[0:00] So, You and I Are Polar Opposites is
[0:02] done, and you're already missing that
[0:03] whole thing where two people who should
[0:05] have nothing in common somehow make the
[0:07] most wholesome couple of the season.
[0:09] Don't worry, I'm here to solve it. Here
[0:11] are 10 romance anime to watch if you
[0:13] love polar opposites. Let's go.
[0:39] In the supernatural world, creatures
[0:41] exist alongside regular humans. Morihito
[0:44] Otogi is just a normal high school guy,
[0:46] except he secretly comes from an ogre
[0:48] lineage. Yes, you heard that right. His
[0:51] [music] quiet life gets completely
[0:52] flipped when his childhood friend, Niko
[0:55] Wakatsuki, a witch in training, moves in
[0:58] and declares him her familiar. Niko is
[1:00] loud, clumsy, and completely gone
[1:02] [music] for Morihito. He's calm,
[1:04] composed, and everything dense about it.
[1:06] And her magic [music] keeps
[1:07] spectacularly backfiring, which makes
[1:09] everything so much worse.
[1:15] >> [music]
[1:18] >> Which Witch is basically what You and I
[1:20] Are Polar Opposites would look like if
[1:22] you threw magic and a prophecy into the
[1:24] mix. You've got the outgoing expressive
[1:26] girl hopelessly gone for a composed
[1:28] dense guy who barely notices. Same exact
[1:31] dynamic, just with spell casting
[1:33] disasters layered on top. It's like
[1:35] turning Harry Potter into a regular
[1:37] urban rom-com, and mix that with [music]
[1:38] the polar opposites logic, and it works
[1:41] really well.
[1:50] Takuya Seo is your classic loner otaku,
[1:53] guy who keeps to himself but seems
[1:55] nobody in his class would ever give him
[1:56] the time of day, especially the popular
[1:58] gyaru girls. Then he accidentally
[2:00] reveals his obsession with a certain
[2:02] anime series around two of them, Kotoko
[2:05] and Amane. And it turns out they're way
[2:07] more into it than they ever let on.
[2:09] Suddenly, the guy who thought he was
[2:11] invisible at the center gets some otaku
[2:13] gyaru [music] waifus.
[2:19] If Polar Opposites [music] clicked for
[2:21] you because of the whole completely
[2:23] different people getting pulled into
[2:25] each other's [music] orbits thing, Gals
[2:26] Can't Be Kind to Otaku runs with that
[2:28] idea but cranks their social contrast
[2:31] way up. It's the good old shy guy meets
[2:33] popular girl thing, but with a little
[2:35] bit more relatable twist. And what's
[2:37] really nice is how it isn't just wish
[2:39] fulfillment. Amane, a closet otaku
[2:42] hiding behind her gyaru exterior, gives
[2:44] the show that same hidden personality
[2:47] energy you loved in Tonikawa.
[2:54] Time for some old anime because you know
[2:57] how much I love old anime. It's like
[2:59] living in an old 1700s bungalow.
[3:01] Anyways, Risa Koizumi is the tallest
[3:04] girl in her class and Atsushi Otani is
[3:06] the shortest guy. They've been each
[3:09] other's school comedy duo since day one.
[3:12] Always bickering, always roasting each
[3:14] other. Then Risa goes and develops
[3:16] feelings for Otani, which is a problem
[3:18] because [music] the guy is completely
[3:19] oblivious. And to make matters worse,
[3:21] she's tall, he's short, and he doesn't
[3:23] like it when others call him short.
[3:34] Lovely Complex is one of those timeless
[3:36] romance anime that proves polar
[3:37] opposites don't have to be about
[3:39] personality. [music]
[3:40] Sometimes it's about two people who look
[3:42] completely mismatched on paper but
[3:44] [music] couldn't be more fit for each
[3:46] other. Here it's the height difference
[3:48] doing the heavy lifting, but it's It's
[3:50] that same vibe as Polar Opposites and
[3:52] it's got this little enemies-to-lovers
[3:54] thing going on, too.
