No romance anime is completely without drama. It would be like taking the parody out of Gintama or the plot twists out of Attack on Titan – You could do it, it just wouldn’t be as interesting.
What romance anime enjoys doing is, after the main couple gets to a comfortable and steady moment in their relationship, regardless of if that relationship has become romantic or not, it will introduce a hurdle.
A transfer student and sudden love rival is written in. A harsh parent returns back to town. They misunderstand something that could easily be cleared up with normal communication skills.
Romance anime love a good rival love interest or someone otherwise against the relationship for drama’s sake. It keeps things interesting and also allows a build up to those big sweeping romantic moments that we thrive on.
Not these romance anime recommendations, though. While “no drama” romance anime doesn’t exist, “low drama” romance anime can be satisfyingly cozy while also having nice romantic moments. You just won’t have to risk detaching your retinas rolling your eyes too hard at romance drama tropes being forcefully wedged in. If you want romance anime with as little drama as possible, give these romance anime recommendations a try.
Best Low Drama Romance Anime
My Love Story
If you are looking for wholesome, My Love Story is one of the most wholesome romance anime.
It follows the sudden blossoming romance between a great kind gorilla of a man whose face normally scares off romantic prospects and a very cute girl he saved from a molester. Even he seems surprised that she wanted to date him at first, but they remain wholly devoted to each other.
Really the only drama in the show comes from the side character and best friend’s romantic arc, and even that drama is more everyone involved just accepting that feelings of love can’t be forced if they just aren’t there. What the show tends to focus on is very cute rom-com activities between the main couple, made comical by the sheer appearance difference between the two.
Tsurezure Children
Although it can be said that anime series that use short-form episodes, or episodes shorter than the standard 20-ish minute run-time, lack substance, Tsurezure Children uses the format masterfully. They focus their 12-minute episodes on brief glimpses into the relationship of half a dozen couples.
You know what you can do in just a couple minutes of focus? Build comical or cute moments that flesh out characters and build their relationship without having to add filler to the story.
By constantly just focusing on those cute romantic moments that romance anime junkies live for and then moving onto the next couple, there is simply no need for contrived drama.
My Senpai is Annoying
It might be a stretch to call this a romance since no meaningful romantic progression actually happens in the anime, but all the earmarks for it are there. You watch a blossoming relationship between a feisty kouhai and her gentle giant of a senpai in an office environment.
You watch as their life in an out of work becomes intertwined while it also starts to build out potential side couples. It is a lot of flirting and friendship, which often means misunderstandings and love rivals, but not this time.
The show keeps things very light and any misunderstandings are soon cleared up because they are adults that know how to communicate, although not quite adults who are honest with their feelings.
Aharen-san is Indecipherable
Aharen-san is Indecipherable seems exactly like the type of rom-com anime that is 90 percent comedy and 10 percent actual romance, but it fooled us all.
Not only is Aharen-san is Indecipherable filled with fantastically random and absurd comedy, but it has actual romantic progression too. More than some other romance anime series, even.
It is a series that chooses to filled the time that would be allotted for romantic drama to instead explore shenanigans. Sometimes those shenanigans are misunderstandings, but every time they end quickly and comically.
Skilled Teaser Takagi-san
As the characters are middle school-aged, it takes a lot of the potential for drama out of this scenario. Certainly, middle schoolers in relationships can be dramatic, but the characters in this anime aren’t in a relationship either. They are merely best friends that everybody but them knows will be a couple someday.
What Skilled Teaser Takagi-san explores is that sort of infatuation you felt as a very young kid for someone. You like them, and the only way your young brain knew how to express that is by teasing them. So she teases him, he tries to tease her back, and instead of any drama, you get very cute moments.
As you stick with the series, you also get to experience the great joy of watching that teasing become intertwined with real romantic feelings as the relationship continues to grow.
Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun
Admittedly, Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun is a little light on actual romance, but that is by design. The series is built around the world’s most dense romantic male lead misunderstanding a love confession. Instead of a girlfriend, he ends up with a manga assistant.
This grinds the romance to a halt, but does give time for these two otherwise strangers to become friends. Furthermore, while much of the series is filled with light comedy and manga-making rather than drama, near the later end of the anime they start dropping those little romantic breadcrumbs to keep you engaged.
I Can’t Understand What My Husband Is Saying
When you have characters already married, romantic drama just doesn’t work. Marriage is legally binding as well as a sacred vow to some, and while certainly you can create drama with that, no one has been so brave as to do so yet.
