Looking for ACTUALLY good romance animes

I am so tired of starting a romance anime that people say are “really good” and it’s full of sexualizing women, gasping and shy female lead roles, and pedophilic proportions/weird age gaps.

Please recommend me actually good romance animes‼️preferably ones that are adult and not set in a high school lol.
Give me something gut wrenching, give me comedy, or give me drama- just something that isn’t absolute gooner material.

For reference,

I love:
Romantic Killer
Sign of affection
Apothecary diaries

I hate:
Toradora
Quintessential Quintuplets
(And generally any shows similar to those)

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Commentaires

AutoModerator2026-01-11 02:27

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Actaeon_II2026-01-11 02:34

Hmm. Horimaya is always a valid suggestion. Also I just finished watari-kun today and found it, in the end a solid romance.

AnxiouslyArtistic2026-01-11 02:35

I’ve seen horimiya and I thought the first season was good but didn’t watch past that because I got bored. I’ll have to try watari-kun

ActualRound76992026-01-11 02:40

Watari-Kun is good but sexual and they’re high schoolers. So probably won’t fit your request

AnxiouslyArtistic2026-01-11 02:41

Thanks for the info!

Actaeon_II2026-01-11 03:00

I mean there’s banter, but nothing actually sexual, same as horimaya.

ActualRound76992026-01-11 03:03

There is plenty enough sexual for someone that doesn’t want high schoolers depicted sexually. I liked Watari-Kun, but I ignore sexual references in anime because I really don’t care.

Actaeon_II2026-01-11 03:09

Eh guess it wasn’t blatant enough to actually register to me.

ActualRound76992026-01-11 03:11

that’s fair, they weren’t majorly ecchi. but sexual enough that someone not looking for anything sexual would most likely register

LordDShadowy532026-01-11 02:38

Here is the thing. Harem anime aren’t romance anime at all. Is kinda more like a sports anime, because you spent most of the time cheering for your favorite girl/boy to be the chosen one.

With that being said I absolutely recommend:

Dangers in my Heart. Is probably my favorite romance of all time.

mihizawi2026-01-11 03:08

Then, there's a harem like Ai Yori Aoshi, where the main couple gets together like in episode 1 or 2 and there are no realistic expectations for the other girls, who are there just for comedic effect.

Throwaway7853202026-01-11 03:40

They said no high school so you gave him a middle school one lmao

chanxchanxchanx2026-01-11 02:39

I loved Tsuki ga kirei its a nice one. I dont think its well known

ActualRound76992026-01-11 02:50

Adult romance:

* Science Fell in Love, So We Tried to Prove It
* The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague
* 365 Days to the Wedding
* I Have a Crush at Work
* My Awkward Senpai
* The Invisible Man and His Soon-to-Be Wife
* Golden Time
* Sing Yesterday For Me
* Josee, the Tiger and the Fish
* My Love Story with Yamada-Kun At Lvl. 999
* Honey and Clover
* Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl SenpaiI
* My Happy Marriage

If you don’t mind high school, here are some with minimal sexualization:

* Love, Chuunibiyo, and Other Delusions
* My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU
* Insomniacs After School
* Tomo-Chan is a Girl
* Your Lie in April
* Clannad and After Story (starts in HS and goes to adulthood)
* Your Name
* A Silent Voice
* Weathering with You
* Kimi ni Todoke
* Komi Can’t Communicate

lztsrts2026-01-11 02:51

Overlord

InsertRealisticQuote2026-01-11 02:57

Nodame Cantabile

mihizawi2026-01-11 03:06

Right, I've heard about some good animes with adults as MCs, but haven't gotten around to watch that many of them. The few ones that I've watched would be Clannad (which starts as a fairly typical highschool harem, with a bit of supernatural elements, but by the second season changes completely and explores the challenges of a young adult couple, including some very tearjerking drama) and Ai Yori Aoshi (which is a straight up harem with a lot of fan service, so I wouldn't recommend it to you, you'll find it annoying, even if the main romance is pretty good and mature). If you can endure the first season of Clannad being a harem, you may enjoy the second season. Oh, and Rose of Versailles is also about grown-ups, it's a historical drama set before the french revolution and it's mostly about court intrigue and the loss of trust in the monarchy, so it's not just a romance, but has a few important romance subplots (but it's old, 1979 anime, so you might have to adjust the expectations in terms of animation style).

