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1 hour ago, Kenshin_sama said:

Oh and you might actually want to avoid Kokoro Connect. I don't have the faintest recollection of how it ended, so my guess is that it was probably incomplete. KC is more lighthearted than WA2, but still contains some not-so-insignificant drama. The romance may or may not make it worth watching. I'd recommend either waiting until you can stomach another tearjerker or just not watch it at all.

It's not your fault I'm so sensitive. I guess I didn't make it clear enough how important a happy ending was.

No problem, thanks for the warning about KC. I don't mind some drama provided there's a happy ending - otherwise there's no real emotional investment and a happy ending isn't as enjoyable without that investment. I can't stand over the top drama and unhappy endings. My real world has had far too much drama for my liking and I use anime and VNs to escape drama so I simply have a weak constitution for it.

2 minutes ago, Mr Poltroon said:

Kokoro Connect doubtlessly contains spoonfuls of drama. Nothing I couldn't tolerate, and I'm not exactly known for high tolerance, but it also had some romance. Not enough for me, truly, but my favourite pairing got together, so that carried it for me.
Effectively, it can be said this anime doesn't contain an ending. It's... somewhat episodic: think arcs. And it ends right in the middle.

Still, something about the concept really intrigued me. Looking back on it, I have no idea why. I distinctly remember disliking the drama, and disliking how certain characters acted, but my every impression of the show is that I "liked it a lot".

Thanks. I might skip it for now then.

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Attempting to clarify Kokoro Connect, since I think your expectations have, with only the best intentions, unintentionally been steered off-mark.

Like Mr. Poltroon of Varela said, Kokoro Connect is clearly split into 4 arcs, including the OVA, which you should watch if you like the main season because it's basically like the main show got an extra 4-episode arc. Each of them has a solid, complete ending for its arc, including the last one. While I would love to see more, I don't feel like I was left hanging by the ending in the slightest.

The show definitely has its share of drama, and it gets pretty alarming at times, but think more like scary things happening to people, rather than relationship drama (though there's some of that too). And, although this is obviously a spoiler, it's a very relevant qualification, so I want to point out that every arc is resolved positively for everybody involved.

The show's focus is not romance, nor comedy, nor do I think it's even the drama itself: it's really about the characters, and to a lesser extent plot. The plot is actually rather interesting, IMO, but I think it's mostly there as a vehicle for the characters.

All told, I think the show doesn't fit particularly well for this thread, which is why I haven't recommended it myself, despite my having watched it probably three or four times by now... But that said, it's amazing, and I love it, and I really wish more people would watch it and fall in love with it, too ^_^

Edited by Fred the Barber
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2 hours ago, Fred the Barber said:

Attempting to clarify Kokoro Connect, since I think your expectations have, with only the best intentions, unintentionally been steered off-mark.

Like Mr. Poltroon of Varela said, Kokoro Connect is clearly split into 4 arcs, including the OVA, which you should watch if you like the main season because it's basically like the main show got an extra 4-episode arc. Each of them has a solid, complete ending for its arc, including the last one. While I would love to see more, I don't feel like I was left hanging by the ending in the slightest.

The show definitely has its share of drama, and it gets pretty alarming at times, but think more like scary things happening to people, rather than relationship drama (though there's some of that too). And, although this is obviously a spoiler, it's a very relevant qualification, so I want to point out that every arc is resolved positively for everybody involved.

The show's focus is not romance, nor comedy, nor do I think it's even the drama itself: it's really about the characters, and to a lesser extent plot. The plot is actually rather interesting, IMO, but I think it's mostly there as a vehicle for the characters.

All told, I think the show doesn't fit particularly well for this thread, which is why I haven't recommended it myself, despite my having watched it probably three or four times by now... But that said, it's amazing, and I love it, and I really wish more people would watch it and fall in love with it, too ^_^

Thanks, that puts it more into perspective. I'll leave it on the "some day" list, rather than the "I must watch all romantic comedy dramas ASAP" list.

 

EDIT: That means I am now without anything recommended. I guess I've watched everything worthwhile this side of the millenium... <_<

 

Edited by ittaku
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  • 1 month later...

