Love Confession

This is when one character makes a declaration of love to another. How it's done, and the reactions to it, will vary. It usually happens with a sense of drama, particularly with shy characters, who are mortified at the thought that they could be rejected by the object of their affection. It carries extra weight if the confessor has been a longtime admirer or has been carrying a secret crush. It's generally seen as a big risk with a guy confessing to a girl, but when a girl confesses to a guy it is seen as a triumphant moment. With all significant declarations there is The "I Love You" Stigma that follows, it's meant to be a big moment. Crush Blush may occur for either person, or both.

Unresolved Sexual Tension is often at the core of the confession, especially if the two parties are known for being Vitriolic Best Buds or Like Brother and Sister. The reaction may either be to accept the confessor's affection and reciprocate, or acknowledge the affection but turn it down. If the person is a Jerkass, expect it to be done in such a way for maximum humiliation.

In those harsh cases the end result is Did Not Get the Girl; yet the person being confessed to may say that they're Better as Friends or I Don't Want to Ruin Our Friendship, in order to spare the confessor's feelings. If the two parties have known each other since childhood and the confession is accepted and the love reciprocated, what you have is First Girl Wins and Victorious Childhood Friend.

Be careful, though—if the confession is refused (whether kindly or brutally) and the confessor is a bit unhinged, it may lead to an "If I Can't Have You…" situation.

As many of the examples listed below attest, a love confession does not require the actual utterance of the phrase "I love you," nor even the word "love".

Subtropes include:

• Aborted Declaration of Love—A character plans to confess their love, but then chooses not to.
• Anguished Declaration of Love—A character dramatically declares their love for another after much anguish.
• Dying Declaration of Love—A character declares/confesses their love for another on either party's deathbed.
• Interrupted Declaration of Love—A character begins to declare their love for another, but then there's an interruption.
• I Will Wait for You—The confessor vows to save themselves until their crush is ready to reciprocate their affections.
• Love Confessor—A lover confesses their love for someone to a third party ("I love Alice," rather than "I love you.")
• Platonic Declaration of Love—A character declares their platonic love for another.

Compare The Four Loves.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You: Rentarou gets one every time a girl falls in love with him. At one point, he mentions how this trope being used as the starting point of a relationship is something that only happens in Japan, which enables him to identify one of his girlfriends as a reverse Occidental Otaku as opposed to an American immigrant.
• In Asteroid in Love, Moe gives one to Misa on the Valentine's Day before Misa is set to leave for college. Misa is implied to have respectfully rejected it, asking Suzu to Be Yourself instead of admiring her, and besides her Significant Haircut Suzu seems to take it pretty gracefully.
• Betrayal Knows My Name: Fuyutoki for Takashiro in episode 20.
• Bleach:
  • Orihime confesses she's in love with Ichigo only when he's unconscious, which is why she's willing to admit it. She doesn't actually expect anything from him so she doesn't pursue him.
  • Aizen ruins Ryuuken Ishida's quincy future twenty years before the story begins. Ryuuken's attempt to exile himself from both his family and the quincies is halted only by Katagiri insisting on joining him due to her love for him. Six years before the story begins, Ryuuken's estrangement is firmly cemented by the events that cause her death.
• Boarding School Juliet:
  • Romio confesses his love to his childhood crush Juliet right in the first chapter, and it's a powerful confession that caught her completely off-guard.
    Romio: I love you, go out with me.
    Juliet: Huh?
    Romio: This is me going all out. For so long—
    Juliet: What are you talking about? Don't screw with me.
    Romio: Could I say something like this as a joke? I love you, that's why I haven't fought you for real. I saved you because I love you. I'm not underestimating you, nor do I think you're weak. How did you not notice, you airheaded girl?
    Juliet: Why would I notice that? We're enemies.
    Romio: That's why I couldn't say anything. How many times I thought, 'if only we were from the same country?', 'I should just give up'. But now I've accepted my fate, if I'm at your side, I could change this world.
