between characters and isn't afraid to have things go wrong, such as spoiler[the main couple of ParaKiss breaking up at the end.] Nodame Cantabile is also good, though I did go back and forth on the whole romance aspect of it because sometimes it just seems too much in Nodame's head. But then there are moments, spoiler[like when Nodame hypnotizes Chiaki to help him get over his fear of flying despite the fact that doing so will help him leave her behind], that are really sweet. Of course, for this I will add that I think the live action is the superior adaptation, but the anime is decent as well and does have material that the dorama lacks (and is a little closer to the manga's telling of events). Another that I haven't seen mentioned here that I love is Fushigi Yuugi. I'll admit that it is not the greatest anime ever made, but it's fun and entertaining and not as girly/fluffy as it first appears. It certainly does have its flaws but it also has some very memorable characters and a strong love story at the center of it. And yes, I do like Miaka. Poor girl gets so much hate  (though certainly she's not for everyone...but what character is?)[/spoiler]
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youkai_ronin
Posts: 117 Location: beneath the starry night sky |
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Hmm, well I'd have to say there's fine line between romantic, sad/bittersweet and just depressing. With that in mind I'd have to say I'll give it up to Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora(spelling?) because of the fact that despite the fact that Rika most likely won't spoiler[live long due to her heart condition] and also the night time scenes, which are tinted with a deep purple hue....it's really quite nice. Though I'd have to disagree with Saikano, although its main focus was of course on Chise and Shuji's relationship the surrounding atmosphere was very depressing(in this case too depressing even for me) though it definitely had one of my all time favorite scenes, when Akemi, spoiler[died in Shuji's arms.] The talk they shared right before was something I could imagine anyone talking about in that situation, very heartfelt yet realistic.
As for School Days...well  I mean, um, can't say I found it romantic. It is however very enthralling if only for the fact that the main character is a waste of human existence and witnessing his sexual escapades is highly entertaining(hell even dowright shocking sometimes).
I'm really looking forward to watching this, based on the fact that it was directed by Makoto Shinkai(with music composed by Tenmon FTW!) and I've enjoyed his two other works very much. I'm just wondering if/ when it will be released, since it says ADV has already licensed it(and Hilary Haag plays one of the main characters if I'm not mistaken  )
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chrisb
 Subscriber Posts: 617 Location: USA |
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Hmmm no one's listed one of my faves yet:
Bokura Ga Ita (We Were There) is probably the most realistic high school romance I've seen. Everything from the boyfriend being a jerk (but deep down a nice guy) to the difficulties of sex and previous relationships that haunt you. Nana was a cry baby but she's a freshman in high school with her first boyfriend, she doesn't know how to handle everything so it's easy to cut her some slack. Some people get upset at the main male for his rather jerky/semi abusive ways and him always wanting to "further" the relationship but basically alot of real high school boys are like that especially ones who've dated older girls and the male lead has gone out with an older and "Easy" girl, but when you begin to see how he really does care for his girlfriend and will do anything for her, you begin to like him too. There is a small love triangle but it's only developed a bit and done very well. All the characters have their insecurities and issues (especially with love), but what would high school be like if everyone wasn't like that? The show doesn't have the best animation but it has a soft and mellow art style with a great soundtrack and teens voice acting the lead roles to add realism. Anyone who likes shows like Kare Kano will definetely love this show. |
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kizzmequik_74
Posts: 302 Location: QC, Philippines |
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Fufu, true that. I'd say that the romance in that show really is mostly unrequited, one-sided love (or Nodame's delusions  ).
Oooh, FY. I have a funny love/hate relationship with that show. The thing is, when I first saw this show a few years back, I loved the first couple of episodes, but I slowly grew to hate it when the main characters started to act like total idiots 'for love', or whatnot. As such, I really lost interest about halfway through the show. It's really the romance between Miaka and Tamahome that annoyed me about the show. That said, to me, the show really fails as a romance anime, but it works as a nice little adventure anime. But then, I did like the second OAV... On the subject of Yuu Watase stuff, what about Ayashi no Ceres? Aya Mikage is a regular high school girl, with a regular (but apparently filthy rich) family, a twin brother, and a 16th birthday coming up. On the day of her (and her brother's) birthday, they are invited to a party at their grandfather's mansion. However, the 'party' is not all it seems, as the Mikage family holds an ancient secret, and Aya herself has a mysterious existence that may hold the key to the future of the Mikage family. Well, while the series seems to promise action and adventure, it's still based on a Watase work, so expect the usual 'hallmarks': a love story at its very core; leads doing brain-dead things in the name of love; character design repetition syndrome (also known as the 'all Watase male leads look like Tamahome principle'  ); and supporting characters, yes, including villains, that are more fun to watch than the leads. But I really like it, though, again, not entirely for the main leads' romance; the relationships of the supporting characters, though, is another story. It has a nice, really melancholy OP theme by Iwao Junko, moderately rocking ED themes, an interesting story hook, and a remarkably talented set of seiyuu: the supporting cast includes Ayako Kawasumi, Tomokazu Seki and Tomokazu Sugita. Dig that.
