Ready to get stabbed in all the feels to the point where it feels like you will never ever be able to recover? Welcome to Clannad: After Story. Picking up where the first season, CLANNAD, left off, Tomoya and Nagisa graduate from high school and Tomoya lands a job working to support his new wife aka Nagisa. They struggle a lot but together they are able to persevere with each other and Nagisa becomes pregnant. They push forward to have their child Ushio, but at what cost? Keep a box of tissues nearby because this one will make you cry.

When comparing these two, some people are thrown off. Itazura na Kiss is a bright anime while Clannad After Story is very serious. Ah ha! This is where you have to look beyond the surface and first impressions. The stories are actually quite similar, high school romance that turns into something more which leads to marriage. The struggles that Nagisa and Tomoya go through are very similar to what Kotoko and Naoki go through as well. The growing pains of growing up. No one is a child forever.

There is, of course, central themes like romance, and really anyone can enjoy these series. The final major thing to note is that both of these anime actually show what life is like DURING and AFTER romance. So many shows end too soon! But don’t take our word for it, check out the PV yourself!

Ready for dem good feels after bawling your eyes out? Great! Kimi ni Todoke is about Sawako Kuronuma who has a heart of gold. She just has one problem, everyone thinks she is actually super evil! People even call her Sadako, from The Ring, due to her quiet personality and long black hair combined with her scary demeanor. Till one day when she is drawn to a bright and upbeat boy named Shouta Kazehaya. Sawako though looks up to him because of his refreshing personality. Hoping to become friends with him, Sawako makes friends with unlikely classmates and Kazehaya, before suddenly things are moving in a new direction for her.

Itazura na Kiss and Kimi ni Todoke are actually very very similar. Both are sweet and upbeat though the personalities are a bit dialed back. Unlike semi-aggressive Kotoko and cold Irie, Sawako and Shouta are much easier to take. If you are looking for concrete solid lines, both Shouta and Irie are super popular in their classes and the relationships that develop between the girls and the boys of the respective series are between two very unique personalities. Kimi ni Todoke will also calm you down and help you refresh and relax after bawling your eyes out at Clannad After Story.

Hikari Hanazono met Kei Takishima when she was six years old. Their fathers, both wrestler aficionados, introduced them. Hikari challenged Kei to a match and promptly lost! They became friends regardless, but Hikari was determined to beat Kei in something! Anything! She just needed the chance! So she is enrolled in an upper crust of society high school called Hakusenkan. Unfortunately, or rather, fortunately, for her, Kei is there too! He is the top student in the school and she is the student right underneath him. Completely KY, she does not realize Kei’s feelings until she begins to challenge him as her rival…

Where these two shows are similar is there is that upbeat feeling and Special A also plays to its comedic elements. The upward battle of Hikari to reach Kei is much like how Kotoko pushes herself from the bottom class upwards to try and get closer to Naoki. Speaking of Naoki, he and Kei are both at the tops of their respective grades. Kotoko is quite the klutz much like Hikari as well. This is supposed to appeal to a Shoujo audience, but anyone can enjoy it!

Misaki Ayuzawa is the most terrifying student council president at her school. Why? Well, the school used to be an all-boys school, she is the first female president, and… a deep secret. She works at a Maid Café! Complete with a maid uniform, she works to help support her family who is struggling to pay their bills. Misaki is doing a fantastic job of juggling her lives until one day, the most popular boy in school just strolls into the maid café where she works! Takumi Usui could say something and watch her burn, or keep her secret. What will he do?

For Misaki and Kotoko, the struggle is real – a common theme here. Kotoko has to dig herself and her grades out of a hole while Misaki has to keep juggling everything and now deal with Takumi knowing her secret. Much like with Special A, Naoki from Itazura and Takumi from Kaichou both are calling the shots at their schools from the top. The clumsy humor is also rampant in both of these series. The enjoyable difference here is that Takumi chases after Misaki while Kotoko chases after Naoki. You gotta keep things slightly different!

Chiyo Sakura is a young high school girl with a crush. In love with a boy named Umetarou Nozaki, she confesses her feelings. Umetarou is so out of it, that he hands her an autograph? Umetarou is actually another KY character who cannot realize how other people feel because he is actually a massively big shoujo manga artist! Chiyo then somehow becomes an assistant to Umetarou. She decides that she will do her best to help him while getting him to notice her feelings.

Much like Itazura na Kiss, Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun has an aloof male protagonist. While Naoki refuses to engage, Umetarou is just out of it. Stoic in nature they are hotly pursued by an upbeat girl who wants to be noticed by the male counterpart. Rolling in gags, they are also a bit on the comedic side while Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun is actually shonen and Itazura na Kiss is Shoujo. Regardless of the target audience, fans of either will enjoy the other!

Ore Monogatari is how you properly write a romcom. Sweet and kindhearted Takeo Gouda looks nothing like the previous two adjectives. Extremely tall for a tenth grader and covered in muscles, he is the stereotype of “masculine” to a T. Takeo can never get a girlfriend though because all girls are terrified of him and they always confess to his best friend and pretty boy, Makoto Sunakawa. One day, though, Takeo saves the cutest little girl named Rinko from a train groper and through a series of mishaps, actually starts to spend time with her. Suddenly, Takeo’s love story begins.

Unconventional love is a theme between these two shows. Naoki would never go after a girl so beneath him, but he eventually does. Rinko, a delicate little girl, and Takeo, a hulking brute of a man, are the last people that would get paired up in people’s minds. From day one, you are in a sea of emotions with these two as you support them and they grow together. The best part too is as you watch, the comedic jokes and the little things make you appreciate these two series even more. This is DEFINITELY one that you will want to catch!