Despite originally joining Ken Keneki’s group with the intention of eating him, Shuu Tsukiyama came to genuinely care for Keneki. He considers himself to be a fashionable and elegant gentleman, though his taste is sometimes questionable. Tsukiyama has a flamboyant personality, one which does mellow out over time in the series. Yet with all his appearances, Tsukiyama’s outward tendencies hide a cruel and selfish nature, with emotional outbursts and little understanding toward the emotions of others. His personality worsened during his period of depression, causing violent outbursts, but he matured quite a bit over the course of the series, thanks mainly to Kaneki.

Roberta is a fearsome fighter and quite formidable, despite her initial appearances. Yet from the start, her devotion to her master and his son, Garcia, is evident. She cares for her master and his family so much that when they are harmed, she reverts into her past murderous self, even losing her sanity and the ability to tell between friend and foe. Roberta has killed countless people in the past, having been trained as a guerilla member of F.A.R.C. before she came into the Lovelace family’s employ. She would do anything for her young master Garcia, including executing revenge!

A sadistic and enthusiastic participant in the dark competition of Hope Peak Academy’s class, Junko Enoshima revels in despair above all else. She is easily bored and tends to drastically alter elements of her personality, specifically her emotional state, to hold her apathetic nature at bay. Junko comes across as a rather unique individual at first, one who is often opposing her classmates, but her truly erratic personality is revealed later on. She wants the entire world to feel nothing but despair and it’s impossible to reason with her in this regard. Junko does not hesitate to manipulate or kill anyone, including her loved ones–after all, hurting the ones closest to her will cause her the greatest despair of all!

Tokushirou Tsurumi is the 1st lieutenant for the 7th Division, having fought bravely in the Russo-Japanese War, though he left the battlefield with shrapnel in his head and a growing bitterness in his heart. He desires the lost Ainu gold in order to fund his own Division’s needs, as he wants to take over Hokkaido, believing his militia to be wrongfully treated after the war. Tsurumi is able to identify with other people and manipulate them to his own ends, though his calm and charismatic appearance belies the savagery within. He cares deeply about the men under his command, but beware; if you betray Tsurumi or end up on the wrong side of the fight, he will show you no mercy!

With a calm and cheerful appearance hiding the depravity within, Sato is easily one of our favorite crazed characters! He has a playful approach to life-and-death situations, viewing these only as obstacles in a sort of hard-mode video game. Sato is an Ajin, giving him the ability to act out his psychotic killing without really worrying about his own welfare, as he knows he will always revive in the end. He is also charismatic enough to draw others to him, creating a terrorist group acting out under the guise of Ajin asking for human rights.

So, this one definitely falls into the “lowest parts of your brain” category rather than the “masterful storytelling” one, as you could probably tell by looking at it for two seconds. But Killing Bites is still worth your time – it may be a stupid fanservicey action show, but it’s just so good at being a stupid fanservicey action show that we can’t help but love it. The premise is that a group of fighters who can transform into and use the powers of various wild animals all try to kill each other in a massive battle royale tournament. Its surprisingly brutal fights are a joy to behold, and there’s no way we can get mad at an anime where a pangolin man punches a hole straight through a crocodile man’s chest.

A sumo sports anime? It sounds a little odd, but sumo is such a big deal in Japan that it’s a wonder how we never got a mainstream show like this before now. It stars a hotheaded high schooler named Hinomaru Ushio, who sets out to revive his school’s almost nonexistent sumo club so he can shoot for the highest rank in the entire sport, despite being too small for anyone to take him seriously. It’s a pretty boilerplate plot a shounen anime, but the characters are so lovable and the story is so earnest that it hardly matters. After all, a familiar story done perfectly is sometimes better than attempting originality and failing in the execution. Plus, this anime is a fun and entertaining way for people to learn all of the ins and outs of sumo wrestling! If you’re curious about the sport, give Hinomaru Sumo a try.

Admit it, you’ve legitimately enjoyed at least one true crime show in your life. They may be trashy and gruesome, but the psychology behind why someone would kidnap or kill another person is too fascinating not to explore. Happy Sugar Life takes that morbid curiosity to a whole new level with its story of a seemingly sweet teenager named Satou who keeps a child trapped in her apartment for her own amusement. Satou is the “caretaker” (kidnapper) of an idealistically cute and innocent little girl named Shio and uses the isolation of her apartment to bend Shio to her will. It’s a disturbing picture of how children can be taken advantage of by adults who don’t have their best interests at heart, and the full implications of what Satou could be doing to Shio are sure to keep you up at night.

