Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines!was the breakout anime romcom of 2024, and it’s easy to see why. In addition to having such great visuals and animation thatMakeinereceived praise from legendary director Makoto Shinkai, the premise of giving closure to girls who lose typical love stories made for an engaging take on anime romcoms, and the strong writing of every episode perfectly sold that from start to finish.
Makeineis a truly phenomenal anime, which makes its inspiration all the more surprising. After the series won first place in the 2025 edition ofKono Light Novel ga Sugoi!, an annual guidebook highlighting Japan’s most popular light novels, series author Takibi Amamori was interviewed about the process behind its creation, and as it turns out,Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines!was inspired by a highly controversial anime from Studio Trigger.Makeinefans probably won’t like that, but at the very least, it was able to use it as a building block for a far better story.
How Studio Trigger’s Most Divisive Anime Inspired One Of 2024’s Biggest Hits
Losing Heroines' Studio Trigger Connection Explained
In the aforementioned interview with author Takibi Amamori, Amamori said that after watching the Studio Trigger animeDarling in the Franxx, he felt bad that Ichigo, a childhood friend-type heroine, lost to Zero Two, so he wanted to write a story where the childhood friend could win. However that made him realize that there’s always a losing heroine in romance stories, so he pivoted to writing a story about the losing heroines, instead, meaning thatIchigo losing Hiro to Zero Two inDarling in the Franxxwas the main inspiration forDarling in the Franxx’s premise surrounding losing heroines.
Darling in the Franxx’s influence can also be seen in how Anna resembles Ichigo and how Karen, the winning heroine of her life, resembles Zero Two.
Darling in the Franxxbeing an inspiration is surprising for various reasons. Its general obscurity compared to more notable romance stories is one thing, but despite its good start,Darling in the Franxxquickly became divisive thanks to the poor handling of its romance and the overarching narrative of the anime, and it rarely ever ranks highly among thebest Studio Trigger anime ever made. Much of the negativity might have been from the West more than Japan, but even so, it’s odd that it, of all shows, played such a crucial part inMakeine’s development.
Losing Heroines Fixes One Of The Biggest Problems With Darling In The Franxx
Darling in the Franxxstarted with a good handling of its romantic themes, especially since some were more sexual than what’s usually seen in anime, but as time went on,Darling in the Franxxbegan relying on melodrama and anticlimax to further its various romantic subplots as it neared its finale, all of which robbed it of the charm that drew people to its story, in the first place. The nonsensical nature of the final act only made things worse, as all those problems just emphasized how poorly executed the romance ended up being.
Conversely, even with it only being half as long asDarling in the Franxx,Makeinealways keeps things relatively lighthearted, with even the dramatic moments never getting too over-the-top, so in a way,Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines!took the basic elements ofDarling in the Franxx’s romance and used that to make a much better story for people to get invested in. It’s hard to recommendDarling in the Franxxto anyone who’s a fan ofMakeine: Too Many Losing Heroines!, but it’s still interesting that such a divisive anime helped create one of 2024’s biggest hits.
Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines!
Cast
In “Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines!” the story revolves around the lives of several young women navigating their personal and professional challenges.
