Romance and comedy – It is a simple recipe, but an effective one. The intoxicating mix of genres that is “rom-com” just go together like a warm mug of tea on a cold, rainy day. However, because the two genres go together so well, the genre has become quite stuffed to the bursting point with individual series, not all of them necessarily worth watching. If you are looking for romantic comedy anime recommendations, we’ve curated you the best of the bunch.
While some series here do drift into dramatic genres, I’ve tried to keep this as true to pure “rom-com” as can be. So if you are wondering where some super popular romance anime are, they likely were too heavy with drama or too vague with romance via harems.
Best Romantic Comedy Anime
Kaguya-sama: Love is War
Considered a genius, Miyuki Shirogane leads the student council in his prestigious school. Alongside his beautiful and wealthy vice president, Kaguya Shinomiya, the two are regarded as the perfect couple despite no romantic relationship. The truth is, however, they both have feelings for each other, but neither can confess. This is the battle of two people trying to get the other to confess first!
Innovation in rom-com anime is not exactly a common thing, but Love is War breathed fresh air into it. Certainly, the “Will they? Won’t they?” trope is a breeding ground for frustrations, but when done this comically and with just the right amount of cute moments, it creates something addicting.
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.
Toradora took not judging a book by its cover and turned it into an anime. The main characters are often judged by what they look like rather than who they are, and they bond over it. Initially, they try to help each other woo their crushes, but you know how things go when two characters spends enough time 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.
As the male lead in their series has his whole character built around being more dense than a loaf of pumpernickel, this series ends up being sparse on actual romance while big on comedy. That being said, it does leave enough little nuggets of romantic progression that will likely be enough to push you towards continuing the series with the manga.
Ouran High School Host Club
In Ouran High School, the typical student is a member of the wealthy elite, but not Haruhi Fujioka. Accepted on a scholarship, Haruhi wants to avoid all the glitz and glamour in order to study hard and become a lawyer. While looking for a rare quiet place to do so, Haruhi stumbles upon a host club. Frantic to get away from these weird boys, Haruhi breaks a valuable vase. In order to pay back the debt, the club demands that Haruhi becomes a host. There is only one problem, contrary to what the boys believe, Haruhi is actually a girl.
While not the first reverse harem, there is no argument that Ouran High School Host Club is the finest of them. The male characters bring the comedy through shenanigans while the female lead remains one of the most grounded to ever exist. While she is a bit of a realist, the longer the series goes on, the more she falls for those swoon-worthy moments.
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.
Horimiya remains unique because it actually progresses the main relationship quite quickly, and spends a lot of time putting the focus on the relationships of side characters. While there is a touch more drama here, most of it coming from the side character relationships, much of Horimiya draws both its romance and comedy from everyday moments.
Love, Chunibyou, and Other Delusions
Everyone has that stage in their life where they think themselves special, different from mere humans. This phenomenon is called Chunibyou Syndrome and most common in pre-pubescent children. In middle school, Yuuta Togashi thought himself the Dark Flame Master. He has since grown out of it upon entering high school and looks back at those cringe-worthy times with displeasure. Unfortunately, after a chance meeting with Rikka Takanashi, a girl believing to have a God in her eye, she attaches herself to him and brings that Chunibyou past back out.
English doesn’t have the tidy word of “chunibyou,” but we have the same occurrence, for sure. That in and of itself can make Love, Chunibyou, and Other Delusions a little cringe-worthy to watch at times, but that is only because the comedy of it is so on point. As it goes on, that comedy wanes into romance, but it is always there.
Skilled Teaser Takagi-san
For Nishikata, no one knows him better than Takagi-san. Unfortunately for him, she uses this knowledge to unrelentingly tease him on a daily basis. Nishikata vows to get revenge for all that blushing he has done, but is he good enough to overcome her skill?
Teasing is the new big thing in romance anime, but no one has succeeded in doing it as wholesomely as this series. As they are middle school children, the romance is little more than just flirting, but their various teasing challenges provide some pretty wholesome comedy.