  • And two chapters later Hasuki confesses to Romio.
  • Several chapters later, during a mini amnesia arc, the titular character confesses to Romio in order to help him recover his memories, in the same way he did to her at first.
• Bokura no Hentai:
  • Bokura no Hentai makes fun of several manga tropes, with the love confession being one of them. A random classmate once confessed to Marika and was rejected. Marika's friends are confused as to why someone would confess to someone they've had little-to-no prior interaction with.
  • Later a more proper confession happens from Ryousuke to Marika, not too long after his girlfriend broke up with him for feeling he didn't really like her. It doesn't go anywhere.
• For some reason, all the confessions that have appeared so far in Bokura no Kiseki have been spur-of-the-moment, very public confessions.
  • First there's Harusumi's confession to Takao in chapter 1. He just randomly tells her he likes her in the middle of a crowded hallway. And, after a Beat and a shocked, "Whoa", she replies the same way.
  • Then there's Moto's confession to Hiroki in chapter 6. When she tries to leave to deal with a dangerous situation on her own, he loudly declares his love for her and insists on going with her to protect her. In the middle of the classroom. Much later, when the chaos finally dies down, she turns him down.
• Marin accidentally overhears one between two minor characters in Brigadoon: Marin and Melan. Later, she makes one of her own to Melan, and follows it up with a kiss.
• Happens in the episode 2B/ Chapter 8 of Castle Town Dandelion. Satou lets out her feelings for Shuu, but he turns her down as he has to focus on the election. However, he does agree to talk to her about it again once the election is over.
• Yuu from Charlotte gave Nao a rather blunt one in episode 12, but she doesn't reciprocate, and in fact has a skeptical and confused look on her face. She does do The Promise with him though, in that she'll be waiting for him after he returns from his worldwide mission to plunder every ability and prevent them from being exploited.
• Chivalry of a Failed Knight: Happens rather quickly by romance anime standards, Ikki tells Stella he loves her shortly after he wins his first fight, she becomes very embarrassed and tries to avoid a bit the subject, but he reaffirms his love for her, she then accepts and they become a couple.
• Chobits has an important one at the end: Chii confessing love to Hideki.
• CLANNAD:
  • In the anime, Tomoya nervously confesses to Nagisa:
    Tomoya: Hum, how should I put it?...Would...Wouldn't it be interesting to say that we're dating when we wake up tomorrow?... Ahem... Please date me, Nagisa. I love you. So I want you to always be with me.
  • In the OVA, he accidentally confesses to Kyou (he thought he was talking to her twin sister (Ryou) during the confession, was going to reject Ryou for her, when she hears this she reveals herself and runs to hug him). In the game he has more confession scenes with other girls in her routes.
• In Claymore, Raki tells Clare he loves her as she's turning into a man-eating monster. This awakens enough of Clare's human side that another warrior can help her to transform back.
• Code Geass: Shirley Fenette manages to spit it out to Lelouch vi Britannia once... seconds before she dies, for good.
• Cross Ange: After his supposed death has driven her over the Despair Event Horizon, Ange sadly confesses her love for Tusk before breaking down in tears again... right before Tusk himself, alive and well, places his hands on her shoulders and asks if she really meant that. After a moment of hushed disbelief, followed by slapping him out of fear that he's just an illusion, Ange kisses him and — just to make sure it's really him — pulls him to the ground and begs him to stay before she proceeds to mount him. After a very tender first time for the both of them, Tusk tenderly returns her confession from earlier with his own.
• A past love confession leads to a lot of the trouble in Dandelion Among Lilies. Two years ago Ena offhandedly confessed to Mizuho on a swingset one night. They began dating afterwards. When Ena overhears Mizuho tell her sister that she's dating her because Ena confessed to her, Ena starts wondering if Mizuho's only dating her because of pity.
