Shows Like Citrus
If you loved Citrus's Animation and Drama storytelling, these series deliver a similar experience — chosen for tone, narrative quality, and viewer satisfaction. Each includes where to stream it now.
★ Top Picks
Adachi and Shimamura
Adachi spends her school days skipping class until she meets fellow delinquent Shimamura and the two become fast friends. Cutting class together deepens their friendship but soon unexpected emotions blossom. As awkwardness and confusion settle in, the two girls travel this sea of emotions without a paddle as they learn about each other’s feelings.
Sakura Trick
Haruka Takayama and Yū Sonoda were inseparable during middle school, but upon entering high school, they end up being seated on opposite sides of the classroom. Having to spend time with more friends, the two decide to make their relationship special by kissing each other in secret.
Bloom Into You
Yuu has always dreamt of receiving a love letter but feels numb when a boy gives her one. Confused, she starts high school and meets Touko. Will Yuu's heart finally skip a beat?
A Condition Called Love
High school freshman Hotaru Hinase has a vibrant life full of family and friendship, but not much luck in romance. That all changes when she makes a warm gesture to her handsome and heartbroken classmate, Hananoi, leading to him asking her out and her becoming flustered. Witness a girl who grapples with the enigma of love and a boy who is heavy handed with it.
Whispered Words
Murasame Sumika is popular in the high school for her excellence in the marks and sports. However, she has a secret: she is in love with her classmate Kazama Ushio, but she hasn't noticed Sumika's feelings. On the other hand Ushio also has a liking to the love between girls but she only shows any interest in cutesy girls. Sumika, a card-carrying badass who helps run her family's dojo, does not fit this bill even a little. Cue angst, as she is forced to watch from the sidelines as Ushio falls for girl after girl, none of them her. Ushio is always eager to share news about her latest crush. With the duo's knack for attracting trouble, it looks like Sumika's trials have only just begun.
Strawberry Panic
Nagisa Aoi is a new transfer student into one of the three prestigious all-girls Catholic high schools on Astraea Hill: a school called St. Miator (the other two are St. Spica and St. Lelim (known in the anime as Le Rim, for some reason). While getting totally lost on her first day, she stumbles into a clearing with a tree, and also into a girl with long silver hair. Nagisa is immediately smitten with the girl, Shizuma Hanazono, otherwise known as the Etoile of the three schools (the most idolized girl). Shizuma, after picking up a figurine dropped by Nagisa, kisses her on the forehead, leading to Nagisa fainting. After waking up in the school's infirmary, Nagisa then meets her new roommate, Tamao Suzumi. Things, however, will be getting a lot more complicated for the new student than just that.
The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity
When the intimidating Rintaro meets the open-minded Kaoruko, the unlikely duo grows closer. The issue? Their neighboring high schools hate each other.
Our Dating Story: The Experienced You and the Inexperienced Me
Ryuto Kashima is the school's gloomy introvert, and he's got a crush on Runa Shirakawa, the popular girl. After losing a bet to classmates, he confesses his feelings to Runa one day. Shocked and secretly just as inexperienced as Ryuto, Runa agrees to date him. The relationship grows between two people who are as similar as they are different. Will their young love blossom? Time will tell!
More Shows Like Citrus
His and Her Circumstances
In His and Her Circumstances, like a drug, Yukino Miyazawa was addicted to admiration and praise from those around her. She worked hard to become the perfect student, the perfect girl. But that was before… him. Souichirou Arima. The instant she met him, she hated him. Without even trying, he snatched the very glory from her hands by easily acing the high school entrance exam that should have made her the class representative. To take back what is rightfully hers, Yukino is putting all her efforts into plotting her revenge – but was love part of the plan?
Aharen-san wa Hakarenai
Socially awkward Aharen-san has personal boundary issues, either getting too close or too far from her classmates. When fellow student Raido picks up an eraser she drops, Aharen-san decides they’re now best friends. Whether studying, playing the arcade, or just eating lunch—she’s along for the ride. What follows is an impromptu bonding that shows affection can blossom in the unlikeliest of places!
We Never Learn: BOKUBEN
Nariyuki Yuiga is in his last and most painful year of high school. In order to gain the “special VIP recommendation” which would grant him a full scholarship to college, he must now tutor his classmates as they struggle to prepare for entrance exams. Among his pupils are “the sleeping beauty of the literary forest,” Fumino Furuhashi, and "the Thumbelina supercomputer," Rizu Ogata–two of the most beautiful super-geniuses at the school! While these two were thought to be academically flawless, it turns out that they’re completely clueless outside of their pet subjects…!?
