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Love is rarely as glorious as fiction makes it out to be. Romance isn’t dead, but it certainly takes work to maintain. Sometimes, two people simply can’t be together no matter how they long for it. Shakespeare helped coin the phrase “star-crossed lovers,” and it’s still used today to describe couples who can’t overcome the barriers keeping them apart.
Anime has its fair share of doomed romances. It can be hard to see a ship sink or a couple fail to make it to the end, but just as in life, sometimes, that’s how things are.
Spoiler Warning: Given the nature of this list, spoilers abound below. Proceed with caution!
10 Ash and Eiji Can’t Overcome The Past (Banana Fish)
The fate of Ash and Eiji is just one aspect of Banana Fish that establishes the series as a true classic. While it’s true that the death of one of these two major characters can be interpreted as problematic, the show’s realism helps it sidestep cliches. Too many series kill off their queer characters for the benefit of a straight protagonist. But Banana Fish set the stage for writing queer characters in the ’80s and ’90s, and neither protagonist is coded as straight.
Ash has lived a life of trauma and danger, and though Eiji’s friendship helps heal them both, Banana Fish isn’t the kind of series that pulls punches. The end of this relationship is as painful as it is understandable.
9 Kaworu and Shinji Were Meant To Be Enemies (Neon Genesis Evangelion)
Neon Genesis Evangelion is no stranger to tragedy. In all iterations of the series, major characters meet terrible ends. And though fans have debated for decades about the exact nature of the relationship between Kaworu and Shinji, it’s clear that theirs is a love story, even if it isn’t a romance. Shinji has never idolized anyone like he idolizes Kaworu.
Of course, Kaworu is an Angel in disguise, possibly devoid of genuine empathy. But the question still stands: does Shinji’s affection for Kaworu help Kaworu become human, or does Kaworu’s demise lead to Shinji’s loss of humanity? Whatever the case, this love story was doomed from the start.
8 Satoru Saves Kayo, But That’s Not Romance (Erased)
Most time-travel stories follow a familiar pattern: the protagonist travels back in time to change a pivotal event. In the process, changing the past changes the present. Often, more time travel becomes necessary to undo the new damage. This is familiar sci-fi territory, but in most cases, protagonists learn one of two things: either a loved one can’t be saved, or they can be and they live happily ever after.
Erased casts the relationship between Satoru and his childhood friend Kayo in a third category. Satoru travels back to save Kayo from abduction in grade school. But back in the present, Kayo marries and has a child with someone else. It’s wonderful that she lives and finds happiness, but Satoru isn’t a part of that happiness in the end.
7 Kosei and Kaori Can’t Defy The Finality Of Death (Your Lie In April)
It’s hard to imagine now, given the legacy of Your Lie In April, but there was a point during the viewing experience when audiences thought these two young lovers would pull through. Kaori is very ill, but she’s going into surgery that may save her.
Unfortunately, in an ethereal instant, Kosei and the audience realize that Kaori won’t survive. In one of the most beautiful sequences in anime history, he plays the piano and images Kaori is there beside him. When the song is over, everyone knows all too well what has happened.
6 A Traumatic Accident Changes Banri And Linda Forever (Golden Time)
It’s a fallacy to think that high school romance should last forever. Films and anime have propagated this notion, but in reality, most people don’t marry their high school sweethearts. Even so, maybe Linda and Banri of Golden Time had a decent shot.
But after Banri confesses his love for Linda, she asks for him to wait for her to think it over before giving a response. While waiting, Banri is injured in an accident that results in a traumatic brain injury and amnesia. Thereafter, the two are strangers as far as Banri knows. Linda is forced to live a lie, pretending she doesn’t know him.
5 Hatori and Kana Can’t Overcome The Family Strife (Fruits Basket)
The Sohma family has been toxic for centuries, thanks to a curse that has dictated the lives of all its descendants. Under the cruel rule of Akito Sohma, the family is especially tormented, unable to choose the directions of their lives. Love isn’t easy for anyone in Fruits Basket.
When Hatori and his fiance, Kana, tell Akito of their relationship, Akito lashes out at them. Akito strikes Hatori, blinding him in one eye, and Kana thereafter is riddled with guilt. She becomes so depressed that Hatori erases her memory of their relationship entirely in the hopes that she can move on with her life. She does, but Hatori is forever haunted.
4 Nana And Ren Are Terrible For Each Other (Nana)
Nana Osaki and Ren Honjo make for a beautiful couple. But if charm and a genuine sense of cool were all it took for a relationship to function, the world would be a very different place. As much as these two characters care for each other, they also feed into their own worst aspects.
In the anime, viewers might believe the two live happily ever after, but Ai Yazawa doesn’t pull punches in the manga. Ren struggles with drug addiction, and though he tries to get help, it’s too late. He dies of a presumed overdose, leaving Nana Osaki alone to pick up the pieces of the life they made together.
3 Mafuyu And Yuki Were Too Young And Too Sad (Given)
Being young and queer is rarely easy, and it certainly wasn’t for Mafuyu Sato and his first love, Yuki. In his youth, Mafuyu was abused by his father, and Yuki protected him. In middle school, the two began dating, sparking whispers and rumors among classmates.
After an argument, the two parted ways, and though the reasons aren’t entirely certain, Yuki committed suicide shortly thereafter. Mafuyu lost his sole lifeline, his protector. Tragic is an understatement, but Given is a beautiful series about coming to terms with loss.
2 Yuzuru Otonashi and Kanade Meet In The Afterlife (Angel Beats)
It’s hard to meet the love of your life when you’re already dead, and unfortunately, that’s the fate of Otonashi and Kanade of Angel Beats. The two become extremely close, falling in love in the high school setting that serves as a kind of limbo between life and death.
In the moments before she vanishes in his arms, Kanada thanks Otonashi for donating his heart in his final living moments, as she was the recipient of his donation. Despite this revelation, they’re both still dead, and it’s gutwrenching to see Otonashi cling to the air where Kanade once stood.
1 Spike And Julia’s Romance Leads To An Unhappy Ending For All (Cowboy Bebop)
Sometimes, the past rears its head when people are most tired of running from it, and there’s no choice but to face the decisions that haunt them. In the case of Spike Spiegel, the crew of the Bebop has all but disintegrated when he reunites with the woman he loves.
Spike and Julia fell in love in spite of her involvement with the Red Dragon’s leader, Vicious, and their affair resulted in both of them fleeing the syndicate. When Spike returns to end Vicious once and for all, he reunites with Julia. When she dies in his arms after a shootout, it’s clear that Spike has lost what he was living for.
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