Looking for a specific kind of Romance anime

[Jetbent]

Hey guys. I’ve been having trouble finding something I want to watch so I figured I’d ask for advice. I’ll do likes and dislikes to make it simple.

I prefer something with some longevity to it (at least 12 episodes... the 2 episode OVAs just don't cut it for character development if you know what I mean).

To sort of elaborate,

Spoiler for Death Note, ending:

I thought Death Note was an awesome anime until the Deus ex Machina ending (which was incredibly lame), plus I would have liked it if Light/Kira actually cared about anyone other than himself (i.e. misa).

It'd be cool to find a good anime with an intelligent (not shy but knows what he wants) main character who doesn't end up dying at the end because he took over the world if you know what I mean.

And I'm not a fan of the "blush every time he looks at a girl" characters... there's a limit to how shy a person can actually be, and Shounen shows usually shoot that limit in the face and go all out (very annoying), which is why I don't usually like them...



Likes:

• Romance (necessity; heterosexual please)
• preferably Seinen/Shoujo
• action/adventure/fantasy/science fiction/drama etc., (anything works really)
• good animation
• good storyline
• “Protagonist gets (and cares for) the girl”

Dislikes:

• Harem (I absolutely hate harem shows)
• protagonists with megane (sometimes it's ok but this stems from how hard it is to make a drawn character with glasses likable)
• male characters played by female seiyuu
• super depressing shows (School Days)
• shows with lame endings (Death Note)
• Shounen/Shouju Ai
• shows with completely unrelated endings (like ones that somehow pull incest into the mix) (Akaneiro ni Somaru Saka)
• love triangles in general

On the anti Harem note, the reason I dislike harem shows immensely is because the main character is always some extraordinarily boring, kind, average, oblivious loser who can't choose what he wants, and I'm definitely of the school of thought that a man should only be with one woman.

Plus, I like something that could actually be plausible.

Let's face it, there's no way that 18 girls would fall in love with some loser who both can't tell that girls like him, and can't choose someone he loves.

On a similar vein, love triangles are also annoying, but as long as they're quickly and definitively resolved they're ok (that's why I really disliked Macross Frontier)

Here's some examples of the kinds of anime that I like. My favorite couple by far are Spice and Wolf, Full Moon wo Sagashite, and Itazura no Kiss. (Spice and Wolf being my absolute favorite):

• Ah! My Goddess
• Bakemonogatari
• Blood+
• Clannad
• After Clannad
• Chobits
• DN Angel
• Eureka Seven
• Full Moon wo Sagashite
• Itazura no Kiss
• Kimi no Todoke
• Planetes
• Rahxephon
• Rec
• Special A
• Spice and Wolf
• Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
• Vandread

[MamoruUsagi]

Bokura ga Ita is a great romance series, the couple is dating and in a relationship, the dialouge is very realistic. A really great series.

Mars is a great and realistic and mature romance manga. It's very realsitic and relatable, the couple is in a deep relationship.A long manga.

The Devil Does Exist is a mature romance manga, it's very realistic, the couple is dating and in a deep relationship, very mature, realistic, touching.

Kare Kano is a series where the couple is dating the entire time.

Paradise Kiss is a mature romance, the couple is in an intense and passionate relationship.

Fushigi Yuugi is a romance/fantasy series, in the manga the couple's relationship is much deeper and more mature.

Ayashi no Ceres is a romance/fantasy manga, the couple's relationship in the manga is passionate and intense and mature. The Ceres Celestial Legend manga is great romance/fantasy/passion.

Kare First Love is a romance manga, the couple is in a committed relationship.

Peach Girl is a romance series, the main character dates two different guys.

Marmalade Boy is an alright romance.

Happy Hustle High is a cute and fun romance manga with a great couple.

High School Debut is a good romance with a cool couple.

Wild Act is a romance manga with a couple dating and in relationship.

Land of The Blindfolded is a manga where there's a couple dating and in a relationship.

Sailor Moon manga has the main couple in a mature, committed relationship. The manga is totally different from the show, it's romance/fantasy and much more mature than the show.

