Brother, Dear Brother is the shoujo lover's shoujo series, yet the story isn't all neat and happy and innocent. Indeed, the characters can be positively frightening at times. Yet everybody has a reason for doing what they do, and that is what I truly love about this series. The characterization. At first, the characters might seem one dimensional. But watch for a bit, and you discover more and more about them. When I first watched it, I was positive I knew exactly what the characters meant. Then I watched another episode, and watched my entire viewpoint crumble in the wake of the new information.

While there might not be mecha and pointless fighting, there is a plethora of jealousy, revenge, posessiveness, suicide, abuse, illness...I'd argue that the emotional intensity of several episodes is unparalleled, and I personally have shuddered whilst watching this. I've seen a lot of anime, but nothing has made me more terrified than the deranged actions of Saint Juste in episodes 13-14 or Miya-sama in episode 22. Truly brilliant and terrifying.