A Nice Feel-Great Romance Anime

[MeoTwister5]

I'm going to echo the sentiments for Lovely Complex and Spice and Wolf.

If you thought Cross Game was splendid, then you will want to try and watch Touch.

[DrakenZero]

Give Amagami SS and Amagami SS+ Plus a try. Its presented in omnibus format and despite having 6 heroines, this is definitely NOT a harem. Each heroine is given her own 4 episode arc where the protagonist pursues only her (plus 2 additional episodes per heroine in SS+). Maybe cause he's limited on time, or he's just that good, he doesn't do any of that idiotic stuff on any arc that would normally be present in other romance series and make you scream at him. Each arc is heartwarming and given a sense of closure After each arc, the narrative resets, so there's no cheating/jealousy going on.

[Student no.0]

Originally Posted by MeoTwister5

I'm going to echo the sentiments for Lovely Complex and Spice and Wolf.

If you thought Cross Game was splendid, then you will want to try and watch Touch.

Man there's lots of Adachi adaptions I wanna see lol Especially Miyuki.

Originally Posted by DrakenZero

Give Amagami SS and Amagami SS+ Plus a try. Its presented in omnibus format and despite having 6 heroines, this is definitely NOT a harem. Each heroine is given her own 4 episode arc where the protagonist pursues only her (plus 2 additional episodes per heroine in SS+). Maybe cause he's limited on time, or he's just that good, he doesn't do any of that idiotic stuff on any arc that would normally be present in other romance series and make you scream at him. Each arc is heartwarming and given a sense of closure After each arc, the narrative resets, so there's no cheating/jealousy going on.

Sounds pretty good. I enjoyed Clannad: Another World, Kyou Chapter a lot, even though Nagisa is considered the main heroine.

Thanks guys!

[Kotohono]

Originally Posted by DrakenZero

Give Amagami SS and Amagami SS+ Plus a try. Its presented in omnibus format and despite having 6 heroines, this is definitely NOT a harem. Each heroine is given her own 4 episode arc where the protagonist pursues only her (plus 2 additional episodes per heroine in SS+). Maybe cause he's limited on time, or he's just that good, he doesn't do any of that idiotic stuff on any arc that would normally be present in other romance series and make you scream at him. Each arc is heartwarming and given a sense of closure After each arc, the narrative resets, so there's no cheating/jealousy going on.

Could have thought I mentioned this, but I didn't , so seconded.

[Student no.0]

What about Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate? Or does that fall out of the criteria I placed? Besides the harem that is.

[MisaoFan]

Originally Posted by Mare Boy

What about Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate? Or does that fall out of the criteria I placed? Besides the harem that is.

Despite being harem (or at least being semi-harem), KoiChoco is one of the best feel-good romances I've seen, and it does a nice job at balancing comedy with some drama and the ending was great.

[Coldlight]

Since you've mentioned Onani Master Kurosawa (which is a manga) in your opening post, I'd like to suggest to you the manga Chikan Otoko. It's only 21 chapters long, but a very, very nice read. Coincidentally, the artist is also the same one who did the art for OMK, but the writers are different as Chikan Otoko a.k.a Molester Man is supposedly based on a true story; unlike OMK which is fiction. Don't be afraid of the title now, it's not what it is at first glance.

I've only recently finished reading it myself, but I'd say it definitely fits the bill. That ending!

[Student no.0]

Originally Posted by Coldlight

Since you've mentioned Onani Master Kurosawa (which is a manga) in your opening post, I'd like to suggest to you the manga Chikan Otoko. It's only 21 chapters long, but a very, very nice read. Coincidentally, the artist is also the same one who did the art for OMK, but the writers are different as Chikan Otoko a.k.a Molester Man is supposedly based on a true story; unlike OMK which is fiction. Don't be afraid of the title now, it's not what it is at first glance.

I've only recently finished reading it myself, but I'd say it definitely fits the bill. That ending!

lol OKM left such a good impression on me that I must've mentioned it here on impulse without even considering that.

Sounds like it'll give me quite a nostalgic read, so why not? Thanks!

[Wild Goose]

So far, for an ongoing series, I'd suggest Kotoura-san.

A word of warning: the first ten minutes of episode one are dedicated towards utterly breaking down Kotoura Haruka in every possible way, even up to getting a BSOD.

And then she meets the male lead, and a ray of sunlight breaks through the dark clouds.

