The 20 Most Iconic Anime Love Triangles

The 20 Most Iconic Anime Love Triangles

Love triangles are a staple of almost every kind of storytelling medium in the world. They’re present in many anime series and these are the best.

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A love triangle is when two characters both see a third character as a potential love interest. Most of the time the protagonist finds their way into this position, but not always. Sometimes there is even more than one love triangle in a series.

Just because two characters share a love interest doesn’t make them friends. As seen on this list of anime love triangles, sometimes the characters get along, and sometimes the two are rivals. Be sure to check out the character’s respective series that their love triangle comes from.

Updated on June 17th, 2021, by Rich Keller: What do you get when two people like a third? When it comes to romance, it’s awkward situations. Sometimes they’re funny. Other times they’re tragic. In anime, it’s a little of both.

20 School Rumble: Kenji Harima X Ouji Karasuma X Tenma Tsukamoto

High school is a breeding ground for love triangles. Sometimes it starts with a pair of people, like Kenji Harima and Tenma Tsukamoto, protagonists in the romantic comedy School Rumble. While they truly adore each other, they can’t admit it.

Then, as they move to the next year of school, a new element is added: Ouji Karasuma. Where Kenji is a delinquent, Ouji is as straight-laced as they come. Still, he finds something amazingly wonderful about Tenma. However, he also has an issue letting his true intentions be known.

19 Honey And Clover: Shinobu Morita x Hagumi Hanamoto x Yuuta Takemoto

Sometimes, a love triangle becomes a love square. This is when a fourth person starts to have feelings for the pair attracted to the single person. Though symmetrical, it causes even more confusion.

Such is the case in Honey and Clover. A pair of art college students, Shinobu Morita and Yuuta Takemoto, fall for Yuuta Takemoto. There are two further complications besides the love triangle. First, Shinobu and Yuuta are roommates. Second, her friend, Ayumi, begins to fall for one of the young men.

18 Voltron: Legendary Defender: Keith x Lance x Princess Allura

This might seem like a stretch but in the early seasons of Netflix’s Voltron: Legendary Defender, it seemed something was going on between Keith, Lance, and Princess Allura. However, it wasn’t as blatant as other love triangles. While Lance was truly engaged in impressing Allura, the romance was more subdued between her and Keith.

The triangle was broken in season eight of the series. Allura finally succumbs to Lance’s intentions and starts a romance with him. In the end, this is good news. The somewhat immature Lance becomes more caring and protective during this period.

17 Ef – A Tale Of Memories: Kei Shindou x Hiro Hirono x Miyako Miyamura

A prime component of love triangles tends to be the interest of one childhood friend for another. Since the latter doesn’t realize the former is infatuated with them, they turn to another person. This is the concept behind Ef: A Tale of Memories.

The childhood friends are Kei Shindou and Hiro Hirono. On Christmas Eve, Hiro lets Miyako Miyamura borrow his bike to stop a purse thief. When he discovers the bike destroyed and Miyako unconscious, the young man brings the girl to his home. This is where a romance starts to bloom and Kei’s jealousy emerges.

16 Golden Time: Kouko Kaga x Banri Tada x Nana Hayashida

Amnesia is good news and bad news for Banri Tada. The bad news is he forgets everything about his previous life. The good news is he can start anew. He does this by enrolling in law school.

One of his classmates, Kouko Kaga, begins to fall for him. However, as Banri’s life starts to gel, in steps Nana Hayashida: A former childhood friend and romantic partner. Though he thinks repressed feelings are returning, Banri isn’t sure if they are real or not.

15 White Album 2: Setsuna Ogiso x Haruki Kitahara x Kazusa Touma

This love triangle begins as messy as it started. Setsuna Ogiso asks out Haruki Kitahara firstー before Kazusa Touma has the chance to tell him about her feelings.

In addition to this, Haruki is interested in Kazusa but begins to date Setsuna because Kazusa never confesses her feelings. While all of them get along as members of the Light Music Club, the real drama between the three is seen as the anime’s plot unfolds, making it one of the most well-written love triangles in anime.

