Top 10 Cutest Romance Anime like Toradora You Should Watch!

best anime like toradora

From a heart-fluttering romance to back aching comedy, Toradora offers the audience one of the best slice of the life anime experience.

“The two characters Ryuji Takasu, delinquent by appearance but candy by heart, and Taiga Aisaka – the palmtop tiger, like in any other typical anime romcom commences off as arch enemies and neighbors but later cowl up their differences and become something more to each other.”     

Therefore, we present you a list of Anime similar to Toradora or Anime like Toradora, which might avail you to hold on until season 2.  

10 Best Anime like Toradora!

10. Re-Life

Re-Life

If you’re given a chance to correct all that has been wrong, will you grab it? Something kindred happened to Arata Kaizaki, a 27-year-old guy who is considered practically a loser after he quits his job halfway and now is working part-time at a convenience store.

But one eventful day, his life took an unexpected turn when someone offers Arata a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rectify his life and undo all the wrongs that have happened. Now, back in his 17-year-old self, Arata is reliving his youth while attempting to fine-tune all of his life’s wrongs.  

Similarities:

  • The twists and turns of being a high schooler, as well as the constant urge to fit in, cloud both anime.  
  • Ryuji and Arata, both of whom are mature-hearted male protagonists, steal the show. Just Arata being extra, a true 27-year-old at heart.  
  • Short anime featuring, a slice of life, and romantic comedy.  
  • The protagonist’s optimistic yearning to change their subsisting circumstances and become a better version of themselves.

9. Kaguya – Sama: Love Is War

Kaguya-sama: Love is War

Miyuki Shirogane and Kaguya Shinomiya, two top students, are at war. And not just any mundane war, but a love war. Sounds Romantic, right? Miyuki, the current student council president of Shuchiin Academy, and Kaguya, the vice president and the daughter of an affluent family, are hopelessly in love.

The only difficulty is that they’re too proud to admit their feelings because to confess first is to lose first. The plot revolves around the characters’ endeavors and schemes to compel the other one to confess first. 

Similarities:

  • Both anime provide viewers a breath of romantic comedy with a sprinkle of a slice of life.  
  • Taiga and Kaguya were both born into affluent families. Despite having everything on their platter, their heat feels empty.  
  • Both the anime have slightly distinct concepts, yet the romantic development begins gradually but steadily.  
  • The protagonists appear cold and domineering at first, but they are genuinely bashful and have difficulty expressing their emotions.

8. My Little Monster

My Little Monster

The anime’s plot centers around the blossoming romance and relationship between “Dry ice” Shizuku Mizutani and Haru Yoshida. Shizuku is an apathetic study geek with sizably big ambitions for the future, for that, she exhibits no interest in the people around her.

On the other end, we have Haru, with a hard-to-deal personality who never shows up at school. He is no better than a troublemaker in everyone’s eyes, and is thus friendless. So, when Shizuku first encounters Haru, he greets her as a friend before confessing his profound love for her.

Shizuku and Haru progressively get closer than Shizuku had imagined, due to their kindred struggles in coping with human relationships. Withal, Shizuku realizes her feelings for Haru later, but for the best.  

Similarities:

  • Taiga and Shizuku, the female characters, with their icy and tormented demeanor, stand offshore from the sea relationship. However, when the wall of indifference begins to crumble, they gradually open up their hearts.  
  • Male protagonists exhibit more similarities than differences. Because of their outward appearances, both Ryuji and Haru face a hard time communicating and interacting with their classmates.  
  • The plot of both series brims with romance and comedy.   
  • Protagonists are first hesitant of their genuine feelings, but eventually, open up their hearts to one another.

7. Kimi no Todoke

Kimi no Todoke

Sawako Kuronuma, like any other student in her school, intends to spend her high school years alongside friends and desires to fit into the definition of worth. But her uncanny resemblance to Sadako from “The Ring,” makes her appear spooky, and not many of her peers want to associate with her.

