AnimeSuki Forums

Knyghtblade · 2010-01-27, 19:37

going to try to actually be an active and unretarded member of the community, as i've lurked around here for ages.

Anyway... I need some good seinen level romance. I prefer cute, and when i say seinen I mean the way the relationship is handled...so it may drift technically into other genres as well. Being in my mid 20's i especially dig stuff where at least some of the characters are in their 20s as well (and not drawn overly mature or creepy like some shonen likes to do).

main thing is the relationship being a major point of the story, with actual and openly confessed feelings.

what is along the lines of what i am looking for (including stuff that is not actually seinen)

Spoiler for My favorites list:

and I also dug Ouron Hosts club even though they skirt around the hardcore relationship stuff in the anime (and area only getting into the confessions in the current manga).

Spoiler for Stuff I stopped or put off for later:

Moonphase was particularly amazing.

currently watching cross game, sola, Valkyria Chronicles and Planetes

Main things i am looking for:

A more cute/colorful style, the darker more realistic style has it's time and place and usually for me doesn't work for romance.
conclusive endings...this is forgivable in an ongoing series (like ouran, and various other series where the manga/light novel basis is still ongoing)
Just a more complete tone to the romance. I am pretty open here, just tired of the loser who doesn't grow as a character getting a stable of the hottest chicks available. Losers are fine, losers that don't evolve are not.
First loves are alright as long as it actually covers the complex emotions.
20somethings are better, but not a necessity, it just makes me feel better ;p
warm and fuzzy is good, ups and downs and complexities are fine, actual conveyance of emotion, genuine dropping of the L word etc

Scorch · 2010-01-27, 19:53

I'd recommend REC. The main characters are a salaryman and an aspiring voice actress. Their relationship goes through quite a few ups and downs over the course of the series while they deal with their personal hangups.

If you want to try something historical, Victorian Romance Emma is excellent. It's set in the Victorian era and deals with a romance across class lines - not generally an approved of thing.

Knyghtblade · 2010-01-27, 20:04

emma was quite good, i already did that one, though I neglected listing it as i wasn't huge into the art style, i'm hoping cute and colourful

Ansalem · 2010-01-27, 20:08

Not sure if you'll find the art cute enough, but here are a few musts you should see for seinen/josei with older characters and serious romantic elements without being like a soap opera.

Nodame Cantabile - This is a very amusing romantic comedy about two piano majors at a conservatoire in Japan. The male lead is Chiaki, a gifted son of a famous musician, who dreams of becoming a conductor, but is very by-the-book when it comes to music, and strict in his attitude towards talent, cleaning, and everything else. He meets Nodame, a fellow student who lives in the next apartment over, who is the polar opposite: she is is messy, goofy, and plays her music from emotions rather than the notes on the paper. The story develops from there. The third and final season is currently airing.

Honey and Clover - A story of an ensemble cast of art college students as they explore art, friendship, and love, and begin to graduate and enter the real world. The show begins very comically and become more meaningful as the show progresses. The show has two seasons and is complete.

Planetes - In this realistic portrayal of the near future, a young woman named Tanabe begins her new career as a debris hauler in outer space. Her department in the company is full of goofy employees and misfits, who have great hearts but are looked down upon by the more serious department employees. Her partner is Hachimaki, who despite working in a low-paying job dreams of one day owning his own space ship.

acr429 · 2010-01-27, 20:47

Nodame Cantabile is nowhere near seinen, but it is a good series.

Honey and Clover is a awasome series, but nowehere near seinen. Romance is a part of this series, but it plays a background to "life" pretty good series not the seinen/romance you might be looking for but well worth the time to watch.

planetes is more towards seinen.

try watching Full Metal Panic (high school romance/action), or Suzuka(high school romance/sports/and a shit load of drama)
your gonna have a hard time finding a senien/romance they are kind of rare and I think you have watch some of the few that are out there.

if you want to ruin all romance anime, as to how poorly they are made. watch Itazura na Kiss.

one that fits what you describe pretty good is Kimi ga Nozomu Eien a lot of drama/romance and fits into seinen pretty good, there is also a diferent ending if you dont like the original one

acr429 · 2010-01-27, 20:48

oh yeah something the goes pretty good like Karin did is Midori no Hibi (not a vampire anime but they have the same feeling).

if you are into the action/romance theme I can give you quite a few suggestions.