• Darker than Black 2 starts with one as well. The relationship doesn't last the episode, due to the girl awakening as a contractor. Both of them get Killed Off for Real by the end of the season. It's that kind of show.
• Death Note: Misa to Light during their first meeting, unfortunately, he's just using her.
• Shuro from Delicious in Dungeon confesses his love to Falin and asks her to marry him at the same time.
• DEVILMAN crybaby has three instances, although the latter two are more ambiguous in nature. Kukun gives one to Miko in the form of a freestyle rap, then later on Miko gives either a romantic or Platonic Declaration of Love to Miki. And lastly, Ryo gives one to Akira, albeit indirectly, and at a moment when it's already too late to confess.
• D.N.Angel loves this. The series starts with Daisuke for Risa, Risa, for Dark, Daisuke for Riku, Friedert (sort of) for Daisuke, Satoshi for Daisuke, Wiz (accidentally) for pretty much everyone…
• The Eminence In Shadow: Cid gets coerced by his friends into confessing to the most popular girl at school, Princess Alexia... to his absolute excitement, because getting brutally shot down (as she is known to do) will absolutely cement his status as a forgettable loser background character, which is only beneficial to his plans. He even spends the night preparing the most ridiculous, pathetic delivery possible, to ensure she absolutely crushes him with the rejection. She accepts. He does not take it well.
• Fairy Tail: Juvia to Gray on a regular basis, often to his annoyance, but in some scenes she does it more seriously, making him reflect more on the situation. Their roles are inverted on their Edolas counterparts, but eventually Edo-Gray succeded since they have a son now.
• The Familiar of Zero: Saito to Louise, at the end of season 1 in the anime, but their relationship don't quite go to the 'lovers' step yet.
• Freezing: After long 203 chapters, Kazuya and Satellizer El Bridget finally confess to each other (and kiss), unfortunately due to circumstances, they don't become lovers yet.
• Fruits Basket:
  • Yuki receives plenty of these. Oh yeah, and Kyo.
  • The end of the manga has at least four of these.
• In the English dub of Fullmetal Alchemist (2003), Rose tells Edward that she loves him while dancing with him. In the original, Edward cuts her off before she finishes the sentence. The problem is that Rose is in a trance, or possibly even a drugged state, caused by the Big Bad Dante. Her feelings are likely true, however she isn't in her right mind when she confessed.
• Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood:
  • On the last episode, Ed confesses his love to Winry when he's about to depart, and she confesses back.
    Edward:It's equivalent exchange, I'll give you halk of my life, so you'll give me half of yours.(nervous expression)
    Winry: Oh geez! Why do alchemists have to be like this? "Equivalent Exchange"? Are you retarded?
    Edward: What did you say?
    Winry: You really are stupid. Half? I'll give you all of it.
  • We see of a photo of both of them married and with a kid at the very end.
• In Full Metal Panic!, Sousuke is a consistent recipient of these. He blows off or misunderstands almost all of them. Of course, due to the desperation of many of his admirers, many of these these turn into Anguished Declarations Of Love.
• Future Diary: Right at the first moment Yuno introduces herself to Yukiteru, she kisses him, confessing she loves him, in a psycho fashion.
• Gamers! (2015): Subverted, one strange thing happens here, Amano is supposed to ask Tendou to be his best friend, but since he was playing a game recently where he needs to ask a girl out, he ends up messing up his line during the real thing with Tendou, and asks her out (but even then, how did he manage to mess up his line this badly is a mystery), and she accepts without even processing what he actually said, and there's a whole class witnessing the whole thing who doesn't give him time to correct himself (what a big confusion). But he eventually properly confesses to her at some point.
