10 Best Anime Like A Couple of Cuckoos You Need to Watch
A Couple of Cuckoos is a shōnen manga written and illustrated by Miki Yoshikawa. It has been published since January 29, 2020 in the Weekly Shōnen Magazine and then published in bound volumes by the Japanese publisher Kōdansha. An anime series adaptation by Shin-Ei Animation Studios and SynergySP has been airing since April 2022. While you’re waiting for new weekly episodes of A Couple of Cuckoos, we have decided to bring you a list of the 10 best anime like A Couple of Cuckoos you absolutely have to watch.
1. My Dress-Up Darling
Original Run: January 9, 2022 – March 27, 2022
Episodes: 12
Wakana Gojo is a first-year high school student who dreams of becoming a Hina doll maker. One day during his first semester, his popular classmate Marine Kitagawa sees him making doll costumes in the school’s dressmaking room.
Marine, who had wanted to cosplay for a while and having observed Wakana’s skill at sewing, asks her to create a costume of a character from a video game that she loves. Nevertheless, Wakana had never made human-sized costumes, however being pushed by Marine’s strong emotions, he accepts her request.
2. The Quintessential Quintuplets / The Quintessential Quintuplets ∬
Release Date: January 9, 2019 – March 28, 2019 / January 8, 2021 – March 26, 2021
Episodes: 24
High school student Futaro Uesugi is an academically gifted student that leads a difficult life—his mother has died, he has no friends, and on top of all that, his father has incurred a large amount of debt.
An opportunity presents itself when the rich Nakano family transfers to his school. Futaro is promptly hired as a highly paid tutor. However, much to Futaro’s dismay, he discovers that his five charges—identical quintuplet sisters of varied personalities—have no interest in studying at all and have abysmal grades.
3. The World God Only Knows
Original Run: October 6, 2010 – June 28, 2011
Episodes: 24
Keima Katsuragi is an otaku expert in dating video games well known on the net. Drilling into the pixel hearts of game heroines has no secret for this genius of love simulation video games, so much so that he is nicknamed on the internet “The falling god”.
Everything gets complicated when he meets Elsy, a demon from hell, who entrusts him with a mission: to capture the hearts of real young girls to send the demons who have taken refuge in them back to hell. However, if virtually Keima is an outstanding seducer, in life, he does not support real girls and their character.
4. Maid Sama!
Original Run: April 1, 2010 – September 23, 2010
Number of Episodes: 26 (+ OVA)
The Seika High School was once a school for boys only, but over time it opened up to girls too. The isolation created a harsh climate in the classes, so that the girls find it very difficult to gain a foothold and repeatedly suffer from the humiliation of the boys.
The girl Misaki Ayuzawa still manages to assert herself against her classmates and become the first student representative. Because of her behavior, she is soon seen as a man-hater, but is respected or feared. But behind this facade, she also fights against various other problems.
Among other things, her family, which consists of her mother and little sister, was abandoned by her father and is now sitting on a large pile of debts. To stop the collapse of her own apartment and to help her overworked mother, Misaki looks for a job in a maid café. Since she mainly has to serve male customers there, she tries to keep her job a secret from her classmates.
In the meantime, at school she is often confronted with the heartthrob Takumi Usui, who repeatedly refuses all declarations of love and makes the girls cry. As a result, a special form of hatred against him builds up in her. One day, however, Takumi meets Misaki in front of the Maid Café and discovers her secret.
Her fears that she would now lose her reputation are not fulfilled, however, as Takumi keeps her secret and protects her because, unlike the other girls, he develops feelings for her. Misaki also slowly develops feelings for Takumi and an ambivalent love relationship builds up, which has to suffer severe setbacks again and again.
In the end, however, Usui Takumi can confess his love to Misaki Ayuzawa at a school festival.
5. Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru
Original Run: October 8, 2006 – December 24, 2006
Number of Episodes: 12 (+ 4 OVA)
Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru tells the story of the main character Mizuho Miyanokouji, an androgynous high school student. After the death of his grandfather, the reading of his will indicates that he wants his grandson transferred to the Seio Girls’ Academy, the school founded by his ancestors and where his own mother studied.
Respecting this will, Mizuho disguises himself in order to infiltrate it. Initially, only the headmistress, headteacher Hisako Kajiura and Mariya Mikado know his secret; Shion Jujo and Ichiko Takashima also eventually find out. Mizuho is very popular with other high school girls, who often discuss her beauty, cuteness, and athleticism. This unbridled popularity increases to the point that he is nominated, against his will, to become the student council president.
