What are some good romance anime about moving on?
One of the greatest struggles people face is learning to move on following a loss or letting go of past disappointments. This dreadful experience can easily cripple a person’s life, but it can also make them stronger.
There are anime that have covered this topic, and they can emotional rollercoasters, especially if you going through similar events. Here are anime that cover the theme of “letting go.”
1. Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day
Genre: Drama / Slice of Life / Supernatural
Studio: A-1 Pictures
Episodes: 11 + 1 Movie
Quick pitch: Jinta Yadomi lives life as a shut-in. One hot summer day, Jinta sees Meiko Honma, who is an old childhood friend. She spends the day pestering Jinta about a wish, but ignores her since she died several years ago. Thinking this was a hallucination, Jinta is convinced that he has been seeing Meiko’s ghost. He must reunite their old friends so that Meiko’s soul can be put to rest.
2. Barakamon
Genre: Comedy / Slice of Life
Studio: Kinema Citrus
Episodes: 12
Quick pitch: Seishuu Handa is a young, handsome, talented, and narcissistic calligrapher living in Tokyo. When an elderly curator criticizes Seishuu’s technique for being too generic, he loses his cool and punches the curator. Seishuu’s father exiles him to live on Goto Island, which has a small rural town. He must deal with the eccentric villagers (which include crazy children and fujoshi) while developing his own calligraphy style.
3. 5 Centimeters Per Second
Genre: Drama / Romance / Slice of Life
Studio: CoMix Wave Films
Episodes: 1 Movie
Quick Pitch: Takaki and Akari were close childhood friends, but Akari moved away due to her family’s job. The two make a promise to write letters, but Takaki also moves, adding distance between them. As their lives go on, their contact slowly fades, but they wonder if they will ever meet again.
4. Haibane Renmei
Genre: Drama / Fantasy / Mystery / Slice of Life
Studio: Radix
Episodes: 13
Quick Pitch: Rakka is a Haibane, a being born with small wings and a halo. She lives a quiet and uneventful life, but is curious about what is behind the massive walls surrounding the town.
5. Your Lie in April (Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso)
Genre: Drama / Music / Romance
Studio: A-1 Pictures
Episodes: 22
Quick pitch: Kousei Arima is a young musical prodigy. His mom meticulously taught him to play the piano, which allowed him to dominate music competitions. After her sudden death, Kousei the will to play music and disappeared from the stage. His monotonous life changes upon meeting Kaori Miyazono, a violinist known for her free-willed performances.
6. A Silent Voice (Koe no Katachi)
Genre: Drama
Studio: Kyoto Animation
Episodes: 1 Movie
Quick Pitch: Shouya Ishida is a boy who is always getting into trouble. When a deaf transfer student named Shouko Nishimiya is introduced to Ishida’s class, he deems her as the perfect target for bullying. Ishida bullies Nishimiya to kill boredom and doesn’t think about the effects of his actions until he starts to become ostracized by his own classmates.
7. Cross Game
Genre: Comedy / Drama / Romance / Sports
Studio: SynergySP
Episodes: 50
Quick Pitch: Kitamura family runs a sporting goods business and the Tsukishima family operates a batting center. Due to their business relationship, their children have spent a lot of time together. Kou and Wakaba have grown close, and they bond over baseball. Aoba, Wakaba’s younger sister, grows jealous because their relationship prevents her from spending time with Wakaba.
8. The Eccentric Family
Genre: Comedy / Drama / Fantasy / Slice of Life
Studio: P.A. Works
Episodes: 25
Quick Pitch: Modern day Kyoto is home to humans, tanuki, and tengu. Yasaburou is the third son of the Shimogamo tanuki family and he tries to live a care-free life. However, his crush Benten is a member of the Friday Fellows, which is a group of humans that eat a tanuki hot pot at the end of the year.
9. Honey and Clover (Hachimitsu to Clover)
Genre: Comedy / Drama / Romance / Slice of Life
Studio: J.C. Staff
Episodes: 36
Quick Pitch: Yuuta, Takumi, and Shinobu are bachelors who share an apartment with no bath. However, the low rent is perfect as they try to eek out lives as art students. Their lives start to get a little more interesting when two girls move-in: Hagumi and her guardian Shuuji. Life of a young college student may seem fun, but it’s filled with pitfalls that are difficult to navigate.
10. Angel Beats
Genre: Action / Comedy / Drama / Supernatural
Studio: P.A. Works
Episode count: 13
Quick pitch: Otonashi wakes up dead. The crazy thing is that there are a group of teens stuck in the afterlife, with no memory of how they got there. Can they find a way to crossover?
11. Plastic Memories
Genre: Drama / Romance / Science Fiction
Studio: Doga Kobo
Episodes: 13
Quick Pitch: Isla is a Giftia, which is an android with a predetermined lifespan. Despite only having 2,000 hours of life yet, she is assigned to be Tsukasa’s partner as he learns the world of Giftia retrieval. Tsukasa isn’t aware of Isla’s lifespan and quickly becomes attached to her.
12. Sweetness & Lightning (Amaama to Inazuma)
Genre: Comedy / Drama / Slice of Life
Studio: TMS Entertainment
Episodes: 12
Quick Pitch: Kouhei has been doing his best to take care of his daughter following the death of his wife. His lack of cooking ability and busy teaching career leads to the pair eating ready-made meals from convenience stores. However, he accepts an offer from one his students to visit her family’s restaurant so they can share meals together.
13. Welcome to the NHK
Genre: Comedy / Drama / Psychological / Romance
Studio: Gonzo
Episodes: 24
Quick Pitch: College dropout Tatsuhiro Satou has been a hikikomori for nearly four years and he has come to believe many conspiracy theories. There is one theory that Tatsuhiro strongly believes in – an organization called the Nihon Hikikomori Kyokai is responsible for spreading hikikomori culture and ruining his life.
14. The Tatami Galaxy
Genre: Comedy / Drama / Mystery / Psychological / Romance
Studio: Madhouse
Episodes: 11
Quick Pitch: The Tatami Galaxy centers around a third-year college student who feels his life has been a waste. After meeting a “god of matrimony,” the student is given a chance to relive his college life and attempts to enter a relationship with Akashi.
15. Death Parade
Genre: Drama / Game / Mystery / Psychological / Thriller
Studio: Madhouse
Episodes: 12
Quick Pitch: Whenever someone dies, they are sent to a mysterious bar with no memory of their past life. There, they play at a “Death Game” and are judged by an arbiter. The game slowly reveals the person’s secrets and events up to their death, upon which it will be decided if they are reincarnated or sent into the void.
16. Tamayura: Hitotose
Genre: Comedy / Drama / Slice of Life
Studio: TYO Animations
Episodes: 24+ 2 OVAs + 4 movies
Quick pitch: Fuu Sawatari grew up loving photography due to her dad, and the pair often took pictures everywhere they went. After he passed away, Fuu locked away their old photograph album because they kept reminded her of his death. Years later, Fuu’s brother finds the album and looks through the pages with Fuu. Happy members start to flood her heart, and she is determined to take new photos with her dad’s old camera.
17. Wolf Children
Genre: Fantasy / Slice of Life
Studio: Studio Chizu
Episodes: 1 Movie
Quick Pitch: Hana is a college student who falls in love with a mysterious man. On a full moon, it is revealed that he is the last werewolf, but that doesn’t weaken their bond. Shortly after giving birth to two babies, Hana’s lover dies in an accident. Now, she is left alone to raise two babies who can turn into werewolves.
What are your favorite anime about “letting go”?
