Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro is a RomCom that builds entirely around a unique relationship dynamic between our two main characters, Nagatoro Hayase and Hachiouji Naoto. The dynamic of our central couple, as the title suggests, is that of teasing or bullying as Nagatoro enjoys poking and prodding Naoto constantly to see his reaction. A typical sadodere character, Nagatoro hides her interest in Naoto by pushing his buttons leading to a romance developing between the two.

Much like Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!, Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro illustrates a relationship that develops from one end towards a reluctant senpai before their socially awkward exterior is broken down. The relationship dynamic that develops is one of entertaining teasing built on mutual understanding of each other.

Yoshiko Hanabatake is not the brightest high schooler in the world, and her obsession with bananas just compounds the essence of an absurd lack of prospects. The only person to keep her in check is Akuru “A-kun” Akutsu, Yoshiko’s childhood best friend who is a studious model student and has no issue knocking sense into his friend.
Yoshiko and A-kun have such a similar relationship to Uzaki-chan and Shinichi that we had to include Aho Girl on our list. Annoying their male best friend to no end with eccentric antics, often resulting in awkward outbursts and comedic situations, like misunderstood screaming in public by Sakurai to Uzaki-chan, or A-kun whacking Yoshito with a book for disturbing kids in public.

A strange, but interesting premise for an anime RomCom setting, Dagashi Kashi removes our usual love story from education and plants it in the rural Japanese candy store. Our picturesque rural store is run by the eccentric You Shikada, however his son, Kokonotsu Shikada wants nothing to do with peddling sweets and instead dreams of becoming a manga artist. Enter Shidare Hotaru, arriving from a mega-corporation to win You Shikada to her family’s sweet-making company but only under the condition that Kokonotsu takes over his family’s store.

Dagashi Kashi is a strange RomCom anime, with the unusual setting taking us away from the standard high school format, instead giving a rather unique insight into the world of Japanese sweets as Kokonutsu and Hotaru compete in silly challenges as they grow closer. Hotaru’s constant pestering of “Kokonutsu” is exactly like that of Uzaki and Sakurai, with the two characters giving off the same smug vibe in comparison to their socially awkward love interest.

Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku dropped in Spring of 2018 and made a splash as a new romance anime that has a strange setting. Narumi and Hirotaka are childhood best friends working at the same company, but they both hide their true selves from their coworkers. Hirotaka is a gaming otaku and Narumi is a fujoshi, meaning they both understand each other well despite completely different interests.

A love story in anime being set in an adult setting is not that common, and it is nice to see that since Wotakoi’s adaptation in 2018, more anime have been exploring mature settings, like the office or college. This setting for Uzaki-chan with our love interests working in the cafe, and Wotakoi being set in an office, allows for newer character dynamics that their colleagues bring. Hanako and Tarou are a good example in Wotakoi, the sort of older couple trying to guide the new love birds whilst figuring out love themselves. Similarly, Uzaki and Sakurai are constantly watched over by their friends Ami and Itsuhito who seem destined to couple up during their matchmaking for our main characters.

Workplace romances make for interesting anime, and My Senpai is Annoying is a perfect example of shows that were adapted after Wotakoi to show adult romance settings. The story follows the below average in height Futaba Igarashi as she holds down her sales job for a while thanks to the help of her larger-than-life senpai Harumi Takeda.

Senpai and Kouhai to romantic love interests is not an entirely new concept in RomCom anime, but placing the dynamic in the workplace adds a unique aspect as Igarashi and Takeda help guide each other. Much like Uzaki and Sakurai, the main couple have comically contrasting characteristics, such as one being socially reserved compared to an outgoing extrovert. However, Takeda in My Senpai is Annoying is a huge athletic man with an outgoing personality in contrast to Sakurai who is athletic in Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! but has an introverted personality. It is nice to see the traditional energetic female protagonist flipped with a male taking the social initiative.

When Will Ayumu Make His Move? is a sweet RomCom anime that follows middle school kendo champion, Ayumu Tanaka, as he begins his high school journey into club activities - not into kendo, but joining the unofficial shogi club. Ayumu has one goal, falling in love with the shogi club president - and only member, Urushi Yaotome. However, instead of confessing his love immediately after meeting, Ayumu determines to only confess once he has beaten Urushi fairly in a shogi match.

Much like Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!, we follow a couple that are clearly hiding feelings for each other, with Ayumu and Urushi feeling they can not confess until things are perfectly aligned. The same can be said for Uzaki and Sakurai, as the two clearly act and get on as a couple but refuse to finally confess throughout the anime. This dynamic in a RomCom anime is entertaining for viewers, but in a frustrating way as audiences want something to develop over the series.