Because of this, the current student council president, Takako Itsukushima, opposes Mizuho. The election of the president is an old tradition in the school: in June, one of the high school girls is elected by her peers to be the eldest, seen as the school’s number one “big sister”. Until graduation, she was referred to by her peers as Onee-sama.
To become a senior, the candidate must obtain at least 75% of the votes. If none of the candidates obtains at least 75% in the first ballot, one of the candidates gives her votes to another candidate, then the one who finally obtains at least 75% of the votes becomes the oldest. If no one reaches this threshold, the president of the student council for the current year becomes the eldest.
In Otoboku, Mizuho gets 82% of the vote in the first round, becoming the 72nd oldest in school history. In the following months, Mizuho is confronted with the responsibility entailed by this status and tries to help the other characters as best as possible while keeping his true identity a secret.
6. Komi Can’t Communicate
Original Run: October 7, 2021 – present
Number of Episodes: 12
Komi Shouko is a girl who attends Itan High private school, where she is extremely popular with her peers due to her beauty and her seemingly haughty and superior attitude. On the first day of class, she meets Tadano Hitohito, her neighbor: he discovers, after trying to talk to her, that Komi actually suffers from a communication disorder that prevents her from speaking in front of other people and, consequently, from being able to make friends with anyone. Tadano thus promises to help her achieve her goal of finding a hundred friends.
7. Kimi ni Todoke
Original Run: October 6, 2009 – March 30, 2011
Number of Episodes: 38
The high school student Sawako Kuronuma is loathed by her classmates, as various rumors manifested in the school that she could see ghosts and curse people. The reason for this is the similarity of her name to Sadako, a character from the Ring.
Many students fear her presence and avoid her as much as possible. Only the new and very popular student Shōta Kazehaya treats her like any other girl. One day they get the opportunity to talk to each other, which turns their entire life upside down.
With his help, she tries to make new friends and to talk to strangers like any other schoolgirl. She is almost exaggeratedly grateful for his support and a close relationship slowly develops between the two, which has to overcome many hurdles.
8. Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend
Original Run: January 9, 2015 – June 23, 2017
Episodes: 24 (+ 1 Special)
One fine day Tomoya Aki, an otaku high school student, meets a beautiful girl in town. This meeting gives him the desire to create his own flirting game (called Galge) where the main heroine would be a girl very similar to the one he met in town. Tomoya persuades some friends with rather special characters to help him like Eriri Spencer Sawamura, a member of an art club, or Utaha Kasumigaoka, the smartest student in the school.
Meanwhile, Tomoya discovers that this sublime and mysterious girl is none other than Megumi Katō, a classmate whom he finds banal and boring. But he remains devoted and determined that this girl will be the heroine of his game. However, it will not be easy, he will have to transform her from an ordinary and uninteresting girl to a perfect girlfriend for his flirting game!
9. Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun
Original Run: July 7, 2014 – September 22, 2014
Number of Episodes: 12
The high school student Chiyo Sakura has fallen in love with her classmate Umetaro Nozaki, but it is difficult for her to admit this to him. After one unsuccessful attempt, he takes it home with him. But contrary to Sakura’s hopes, he thinks she is a fan – Nozaki is a mangaka and draws a comic series for girls (“Shōjo”), which appears in the magazine Gekkan Shōjo Romance.
She has long since noticed her talent in the art club, so he recruits her as an Inker. Sakura likes to do this, after all, she is so close to him and maybe she can still confess her love to him. Through the frequent work together, they make new friends and Sakura learns about the work of a mangaka. So Nozaki first goes in search of interesting people who he can use as a template for his stories.
Sakura introduces him to her classmate Yuzuki Seo – a sporty, helpful, but also rough and insensitive girl. Through Nozaki, Sakura met Mikoto Mikoshiba, who drew Nozaki the decorations and patterns. Mikoto is a would-be womanizer who often knocks out slogans but is shortly afterwards ashamed of himself.
10. Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku
Original Run: April 13, 2018 – June 22, 2018
Number of Episodes: 11
The series follows the awkward romantic comedy between “otaku” office workers, one of whom, Narumi Momose, is a stern fujoshi who somehow tries to hide her passions from others while her partner, Hirotaka Nifuji, is a beautiful, competent man addicted to video games who only lets go of his console to work. If they seem perfect for each other, love is still complicated for the otaku.
