The 17 of the Most Disturbing Relationships in Anime

The 17 of the Most Disturbing Relationships in Anime

If you use anime in order to set the standard for your real life relationships, you are going to be disappointed at the best of times and horribly abused at worst. Unlike actual television shows that occasionally show relationships that are at least somewhat normal, anime tends to take romance to the extremes. Either it is so unrealistically perfect that every one of your significant others will never live up to your standards or it is so bad that you will think abuse is somehow normal.

Why can’t anime just show a normal, healthy relationship?

The same reason your single friends don’t want to take basket weaving with you and your special someone. It is so damn boring to watch. Romance anime junkies want drama, and nothing breeds more drama than bad relationships. And boy, are there plenty of bad relationships to be found throughout anime.

Mischievous Kiss

The 17 of the Most Disturbing Relationships in Anime
The 17 of the Most Disturbing Relationships in Anime

Mischievous Kiss features a bad romance that goes both ways. You have Kotoko, who after getting flat out rejected during her confession of love by her crush, proceeds to still stalk and hold a major obsession over him. Her crush, Naoki, is no prince either. If he isn’t being completely cold to her, he is stringing his obsessive stalker along.

Through circumstance, they end up living together and feelings begin to develop, but even after they start dating, things get worse. Noaki ends up getting jealous and possessive even though he still, for the most part, continues his cold attitude. Kotoko, on the other hand, starts to come into her own, but continues to try and please a man that is so constantly hot and cold to her.

Midori Days

The 17 of the Most Disturbing Relationships in Anime
The 17 of the Most Disturbing Relationships in Anime

What isn’t wrong about falling in love with your right hand? I guess it is somehow less wrong when that hand turns out to be a girl like in Midori Days. Still, what is more unhealthy than developing feelings for a girl that is trapped as your hand. It is not like she can get away. While Midori does eventually get unhanded and put back in her body, she has no memory of her time spent with Seiji. This makes the fact that after a few days of being stalked by a guy she doesn’t remember even more strange when she suddenly admits that she loves him.

Nana

The 17 of the Most Disturbing Relationships in Anime
The 17 of the Most Disturbing Relationships in Anime

Nana is the go-to anime for romance fans that like a ton of drama. However, while Nana Osaki is actually relatively well adjusted in the realms of love and life, Nana Komatsu is a train wreck. Throughout the series she not only goes through multiple bad relationships, but one of her key character traits is falling in love with someone at first sight. “Falling in love” with someone within moments of meeting them is not love, it is infatuation, something that doesn’t pan out for Hachi very well.

My Little Monster

The 17 of the Most Disturbing Relationships in Anime
The 17 of the Most Disturbing Relationships in Anime

The relationship in My Little Monster between Shizuku and Haru is akin to two ships passing on the water. Very briefly are they aligned, but for the most part, they spend their time on two opposite sides. At first, Haru likes Shizuku, and then her snippiness pushes him away. Shizuku then realizes that she actually likes Haru, and that is how the rest of the series goes. Basically their whole relationship becomes one trying to push the other away.

Toradora

The 17 of the Most Disturbing Relationships in Anime
The 17 of the Most Disturbing Relationships in Anime

As cute as Toradora is, you can’t deny that there are a few things wrong with the relationship between Taiga and Ryuuji, at least at first. Ryuuji is fine, but it is Taiga that is the problem. Her verbal and physical abuse gets out of hand way too often. As someone who has trouble being honest with her own feelings, often hiding them behind violence, it can make for a bad relationship down the line. However, by the end of Toradora, Taiga does seem to come to terms with it more.

Hana Yori Dango

The 17 of the Most Disturbing Relationships in Anime
The 17 of the Most Disturbing Relationships in Anime

Hana Yori Dango’s popularity is baffling considering how terrible the actual relationship is. It is the poster child for the (thankfully dying out) trope that rich men can basically do whatever to you and you’ll love them all the same. Throughout the series Domyoji continues to try to dominate Makino either physically or through his money. He blackmails her family, kidnaps her, and basically tries to buy her love.

And it works! They fall in love. Sure, she loves him for him, but you can’t argue that she isn’t at least a little pleased by the money too? What’s worse is that without the money, Domyoji is actually a pretty unlikable sort of person.

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