20 Romance Anime Told From The Male Perspective

In all romance anime, it takes two to make a couple. However, in most narratives, the story is told from one perspective through one main character.

Although romance anime is generally seen as a genre more appealing to women, just as many men enjoy the unique feeling that love can bring.

I think the vicarious enjoyment of love in romance anime is a joy that everyone can and does enjoy.

That said, when it comes to romance anime for men, typically they will relate best to male main character. Unlike romance anime with female main characters, of which there is an endless selection, romance anime with male main characters can be a bit tougher to track down.

It can be even more difficult if you aren’t really looking for an ecchi romance as well. While there are some on this list that may lean towards some ecchi comedy, this list is not for the ecchi seeker.

If you are looking for romance anime recommendations told from a male main character’s perspective, head on down below.

Best Romance Anime Told From The Male Perspective

Toradora

Ryuuji Takasu is a gentle student with a passion for housework, however his thug 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 have a crush two classmates, and after a series of misunderstandings of their own, they find themselves in an unlikely alliance.

Because the female lead is a tsundere, Toradora is a series that demands that the more even-tempered male character be the main character. You can’t really focus on emotions if your main character just continuously lies to themselves about how they feel.

Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai

On a day like any other, Sakuta is in the library, and there he spots a wild bunny girl. This wild bunny girl, or rather, Mai Sakurajima, a semi-retired actress dressed like a bunny girl, catches no one else’s eye. In fact, Sakuta seems to be the only one that can see her on that day and on many other days. This phenomenon, called Puberty Syndrome, is rumored on the internet. As Sakuta decides to solve the mystery, he grows closer to Mai and other girls that suffer the same malady.

Part low drama romance and part interesting mystery story, Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl features perhaps the most chill and blunt main character of any romance series. It has its intense moments, for sure, but because it focuses on things other than the romance, it allows the characters to skip over so many cliches.

My Love Story

With his tall statue, bulky muscles, and mean face, Takeo Gouda is not exactly a hit with the ladies. Men and women alike find him terrifying, but one day after saving a girl from a molester on the train, he meets a girl that might just love him as much as he loves her.

This series is definitely the romance for the male weeb. The ones that view themselves like the world views Takeo. He is terrifying and ugly, but a true gentleman. It plays much of that for comedy, but it is also as sweet as any other romance series.

Clannad

Tomoya Okazaki is a delinquent who finds everything dull and believes he will never amount to anything. That is, until a girl named Nagisa catches his eye one day on his way to school. Suddenly, Tomoya begins to notice Nagisa more and more around the campus. She is sickly and weak, but she always tries her best in order to follow her dream of reviving the school’s drama club. Claiming he has nothing better to do, he decides to help Nagisa, and along the way ends up helping several other girls and potential drama club members. However, as he learns more about the girls and helps them overcome their problems, he might just be able to overcome his own as well.

Based on a visual novel with multiple routes, of course Clannad follows one guy as he helps many girls with their problems. There is, of course, an obvious main girl. Furthermore, the main character has some issues of his own that he needs to sort out as well.

Amagami SS

After being stood up on a Christmas Eve date, Junichi has a hard time opening himself up to romance again, even two years later. However, upon a chance meeting with several girls he becomes romantically interested in, he has hope that this year he can spend Christmas Eve with someone he truly loves.

Amagami SS is an omnibus romance, which means it follows the main man’s relationship with one girl for a few episodes, then rewinds time and focuses on his time with another girl. It explores many routes and leads to a satisfying-ish conclusion to each route without getting too lost in the drama.

Love, Chunibyou, and Other Delusions

Everyone has that stage in their life where they think themselves special, different from mere humans. In middle school, Yuuta Togashi thought himself the Dark Flame Master, but upon entering high school, he has grown out of it. Unfortunately, after a chance meeting with Rikka Takanashi, a girl believing to have a God in her eye, attaches herself to him and brings that Chunibyo past back out.

Again, when your female lead is caught up in a delusion, the romance series demands that there be someone level-headed to move the emotions forward in a realistic way. As they both have chunibyou tendencies, there is a lot of cringe to go around.

My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU

Hachiman Hikigaya firmly believes that a joyful youth is something that people make up just to lie to themselves. After writing an essay criticizing relationships, he is forced to join the Volunteer Service Club that is aimed at helping others solve their problems. With the only other member being the icy Yukino Yukinoshita, they use their wits and cold views on society to help others.

As Hachiman is so against the feelings of love, of course he has to be the main character of his own romance series. Throughout, you watch him thaw out a bit without completely abandoning his defining pessimism.

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. 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.

Sorata has trouble not caring about things, and Shiina needs someone to care for her. As Shiina is also a pretty passive character, it doesn’t exactly make her main character material. She is a master of the deadpan, though.

Golden Time

Banri Tada has finally been accepted into a private law academy in Tokyo, but due to an accident, he is without all his memories. During his freshmen orientation, he meets Mitsuo Yanagisawa who is consummately stalked by a girl from his old school. Banri begins to hit it off with both of them. As they spend more time together, their fates seem intertwined, but for better or worse?

In Golden Time, the female love interest enters Banri’s life like a hurricane. A whirlwind of energy and trouble that he gets swept up in while dealing with his own amnesia. Part of the charm in Golden Time is the multiple mysteries going on, including how she feels about him.

