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- Diabolik Lovers
- Zexcs
The 12 Worst Romance Anime Of All Time
Vote for the romance anime series that are comically bad.
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- School Days
- TNK
The characters in School Days have zero emotional intelligence and love to sabotage each other's lives. As soon as Makoto Ito realizes he's the slightest bit attractive to girls, he starts a series of pseudo-romantic relationships with anyone who will have him. Rather than honestly explaining how he isn't looking for a commitment, he promises exclusive romantic relationships and then cheats like crazy.
Even worse, he tries to pressure one of his exes into aborting his child, and he seals the argument by making out with another girl in front of her. She gets so frustrated by his behavior that she stabs him to death. Along with the poor handling of darker content, it's also impossible to like any of the characters.
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- Kodomo no Jikan
- Diomedéa
Kodomo no Jikan follows a relationship between a teacher in his early 20s and his 7-year-old student. For many anime fans, this type of relationship is an automatic deal breaker. For others, it depends on the execution; a story that realistically deals with the ramifications of this kind of situation is different from one that glorifies it. Kodomo no Jikan does the latter.
It begins with Rin Kokonoe, an abused child, acting out by attempting to entice her third-grade teacher, Daisuke Aoki. Instead of getting the little girl the help she needs, Aoki eventually comes to reciprocate Rin's feelings for him. The series should end with Aoki in handcuffs and Rin in therapy, but the two officially announce their relationship when Rin turns 16.
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Eiken
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- Eiken
- J.C. Staff
Eiken's claim to fame has less to do with its romantic storyline and more so that many of its female characters have enormous breasts. There's a sixth-grader in the program with EE cups. If that alone isn't enough to dissuade viewers, there's also a bare-bones storyline involving a nerdy, dull male protagonist named Densuke Mifune who is inexplicably surrounded by girls who are supposed to be attractive but aren't, because of the terrible art.
All Densuke wants is to get closer to his crush, Chiharu, but a series of random misunderstandings stops him from making progress. Chiharu is basically a knockoff, depthless version of Hinata Hyuga - her only traits are being shy and having boobs.
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This Boy Suffers From Crystallization
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- This Boy Suffers From Crystallization
- CoMix Wave Films
This Boy Suffers From Crystallization is the weirdest anime nobody's heard of, and it's truly dreadful. Ayumu Tamari suffers from a mysterious illness that causes his body to transform into crystal when he's stressed-out. To control his condition, Ayumu tries to relax and enjoy his lot in life, but that's difficult with his geology teacher, Koya Onihara, around. Onihara loves crystals, which attracts him to Ayumu in a way that no teacher should be attracted to their teenage student. That said, there are points where it seems like Onihara would rather Ayumu become a crystal than live a normal life.
To make matters worse, they tried to cram this whole questionable premise into a single-episode OVA. Properly explored, this concept could be fascinating. Instead, the romance is just confusing and underdeveloped, and Onihara comes across as a total creep.
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- Diabolik Lovers
- Zexcs
If someone is looking for an anime version of Twilight, Diabolik Lovers is about as close as they're going to get. Yui Komori moves into a mansion that's already inhabited by six vampire brothers. What follows is an onslaught of psychic and sexual assaults on the poor girl.
While it can be somewhat refreshing to see vampires acting like monsters, it's disconcerting to watch Yui react to their brutal behavior with kindness and acceptance. What's worse is watching her start to develop relationships with them, given their complete lack of interest in her well-being at the start of the anime.
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Eromanga Sensei
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- Eromanga Sensei
- A-1 Pictures
In some ways, Eromanga Sensei is similar to Oreimo. Both series combine the otaku lifestyle with arguably uncomfortable romantic themes, and the same author wrote the light novels from which they originated. While Oreimo had its flaws, at least it had a plot, plus a few decent points to make about the otaku lifestyle. The same isn't true for Eromanga Sensei, which is nearly unwatchable, unless you like watching a 12-year-old girl screaming about how much she likes genitals.
Between the extreme sexualization of a prepubescent child who draws adult material for a living, the jarring tonal shifts, and the fact that the prevailing romantic relationship is between a 15-year-old boy and his 12-year-old stepsister, Eromanga Sensei easily qualifies as one of the worst anime ever made.
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- Sukisho
- Zexcs
Deciphering the major flaw of Sukisho is difficult; there are many. One possibility is the disrespectful use of dissociative identity disorder to further its central romance. It could also be that there isn't a single female character in the entire series, except for one of the alternate personalities. The series also can't decide whether it's a slice-of-life anime about a school club or a horror story about child experimentation.
