Watching an excellent love story end with the love of the two characters finally happening is always touching and satisfying.
But why, once in a while, not explore the opposite situation as well?
Often a love story also means a disappointment and an unrequited love for someone else.
This is exactly why today we bring you our list of the best romance anime with unrequited love in its story, written according to our personal opinion and experience.
Table of Contents
15. School Rumble
School Rumble is one of the best romance anime of the 2000s, released in 2004 in 26 episodes.
Tenma is a high school student in love with her mysterious classmate Karashima.
Tenma doesn’t realize that Harima, another classmate of hers has feelings for her. The story follows their peculiar love triangle, which will of course see two winners, and one love disappointment.
If you appreciate the vibes of the 2000s with the typical animation style and humor of that time, you cannot miss this anime.
14. Scum’s Wish
Scum’s Wish is one of the best psychological romance anime, released in 2017 with 12 episodes.
Mugi and Hanabi seem to be the perfect couple.
Everyone wants to be like them, but no one knows that the two are only together out of boredom and to feel less lonely, and they are in love with others.
Think of Scum’s Wish as a more adult version of the usual romance. The theme of unrequited love is also incredibly key and marked and will play a central in the story, both in the relationship between Mugi and Hanabi and toward their respective crushes.
It’s not an anime for everyone, given its heavy and sometimes even uncomfortable scenes, but if that is what you are looking for we are sure you will enjoy it.
13. Nagi-Asu: A Lull in the Sea
Nagi-Asu combines post-apocalyptic, slice-of-life, and romance elements in an innovative and unique mix.
The story takes place in a world where humanity has also inhabited the underwater world for survival.
The main characters are four 14-year-old boys from the submarine village of Shioshishio, who attend Mihama Middle School on the surface after their underwater school closes due to the declining population of the seas.
As they navigate this new world, they also learn about customs and manners, while they discover love in the process. These are the premises of a lot of love entanglements between the MCs, which will see many joys but also disappointments for the less fortunate.
Nagi-Asu is an excellent and incredibly underrated romance anime, with beautiful and unique settings and realistic characters who relate to each other in many different ways.
12. Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-Kun
Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-Kun is a fun romcom released in 2014 in 12 episodes.
Sakura is a girl who is secretly in love with her classmate Nozaki, and one day she finally finds the guts to come forward and confess her love.
What she doesn’t know is that Nozaki is a famous mangaka. He mistakes the girl’s confession for a letter from a fan and decides to hire her as his assistant.
These are the premises of a great disappointment and a big unrequited love. But is it destined to remain like this forever or will it evolve into something else?
Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-Kun is a funny romance anime with a great focus on comedy and absurd situations.
In fact, we regard it as one of the best romance anime with comedy.
11. Golden Time
Another run, another unrequited love coming up after a love triangle. Golden Time is an excellent romance anime set in a college, with great comical scenes.
The story follows the lives of 3 college students, Banri Tada, Mitsuo Yanagisawa, and Koko Kaga, who are involved in a love triangle.
Banri Tada loses his memory after falling off a bridge before graduation, making him an interesting protagonist.
Mitsuo Yanagisawa is a friend of Banri, and Koko Kaga is Mitsuo’s childhood friend and an over-the-top girl who shows up by slapping Mitsuo with a bouquet of roses.
The relationships between the 3 characters are complex, and the story revolves around how they evolve. And one of the main subplots is that of Linda, Banri’s childhood friend, who will join the love entanglement.
Linda indeed was friend with Banri even before the boy lost his memory, and had been in love with him since they were children. How will this touching subplot end?
10. Pet Girl of Sakurasou
Pet Girl of Sakurasou is a great and underrated romance anime released in 2012 in 24 episodes with a strong comical and slice-of-life focus.
Sorata Kanda is a boy who lives in the infamous Sakurasou dorm, known to be home to many strange and avoidable personalities.
This is why the arrival of Mashiro Shiina, a beautiful aspiring mangaka, who is as talented as she is clumsy, will make Sorata decide that he must protect her at all costs, while feelings between them will soon emerge.
But what Sorata does not know is that Nanami, another girl living in the dormitory, has feelings for him. And this will start a love triangle that will end in unrequited love for someone.
Pet Girl of Sakurasou manages to combine comedy, absurd moments, and well-written characters into an excellent romance anime that will keep you incredibly entertained from the first to the last episode.
9. Orange
Orange is a unique and innovative romance anime that combines romance, Sci-Fi, and psychological themes surprisingly well.
Naho Takamiya receives a letter from her 10-year-old self in the future. At first, Naho thinks it’s a joke, but changes her mind when the events in the letter happen, including the transfer of a new student Kakeru Naruse.
That person is the main theme of the letter where he is asked to treat him with as much love as possible because 10 years from now the boy will lose his life.
This course of events will lead Kakeru and Naho to have feelings for each other, but what Naho does not know is that Hiroto, her best friend, is secretly in love with her.
These are the premises that lead to the creation of another love triangle, which will lead to unrequited love for one of the 3 characters.
8. Urusei Yatsura
Urusei Yatsura is without a doubt one of the most iconic romance anime ever made, based on the immortal manga by Rumiko Takahashi, the legendary queen of manga.
The story takes place in the small town of Tomoboki, which is suddenly disrupted by the arrival of an alien spaceship filled with Oni with a specific intention: conquer the planet.
