Top 20 Best Anime Featuring Multiple Couples
Sometimes you want a little less action and a whole lot of romance. There are many anime out there which cater to this, with whimsical story-lines about multiple couples that fall in and out of love. While these couples might not be the main feature of each story, they give us a little bit of hope that romance isn’t dead.
Here are some of the best anime featuring multiple couples.
1. School Rumble
There is nothing that compares to high school romance. In this series, Tenma Tsukamoto is determined to win the heart of the boy she loves. At the same time, Kenji Harima who has a delinquent reputation, looks to do the same. Follow their journey through relationships, friendships, school rivalries and everything else that a teenager in high school experiences. It is high-octane with relatable moments that everyone will understand and enjoy.
2. Pet Girl of Sakurasou
Sorata Kanada is forced to move into Suimei High’s Sakura Hall after finding abandoned kittens and taking them in. The Hall is eccentric and has a reputation due to its misfits and strange inhabitants. Nanami, Sorata’s good friend encourages him to find homes for the abandoned kittens, because the sooner they leave, the sooner he can leave Sakura Hall. However, his will to leave diminishes quickly when Mashiro Shiina, an artistic genius who is seeking to become a manga-ka transfers in and attaches herself to him.
3. Koitabi: True Tours Nanto
Although it is a short story, it follows three different relationships and love stories set in Nanto. Stable couples face new challenges and changes, new couples seek to find themselves and set their ways in their relationships. It is a lighthearted and easy to watch show that will warm your heart, yet is real enough to relate to.
4. Convenience Store Boy Friends
Six friends live in the same neighborhood, a little way away from the convenience store. The story revolves around the boy’s lives and the little convenience store, being the beaker of their lives. Follow them in their stories from school and the girls they know, the new girls they meet, and how they fall in love.
5. Kokoro Connect
Five misfits at the Yamaboshi Academy form their own club, the Student Cultural Society. It consists of Taichi Yaegashi, who loves wrestling; Lori Nagase, an optimist; Himeko Inaba, computer whizz; Yui Kiriyama, a tiny karate master and Yoshifumi Aoki, the clown of the group. Inexplicably, Aoki and Yui switch bodies. This phenomena then carries on with all five members of the group. They have to learn each other’s darkest secrets, most inner desires and scars that were never revealed before. Watch as they discover themselves through discovering each other.
6. Honey & Clover
Also known as Hachimitsu to Clover. Poor college students Yuuta, Shinobu and Takumi share a six-tatami apartment. They are all such different personalities, but live together well. A talented and beautiful girl crosses their path, Ayumi. Through their complex relationships they learn how to love, how to value friendships, and more difficult, they learn how to let go. This anime highlights the complexities of love, and how it isn’t always rainbows and butterflies, but love can be heartbreak and difficult decisions.
7. Honobono Log
Only 10 episodes long, this anime is based on the illustrated book done by Naka Fukamachi. It is a story of different paths, heart-warming tales of couples and families who are looking to settle down and who also look to seek out love and excitement.
8. Ef: A Tale of Melodies
Himura Yuu lives in the past. He is focused on obtaining the highest academic position at Otowa Academy, and does everything in his power to ensure his success. One day he meets Amamiya Yuuko, who recognizes him from their childhood. He starts remembering things from his past during his childhood, things he had repressed to be forgotten. Together they must confront these memories and deal with the emotions and regrets that arise.
Kuze Shuuchi lives in the present. He seems like a ladies man, but in reality would much rather be on his own. Along comes Hayama Mizuki, after hearing the sounds of his violin playing, falls in love and refuses to leave him be. It is a story of push and pull, a budding romance and tragedy that is imminent.
9. Kyou no 5 no 2
This is an innocent and sweet story of youngsters in elementary school. While romance isn’t rife among fifth graders, it is a story of friendships and finding yourself. Sato Ryota is young, bright and active, but always seems to land himself in trouble with the girls in his class.
10. Tsurezure Children
Young love is sweet but it is complicated. Follow the different journeys of young adults who transition into the world of romantic love. They move from not understanding what true love is, to being overrun by love and emotions. They are now open to romantic attraction, and all the complications that come along with it. Tsurezure Children will show you the learning and lead up to love, and all the joys of being in love. It depicts the beauty and joy that only young love can give.
11. Working!!
Souta Takanashi loves small, cute things. Because of this, he cannot turn down the little Popura Taneshima when she asks him to work for Wagnaria, her family restaurant situated in Hokkaido. Takanashi follows Popura around and makes her more concerned over how young she looks compared to others her age. Fueled by the eccentric and quirky personalities of the other workers at the Wagnaria, the relationships and connections formed are interesting and fun to watch unfold. It is full of hilarity, incredible shenanigans and situations that are hard to imagine every happening.
It is light hearted and under toned with finding out how to fit in, in a world where you aren’t actually meant to fit in at all.
