With his tall stature, bulky muscles, and mean face, Takeo Gouda is not exactly a hit with the ladies. Men and women alike find him terrifying, but he still tries to do the right thing.
One day he saves a cute girl from a molester on the train. When she reaches out to him again, he thinks she likes his handsome friend, but he is shocked to discover she actually likes him!
One look at that face and you would never expect it, but this is perhaps the most wholesome romance anime of all the romance anime. If you are looking for more anime recommendations like My Love Story, head on down below.
Anime Like My Love Story
For Fans Opposites Attract
Toradora
Ryuuji Takasu is a gentle student with a passion for housework, but his thuggish face causes his fellow students to think him a delinquent. Taiga Aisaka is small and cute, but with an attitude as fierce as a tiger.
Both of these misunderstood students also harbor feelings for their crushes, and after a series of misunderstandings of their own, they find themselves in an unlikely alliance to get their crushes to notice them.
Both My Love Story and Toradora follow a male main character with a scary face, but the soft gooey heart of a puppy dog. They then form a relationship with a small, very cute girl.
The biggest difference is that Taiga is a tsundere, and a pretty violent one whereas Rinko is not. Furthermore, Taiga’s relationship with Ryuuji is built up over the course of the series whereas they start dating pretty quickly in My Love Story.
Regardless, both of these series are lovely romance anime for those than enjoy stories of characters who are different from what their outward appearances might suggest.
Horimiya
Although lauded for being likable and intelligent, Kyouko Hori hides the fact that she has to take care of her brother and the housework because her parents are always working.
Izumi Miyamura, on the other hand, is seen as a brooding, bespectacled otaku. Outside of school, he sports tattoos and nine piercings.
By happenstance, the two outside school personalities of these two classmates meet and they get to know a side of each other they don’t show their peers.
Both My Love Story and Horimiya are relatively low drama romance anime where the main couple acts differently than others perceive them based on appearance alone. Furthermore, the main couple starts dating rather early on and the focus is often on them moving their relationship forward.
Whereas My Love Story is mostly just fluffy moments between the main couple, the main couple in Horimiya has a little bit of emotional damage that their relationship helps them work through in a positive way. Although, it does reward you with more romantic progression than My Love Story offers.
Kimi Ni Todoke
Quiet and relatively timid, Sawako Kuronuma is misunderstood by her classmates. Due to her long black hair and shyness, they have taken to calling her Sadako, the ghost girl from The Ring.
Longing to make friends, she is drawn to Kazehaya Shouta, the most popular boy in school and his refreshing personality. However, when Kazehaya starts talking to her, Sawako’s lonely world begins to open up.
The thing about My Love Story is that it tells the same sort of “soft, tender” romance story that Kimi ni Todoke tells, but it makes it comical through its unconventional male lead. So what My Love Story jokes about, Kimi ni Todoke takes seriously, much like how Kimi ni Todoke tells the more traditional opposites attract set up of a popular person falling in love with an outcast.
That said, what My Love Story and Kimi ni Todoke have most in common is they are romance anime that let love be sweet. There isn’t too much heavy drama and they emphasize that most misunderstandings can be quickly cleared up with communication.
Romantic Killer
All high schooler Anzu Hoshino loves is video games, chocolate, and her cat, Momohiko. She has shunned everything else, especially a romantic life.
However, one day a magical creature alters her reality where she can’t have any of those three things that she adores and is told that in order to return to her normal life, she must indulge in the dating sim situations that have been set up around her involving the new troubled transfer student Tsukasa Kazuki, her childhood friend Junta Hayami, and a wealthy sheltered student named Hijiri Koganei.
What Takeo is to Rinko, Anzu is to the three potential romantic love interests in Romantic Killer.
My Love Story is refreshing in that the main character finds a very positive love story with no drama about his physical appearance because he is such a great guy. However, the refreshing thing in Romantic Killer is that the main character doesn’t collapse into a sopping pile of of gushing romantic feelings the first time she has a positive interaction with a boy.
She isn’t interested in romance, she maintains that all the way through, but you get romantic satisfaction by watching her help each boy set up to be her potential love interest by being a good-hearted person. She helps them with their problems because it is the right thing to do, and they love her for it.
In short, both Romantic Killer and My Love Story are pretty wholesome romance anime, but they are also very subversive romance anime. Unfortunately, Romantic Killer may not have as much romantic satisfaction as you may want.
For Fans of Small Girl, Big Guy
My Senpai is Annoying
At a trading company, junior salesperson Futaba Igarashi has flourished under the guidance of her senpai, Harumi Takeda.
However, while he teases her about her short stature, Igarashi has come to admire Takeda for his reliability in the workplace as their relationship continues to develop.
My Love Story taught people that big muscly tough-looking guys don’t have to be scary. They have hearts just like everyone else. My Senpai is Annoying carries on that message by also having a blooming romance between a big guy and a very petite girl.
The biggest difference between My Love Story and My Senpai is Annoying is age. My Senpai is Annoying takes place in an office between adults. As such, there isn’t really that same level of teenage insecurity that you see in My Love Story.
Aharen-san is Indecipherable
Excited to have a different and more social high school life, Raidou introduces himself to his seat neighbor on the first day.
At first, he thinks this small girl is just ignoring him. However, he discovers that she has a quiet voice and is bad at determining personal space.
From this meeting, an odd friendship blooms.
