22 Romantic Comedy Anime About Dating an Otaku

If you are an anime fan, and a fan of romance anime in particular, then there is little that is more relatable than a romance anime about the love lives of otaku.

Let’s face it, even if we aren’t obsessive about anime enough to be considered at true otaku level, we all want to be loved for who we are and what we like.

Of course, being obsessive about something – games, anime, books, or whatever – leads to a number of funny situations, which in its own way can make otaku romantic comedies highly amusing even if you aren’t in it for the romance.

Best Otaku Romance Anime

Wotakoi: Love is Hard for an Otaku

Wotakoi is unarguably the pinnacle of otaku romance anime. It has exactly what fans were looking for in the form of a mature romance between multiple adult couples who all have otaku interests, money to spend on those interests, and the very human desire to be loved by someone else.

Wotakoi primarily follows the new romantic connection that formed between childhood friends who ended up reconnecting when they discover that they are working in the same office. One is a passionate gamer and reserved man while the other is an extroverted girl and fujoshi.

While Wotakoi focuses on that main romance, there are also two other otaku couples enjoy as well. As the series focuses on the romantic lives of three different couples – the new couple, the young love college couple, and the older, long-dating couple – it keeps any ham-fisted, contrived romantic drama shoved in there just for filler down to a minimum while also not eschewing the complications that come up in relationships either.

3D Girlfriend

3D Girlfriend offers probably one of the more realistic portrayals of otaku in romance anime. It follows an unpopular otaku who is treated poorly by others, and is also rightfully bitter and mean to others in return because of that.

However, one of the primary themes of 3D Girlfriend is that people are often not what they seem at just face value. He meets a popular girl that he sees as vapid and probably mean, but she turns out to be kind and willing to be understanding enough to break through his defensive shell.

While 3D Girlfriend is filled with a lot of drama, it is a great exploration of the turbulent young love of an otaku.

And You Thought There Was Never a Girl Online?

Who hasn’t looked for love in their online MMOs at one point or another and got burned by it?

This is the premise for Netoge, an charming anime about a boy who thought he found love in his MMO only to have the character turn out to be a man playing a female avatar.

After giving up on finding love in his online games, he soon finds out that a player with a female avatar that is overly attached to him in the game is actually a girl in real life – and goes to his school too.

Oreimo – My Little Sister Can’t Possibly Be This Cute

Oreimo has become infamous as the go-to otaku comedy.

While it is about the occasionally uncomfortable growing relationship between a normal brother and his tsundere little sister that is into eroge games, it does display other otaku girls that the main character explores romantic and platonic relationships with.

In Oreimo, you also get a rare glimpse at female otakus in a widely male-otaku dominated anime genre. Weeb girls need love too, after all.

Eromanga Sensei

Sharing the same dubious creator as Oreimo, Eromanga Sensei proves that they can indeed get even more uncomfortable with their romance plots.

Eromanga Sensei follows a young teen and his even younger step-sibling who now live alone after their parents died.

To make a living, he writes light novels and discovers that his shut-in sister is actually the lewd artist that has been providing the provocative art for his works. While the boy is the primary caretaker of his young stepsister, he is also in love with her.

From there, you get a nice glimpse into the light novel creation process, but a less nice glimpse into morally questionable romance.

Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun

While some of the characters in Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun don’t classify as otaku, it is a great romantic comedy series about a girl who tries to confess to a boy only for him to confuse her for a fan of the shoujo manga series that he creates.

Through circumstance, she ends up working for him, but with multiple potential couples in play in Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun, it provides a fun romantic romp through love and manga creation.

Welcome to the NHK

The main character of Welcome to the NHK is more of a NEET than an otaku, but as it explores the psychological effects of seclusion, you watch him as he dives on into a number of otaku hobbies.

More importantly, in Welcome to the NHK you watch a girl try to bring this anxiety-riddled main character out of his shell and explore the feelings that grow for each other in the process.

However, be aware that in terms of comedy in this rom-com, the anime has more of a dark humor theme to it.

Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend

Although Saekano ends up looking more like your typical harem anime, it does feature both a male otaku and several female otakus, all of them brought together for their various artistic talents and love of dating sims.

As the Saekano progresses, that harem element turns into drama and occasional comedy, but not in your usual obnoxious harem way. Furthermore, like any good harem anime should, it does have a winner-winner of this particular chicken dinner at the end.