12. Nana
Nana Komatsu is a die-hard romantic. She helplessly and easily falls in love. As a naïve twenty year old, she is clingy and dependent. Despite her ambitious dreams of becoming independent and moving out of her small town to follow her own dreams, she ends up chasing her boyfriend Shouji Endo to Tokyo. Then there is Nana Osaki, who is a hard-core punk rock vocalist who is independent and enigmatic. She boards the same train as Nana Komatsu, and through a chance encounter resulting in a chain of events, they end up living together. They become each other’s rocks and support systems, helping each other through a journey of romance, love, music and heartbreak.
13. Servant x Service
Follow the behind the scenes stories of civil servants. Three new employees enter the system and they are bound for a whole new world they wouldn’t expect. Lucy Yamagami is hell-bent on obtaining revenge against the civil servant who allowed her ridiculously long name to be put on her birth certificate; Yutaka Hasebe is just there for the free ride and is always looking for a place to lay back and slack off; and Saya Moyoshi, a first time worker who is nervous of the big world. All three are supposed to be trained by Taishi Ichimiya, who despite working there for eight years, has no idea how to undertake this task. The trio encourage each other through their incompetent senior and clients who are miserable at best.
14. Kimikiss Pure Rouge
Kouchi Sanada and his friend Kazuki Aihara are in for a surprise when their childhood friend returns home after living in France for a few years. Mao Mizusawa’s parents are staying in France, and Kouichi learns that his parents are letting Mao stay with them. It is a story of young romance and how complicated young love can be. Watch as the trio try and transition from childhood friends to young adults, who now have new emotions, desires and feelings towards each other.
15. ReLife
Arata Kaizaki is a bit of a nobody. Those around him see him as a hopeless loser and dismiss him easily. He bounces around from job to job and doesn’t think much of himself and his own life. This changes when he meets Ryou Yoake. She is a member of the ReLife Research Institute and gives him the opportunity to better himself and change his life, just by taking a mysterious pill. He awakes the next morning to see he has returned to being a 17 year old boy. He has to return to school and learn how to live again as a teenager, posing as a transfer student for a year. Ryou has been sent to observe him, and their relationship travels through frustration and laughs to make a good story.
16. Monthly Girls Nozaki-Kun
Umetarou Nozaki is an unassuming teenage boy who is actually a well-respected shouja manga-ka, who goes by the publishing name Sakiko Yumeno. At his high school, he is fawned over by Chiyo Sakura, a cheerful girl who is head over heels for him. When she approaches him and confesses her love, he hands her an autograph in his pen name. One thing leads to the next in a series of misunderstandings and she becomes one of his manga assistants. It is a comedy of how these two worlds collide and how hopefully one day he will realize his feelings for her.
17. Amagami SS
Junichi Tachibana has a hard time opening up to anyone since he was stood up on a date on Christmas Eve. However, he is revitalized again to fall in love when he meets some girls who may win over his heart. Haruka Morishima is popular and full of energy; Kaoru Tanamachi is his childhood friend who keeps her feelings for him secret; Sae Nakata, the shy transfer student; Ai Nanasaki, the swim team champion; Rihoko Sakurai, another childhood friend with a sweet tooth; and lastly Tsujasa Ayatsuji, the class representative who has a darker side. Junichi counts down the days till Christmas Eve, hoping that this time he will see the holidays through with his true love.
18. Boys Be…
This time we get to see things from the point of the guys. Teenage boys only have one thing that they think about – girls. These teenage boys must work their way through their new feelings of desire and affection, especially when it comes to those who they have grown up with as childhood friends. Kyoichi is quiet and starts feeling affection towards his childhood friend; Lecherous Makoto thinks of himself as a ladies man and Yoshihiko is a handsome sports fanatic, but isn’t too clued up on love. Watch their lives change and unfold in this crazy, tumultuous and adventurous year.
19. Hatsukoi Limited
First loves are followed in this series of middle-schoolers and high-schoolers. Each character is highlighted in the different episodes, and you can follow their development throughout the series. Unusual love and unexpected connections are made in this show and you can watch as young love blossoms and works its way among the lives of young people, trying to find their way.
20. Osake Wa Fuufu Ni Natte Kara
Chisato Mizusawa comes across as calm and keeps to herself. She is an office manager and swears off alcohol. Except for the fact that she really does love alcohol, and there is a secret side to her that comes out when she drinks. Her husband, bartender Sora, is the only one who sees this side of her. He treats her to a meal and fresh drink every night after work, and you can watch their beautiful life and endearing love for each other unfold in each episode.
There you have the top twenty anime series featuring multiple couples. Follow the storylines of young love, endearing love, and love that is yet to blossom.
As much as anime provides us with non-stop action and mystery, it also gives us some of the best love stories, and develops some of the most complex and interesting character relationships that we have yet to explore. Choose a light-hearted series, but watch out for any deeper meanings that these programs might hold.