It's a show that's both heartwarming and heartbreaking; you have the pain so that the healing is that much sweeter.

Also, male lead Manabe is, despite being a bit of a quiet pervert, a complete and utter bro, who has the balls to solidify the OTP. In the second episode!

[Stencilz]

Originally Posted by Dawnstorm

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.

Absolutely agree. With the plethora of romance animes out there with annoying (albeit good) stories and characters, Nazo no Kanojo X is different -in a great way. The two lead characters are not just your typical romance characters (bland, indecisive male; un-confident, shy female), and it's such a breath of fresh air.

The relationship in the series starts out odd, but it feels real. The worst thing about many romance series is that the characters are always so unsure of themselves and with this series, you don't get that feeling very often. There may be indecisiveness for the story's sake, but the characters move through it -much like people do in real life (vs. taking 13, 24, 26, 52, etc. episodes to figure out things like "wow, I'd like to kiss her" or "omg, I do love him!").

So yeah, give this series a chance, it's definitely worth it.

[LeoXiao]

Seconding Maison Ikkoku. Finished it two weeks ago and still haven't quite gotten over it.

[Akka]

Originally Posted by Mare Boy

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.

You seem to share a lot of my preferences, so I guess I can try to give you my opinions :

- My first and strongest recommandation would be Ef : Tales of Memories/Melody. It's a glorious celebration of love and romantism that still manage to avoid the pitfalls of sugary romance, keeping maturity and drama all the way. The graphics look dated, but the story it's just beautiful.

- Sword Art Online is more action stuff, but there is a fair bit of romance as well, and it's one of the most refreshing I've seen for a while (especially because it doesn't take them 24 episodes to actually DO SOMETHING).

- I strongly second the Spice and Wolf, Crest/Banner of the Stars and Kotoura suggestions.

- On the contrary, I'm going against the suggestion of Infinite Stratos. This is the quintessence of what you said you'd prefer to avoid : harem, pointless fanservice, dense-as-brick-and-ridiculously-blind-and-indecisive MC.


Also, if you're looking more for the "feel good" part, and not mainly for the romance :

- Tari Tari doesn't involve romance, but it's great as a "feel good" serie (and it's great as a serie, period).

- Baka to Test does include romance, but more as a parody (save for two rather moving episodes in S2) with the usual "oblivious to love" idiotic MC - save that in this case, it's completely on purpose and mainly played for real laughs. Mainly, it's just very funny.

- Lucky Star has NO romance at all, but it's the very best show to watch when you're feeling down. It just oozes of good spirits and put a smile on my face every single time I see it. You have to like the very specific kind of humour, but if you do, it's a blast.

[Krytonis]

I finished this series today, but Itazura na Kiss was good enough for me See if you might like it

[GoldenDarkness]

I'd recommend the following:

Sword Art Online - The kind of adventure/romance anime, many vote it as the best of 2012 and I kind of agree with them.
Sakurasou no pet na kanojo - No need to explain since you already saw a few episodes of it. One of the best I saw too, comedy and romance.
Sankarea - Romance and a bit of supernatural. It's about a guy who's addicted to zombies, kind of weird but I still loved it.
Sukitte Iinayo - I also loved this anime cause it's like doing your best on your relationship whether you are compatible with your partner or not.

So yeah, those are my recommendations. Also I'm not quite sure on when they were made but I'd say on the 2011-2012ish so the animations have the best quality (IMO).

[Seiryuu]

I'd recommend you steer clear of SaiKano if you're looking for stuff to get you out of feelings of despair. I still recall seeing it with the anime club at my old university, including a spot where the fansubbers added a blurb telling people that if they want "happy" to stop right there because all that was left was pain.
I can sympathize with what you said about infidelity, I've hit a few of those in adult and non-adult works and felt similar. At least in the non-adult ones the author doesn't seem to actually want to do this to the readers/viewers.

If you're ok with manga along with anime, I pretty much always recommend Bitter Virgin these days. It's a great romantic manga which deals with a gradually developing relationship. The guy doesn't ever "cheat" on the girl, but he does find himself officially "dating" another girl without a clue how that happened and no clue how to get away from someone who displays certain hints of potential yandere.
As far as other happy romance, there's Aishiteruze Baby, Hyouka, Stellvia, and others.

[SeijiSensei]

No mention of Nodame Cantabile so far, I see. (English dubs / Fansubbed torrent with sequels)