Summary
There’s just something about first love that makes the heart race. It usually comes when one is at a young age, is not yet jaded, and is as honest as one could ever imagine.
Some of the best anime romance shows are about first love, and the purity on display is usually something that makes the audience feel refreshed, longing for the main characters' love to make it to the end. Sometimes itends in tragedy, but everyone’s happy that the love has at least been found.
Horimiyais a show about looking beneath the surface and appreciating the layers of a person. Kyouko Hori might have seemed like a perfect student, but she was not without her struggles.
After meeting Miyamura, they realized that the two of them shared in common the idea that their school persona was different from the face they showed to the other sides of their life. For Hori, it was the first time she had felt that way, and nurturing thisyoung lovehad people rooting for their success.
InKimi Ni Todoke: From Me To You, Sawako Kuronuma is a cute high school student who, unfortunately, gets called names by her classmates. They tease her for her passing resemblance to thehorror icon, Sadako. Meanwhile, Sawako only wants to connect with her classmates.
She is eventually able to make friends with Chizuru and Ayane, and most importantly, Kazehaya. While she mostly only respects Kazehaya, her feelings begin to deepen as she spends more time with him. Kazehaya also likes Sawako, but struggles to get her to understand him.
Arima Kousei was known as a human metronome who can play any score perfectly. However, coupled with his mother’s illness, and his lack of desire to play, his world becomes a dull, monotone with nothing in it.
But upon meeting the bubbly Kaori Miyazono, something changes with Arima. While Kaori claims she wanted Arima’s friend, she actually only has eyes for him. The development of their feelings, and theirunquestionable chemistryon stage when playing together makesYour Lie in Aprilreally tug at the heartstrings.
The hilariousKaguya-Sama: Love Is Warwas a great hit from 2019 that follows Kaguya Shinomiya and Miyuki Shirogane, two of the top students at their school who have also fallen in love with one another. The problem is — neither wants to admit it.
While a lot ofthe comedy of the animecomes from the stunts each party pulls to get the other to confess, it also features a lot of heart in some scenes that show the beauty of the first love between the two leads. This is clear in some of the episodes where the two let their masks fall off and show some of their sincere feelings.
The premise ofThe Ancient Magus Bridedoes seem a bit sketchy — a down-on-her-luck girl sells herself to a mage who takes her as his wife. The mage in question, known as Ainsworth, is neither human nor anything anyone really understands.
As Chise and Ainsworth grow closer, she begins to open up and teaches the stoic Ainsworth what it means to be human. It is a lot of fun to see Ainsworth discover what fear, anger, and jealousy are.
My Love Story!!follows Takeo, a freakishly huge highschooler who wants a girlfriend so bad, but he keeps getting rejected because of his size. One day, he saves a cute girl from some ruffians, and she ends up falling for him.
A lot ofMy Love Story’stime is taken up by the fact that Takeo cannot believe that Yamato, the cute girl he saved, wants him rather than his hot best friend, Makoto. But, he does indeed accept Yamato’s feelings, and Takeo must now navigate his very first relationship with a girl that finally feels the same way as he does.
The Dangers In My Heartset the anime world on fire when it came out in 2023, and the second season from 2024 was even better received. The show follows Ichikawa, a middle schooler who is a loner and fantasizes about killing the most popular girl in class, Anna Yamada.
The two become close as they start to know each other, and over the course of the show, fans watch as the two slowly fall in love. Unlike some shows, this story focuses a lot on the steady descent into love between the two major characters. Yamada accepts Ichikawa as he is, and the protagonist fights off his many insecurities.
12
Started Airing
2014
Futaba Yoshioka is a very popular girl in middle school, but this only gets her ostracized by the girls of the school who were jealous. Her only good memories are of a boy called Kou who then suddenly stops coming to school.
The two reunite in high school, but they are both different people now. Futaba still likes Kou, and he seems to have some feelings for her too, but breaking out of the people they have become to give their relationship a chance proves difficult.
Snow White With The Red Hair
InSnow White With The Red Hair, Shirayuki is atalented apothecarywho has unique red hair that catches the eye of the prince of her country, Raji. Unwilling to become a concubine, Shirayuki flees and winds up with Zen, another prince, but from a different country.
The two grow a close relationship and help each other out. The fantasy setting makes this show a little different from the litany of high school romance anime that usually fill up the seasonal slots. Shirayuki is a strong character who doesn’t feel like many of the fairy tale princesses. It becomes clear that the playful and sometimes unserious Zen and the typically hyper-focused Shirayuki really respect each other and that something more might be developing.
1
2011
Into The Forest Of Fireflies' Lightstarts with Hotaru meeting Gin, a forest spirit, who is unable to touch humans unless he disappears, and the two begin to slowly foster a relationship. Starting out with a huge age gap between the two, the pair begin to grow closer in age due to the fact that Gin ages slowly. But, no matter how their relationship develops, they cannot touch each other.
Gin is Horatu’s first love, the one who saved her and has been a companion that she always knows where to find, while in Hotaru, Gin has found thepossibility of human connection. While the story has some heavy themes, it is ultimately a beautiful examination of human connection, love, and tragedy.
