Did you have fun on St Valentine’s Day last week? I bet you did! Everyone is on their best behavior for…some reason. Man, people are so easy to trick! But now it’s over and done with, the chocolate has gotten stale and your sweetie is right back to normal. For the lucky ones that means said sweety is absolutely wonderful. Glad to hear it! Get yourselves a fresh batch of chocolates and go celebrate your happiness, you crazy kids.
For the rest though, now that the sugar high has subsided, you may be thinking it’s time to choose your next adventure. But you’re not some cruel uncaring monster. You know you are an absolutely amazing human and a separation from you is going to take some getting used to. In your kindness, you want to leave them with the least a few good anime suggestions to get over this rough patch.
This is where I come in. Aren’t you glad we’re friends? 
5. Shirobako
You know how people throw themselves into their work to forget the problems they have in their personal lives? It’s a cliche because it does help a bit. But it’s also a lot of…well…work. only crazy people willingly do that! No worries because here comes the perfect solution. Get the distraction of a hard day’s work vicariously through anime.
Really any work place anime would do (as long as it’s actually about the work) but t
Shirobako is the one that helped me out recently, so it gets the shout out. There’s something deeply satisfying about putting in substantial effort towards a specific goal. Seeing an entire studio rally and work themselves to exhaustion in order to get an anime out on time and bring a little joy to viewers is inspiring. Best part, no one could care less about getting a date. sometimes it’s not about that and this is a great time to be reminded of it.
4. Orenchi no Furo Jijou
One thing I know about heartache, is that it robs you of focus. You can’t expect the poor kid you’ve said goodbye to, to concentrate too long on anything. Don’t you dare suggest multiple seasons or triple digit animes. They are understandably not in the mood for commitment right now. This is why a short is perfect.
Even more perfect? A short that happens to be a lighthearted surreal comedy about pretty sea creature boys in a bathroom! What’s this? You don’t think this doesn’t sounds like your ex’s thing? You don’t know! Besides, this may be the perfect moment for a change!
3. Gabriel Drop Out
Fine fine, the chiseled boys didn’t do the trick, let’s move on to the soft girls. Gabriel is the perfect show for this situation. Not a drop of romance in sight. Easy silly humour you can understand no matter how otherwise clouded your mind may be and cheap laughs that are bound to get a giggle out of you even in the worst of times.
On top of that the cute rounded designs and pastel colors are like visual comfort food. It’s a fluffy little blanket of irreverent laughs to go hide under until you feel better.
2. School Days
You know what this anime would say to someone who’s just been through a breakup of? “No matter what, it could have been worse!) School Days is a show that will make you downright grateful to be single. It highlights pretty much everything that could possibly go wrong between two people…or you know, twelve.
And if the cautionary tale isn’t enough to instill the fear of lurve in your heart, then it will at least remind that people are just the worst. No matter how sweet or innocent they seem to be at first, before you know it they turn out to be hurtful jerks or dangerous psychopaths. I highly recommend playing the visual novel rather than watching the anime, as it’s much better paced and interesting, but either way, you’ll get the message.
1. Natsume Yuujinchou
When in doubt, always go for Natsume… actually this is terrible advice. Natsume is a series dedicated to the importance and joy of interaction and the pain of loss of connection. And it’s very poignant about it. If any this will make them cry more. But once they feel a little better it’s the perfect show to avoid becoming to cynical And jaded. In the meantime though, they should watch.
REAL NO 1. Recovery of an MMO junkie
This may seem like a weird choice at first glance but hear me out. Recovery is a very endearing and easily digestible little show that will remind them that you never know when a great thing will just end up finding you.
It’s also a show that understands the importance of self care and being happy enough with yourself before taking up somebody else so it won’t pressure people into something they’re not ready for. The right person will wait for you, it’s fine.
Oh, and the lack of fanservice doesn’t rub in forced temporary celibacy. (Rub in…ha…)
MMO junkie is one of those romances that really and clearly manages to say, love is great but it’s not the only thing. And that it will come to you, in time.