While the size difference between Takeo and Rinko is exaggerated for comedy, the size difference between Raido and Aharen is actually probably more accentuated by the art style. However, both series do appear to tell a love story between a larger, scary-looking guy and his more compact love interest.
However, Aharen-san is Indecipherable is more of a comedy. It actually surprised everyone by having more romantic progression than you would expect, but it does focus more on jokes.
Ojisan and Marshmallow
Habahiro Hige is a simple older man who has a fondness for marshmallows. His days often center around being mercilessly teased by his younger office colleague, Iori Wakabayashi.
However, what he doesn’t realize is that, for reasons her friends can’t fathom, she loves him and her teasing is just trying to get his attention.
With a bag of marshmallows in hand, Iori believes that was way to a man’s heart is through the stomach, but will he ever realize her true feelings?
Both My Love Story and Ojisan and Marshmallow are romance series about men who, because of how they look, don’t think anyone would ever fall in love with them. While it is spelled out for Takeo and he begins his romance, Hige’s belief that his co-worker would never have a romantic interest in him is the joke as she bends over backwards trying to woo him.
In essence, while My Love Story is an actual romance, Ojisan and Marshmallow is more of a comedy based around the attempt at romance.
Lovely Complex
Risa is very tall for a girl. Atsushi is very short for a boy. They are both in love with different people who actually end up dating each other.
With both their loves taken, the two form an unlikely friendship that soon turns into something more.
Both My Love Story and Lovely Complex are romance anime that challenge the typical romance anime set up. However, the roles are reversed between them. The girl in Lovely Complex is very tall and the boy is pretty short.
While the size difference in My Love Story doesn’t really play a part in their relationship, the size difference in Lovely Complex is the plot of this romance anime. The only thing that often stops the main duo from dating is how insecure they are about their heights when with each other.
Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun
Chiyo Sakura has fallen head over heels for the handsome and oblivious Umetarou Nozaki. However, when she confesses her love, he gives her an autograph.
It turns out this stoic boy is actually a respected shoujo manga artist.
After a series of misunderstandings, Chiyo winds up not as his girlfriend, but as his manga assistant.
While both My Love Story and Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun are good romance anime in their own right following a larger guy and his more compact love interest, both series are also obviously parodying shoujo romance.
Both series are built specifically to poke fun at common shoujo romance tropes by turning them into comedy. Yet, you still enjoy the love stories as well as the comedy. That said, My Love Story does romance in a more satisfying way. Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun moves a bit slowly and without another season, the romance lacks satisfying payoff.
For Fans of Wholesome, No Drama Romance
Tsurezure Children
Tsurezure Children depicts the many different scenarios of young love.
From the relationship between the student council president and a rebel girl to a boy so crippled by his own lack of self-confidence that he can’t accept that a girl confessed to him.
You follow their triumphs and failures throughout the relationships of half a dozen young couples.
The nice thing about Tsurezure Children and its multiple different couples is that it often fits easily into romance anime recommendations since every couple is similar to the common romance anime relationship dynamics.
However, in this case, what makes Tsurezure Children most like My Love Story is that both series only really focus on the happy, cute moments of a romantic relationship. All the couples get along well, and you get to just watch them be happy.
Tonikawa
After being ridiculed for his strange name, Nasa, like the space agency, decides he will become a man even greater than the starry sky. However, one night, that all changes when he sees a beautiful girl.
She ends up saving him from being fatally hit by a truck while crossing the street to talk to her. Having chased her down despite his serious injuries, he asks her out. She says she will go out with him if they marry. He agrees, and passes out.
Waking up to find her gone, he abandons his ambitions until one day when she shows up with their marriage registration.
Did you like My Love Story because it was just so cute? Like never-endingly cute, and it didn’t even feel the need to wedge in typically contrived romance drama? Well, that is Tonikawa too.
Both series follow romantic relationships where they get together in the first few episodes and have a happy, healthy relationship with each other. The plot of the anime is often just fluffy couple moments.
Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie
Izumi is a normal guy, albeit with a predilection for attracting misfortune. However, the one piece of shining fortune in his life is his girlfriend, Shikimori.
She is beautiful, popular, and absolutely in love with him. However, everyone around them is often surprised by how cool and dashing Shikimori is rather than cute and girly.
If you enjoyed the way Takeo white knighted for Rinko constantly, and don’t mind that role being reversed, then Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie is for you.
Both series are really quite wholesome romance anime where the story focuses on one partner being constantly protected by the dashing other partner. While that is Takeo in My Love Story, it is the girlfriend that is dashing in Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie. Instead of being insecure about it, her boyfriend is constantly in awe.
Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible
Junta Shiraishi has a special, if not sometimes inconvenient skill of being difficult for people to notice due to his lack of presence. However, while even the teacher fails to notice him, his desk neighbor Nagisa Kubo seems to never miss him.
Unfortunately, Kubo likes to tease him on a daily basis and put his near-invisibility to the test in nerve-wracking situations. However, her playful antics begin to evolve into what normal people would easy see as clear feelings for him.
While Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible is about romance in middle school, it tells a similarly wholesome and no drama love story like My Love Story.
Both series feature a male main character who is quite sure that the girl that is clearly interested in them is not interested in them. While My Love Story gets them together rather early, Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible is just wholesome flirting between two pretty innocent people. However, if you like fluffy, sweet romance anime, it is a must.
Do you have more anime recommendations like My Love Story? Let fans know in the comments section below.