Your Lie in April

Although once a child prodigy in the music world, pianist Kousei Arima is left in a downward spiral after his mother’s death, unable to even hear the sound of his own piano. Even after two years, Arima has all but left the music world behind, disappointing fans and rivals alike, and living in a colorless world. Then one day that that all changes when he is introduced to the beautiful violinist Kaori Miyazono who brings color into his world once more.

As Kousei is a character with problems, the series demands that he be the focus so he can fix them. There is another reason the plot demands he is the main character instead of the energetic and lovable Kaori, but, well…

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.

This is an interesting one, since the female character Hikari is technically the main character, but its only a romance series if you include Kei’s feelings for her. It is a one-sided love for a long while, but it technically is a romance series from a male perspective.

Tsuki ga Kirei

For the first time in their third year, Azumi and Mizuno were put in the same class. Initially, they are nothing more than classmates, but continued exposure sees them grow progressively closer. As the year goes on, the pair and their classmates must come to face themselves as they mature and face challenges.

This is one of the rare series where if you switch the perspective from the male character to the female character, it would likely still be the same show. Both characters like and grow to love each other, and both characters likely experience the same emotions even if only the male’s perspective is the focus. It is such an honest romance series with none of the over the top drama that once frequented romance genre of anime.

One Week Friends

High school student Hase Yuuki finds out the hard way how difficult romance can be after finding out Kaori, the girl he has fallen for, can only remember memories for a week at a time. Because of this, she often shies away from making friends, but can Yuuki’s sheer determination help her come out of her shell for just one week?

So Kaori forgets everything after one week. If Yuuki had never approached her and 50 First Dates the whole thing, there would be no romance or series. It doesn’t really have a lot of pay off, but it is a short and sweet ride.

Natsuyuki Rendezvous

Hazuki has had his heart stolen away by the flower shop owner, Rokka. However, even though he gets a part-time job there to be close to her, he find her heart wounded after the death of her husband. The real problem, however, is that although he is dead, her husband never left.

Since the female love interest is a widow, she is not exactly on the prowl when Hazuki takes an interest in her. Unfortunately for him, he is also constantly cockblocked by a ghost.

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.

As Misaki is a tsundere, she is not so honest with her feelings. As such, that places any progression that will happen on the shoulders of Usui. What is interesting is that it doesn’t really feel like either is the main character, but it also doesn’t feel like there is perspective is shared either.

Rent-a-Girlfriend

Recently dumped by his girlfriend, college student Kazuya Kinoshita tries to fill the void with an app that lets him rent a girlfriend. While Chizuru seems like the perfect girlfriend, reading the views online, he finds out it is an act. He leaves her a bad review and this reveals her more sassy true self. Unfortunately, after his grandmother’s collapse, he introduces her as his girlfriend, and thus they begin their fake relationship.

The male main character may be a bit spineless and indecisive, but no one can say he isn’t unrealistic in his emotions and desires. As it is a harem series, you kind of have to focus on the harem king. Despite that, it is still a romance in its own right.

Nisekoi

Ten years ago, Raku Ichijou made a promise with a childhood friend. In the present day, this heir apparent to an intimidating yakuza family continues to wait for his friend’s return while trying to be as uninvolved in family matters as possible. However, when a rival gang invades his family’s turf, the family leaders decide Raku should start a romantic relationship with the other chief’s daughter, Chitoge.

Much like Rent a Girlfriend above, Nisekoi has multiple girls vying for the affection of one guy. Unlike Rent a Girlfriend, the one guy is more the protagonist you expect him to be. What is interesting is it kind of messes with the perception of who the main girl is from time to time.

The Quintessential Quintuplets

As his family is in some serious debt, Fuutaro Uesugi is a serious penny pincher. However, his great grades have landed him a higher than normal paying tutor job. The problem is that his five wards, all sisters, are dumb as door nails and think he is a complete idiot. However, to get his pay, he has to think of a way to get these five unique girls to study and learn.

Quintessential Quintuplets is devious and genius. It takes the same situation of Nisekoi and Rent a Girlfriend above, and makes it absolutely ambiguous about who the main girl is because all the girls can look the same. It dangles that promise that he marries one in the future over your head and makes you guess which carrot it is.

Domestic Girlfriend

Natsuo is in love with his teacher Hina. In order to try and forget his feelings, he goes to a mixer and meets a girl named Rui. Oddly enough, she asks him to do her a favor – to have sex with her. He does so, but soon he is faced with a unique problem. His father has remarried and he now has two new stepsisters that he knows too well – Rui and Hina.

In love triangle series, like this one, the main character is typically pitted against two love interests of the opposite gender. In this one, it is one guy that is conflicted between two girls. I’ve said this a lot, but this series is a dumpster fire, but, like, in the best way. As in, once you start, you really don’t want to stop.

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.

The female lead in this series is more mature and a little less obvious with her feelings sometimes, so it is only natural that the doting Nasa is the main focus of the series. It explores their very sudden marriage and the wholesome feelings within rather than exploring the potential drama within.

Do you have more romance anime recommendations with a male main character? There are actually quite a few, but I kept the list manageable. If you have more that romance fans may like, let fans know in the comments section below.