If you have a special place in your heart for old-school arcade games, High Score Girl is right there with you. It takes place in the arcade renaissance of the early ‘90s and the characters compete using real games from the time, such as Street Fighter II and Bomberman. The odd CG animation could be a turn off for some viewers, but it works well for this simple story about two rivals trying to one-up each other at retro video games. You’ll love their adorable budding romance just as much as you already love the nostalgic games they’re playing!

If you’ve never seen a Precure show before, the latest season Hugtto Precure is a fantastic place to start. Our protagonist Hana is plucky and cute, the Cure team forms naturally over the course of the series with characters who develop in realistic ways, and the shonen-style melee fights are back with a vengeance! For returning fans, we even get a few appearances from other Cures outside of the team-up movies! Witnessing these new heroes fight alongside the original magical duo from 15 years ago is everything we never knew we needed.

With only 12 episodes at 11 minutes long each, it won’t take you long to fully enjoy this gag series about a long-suffering manga bookstore manager (with a skull for a face because... sure) and the excitable nerdy customers he has to deal with every day. It gives us a refreshingly hilarious look at how our own culture affects the hapless normal people who don’t understand our passions. Honda-san does love manga, but his constant stressful encounters with fujoshi foreigners and overzealous niche fans with seemingly endless money to spend leave him exhausted and begging for peace. We’re sorry, Honda-san, but your pain gives us life!

Like Killing Bites and Hinomaru Sumo, Grancrest Senki takes an overused premise (in this case, a JRPG-inspired fantasy epic adapted from a light novel) and executes it so well that it elevates the idea to new heights. And, shockingly enough, it’s not an isekai! Apart from the likable characters and interesting storyline, the most notable element of this anime is its fight scenes. They’re fluid, gorgeous, and never lose momentum, thanks to some standout direction from Shinichi Omata. Grancrest Senki is the perfect show for JRPG fans who can never get enough high intensity action in their entertainment.

Translating as something akin to “The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation”, this anime is adapted from the Chinese web novel and manhua of the same name. We’ve had plenty of exposure to Japanese history and mythology by now, but Mo Dao Zu Shi gives us a beautifully animated and scored crash course on Ancient China. The story follows two wanderers named Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian as they bicker with each other, solve problems for the locals, and start to fall in love. The shounen-ai element isn’t as strong in this adaptation as it is in the source material, but for those of us who enjoy a little queer representation, it’s a welcome addition.

Sports anime is firmly rooted in its comfort zone of high school athletics, but Run With the Wind takes a bold step forward by setting its story in the mythical land known as... college! And it’s not just a superficial change, either. Differences in age, major, and upbringing play a significant part in the characters’ interactions with one another. The writers have clearly invested a lot of hard work into developing each and every member of the Kansei University running team. They all have their own struggles to bear, opinions of the other members that affect who they make friends with, and goals that they wish to achieve. From the typical sports anime narrative, it really is a breath of fresh air!

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Speaking of queer representation, the most underrated anime of this year has to be Bloom Into You. It’s a charming tale about two teenage girls struggling to realize that they’re actually in love with each other since one is blinded by the societal narrative of a perfect bubbly romance and the other feels trapped in her identity as the unflappable upperclassman. Lesbian relationships in Japanese culture tend to be brushed off as a phase that girls go through before they move on to “real” love as adults, but Bloom Into You makes sure to treat Yuu and Touko’s relationship as legitimate. There are also other adult characters in homosexual partnerships, so this is a pretty big step for anime. Overall, it’s a heartwarming show about two people who discover who they are by learning to love someone else.

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Sanrio is well known for its cutesy and childish mascot characters, with Hello Kitty as its poster girl. So what’s all this about them making a show about a 20-something lady working a stifling office job? How could they use their iconic kawaii style to tell a story like that? And then the shy little red panda shuffled over to a karaoke bar, pulled out a microphone, and started belting out death metal at the top of her tiny lungs. It was at this point in the first episode that we realized what Aggressive Retsuko was: a self-aware comedy that aimed to explore young adulthood through the lens of something childish that we all grew up with. It’s the anime Avenue Q!

Poor Honda-san just wants to manage his bookstore in peace, but the never-ending streams of nerds who come to browse the manga selection keep him on his skeletal toes 24/7. Our favorite scene comes from the first episode, where Honda-san tries to help foreign customers with yaoi recommendations. After nearly expiring on the spot from attempting to explain what a yaoi doujinshi is to a clueless American man shopping for his daughter, a group of fujoshi foreigners asks him for help with choosing boys’ love books. His panicked declaration of “This muscley guy is uke!!” will never get old.

