The romance Genre is the second most popular genre after action, within anime industry. Hundreds of romance animes are released each season, due to this relentless competition, many shows miss the spotlight in the presence of big fishes despite being good and become most underrated romance animes.
As a hardcore anime Otaku, I have witnessed many remarkable shows fail to build a decent following despite being better than many overrated romance animes. If you’re done roasting by shows like “rental girlfriend”, let me introduce you to some most untold romance animes that are worth watching.
From unique romantic anime characters and catchy plots to acceptable animations, these romantic shows are worth considering in every sense. Let’s dig in the list of romantic underdogs, which holds the potential to drive you nuts.
10: Tomozaki a bottom tier character
Tomozaki Fumiya used to be a hardcore gamer distant from life. To avoid the world’s harsh reality that doesn’t align with his strengths, he has developed a lonesome careless personality. One day, after being disrespected by the girl class’s most popular girl, he decides to develop better strategies in this real world to stand respectful. Now he must overcome persona-based difficulties in the mentorship of class’s most popular girl.
Unlike other romance animes, cute girls are not dumped on our protagonist but he makes efforts to blend in with respectable skills. The reason for this to be an underrated romance anime must be the absence of fan services in the shape of kissing, hugs, and unnecessary clinging. Even in the absence of the essential feature of perviness, this anime holds quite healthy reviews from a handful of audiences.
9: Classroom Crises
Kaito Sera is a brilliant leader of a team of engineers in a renowned A-Tech corporation. Nagisa Kiryuu, the younger brother of the corporation’s CEO has been tasked to shut down the A-Tech unit. Kaito, Nagisa, Kaito’s sister Mizuki, and test pilot Iris Shirasaki are determined to keep their classroom operating. While navigating the world of political warfare and intrigue, they form an unbreakable bond of unexpected love.
Classroom Crisis has to be a well-known series regarding its stunning animations and most entertaining romantic but ambitious plot. Despite being beautifully directed by Kenji Nagasaki, director of “My Hero Academia” it remains a very underrated romance anime known by a few audiences.
8: Momokuri
Yuki Kurihara, a second-year high schooler, has finally confessed to her crush from the junior class “Momo Momotsuki”. Despite being confessed by a sizzling senior out of the blue, he accepts the invitation. Turning a blind eye to Yuki’s strange behavior, Momo is eager to make their relationship work. Throughout the storyline, their romance establishes gradually through daily awkward interactions while tackling some newfound love issues.
If you’re a fan of slow-building romance storylines along with wholesome romantic anime characters, Momokuri is easy-to-understand romance anime. It may be a slow anime, but that’s a feature to establish a strong relationship in romance and slice-of-life anime.
7: Dance Dance Danseur
Junpei Murao’s passion for ballet was sparked by watching the performance of a male ballet dancer at his sister’s recital. However, he can’t choose ballet, as he forcefully recommends adopting a manly passion like soccer. One day, Miyako Godai caught the showcase performance of Muaro’s ballet merges with a unique kick. She invites him to join her mother’s ballet studio. This invitation brings him joy, now Junpei must fully commit to ballet and be prepared to make sacrifices for his passion.
This anime is the production by renowned Mappa Studios, with a complex storyline and intriguing multiple-layer characters. It’s hard to admit, but rather than some famous but cheap romance anime, this anime is quite underrated even having all the positive ingredients in it.
6: Arakawa under the bridge
One day, while on Arakawa Bridge, he fell into a river and was saved by a passerby girl named Nino. For being saved he feels himself in a deep debt and keep insists on repaying the favor. Nino resides under the bridge and was longing to find love. Nino asks Kuo to become his boyfriend, which forces him to leave his comfortable life behind and embark on a new journey with his newly found girlfriend.
Arakawa under the Bridge is mainly focused on comedy, but less on romance, which can be the reason for it being an underrated romance anime. it’s not a very character-driven storyline or an in-depth story. However, it’s best suited to people who just want to laugh while enjoying some romance.
5: The Great Passage
Araki oversees the dictionary department at Genbu Shobō publishing company. Araki is seeking a replacement as he’s near his retirement. Overhearing the intriguing conversation between bashful salesman Majime Mitsuya and outgoing colleague Masashi Nishioka made him recruit Majime. The anime follows the story of romantic grown-up colleagues, who ended up in a close relationship while working on creating “The Great Passage” a medium size Japan dictionary.
This complex romance anime is best suited for grown-ups as it’s literally empty of fan service content. It’s a harsh truth that people mostly target romantic moments within an anime to consider it worth watching instead examining the diverse storyline in it. This is a reason why The Great Passage is unknown to many.
4: You and Me
Shun Matsuoka, Kaname Tsukahara, Yuta, and Yuki Asaba are all childhood friends. While entering their second year at Homare High School their peaceful lives were disrupted with the entrance of a girl named Chizuru Tachibana in their cycle. Chizuru’s wild and bizarre ideas load the daily mundane routine of boys with excitement. They are on a journey to learn more about themselves through fun-filled experiences.
You and Me is a kind of dark mature romance anime, that allows the audience to observe the missing parts of their lives. However, it can be a little slow-paced but express every feeling of the characters with utmost utility.
3: Tsukigakirei
The show portrays the gradual character developments of Akane Mizuno and Kotarou Azumi, who meet first time as classmates in this anime. Without a particular storyline, this slice-of-life romance anime features a romantic tale of two youngsters that continuously evolves while facing various changes in their daily lives.
The show is entirely focused on romance with minimalistic screen time of supportive characters and fan service moments. According to many critics, the show consists of a straightforward storyline without any plot twists and ends very neuterly.
2: Insomaniacs After School
High schooler Ganta Nakami has trouble falling asleep most nights due to depressing reasons. As a result, he always felt sleepy at school and always look for an opportunity to take a nap. One day, being tired due to lack of sleep, he takes a dig at the so-called haunted astronomy club chamber. Without caring for any suspicious creepy consequences he goes to sleep. After waking up he discovers an insomniac like him, Magari a girl who is suffering from the same condition.
If you’re into looking at some wholesome romance animes, this is the latest but underrated romance anime with a compassionate storyline and romantic plot.
1: Here comes Miss modern
Benio Hanamura is 17 years old young lady from the Taisho era of 1918. Even in the ’90s, she loves to rebel against typical traditions. She possesses a loud and argumentative persona with a liking for tomboy adventures like climbing trees. As a quite independent woman, she pursues the idea of a woman working on their career and marrying whom they want to. Though the wartime puts Benio’s friendship, love, and independence to a challenging test.
Conclusion:
These are some very untold or underrated romance animes with a unique storyline, admirable characters, and fluent animations. As I have watched these all myself, I can guarantee these are the unsung rivals of some renowned romance animes in terms of qualities and diversity.
