Finding Love: A list of romance animes.

Do you enjoy the thrill of the chase? The excitement of the first kiss, the mishaps and the misunderstandings of teenage love? Then this is the article for you! I have searched the vast interwebs for you, including my own personal collection and favourites, to bring what I see as some of the finest anime that involves your favorite topic, romance. Mind you, there are probably many more out there to find, but if you are either out of anime to watch, or want a good starting point, take some of these lovely titles for a spin. It ranges from old to new, so as to further your anime knowledge, experience and tastes! 

Name: Suzuka

Date: 6 July 2005 –28 December 2005

Number of Episodes: 26

Studio: Studio Comet

Alright so first up on our list of wonderfully wonderful romance animes, is Suzuka. Premiering in mid 2005, Suzuka is the story of Yamato, a country boy moving into Tokyo to find and start a new life. On the first day of being in Tokyo, he passes a local high school and sees a girl, but not just any girl, this girl is amazing in every way to him. Flustered from seeing this girl, he makes his way to his new home in his aunt's apartment complex (a complex only for girls) and set's up. But to his surprise (and embarrassment) the girl he saw from earlier turns out to be his next door neighbor! Not only that, but they go to the same school, in the same class! The rest of the series sees Yamato and Suzuka learning about each other. and growing inevitably closer (much to Suzukas seeming chagrin). This series isn't just about the romance though, it also has a great sports subplot involving track and field, and Yamato's attempts to gain favor in Suzuka's eyes. The animation is very sharp and clean, and the voice talent for both the Japanese and English versions are superb. If you are looking for a good start, this would definitely be it. It is one of my personal favourites.

Name: Onegai Twins!

Date: July 15th, 2003 - October 14th, 2003

Number of Episodes: 12

Studio: Bandai Visual, Studio Orphee, Daume

A fairly dated anime, Onegai Twins! (Please Twins! in English) is the sequel spin-off to the fairly popular 2002 series, Onegai Teacher! (Another good rom-com, for your information!). This series sees characters Maiku, Miina, and Karen, living together, after fatefully having met at a house which they all clame to have been living in during childhood. For initially unknown reasons, their parents left them to others to raise, and all were given a picture depicting two members, a brother and sister, at this very home. When both girls show up at the door of Maiku, the now owner of the residence, they are presented with a unique conundrum, who is the relative, and who is the stranger? Having DNA comparisons being too costly, they are bound to live together until they find out who is who, and what is what. But will this pre-tense offer them more than just the opportunity to find a long lost family member? Maybe fate and love has something else in store for them! For it's time the anime was very well composed and made, it has clean animation and voice acting. If you haven't seen the original series, it isn't much of a bother to watch this one first before the other, but if you have seen the original series than you will find this to be a very enjoyable continuation, having cameos by the original characters being made periodically.

Name: Skip-Beat!

Date: October 5th, 2008, March 29th, 2009

Number of Episodes: 25

Studio: Hai Film Maker

At the end of our list we have a fairly recent anime, based off a manga released in early 2002, and still ongoing. The anime sees Kyoko, our seemingly benign protagonist, fall in love with her childhood friend Sho. But due to Sho's rise to fame, he has essentially been using her for his own gain the entire time, and ends up leaving Kyoko for dead! (Not literally, geez.) Her new life goal is to find, and ruin Sho (affectionately called Shotaro by Kyoko) and his new life as a star. This flares up the true Kyoko, and she changes both her appearance and personality to something more dominant than we saw previously. Kyoko, finding the only way to find and shame Sho, is to also enter the entertainment business and rise to become a national star, just like him. While doing so, she meets Sho's polar and acting opposite, Ren. Through the course of the series, we see they at first are at odds, but grow to become fond of eachother, and confide in each other for advice and comfort. Ontop of the well placed romance plot we have a very intriguing overplot revolving around acting and entertainment. This is an added hardship on the characters and shows many sides of an already great character, Kyoko, and her ability to adapt and conquer! This was definitely one of the better series Hai Film Maker has done, unlike recent efforts like B Gata H Kei!. 

This may be the end of the list for now, but there are many more for everyone to see. Don't stop here, find others and share them with everyone! Including us!