Fans of romance anime will know how much tension and drama a love triangle can bring to the mix, and it can be engrossing to watch it all unfold. Shows like Blue Spring Ride thrive on the drama created by the characters' complicated, conflicting feelings towards each other, and it's easy to see why these anime are so well liked.
With many shows making use of love triangles, it makes it difficult to determine which ones are the most worth watching for anime fans. With thousands of fans on Ranker casting their vote for which is their best, it makes it possible to see which shows are the best of the genre.
Rumbling Hearts (2003-2004)
Based on a visual novel of the same name, Rumbling Hearts is a romantic drama that manages to pack a lot of suspense into a relatively compact show. Though it starts conventionally, with the timid Haruka Suzumiya confessing to her high-school crush and the two beginning a relationship, things quickly change drastically.
With one of them left in a coma after tragedy strikes and the other moving on and attempting to find love with one of their mutual friends, the perfect romance quickly becomes anything but that. However, after a three-year time skip, the former wakes up from their coma, and with all that taking place in the opening episodes, a memorable love triangle plot begins.
Hanasakeru Seishonen (2009-2010)
A shoujo anime centered around a strong female protagonist in the form of Kajika Louisa Kugami Bunsworth, Hanasakeru Seishonen has one of the most unique setups for a love polygon in the genre. Being the daughter of a powerful businessman, Kajiki has a target on her back and lives an isolated childhood away from society to keep her safe.
After she returns to her father at the age of 14, Kajika is told she must enter a game to find her future husband from three men her father has chosen. The twist is that she knows nothing about the men except that they supposedly possess incredible qualities and charm. Everything else she must find out for herself in this intriguing anime.
Nura: Rise Of The Yokai Clan (2010)
Primarily an action fantasy anime, Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan paints a world in which yokai are terrifying creatures from folklore that live separately from humans. The titular Rikuo Nura is a half-human, half-yokai who is the heir of a powerful yokai clan who must nevertheless attend high school and fit in as a normal human.
Although Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan is a non-romance anime it features romance at its heart, as Nura finds himself at the center of conflicting forces, friends, and admirers from both the human and yokai worlds. The anime is ideal for fans of love triangles in anime with a good amount of old-fashioned action as well.
Baka & Test – Summon The Beasts 2 (2011)
The second season of the popular romantic comedy, Summon The Beasts 2 returns with the familiar colorful, over-the-top characters of Class F. Based on a light novel, the second season switches the focus to a new plotline in which the students attempt to uncover a mysterious blackmailer but doesn't lose the lighthearted romance of the first season.
Baka and Test is light on story but more than makes up for that with neverending moments of comedy and occasional drama that arises from the characters' changing relationships. Although it is best to watch the first season beforehand, Baka & Test is a great watch for anime fans and certainly one of the most entertaining anime with a love triangle.
Boys Over Flowers (1996-1997)
There are many amazing and iconic examples of shoujo anime from the 90s but Boys Over Flowers still stands out as a well-written and beautifully executed romance. After the main character, Makino Tsukushi, a girl from a poor family, stands up to the F4, a group of wealthy and popular boys at her school, she is given the ultimate sign of hostility from them.
After receiving their "red card", things look bad for Tsukushi at the school but take an unexpected turn as she begins to find herself falling for one of the members of the group. That's just the start of the girl's problems, as things soon get even more complicated and she finds herself caught between multiple boys' affections.
Golden Time (2013-2014)
After an accident left the young Tada Banri with amnesia, he begins a new life at a law school in Tokyo looking for a fresh start and a chance to move on from the past that he has no memories of. His new life gets off to a surprising start, however, as the beautiful and melodramatic Kaga Koko suddenly appears in his life on his first day.
Banri's college life soon blooms as he makes friends, falls in love, and learns more about himself as he is forced to confront the past he ran from. Though things don't always go smoothly for Banri, and the relationships he forms sometimes lead to tension between them, the loving portrayal of the students' lives means Golden Time has remained very popular.
Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day (2011)
Despite being one of the most underrated anime of the last 20 years, Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day is a popular choice for best love triangle anime. A slice-of-life anime with a supernatural element, Anohana presents a group of friends reuniting after Jinta Yadomi sees the ghost of their former friend who asks him to grant a forgotten wish.
Naturally, with heavy themes of loss and how different characters deal with it at the heart of the show, Anohana is not light viewing but, in the touching ways it presents the characters and their relationships, it is a rewarding anime to watch. Anohana isn't primarily a romance anime but as far as love triangle anime go, it certainly has a unique appeal.
Kimagure Orange Road (1987-1988)
Kimagure Orange Road's main character, Kyousuke Kasuga, is a middle school student who has spent his entire life trying to avoid discovery due to his family's supernatural powers. At the beginning of the show, he has just entered a new school for the seventh time but, unbeknownst to him, this time is destined to be quite different.
Kyousuke quickly finds himself falling for a delinquent girl at the school and her best friend, who also admires him, and his complex feelings soon become a problem for the boy. Kimagure Orange Road has aged of course in the decades since its release, and it is something that some viewers may have to look past in order to enjoy, but the show remains one of the best love triangle romances out there.
Vampire Knight (2008)
As suggested by the title, Vampire Knight is no ordinary shoujo anime. Based on a manga series of the same name, the series centers on a school with a disciplinary committee that is split into two separate classes, one comprised of ordinary students and the other comprised of students who are secretly vampires.
For most members of the former, including the moody Zero Kiryuu, vampires are irredeemable monsters but for their new leader, Yuuki Cross, things aren't that simple, as the vampire who now heads the Night committee once saved her life. Yuuki's complicated feelings become the perfect recipe for an intriguing love triangle.
Blue Spring Ride (2014)
After popularity with boys left her isolated and lonely in middle school, Futaba Yoshioka is determined to field a different image since starting high school. In Blue Spring Ride, Futaba begins her high school life by acting as rough and tomboyish as possible hoping to become a class favorite.
However, the sudden reappearance of her middle school crush, who has also undergone some changes in the meantime, throws everything into jeopardy as Futaba finds herself fighting a battle on multiple fronts. Misunderstandings and tensions soon rise and lead to awkward moments for Futaba in this satisfying love triangle anime.