Another romance/slice-of-life series that I liked was Boys Be.... The story revolves around a group of high school friends, and their adventures in life and love as the seasons change over the span of one year. I like it, since it's a moderately serious series that deals with romance predominantly from high school guys' perspective, but doesn't ramp up the fanservice to the levels seen in typical male-oriented anime. I think that it's the series that started my obsession with slow-paced slice-of-life anime. The relationships have a soft, quiet feel to them, and the music really suits the mood. If anything, the only thing off-putting about it is the incredibly laid-back pacing of the show, but hey! |
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marie-antoinette
Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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I figured that might get mentioned, but decided I let someone who actually liked the anime do it  I love Watase Yuu to pieces but I really don't think this adaptation does the story justice, which is why I never even finished watching it.
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kizzmequik_74
Posts: 302 Location: QC, Philippines |
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Really? I'd tend to think that Watase's work is a lot prettier art-wise in the manga than the anime adaptations, but then again, it's the tragedy of most shoujo manga adapted to anime. I never really had that kind of problem, since I saw the anime first, and my recollection of the details was a bit hazy when I got around to reading the manga, which was about four years later. 
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marie-antoinette
Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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Pretty much I just think they had to cut way too much from the anime, because it's 13 (?) volumes of manga covered in 24 episodes, so not even 2 episodes per volume (where as Fushigi Yuugi tends to be about 4 episodes of anime per volume of manga and thus had to make very few cuts). It really kills the characterization, especially for poor Toya who has so very little characterization/personality to begin with
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Ultenth
 Posts: 229 Location: Washington State |
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I've not watched tons of Romance anime, and maybe its just my ignorance of the genre (I'm sure more experienced viewers probably found many flaws with them) but I really enjoyed Suzuka for the character development and overall serious and realistic tone, Lovely Complex for the comedy and stupidity, and Tokimeki Memorial for the sillyness as well as the (as I saw it anyway) purity of the love, and I really liked how it ended spoiler[with basically everyone kind of unrequited, which is sometimes how life goes].
I've watched a few Harem romances, and while they are sometimes funny and enjoyable to watch for the "that would be so great if it could happen to me" (90% of the entire shows are based on that) feelings, I found myself not really having anything permanent taken away in terms of memories from stuff that mainly focused on the Harem aspect and didn't have much else going on, like Shuffle for example. Tenchi is a decent Harem romance, but sometimes was just too silly and long that it became annoying. I've not seen a large amount of the ones listed here (Just got Kanon so I'm going to give that a go soon) but I plan on opening up more to this genre and watching some of the suggestions. Of course being a mid-20's guy though I primarily watch action/adventure/scifi/etc. cool blow em up stuff, I've just recently started to watch more romance anime, and find myself extremely entertained and engrossed by some of the better ones I've watched. |
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Ultenth
Posts: 229 Location: Washington State |
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I'm getting my heart completely torn apart by BGI at the moment, about 13 episodes in. But I really like the kind of serene way they go about everything, and the music for the series fits the scenes perfectly. The show seems to have a pretty realistic grasp on the problems it covers, and its sooo gripping watching the cast struggle with their past, and how it effects how they act in the present. So depressing sometimes, but in a way that you hope that they are able to work through it and find their way to the other side. Its about love and relationships and sex and the stupid things people really do to hurt themselves and the ones they love, and so far its pretty amazing to watch. I just recently finished TM : OL and Suzuka, and almost done with LoveCom, and while they were all great to watch, the emotions that are being brought at by BGI are 10x stronger, both the good at the bad. I've always considered myself a pretty masculine man, and just recently watched a few romance anime, and don't really like most western romance movies and such, but I'm so engrossed by BGI at the moment, which is funny because honestly I seem to prefer Shoujo romances over harem or otherwise shonen ones, they just seem much more realistic and emotional, and there just seems to be a lot more depth to them than the ones that are just about the guy having 3+ hot chicks and he has to make the oh so hard decision as to which one to finally date. So many of the moments are exactly as I've had myself or friends live through, and its so completely unflinchingly realistic in the portrayal of the trials and tribulations of relationships with other humans. The visceral realism of what happens when people hurt each other in relationships is just completely entrancing to watch. I'm just hoping they don't jump the shark at some point, which I've heard alluded to that they kinda do at the end, but everyone has different tastes, so maybe it won't bother me, we'll see! EDIT: Just finished it after a marathon, couldn't stop watching. So emotional, but really good in that it brought back many memories of events in my and some of my friends and families past, so it always seemed realistic to me. spoiler[So sad so often though, it seemed sometimes they were just doing things purposefully to make it end as sad as possible, and I hear the manga just keeps the same mind-set.] Overall probably my favorite romance anime so far, simply because of how realistic of an approach it took to lifes trials and tribulations and how things don't always turn out the way you want, even with the best intentions. |
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