On top of that, her non-existent social skills and crippling insecurities are not much of an avail either. So, when this timid and misunderstood girl meets one of the school’s most popular guys, Kazehaya, she is immediately drawn to him.

Sawako began admiring Kazehaya from the first encounter because of his vibrant personality, which is the absolute antithesis of hers. The story unfolds the friendship between these two opposites, as well as Sawako’s quest for regaling high school life.  

Similarities:

  • The misunderstood character hypothesis works well for both Ryuji and Sadako, who are misunderstood from the very beginning due to their looks.  
  • The quest to discover the true meaning of friendship prevails throughout the plot.  
  • Both of the main protagonists in their respective anime appear to be loners at first, but just meeting the right person changes everything.  
  • The plot gets fueled with comedy and romance is the major point to be noted.   

6. Say I Love You

Say I Love You

Say I love you (Suki-tte ii na yo), a 2012 romance anime, narrates the life story of Mei Tachibana, a mundane and unassuming teenage girl. Tachibana is reserved. So much so that she never in her life had a boyfriend nor does she have any friends.

Faced with some trauma in her childhood, when all her friends turned their backs on her and emerged as toxic, Tachibana now no longer seeks friends or relationships. She relishes it quiet and keeps to herself.

But it all transmutes one day when our protagonist encounters Yamato Kurosawa, the school’s popular hunk. With an acerbic and misunderstood encounter, Yamato grows interested in Tachibana, which she conspicuously dislikes at the start.

However when Yamato reaches her out and made her experience the comeliness of friendship, the walls inside her heart start to crumble. This ultimately leads to a blossoming relationship between the two.  

Similarities:

  • The romance between the couple grows slowly but strongly in the case of, both Tachibana and Yamato, and Taiga and Takasu.   
  • Even though look quiet and meek, both the female leads can kick the butts out when snapped.   
  • Taiga is hyperactive while on the other hand, Tachibana seems but both face troubles when it comes to comity or love.  
  • Hunk and protective male leads steal the show in both anime.

5. Nisekoi

Nisekoi

What follows when Raku Ichijou, the sole heir of a yakuza faction, and Chitoge Kirisaki, daughter of the leader of the rival gang “Beehive,” are compelled to become a couple of pretenses simply for the city’s peace?

Raku Ichijou is least bothered by the gang’s antics and wishes to live as a normal high school student alongside his middle school crush, Kosaki Onodera. However, his life takes an unexpected turn when he stumbles upon, tsundere Chitoge Kirisaki and lost the pendant given to him by his childhood friend when they parted ways 10 years ago.

All of this caused him to fall in hate with our feisty female protagonist at the very first sight.  So, regardless of the plot filled with twists and turns and a less-than-romantic start, this mismatched pair works out better than anyone anticipated.  

Similarities:

  • Both the anime serve the theme of love/hate at their best, with Nesekoi being extra in terms of a fake couple, past promises, long-lost childhood love, and hidden identities.   
  • Here as well, both the male protagonists find themselves attracted to the other girl and take a heck lot of episodes to realize their true feelings towards the female protagonists.   
  • A big thumbs up to everyone who crushes over the blue hair protagonists, as both the male leads are blessed with attractive blue hair.   
  • Both the anime are romantic comedies with savage female leads, but here also Niskekoi stands out, in terms of having more female characters in store.

4. Lovely Complex

Lovely Complex

Who doesn’t have a complex and feel ever confident about themselves? Well, hardly anyone does. The same is true for Risa Koizumi and Atsushi Ootani, two high school students for whom finding love is a far-to reach reality.

Risa Koizumi is a typical adolescent, but a little…actually, much taller than the rest of her classmates. Meanwhile, Atsushi Otani, who is shorter than the other guys at school, wishes to join the basketball team.

Being saddened by their unfulfilled love experience isn’t enough for them; their homeroom teacher even labeled them as “the comic duo” thanks to their height differences. Lovely complex is a beautiful story of Risa and Otani embracing their complexes and discovering pristine love and companionship in one another.   