Ansalem · 2010-01-27, 21:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by acr429

Nodame Cantabile is nowhere near seinen, but it is a good series.

Honey and Clover is a awasome series, but nowehere near seinen. Romance is a part of this series, but it plays a background to "life" pretty good series not the seinen/romance you might be looking for but well worth the time to watch.

planetes is more towards seinen.

I have no idea what you mean by Nodame Cantabile and Honey and Clover are "nowhere near seinen", as they are both josei, as I mentioned the shows I recommended were josei and seinen. Josei is the same age demographic as seinen, but targeted toward women instead of men. Since the OP said "seinen level romance" and "I mean the way the relationship is handled...so it may drift technically into other genres as well" I don't see any problem with recommending josei, nor do I see what you are trying to imply by "nowhere near seinen."

Also, Planetes isn't "more towards" seinen, it is seinen.

Knyghtblade · 2010-01-27, 21:28

thanks for all the suggestions.

art style killed honey and clover for me. though I enjoyed the actual content.

as stated, I used seinen as a guideline to try to get away from the spunky 15 yr old gets his first girlfriend anime's. Personally I care little for what label it falls under. Mainly just got tired of not feeling connected to what i was watching, or alternately falling into a lot of the romance cliche's that you get when the romance is secondary to the actual plot (the whole skirting around it), or alternately you get a harem with the cop out romance.

I would be interested in the Action/romance ones actually. Throwing fantastic elements into it is fine.

Thanks for the suggestions, Gf and I have been working too much to game recently so we've just been chilling and killing almost a series a night, so my backlog is starting to run out

Sackett · 2010-01-28, 00:28

Maison Ikkoku is the granddaddy of seinen romance. You definitely want to watch this show.

You might also try Cross Game, which is shounen, but more mature and complicated in the romance department then most.

Maybe Crest of the Stars? Also shounen, but more mature I thought.

Knyghtblade · 2010-01-28, 11:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sackett

Maison Ikkoku is the granddaddy of seinen romance. You definitely want to watch this show.

You might also try Cross Game, which is shounen, but more mature and complicated in the romance department then most.

Maybe Crest of the Stars? Also shounen, but more mature I thought.

have the entire crest/banner of the stars series. I agree, while the romance was very slow...TO this day that series has some of the best written characters. They were incredibly real.

Also already did maison Ikkoku, Takahashi's work got me started on anime way back when (thank you Urusei Yatsura!). I don't think i have ALL of it, because it's getting harder to find, but i've watched most of it.

thanks for the suggestions everyone! Sorry to be so picky >< But i appreciate suggestions, keep them coming.

again I used seinen as a guideline, because of a lot of the highschool cliche's, but anime demographics are kinda skewed, i can think of some series that some people consider seinen and others consider shounen.

Shar · 2010-01-28, 19:53

Bokura ga Ita might be good for you also,
the characters are in high school in the anime, but the manga continues when they're in their 20's

Cosmic Eagle · 2010-01-28, 21:09

Seikai no Senki/Monsho counts as shonen? I thought it was more towards seinen myself...

Knyghtblade · 2010-01-29, 13:08

awesome, so much stuff to find, i guess i will need to set up a matx box for all the um..linux distro's i'll be getting.

keep them coming, i have some vacation time built up at work and i need something to kill the time between video games.

Zwei · 2010-01-29, 14:10

Ciguatera

Spoiler for Summary:

Bitter Virgin

Spoiler for Summary:

Haru Yo Koi

Spoiler for Summary:

Honeymoon Salad

Spoiler for Summary:

IO

Spoiler for Summary:

Lament of the Lamb

Spoiler for Summary:

Toshiue no Hito

Spoiler for Summary:

Virgin na Kankei

Spoiler for Summary:

NervZero · 2010-01-29, 15:14

Speed Grapher is rated M for being CRAZY.. LOL..

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ency...me.php?id=4579

Blue Gender is also 18-30yr market its rated M for craziness as well..

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ency...ime.php?id=253

Knyghtblade · 2010-01-29, 15:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by NervZero

Speed Grapher is rated M for being CRAZY.. LOL..

