Western movies and television will prolong a “will they or won’t they” situation between two people who obviously like each other for as long as they can get away with it, but in the end, the lovebirds will usually at least kiss or formally get together. This even happens in children’s shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender and Danny Phantom. Anime, on the other hand, prefers to drag out romantic tension for so long that the lead characters may not even confess to one another by the end—we’re looking at you, Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun!

But why are romantic gestures so taboo in anime? Why don’t we have more confident characters who just confess their love to the person they’ve clearly adored for years? Well, let’s take a look at why anime romances take so darn long.

This article was written for Honey’s Anime, so please read it on their site.