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Because some of these romance anime protagonists range from downright displeasing to criminally wrong. As a result, it’s often hard for some of their viewers to continue watching 12 or 24 more episodes of these anime protagonists bumbling about, causing all sorts of unnecessary drama. Better watch out for these bad boys and bad girls in romance anime.
10 Natsuo Fuji & the Tachibana Twins (Domestic Girlfriend)
At its core, Domestic Girlfriend’s plot is just a script taken from an adult video, and efforts were made to try to transform it into something sensible. It involves a love triangle between a boy and his two step-sisters after all three of them were compelled to live under one roof due to their parents re-marrying each other.
The Tachibana sisters (who are blood-related) eventually develop into full-blown catfights just for a piece of Natsuo Fuji, their stepbrother. Natsuo, while decent and more mature than other hormonally-raging pre-pubescent boys, was indecisive about the two for the most part. That spun the three’s relationship into a family drama unlike any other.
9 Kazuya (Rent-A-Girlfriend)
There’s no shortage of “haters” for Kazuya, which is quite unprecedented since he’s the main guy in his own romance anime, Rent-a-Girlfriend. The opening moments of the show alone put Kazuya in a bad light. He’s terrible at communicating his feelings or communicating at all.
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What’s even worse is that he lied to his family and grandparents about having Chiruzu as his girlfriend. In fact, a lot of moments in the anime wouldn’t have happened if only Kazuya communicated half-decently at all. Come season 2, there’s still no shortage of fans polarized about Kazuya.
8 Aono Tsukune (Rosario + Vampire)
Aono Tsukune from Rosario + Vampire could have been lucky since he’s in a harem anime. The problem is, the “harem situationship” he got himself into is a school for mythical monsters. His parents apparently enrolled him there due to the cheap tuition.
Tsukune immediately found out that he was the only human in a school for man-eating monsters. Any sane human would have dropped out or gone AWOL, but Tsukune stayed simply because he’s in love with a vampire girl. Of course, there’s also the anime’s plot as a reason— a flimsy reason albeit.
7 Aisaka Taiga (Toradora)
Tsundere characters might be cute and lovely in anime, but in real life, they’d probably get sued multiple times for domestic abuse and battery. Aisaka Taiga from Toradora is one of the most popular among these tsundere girls. Often, she turns Ryuji into a punching bag and tends to be abrasive to everyone.
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She’s also disorderly and somewhat sociopathic, even refusing to thank Ryuji for cleaning her house and acting as her unpaid maid. To make matters worst, she’s way too possessive of Ryuji despite her harsh treatment toward him.
6 Yuki & Kaname (Vampire Knight)
Old vampires who are attracted to teenagers, love triangles, and incest, that’s what make the relationships in Vampire Knight wrong, to begin with. Yuki Cross is the main girl here and initially, she’s stuck in a love triangle with two powerful and old vampires. One of them is her ancestor.
Guess who she picked? She went with the ancestor guy, Kaname. Oh, but part of the reason why she chose him was that she was also convinced that Kaname was her brother. Kaname did reveal that he actually was Yuki’s ancestor, but that doesn’t make their relationship less creepy or acceptable.
5 Makoto Itou (School Days)
School Days is a psychological romance anime that starts out like a cookie-cutter high school drama title. That is until the male protagonist, Makoto Itou, started being indecisive and terrible at communication. Apparently, he’s averse to commitment.
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But that doesn’t stop Makoto from dating several girls under the pretense of a committed relationship. So when his girlfriends find out that Makoto has his own unannounced rules about relationships, all hell broke loose. People died, gruesomely; it turned into a horror anime afterward, all because a boy didn’t know what he wanted.
4 Sayu Origawa (Higehiro)
Sayu Origawa from Higehiro is a walking time bomb for a lot of legal-aged adults. Due to bullying, she fled her hometown and was forced to “offer herself” to working male adults in exchange for a place to stay. This high school girl kept jumping from household to household after getting kicked out due to imprisonment scares.
Eventually, she did find one decent guy who didn’t take advantage of her situation, but she still kept teasing him and forcing herself on him despite the latter’s reluctance and the threat of imprisonment if even the authorities find out.
3 All Protagonists in Diabolik Lovers
Diabolik Lovers is like Vampire Knight, except with a lot more disturbing premise. A young and innocent girl named Kanato Sakamaki ended up living in a mansion with six other guys, all of whom were vampires. This reverse harem made it even weirder after making Kanato their blood bag.
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So most of the anime is just the six vampire brothers taking turns sucking Kanato’s blood. And Kanato, like a good example of Stockholm Syndrome she is, ended up defending their actions and even falling for some of them.
2 All Protagonists in Love and Lies
Love and Lies is like an Orwellian dystopia that dabbles in romance, except it’s more kawaii. The people in this anime world have governments that assign their romantic partners to them, no more soulmate-searching needed.
Problems arise when the four main characters actually have other prospects in mind that aren’t what the government has assigned to them. Technically, this does put them in the wrong, though the circumstances make it a gray area. They still end up complicating their relationships despite knowing what they want.
1 All Protagonists in Scum’s Wish
Scum’s Wish is what happens when hormonal high schoolers don’t know how to process their emotions and grief. The anime begins with two friends hooking up with one another because they can’t have the people they love. They’re practically just substituting and using each other and they know it.
Turns out the people they like also have their own twisted love stories and they end up getting caught in this untidy web of hookups, forbidden relationships, and suppressed emotions. Most of them also didn’t deal with the consequences of their carelessness.
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