Special A
Introduced as children, Hikari Hanazono has always been second to Kei Takishima in everything from academics to pro-wrestling. Ever since the first time he beat her, Hikari has been on a vendetta to finally be number one, even going so far as to attend his prestigious school where both are placed in the Special A class for the most elite. However, for all Hikari’s mental and physical prowess, she doesn’t realize one thing – that Kei is in love with her.
Special A remains a rather underrated series because it doesn’t do anything too remarkable. However, that doesn’t make it any less enjoyable. A girl is constantly trying to beat her male friend, and her male friend is in love with her, yet doesn’t let her win. It is a simple set up for great comedy and the occasional heart-squeezing moment of feelings.
Tsurezure Children
Tsurezure Children depicts the many different scenarios of young love. From the relationship between the student council president and a rebel girl or a boy so crippled by his own lack of self-confidence that he can’t accept that a girl confessed to him. With many more tales within, you follow their triumphs and failures throughout their romances.
Why have one rom-com when you can have half a dozen? That’s Tsurezure Children. It focuses on a handful of couples, cuts out all the traditional romance anime drama, and instead focuses on either the really funny moments or the really sweet ones in each relationship. It is one of those short form anime series where you are definitely left wanting more after each 12-minute episode, though.
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.
This one is a classic romance series, which means it also has some classic drama tropes in it. However, it is refreshing because the main characters are actually good friends throughout the whole series, much of the contention is over the decision to become more.
The Pet Girl of Sakura Hall
Unable to resist taking in abandoned kittens, and amassing quite a collection of them, Sorata Kanda is forced to move to Suimei High School’s infamous Sakura Hall. This dorm is used to house all the misfit students that don’t quite fit in the regular housing. There, Sorata meets an array of different oddballs that inspire him to work towards getting back into the regular dorms and away from them. However, when a new transfer student moves in, he meets the incredible artist, Shiina Mashiro. While talented, she is completely incapable of taking care of herself, and so, Sorata brings her into his care and his strange days truly begin.
The romance in Pet Girl can be a bit strange because the female lead doesn’t posses much personality and really is treated like a pet. However, there are some interesting side romances to elevate the romance side of thing. The real area where The Pet Girl of Sakura Hall shines is through comedy. It is a great show to watch if you are in the mood to laugh.
Recovery of an MMO Junkie
Morioka Moriko has had enough of being an overworked corporate slave, so she decided to retire herself to the NEET lifestyle. While at home, yearning for the previous connections she once made in online gaming, she starts up a new MMO. There she creates her character, the handsome Hayashi. However, in her newbie struggles she meets a Lily, another character willing to help her and they begin to grow closer to each other. At the same time, in real life, Moriko also has a shocking encounter with a handsome corporate employee.
It is a rarity to put the spotlight on the female otaku, much less a NEET. This one does a great job, right down to her worrying about how unmanageable she has let her eyebrows get. Girl. Been there.
Anyway, much of the romance happens in-game while simultaneously, unknowingly, happening between them in real life as well. It is a unique spin, and a great one for all the anime fans that are also MMO gamers.
Wotakoi: Love is Difficult for an Otaku
After discovering they work at the same company, a gaming otaku and a fujoshi rekindle for the first time since middle school. After some good, old-fashioned after work drinks, they decide to start dating, but dating an otaku as an otaku is more difficult that one would think.
Wotakoi is more a rom-com for the fans sick of high school rom-coms. It features a relationship between two adults where they handle things like adults. It’s wholesome, but it does put more light on comedy compared to romance.
Class President is a Maid
After their high school’s recent transfer from all-boys school to co-ed, it wasn’t easy for Misaki Ayuzawa to become the school’s first female class president. While she inspires terror at school, she also works part-time at a maid café to help her struggling family. However, when one of the most popular boys at school, Takumi Usui, discovers her secret, her world is about to get a whole lot more complicated.