I Can’t Understand What My Husband is Saying

Although I Can’t Understand What My Husband is Saying is a short-form anime with only 3-minute episodes, it is the quintessential otaku romantic comedy.

The whole series is about the daily married life of an average, well-adjusted office lady that likes to socially drink and spend time with friends, and her husband who is a otaku and a blogger.

They seem like two people that shouldn’t work as a couple, but she goes to lengths to understand his hobbies and you are shown that it not a person’s interests that make a successful relationship, but the people themselves.

There are a lot of important things that a marriage should have, and while shared hobbies might be one of them, the willingness to understand and accept things about your partner is very much necessary as well.

Haruka Nogizaka’s Secret

While when being an otaku was seen as gross and shameful in the past, like nerds in the 00’s, otaku got a bit of a renaissance as anime and other otaku hobbies grew to be more popular and accepted.

Unfortunately, this means that we will now get less and less “secret otaku” romantic comedy anime where the thing that brings the couple together is the shared secret of someone’s weeb interests.

Haruka Nogizaka’s Secret, if it hasn’t been given away by now, is your classic “secret otaku” romance anime.

Nogizaka is cute and popular, but she is also secretly an otaku. When the main character finds out, he helps her enjoy her interests and also protect her secret, so naturally feelings develop between them.

Blood Lad

Blood Lad is a bit of a supernatural and shounen action twist on your usual otaku romantic comedy anime.

In Blood Lad, the main character is a vampire in hell, but he also happens to be a major human otaku with a particular love for Japan and anime. When a human wanders into his domain, he is thrilled to be able to geek out on them.

However, events transpire that lead him to help her get back to the human world, which he is also all-too-happy to go visit.

Although the romance is a subplot and his otaku hobbies take a back set to typical action-adventure plots, it is a unique twist to see that otakuism can infect the damned as well.

Princess Jellyfish

While many consider the term “otaku,” to be a term for anime and manga fans, it actual spans a much more broad array of equally nerdy interests. In fact, some now use otaku as a term for anyone with a very specific and obsessive interest in any hobby, from anime to automobile to even obsessive interest in specific animals like in this anime series.

The main character in Princess Jellyfish is a NEET who is fearful of men, but she is also a complete otaku for jellyfish. She ends up meeting a man that likes to dress as a beautiful woman that helps her save an abused jellyfish at a pet store. From there, the man ends up visiting her at her share house full of equally eccentric and anxiety-riddled nerdy women.

It is a distinctly unique otaku romantic comedy and beloved by many because of its unique set up and characters.

Romantic Killer

While there are plenty of otaku women involved in these romantic comedy anime, very few follow them as main characters. Romantic Killer proves that gender doesn’t really matter when it comes to otaku behavior because women can be just as obsessive and degenerate as men can.

Romantic Killer follows a teenager otaku girl whose only passion is playing otome games, eating chocolate, and hanging out with her cat. However, a fairy takes all three of those loves away from her and tells her to go have a real romance with three boys that they have arranged a magical meet-cute for her with.

Unfortunately, while it well indulges the otaku comedy, the actual romance in Romantic Killer is often limited to strong reverse harem vibes.

Kiss Him, Not Me

Isn’t it just terrible when you find out that reality is often disappointing? Kiss Him, Not Me is all about a nottie-to-hottie fujoshi girl who discovers that all her handsome male peers are disappointingly not romantically interested in each other, and are instead romantically interested in her.

While the fact that most of these men weren’t romantically interested in the female main character until she lost a bunch of weight and became hot is not the best message to send, it does provide for a fun rom-com set up. It is also made an easier pill to swallow when you learn that feelings were indeed there for the main boy before she became hot.

The World Only God Knows

In The World Only God Knows, the main character can win any girl’s heart – in dating sims!

His obsession with dating sims has taken over his life, so much so that he arrogantly accepts a request to woo girls with his dating sim tactics from a deity. The twist is that he is using fictional tactics on real women.

Unfortunately, he dislikes real women, but can he make love blossom?

The Pet Girl of Sakura Hall

The Pet Girl of Sakura Hall follows a main character who is sent any from proper school accommodations to live in the dorm where the school houses the more eccentric and problematic children. There, he meets a wildly skillful artist who is also terrible at taking care of herself. Her skill and passion for art makes him yearn to find something he can be passionate about.

