Awkward Geek Confession: My Love for Romantic Anime
I love anime. This in itself is hardly a revealing declaration, but I have a secret when it comes to which anime I enjoy. A horribly emasculating secret. I love romantic drama anime.
I was originally introduced to anime by my uncle at an early age. He showed me the classics, Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z, and the like, but when I went to head back home he gave me a burned CD labeled “Escaflowne.” A few days later I decided to give this new show a shot and instantly fell in love. A raucous love story with giant robot knights and an awesome male lead that rides a dragon! It was my ungainly teenage dream. My exposure to Escaflowne was the beginning of the end. Through the years I have seen countless anime series, but I am here now to talk about my five favorite romantic dramas.
Art by Masateru
5. The Vision of Escaflowne
This is on the list because not only was it my first romantic series but, as I previously mentioned, robot knights and dragon riding. The series revolves around Hitomi, a high school student who gets teleported to a fantasy world called Gaea. She quickly gets swept up into an adventure of warring kingdoms, two manly princes (I always identified with Van more since, you know, he rides an effing dragon), giant robot knights, and more. Of course, Hitomi begins to fall in love with both princes and in the end she has to pick one in a super emotional, cinematic scene that I just eat up. In the past I would have ranked this higher on the list, but after watching it recently the animation is a little more dated than I remember, although it is still definitely worth the watch.
4. Love Hina
Love Hina has one of the most cliche anime premises of all time, and I love it. The series begins with Keitaro Urashima attempting to get into Tokyo U, failing, and in an attempt to study for a better second attempt he travels to his Grandma who runs an apartment complex. Through a series of unlikely and wacky events, Keitaro ends up running the apartments filled with women basically his same age. Perfect coincidence, right? As far as anime tropes go, Love Hina has them all. Long lost promises, accidentally walking in on people in the bath, love triangles, a female lead who instantly becomes gorgeous the second she takes her glasses off, nosebleeds, and ridiculous bouncing-down-the-hallway punches. The story quickly begins to revolve around Keitaro and one of the residents' relationship, which is filled with classic misunderstanding and other relationship drama. Every twist and turn pulled at my heartstrings, even through the Summer and Winter specials (the winter special has this one scene where Keitaro tries to get a Christmas gift for Naru… I can’t even talk about it without getting excited, it’s just so freaking adorable).
3. Ouran High School Host Club
For Ouran High School Host Club, I at least have a good excuse for starting to watch it. I did it for a girl. Did that stop me from enjoying it immensely and finishing the series by myself? Hell no. This one revolves around Haruhi, a poor transfer student to a ritzy private high school. Through a series of misadventures she gets roped into being in the Host Club, a group of guys who go on dates with girls and make them feel like princesses. The twist is that Haruhi is a girl, but since she has short hair, no one noticed. Once the other members of the Host Club find out, the love triangles begin. Ouran is actually really well done and manages to avoid many of the tropes Love Hina thrives on, although there is a beach sequence where one of the males leads is running in slow motion in his swimsuit and the setting sun is shimmering in the background. Classic. The relationship stuff becomes more important near the end as the competition comes to a head and there is an darling scene involving Haruhi’s fear of thunder.
2. Ef: A Tale of Memories
A Tale of Memories is easily the most dramatic entry on this list. One of the main characters loses her memories after 13 hours, another is already in a relationship and becomes obsessed with another girl he barely knows, there is a disapproving priest and a feisty, independent minx. Even just writing about it is giving me chills again. It is hard to provide a proper synopsis for this series since it is so complex and so much happens. All you need to know is, memory loss, professions of love, running away, searching through the city on a bike in the rain, more professions of love (also in the rain) and promises to always be together. It is deliciously dramatic, and the emotional development is absurdly over the top. It is almost my favorite.
1. Ah! My Goddess! (OVAs, Original Video Animation)
First off, I need to clarify which version of this I watched. I watched the OVAs before the full show was released, and I still like the OVAs better than the standard 24 episode cycle (for nostalgia and, honestly, I like the pacing better in the OVAs). OVAs are basically an anime mini-series, the episodes are longer but there a fewer of them. With that out of the way, let’s talk Ah! My Goddess!
I think the reason this anime holds a special place in my heart is because I am basically the main character. Keiichi likes to fix and build things, I like to build and fix things. He likes motorcycles, I like motorcycles. He has girl problems, I had girl problems! These similarities made it really easy to relate to Keiichi when he accidentally calls a Goddess Helpline, summons the Goddess Belldandy and jokingly wishes for them to be together forever. The wish is granted and hijinks commence. There are lots of twists and turns as their relationship evolves, but the reason Ah! My Goddess! is my favorite romantic anime is the last episode. In an attempt to avoid spoilers I will have to be vague, but it involves rule breaking, Goddess-napping, rings, lots of yelling, and pillars of light. Overall, pretty damn awesome.
There you have it, my embarrassment put plain for all to see. I don’t mind, though. I have learned to be proud of my penchant for romantic media (also, it helps pick up the ladies at anime conventions). Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to rewatch Keiichi’s misadventures attempting to woo a Goddess.