[4:06] Tsuyoshi Yano is a second-year high
[4:08] school student with a very specific
[4:10] problem. The universe seems personally
[4:13] out to injure him. Every single day, the
[4:15] guy shows up to class covered in bruises
[4:16] and bandages. Kyoko Yoshida is the
[4:19] relatable class representative, and she
[4:21] is absolutely not okay with this. She
[4:23] starts to nurse the guy, but before long
[4:25] develops a crush on him.
[4:32] Yano Kun's Ordinary Days shares that
[4:34] same warm and funny tone that made You
[4:37] and I Are Polar Opposites so easy to
[4:39] love. Yoshida isn't as loud and
[4:41] extroverted as Suzuki, but she's still
[4:44] got that whole crush thing going for
[4:45] [music] a guy. She is anxious,
[4:47] expressive. Yano is quite an unreadable
[4:50] pairing that works the exact [music]
[4:51] same way Takeo and Suzuki do. And once
[4:53] again, this is more about how they fall
[4:56] in [music] love and not about whether
[4:57] they would fall in love or not.
[5:07] Takeo Gouda, this guy is huge, but also
[5:10] kind and wholesome. But he is not
[5:12] exactly what girls picture as their
[5:14] dream guy. Every girl he's ever liked
[5:16] ends up falling for his best friend Suna
[5:18] instead, the cool, good-looking one.
[5:20] Then one day, Takeo rescues [music] a
[5:22] girl named Rinko Yamato from a groper on
[5:25] a train, and something very unexpected
[5:27] happens. She actually falls for him, not
[5:30] Suna him.
[5:39] >> [crying]
[5:41] >> If You and I Are Polar Opposites made
[5:43] you love a romance where two people who
[5:44] seem like total mismatches turn out to
[5:46] be perfect for each other. My love story
[5:48] takes that idea to its absolute [music]
[5:50] extreme. Takeo and Riko make Miyu and
[5:53] Tani look like an obvious couple. And
[5:56] the best part, they get together early.
[5:58] No dragged out will they, won't they
[6:00] torture here. This is a shojo anime and
[6:02] I never would have thought it was a
[6:04] shojo since shojo always focuses on the
[6:06] attractive male lead. But hey, see how
[6:09] interesting a story could get when you
[6:10] make a difference?
[6:15] >> [screaming]
[6:20] [crying]
[6:22] >> Akane Kinoshita is a college [music]
[6:24] student who just got dumped. Her ex
[6:26] cheated on her with someone he met in an
[6:28] online game, which is some Game of
[6:30] Thrones level betrayal. So she goes
[6:32] venting to some [music] random guild
[6:33] member in that same game called Yamada
[6:35] who replies with a cold I don't care and
[6:38] walks [music] off. Then she runs into
[6:39] him at an offline fan event. He's stoic,
[6:42] unreadable, and somehow still a high
[6:44] school student.
[6:51] Oh come on, if you listened to anything
[6:53] I said, you know the similarity writes
[6:55] itself. Bubly emotional girl, cold stoic
[6:57] unreadable guy. Watching Akane's warmth
[6:59] slowly [music] chip away at Yamada's
[7:01] walls is that exact Miyu and Tani
[7:03] energy. Just with a gaming backdrop
[7:05] instead of [music] a high school
[7:06] classroom. Done by Madhouse, 13
[7:08] episodes, no season 2 announced yet, but
[7:10] it's a nice anime for all you gamers.
[7:23] Oh yeah, time for one of my favorites.
[7:25] Kyo Taro Ichikawa is the type of guy who
[7:27] reads true crime books in the back of
[7:29] the school library and seriously
[7:31] considers eliminating the most popular
[7:33] girl in class. Yeah, he's that kind of
[7:35] middle schooler. The girl in question is
[7:37] Anna Yamada, teen model, effortlessly
[7:39] popular, and somehow always ending up in
[7:41] the same library as Ichikawa.
[7:50] If you and I are polar opposites gives
[7:51] you the softer side of the opposites
[7:53] attract formula, then this makes it even
[7:56] more softer, more cozy, and makes you
[7:58] want to hug a cat and roll on the floor
[7:59] cuddling it. Don't look at me like that.