Without anything romance to watch, I used Da Capo Second Season to fill in the time. It was about as lacklustre as the first season but I watched this one sped up 10% and it was more tolerable and a fair filler. Watched Steins;Gate in the interim since it has a tinge of romance. Much better series but hardly a strong romantic bent. Now watching Space Battleship Yamato 2199 for much the same reason. I'm still looking for recommendations for good rom &/or coms (from the past) and until something decent comes up the next filler will be more seasons of Da Capo... maybe I'll watch them at even higher speed and turn them into action series or inadvertent comedies.

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  • 3 weeks later...
18 hours ago, ittaku said:

Since no one has recommended anything romcom here in a while, I found Inari Kon Kon on Animelab and am watching that next. So far so good.

Inari Kon Kon was really sweet and enjoyable with nice romance in it but ultimately fell just short of my own requirements, and I'm not sure why they didn't quite go the extra yard (are my requirements really that demanding?) It was also set (I believe) at a shrine that I've spent a whole day at myself and it was nice to relive it.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Here's a wildcard.

I came across the manga for Ultra Maniac after reading a wonderful Josei by the same author.
So far so good. It's a romcom with a decent premise, and there's just something about the way that not everyone is a melodramatic moron that makes me love it.

Having read 2/5 volumes it's a solid recommendation, except:

  • I don't know what changes occurred in the anime.
  • I don't know if the story gets worse.
  • I don't know if the ending is good.

If you're willing to put up with those caveats you may want to try it. If you aren't, you may wait for me to finish it (which shouldn't take more than a couple days).

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6 minutes ago, Mr Poltroon said:

Here's a wildcard.

I came across the manga for Ultra Maniac after reading a wonderful Josei by the same author.
So far so good. It's a romcom with a decent premise, and there's just something about the way that not everyone is a melodramatic moron that makes me love it.

Having read 2/5 volumes it's a solid recommendation, except:

  • I don't know what changes occurred in the anime.
  • I don't know if the story gets worse.
  • I don't know if the ending is good.

If you're willing to put up with those caveats you may want to try it. If you aren't, you may wait for me to finish it (which shouldn't take more than a couple days).

Thanks! Definitely wasn't even on my radar at all. Happy to wait for your final verdict :)

EDIT: And OMG Yui Horie is a VA in it, grabbing it in anticipation of your verdict now...

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10 hours ago, ittaku said:

Thanks! Definitely wasn't even on my radar at all. Happy to wait for your final verdict :)

EDIT: And OMG Yui Horie is a VA in it, grabbing it in anticipation of your verdict now...

The manga is fantastic. 9/10

My usual issues with romance and Shoujo tend to lie in characters that are dumb as bricks and melodrama. Neither issue is present in this manga, by my standards. When there is drama, I found that it originated from a reasonable situation and that it was resolved in a logical manner. Many common tropes are... subverted to an extent. Their execution is such that the presence of the trope did not bother me.

Now. By all appearances, the anime adapted half, or less, of the manga. Furthermore, the anime seems to contain plenty of original material, with at least three extra characters designed by the mangaka.
What this means is that the manga's wonderfulness cannot directly translate to the anime, as a lot of the good was in the interactions all characters shared, something original material cannot copy.

I'd give it a chance anyway. Can't be much worse than meh. I'm not entirely averse to watching it myself.

Reportedly, it also contains an ending of its own, although I cannot possibly guess what it'd be. The manga's was great.

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  • 1 month later...

I'll recommend Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushi as both a comedy and romance. Sincerely loved it, though I can definitely see it failing miserably with other people. Additionally, I can also see people being put off by the apparent age difference. I'm not even sure what sort of difference it is, but it's certainly there.

 

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1 minute ago, Mr Poltroon said:

I'll recommend Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushi as both a comedy and romance. Sincerely loved it, though I can definitely see it failing miserably with other people. Additionally, I can also see people being put off by the apparent age difference. I'm not even sure what sort of difference it is, but it's certainly there.

 

Awesome thanks, I wasn't at all aware of that one so I will investigate ASAP.

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On 23/04/2017 at 8:00 PM, Mr Poltroon said:

I'll recommend Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushi as both a comedy and romance. Sincerely loved it, though I can definitely see it failing miserably with other people. Additionally, I can also see people being put off by the apparent age difference. I'm not even sure what sort of difference it is, but it's certainly there.