• The love confession in Girls Saurus from Haruka to the Shingo occurs in the first few pages of the first chapter. However, because she's tremendously fat, he rejects her, and she beats him to a pulp in her rage. Fast forward a month later, where he's finally out of the hospital. She's worked out and dieted obsessively out of frustration and is struggling to accept that she still has feelings for him. He's absolutely terrified of women, especially her, after the incident. So, as far as Shingo's concerned, she hates him and he likes it that way. It's not true, obviously—as said above, Haruka does love him and struggles with it… and when Shingo finally explains his He-Man Woman Hater deal and she realizes the effects of the horrible love confession, she's horrified.
• Golden Time:
  • At the beginning, Kaga Koko does this to Mitsuo on her daily routine, and even promised to marry him when they were kids, but then he talks seriously with her about not reciprocating, and promptly rejects her, she understands and starts spending more time with Banri.
  • Mitsuo confesses to Chinami, but she dismisses it rather quick, he takes it as a punch on the stomach.
  • Banri confesses to Koko, but she still isn't over Mitsuo yet, and continues talking about him nonstop, Banri becomes fed up with it and tells her directly that either she becomes his girlfriend or cut ties with him.
• Played for comedy in GUN×SWORD. When Pricilla confesses her love to Van, he's the one who can't spit out his answer; instead he babbles incoherently. Given the conclusion of the series, it would seem that the answer was probably "Sorry, I'm not interested," but he never says this.
• Subverted in Haganai, when Sena confesses to Kodaka, he says he didn't hear because of the environment sound, she tries to confess again, but he interrupts and escape from the situation, so he did hear, but just pretend he didn't. But after he confesses back to her, but says they're better to remain friends in order to 'not disrupt the club', she doesn't like this excuse but ends up accepting anyway.
• Shows up in Hajime no Ippo, with Ippo's seniors trying to coerce him into confessing to Kumi.
• In the final volume of Sayuri Tatsuyama's Happy Happy Clover manga series. Shallot accidentally reveals this to Mallow since she was curious on why Shallot hurt himself after finding the healing herbs she needed◊ in the story "Mallow's Heart Flutters". Shallot tells Mallow that he loves her and a short moment happens where Mallow and Shallot are shocked by this. Shallot tries to explain that it came out wrong, but Mallow decides to hug him which results in him passing out.
• The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: One scene is deliberately set up to look like this until Asakura drops the Wham Line.
• Hayate the Combat Butler: Three different characters do this, with five separate confessions. None of the characters are attached to anyone.
  • Ayumu confesses, twice, the first time she's rejected, though it doesn't deter her affection.
    • Ayumu eventually confesses a second time, actually at Hinagiku's insistence. Though initially she gives Hayate 'obligation' chocolate as part of Valentines' Day, Hinagiku insists she talk to Hayate again and give him the chocolate she made for him, telling him that he doesn't need to respond yet. Though he hasn't rejected her again, he has made it clear that he has some affection for her, making this the closest thing to an actual confession and acceptance.
  • Hinagiku has attempted a confession-of-sorts when Hayate has taken her out on a date, but given her fear of loving someone, she does it just as a train passes by, and so he can't actually hear the words.
  • Hayate does this as well, for his '10 years ago girlfriend', first in front of Hinagiku (again), and then directly to the girl he loves, and she responds in kind, but then sends him back to his master, which he takes as a rejection.
    • As of a 300+ chapter, she actually states that she has no affection for him. What this means in light of earlier events hasn't been fully played out.
• High School D×D: Issei gives one more straightforward confession to Rias at the end of season 4, even after she sleeped with him naked several times (without him ever doing anything).
• Highschool of the Dead: Rei to Takashi, followed by a Did They or Didn't They? scene, unfortunately, the mangaka died, and we'll probably never know how their relationship turned out.
• In His and Her Circumstances, Arima confesses his love in the first volume, and Miyazawa struggles to confess hers later on. Also, being called out to the cherry trees behind the school for a love confession causes Arima to realize his love for Miyazawa.
• I Belong to the Baddest Girl at School: Toramaru's terrible love confession starts off the series. What she thought was a romantic declaration sounded like her demanding Unoki be her slave forever.