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ency...me.php?id=4579

Blue Gender is also 18-30yr market its rated M for craziness as well..

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ency...ime.php?id=253

own Speed Grapher, Watched Blue Gender.

As a general Update, REC was really good!

NervZero · 2010-01-29, 15:45

How about Elfen Lied

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ency...me.php?id=4148

Zwei · 2010-01-29, 15:48

Are you looking for seinen romance anime? Because my recommendation list was full of manga. I thought you were looking for manga recommendations for some reason.

Knyghtblade · 2010-01-29, 15:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by NervZero

How about Elfen Lied

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ency...me.php?id=4148

done

. not bad, a little heavy on the thriller side, but i did enjoy it

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwei

Are you looking for seinen romance anime? Because my recommendation list was full of manga. I thought you were looking for manga recommendations for some reason.

either is fine, anime is preferred but I read a good deal of manga as well. I actually am really interested in a few of those on your list.

OP edited for clarity. I have actually seen way more than i listed, that was more reference to point to the "feel" as it were that I was looking for.

NervZero · 2010-01-29, 16:48

Here are some more I just thought of that I have seen and I enjoyed most of them lol..

berserk
http://www.anime-planet.com/anime/berserk (this website will give recommendations)

Basilisk
http://www.anime-planet.com/anime/basilisk

Samurai X
http://www.anime-planet.com/anime/ru...hin-tsuiokuhen

All of these shows are really good.. Samurai X is a movie or OAV but it is still really good..

2010-01-27, 19:37	Link #1
Knyghtblade Hooked on Catgirls Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Pittsburgh, PA :( Age: 40	Looking for more seinen romance going to try to actually be an active and unretarded member of the community, as i've lurked around here for ages. Anyway... I need some good seinen level romance. I prefer cute, and when i say seinen I mean the way the relationship is handled...so it may drift technically into other genres as well. Being in my mid 20's i especially dig stuff where at least some of the characters are in their 20s as well (and not drawn overly mature or creepy like some shonen likes to do). main thing is the relationship being a major point of the story, with actual and openly confessed feelings. what is along the lines of what i am looking for (including stuff that is not actually seinen) Spoiler for My favorites list: Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase Karin Love Hina incl. Again Ai Yori Aoshi Spice and Wolf Midori Days Rec Clannad chobits (kinda) dears Shakugan no Shana Kanon Maison Ikokku (as much as i can locate anyway) Video Girl Ai Ah! My Goddess Shuffle (a bit on the harem side, but still enjoyed) Peach Girl Bokura Ga Ita Beck - the romance was the subplot but was awesome Utawarerumono - except for the ending, i don't like that style of ending and I also dug Ouron Hosts club even though they skirt around the hardcore relationship stuff in the anime (and area only getting into the confessions in the current manga). Spoiler for Stuff I stopped or put off for later: Familiar of Zero - manga is awesome...anime not so much Basilisk - too dark for me Moonphase was particularly amazing. currently watching cross game, sola, Valkyria Chronicles and Planetes Main things i am looking for: A more cute/colorful style, the darker more realistic style has it's time and place and usually for me doesn't work for romance. conclusive endings...this is forgivable in an ongoing series (like ouran, and various other series where the manga/light novel basis is still ongoing) Just a more complete tone to the romance. I am pretty open here, just tired of the loser who doesn't grow as a character getting a stable of the hottest chicks available. Losers are fine, losers that don't evolve are not. First loves are alright as long as it actually covers the complex emotions. 20somethings are better, but not a necessity, it just makes me feel better ;p warm and fuzzy is good, ups and downs and complexities are fine, actual conveyance of emotion, genuine dropping of the L word etc Last edited by Knyghtblade; 2010-02-26 at 11:07. Reason: edited for clarity