The characterization is thin, with Hiromu's only characteristic being his whiny voice, and Shinichiro's being his leather jacket. Perhaps it's Sunao's ratty pink mullet or the poor art and animation in general that causes so much dissatisfaction from viewers. Whatever it is, Sukisho is an anime that's best to either ignore entirely or hate-watch with your snarkiest friend.
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- A Girl & Her Guard Dog
- Project No. 9
Like others on this list, A Girl & Her Guard Dog is an anime that tries to take a disturbing tale of an inappropriate relationship and paint it as romantic. Isaku Senagaki has had her life surrounded by the yakuza since both her parents tragically died and she was left in the care of her mafia boss grandfather. Despite her dramatic background, all she wants is to make friends and live a normal high school life.
This all sounds fine, until you throw her 26-year-old caretaker Keiya Uto into the mix. Keiya has been watching over - or perhaps, grooming - Isaku since she was five years old. While Keiya originally claims to see Isaku as nothing more than the boss' granddaughter, things quickly begin to turn as he goes undercover in her new high school. This is another example of an unsettling show that attempts to spin the narrative of an inappropriate relationship and pin the blame on the victim.
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Citrus
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- Citrus
- Passione
An easy way to lose viewers is to introduce two girls who hate each other, and then follow that up by making the ensuing relationship both uncomfortably familial and abusive.
Mei and Yuzu meet first as classmates, then as new stepsisters. Yuzu wants to form a sisterly bond with Mei, but because she doesn't dress or behave "properly," Mei refuses to be cordial with her. The only time Mei chooses to interact with her is when she uses her role as class president to grope Yuzu under the guise of confiscating her phone, or when she kisses Yuzu without permission, or when she uses silence to manipulate Yuzu into doing what she wants.
With such a rocky start and no real acknowledgment of how terrible Mei is to Yuzu, it's difficult to believe the two genuinely love each other as their relationship progresses.
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- Peach Girl
- Studio Comet
If someone is looking for an anime where everyone is unrelentingly cruel to the well-meaning protagonist for no reason, Peach Girl might be their new favorite program. The entire concept is frustrating, which explains why this is one of the worst examples of romance anime.
Momo Adachi has tan skin and bleached hair, thanks to her time spent on her school's swim team, but her appearance leads her classmates to make some wild assumptions about her sex life. In reality, Momo only has eyes for one boy, named Toji, who she thinks won't like her because of her appearance.
Thus begins a story that involves Momo trying to alter herself to be the person she thinks Toji wants, her best friend Sae trying to ruin her life behind her back, and a guy named Kairi who likes her. The drama that ensues is painful rather than pleasant, and the cattiness and social cruelty on Sae's part exhausting.
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- Love Hina
- Xebec
Love Hina may be a more coherent harem anime than some, but that doesn't make it good. Keitaro Urashima has failed his college entrance exams and is staying at a dormitory owned by his aunt to try to study for a retake. While there, he meets a large group of attractive girls and women who display varying degrees of romantic interest in him. It's obvious from the very beginning that he's going to end up with Naru Narusegawa, which drains the series of most of its tension. All that's left is wondering whether Naru is going to break Keitaro's nose next time she punches him in the face for "accidentally" falling into her cleavage.
Given that Love Hina is one of the anime that solidified the harem formula, it's not fair to say it's formulaic. However, given that the formula is awful and Love Hina is partially responsible for it, it's fair to call this anime one of the worst.
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My First Girlfriend is a Gal
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- My First Girlfriend is a Gal
- NAZ
My First Girlfriend is a Gal is a shallow, boring story about a boy named Junichi who desperately wants to get laid. He gets bullied into asking out the "easiest" girl in school, who agrees despite knowing he only wants sex. It somehow results in other girls fighting over him. Rather than existing as fully fleshed-out characters, these girls are walking tropes. Nene is the childhood friend, and Yui is a refined beauty with a secret controlling side. Junichi's friends are equally intolerable - one of them lusts after little girls to the point where even his perverted friends are uncomfortable.
While there is the occasional fun moment - like when the characters dress up like Kirito from Sword Art Online to impress girls - it's difficult to care what happens to any of these people because all of them are terrible. As a romantic story, and as anime, My First Girlfriend is a Gal fails.
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