Well I've watched this. I felt it was a little rushed overall, with dramatic stories happening abruptly and then being resolved quite quickly without too much of a bother in mostly predictable ways when there could have been much more exposition. Additionally the age difference didn't bother me; I know what they were trying to do with making him so young but it was actually unnecessary to make him that young. They could have been 20 and 16 instead of  what looked like16 and 12 and the story would have worked just as well but oh well it was what it was. Also the Engrish lyrics were laughable as usual but I'm used to them by now. However none of that detracted from the fact that this show had soul and was heart warming and made me smile and laugh quite a bit.Thanks very much for the recommendation! It wasn't fantastic, but I still really enjoyed it, 8/10. Think I have to add it to my ultimately satisfying endings list as well.

On 24/04/2017 at 5:24 AM, havoc said:

Here is my recommendation tenchi muyo war on geminar it is a romcom but also a harem so i can see people not liking it.
But it is one of my personal favorites

Queued up next, thanks! I have no problems with harems :)

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1 minute ago, ittaku said:

Well I've watched this. I felt it was a little rushed overall, with dramatic stories happening abruptly and then being resolved quite quickly without too much of a bother in mostly predictable ways when there could have been much more exposition. Additionally the age difference didn't bother me; I know what they were trying to do with making him so young but it was actually unnecessary to make him that young. They could have been 20 and 16 instead of  what looked like16 and 12 and the story would have worked just as well but oh well it was what it was. Also the Engrish lyrics were laughable as usual but I'm used to them by now. However none of that detracted from the fact that this show had soul and was heart warming and made me smile and laugh quite a bit.Thanks very much for the recommendation! It wasn't fantastic, but I still really enjoyed it, 8/10. Think I have to add it to my ultimately satisfying endings list as well.

Queued up next, thanks!

Do post your opinions, suggesting things is fun but so is reading other peoples opinions on them.

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On 09/12/2016 at 1:30 PM, Fred the Barber said:

Attempting to clarify Kokoro Connect, since I think your expectations have, with only the best intentions, unintentionally been steered off-mark.

Like Mr. Poltroon of Varela said, Kokoro Connect is clearly split into 4 arcs, including the OVA, which you should watch if you like the main season because it's basically like the main show got an extra 4-episode arc. Each of them has a solid, complete ending for its arc, including the last one. While I would love to see more, I don't feel like I was left hanging by the ending in the slightest.

The show definitely has its share of drama, and it gets pretty alarming at times, but think more like scary things happening to people, rather than relationship drama (though there's some of that too). And, although this is obviously a spoiler, it's a very relevant qualification, so I want to point out that every arc is resolved positively for everybody involved.

The show's focus is not romance, nor comedy, nor do I think it's even the drama itself: it's really about the characters, and to a lesser extent plot. The plot is actually rather interesting, IMO, but I think it's mostly there as a vehicle for the characters.

All told, I think the show doesn't fit particularly well for this thread, which is why I haven't recommended it myself, despite my having watched it probably three or four times by now... But that said, it's amazing, and I love it, and I really wish more people would watch it and fall in love with it, too ^_^

For anyone who's been following this thread, I did end up watching kokoro connect and commented about it on another thread. It was excellent indeed (9/10) and the ending and romance was very satisfying to me, though romance wasn't its primary plot.

 

On 01/03/2017 at 8:48 PM, Mr Poltroon said:

Here's a wildcard.

I came across the manga for Ultra Maniac after reading a wonderful Josei by the same author.
So far so good. It's a romcom with a decent premise, and there's just something about the way that not everyone is a melodramatic moron that makes me love it.

Having read 2/5 volumes it's a solid recommendation, except:

  • I don't know what changes occurred in the anime.
  • I don't know if the story gets worse.
  • I don't know if the ending is good.

If you're willing to put up with those caveats you may want to try it. If you aren't, you may wait for me to finish it (which shouldn't take more than a couple days).

And I only just started watching this too, after finally finding it. Already looks like my kind of thing from a bygone era that I enjoyed.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 2017-3-1 at 8:48 PM, Mr Poltroon said:

Here's a wildcard.

I came across the manga for Ultra Maniac after reading a wonderful Josei by the same author.
So far so good. It's a romcom with a decent premise, and there's just something about the way that not everyone is a melodramatic moron that makes me love it.

Having read 2/5 volumes it's a solid recommendation, except:

  • I don't know what changes occurred in the anime.
  • I don't know if the story gets worse.
  • I don't know if the ending is good.

If you're willing to put up with those caveats you may want to try it. If you aren't, you may wait for me to finish it (which shouldn't take more than a couple days).

