Junjou Romantica

The comedy couple. Their story is filled with awkward interactions and ridiculous situations. While there is nothing really special about the Romantica story, it is cute enough to watch. Usami Akihiko (affectionately called ¨Usagi¨ i.e. ¨bunny¨ by his friend Takahiro and his lover Misaki) is a successful novelist who has won several prestigious awards. He is almost an ideal man: born and bred in an elite family, talented (for one of his awards, he is the youngest recipient), and good-looking. The trade-off is that he has ZERO social skills and ability to take care of himself properly (the eggs explode when he tries to boil them). Usami´s little, good-natured and a bit dense lover (I´d rather call the poor boy his toy) Misaki is the younger brother of his friend (and unrequited crush) Takahiro. The two of them constantly clash and attract, namely Usami sexually harassing and teasing Misaki (but guiding the boy through complexities of adult life) while Misaki badmouthing (sometimes including violence) the older man (but taking care of Usami i.e. cooking and doing all kinds of nameless domestic chores plus keeping the temperamental novelist´s actions in check). The comedy lies in Misaki´s antics (mainly about his inability to cope with the fact that he falls in love with a same-sex person), and Usami´s senseless actions. It should also be said that although their story begins with things that can cause viewers to question the characters' sanity (for example why the heck would someone with a working brain would meet their sexual aggressor again), those details are not entirely hand-waved and come back to drive the relationship's development.

The angsty and emotional couple. They are also my favourite because their story is somehow believable (and my personality is quite close to that of Kamijou´s). They also have the longest relationship out of the three couples (more than 6 years) although their love-life is rather stormy. Kamijou Hiroki is Usami´s childhood friend, and the associate professor of Literature in Misaki´s university. He is intelligent (being at the top of his class in a prestigious university, and becoming associate professor at the age of 28) but extremely short-tempered, and does not shy from treating those who incur his anger with bad language and violence (his students call him ¨the devil Kamijou¨, and that is self-explanatory). What he is shy about is letting others see his tender and emotional side (though in reality, he is not very good at hiding that), especially when the person is his love Kusama Nowaki. This Nowaki guy can be called an ideal lover: calm and patient enough to see the sweetness hidden in his partner´s unreasonableness (and deal with the guy´s violent manners), yet passionate to obtain and maintain what he wishes for. Thus he is Kamijou´s antithesis (althoug he does let Kamijou have the upper hand most of the time). His only weakness is his lack of confidence at the face of his lover´s many achievements (although he is talented by his own rights, being able to enter medical school despite having to provide for himself at early age). All their troubles stem from Kamijou´s overwhelming pride (hence the name ¨Egoist¨ of their story), and Nowaki´s fear of showing his inferiority-complex and insecurities (which is also egoistic in a way). It is really moving to see them struggle with their own personalities and learn to tolerate their partners´ weakness to find happiness together. I must admit, their romance is one of the most romantic story I have ever seen *shocked at myself for saying this*.
Also from experience, the series will be more enjoyable if you start with Egoist story (ep. 3, 5 and 6 in the first season). Just saying.

The CRAZY and also really original couple (by that I mean I LIKE them). Imagine your ex-wife´s little brother and your boss´ son coming all the way from Australia to Japan to tell you with dead ice-cold seriousness that he falls in love with you, and you have to take responsibility for that i.e. you must love him back (ahem, that sounds similar what a girl would say to the man who makes her pregnant). To make the matter worse, the boy is half your age and barely graduates from high school. That´s the situation Miyagi You, the 35-year-old Literature professor (as you may already notice, he is Kamijou´s superior), finds himself in. In addition, Miyagi newly got divorced (the cause is his apathy towards his wife) and has no intention of being serious with anything besides his work. Miyagi´s lukewarm attitude towards romance (and partly with life) has a deep root: the woman he was madly in love with, who was also his teacher died young. But his suitor Shinobu is a TERRORIST and an intelligent one (he has no trouble getting into a top university) who would use any means to get what he wants from cooking (even when he cannot cook despite his bright mind) to attempts to lure Miyagi into bed with him. More importantly, he is SERIOUS, and quite charming by his own right (you´ve got to love his icy scowling face when uttering phrases like ¨I love you¨ and his trademark ¨It is Fate¨). So yes, the astute professor who can get away from complicated social matters with his cold head and wit has met his match, and Miyagi´s life has been turned upside down. So far, the professor has practically admitted defeat to the terrorist Shinobu.