Chio can’t seem to walk to school even once without stumbling upon some crazy scenario or another. In episode 7, she bumps into her friend’s little sister, Chiharu, who treats kancho (jamming fingers up people’s butts) like a deadly serious martial art. Soon, the two are embroiled in a shounen-style duel – complete with auras of power, bombastic dialogue, and supersonic clashes that can barely be seen with the naked eye. It’s over-the-top in the best possible way and only ends when the gym teacher taunts Chiharu by sticking out her lovingly drawn butt and daring her to attack. Umm... did we mention that this author used to make hentai?

You can’t be a gangster without a sick sense of style, especially when you’re in the notoriously fabulous JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure series. Characters mostly tend to show off their effortless coolness with elaborate clothes and gravity-defying poses, but episode 7 of Golden Wind shows us another way to flex your style – dancing! While torturing an enemy gangster for information (by burning his eye like it’s an ant under a microscope), three members of Bruno’s gang spontaneously burst into a choreographed hip-hop dance with a funky tune and trippy visuals to back them up. It doesn’t really make any sense or come up again, but that almost makes this random display of swag even better!

Nobody really knew what to expect with Pop Team Epic, but this ditsy idol anime wasn’t it. For the length of an entire opening scene and theme song, the first episode of Pop Team Epic plays out as a cloyingly cliché idol/school romance show... until Popuko tears through the title card and yells “Not!!” This moment showed us the lengths that Pop Team Epic was willing to go to mess with our heads. They even continued the Hoshiiro Girldrop “storyline” in the next episode previews each week! Popuko’s fourth-wall-breaking entrance let us know that this anime would be unlike anything we’d ever seen before.

High Score Girl is an anime about a boy and a girl falling in love with each other, while also constantly clashing to see who's the best video game player. At first, our main character Haruo faces the untalkative ojou-sama Akira Oono, but it's not until he meets Koharu Hidaka that we find a deserving suitor for him. While Akira is the perfect girl that every other boy likes, Koharu is exactly the opposite, and one can't resist that girl-next-door vibe. Koharu openly demonstrates her feelings and even grow a love for video games thanks to Haruo, though video games are not exactly new to her. Sure, he definitely is kind of dumb and innocent when it comes to love, but bear in mind we as viewers have a lot more information than Haruo. For any of us gamers, a girl like Koharu would feel as a dream come true, right? Too bad our boy Haruo is too concentrated on defeating Akira to notice her!

Koharu is too young for you? Then let us introduce you to Chisa, a 20-years-old redhead that will drive you insane. While Chisa indeed has a beautiful body, she also has the brains since she studies mechanical engineering, spending her free time diving or trying other sports. In Iori's perspective, Chisa appears like a tsundere girl with an aversion for drinking and boys trying to hit on her, but we all know she's probably the most sensible and sane person in the Peek-a-Boo club. Still, we would be fooling ourselves if we don't assume the actual reason behind our love for Chii-chan, and that has to be her amazing body. Though her breasts are not the biggest when compared to the other girls on Grand Blue, Chise's oppai will undoubtedly take your breath away, even if her fine butt is what Iori loves the most. How could you not like a girl like her?!

If you enjoy bad girls, then Anzu from Hinamatsuri could be the one! She's not actually a regular human but an esper, boasting incredible telekinetic powers. At first, Anzu was introduced as some kind of antagonist with the sole purpose of defeating Hina, but after losing to her, Anzu starts acting like every other girl who enjoys spending time with her friends, Hina included. Her bratty attitude only lasts a couple episodes, however, and as soon as she understands some basic rules about life, Anzu easily becomes the best character on the show. It's not about being sexy or seductive; she wins your heart by being the purest yet interesting soul, with a smile that you unquestionably wish to protect. We love this homeless girl! And we bet a lot of you love her too!

Speaking of baddies who may or may not kill you on sight, we can't ignore Saber, one of the popular servants in the Fate universe. However, this is not a representation of Arturia Pendragon (King Arthur) but Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, better known as Nero, one of the most famous Roman Emperors. Deadly with her flame sword but too captivating to ignore her, Saber is the servant of Fate/Extra: Last Encore's protagonist, Hakuno Kishinami. If you're one of those in love with the sweet Saber from previous stories, then please take your time to discover Red Saber, a lovable spirit on the inside but an arrogant, misunderstood girl on the outside. Red Saber is so proud of herself that everything she does must be perfect, and lucky for us her face and body are perfect indeed! Still, we know that beauty may have an expiration date, but we'd love to hear her shouting "umu!" until the last of our days.