The Pet Girl of Sakura Hall is very much a school anime about the characters discovering who they are and what they want to be in the future. However, even with three different couples in play, every character involved has a distinct otaku interest.

Animators, artists, writers, coders – they are all passionate about their interests enough to classify as otaku. Not only can this series be inspiring to young watchers trying to figure their future out, but it remains a long-beloved rom-com anime.

Genshiken

Genshiken follows the adventures and relationships of the Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture, which brings the full spectrum of otaku culture together through its college club members.

While Genshiken can be a difficult anime to get into, (the first few episodes are more than a bit boring) it not only showcases the humor of otaku hobbies and those that engage in them, but you get to watch some surprisingly complex relationships develop.

Do be aware that romance in Genshiken isn’t the focus. It is more a grounded comedy about an otaku college club. However, almost all members at one point or another have a crush or develop a romantic relationship with someone.

While romance is secondary in Genshiken, it melds it in a nice realistic way with the more otaku-centric focus.

Love, Chunibyou, and Other Delusions

While the characters in Love, Chunibyou, and Other Delusions are more chunibyou than actual otaku, which is a different sort of thing, chuniybou and otaku are often hand-holding, French-kissing cousins. In fact, it is easy to see how chunibyou is spawned from otaku interests.

We’ve all wanted to believe we were something more – a dark flame master, the host of a god in our eye, a fully-functioning normal person, ect – and in private we may have acted these cringe fantasies out. However, Love, Chunibyou, and Other Delusions takes that behavior to an uncomfortable, but humorous level while also having a sickly sweet romance as the main plotline.

Gamers

For as many anime fans that are also likely fans of gaming, the amount of gaming anime and gaming-themed romance anime is actually pretty rare. However, Gamers does offer you a nice, albeit complicated romance surrounded by gaming references.

Gamers follows a boy whose love of games is discovered and who is summarily recruited into the school’s gaming club by the school’s idol, who is also a passionate gamer.

However, while Gamers disappointed video game fans by not really being about gaming, it did manifest itself into a fun romantic comedy with a series of interconnected feelings between the club members.

A Sister is All You Need

I am not unconvinced that A Sister is All You Need is not inspired by little sister-loving light novel author Tsukasa Fushimi, of Oreimo and Eromanga Sensei infamy.

A Sister is All You Need is about a middling light novel artist with a huge obsession with little sisters. However, his own eccentricities and writing style keep him from the great success celebrated by his peers. The series mostly follows his various daily adventures in writing and hanging out with his other light novel author friends.

While A Sister is All You need has a huge bar of cringe-worthy ecchi in its first episode that either hooks degenerates or pushes normal viewers away, thankfully the actual romance sub-plot of this episodic comedy isn’t sister-related.

My Dress-Up Darling

As anime is so often the topic of cosplay, it is a bit weird that there haven’t been more cosplay-focused anime. However, My Dress-Up Darling offers a surprisingly detailed exploration of cosplay surrounded by a slow-moving, but entirely too lovable romance.

My Dress-Up Darling follows a loner who has a passion for traditional Japanese Hina doll-making despite everyone shaming him for it. However, he makes a connection with a popular girl who, as it turns out, is a proud enjoyer of eroge and wants to cosplay a character.

He ends up making the cosplay outfit for that character due to his excellent sewing skills, and as they do more characters together, a romantic connection forms.

While you may be left waiting for romantic development, My Dress-Up Darling often distracts you with the positive message of loving what you love no matter what gender stereotypes dictate.

Bakuman

What fan of anime and manga has never thought, “I’d like to make that,” when enjoying their favorite media? However, as all soon learn, making anime and manga is actually pretty difficult.

Bakuman is easily the best series about the process of making manga. Made by the authors of Death Note, this series follows two teens who form a manga team – not unlike the duo story/art team of Ohba and Obata who made both series.

For the artist part of the duo, his decision to create manga was made, initially, to impress a girl. While his passion for the medium takes over, the romance between him and an aspiring voice actress remains as they carry out their passion through high school and into professional spheres.

Do you have any more good otaku romantic comedy anime recommendations, let fans know in the comments section below.