However, there’s a way for humanity to save itself: if one person, chosen randomly by a computer, can touch the horns of the Oni princess Lum, the planet will be spared. And this task falls on Ataru, the protagonist.
Urusei Yatsura is one of the best harem romances ever created, and undoubtedly one of the fathers of this subgenre.
And this can only mean one thing: only one girl can win, while the others are doomed to a sad unrequited love.
7. Re:Zero
Re:Zero is one of the best isekai anime of recent years, released in multiple seasons and adapted from the light novel of the same name by White Fox Studio.
The main character, Subaru, gets transported after a car accident to the magical world of Lugunica.
In this new world, bewildered and frightened, he will also be attacked by brigands only to be rescued by a beautiful silver-haired girl named Emilia, with whom Subaru will immediately fall in love.
But after a tragic event that results in both of their deaths, Subaru realizes that he can come back to life, much like a videogame respawn. This sets the stage for a thrilling mystery to unravel and a lot of plot twists.
Re: Zero may seem on the surface to be a classic isekai anime, but trust us when we say that it is a unique story, full of pathos and drama.
The romance subplot is also key, and it will develop in a variety of ways, with room even for one of the most celebrated love triangles of recent years, between Subaru, Emilia, and Rem.
And being that love for Emilia is what keeps Subaru going, we can already tell from this premise how it will end.
6. Honey and Clover
Honey and Clover is a 2005 romance anime released in 24 episodes adapted from a manga by Chika Umino, the same author of March Comes in Like a Lion.
The events are set in a fine arts academy and feature 5 students, 3 girls and 2 boys, in their daily lives as they discover love and the difficulties of life.
And you have already figured it out, while some of them will find love, others will go through disappointments and unrequited love.
The highlights of this anime are the characterization of the characters, each different and unique from the other, but still managing to fit together perfectly, creating relatable relationships.
And what is most striking is the incredibly balanced story since no real protagonist is standing out among them.
5. Toradora!
Toradora! is one of the most popular romance anime of the 2000s, released in 2008 in 25 episodes that have now become a must in the genre.
The story follows Ryuji Takasu and Taiga Aisaka, two high school students with opposite personalities who team up to help each other with their respective crushes.
But as they spend more time together, who knows if they will develop unexpected feelings for each other.
One of the best aspects of Toradora! is its presence of so many love plots within its story, which are resolved excellently and without leaving any plot holes.
The same unfortunately cannot be said of the many unrequited loves, that will be plenty among the twists and turns.
4. After the Rain
After the Rain is an incredibly underrated romance anime released in 2018 in 12 episodes.
Akira Tachibana is the classic unattainable beauty, as enchanting as she is unapproachable.
Everyone is in love with her, but the girl is secretly in love with the manager of the café where she works part-time, a forty-five-year-old divorced man who is already a father.
After the Rain deals with the theme of the impossible and often unrequited love between 2 people of different ages and its consequences.
With a mature and incredibly psychological storyline, well-written characters, and excellent animations, After The Rain is a must-watch romance anime if you haven’t watched it yet.
It’s also one of the best romance anime available on Amazon Prime Video, so you can watch it without any issues if you’re subscribed to the service.
3. 5 cm per Second
5 Cm per Second is a romance movie directed by Makoto Shinkai.
This movie is divided into three parallel stories, each centered around the characters of Akari and Takaki, who have been in love since childhood but are unable to fully realize their love due to life’s events.
Each story represents a different stage in their lives, from childhood to adolescence to adulthood.
The movie carries a clear message, one that will destroy your heart: love is fleeting, and opportunities lost may lead to regret.
And the theme of unrequited love will also be key in one of the stories, precisely the second, the adolescence one.
We consider 5cm Per Second as one of the best romance movies you can find because of its strong, direct, and concrete message.
2. Your Lie in April
Your Lie in April is an excellent romance anime that we will never get tired of recommending. It came out in 2014 with 22 episodes with strong psychological, romance, and musical themes.
Kousei Arima was once a prodigious pianist who was revered by all, until the death of his mother, which left him unable to hear his music and feeling deeply depressed.
However, his life changes when he meets Kaori Miyazono, a cheerful blond violinist who helps him rediscover his passion for music.
As they grow closer, their love for each other blossoms, but there’s a secret about Kawori that Kousei doesn’t know yet.
The theme of unrequited love is central to Your Lie in April, for several reasons.
The first is because of the love triangle that will feature Kousei, Kaori, and Tsubaki, a childhood friend of Kousei. And we all know that in such cases inevitably someone will end up going through disappointment.
The other is related to the anime’s ending and Kaori’s secret, which we cannot spoil for obvious reasons, but will leave you speechless and heartbroken.
1. Kimagure Orange Road
Kimagure Orange Road is arguably one of the most iconic romance anime ever, and one of the cornerstones of the love triangle trope.
Kyosuke Kasuga is not an average 16-year-old boy, as he possesses unique ESP powers inherited from his family, which he has promised never to use in public.
However, upon moving to a new town, he meets the beautiful Madoka Ayukawa, with whom he develops a special relationship.
But this relationship soon becomes complicated when Hikaru, Madoka’s best friend, falls in love with Kyosuke too.
Kimagure Orange Road despite being released in the 1990s still manages to be an outstanding and innovative romance anime nowadays.
If you want to watch one of the love stories that has inspired the love triangle genre, and consequently one of the best unrequited love stories ever made don’t think twice, and don’t let the vintage animation stop you.
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