It's perfectly fine to have a waifu just because she's hot as hell, but we know some people fell in love with anime girls solely because of their personality and feelings. One strong case is Takagi-san, a school girl who does nothing lewd to call your attention but still makes you dream about a happily ever after. Takagi is a master teaser, always on the look for new ways to fool with you, and let us say her sweet voice, calm attitude, innocent look, enviable wits, and the most sweetly cruel intentions certainly do the trick. Maybe Nishikata's first reaction is not the best, but Takagi's flirting style is one that while unbearable at times, will definitely drive you crazy in a good way. We all have been there and done that as school kids, so there's a chance our love for Takagi has something to do with nostalgia too!

Yuzu Aihara was a gorgeous gyaru with a strong fashion sense and a bold personality, doing everything she could to stand out from the crowd and conquer as many boys as possible. However, when her mother married for the second time, Yuzu moved to a new city and started attending a new school, so her life changed drastically. While she considered herself straight, it wasn't until meeting the school council president that she felt attracted by another girl, though things wouldn't be as easy as she expected. For starters, Yuzu worries a lot about her physical appearance, so seeing her with pretty clothes and makeup is a plus. But her natural beauty is something we can't ignore either! Regarding her personality, Yuzu may act like a total bimbo at first, but she matures slowly until she becomes a respectable young lady. If you like girl-on-girl action then fantasizing about Yuzu and her step-sister Mei is truly unavoidable, and something to keep you motivated!

Why do boys and girls alike love Rikka Takarada? Well, we wouldn't be wrong if we said it's because of her cute and mature personality, but even though SSSS.Gridman is not an anime focused on ecchi stuff, we all love Rikka's looks. In fact, what stands out the most in her design is a particular part of her body, that curiously enough is not her face, chest or butt. With such almost invisible shorts, Rikka's legs are the sexiest thing in the anime world. Considering how anime tends to give us real skinny girls, her thick thighs are something to cherish. Sure, this is an anime about fighting kaiju, but even the main antagonist can transform into a sexy girl! Good luck there's also an episode with enough swimsuit scenes to satisfy our... curiosity. Sorry Yuta, but if we were to lose our memories, we would absolutely remember Rikka no matter what!

Violet Evergarden, the anime, is one of those shows created mainly to please the eyes. Violet Evergarden, the titular character, definitely meets that requirement. The story certainly may feel dull for some people, but you can't say this gold-haired angel with porcelain skin doesn't have what it takes to become a top waifu in all its right. At first, she's like any other boring, generic robot-girls that also happens to be extremely beautiful on the outside. However, when human interaction does its magic, she becomes a far more interesting Auto Memories Doll, even capable of understanding and demonstrating emotions. Being out of touch with human feelings, most of Violet's interactions are awkwardly cute, and there's no doubt that it earns her many extra points. Are you in for a waifu who will put you to the test?

If you're OK with robot-girls, then there's no chance you could say no to a half-alien girl, right? Weird as she is, Zero Two is the heroine of Darling in the FranXX, a highly skilled mecha pilot with a reputation for disregarding her partners' lives. You see, she had a rough childhood and was bullied for her looks, and so Zero Two isolated herself so as not to suffer, which resulted in her strange and rather harsh way of dealing with humans. The way a FRANXX is piloted is very sexual per se, and if we add that Zero Two doesn't have any kind of qualms when it comes to showing skin or flirting with her darling, then you'll understand why this girl is a ticking time bomb. However, when her human side comes to light, Zero Two definitely shines. She's sexy, she's cute, and remember she could also save you from invader aliens!

As it always happens when dealing with annual rankings, it's very easy to be seduced by those series and characters of the Fall season, that stays the closest in our memory. However, that's not the case for Mai Sakurajima, who has meritoriously earned the position as the best waifu of 2018. A notable model and actor, Mai was once extremely popular in Japan, but suddenly everyone began to forget about her until she literally became invisible to them. In an attempt to confirm that nobody really could see her, Mai attended the library in a sexy bunny suit, but little did she know that there was actually a guy that could indeed see her. To be honest with you, there aren't many reasons why this anime has a Bunny Girl reference in the title, but that scene was enough to show us how incredibly sexy Mai is. Fanservice for the win! Mai's love story with Sakuta makes us dream about being in his place at least for a day, enjoying cuddles and tantrums alike only to spend some time with her. If you don't mind dealing with the Puberty Syndrome and some personal drama, her inner and outer beauty will definitely feel like a blessing. Best girl of the season and best girl of the year, Mai Sakurajima is by far the waifu every otaku wants by their side.

