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YURI ON ICE
Yuuri Katsuki grew up around ice skating with his friends and decided to make his passion his profession, becoming a top figure skater who represents Japan. After a crushing defeat during his first Grand Prix Final, however, he decided to retreat from the sports scene and return back to his hometown in Hasetsu. Yuuri grows unsure about his career and mulls over it through the best way: skating. Unbeknownst to him, his friend’s daughters film his skating program and upload it online, instantly becoming viral. Because of the short clip, Yuuri ends up catching the attention of his figure skating idol, Victor Nikiforov.
Victor flies to Japan and offers to become Yuuri’s coach for the season, greatly impressed by his skills and talent. A sports anime at heart, Yuri on Ice manages to delicately handle the budding romance between both characters. It does not place heavy emphasis on the fact that they are both men, but instead treats their relationship like any other.While Yuuri is still a novice in many aspects, he manages to help Victor become more empathetic. In turn, Victor’s constant coaching and trust in Yuuri helps push him to become the best version of himself.
TORADORA
Sometimes the whole “love at first sight” concept can get a bit repetitive and dull. Toradora chooses to go for a different method instead, with protagonists Ryuji Takasu and Taiga Aisaka starting off as frenemies who use each other to get closer to their respective crushes. Appearances are truly deceiving as Ryuiji isn’t the delinquent he looks to be, while Taiga houses plenty of spirit in her tiny frame.
While they start off with an awkward truce, the both of them slowly become good friends. Their newfound romantic interest for each other begins to sprouts in the later episodes, adding to the expanding mess of feelings each friend in their clique has for each other. Toradora is iconic for being one of the best romance anime because of how it practically handles and juggles emotions without seeming too overdramatic. The series tries its best to be grounded despite the many uses of anime tropes, which actually tend to work out well.
I’m so happy to see Yuri On Ice on here! It’s one of the few animes that I loved so much that I had to keep updated with it as the episodes were released. The story is just so inspiring and sweet that it’s hard to not love it. I’ll definitely have to check out some of the other animes on here though. I’m a sucker for this genre. Another really good series that just came out that I’ve been keeping up with is The Greatest Wolf of My Life. It’s also in the romance genre, and features a love triangle. The characters are really lively, and the interactions between the two male characters are hilarious. I definitely recommend giving it a shot if you’re into K-manga.