A Nice Feel-Great Romance Anime
 

So after reading a certain chapter of a certain manga, I've been left in total despair, have a newly hated heroine, and want to forget it forever as soon as possible. Previous shows I've watched that leaved a great or at least a good enough impression on me (no particular order):

Onani Master Kurosawa
Hanasaku Iroha
Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!
Clannad
AnoHana
Kokoro Connect
Sakamichi no Apollon
A bit of the splendid Kimi ni Todoke and Cross Game
Acchi Kocchi
Toradora
The second and seventh of the Kara no Kyoukai films
Hyouka
Hotarubi no Mori e

Now here some things I just want to add:

• The main characters or couple have to have at least known each other for a while or are getting to know each other as the series progresses. Not really in the mood for the whole "sudden-confession-from-random-new-girl/guy-you barely know about" scenario.

• No cheating, if the main character gets into a situation where he/she is getting seduced or dragged into a similar case I want to see that character take a stand against it, as long as we're not talking about extremes.*remembers that terrible experience in recently read manga*

• No smuts please.

• Love triangles are acceptable. Not too interested for harems atm.

• Even though it may be rare, no "Nice Boats"(for those who don't know what I mean you'll know by looking it up on urban dictionary or taking the hard way and watching School Days)

• Throwing in a MC that isn't too indecisive is nice too.

• Coming of age stories are always welcome.

• Not a yaoi or yuri fan so don't post any here.

• Seeing girl's pantsu flashing and fanservice groping on the screen often will be the least of my interests.

So what feel-great(or even a bit bittersweet along the way) anime do you think would make a worth-while experience for me to try out? Thanks in advance in case I'm not able to get online for a while.

Maybe the currently airing Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo? It's a Coming of age / love triangle series that fits what you're looking for.

Though if you're willing to take slower paced one, maybe Kobato.?

Currently got Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo on-hold, but the first three eps that I saw were fantastic. Will probably catch up once it's done.

Just read Kobato's summary now that you mentioned it. Really interesting premise there. Does it belong in the seinen or shoujo demographic? Been confused over that for a while already.

Thanks for replying!

It's seinen, but has a fair bit of shoujo feel to it since it's by clamp :heh:.

Since romcoms don't seem to be out of the question, might I suggest Lovely Complex?

Give Lamune a try. It's focused on a single girl and it's a pretty sweet romance. Very long-term sort of thing with a childhood friends elements. Some slice of life themes.

I might actually recommend GoSick as well. There really isn't much of an element of romance, but there is a lot of coming-of-age and a very deeply developing relationship. It's also a great show.

Kaichou wa Maid-sama I don't believe had copious fanservice, but I'm sure there is some. It's a good romance/comedy regardless.

You've watched some somewhat broad stuff. Eden of the East is a very popular show for good reason. It does have a romance element and it is a show I recommend that everyone at least tries. Plus it's a bit wacky, in a great way. :)

If you like shows with romance being a very long-term thing, I recommend Crest/Banner of the Stars (Seikai no Senki/Monshou). The Lafiel and Jinto romance is like that of GoSick where it's more of a really deep developing relationship, but it's also very meaningful and the anime itself is a long-time favorite of mine. Plus Seikai no Senki has some cool ship battles in it, for if you like sci-fi.

Spice and Wolf might make a good choice since it's also a very long-term and building relationship. Personally, I stopped liking it after the first season pretty quickly. It's a good show though, and it has some interesting stuff in it in terms of economics!

I try to give a pretty broad list of recommendations when people list animes they've liked. I attempted to keep it limited to more long-term relationships but I ended up including a couple where the presence of a romance was somewhat subtle. A couple I didn't include were School Rumble, which errs more on the side of a comedy and is more for fun than for anything else; but nonetheless it's a popular one and it might be worth popping an episode or two just to see if you like it. I also mulled over xxxHolic, although romance really isn't much of a focus of the serious as much as the supernatural and coming-of-age themes; and again a very good one that might be worth a shot.

Comedy duo about a taller girl and shorter guy? Count me in! Thanks for replying!

After looking this up on MAL I'm starting to like it enough just by reading the summary.
:)
Completed GoSick sometime ago already, but yeah it was quite good and the ending was great too. I guess I forgot to mention that one.

May give it a shot later.

Thanks for putting a good amount of effort into posting this. Really appreciate it. Can't wait to finish several shows I've been putting off for a while now to get to these. :)

Hanasakeru Seishonen: This anime really explores the meaning of love from a women's heart.

Sola: drama, romance story, with supernatural elements as well.

Both Mashiro iro Symphony and Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun were decent romances that i have seen. Tonari no kaibutsu-kun however does not have a definitive closure on the romance though.

This year's best anime, IMO: Nazo no Kanojo X. If you can get past the squick-factor of saliva tasting, you get one of the most straightforward and warmhearted romance anime since Kimi ni Todoke. It does contain the occasional pantyshot, but that seems more like a strange sort of genre parody than anything else. The visuals are retro, the soundtrack sounds like Danny Elfman.

Will look into these. Many thanks :)
Been wondering about all the talk over all this. Might be worth checking out more than I thought. Love the retro character designs too. Thank you.

Edit: Man, I can't wait till the Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha anime airs. Really enjoying the manga even though I'm 3 chapters in so far.

Mashiro iro Symphony definitely fits, but I was hesitate to suggest it because it is somewhat of a harem.

Since romcoms don't seem to be out of the question

Since you've seen AnoHana and Toradora, I'd like to suggest Ano Natsu de Matteru. A must watch if you've seen and liked the other two, IMO.

I think it fits the bill quite nicely.

Hoshizora e Kakary Hashi is the one for you :) (maybe also IS: Infinite Stratos)

After reading that they share a similar staff behind them, I guess I can agree with you on that. :) Thanks.
Could never really get into the first 5 minutes of Hoshizora's first episode, iirc. And isn't IS pretty heavy with the harem and fanservice element? As far as I've read about it (and the joke images about its plot on Google), that is.

Still, thanks for the recommendations. :)

You should try the classic Maison Ikkoku. It's my favorite romance anime of all time and it's a hell of a ride. You really grow attached to the characters. It's also from the 80's and you get little touches of 80's Japan that add another element of interest when watching as a modern viewer. The romance between the main characters is believable and develops at a steady and real pace. It is definitely also a coming of age story with the main character, Godai, undergoing some of the most believable character development I've ever seen in anime. The supporting cast is also funny and provides plenty of laughs. It's long, but if anything I wish it were longer because you really do get sucked into their little fictional world when watching. The visuals are dated, but they are still fine and the story is so damn good it would be a crime to overlook it just for the outdated aspect. The love interest also has an interesting element in that she is a widow and is afraid to betray her late husband by engaging in a new romance.

After reading the summary off MAL I can already say I wanna watch it as soon as possible. Thanks for telling me about it. :)

So I've been thinking about buying the Saikano volumes(though since this seems to be a tragedy story it might not fit into this thread), but I was worried about something. Knowing that this is an M rated manga, what kind of NSFW would I have to watch out for?

There are a few some explicit sex scenes from what i can remember from reading the manga years ago. Not to mention the overall theme and tone of the story can be heavy at times.