It’s the month of lurve! The month for both 3d and anime couples! And advertising! February is a rough month here. It’s dark, it’s super cold and we still have like 3 and a half months of winter. Yes, we have June winter. So what???
As such, let’s add a bit of light to the month by talking about anime characters in love! Let’s be clear, I’m only talking about canon couples here. No shipping or implied couples. And I’m talking about these couples as a unit. I find that I often like both individuals in a couple but I don’t think that the couple itself is that interesting or adds anything to either character.
It should say something about my genre tastes that I found it super difficult to even come up with 5 anime couples I like. But I did! And here they are.
5. Beastars – Legoshi & Haru
Even though it’s only 5, I already kind of cheated since Legoshi and Haru have a pretty one-sided relationship. I did really like that there was at least an attempt to explore the complexities of class biases when it comes to romantic relationships with a more realistic take. It’s not all rosy and love won’t necessarily conquer all. The more different two people are, the more work it takes for a relationship to flourish.
Season 1 didn’t go too deep into it but season 2 might! Also, neither Haru nor Legoshi has the upper hand or the moral high ground in this relationship. They both screw up, they both misunderstand, so on. I really enjoy equal power dynamics and they are rare!
4. Given – Mafuyu and Ritsuka
I’m not sure how much I like Mafuyu and Uenoyama together and how much I just liked seeing them get together. But in any case, Given is one of the few romance anime that actually ends up with a canon couple that I really like (both the anime and the couple).
These two are still sort of young and I’m not sure just how long they will last but they share a passion which is a good start. And neither got instantly infatuated with the other so that’s a positive as well. They took the time to get to know each other as friends with no one putting the other on a pedestal. Hero worship is real bad news in romance.
3. Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid – Kobayashi & Tohru
Ok so part of me really wanted to put a Yuri couple on the list. And then I realized that most of them are pretty toxic. I loved Sweet Blue Flowers but who exactly am I supposed to pick? And then I remember that Kobayashi and Tohru are a canon couple. They even have a little family.
Sure, Kobayashi needs to relax a bit and just enjoy the ride a little more but you know, I think these two actually really suit each other well. Kobayashi gives Tohru the structure and security she needs while Tohru reminds Kobayashi to have fun and appreciate the little moments in life. Just from a couples standpoint, these two are pretty perfect for each other!
Also, Kobayashi is a lot like me on many levels and I really want a sexy dragon maid to fall in love with me and try to feed me her tail all the time. That sounded dirtier than I meant it to.
2. Natsume’s Book of Friends – Touko & Shigeru
Honestly, no 1 and 2 on this list are pretty interchangeable. Touko and Shigeru are couple goals all the way. I would be infinitely lucky to end up with a partner as understanding and that completes me as well as these two do for each other.
I one of my many favourite Natsume episodes, Touko muses that love, the long-term calm and solid type, built on respect and shared experience, not the infatuation kind, makes you really weak in a tender and comfortable sort of way. I want to be with someone who makes me glad for my weakness like these two are!
1. Durarara – Shinra & Celty
I’ve said it before, these guys are my OTP. At first glance it may just look like Shinra is the one that is blindly and eternally infatuated by the mysterious and powerful Celty. She does seem much more impressive after all. But when you get to know them, you soon realize that Celty is just as smitten!
These two are both eccentric and morally dubious characters which are very interesting in their own right but they bring out the best in each other. And by best I mean that Shinra is sort of ruthless and uncaring but melts into a puddle of lovesick goo whenever anything involves Celty in any way. While she’s literally a mythological monster that becomes a huge dork when her sweety is around. It’s super cute.
These two don’t need to be together and even as far as the story goes, both are rounded and developed enough characters to hold their own even if the other didn’t exist, but they just want to be together. That’s adorable!
There you have it. As you can see, I tend to enjoy couples that are on even ground and have long-standing relationships. Either they started out as friends or they have been together for a long time.
But that’s me. And I fail at romance a lot.
So who is your favourite anime couples and why. What are the traits that make you think it’s a healthy relationship? Do you have couples where you like both people, and even like the couple, but don’t think it’s very healthy. For me that’s Yuri and Victor, I can’t really see those two lasting. Please don’t hate me, it’s just my intuition and I hope I’m wrong.