Similarities:

  • With cross crush scenario, both anime find resemblance in each other.  
  • Both anime give the reader a plethora of never-forgetting comedic elements.  
  • Height differences in both anime serve as the cherry on the top.   
  • Both anime give viewers a sense of realization about what it feels like to live with complexes and be judged only on looks.

3. Horimiya

Hormiya

Kyoko Hori is a gentle, gorgeous, and popular student that everyone wants to hang out with. In stark contrast, Izumi Miyamura is a quirky, geeky glasses-wearing guy for whom socializing is a distant dream.

Hori has everything a typical adolescent would expect from her high school life, except time. Because she has to look after her younger brother and handle house chores after school, she seems to have no time to socialize with her friends.

Miyamura, on the other hand, seems timid and modest, but in reality, has piercings and tattoos all over his body, making him appear more akin to a gentle delinquent. After one eventful meeting, they both lay their true selves bare to one other and accept each other’s odds, and so begins an unforgettable story of odds and romance.   

Similarities:

  • Finding acceptance for themselves and letting the world see their real self are the main themes around which the plot revolves.  
  • Both anime portray the protagonist’s desire to live a full and typical high school life.  
  • With many more characters to focus on than the protagonists, both anime emphasize friendship and romance at their core.  
  • Being a slice-of-life romcom with excellent character development, binge-watching is a must. 

2. The Familiar of Zero

The Familiar of Zero

The Familiar of Zero chronicles the narrative of Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière and Saito Hiraga, which is jam-packed with adventure, comedy, and romance, with the spice of magic.

Without a single conception of his life’s next turn, Saito Hiraga, gets Isekaid to the world of mages, spells, and aristocrats, only to become the familiar to Louise, a mage of the noble family with absolutely worst magic skills.

Thanks to her inability to wield any of the four components of magic, she earned herself the designation of “Louie the zero”, by her classmates at the Tristain Academy of magic. As Louise summoned Saito, the ceremony turned catastrophic.

Now struck in this outlandish world, Saito is treated more akin to a slave than a familiar, all thanks to Louise. Even though they started at the wrong table, as the story progresses, they grow closer than they had ever anticipated and fell head over heels for one another.  

Similarities:

  • Both anime’s main themes include comedy, romance, and friendship.  
  • Cool, tsundere, and opulent female characters who still have a lot to learn about the world around them.  
  • As the story progresses, the male heroes’ characters amend significantly.  
  • In both cases, the main protagonists start off the rails yet end up with unbreakable chemistry.  

1. Maid – Sama

maid-sama- anime like toradora

Headstrong and tsundere Misaki Ayuzawa, a sixteen-year-old high school student, is the first female president of the student council of Seika High school, which was predominantly an all-boys school.

Withal is nicknamed the demon president by the entire school for her rigorous attitude towards boys. But little does anyone know that her life is not what it seems to be. She is furtively working in a maid café, to pay for her father’s debts, which she conspicuously doesn’t want to reveal.

Her ship sailed smoothly until Takumi Usui, one of the most popular guys in the school, discovered her long preserved secret. But why is this Dreamboat following Ayuzawa around instead of unfolding her secret?  

Similarities:

  • Both the anime are adaptations of the manga.    
     
  • Elements of romance and comedy are plenary to the brim. 
  • The main characters in both the anime are portrayed as vigorous and believe to tackle their life issues by themselves.    
  • Ayuzawa and Taiga both suffer great loss because of their father’s indifferent attitude towards the family.

Final Thoughts!

We’re hoping for a new season of Toradora with our all-time favorites Taiga and Ryuji. So, if you’ve fallen for this incredibly mismatched duo, you might as well consider watching the above-recommended series.   

As you enjoy watching these beautiful anime like Toradora, feel free to leave a comment if our recommendation list appeals to you or if you have any other anime in mind. 

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Posted by
Bhumika Tiwari

Bhumika Tiwari is a freelance content writer pursuing a master's degree in English Literature. She is passionate about writing and loves to read. Along with expertise in drafting and proofreading, she is well-spoken and well-informed when speak of ideas and literary trends.