 

On 2017-3-2 at 8:00 AM, Mr Poltroon said:

The manga is fantastic. 9/10

My usual issues with romance and Shoujo tend to lie in characters that are dumb as bricks and melodrama. Neither issue is present in this manga, by my standards. When there is drama, I found that it originated from a reasonable situation and that it was resolved in a logical manner. Many common tropes are... subverted to an extent. Their execution is such that the presence of the trope did not bother me.

Now. By all appearances, the anime adapted half, or less, of the manga. Furthermore, the anime seems to contain plenty of original material, with at least three extra characters designed by the mangaka.
What this means is that the manga's wonderfulness cannot directly translate to the anime, as a lot of the good was in the interactions all characters shared, something original material cannot copy.

I'd give it a chance anyway. Can't be much worse than meh. I'm not entirely averse to watching it myself.

Reportedly, it also contains an ending of its own, although I cannot possibly guess what it'd be. The manga's was great.

Okay I finally finished Ultra Maniac, hooray \o/

It has dated like a lot of shows of its time (2003). Interestingly though, it hasn't suffered the slow pace problem of shows of that era - that it would take forever to get to every next line of dialogue, and I'd end up watching them at +10 or +20% speed. This didn't suffer that with quite a good pace. It was also, in many ways, a bit of a golden era for anime so I'm willing to forgive any dated elements for the other aspects. However, the whole magic girl stuff with long drawn out transformations and magic computer scenes that were never cut short really started to drag. The magic fails in the first half are rather contrived and childish, but I can generally put up with that if it has other redeeming features. As a result the first half was pretty plain and harmless and only mildly entertaining. The second half of the series is more about the characters though, and of course, it's a romcom with a happy ending, so how can I complain? It mostly goes according to what I'd expect without a great deal of surprises but then I did find myself smiling and laughing more as it went along. I have no idea how it deviated from the manga but it was still fun. It mostly avoided any long drawn out drama, the characters were fun and more fleshed out than they first appeared and overall was fun. More than happy to have watched it, 7/10. It's also one of those shows that I probably would have rated higher if I'd watched it in 2003 so really it's a decent rating for a show this old. It also gets to go on the ultimately satisfying anime list.

Next up, as per @havoc's recommendation, Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari

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  • 2 weeks later...
6 hours ago, kyrt said:

Here are a few suggestions not mentioned:

Kimagure Orange Road

Ai Yori Aoshi

Midori Days

Mahoromatic

Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun

Girls Bravo (lol I can't believe I put this on here but you never know)

(I almost listed AnoHana which I don't think I would call a rom/com)

Thanks very much for all those. I've heard of all of them but not investigated and getting them is quite difficult too since they're quite old. Do they all meet the happy conclusive ending requirement? I've heard bad things about mahoromatic's ending for example.

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5 hours ago, ittaku said:

Thanks very much for all those. I've heard of all of them but not investigated and getting them is quite difficult too since they're quite old. Do they all meet the happy conclusive ending requirement? I've heard bad things about mahoromatic's ending for example.

I completely missed the request for happy and conclusive ending requirements might want to stick to Midori Days, Ai Yori Aoshi, Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun and Kimagure Orange Road. Girls Bravo it's been quite some time since I've seen so I can't accurately recall if the ending was satisfactory although the jokes/perversion is way over the top as well so again dependent on if that's something you want to try. Mahoromatic you might want to skip for now as it doesn't really meet the requirements although I would debate the merits on it being a bad ending. 

To make up for a few questionable suggestions I've thought of a few additional titles:

Vandread 

Irresponsible Captain Tylor 

Godannar  (don't take this one seriously it's more of an homage to older shows in the genre)

Maburaho (I liked it years ago when I watched it but I also am not sure of my taste back then)

Hatsukoi Limited (hit or miss with most)

 

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On 2017-4-30 at 0:24 AM, havoc said:

Do post your opinions, suggesting things is fun but so is reading other peoples opinions on them.