2010-01-27, 20:08	Link #4
Ansalem Speaker Join Date: Sep 2009	Not sure if you'll find the art cute enough, but here are a few musts you should see for seinen/josei with older characters and serious romantic elements without being like a soap opera. Nodame Cantabile - This is a very amusing romantic comedy about two piano majors at a conservatoire in Japan. The male lead is Chiaki, a gifted son of a famous musician, who dreams of becoming a conductor, but is very by-the-book when it comes to music, and strict in his attitude towards talent, cleaning, and everything else. He meets Nodame, a fellow student who lives in the next apartment over, who is the polar opposite: she is is messy, goofy, and plays her music from emotions rather than the notes on the paper. The story develops from there. The third and final season is currently airing. Honey and Clover - A story of an ensemble cast of art college students as they explore art, friendship, and love, and begin to graduate and enter the real world. The show begins very comically and become more meaningful as the show progresses. The show has two seasons and is complete. Planetes - In this realistic portrayal of the near future, a young woman named Tanabe begins her new career as a debris hauler in outer space. Her department in the company is full of goofy employees and misfits, who have great hearts but are looked down upon by the more serious department employees. Her partner is Hachimaki, who despite working in a low-paying job dreams of one day owning his own space ship. __________________

2010-01-28, 00:28	Link #9
Sackett Cross Game - I need more Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: I've moved around the American West. I've lived in Oregon, Washington, Utah, and Oklahoma Age: 44	Maison Ikkoku is the granddaddy of seinen romance. You definitely want to watch this show. You might also try Cross Game, which is shounen, but more mature and complicated in the romance department then most. Maybe Crest of the Stars? Also shounen, but more mature I thought. __________________ Cross Game - A Story of Love, Life, Death - and Baseball. What more could you want?

2010-01-28, 21:09	Link #12
Cosmic Eagle 今宵の虎徹は血に飢えている Join Date: Jan 2009	Seikai no Senki/Monsho counts as shonen? I thought it was more towards seinen myself... __________________

2010-01-29, 14:10	Link #14
Zwei Natural Born Killer Graphic Designer Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Roanapur Age: 32	Ciguatera Spoiler for Summary: Just another story of youth, love, life, and death. From the author of Ping Pong Club and Himizu, though less comedic than the former and less soul-crushingly depressing than the latter. Bitter Virgin Spoiler for Summary: Daisuke Suwa is the ladies man of his small town high school, and he has his eye on most every girl, except for one. Hinako Aikawa isn't his type, but when he overhears a deep dark secret of hers, he finds himself thinking of her more and more. Haru Yo Koi Spoiler for Summary: Mafuyu Sone was caught petting a girl at school and is sent to live with her brother Takashi in Tokyo. Takashi's hospitality is sorely tested when the other girl, Sae Shirai, also shows up. Sae has been disowned by her parents and has nowhere else to go. Just as Takashi is finally getting used to the situation, feelings cool between Mafuyu and Sae. Decency forces Takashi to act like a big brother for the distraught Sae, but he discovers this means trouble for his own relationship with Mariko Abe. Honeymoon Salad Spoiler for Summary: His ex-workers keep calling for help; his memory of his first love is traumatic to say the least, he hates his father so much that he'll never go back home, a stranger blames him for pushing her down the stairs... no wonder being pissed is a daily routine for Natsukawa Minori. Then enters one, no two women in his life that will make him too busy to be pissed. IO Spoiler for Summary: Taiyo Nakabiru went to Okinawa on a trip in pursuit of beautiful girls and his wish to go diving. When trying to hit upon a girl, she surprises him by saying that he killed her mother. It appears that she and her two sisters know him, even though he does not remember ever going to Okinawa before. After convincing the three sisters, Nagisa, Shibuki and Mio Miyara, to let him help them out with their work and to let him learn diving from them, Taiyo's childhood with the sisters slowly comes back to him, and certain strange events involving a mystical white whale begins to haunt them. Lament of the Lamb Spoiler for Summary: The members of the Takashiro family share a terrible curse -- they have a thirst that only human blood can slake. Sent away after the death of this mother, Kuzuna Takashiro has long been blissfully unaware of his 'condition.' When Kazuna's teenage hormones begin to rage, his uncontrollable bloodlust suddenly rears its head ... Toshiue no Hito Spoiler for Summary: The woman Tsutomu encounters in college was older and smaller than he is, and for some reason, looks like the same girl in his dreams. The heart-pounding love affair between him and the "older woman" begins. Virgin na Kankei Spoiler for Summary: Kimijima is a freelance worker who seeks to become a contributing member of society. After a night of passion with a beautiful woman goes wrong, he finds himself rushing to make an early job interview. However, the interviewer turns out to be the woman with whom he spent the previous night. __________________

2010-01-27, 19:53	Link #2
Scorch Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Age: 39	I'd recommend REC. The main characters are a salaryman and an aspiring voice actress. Their relationship goes through quite a few ups and downs over the course of the series while they deal with their personal hangups. If you want to try something historical, Victorian Romance Emma is excellent. It's set in the Victorian era and deals with a romance across class lines - not generally an approved of thing.

