By that, I mean anime where the romance is at most a secondary plotline.
I am always overthinking these questions. What does a “secondary plotline” mean? I’d say media I don’t consume because of that trait, eg chainsaw man. I watch it for the great characters and action and because its fun, but the romantic plotlines are also great because the characters are great.
Ikoku Nikki: The main thematic is around mental divergence, acceptance and growing up, the side romance between the two side characters ( Makio and Shingo ) is just so good
I like ‘Spice and Wolf’ as an answer to this.
This is gonna sound stupid but I was so completely sidetracked by the romance subplot in Saiki-K. Even though the protagonist, who is also narrator with some level of meta-awareness, is constantly trying to make the romance subplot not happen.
A large part of me binge watching through to the end was to see if that would E V E R go anywhere. It ddoesn’t.
I like it because the two participants in this crush are gods in their respective field; Kusuo Saiki is a master of all superpowers, Kokomi Teruhashi is a master of being beautiful. And yet the anticipated direction of attraction is completely reversed; teruhashi longs for Saiki because he’s the only person not interested in her. This is done initially as a comedic gag, but the pure commitment to this bit throughout various different situations turns it into a tragic love worthy of Greek epics
It sees Teruhashi change as a person as well. Love which transforms is the most powerful kind. I like to think that the affection she directs towards Saiki is part of what helped him become more human.
Not to mention the romance between Kaidou and Yumehara.
I love how everyone grows and develops through the series.
Log Horizon
Lycoris Recoil?
You mean to tell me Lycoris Recoil isn’t Yuri first fun action show second?!
It’s been a loooong time since I watched the original Fullmetal Alchemist, but I seem to remember there being a lot of tension between Hawkeye and Mustang.
Planetes. I showed up for the sci fi, stayed for the wholesome.
I’d say Dragonball Z Abridged. It fixed Android 18 and Krillin’s romance and really elevated it to the next level. Where in the original it basically comes out of nowhere it is super wholesome and believable in Abridged.
The OG does have her kiss him and then him get conflicted over blowing her up because he has the hots for her, and at the end, he asks Shenron to remove the bomb and she picks up on that, all of that is in the manga, she even blushes and says “see you later” before leaving. Abridged only changed the dialogues mostly, to have her actually call him cute. And that final “pwn counter” destruction scene.
Hmm. I don’t remember either of those statements being true. Do you remember any plot details off the top that support this? It’s cool if not. I’m not trying to grill you.
I’m not the person you replied to. But in case they never get back to you, Dbz abridged did a lot of stuff to flesh out characters and plot. They kept a vlog going when they were recording and basically they got really really bored with the bit 1/3 into recording the series and decided to just start spicing up the writing in a lot of places to keep themselves entertained.
For Krillin they wrote all the various L’s the show hands him as eventually contributing to a down-to-earth, unassuming, and resilient personality by the time he meets the androids. 18 on the other hand makes various jokes about having nebulous and inscrutable preferences in body type. She values in-group loyalty over other forms of morality so when they meet Cell and he immediately understands the Cell situation and begins working to save the other androids there’s at least a bit of a throughline for why their attraction was plausible. Though TeamFourStar did still play 18’s immediate magnetism to him for jokes.
Thanks.
DBZA, when Krillin decides not to blow up 18 because she’s pretty and he’s in love, and to stand up to Cell so she can escape:
If we make it through this, I am going to rock his four-foot world.
- 18, true love.she also calls him “the cute one” a minute before that.
Oh yeah, also after 18 kisses him, he brags to Yamcha, who dropped out early after getting Yamcha’d by 19 and 20: (Krillin) “and I got kissed by the cute one!” (Yamcha) “… the clown?” (Krillin) “No no no, there’s a girl now”
Lololol
The love between Isami and Bravern in Brave Bang Bravern. Unironically.
Saekano
