Clannad documents a very misunderstood boy named Tomoya Okazaki and his relationships with various people in high school, particularly with Nagisa Furukawa, the friendship with who grows romantically over time. Tomoya first notices Nagisa when she alone shouts random things, catching Tomoya’s attention. Following that incident, Tomoya becomes more aware of Nagisa’s presence around school, finding out that she is actually a grade older but was held back because she was often too ill to leave home. Now that Nagisa is becoming more active and present at school, she dreams of reviving the drama club. As such, Tomoya reluctantly helps along with four other friends. While he interacts with his companions, Tomoya realizes the intricate details of their lives, providing them guidance as needed and deepening their relationships.

Though Tomoya is perceived as a delinquent, he is quite the opposite. Prior to meeting his friends and progressing through high school, Tomoya strongly resented the town he lived in. He harbored much negativity towards it, particularly because he lost his mother at a young age and over time, grew distant from his father. However, Tomoya slowly grows to accept his town, as he builds close bonds with his friends, and of course Nagisa. Tomoya has a tough exterior, but deep inside, he only wants the best for those he cares for, truly expressing his kind-hearted essence.

In the anime Kimi ni Todoke, Sawako’s appearance is often mistaken as the scary girl from “The Ring,” thus giving her the nickname, Sadako. The gossip surrounding Sawako deters people from getting to know who she really is. In this response, the people who really know her can say that she is opposite from this fictitious film character: Sawako is very timid, kind and sweet. As Sawako yearns for friends and a sense of fitting in, she is drawn to Shouta Kazehaya, the most popular boy at school. Incidentally, when Kazehaya starts talking to her, Sawako’s spirit is overjoyed. Over the course of time, Sawako and Kazehaya venture on to new experiences, both individually and together.

Kazehaya’s personality is quite the opposite of Sawako. His popularity and recognition differs greatly from Sawako, in that everyone is attracted to his outgoing and friendly personality. Although many girls like him, what drew him to Sawako is the fact that she did not give him this intense, all-consuming infatuation like many others do. This shy, timid, and reserved quality that Sawako possesses makes Kazehaya more interested in her. Furthermore, for the longest time, he is unaware of the mutual interest she has for him, until this is revealed in later episodes.

Mikado Ryuugamine moves to the big city, Ikebukuro, after hearing of its excitement and to attend school there. His childhood friend, Masaomi Kida, becomes his tour guide, showing him all the hot spots and all there is to see. Together, the two boys explore the city with various run-ins with a myriad of characters, which include Celty Sturluson and Shinra Kishitani. These varying characters are highlighted throughout the anime, notating their own trials and tribulations, resulting in a massive spider web of interconnectedness. Durarara! is a captivating and intriguing series, leaving viewers eager for what’s to come and how everything comes full circle.    

Shinra and Celty’s relationship is very unique and dynamic. Shinra is a man of science, while Celty is a mythical being. While they discover the mystery that surrounds Celty’s existence, they present a dissimilar trait from what the others on this list reveal. Contrasting to the “school age love”, Shinra and Celty have a greater level of maturity and intellect that surrounds their attraction to one another, producing a strong, emotional bond that significantly develops throughout the years of knowing each other. As Celty can only communicate via texting, Shinra has a way of understanding her without reading what she types.

Misaki Ayuzawa is the first female school president of an academy that newly transitioned from being all-boys to co-ed. As everyone refers to Misaki as the “Demon President”, she is not afraid to administer discipline and stick up for her classmates in need. Strong and strict, Misaki appears to be running the show. However, as Misaki seems to be nothing short of perfection, she embarrassingly works part-time as a café maid in order to support her family. No one at her school knows about this shameful secret until the most popular boy in school, Takumi Usui catches her on her work shift. Caught in a bind, Takumi holds the power of whether to bring the president down or take advantage of the situation to get closer to her.

What started as a way to break Misaki’s spirit and to poke fun, Takumi begins to frequent the café she works at. With each visit, Takumi begins to notice the strain and stress the work she does is having on her, in addition to the activities she has to deal with at school. Even though Takumi tells Misaki she is pushing herself too hard, she ignores his comments, but soon becomes too overwhelmed with fatigue. Takumi grows worried for her, feeling uneasy with all this work she piles onto herself. Therefore, Takumi takes it upon himself to look after her in every aspect, as she is his own “personal maid” for the day.

In Sukitte Ii na yo, Mei Tachibana’s outlook on socialization is significantly altered when Yamato Kurosawa enters her life, profoundly changing her approach on living and how she went about things. Mei is painfully shy and socially awkward, while on the other hand, Yamato is the dreamy prince that everyone wants to know. As we follow Sukitte Ii na yo, we notice that it tackles a very realistic approach. Everyday issues are confronted and perhaps relatable to viewers, e.g., insecurities, relationships, various life obstacles and everything in between. Moreover, the lives of Mei and Yamato are so relatable, we can’t help but feel the joys, sorrows and connections that these characters emanate.

Yamato Kurosawa is a very selfless individual who puts the feelings of others before his own. Even though he wasn’t always like this, he learned from his past that it is important to preserve others from harm while he can help it. From this, he values meaningful relationships where he can grow from experiences, as well as helping others flourish from it. As such, even though he is incredibly handsome, he regards the worth of consequential companionship more so than popularity and appearances.