Sweet Blue Flowers
Fumi Manjoume enters Kamakura's accelerated high school - Matsuoka All-Girls High School. While waiting at the Kamakura station on the day of her entrance ceremony, she runs into an old childhood friend whom she had not seen in 10 years: Akira Okudaira. As their friendship is rekindled and they start falling back into the rhythm of friends again, it starts a delicate love story...
Seiren
For high school students like Shouichi Kamita, university entrance exams and the future are common concerns. It is also during this time in life that a mysterious emotion that vexes people of all ages may begin to weigh upon one's mind—love. At this point in his teenage years, Shouichi finds three girls he could see himself having a future with: the ever-cheerful Hikari Tsuneki, who teases Shouichi without mercy, but actually has a softer side; the competitive gamer, Tooru Miyamae, who has difficulty communicating with others; and Shouichi's childhood friend, Kyouko Touno, the sometimes immature shoujo manga enthusiast. Seiren follows Shouichi's relationships with these three girls across three separate arcs, as their feelings grow from mutual interest and blossom into something more beautiful.
ORESUKI Are you the only one who loves me?
Kisaragi Amatsuyu is invited out alone by the cool beauty upperclassman Cosmos and his childhood friend Himawari. Expecting to hear their confessions, he triumphantly goes to meet each of them in turn. But Cosmos and Himawari both instead confess to Amatsuyu that they like his friend. Amatsuyu fights this lonely battle, but there is another girl who is looking at him. She is a gloomy girl with glasses and braids. Amatsuyu finds that he hates her, because she's always turning her sharp tongue only on him and finding enjoyment in his troubles. But it turns out that she's the only one who actually does like him.
Overflow
Kazushi Sudou is a university student who is visited by his two childhood friends, the sisters Ayane and Kotone Shirakawa. When Ayane discovers that Kazushi not only forgot to buy her pudding but is also using her special lotion in the bath, she decides to take revenge and join Kazushi in his bath along with Kotone. Will the perverted Kazushi be able to remain indifferent to them both?
The World God Only Knows
Keima is a dating sim champion. Cute girls are rendered powerless by his irresistible game playing techniques. Too bad things aren't that way in the real world. That is, until his tempting game playing causes a real live—and very bubbly-cute—demon hunter named Elsie to materialize! Now Elsie wants Keima to help her free hot girls from sneaky demons who secretly possess them.
Skip and Loafer
Iwakura Mitsumi, a tenacious country girl, prepares for high school in the big city. She meets the handsome Shima Sousuke, whose easygoing ways help her adapt in the real world.
To LOVE-Ru
The story is about Rito Yuuki , a high-school boy who cannot confess to the girl of his dreams, Haruna Sairenji. One day when coming home and sulking in the bathtub a mysterious, nude girl, appears out of nowhere. Her name is Lala and she comes from the planet Deviluke, where she is the heir to the throne. Her father wants her to return to her home planet so she can marry one of the husband candidates, but she decides that she wants to marry Rito in order to stay on Earth.
Rent-a-Girlfriend
Kinoshita Kazuya is a 20-year-old failure of a college student. He managed to kiss his girlfriend once, but was dumped after a month. Completely spiteful, Kazuya uses a certain method to date a girl. He goes to their meeting place and a beautiful girl brushing her long, black hair behind her ear was there, smiling at him. Her name was Mizuhara Chizuru. Something real is born after just a single rental! A reckless rom-com filled with love and excitement is about to begin!
Say "I Love You."
To trust is to set yourself up for failure. That’s the lesson Mei Tachibana learned when her heart was broken. She found a solution: never make any more friends. It’s not as easy as it sounds, but it works for Mei. At least it did until handsome and charming Yamato Kurosawa showed up to complicate everything. Mei’s not looking for a white knight. So why did he have to kiss her and ruin everything? Between heartbeats and behind trembling lips the specter of betrayals past, future, and present haunt them both in Say "I Love You"!
Why These Shows Are Similar
These recommendations share core qualities with Citrus (2018): Animation and Drama themes, similar pacing, and comparable production quality. NoBadPicks uses TMDB collaborative filtering, genre matching, and AI analysis to surface series most likely to resonate with fans of Citrus.
See full details for Citrus (2018)