So I finished watching https://myanimelist.net/anime/5781/Isekai_no_Seikishi_Monogatari Tenchi muyo war on geminar. I didn't notice it was yet another part of the massive Tenchi muyo universe until I started watching it. It was an odd show which started as a very serious mecha show and then spent then next 6 episodes in pure harem comedy land. After that it went back to progressively more serious mecha while maintaining the harem comedy components. It was good fun, mostly during the earlier harem moments in fact, and the fact that Tenchi was ridiculously overpowered while remaining very modest was stupid fun. I didn't expect any harem or romance resolution so I only viewed it as a comedy and to that end it was a success. The serious aspects didn't really hold much dramatic tension for me but that didn't worry me much nor interfere with me enjoying it. Shows that hold dramatic tension for me are ones I simply cannot stop watching and with Tenchi I could watch one (double length) episode and then go to bed not really caring what happened next. One thing that bugged me a little was that everything looked blurry; I couldn't tell if that was original or a BD encode issue or what but I kept feeling like everything was slightly out of focus. It was still well worth seeing and entertaining overall, 7/10.

@kyrt I'll eventually be checking out your revised list shows next from the rom &/or com perspective but I still have a few other shows I started that I never finished that I should probably return to first, and my source of shows (ahem) disappeared recently so it'll be a lot harder to source them now.

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On 1-6-2017 at 3:25 PM, ittaku said:

So I finished watching https://myanimelist.net/anime/5781/Isekai_no_Seikishi_Monogatari Tenchi muyo war on geminar. I didn't notice it was yet another part of the massive Tenchi muyo universe until I started watching it. It was an odd show which started as a very serious mecha show and then spent then next 6 episodes in pure harem comedy land. After that it went back to progressively more serious mecha while maintaining the harem comedy components. It was good fun, mostly during the earlier harem moments in fact, and the fact that Tenchi was ridiculously overpowered while remaining very modest was stupid fun. I didn't expect any harem or romance resolution so I only viewed it as a comedy and to that end it was a success. The serious aspects didn't really hold much dramatic tension for me but that didn't worry me much nor interfere with me enjoying it. Shows that hold dramatic tension for me are ones I simply cannot stop watching and with Tenchi I could watch one (double length) episode and then go to bed not really caring what happened next. One thing that bugged me a little was that everything looked blurry; I couldn't tell if that was original or a BD encode issue or what but I kept feeling like everything was slightly out of focus. It was still well worth seeing and entertaining overall, 7/10.

@kyrt I'll eventually be checking out your revised list shows next from the rom &/or com perspective but I still have a few other shows I started that I never finished that I should probably return to first, and my source of shows (ahem) disappeared recently so it'll be a lot harder to source them now.

thx for the feedback.

And like you said the series is a bit of a odd show in more than one sense of the word.

If your still looking for series here is another possiblity but this one is on the long side Saiunkoki Monogatari.

As for your ahem source of shows try your source name with the word .si behind it. They managed to salvage it. and a certain fansubbing group with the letters H and S is also supporting it.

 

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3 hours ago, havoc said:

As for your ahem source of shows try your source name with the word .si behind it. They managed to salvage it. and a certain fansubbing group with the letters H and S is also supporting it.

 

Thanks. I'm all over .si already but they don't have years worth of old stuff and the um tracking thing associated with the old stuff is dead even if records of it are also available.

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Just here to re-emphasize u watch Bakuman. It's lengthy with 75 eps, but lots of good comedy/romance and a really nice storyline that I think you would enjoy.

https://myanimelist.net/anime/7674/Bakuman

I also throw a rec out to Kaichou wa Maid-sama. It's a cute funny show that gets more serious as it goes along. Hope this helps sate your hunger for rom/coms.

https://myanimelist.net/anime/7054/Kaichou_wa_Maid-sama

Also if you like Haikyuu, Major and Baby Steps are two other good shounen/sports shows. Baby Steps in particular has some romance worked in as well.

https://myanimelist.net/anime/21185/Baby_Steps

https://myanimelist.net/anime/627/Major_S1

 

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2 minutes ago, skrewball717 said:

Just here to re-emphasize u watch Bakuman. It's lengthy with 75 eps, but lots of good comedy/romance and a really nice storyline that I think you would enjoy.

https://myanimelist.net/anime/7674/Bakuman

I also throw a rec out to Kaichou wa Maid-sama. It's a cute funny show that gets more serious as it goes along. Hope this helps sate your hunger for rom/coms.

https://myanimelist.net/anime/7054/Kaichou_wa_Maid-sama

Also if you like Haikyuu, Major and Baby Steps are two other good shounen/sports shows. Baby Steps in particular has some romance worked in as well.

https://myanimelist.net/anime/21185/Baby_Steps

https://myanimelist.net/anime/627/Major_S1

 

Seen Maid Sama and it was good. The others I know of but haven't watched. I'll investigate them in the future. Thanks!

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