Kenshiro’s personality in both the anime and manga are pretty much the same though his journeys significantly diverge in both versions. Compared to his stoic nephew when he’s around people, the Kenshiro of this series has a very casual personality and has more of a sense of humor (and is a major chain smoker, which he says helps with his bleeding when he fights). Though the OG Kenshiro popularized man tears, the Kenshiro of Souten no Ken exhibits a wide variety of emotions in both versions and isn’t afraid of being friendly with those he cares about, or trash talking enemies for fun rather than just saying it for the sake that he’s going to kick their ass like it’s nothing. In addition, both the anime and manga version of Kenshiro share a unique sense of smell and retain their trademark lines such as “Ni yi jing si le” (aka Omae wa mou, shindeiru), or “monku ga areba, ore ni ie (if you got a problem, take it up with me)!” While Kenshiro suggestively dies at the end of the anime, his journey in the manga is still ongoing! In addition to Kenshiro still being alive in the manga, at the start of the Re:Genesis anime, Pan, his best friend dies. However, he never died in the original manga but is just permanently disabled instead. In both versions, Yuling, his sister and Kenshiro’s girlfriend, still takes over the gang. Last, his mother is actually alive in the manga and she plays a role despite being non-existent in the anime.

What both the manga and anime also share in common in a foundational sense is how they portray the action. Though Hokuto no Ken, its respective predecessor emphasizes more on the gimmicky carnage and guts, the action in Souten no Ken largely focuses more on the technical aspects of the fighting like it’s a Kung Fu movie. Their movements appropriately reflect their muscular bodies where they are fast but execute certain punches and kicks that compliment their frames. If you don’t believe big guys like them can be agile, we encourage you watch some pro wrestling to get an idea that they can.

Kenshiro encounters many rivals throughout his journey, and some of them become significant allies upon losing to him. This is true with both Yasaka and Feiyan in the anime and manga. However, the anime criminally removes one significant rival such as Liu Zongwu, this series’ equivalent to Raoh/Kaioh from Hokuto no Ken. Like Kaioh, he is a master of another form of Hokuto’s martial arts which focuses on implosions as opposed to explosions. As weird as this sounds, Zongwu happens to be a Nazi soldier who is a Chinese (the Chinese in fact did have a brief semi-alliance with Germany before the war). However, he serves as Kenshiro’s greatest rival in the Souten no Ken manga and his removal from the anime just makes that version feel empty. Kenshin, Kenshiro’s rival in the anime, is a good character, but Zongwu as the Chinese Nazi is a more worthy villain. In connection to Zongwu and Ramon (who is Hokuto no Ken’s adopted father), the manga implies he was the teacher to Jukei, an old man the Hokuto no Ken Kenshiro meets in the final story arc, and uses the same fighting style as Zongwu. In the Souten no Ken manga, you see Jukei as a boy and he meets Zongwu after his redeems himself.

Saving a princess from a dragon is probably the most cookie-cutter video game plot you can have, just short of Space Invaders. But Princess Daphne breaks the mold with her unabashed sex appeal and ditsy attitude, both of which she wears with pride. After barely scraping your way past the nigh-impossible death traps the game constantly throws at you, Daphne greets you with a sparkly outfit and a smile. Her breathy, lilting dialogue is equal parts endearing and hilarious and gives you all the motivation you need to rescue her from the evil dragon. She only has a minute or two of screentime, but she certainly makes an impression!

Damien initially seems like the most eccentric of the dads you can choose to date in this visual novel—he’s obsessed with Victorian England to the point that his clothes, house, and mannerisms are carefully chosen to be as accurate as possible for the time period. But beneath all of that, he’s a down-to-earth guy who works in IT and volunteers at an animal shelter. His struggle to balance his passion for history with his “boring” normal self reminds us of our own lives as anime and video game fans. The protagonist accepts Damien for all of his wildly different aspects and assures him that he’s loved no matter what form he takes, which resonates with us deep in our nerdy souls.

