Failed confessions are a tricky trope. While the current era of anime has been a lot kinder about romantic progress thanks to anime like Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, there have been some genuinely frustrating confessions throughout the years. Some are so inexplicable it starts to boggle the mind.
To a point, it’s understandable why confessions fail from time to time. The story still needs to happen, and maybe the author doesn’t want to pull the trigger so quickly. At times, it can even be well-written. However, good or bad, it doesn’t make it any less frustrating to watch.
Kazuya’s Many Self-Sabotages - Rent-A-Girlfriend (Kanokari)
In an era where romance is treated with far less prudishness than before, it’s only natural for modern anime to have a bit more sexuality in the mix. Still, that doesn’t prevent characters from consistently failing in their romantic pursuits, and Kazuya is the shining example of this trope.
Kazuya, despite being acclaimed both in-universe and out of it as a massive loser, still manages to attract a harem of women to fall for him, or at the very least, feign interest. That doesn’t stop him from canceling any chances of a relationship he has with his absurd paranoia. All while having weird NTR fantasies about it.
Unforgettable Confession - Your Name (Kimo no Na Wa)
Your Name is one of the best romance movies of recent years, and it’s all thanks to the strength of its two leads. Taki and Mitsuha are both distinctly different people who nevertheless share bonds by seeing the happiness in their own lives. Unfortunately, an incident threatens to make it all a memory.
In the most emotional scene of the film, Taki and Mitsuha finally meet face to face, on the mouth of that faithful lake. As they spill out their feelings, they start to share their names. Sadly, fate itself intervenes, and both are left struggling to remember the name of the person they loved most.
At Death’s Door - Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin)
Attack on Titan isn’t exactly a “romance” in the traditional sense (nor is it a traditional anime either), but it does have its fair share of romances. For starters, the relationship between Mikasa and Eren is a constant presence in the story, even though it’s a relatively one-sided romance.
When both are surrounded by Titans, the stoic Mikasa starts to gush about her feelings, and as she leans in for the final kiss, Eren stands up after having an epiphany. While he does promise to “wrap his scarf around her as many times as she likes”, this doesn’t lead to a developed romance between two of the best characters in Attack on Titan, giving viewers one less beacon in this bleak anime.
Fated Phone Call - Oregairu (My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected)
Oregairu isn’t lacking in frustrating half-confessions, but this is perhaps the worst, primarily as it exposes the biggest weaknesses of each character. When the non-confrontational Yui finally decides to confess her true feelings to Hachiman, she suddenly gets a phone call.
To her credit, she wants to set it aside, but Hachiman, in typical fashion, tells her he should pick it up. While many cite this as a way for Hachiman to protect Yui’s feelings, the truth is that he does it for his own. He doesn’t like the idea of rejecting someone close to him, but instead of engaging with her directly, he decides to keep stalling, which hurts Yui in the long run.
Your Biggest Fan - Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-Kun (Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-Kun)
While frustrating, the entire premise of Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-Kun is predicated on this hilarious misunderstanding. After Chiyo finally confesses her feelings to the tall and handsome Nozaki, he misinterprets the scene as her offering to become his manga assistant.
This is because Nozaki is a famed shoujo mangaka, and much to Chiyo’s surprise, she does end up going to his home to spend time with him. The irony of a shoujo mangaka being completely oblivious to the lovestruck Chiyo is the basis of the anime’s comedy and frustrations.
Guardian Confessions - Cardcaptor Sakura
The adorably named Cardcaptor Sakura remains a cultural touchstone of anime. It’s beloved for many reasons, but one of the biggest was its surprising progressiveness with its romantic relationships. In the 90s, well-written gay romance was hard to come by, but the dynamic between Touya and Yukito was heartachingly sweet.
Still, that relationship didn’t start easy, and one of the most annoying things fans had to deal with was the constantly failed confessions. Whether it’s a mundane errand or a dangerous villain, it seems that Touya can never find an opening to tell Yukito how he feels about him. Still, at least fans can look back on that fondly in a post-canon Touya x Yukito world.
Platonic Misunderstandings - Kimi no Todoke (From Me To You)
Kimi no Todoke is a classic in the eyes of many romance anime fans. Unfortunately, Kimi no Todoke was also one of the earliest examples of how annoying failed confessions can get. Sawako and Kazehaya so clearly have feelings for each other, that even in-universe, people wonder why they still aren’t together.
The reason, annoyingly, is that they have confessed to each other, both saying “I like you” almost in unison. Unfortunately, both of them somehow interpret this as platonic, and fans get to spend a whole season of them trying to be awkward friends instead of dating. It’s every rom-com fan’s worst waking nightmare.
The Moon Is Beautiful, Isn't It? - A Silent Voice
A Silent Voice is a beautiful drama about overcoming trauma and depression, but it also happens to have a romantic subplot that unfortunately gets stopped in its tracks. After Shoko and Ishida reconnect, Shoko starts to admit her feelings in the most intimate way she can think of: with her voice.
Unfortunately, because Ishida isn't quite used to Shoko's normal voice, he misheard and assumes she's talking about how beautiful the moon is. Fun fact, saying "the moon is beautiful" is a common literary trope for confessing, due to their phonetic similarities. Shoya's not the literary type though, so this was not meant as an answer, and Shoko frustratingly doesn't get to confess properly during this movie.
“Who’s Rem?” - Re: Zero
Arguably the most infamous confession scene in recent memory, Rem’s penultimate confession in Re: Zero was a heart-wrenching scene for both Rem and her legions of fans. All that dedication leads to Subaru rejecting her and then telling her who she rejected it for. Understandably, this led to many flame wars on the internet.
By all accounts, it was a perfect confession on Rem’s part, but the simple truth of it is that Subaru doesn’t reciprocate any romantic feelings. This left many Rem fans stunned, especially with Subaru pining for Emilia, a woman who at that point wasn’t even that interested in Subaru. Still, it’s a bold choice, as there’s nothing to be done about how people feel, romantic or not.
All The Tropes - Tsurezure Children (Tedious Children)
Tsurezure Children is like a walk-in gallery of all the best tropes in romantic comedy history. While there are plenty of established couples in the series, the classic “boys and girls who can’t seem to spit it out” are still there. Some unorthodox dynamics exist too, leaving romance fans with a fun library of ships.
What Tsureuzure Children understands about frustrating confessions that a lot of bad romances don’t is that they need to build to something. With each failure, the couple shouldn’t be taking a step back, but a step forward. This is done wonderfully with all the various romances, and while they are frustrating, it’s a love letter to the romance genre as a whole.