Absolute Boyfriend is a romance/comedy manga with a dating couple.

Ultra Cute is a romance manga with a couple in a relationship.

Missile Happy! is a cute romance manga with a dating couple.

All of these series have couples dating and in relationships with no harem.

[Jetbent]

Wow thanks a bunch. I liked how you pointed out the maturity of all of them hehe. I guess what I needed to say was I'm looking for a mature romance eh? lol I've actually seen Kare Kano (though the end of the anime was disappointing because it doesn't actually go into the part where the kare gets saved... but oh well)

[Sackett]

Crest of the Stars might catch your interest.

You should also probably give Maison Ikkoku a good chance. (Don't be deceived by the first couple episodes).

Oh, and I don't know how it turns out (not yet finished), but you should Cross Game a look too.

[Jetbent]

I finished watching the bokura ga ita anime. It was decent I suppose, but I definitely think that the anime adaptation is more pleasing than the manga version (with the ending and whatnot). It was a bit tedious though since every predictable thing happened at every instance, and some of the characters were downright annoying (Yamamoto Yuri for one). There was also a bit of love-triangle going on, but not too bad I suppose.

[incube]

Fantasy / scifi with romance:

Fate Stay Night
Full Metal Panic
Kaze no Stigma
Shakugan no Shana
Kure-nai
Tsubasa Chronicles

Romance / Slice of life:

Honey & Clover
Myself Yourself
Kannagi
Toradora

[Full Metal Coast]

firstly from you post i advise you to stay away from Code Geass.

some Reccomendations for some you might like are:
Full Metal Panic
Kaze No Stigma
Shakugan No Shana
Zero No Tsukaima-Slight Harem but from what you have said you will still like it
Speed Grapher-you might enjoy
Fruits Basket
the Da Capo series

You will also like all of incube's suggestions

[Jetbent]

I watched and enjoyed Code Geass actually, but I wasn't watching it as a romance so it wasn't bad at all. Plus I heard favorable reviews from friends and siblings and such, but I agree that it's not really a Romantic one. More along the lines of drama (or so I've decided before on other forums). I've actually watched Kaze no Stigma, Full Metal Panic, Shakugan no Shana, Zero no Tsukaima, Fate Stay Night, Tsubasa Reservoir Chrnoicle, and Myself Yourself. On a different tack though, I started watching Fruits Basket, but I didn't really like it cus it seemed like a reverse harem to me. Is it actually worth watching? (I'm definitely not into Yuri/Yaoi, and I have a general aversion to female Seiyuus playing lead male roles)

[DragoZERO]

First off, you should put spoiler tags about your comments about Death Note.

Second off, what is wrong with females playing male roles?

And I don't have anything to suggest with requirements that picky.

[Jetbent]

I apologize for not putting the spoiler in and have changed it at your suggestion. I'm not the kind of person who will scorn other people's opinions (though I often disagree with them). If people suggest a romance anime to me, then at the very least I look it up and often try it out, and if I come to the conclusion that I don't like it, then I won't watch it.

The problem I have with female seiyuus is that it's sort of hard for me to visualize their characters as males because I usually know what they look like already... (the most prolific ones are in most famous animes already). However, there are animes that I enjoyed where the main male character was voiced by a female seiyuu, for example: Eureka Seven, Kure-nai (which I watched today after incube's suggestion), Fooly Cooly, Mahoromatic, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Noein. Plus, there's tons of shows that have secondary male characters played by female seiyuus.