Sword Art Online shows the story of the huge release and gameplay for the virtual MMO game, Sword Art Online. Highly popularized, with media throwing itself into a raving frenzy, gamers anticipated the day when the game was finally out to play. As it is finally here, participants enter the game, having a blast, until they realize a “glitch”; that the game doesn’t have a “logout” button. As this causes a great deal of confusion, everyone gathers towards the common area, where the Game Master Akihiko Kayaba confronts them. The GM announces that he purposely did not make a ‘logout’ button to test players’ strengths and abilities. Moreover, the virtual world affects them wholly, as harm inflicted would take effect in the real world. As many are frightened by this circumstance, Kazuto “Kirito” Kirigaya takes the lead, having knowledge of gameplay as a beta tester. Here we watch Kirito face various challenges, meet new players, and gain levels and experience.

One of the most exciting things about MMOs is that these alternate worlds take the individual out of the monotonous reality of daily stressors and schedules. One interesting element for some MMOs is the opportunity to marry one another. In SAO, Kirito marries Asuna Yuuki. As the game has adverse effects in the matter of life and death, Kirito is the kind of person who is completely devoted to the mission at hand, utilizing all his efforts and talents in order to accomplish his aims. Similar to him, Asuna operates the same way, unable to forsake anything or anyone in need.

Hal is a unique love story chronicling the lives of Kurumi and Hal. In a tragic airplane accident, Kurumi loses the love of her life, Hal. After this misfortune, Kurumi falls into depression, shutting herself from the outside world. Disheartened by Kurumi’s despair, her grandfather arranges for her a humanoid robot, designed to help alleviate her heartache. Resembling Hal in every way, Kurumi is reluctant at first, but slowly grows to love again, regaining the love she thought she lost with Hal.

Although artificially created, Hal is incredibly useful to uplifting Kurumi’s spirit in her darkest hour. Communicating the fact that love is sourced from various avenues, Hal makes known that love is love and comes into light in the most surprising forms. Even though society has not quite advanced to the technology of humanoid robots, Hal expresses the hope that love is not all lost.

Ao Haru Ride follows the life of Yoshioka Futaba as a newly enrolled high school student. Recognized as the “cute girl” in middle school, Yoshioka is on a mission to revamp her image; she was hated on by the girls in middle school and was popular and wanted by all the boys. As we dive deeper into the anime, we observe that Yoshioka is faced with the many issues and obstacles of being a teenager: love, romance, friendship, etc. On top of that, her new, contrasting image disrupts how she truly is. Also in this time, Yoshioka crush from middle school, Kou Mabuchi, joins her. Similarly, Kou’s appearance too has greatly changed from middle school. Collectively, Ao Haru Ride, channels Yoshioka and Kou discovering themselves and the development of their relationship.

Kou and Yoshioka’s relationship is very innocent, cute and flirtatious. Kou often times announces how different Yoshioka is from before and misses the old her. As they are both crushing on one another, they deny these feelings by dating others. Uncertain about seeing other people, Kou and Yoshioka wonder if these relationships they are in are of any value. When they finally accept being with each other, they realize that personal appearances and pride are upstaged by affection and familiarity.

Shinya “Momo” Momotsuki receives a letter in his locker from a secret admirer, Yuki Kurihara. Flattered by this gesture, he meets Yuki, where she confesses her love for him. Consequently, he accepts the opportunity for the two to become a couple, making things official. Right from the start, Yuki surprises viewers with detailed information about Momo, all the while having met him shortly before. As such, we discover that Yuki’s obsession with Momo is full-fledged; where she documents everything he does, leaving little mystery about Momo.

In this astounding circumstance, Momo finds Yuki’s stalker-ish ways adorable, countering her behavior in an identical manner. When we look past Yuki’s fanatical ways, we can observe the essence of their puppy love relationship. Being each other’s first “real” relationship, Momo’s intention is demonstrated throughout, as he only aims to keep Yuki happy. Although Yuki has a neurotic approach in showing how much she really likes Momo, he really cares for her and comes to her defense when others put her down.

The romantic comedy Ore Monogatari follows Takeo Gouda, whose appearance is unlike your typical high school student. With his tall and husky build, in combination with his intimidating facial features, he unfortunately has zero luck with the ladies. One day, to his physical advantage, he saves a girl on a train named Rinko Yamato from a creepy groper. Here, Takeo’s chance at love is finally in his grasp. Henceforth, we observe the blooming and developing relationship between Takeo and Rinko, as these two embark on a loving and picturesque relationship that is too cute to handle!

Takeo takes the number one position on this list for top 10 anime boyfriends because throughout this anime, we couldn’t help having an ear-to-ear grin with the surpassing amount of cuteness between Takeo and Rinko. The multi-dimensions of Takeo and Rinko’s characters reveal the complete nature of being in a relationship, both positive and negative aspects. Takeo’s gentle, passive, and caring qualities are extremely exemplary and his devotion to Rinko is truly genuine in every facet of innocent love. #RELATIONSHIPGOALS