There you go five series to heal a broken heart. Help heal. You don’t need it because no one would be stupid enough to let you go..but if ever there’s a glitch in the matrix and you should find yourself in that spot, feel free to pour some ruhm on your ice cream and curl up with one of these. And tell me about it. We can share war stories.
Do you have heartache animes to go to in times of need? Tells us about it,it could help someone out!
Haha Rin-san, for a second I was like,”hey Natsume is going to break your heart even more with the way it makes you cry”
But good list!
(Not that I’ve ever been in a romantic relation or will be for a while, but still…)
I never expected to like Orenchi no Furo Jijō, but I adored it. It was so hilarious and cute. Natsume is always my go-to for a broken heart. That and GTO. Thanks for this list. I’ll have to bookmark it for future needed laughs and feel-good vibes. 🙂 🙂
Orenchi is surprisingly comforting without asking much of the audience when you’re feeling down
Omg I can’t believe School days is next to Natsume 😂😂😂 funny fact, I was feeling adventurous one day and decided to watch an anime solely based on its genre (I was in the mood of a romance to feed my belly butterflies) and picked School Days 👀 … butterflies died out of shock 😂
Oh my – watching School Days as a romantic comedy… that must be an adventure
Surely the real answer is Death Note? 😉 😛
I’ve never seen the Death Note anime. I read the manga quite a few times but never managed to make it past ep1
Don’t watch Welcome to the NHK!, even though it’s a great series. It hit way too close to home in so many ways for me that it was painful to watch. I found Saya no Uta to be a great game to play for Valentine’s Day, though, in case anyone needs something to do if they happen to be single when it comes around next.
I agree Saya no Uta is a fantastic Valentines game
I wish Keaton liked me back…
Well, I’m not sure what to say. I’m the sort of person who’d find it easy to ignore Valentines Day if I ever remembered it in the first place. I’m an aromantic who loves to watch romances, if they’re not too focussed on re-inforcing romance tropes.
What you said about MMO Junky is precisely how I feel about the first season of Kimi ni Todoke, where the romance is a long and winding road, but most importantly it kickstarts a series of events that lets our main character, Sawako, come out of her shell again. It’s the same long and winding road as the romance, but the anime’s not in a hurry and leaves her the time she needs, and she makes awesome friends (who are much better characters than the love interest anyway).
I personally think you can’t go wrong with a show like Konosuba either. Feel like indulging yourself, but are the type who feels guilty about it? How about a show that tells you, that being selfish is bad, sure, but everyone’s a selfish little shit in the end, so why not you, too? It’s fine. Deep down they all care. “You annoy me.” “Oh, how sweet of you, you annoy me, too.” Life.
I sort of feel like Jashin-chan Dropkick falls into that category, too, though other people might have trouble with the idea that trying to kill/eviscerate each other is a sign of love deep down.
What you said about Natsume: I’m a little different here. I’m fine being pushed into it nose first, because my mind will circle anyway. If a show opens me up and makes me cry more, that’s good. At least I get out of the numb spot. Natsume’s really good about it.
It’s interesting that I mentioned Shounen Maid yesterday. It’s a little like that, too, though more geared towards distraction and re-assurance than facing the issues head-first and pushing right through (like Natsume or the first season of The Eccentric Family). The formula is easy: you acknowledge the pain, don’t say much about it, but don’t avoid showing it in little things and reactions. But overall you go for any mood that might help (Shounen Maid goes for light humour and a gentle melancholic feel; Tamayura goes for oversaturated sweetness – so you’d probably want to watch it one episode at a time, to avoid diabetes.) A very important element of such shows is that they pretend mean people don’t exist. Everyone just takes you as you come. I find How to Keep a Mummy had elements of that, too, but it’s more subtext than Shounen Maid or Tamayura, which are explicitly about grief.