Papers, Please casts the player as a border control officer in an authoritarian country, checking passports and work visas to afford a meager living for their suffering family. You become a tiny part of a thousand stories, and one of the most impactful is the struggle of a young guard named Sergiu to reunite with his dearest love Elisa on the other side of the border wall. If you manage to save Sergiu from a number of terrorist attacks and allow Elisa through the checkpoint even though she doesn’t have the documents she needs, they’ll run towards each other and embrace. You’ll receive a penalty for letting Elisa in, but it’s worth it to see these two little stick figures happy together. They even decide to name their first child after you!

Haru has been under immense pressure for her entire life, perpetuated by her corrupt company executive father who wants to use her for political gain. If you spend time developing your relationship with her, however, she’ll eventually muster up enough confidence to stand up for herself and take control of her future. Late in the game, you meet her at the café that her father’s company runs. She thanks you for your support and cheerfully declares her intention to run her own café chain one day. And if you accept her affections, she adorably lays her head on your shoulder and says that she “wants to be with you a little longer...” Aww!!

Let’s face it, Sora and Riku are the real couple of the Kingdom Hearts series. Not to hate on Kairi, but these two have been through hell together and are much closer as a result. And it seems like the writers of Dream Drop Distance agree since they spend the whole game shipping the boys so hard that Amazon would be jealous. Late in the game, Sora is trapped in a magical sleep that he can’t wake up from, but Riku is determined to save him. He tells Mickey, “Sora saved me once. And... I heard him call my name. He needs me!” This little moment shows that their bond is deep enough to reach their very souls. Riku saves Sora from his darkness, and there would’ve been no one better for the job.

It’s hard to believe, but one of the most touching romantic scenes in video game history came from a title developed by 4chan users where you date girls who live with physical disabilities. Lilly’s storyline is our favorite, particularly because of its ending that expertly skirts the line between melodrama and achingly genuine love. Lilly reluctantly decides to move back to Scotland with her family, but the protagonist (who has a weak heart) chases her down at the airport and begs her to stay. He has a minor heart attack from the strain and wakes up in the hospital to see Lilly by his side. The two share a tearful embrace as they promise to support each other from now on, instead of assuming that the other person is too perfect to need help. Meanwhile, Lilly’s music box twinkles away in the corner...

Scientists Neil and Eva work for a company that rewrites the memories of dying people so that they can be happy in their final moments. Their latest client is Johnny, an elderly man in a coma whose last wish is to go to the moon. As they dig further into his memories, they discover that this wish is deeply entwined with his love for his wife, River. Through memory manipulation and Johnny’s own determination to remember his wife, the two lovers meet again as ghosts at a familiar cliffside to watch a space shuttle launch that Neil and Eva are also viewing. They never reached the moon, but they were able to find each other after passing on... and that’s what they had really wished for in the first place.

Professor Layton is the picture-perfect English gentleman, right down to his unflappable personality and fancy top hat. But in the third game in the series, the sudden reappearance of his presumed-to-be-dead college girlfriend reveals that this puzzle master has a soft heart on the inside. It turns out that Claire was sent to the future instead of dying in a time machine experiment, but she only has a limited time to spend with her sweetie before she has to return to the past and die to keep the timeline secure. The two share a touching moment where they wonder what kind of life they would’ve lived together, but soon Claire has to go. Layton, in tears, removes his trademark hat for the first time and silently looks up at the stars...

Majora’s Mask is the most character-focused game in the entire Legend of Zelda series, using its three-day time loop to immerse you in the lives of Termina’s residents as they deal with the imminent threat of the moon crushing them to death. Every character is surprisingly well written for the time, but the most memorable among them are the star-crossed couple Anju and Kafei. During the longest and most difficult sidequest in the game, you reunite the two lovers mere minutes before the moon destroys Clock Town. They perform the traditional wedding ritual of exchanging Sun and Moon masks and embrace, prepared to “greet the dawn together”. Unfortunately, this beautiful moment can’t last forever, as you’re forced to reset time back to when they were still separated by the Skull Kid’s curse.

Final Fantasy X’s dialogue can seem a bit cheesy these days (the laughing scene comes to mind), but there’s no denying that Tidus and Yuna are rightfully regarded as one of the best couples in video game history. And for the #1 spot on this list, it only seemed right to give it to their iconic kissing scene in the stream. Tidus finally figures out that Yuna’s pilgrimage will kill her if she completes it, and tries to convince her to give it up so she can live her own life. Yuna wants to believe him but breaks down at the thought of abandoning something so important for her own sake. And then Tidus leans in and kisses her! It’s adorable all by itself, but the sentiment in that kiss—that Yuna is worthy of being more than just a sacrifice—is what warms our hearts every time.