Romantic comedies are the bread and butter of storytelling. Combine a thrilling and emotional romance with lighthearted comedy, and the result is a story that'll please most viewers. Romantic comedies are some of the most common types of story out there, whether in movies, books, or even anime.
With the romantic comedy genre being so omnipresent, it makes sense that there would be a lot of anime that try to parody it. Whether they attempt to deconstruct the genre in a humorous way or push it to ridiculous limits, here are some anime that have poked fun at the concept of romantic comedies.
10 Haganai (Boku Wa Tomodachi Ga Sukunai)
Kodaka Hasegawa has trouble making friends, due to his natural glare and blonde hair that makes him look like a delinquent. Upon encountering classmate and fellow loner Yozora Mikazuki, they decide to form a club with the intentions of trying to make more friends. More students end up joining the club, and hijinks ensue.
Haganai seems like a pretty standard romantic comedy, but the main characters' lack of social graces turn what should be basic romantic comedy situations into absurd shenanigans. The stakes get higher every time another club member falls in love with Kodaka.
9 Love Tyrant
Seiji Aino is a normal high school boy with a crush on the school idol, Akane Hiyama. One fateful day, he encounters a cupid named Guri who owns a Kiss Note, a magic notebook used to pair two people together. Her recklessness causes her to write Seiji's name alone, and in order to save her own life, she convinces Seiji to confess to Akane, who may not be the ideal girl he dreams of.
Love Tyrant is a hilarious deconstruction of the romantic comedy genre, with a lot of subversions on the usual tropes. The kinds of farcical relationships that end up forming between the main characters are hilarious to watch unfold, and chaos ensues every episode.
8 My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected
As punishment for his unbelievably cynical essay on youth, Hachiman Hikigaya is forced to enter the Service Club with the beautiful yet unsocial Yukino Yukinoshita. Together, the two of them are forced to help their fellow students while getting over their cynical and jaded perspectives.
As made obvious by the anime's title, My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected is a somewhat cynical take on the romantic comedy genre. Hachiman and Yukino's abrasive personalities allow them to poke fun at the usual romantic comedy tropes, even when they're being played straight.
7 Hayate The Combat Butler
After his deadbeat parents sell him off to the mafia to pay off their debts, a despondent Hayate Ayasaki tries to kidnap a young girl out of desperation. To his surprise, that girl turns out to be Nagi Sanzenin, heir to a massive fortune. To make matters worse, she's misinterpreted his words as a romantic confession, and has fallen in love with him. After some even stranger situations, Hayate ends up working as Nagi's butler.
Hayate the Combat Butler is hilarious, and one of its best tricks is to poke fun at romantic comedy tropes. The dense and oblivious Hayate ends up being the target of many a female character's one-sided crushes, and the lengths they go to get him to realize it can get ridiculous.
6 The World God Only Knows
Keima Katsuragi cares little for the real world and only thinks about his games, where he is known for being able to complete any heroine's route. This makes him a person of interest as he ends up meeting Elsie. A demon, Elsie's duty is capture evil spirits who have possessed young girls. However, the only way to exorcise the evil spirits is to make them fall in love — and Elsie mistakenly believes Keima is an expert at getting girls to fall for him.
The World God Only Knows gives readers a meta perspective on romantic comedy plotlines, as Keima utilizes common romantic tropes and clichés to get each girl to fall for him. Fans of romantic comedies will get a kick out of how Keima uses these conventions to woo the girls he encounters.
5 School Rumble
Tenma Tsukamoto is a high school girl who is deeply in love with her classmate, Oji Karasuma. Unbeknowst to her, though, local delinquent Kenji Harima nurses a one-sided love for her. The arrows in this love triangle only get more confused and convoluted as the anime goes on.
School Rumble is a romantic comedy classic that pokes fun at these common tropes even as they play it straight. The bizarre shenanigans and twisted love triangles that appear as the anime goes on are gut-bustingly hilarious to watch.
4 Gintama
Gintama itself may not be a romantic comedy series, but as an anime that often parodies tropes and cliches, it has done several arcs that spoof romantic comedy storylines. One great example is the Love Choris arc, which involves main character Gintoki Sakata trying to teach himself to fall in love with his virtual girlfriend.
Another great arc that parodies romantic comedies is the Scandal arc, in a storyline that parodies harem anime. Gintoki wakes up after getting blackout drunk to find out that he has slept with nearly all of his female friends. Pressure forces him to take responsibility by going out with all of them, but he has to do so while keeping them from finding out about each other.
3 Ranma 1/2
In their youth, Genma Saotome and Soun Tendo made a promise: their children would someday marry and inherit Tendo's dojo. Years later, their children Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo finally meet and are engaged to be married. There are only two problems: Ranma and Akane aren't enthused about their sudden betrothal, and Ranma is more concerned with the fact that cold water turns him into a girl.
Ranma 1/2 is an anime classic, and one of Rumiko Takahashi's best works. While it's a romantic comedy in its own right, its charm comes from how it lampoons the genre's tropes, especially as it weaves a web of love triangles so bizarre that it's hard to keep up.
2 Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun
Hopeless romantic Chiyo Sakura decides to confess to her crush, Umetaro Nozaki. However, he mistakes her confession for an admission of simple admiration, and assumes that she is a fan of the manga he is writing, "Let's Fall In Love." In order to be closer to him, Sakura offers to help him with his manga, becoming his assistant.
Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun is a hilarious deconstruction of the romantic comedy genre, as the characters poke fun at and spoof common tropes and storylines in the genre. While the anime occasionally plays the genre straight, they more often take a meta perspective on the storylines they discuss.
1 Kaguya-sama: Love Is War
Shuchiin Academy President Miyuki Shirogane and Vice President Kaguya Shinomiya are in love, but both of them are too proud to admit it. However, they're desperate to start going out, so the both of them decide that they'll find out some way to get the other to confess to them instead.
Kaguya-sama: Love Is War is one of the most popular romantic comedy anime in the last few years, and part of its appeal is how it plays with the usual romantic comedy tropes. The manipulative way in which Shirogane and Shinomiya use these tropes and situations is entertaining to watch, and the way they attempt to get one over on each other is absolutely hysterical.