I’ve always failed to see the appeal of this show, to be perfectly candid. However, it is a very beloved rom-com, so its inclusion is a must. It’s… Well, it’s tropes. Hot popular guy. Tsundere beautiful girl. They fall in love at school and as he shows up at her job all the time. Shenanigans ensue and those romantic moments flow forth.
Kamisama Kiss
Homeless and in debt, high schooler Nanami Momozono thinks things are looking up when she rescues a man and he offers to let her stay at his home. She soon discovers that his home is a rundown shrine. Trying to leave, she is mistaken for the man she saved – the man that is also the land god of the shrine, Mikage. Finding out she was tricked into being a god and not wanting to be homeless, Nanami tries to embrace her new divine duties, but has to deal with a hot-headed fox familiar to keep things running smoothly.
This one is a rom-com with a supernatural twist. It is an added side treat to see creatures and deities from Japanese culture given form. However, the romance side of it, while a slow (but obvious) build, becomes the biggest charm of the series. Their personalities compliment each other well when it comes to comedy as well.
B Gata H Kei
Yamada is beautiful and just entering high school, but she has one strange goal – to have casual sex with 100 men. The problem is that she is afraid of being teased for being a virgin. Upon happenstance, she stumbles upon a solution to her problem, the soft-spoken (also virgin) Kosuda. The problem is, he knows nothing about sex and is a shy gentleman about it.
Yup, it could have been a very lewd show. However, it is not. Instead, it is about a girl trying to lose her V-card to the most wholesome and non-threatening guy she found. It turns into a quite nice romance, and the comedy is great if you enjoy sex jokes.
My Love Story
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!
This is a tale of love for all those low self-esteem folks out there. It shows that even if you look like a gorilla, if you are a good person, someone will fall in love with you. The comedy comes from that exactly as well.
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.
Much of the time, Kimi ni Todoke will feel more like a slice of life show about a girl opening up and making friends. The actual romance in it moves quite excruciatingly slow, but the moments you are given are very wholesome. If you enjoy slow burns and a more peaceful pace to everything, it has made this a classic.
Tonikawa: Over the Moon For You
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.
Tonikawa is nothing but wholesomeness. The couple meets and gets married within the first episode. There is very little drama, and the entire series focuses on the sweet and silly moments of their newlywed life.
Love Hina
After making a childhood promise with a girl who moved away, Keitaro is dedicated to getting into the prestigious Tokyo University. Unfortunately, he is hopelessly stuck failing his entrance exams. In order to continue trying, he moves out of his parent’s house into his grandmother’s inn to work as a manager. However, what he doesn’t know is that her hot springs inn is also an all-girls dorm.
While Love Hina is a harem show, there is, like many harems, a clear best girl of the lot. The show, while it has its moments of skin, does put a strong light on his romantic relationship with her. In fact, many of his moments with the other girls in the dorm are either used for comedy or to work through their issues.
Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It
One day, beautiful female scientist Ayame told her co-worker Shinya that she loved him. Both being rational people, they expressed their lack of experience with romance and decided to use science as a way to concretely conclude if they did indeed love each other.
This is perhaps one of the most slept on rom-coms of recent memory. It is two scientists that clearly like each other, but need scientific evidence of it because – Science! The shows is a series of cute and scientifically valid experiments trying to measure emotional feelings. It is equal parts interesting, adorable, and hilarious.
Snow White With The Red Hair
Shirayuki is an herbalist that lives a normal life in the country of Tanbarun. However, when her beautiful red hair is noticed by the Prince Raji, he tries to make her his concubine. She then decides to cut her hair and flees into the forest. It is there she is rescued by the second Prince of neighboring country, Wistalia, named Zen. In order to repay her life debt to him, she sets her hopes on becoming the court herbalist in the capital of Clarines.
Strange that there isn’t more on-the-nose fairy tale-inspired rom-com’s in anime, but whatever. This series doesn’t so much follow any particular fairy tale plot, but rather hits all those tropes. What’s particularly nice about it is that the female main character has motivations outside for just landing herself a prince. The love happens slowly, and in between there is some interesting plot and world-building.