14 Neon Genesis Evangelion: Asuka Langley Sohryu x Shinji Ikari x Rei Ayanami

Neon Genesis Evangelion is less known for being a romance anime. Instead, it’s renowned as one of the most highly-acclaimed psychological mecha anime in existence (if not the best) by fans.

While most of them know about the tsundere of Asuka and her conflicting feelings toward Shinji, some fans think of the dynamic between him and Rei as a show of affection. She does not know how to process or understand these feelings, however. Whatever side fans are on, they can indeed be considered a love triangle to many.

13 Re:Zero: Emilia x Subaru x Rem

“I love Emilia” are words any fan of Re:Zero should know. Despite Subaru saying this to Rem for good reason, it doesn’t hurt any less. The love triangle between Emilia, Subaru, and Rem can go on for a long time, as Subaru only has eyes for Emilia in a romantic sense.

Despite fans wishing for him to love Rem back for how dedicated she is, this love triangle might stay on a one-way streak for a long timeーperhaps even until the light novel ends, as Rem and Emilia get along quite well.

12 Yona Of The Dawn: Hak Son x Yona x Su-Won

This love triangle is a tricky one, as Yona is in love with her childhood friend Su-Won. That is until she discovers that he killed her father and launched a coup d’etat against her kingdom.

On the other hand, Hak Son is her other childhood friend and bodyguard who has been in love with her as well. He simply watched her as she was in love with Su-Won. With the direction Yona of the Dawn has gone it seems apparent who will win in this love triangle.

11 Kiss X Sis: Riko Suminoe x Keita Suminoe x Ako Suminoe

Keita Suminoe has a love triangle between his twin stepsisters Riko and Ako Suminoe. Ako is seen as the token child, helping her mother out with cooking and cleaning, but on the inside, she’s a pervert.

Riko is more forward when speaking but has a shy personality. The twins can be told apart by their hairstyles. The series progresses far into Keita’s relationship with his sisters. Kiss x Sis is known for its 12-episode OVA but received a 10-episode side series in 2010.

10 Nagi-Asu: A Lull in the Sea: Manaka Mukaido x Hikari Sakishima x Chisaki Hiradaira

Nagi-Asu: A Lull in the Sea gives viewers a love triangle of three childhood friends. The world has been separated between those who live on land and those who live underwater. Manaka Mukaido and Chisaki Hiradaira both have a love interest in Hikari Sakishima. Chisaki is more mature between herself and Manaka and doesn’t let her emotions dictate her thoughts often.

Her calm demeanor is the opposite of Manaka. Emotionally driven, she struggles to realize what she really wants at times and ends up crying because of it. Despite this, Hikari still shows a preference for Manaka. She refuses to confess because she knows how Chisaki feels.

9 Skip Beat!: Ren Tsuruga x Kyouko Mogami x Shoutarou Fuwa

Kyouko Mogami was manipulated by Shoutarou Fuwa into being his servant to help him further his idol career. Vowing for revenge, Kyouko enters the idol scene starting a new life. Shou, who hides his full name in the series, is stuck up. While he views Kyouko as a steppingstone, he has genuine feelings for her.

Ren Tsuruga is the opposite of being super nice and uses Ren as a stage name. Separating Ren from his real name of Kuon Hizuri, Ren doesn’t think he is worthy of Kyouko having met her in the past.

8 Kokoro Connect: Himeko Inaba x Taichi Yaegashi x Iori Nagase

Love triangles can be complicated, but they can become even more so when body-switching is possible. In Kokoro Connect, Himeko Inaba and Iori Nagase have a love triangle towards Taichi Yaegashi.

Himeko is the vice president of the Cultural Research Club, giving her a professional aura but she’s sensitive on the inside. Iori is the president of the Cultural Research Club and is in love with Taichi as well but refuses to date him because of the body-switching epidemic. This allows the club members to switch bodies with one another for short periods. While in each other’s bodies they discover secrets that take a mental toll.

