Unrequited Love in Anime or Manga

[Dilla]

I always been a fan of the unrequited(one-sided) love concept in the stories I read. Something about a character lusting after someone he/she can't have or being afraid that their love wouldn't be returned has always interested me. So, I was wondering if there are any good anime/manga where this is an issue. While it doesn't have to be the main conflict in the plot, I would like for it to be in the forefront, at least to the point to where I don't have to read or watch through multiple chapters just to see one instance of it.

I don't like slash, so please, just hetero pairings. Thanks.

[Marion]

Well the first thing that comes to mind is Full Moon. In the anime there are two Shinigami partners, Meroko and Takuto. Meroko has unrequited feelings for Takuto and has been rejected more than several times by him. Although she only talks about it later, it's usually obvious before it's stated and it does become an issue since she has jealous feelings towards the main character, who has requited feelings to Takuto.

Then there's Ouran High School Host Club. The main male character has feelings for the main female lead, but she sees him more of a mentor/annoyance.

[Sackett]

Huh...

Well, Ranma 1/2 is essentially one long string of twisted connections of unrequited love by just about everyone except the main leads, Akane and Ranma. Only Akane is a Tsudere, and Ranma is a jerk and clueless most of the time. Which means that nobody ever get anywhere in their love lives. (Oh and did I mention that virtually all the participants in this massive Love Dodecahedron are martial artists, and mortal combat seems to be the default method for competing over their respective unrequited love interests?)

Hayate the Combat Butler has loads of unrequited love too- including the main male and female leads this time. It really does remind me of Ranma a lot. Of course it's lampshaded, since Hayate is a parody of everything including itself.

Both of the above are mainly comedies, so it's all played for laughs.

Maison Ikkoku also has a series of unrequited loves. Early on we have Godai towards Kyoko who is still in love with her dead husband. Then Kozue towards Godai who probably would have fallen for her if he wasn't so obsessed with Kyoko. Then Mitaka towards Kyoko, and Asuna towards Mitaka. Then Yagami shows up to have even more unrequited love towards Godai. (He's her teacher and she's a highschool student- Godai is distinctly not interested but that doesn't stop Yagami).

Also a romantic comedy, so lots of laughs are made from this, but also has a more serious side to it. Particularly the treatment of Asuna and Mitaka's relationship, which actually addresses the issue of what happens when a person manages to catch their one-sided love- is she just a "second place prize"?

Other than that... lets see... Shinobu in Love Hina is probably one of the more famous cases of unrequited love.

In Elfin Lied, unrequited love is a major motivation of Lucy's homicidal behavior- but that's a weird romantic/comedy/horror (and by horror I mean massive body counts complete with dismemberment- gave me nightmares so I can't really recommend it).

My understanding is that in InuYasha, Inuyasha has unrequited love for Kikyo. And that has some plot significance.

Afraid that's all I can think of off the top of my head.

[GreatTeacherKen]

Honey and Clover is pretty much half about unrequited love and half about the characters (particularly Takemoto) figuring out what to do with their adult lives. Although I didn't like the resolution to one of the romantic relationships, I really enjoyed the show overall, and I honestly don't know many people who dislike this show, so I'd highly recommend it.

[KimmyChan]

Another good suggestion I can offer you (which spans just 3 volumes of manga) is Suki by Clamp

[Full Metal Coast]

Could check out Full Metal Panic it sort of is like that but she is interested in him and hes interested in her but he does not know how to express his feelings let alone know how to identify these feelings for her while she likes him but is to stubborn to be the first one to admit it.

[SeijiSensei]

The central characters of Saiunkoku Monogatari have romantic feelings for each other, but their respective stations in life precludes their acting on those feelings. The male half of the pair displays a variety of "love-sick" behaviors throughout much of the show.

[holyalexander]

i like those suggestion going to watch them too..

[Happy_Chip]

I always been a fan of the unrequited(one-sided) love concept in the stories I read ... So, I was wondering if there are any good anime/manga where this is an issue.

Uh ... I'm tempted to say that nearly all anime have this as a feature - character A likes character B, who doesn't know and couldn't care less, and the character's love simply leads him to rejection, angst and pain. It's really common IMHO.

Regardless, 'Ocean Waves' (aka 'I can hear the sea' - Umi ga Kikoeru) is probably my favorite anime, and unrequited love is a main feature of it. Technically this movie is licensed by Disney along with all the other Ghibli productions, but the clowns at Disney have no intention of ever distributing it.

But I'm sure you know how to use Google to find a torrent, if you choose to do so.

[mit7059]

I'll second Honey and Clover, its pretty much the ultimate unrequited love series.

[Kushi]

Try 5 centimetres per second the whole thing is about unrequited love and moving on~ the visuals are also absolutely stunning.

Code Geass also has unrequited love, with Lelouch + shirley or kallen or CC.. it's not what you call the main focal point but it wasn't too bad.