2010-01-27, 20:04	Link #3
Knyghtblade Hooked on Catgirls Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Pittsburgh, PA :( Age: 40	emma was quite good, i already did that one, though I neglected listing it as i wasn't huge into the art style, i'm hoping cute and colourful

2010-01-27, 20:47	Link #5
acr429 Member Join Date: Sep 2008	Nodame Cantabile is nowhere near seinen, but it is a good series. Honey and Clover is a awasome series, but nowehere near seinen. Romance is a part of this series, but it plays a background to "life" pretty good series not the seinen/romance you might be looking for but well worth the time to watch. planetes is more towards seinen. try watching Full Metal Panic (high school romance/action), or Suzuka(high school romance/sports/and a shit load of drama) your gonna have a hard time finding a senien/romance they are kind of rare and I think you have watch some of the few that are out there. if you want to ruin all romance anime, as to how poorly they are made. watch Itazura na Kiss. one that fits what you describe pretty good is Kimi ga Nozomu Eien a lot of drama/romance and fits into seinen pretty good, there is also a diferent ending if you dont like the original one

2010-01-27, 20:48	Link #6
acr429 Member Join Date: Sep 2008	oh yeah something the goes pretty good like Karin did is Midori no Hibi (not a vampire anime but they have the same feeling). if you are into the action/romance theme I can give you quite a few suggestions.

2010-01-27, 21:28	Link #8
Knyghtblade Hooked on Catgirls Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Pittsburgh, PA :( Age: 40	thanks for all the suggestions. art style killed honey and clover for me. though I enjoyed the actual content. as stated, I used seinen as a guideline to try to get away from the spunky 15 yr old gets his first girlfriend anime's. Personally I care little for what label it falls under. Mainly just got tired of not feeling connected to what i was watching, or alternately falling into a lot of the romance cliche's that you get when the romance is secondary to the actual plot (the whole skirting around it), or alternately you get a harem with the cop out romance. I would be interested in the Action/romance ones actually. Throwing fantastic elements into it is fine. Thanks for the suggestions, Gf and I have been working too much to game recently so we've just been chilling and killing almost a series a night, so my backlog is starting to run out

2010-01-28, 19:53	Link #11
Shar Yay ^^ Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: NYC	Bokura ga Ita might be good for you also, the characters are in high school in the anime, but the manga continues when they're in their 20's

2010-01-29, 13:08	Link #13
Knyghtblade Hooked on Catgirls Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Pittsburgh, PA :( Age: 40	awesome, so much stuff to find, i guess i will need to set up a matx box for all the um..linux distro's i'll be getting. keep them coming, i have some vacation time built up at work and i need something to kill the time between video games.

2010-01-29, 15:14	Link #15
NervZero RAWR!!! Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: United States Age: 38	Speed Grapher is rated M for being CRAZY.. LOL.. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ency...me.php?id=4579 Blue Gender is also 18-30yr market its rated M for craziness as well.. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ency...ime.php?id=253

2010-01-29, 15:45	Link #17
NervZero RAWR!!! Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: United States Age: 38	How about Elfen Lied http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ency...me.php?id=4148

2010-01-29, 15:48	Link #18
Zwei Natural Born Killer Graphic Designer Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Roanapur Age: 32	Are you looking for seinen romance anime? Because my recommendation list was full of manga. I thought you were looking for manga recommendations for some reason. __________________

2010-01-29, 16:48	Link #20
NervZero RAWR!!! Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: United States Age: 38	Here are some more I just thought of that I have seen and I enjoyed most of them lol.. berserk http://www.anime-planet.com/anime/berserk (this website will give recommendations) Basilisk http://www.anime-planet.com/anime/basilisk Samurai X http://www.anime-planet.com/anime/ru...hin-tsuiokuhen All of these shows are really good.. Samurai X is a movie or OAV but it is still really good..