Anyway, I Can’t Understand What My Husband Is Saying is a comedy following a normal office lady who married an otaku. They know each other well enough, but sometimes not as well as you would expect from a married couple.
Regardless, it focuses on their relationship with flashes back to how they got together. It shows how nice they can be to each other, but also how different they are as people.
Horimiya
Horimiya is what I hope all modern romance anime aspires towards. It abandons all the usual drama that you see in school-based romances and shows how to fill the plot with other things.
Those “other things” in Horimiya are usually the relationships of the side characters. In Horimiya, the main couple hooks up quite early and it does explore the rockier moments of them getting to understand each other.
Yet, around the middle point in the series, they are a stable and happy couple, which is exactly when the series starts to focus on the love lives building between the side characters instead of giving the main couple some pointless drama hurdle to overcome.
It is a series likable for its characters, but lovable for the conclusive amount of romantic progression that it includes. No one is left hanging here.
Ojisan and Marshmallow
This short-form series doesn’t quite pull off romance as masterfully as Tsurezure Children, but its bite-sized episodes can brighten a dreary day.
Ojisan and Marshmallow follows a female office worker who is attracted to her older co-worker, a man who has a love of marshmallows and a physique to match. She tries desperately to set up suggestive situations to gain his notice, but as a polite older introvert, he consistently misunderstands her very obvious affections. There is also a love rival as things go on, but mostly that dynamic is used for comedy.
Romantic progression is admittedly as minimal any drama, but it is a nice fluffy comedy about the desire for romance if nothing else.
Recovery of an MMO Junkie
As a romance, Recovery of an MMO Junkie can be frustrating because there is a long drawn out misunderstanding between the two leads where they are falling in love through interactions in an online game, but as they are cross-playing characters of different genders, they think each other the same gender as their character, and thus not a romantic prospect for them.
The interesting thing about the series is the characters, unbeknownst to each other, met in real life and are also growing closer there. So when the revelation comes, it is particularly rewarding and makes sitting through the frustration a little more worth it.
Love After World Domination
This romance series has a rather unique set up. It follows a Super Sentai/Power Ranger-style hero who falls in love with a beautiful minion of the organization they are fighting at first sight. She returns his earnest affections and they start dating within the first episode.
The rest of the series, however, is about them trying to do cute couple things without being discovered by members of either side. The set up could easily bring drama, but instead remains a pretty light-hearted and occasionally very creative romantic comedy anime.
Tonikawa
Tonikawa sets records for the world’s fastest anime relationship where the couple goes from meeting to married within minutes. As like I Can’t Understand What My Husband Is Saying, when the relationship is legally binding, the old drama tropes don’t work.
That said, Tonikawa really is about two strangers who suddenly got married. So much of their relationship is about learning to cohabitate as well as learning about each other. It keeps things very wholesome and any misunderstandings are very quickly cleared up.
This really was a romance for those that crave a peaceful, supportive, and understanding relationship. It’s probably a good thing it came out in 2020 too when a lot of people needed something wholesome to hold onto.
Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie
Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie takes a unique approach to the romance anime formula. It starts with an already established couple and explores their school life.
However, when a couple is already together, and you don’t use romantic drama, what is left to explore? That is often the feeling people get from this series. If nothing else, Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie is a lovely fluff romance – nice feelings, but little substance.
It follows the world’s most naturally unlucky man who is constantly saved from his bad luck by his cute and cool girlfriend that is completely devoted to him. Much of the series is either her saving him or him just being dumbstruck over how perfect she is.
Wotakoi
Wotakoi follows two childhood friends reunited in the workplace who are also big otakus. One is a gamer and open about his hobby and the other is a fujoshi who hides her hobby because it keeps ruining her relationships. They start dating within the first episode, and from there you get perhaps one of the best romances in anime.
It is not that they are overly affectionate, but it is more so that Wotakoi approaches love realistically. You build love by spending time together, and it builds faster when you have similar interests. There’s no drama to explore here, just more otaku couples that appear.
It spends the time usually allotted for romantic drama in anime by focusing on the romances of other couples instead.
In this way, it also depicts the different stages of relationships as well. The main couple is new and unsure of romantic feelings despite a previous friendship, a side couple has dated for a long time despite constantly butting heads with their strong personalities, and the last couple are new friends and unsure of what the new feelings they are experiencing are.
Do you have more low drama anime recommendations? Let fans know in the comments section below.