But, hey, your main point is: no (excessive) sexualisation, no shy female lead roles and no weird age gaps, so I am gonna recommend a few middle school and high school romances that I think you may want to try (afterall, Maomao and Jinshi are high school age).

Your Lie in April (10/10) - a very tragic but extremely beautiful love story between two teenage musicians. Will make you cry.

Love, Chubibyo and other delusions (9/10) - A very cute and funny romcom with some drama in it. A high school student who wants to get over his middle-school obsession for acting-up like an action anime character, meets a classmate that is very much living fully in her own imaginary world. It's a great story about the push and pull between wanting to grow up, but not letting go of your child-like imagination, and the main couple's relationship is adorable.

The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten (8,5/10) - together with Takagi-san, one of the most diabetic romances I've ever seen, but with less comedy, more of a pure romance, and I love it for that. And, while we are going to get a season 2 next year, this one reaches a very satifying conclusion in the 1st season with just 12 episodes.

Fruits Basket: (8/10): (female protagonist) a romance anime that may look like a reverse harem, but actually is more of a love triangle.

Note that both Angel Next Door and Fruits Basket have very soft-spoken female leads (unlike Takagi-san and Chunibyo), but I think you'll find out that in these cases, soft-spoken does not equal shy.

AnxiouslyArtistic2026-01-11 03:10

I’ve seen Fruits basket twice and enjoyed it! I’ve tried watching Your Lie in April but it really was boring to me 😅 maybe I need to give that one another try. I’ll look into your other recs!

mihizawi2026-01-11 03:13

Sorry, forgot to add Teasing Master Takagi-san there, here you go:

Teasing Master Takagi-san (9,5/10) - one of the most wholesome and cutest but at the same time funniest romcoms ever made. It is quite episodic, with a lot of episodes being divided into short stories, but most of the independent episodes are somewhat connected and there's a sense of progress and development despite the episodic nature of the show.

beckychao2026-01-11 03:13

FYI before I give non high school based recs, my favorite romcom is School Rumble, which is really about adults and dating, but being anime it takes place in high school - I still highly, highly recommend it, it is a classic. Of the high school genre that's more recent, Chihayafuru is also one of my favorites.

That being said some of my non-high school based favorites:

Spice and Wolf
Nana (your heart will break)
Maria the Virgin Witch
Grand Blue Dreaming (this one is raunchy and takes place in college, and crippled me with laughter)
Way of the Househusband (ok this one is like, more about being a former gangster husband)
Cyberpunk Edgerunners (it's an action anime but it's also a love story, and get ready to have your heart broken again)
Golden Time (also college-based, not raunchy like Grand Blue, a little drama-y, a cute story imo)

Note Grand Blue is the only raunchy entry here. School Rumble has very minor raunchiness, and is extremely heartwarming/funny. Edgerunners has dystopian consumer sex culture and is meant to be jarring, not raunchy, and a lot of nudity that is part of the insanely commercialized sex culture of the Cyberpunk universe (Mike Pondsmith did not write it this way as a compliment, either).

timpkmn892026-01-11 03:22

>I hate: Toradora

Any particular reason? Nothing you said was relevant to that, besides being set in high school.

AnxiouslyArtistic2026-01-11 03:26

I feel like the art style proportions made Taiga look like a child. I also am not a fan of the “loser man” trope ikywim. It wasn’t totally awful, I just did not see the hype that everyone has for that anime.

timpkmn892026-01-11 03:32

> I feel like the art style proportions made Taiga look like a child.

That was what I thought you meant at first, but then I noticed you loved Apothecary Diaries (even though all the "romance" in that is just Jinshi abusing his authority to harass her)

eonj14122026-01-11 03:22

how to love your elf wife