My "requirements" are more like guidelines for the kinds of shows that I like to watch to help other people narrow down the suggestions that they have. The only thing that's really important to me out of my "requirements" is that they contain a mature romance. (which sounds lame when I put it that way). By mature romance, I don't mean that the main characters do it or end up dying. More along the lines that they actually love each other, and don't get interrupted every single time they try to kiss, or bothered by 13 other females all vying for the male's love. I'm just tired of harems mostly. When I was a kid I was more or less into them (like Tenchi Muyo), but as I've matured (or at least I feel like I've matured), I've begun to search for shows that are more capable of fulfilling my more mature interests. That's the main reason why recently I've switched from primarily Shounen animes, over to primarily Shoujo and Seinen animes. The primary reason for this is that Shoujo animes aren't afraid to let the main character choose a girl, they seldom have harems, and they often emphasize the importance of the characters' relationships. The reason I switched to Seinen animes (even though they're definitely harder to find), is because I'm part of that demographic at heart, and I'm definitely successfully targeted in that age demographic. However, I still have the aversion to harems, so I tend to avoid them with Seinen shows as well.

Anyway, all of that aside, I apologize for offending you, and I'll do my best to cover up spoilers should I have them in the future.

[SeijiSensei]

Originally Posted by jetbent

The only thing that's really important to me out of my "requirements" is that they contain a mature romance.

Well since no one's suggested Nodame Cantabile, I'll throw that into the mix, though romance is only one of its main threads. Other shows to consider include Planetes, Welcome to the NHK!, Ristorante Paradiso, Kare Kano, and Genji Monogatari Sennenki.

[npcomplete]

Skip Beat
Lovely Complex

And I'm not a fan of the "blush every time he looks at a girl" characters... there's a limit to how shy a person can actually be,

then you probably have not met any really shy person yet

[Jetbent]

Originally Posted by npcomplete

Skip Beat
Lovely Complex


then you probably have not met any really shy person yet

well the shy people i meat don't seem to blush they just don't seem to talk :P pfft. It's annoying when every character is shy and something always interrupts them before they kiss. (every single harem... even normal shows... bleh) oh well

[MeoTwister5]

I'm going to make a lump suggestion of everything Makoto Shinkai has made. 5cm per Second might be iffy depending on how you interpret the ending. I'll also echo and recommend the following which have already been suggested:

Lovely Complex
Honey and Clover
Kare Kano

Special mention of course for Cross Game.

[HitagiIsHot]

I'm going to put in another vote for Cross Game. It has 51 episodes (I hear you on the 12 episodes is too short thingy) with some of the best character development I have ever seen in an anime. I don't want to say too much about the romance (to avoid spoiling), but it has its childish (but cute) and mature (grown up) moments and issues.

[Jetbent]

Hmm this Cross Game looks interesting. I don't normally go for the sports animes, but I can also think of lots of other shows where sports was a large part of it but they were still good. I think I'll look into it. Thanks.

[HitagiIsHot]

Originally Posted by Jetbent

Hmm this Cross Game looks interesting. I don't normally go for the sports animes, but I can also think of lots of other shows where sports was a large part of it but they were still good. I think I'll look into it. Thanks.

Great! I hope that you find the anime that you were looking for in Cross Game, or at the very least enjoy other aspects of this great anime (lots of things really shine in this show). As I have stated before, while the character development, plot, and story telling pace is superb; I do not deny that baseball is also a big part of the show. I think it does a good job of keeping non-sports fans and sports fans interested enough to go through the baseball scenes without dragging. I wasn't really a fan of baseball before CG, and even now I still don't consider myself a big baseball watcher or player, but it has piqued my interest in the sport, which I consider is a good thing.

[Jetbent]

Yeah. As I was watching it I was thinking to myself... "I watch sports based movies... so what's wrong with an anime?" Plus, the animation in this show is good so it's not like choppy or lame the way they do it. Though I wish the romance would be faster lol.

[Pooba]

Nana is a good romance. I think you would like Toradora as well. Although there is a love polygon. It's not your typical love polygon. Protagonist isn't the lame loser type. Good characters.

[Theowne]

I suggest you look into Whisper of the Heart. It isn't exactly what you're looking for, but it is a charming romance anime that is completely devoid of anime cliche and repetition. If you feel like you're wearing thin on anime, this is where to go. It's a film, so it isn't a huge investment on your time, but the return will probably be immense. I know you asked for longevity but...well, I'm just throwing it out there. It's my favourite film. Ever.