[8:01] That's the best imagery I could think
[8:02] of. The gap between Ichikawa's dark
[8:04] antisocial inner world and Yamada's
[8:06] whole bright popular exterior is
[8:09] extreme. And watching an edgy guy slowly
[8:11] touching grass and realizing the perfect
[8:13] idol he sees is also not so [music]
[8:15] perfect gives one heck of a great love
[8:18] story.
[8:31] School Rumble is the OG chaos romance
[8:34] anime. Tenma Tsukamoto is a bubbly
[8:36] clueless high school girl completely
[8:38] hung up on her mysterious classmate
[8:40] Karasuma, a guy who seems more
[8:42] interested in curry than actual people.
[8:44] Meanwhile, delinquent biker Harima Kenji
[8:46] has been hopelessly in love with Tenma
[8:48] for ages and cannot figure out how to
[8:50] tell her.
[8:57] Now, this is the fate series of love
[8:59] triangles. Look at this image. [music]
[9:01] Tell me how a human being is supposed to
[9:03] understand this. Put this to an AI and
[9:06] even that will [music] start
[9:07] hallucinating. School Rumble has the
[9:09] same polar opposites anime energy going
[9:12] back in 2004.
[9:14] A whole classroom's [music] worth of
[9:15] mismatched people all in love with the
[9:17] wrong person at the wrong time. Harima
[9:20] and Tenma are basically the original
[9:22] rough guy meets airheaded girl formula,
[9:24] and this, ladies and gentlemen, has some
[9:26] of the best gags and comedic moments I
[9:28] have seen.
[9:36] Kashiyuka doesn't ever shows her
[9:38] emotions. Not a smile, not a frown, not
[9:40] even a flicker of surprise. It's just
[9:42] her face, a completely neutral canvas no
[9:44] matter what happens. Uta on the other
[9:46] hand is basically a walking emoji board,
[9:48] every single thought on his face at full
[9:51] volume. His whole deal is that he keeps
[9:53] trying to prank Kashiwada [music]
[9:54] into showing some kind of reaction. The
[9:56] problem, she already sees it coming
[9:58] every time because his face gives away
[10:01] the whole plan.
[10:07] This is probably the most direct
[10:08] parallel to You and I Are Polar
[10:10] Opposites on this entire list. And it's
[10:12] just pretty much the same premise but
[10:14] with the genders flipped. An expressive
[10:16] guy and an inexpressive girl. It's
[10:18] literally the Mio and Tony setup, just
[10:20] flipped. If Polar Opposites clicked
[10:22] because of how differently these two
[10:23] people handle their feelings for each
[10:25] other, Kashiwada and Uta are basically
[10:27] built for you. A lot of people missed
[10:28] the show when it aired, but this is one
[10:30] of my favorites and I'm really hoping
[10:32] for a season 2.
[10:36] >> [snorts]
[10:45] >> And we're finishing off with something
[10:47] from the same [music] creator. Koyuki
[10:49] Hikawa had a rough time in middle
[10:51] school. Short girl, constant comments
[10:53] about her appearance, and the kind of
[10:55] low-key social torture that makes her
[10:56] depressed. So when high school started,
[10:59] she rebuilt herself. Blonde hair,
[11:00] taller, walls firmly up. Now she's the
[11:03] ice queen of her class and nobody gets
[11:05] close. Then Minato Amamiya, one of the
[11:08] most relentlessly cheerful guys you'll
[11:10] ever see in anime, decides he's going to
[11:13] close that distance anyway. And you can
[11:16] guess why this is my top pick for anyone
[11:18] who finished You and I Are Polar
[11:20] Opposites.
[11:23] >> So good.
[11:27] >> Like I said before, it's created by by
[11:30] same mangaka. Two, the two are related
[11:33] and share the same universes. Three, it
[11:35] has that same art style, [music]
[11:37] character design, and character quirks,
[11:39] but with the genders flipped. Four, it's
[11:41] airing this season, one of the
[11:42] highest-rated anime for a good reason.
[11:45] At this point, the mangaka Agasawa might
[11:48] be the Rumiko Takahashi of modern
[11:50] rom-coms, but hey, let's put that aside
[11:52] and wait for Polar Opposite season 2.