By that, I mean anime where the romance is at most a secondary plotline.
Planetes. I showed up for the sci fi, stayed for the wholesome.
The love between Isami and Bravern in Brave Bang Bravern. Unironically.
This is gonna sound stupid but I was so completely sidetracked by the romance subplot in Saiki-K. Even though the protagonist, who is also narrator with some level of meta-awareness, is constantly trying to make the romance subplot not happen.
A large part of me binge watching through to the end was to see if that would E V E R go anywhere. It ddoesn’t.
I like it because the two participants in this crush are gods in their respective field; Kusuo Saiki is a master of all superpowers, Kokomi Teruhashi is a master of being beautiful. And yet the anticipated direction of attraction is completely reversed; teruhashi longs for Saiki because he’s the only person not interested in her. This is done initially as a comedic gag, but the pure commitment to this bit throughout various different situations turns it into a tragic love worthy of Greek epics
It sees Teruhashi change as a person as well. Love which transforms is the most powerful kind. I like to think that the affection she directs towards Saiki is part of what helped him become more human.
Not to mention the romance between Kaidou and Yumehara.
I love how everyone grows and develops through the series.
Log Horizon
Lycoris Recoil?
I like ‘Spice and Wolf’ as an answer to this.
I’d say Dragonball Z Abridged. It fixed Android 18 and Krillin’s romance and really elevated it to the next level. Where in the original it basically comes out of nowhere it is super wholesome and believable in Abridged.
Saekano