Finally, I’m reminded of a single scene in the PS3 game The Guided Fate Paradox. The concept is this: a Japanese high-school student who is so unlucky that he never ever wins anything wins the main price in a conbini lottery, so naturally he’s suspicious. What has he won? Congratulations: he’s now God. Before he can sort out his confusion the newly revealed angel whips out a club that looks like Excalibolg. When he wakes up he finds he’s in Heaven, and his new job is to fulfill prayers. But none of the angels trust their new God, and something’s fishy. Well, he better train, because failure is… unpleasant. Training missions occur inside a Fate Revolution circuit, which amounts to dungeon crawling in confined alternate universes linked to the heads of people who pray. So. You’re second mission: a wimpy little zombie prays for the courage to eat to humans. They’re scary, you see. They have chain saws, and clubs…
The scene: God advises him to sneak up on people who make love. They’re distracted, you see. They don’t have cahinsaws and clubs. They’re easy prey. Your personal angel is… surprised by the advice. Exasperated: “My Lord, do you have something against lovers?!”
The point?
Why does the sun go on shining?
Why does the sea rush the shore?
Don’t they know it’s the end of the world,
For you don’t love me any more.
I guess you can always rely on the zombie apocalypse.
I LOVE ROMANCE AND ANIME!!!!!!!!!!!! Anime has really cute graphics and Romance gives me awesome feelings!
Lately you keep on mentionning shows that sound amazing and I have to add on to my endless list and I wonder if it’s out of fondness or spite…
You do not know what I am holding back for later.
Wow. School Days to mend a broken heart? That is amazingly callous 🙂 … I salute you!
I stand by it. If ever there was an “it could have been worse” story…
I guess I’m luckier than most… I never have to resort to “heartache healing” anime, because I don’t have that kind of heartache. (Of course, that’s because we’ve been married just a little shy of 29 years.)
I don’t know – it hurts but there’s something bittersweet about heart ache. It has it’s own value. This said being with your one and only all your life is awesome
I just knew you would find a way to put Natsume on this list.
I think it is the right choice though. As much as other shows might be more immediately uplifting, the process of watching Natsume can literally help you process and move through whatever is troubling you and while you might cry a little bit, you’ll come out the other end of any season of Natsume feeling somehow lighter.
I still think you need to spend those few days with ice cream and stupid shows before you’re ready to properly take it in.
Valentine’s passed by like any other normal day for me and I like it. XD
I love how you just casually put Natsume Yuujinchou there. Hahaha! Anyway, I enjoyed Shirobako and Recovery of an MMO Junkie a lot! I’m so curious about School Days but I’m still not in the mood to check it out right away. orz
School Days is a great game but a bad adaptation if you ask me. It will make you happy to be signle – that’s for sure
Not for me, I crush on people so easily only to have my heart broken again and again and again…….. It’s a sad, vicious cycle.
Orenchi no Furo Jijou is an interesting one. I watched a few episodes ages ago but didn’t continue due to lack of time. Recovery of an MMO Junkie is great so far though, I really need to finish that one.
But they’re like 3 minutes. The entire thing is about a single episode of a normal show….
I know. At the time though, it was a Crunchyroll of the Dice entrant, and I just got wrapped up in longer series after the tournament finished.
I get it.
I did get a chance to buy some half priced chocolate and that was about the extent of my holiday haha. One of mine that I always go to when I’m sad is host club. I may need to add the one about men in the bathroom haha…
It’s really great actually. It’s one of my fave comfort food animes
I didn’t, I ducked my head and hoped the day will be over.
Bah humbug to valentines day!!.
But but cheap chocolate on Feb 15!
True dat! You can’t say no to cheap candy!
At least, I can’t seem to… It’s too tasty and sweet! For most of it… I hate Juicy-drop and spicy, chili-powder-covered suckers…. Too spicy for the suckers and they just taste nasty! That goes for both types of candy this time.