To Love Ru
Timid Rito wants is to confess his love to a girl in class. However, things quickly become complicated when one night a naked girl comes crashing in on him while he is in the bath. This girl, as it turns out, is an alien princess on the run and she wants to marry him to avoid a political marriage. Thus begins Rito’s endless days of girl struggle.
This series is definitely more for those that don’t mind a little ecchi in their rom-coms, because its got quite a bit. However, as with any ecchi, there is also a lot of comedy. While it is technically a harem show, it does specifically focus on a main girl.
Mayo Chiki
Due to the females of his family’s love of wrestling, Kinjirou Sakamachi developed a strong body, but a fear of women. After a odd encounter in the bathroom, he discovers that the most popular student at his school and butler to the headmaster’s daughter is actually a girl. In order to keep this secret, the girl says she will cure his phobia.
This series has some perverted comedy, but isn’t outright ecchi much of the time. It is lacking on plot as well as romantic progression. The feelings are clearly there, but a phobia really keeps things from going to deep places. It does comedy pretty well, but this is more for those that are charmed by cute characters.
Engaged to the Unidentified
On Kobeni Yonomori’s 16th birthday, it is discovered that her grandfather arranged for her to marry the mysterious Hakuya Mitsumine. Shocked, she now finds herself living with her future husband, his deceptive little sister, and her own perverted older sister. However, Kobeni takes it in stride, adjusting to her new life and trying to learn more about the new additions.
Engaged to the Unidentified is one of those series that splashes a little bit of the “rom” onto a lot of bit of the “com” when it comes to rom-com. The male main is very passive, so there are only a spare few swoon-worthy romantic moments. However, the comedy of the show is really carried by the sisters to the main characters. It’s a good rom-com, but only because it is such a fun comedy.
Waiting in Summer
While testing out his filming camera one night, Kaito is blown off the bridge by a streak of blue light. When he wakes up, he finds himself in his room. This leads to a meeting with an upperclassman that changes his summer forever.
Waiting in Summer is another romance show that is often slept on. The comedy is there, but romance is really the theme of the day here. What is most lovely about Waiting in Summer is how evocative of summer it really is in all its visuals.
The Kawai Complex Guide to Manors and Hostel Behavior
Kazunari Usa is a freshman in high school and is living on his own for the first time in a boarding house. However, when he meets his masochistic, bondage-obsessed roommate, Usa is ready to find somewhere else to live. However, just when he is about to leave, he crosses path with his sempai, the beautiful, but bookish Ritsu Kawai that also lives there. He decides to stay.
The romance in Kawai Complex is so minimal, you wonder why it is even there. It serves as a hook to keep the main character in a dorm full of weirdos, which is where the great comedy comes from. It ends up more a slice of life comedy than a romance many times, but it gives you a few bread crusts.
My Bride is a Mermaid
Michishio Nagasumi is living a normal life when he almost drowns on summer vacation. He is rescued by, of all things, a beautiful mermaid. Unfortunately, she is from a yakuza family that states if a human sees a mermaid, either the human or the mermaid must die. To save her life, Michishio agrees to marry the mermaid and become part of this crazy family.
My Bride is a Mermaid is one of those random comedies where the most absurd things happen for the sake of making you laugh. It also happens to be very, very effective at that. The romance, while present, isn’t particularly swoon-worthy. However, you keep watching because the show is hilarious.
My Little Monster
Shizuku Mizutani cares little of others and only about scoring top marks. However, when she is tasked with taking something to her desk neighbor Haru Yoshida, her world begins to change. Haru, too, knows little of human nature and hasn’t been to school for awhile due to fighting. Yet, it is the lack of friends that they both have that soon forms a friendship between them.
My Little Monster really suffers due to not having subsequent seasons because it only starts to get good where the anime ends. However, it is a heady little hook for the series by making you fall in love with the characters.
These series are all just a drop in the bucket that is the comprehensive genre of romantic comedies in anime. If you have more rom-com anime recommendations that you really enjoyed, let fans know in the comments section below.
I literally already watched all of these what- I need more more more