7 Chihayafuru: Taichi Mashima x Chihaya Ayase x Arata Wataya

In a classic example of a childhood friend against a transfer student, Chihayafuru has a love triangle between Taichi Mashima and Arata Wataya toward Chihaya Ayase. She’s is a tomboy and a love interest for childhood friend Taichi.

He has everything going for him but won’t admit his feelings for Chihaya due to transfer student Arata. Though the opposite of Taichi, he shares a common interest in Karuta with Chihaya. Chihaya inspires him to keep playing.

6 InuYasha: Kikyou x Inuyasha x Kagome Higurashi

One of the most popular anime on this list is InuYasha, which dates back to the fall of 2000. Inuyasha is a half-demon hybrid between a human and a youkai-dog. The love triangle in InuYasha is like no other. Kikyou is the shrine maiden in love with Inuyasha, who died but was brought back to life.

Kagome Higurashi is the reincarnation of Kikyou and has an interest in Inuyasha. Despite similar appearances, Inuyasha hasn’t forgotten his feelings for Kikyou.

5 Anohana: Meiko Honma x Jinta Yadomi x Naruko Anjou

Known for being an extremely sad anime, Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day has a love triangle between Meiko Honma and Naruko Anjou toward Jinta Yadomi. This is an interesting scenario as Jinta hasn’t fully recovered from Meiko’s, known as Menma, passing. Jinta wanted to confess his feelings to Menma but never got the chance.

Jinta’s childhood best friend, Naruko, known as Anaru, consoles him during his grieving. Naruko was jealous of Menma and can’t shake her feelings for Jinta.

4 School Days: Kotonoha Katsura x Makoto Itou x Sekai Saionji

School Days shows us just how dysfunctional a love triangle can get. The series follows Kotonoha Katsura and Sekai Saionji as they compete back and forth for Makoto Itou’s love. Makoto has a crush on Kotonoha and asks his friend Sekai for help. She agrees to help him but starts to fall for him as she continues.

Makoto makes things worse by leading both girls on, constantly switching back and forth between dating the two. He is seen cheating on each one with the other multiple times in the series as well.

3 Vampire Knight: Zero Kiryuu x Yuuki Cross x Kaname Kuran

Vampire Knight features a love triangle as drastic as the one between Bella, Edward, and Jacob in Twilight.

Yuuki Cross is in love with Kaname Kuran for saving her as a little girl. Meanwhile, Zero Kiryuu is in love with her for being her childhood friend. With the complicated dynamic between vampire and human, this love triangle managed to be one of the most famous examples in anime history.

2 Fruits Basket: Yuki Sohma x Toru Honda x Kyou Sohma

After the success of the Fruits Basket 2019 reboot, it’s only fitting that the anime makes this list. Toru Honda, also known as Tooru, moves into the Sohma household where she meets Yuki and Kyou Sohma. Toru’s kind-hearted personality attracts the Sohma boys. While they all live together Yuki and Kyou can’t help but fight with each other.

Yuki is very popular with the ladies at school but only has eyes for Toru. Kyo is less popular due to his fiery personality, often getting angry at everything Yuki does. Fitting how they embody the Chinese Zodiacs for Mouse and Cat respectively.

1 Nana: Nobuo Terashima x Nana Komatsu x Takumi Ichinose

Rounding out the list is the love triangle in Nana. While there is more than one of these in Nana, the situation between Nobuo Terashima and Takumi Ichinose toward Nana Komatsu plays a big influence on the story. Nobuo is the guitarist for his band Blast and went to school with Nana. Takumi is the bassist for his band Trapnest and takes interest in Nana despite being a player.

Ultimately Nana must choose who she wants to be with but the choice isn’t as easy as it sounds. An influential decision between Takumi and Nana changes her relationship with Nobuo forever.

Link Source : https://www.cbr.com/most-memorable-important-anime-romances/

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