Saddest Unrequited Love Stories In Anime

There are few things worse than unrequited love. The feeling of loving someone and wanting nothing more than they love back, but then when it’s not forthcoming, it can make the heart sick. The idea of unrequited love is by itself sad, but also an all too common reality for most people, and so it gets explored all across forms of media.

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By  Amy Cowley

There are several excellent anime stories about love, the giving and the taking, but then there are also stories that are about the feeling of falling in love and watching helplessly as the object of affection does something else.

Spoiler Warning: The following entries delve into major story spoilers for their respective anime.

9 Scum’s Wish

Hanabi And Mugi Are Connected By A Similar Pain

Scum’s Wish is a painfully realistic look at the messy side of love. Mugi and Hanabi are a couple, and to all the world, they look incredibly perfect; the two are attractive, and they seem to work well together.

However, the two are in love with people that they cannot be with. Hanabi is in love with her childhood friend, Narumi, while Mugi is interested in his tutor, Akane. What’s worse, soon, both Akane and Narumi begin to date, which is just the worst news for the two protagonists.

8 5 Centimeters Per Second

Takaki’s Life Is On Pause Over His Failed Love Life

Takaki and Akari met when they were young and quickly fell in love, but by the end of 5 Centimeters per Second, they were never able to be together. This Makoto Shinkai film from 2007 is all about the pain of unrequited love and the importance of moving on.

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Takaki is unable to move on from Akari, who seemingly has no such problems. Meanwhile, there is also another girl, Takae, who is in love with Takaki, but his obsession with Akari means he is never able to even see Takae. It is uniquely painful to see someone pining over someone else they can never be with while failing to appreciate what’s right in front of them.

7 Orange

Suwa Gives Up His Future With Naho For Kakeru’s Life

Orange starts out with quite a lot of sadness, as it is revealed that Kakeru takes his own life due to tremendous grief over his mother’s passing. This means that the potential relationship with Naho was impossible.

While the show eventually ends on a happy note with the friend group able to prevent Kakeru’s passing in an alternate timeline where Kakeru and Naho end up together, it means that Suwa, who is married to Naho (and had always loved her) has to give up his present reality for the one in which Kakeru stays alive, but is with Naho.

6 Monthly Girls' Nozaki-Kun

Chiyo Is Never Able To Get Nozaki To Notice Her

Chiyo is in love with the stoic Nozaki and finally works up the courage to confess her feelings to him at the start of Monthly Girls' Nozaki-Kun. It turns into a disaster as Nozaki doesn't even register the confession and instead gives her an autograph. She eventually finds out that he is a famous manga artist.

While Chiyo finds great relationships with her classmates and even Nozaki, she is never able to confess again, and Nozaki is oblivious to her feelings the entire time. While it is true that Chiyo’s feelings might have simply been a crush that will fade away, there is also something painful about seeing her fail again and again.

5 School Rumble

Most Of The Show Sees Harima Unable To Get Tenma To See Him

School Rumble is a hilarious show that is about how people deal with unrequited love. While the anime’s ending is happy in the sense that each character finds love somehow, most of the show sees reformed delinquent, Kenji Harima, try to get his feelings across to Tenma.

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The manga shows the full extent of his inability to be with Tenma — and the pain he went through because of it. Those who suffer from unrequited love can find someone for them, but it cannot erase the pain of loving and not being loved in return.

4 Honey And Clover

A True Coming-Of-Age Story That Shows The Realities Of Youth And Love

Honey And Clover is an underrated classic that comes from the creator of March Comes In Like A Lion, Chica Umino. Unlike March, which focuses on Shogi, Honey And Clover follows a group of friends studying in art college.

Yuuta, Shinobu, and Takumi — along with other characters — find themselves grappling with life, love, and the future that they are chasing for themselves. For anyone hoping for a happy ending, they will be met with a more realistic ambiguity whereby things can easily go anywhere in terms of romantic pairings.

3 Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines!

Unrequited Love Is The Main Character

Too often, when watching an anime about unrequited love, viewers only get the moment of rejection and little else. But, Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines, a 2024 show that was perhaps a little underrated, focused almost exclusively on what comes after a failed confession.

Anna, Lemon, and Chika have all lost out on the boys they like, and they all converge on Nukumizu, the uppity high schooler who just wants to live an uneventful life. Makeine is a little sad, as one would normally want the heroines to get the people they want, but it explores the awkwardness and the fight to move on in hilarious and thought-provoking ways.

2 Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-

Justice For Rem

Re:ZERO is one of the most recognizable isekai shows of the modern age. It follows Suabru, who comes into a new world and has to navigate the crazy intricacies of the environment. Season 1 was quite popular, especially because of the character, Rem, who was in love with Subaru.

Unfortunately, Subaru had eyes only for Emilia, and Rem had to live with that pain. No one will forget in a hurry the scene with Rem’s confession, rejection, and subsequent promise to continue to support Subaru. It was painful, and it still hurts.

1 Your Lie In April

Tsubaki Doesn't Resolve Her Feelings For Arima In A Timely Fashion

There is a certain false sense of security people can have when they’ve known someone forever and believe that the person will always be there. It is even more dangerous when considered in a romantic capacity.

This was the story of Your Lie in April. Tsubaki had always known Arima, and liked him, but she did nothing about it. It only dawned on her that Arima might not always be there when Kaori came on the scene. Arima never saw Tsuabki as more than a friend, and it hurt watching him agonize over Kaori. The show's tragic end probably made things a lot worse.

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