Romance stories are often dramatic rollercoasters, filled with characters discovering things about themselves and their loved ones that they never even considered before. These complicated stories are even more complex and exciting when you throw in another party vying for affection - a love triangle. There are plenty of great love triangles in anime, and if you're looking for a good one, here are three that any fan of the trope should check out.

Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-

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First off is Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-, a fantasy isekai series with a grand plot and a beating heart at the center. It follows Subaru Natsuki, a teenage boy who is mysteriously transported to the world of Lugunica where he discovers new powers, ancient evils, and world-spanning schemes. There are twists and turns abound, which is entertaining in its own right, but the real appeal of the story comes from the huge cast of characters that Subaru meets along the way. They range from immortal witches to down-on-their-luck merchants, but no matter what their lot in life, Subaru makes an effort to meet them where they are and we learn much about them as a result. Throughout the first season of the show, Subaru is a kind but self-destructive person. He goes out of his way to help the people of Lugunica, frequently at his own expense, which earns him some supporters but the series makes clear it is not a sustainable way to live. The two allies that make the biggest impact on Subaru, and the show as a whole, are Subaru's crush - the half-elf Emilia - and the lovestruck demon maid Rem, who together with Subaru form Re:ZERO's central love triangle.

They have a compelling dynamic because each of them has something the other wants and needs, and the decision Subaru has to make between them represents a larger choice for his development as a character. Rem is a softspoken girl who at first can't stand Subaru's seemingly unearned self-confidence and boisterous personality, but eventually finds inspiration in his selflessness. To contrast this, Emilia is a strong-willed woman who easily makes friends with the outgoing Subaru but is off-put by the way he tries to insert himself into every problem he finds. This ends up creating an interesting thematic dilemma for Re:ZERO; Rem forces him to challenge himself in order to earn her respect, while Emilia asks him to see where the boundaries are between helping out and making everything about himself. The push and pull between Subaru's desire to help and the need to ensure the people he loves are able to carve their own paths, all while making sure that Subaru is finding a healthy balance inside himself, is the core of their love triangle while also being the central theme of the show itself, making them a compelling trio to follow.

Chihayafuru

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Next is the long-running sports drama Chihayafuru. In that, protagonist Chihaya falls in love with a unique card game called "karuta", a sort of matching game in which a reader recites the first half of a poem while the two players, who have cards laid out between them with the second half of various poems written, attempt to find and touch the card that matches the poem being read before their opponent can. The story follows her journey with the game, honing her skills and becoming a brilliant karuta player, building both her career and the club she starts at her high school from the ground up. Her story begins, though, with her discovering the game in the first place, being taught it by her friends Taichi and Arata. While it begins simply enough, with the kids bonding over the game, their relationship with karuta - and each other - evolves over time, as well as their feelings for each other. Their mutual respect for each other, their skills, and their emotions is the glue that makes this love triangle fascinating and exciting to watch unfold.

Chihaya begins her journey simply eager to finally have a hobby she can call her own, and as she grows up that hobby becomes a larger goal - to become the best player, or the "Queen" - that she relentlessly pursues. Her singlemindedness becomes a source of both admiration and frustration for her friends Arata and Taichi, in turn inspiring each of them to become the best versions of themselves in different ways. Arata was always a karuta prodigy, but when he burns out on the game after the death of his grandfather, it's Chihaya's passion that reignites his interest in competition - and grants him the confidence to express his love to Chihaya. Taichi, on the other hand, is a smart and athletic boy who could pursue anything else he wanted but is interested in karuta at first superficially because he wants to spend time with Chihaya. Over time, though, he finds his own passion after being inspired by Chihaya and Arata, becoming confident in his abilities, which makes him question how ready he is for the relationship he wants with Chihaya that started him down this road in the first place. Through this evolution, Arata and Taichi come to recognize each other as rivals in love and the game, which creates another interesting dynamic as the growing respect the trio has for each other ironically makes their relationships more complicated and strained. Chihayafuru is a remarkably mature romance that is continually evolving in ways that feel grounded and interesting while perfectly utilizing the story's central conceit.

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Macross Plus

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Finally, the inspiration for this list and one of the best love triangles not just in anime but of all time, we have Shinichiro Watanabe and Keiko Nobumoto's 90's masterpiece Macross Plus. The first canon sequel to the classic 80's mecha show Macross, Macross Plus follows up three decades later as two talented pilots are recruited to test new transforming fighter planes on a colony called Eden. The pilots in question are actually old friends, the hotshot Isamu and his coolheaded school buddy Guld. As the two participate in these tests, the last member of their childhood trio Myung also arrives on Eden as part of her tour promoting the most popular singer in space, the virtual popstar Sharon Apple. While the public believes Sharon Apple to be a fully functioning AI, the truth is that she still requires outside input, in this case emotions provided by her creator Myung; meanwhile, Isamu and Guld discover that the fighters they are testing are actually AI-controlled planes meant to eliminate the need for living pilots. It's a remarkably forward-thinking story that reflects many of the ways technology had evolved since it came out as well as accurately predicting the ways society would react to those kinds of developments.

At the center of it all, though, are the three old friends coming together again, digging up old joys and pains that they had thought long-since buried, discovering new truths about themselves and each other along the way. Isamu's free spirit, which is often unchallenged as the mark of a hero in stories like this, is clearly made out to be both the source of his skill in his job and his appeal as a friend and lover but also a detriment when it comes to the more fragile and intimate parts of life. Similarly, Guld is a strong and loving man, a reliable foundation in rough times, but his overly protective nature often prevents him from allowing the people in his life to flourish on their own without feeling the need to intervene somehow. Myung, as the center of this triangle, is not so much given a "choice" between these two men romantically as she is forced to reckon with the very different ways her friends reflect her needs and desires. Neither is framed as the 'correct' partner for her so much as different ways she could choose for her life to go at an important juncture, and Myung's happiness is always placed as the most important thing to the story. All three of them go through complicated emotional journies as they are forced to reflect on actions and events they've been avoiding for years, and by the end they all have fully realized arcs that make Macross Plus's romance remarkably satisfying.