Not sure if I can ask here but I honestly need to clean my palate after watching dreaming boy is a realist. I seen a couple dozen already so if you got any hidden gems I would really appreciate it.
Edit: thank you, everyone. Cant wait to watch some of these
My personal recommendation of what I list below is A Day Before us. While I typically dislike shorts, it works very well with the format, and episode after episode gave me butterflies just watching it. It’s extremely sweet and cute, though as far as comedy is more “cute funny romancey stuff”. I’m sure you’ve seen/heard of most of what I have below, but just filling gaps in case you haven’t.
Yeonae Haru Jeon / A Day Before Us - anidb - MAL - AniList - Personal Rating: 10/10
- Very heavy on cute romance. A series of shorts following soon-to-be-lovers as they come to realize what they have between each other. Streaming on Youtube.
Otaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii / Love is Hard for Otaku - anidb - MAL - AniList - Personal rating: 7.6/10
- Primarily comedy. An otaku tries to keep her otaku and fujoshi hobbies a secret at her new workplace, but her past catches up with her when she reunites with an old friend who shares her interests, and they discover more coworkers with similar passions.
Kimi ni Todoke / From Me to You - anidb - MAL - AniList - Personal rating: 9.2/10
- Primarily romance. Kuronuma Sawako, misunderstood because of her ghostly appearance, hopes to make friends and find romance when the popular Kazehaya Shouta starts talking to her.
Horimiya - anidb - MAL - AniList - Personal rating: 8/10
- A bit more drama, good comedy, and cute romance. Hori and Miyamura, both hiding secret lives, cross paths and unveil their true selves, leading to the possibility of something new and unexpected.
I’m going to second Wotakoi and Horimiya, while also adding:
Kaguya-sama wa kokurasetai - anidb - MAL - AniList - Personal rating: 9/10
- A stellar romantic comedy set in a high school for society’s élite, starring corporate heiress Shinomiya Kaguya and academic prodigy Shirogane Miyuki, as they battle it out to make the other confess first, believing that whoever confesses first will be on the lower rung of the proverbial totem pole in the relationship, and will thus be subject to the other’s whims.
I’m not the commenter above, but I used the same formatting for consistency’s sake.
Others in the thread have already given some good suggestions. In particular I will add another vote for Wotakoi and Horimiya if you haven’t seen them yet. Some more that I enjoyed:
- Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!: I would classify this one as more comedy than romance, but it is a pretty good mix. Focuses on a former chuunibyou (during middle school) that has a new neighbor that is a current chuunibyou (in high school) and the relationship that they form. Along the way they pick up a crew of chuuni-adjacent friends.
- Koi wa Sekai Seifuku no Ato de: This one is more comedy than romance. The basic premise is that the leader of a sentai group of heroes falls in love with one of the generals of the evil organization they are fighting against. I adore this series and it always breaks my heart that the manga didn’t perform well enough to keep it going.
- Rikei ga Koi ni Ochita no de Shoumei shitemita: This one is not as strong as the others I have listed in my opinion, but if you are a connoisseur of the genre you might appreciate it. Basically, two data scientists try to mathematically prove through statistics/experiments that they are in love with one another. So, the comedy focuses on replicating a lot of tropes from the romcom genre and then collecting data about it. This one has two seasons, but I personally think the first season is a pretty good standalone season. The end of season 2 was…a choice…but it kind of ruined a lot of the good work done elsewhere in the series.
Does “dusk maiden of amnesia” count?
My Dress-Up Darling
Tamako Market + Tamako Love Story
Kaguya-sama
Some of mah favorites:
- Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san
- Soredemo Ayumu wa Yosetekuru
- The Girl I like forgot her glasses
- Hi Score Girl
- Machikado Mazoku
- Kobayashi-san chi no Maid-dragon
- Yuru Yuri
- Stella no Mahou
- Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san
- Ishuzoku Reviewers
- Koisuru Asteroid
- Konohana Kitan
- Bakarina
- Sakura Trick
- Urara Meirochou
- Yuyushiki
- Endro~!
- Release the Spyce
- Burn-up Excess
I recommend Tsurezure Children.
It’s an anime where each episode has 2-3 short stories about a handful of recurring couples.
It’s really cute and really funny, honestly probably my favourite romcom anime.