• Inuyasha: One episode revolves around Kagome's little brother Sota working up the courage for a confession.
• Is This A Zombie?: In episode 8 of Season 2, Ayumu gets one from Kyouko, while also getting impaled by her sword at the same time.
• Junjou Romantica: Misaki really, REALLY Cannot Spit It Out, but finally does in the end.
• Kaguya-sama: Love Is War is built on Kaguya and Shirogane trying to force each other into confession due to a combination of pride, shyness, and insecurity keeping them from doing so themselves. Even though both of them end up deciding to confess during the culture festival, neither of them ever actually say that they're in love (instead opting for non-verbal methods), which leaves both of them unsure of what their exact relationship is. It isn't until Christmas eve several days later that they actually admit their feelings out loud (followed by a proper confession two days after that during their first date as a couple, though it's clear that they merely consider it to be a formality at that point).
  • A few chapters earlier, Ishigami accidentally confessed to his crush Tsubame by giving her a giant heart-shaped cookie in front of a bunch of their classmates. A school legend says that if you give someone a heart during the culture festival, it means you want to be with them forever; however, due to his limited social circle Ishigami is one of the 10% of the student body who don't know of the legend. He does eventually find out and briefly panics before deciding to let it stand. He also gives her a proper confession during Christmas Eve, but she turns him down due to her Commitment Issues.
• Karin: The scene with Karin and Kenta on the ferris wheel.
• Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl opens with Hazumu confessing to Yasuna; she rejects him, which sends the whole plot in motion.
• In Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple, chapter 319, Takeda uses the threat of a Love Confession to Miu to goad Kenichi into fighting him more tenaciously.
• Kin no Kanojo Gin no Kanojo:
  • Near the end of the manga, both halves of the main heroine Erika confess to the dense Yasuda nearly at the same time, with one of them even surprising him with a kiss, and now he needs to choose one of them, and whoever he doesn't choose will disappear.
  • Played for laughs when a lesbian says she loves Erika, since she's straight and she refuses to accept.
• Manabe in Kotoura-san made this unusually early in anime, by declaring his love towards Haruka when he confronted Hiyori in the second episode. Haruka overheard this. Played with in the anime in that, while he proclaimed his love in front of the whole class and regularly thought about how he loved her (and she can read minds), he simply forgot to say it to her out loud until she pointed it out in the last episode.
• Kyō, Koi o Hajimemasu: Used as a plot point. The male lead has no interest in girls who take the extra step and confess to him, so when Tsubaki sort of confesses she likes Kyota, it backfires. He considers the confession a sign that she's a woman like all the others, something he despises because he's felt betrayed by motherly figures in the past.
• In the Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions! anime:
  • Rikka to Yuuta, and Yuuta to Rikka.
  • Makoto Ishiki to Kumin in episode 10, although she was sleeping at the time.
• Love Me For Who I Am: In chapter 9, Tetsu tries to confess to Mogumo. When he stutters, Mogumo ends up confessing before him.
• In Lucky Star, Kagami seems to be set up for one of these, but the guy turns out to only want the little collectible doll she bought.
• Magic Knight Rayearth: In the anime, Hikaru manages to finally get over her guilt and fear of rejection and confesses to Lantis just as she's about to be pulled back to her world. He confesses back.
• Marmalade Boy actually had one go off without a hitch at one point, astonishingly enough.
• Mashuu confesses to being in love with Satoko in My Boy. Satoko's response is more ambiguous; while she didn't mind it, she nevertheless points out the major age difference. However it should be noted that their relationship is more complex to list under black and white terms.
• This occurs early into My Love Story!!. Yamato goes to Suna's house to ask for relationship advice. Unknown to her, Takeo is hiding underneath the bed. Suna gets Yamato to say that she likes Takeo (three times in a row at that), and reveals that Takeo was under the bed. Takeo has liked Yamato but didn't believe she liked him back. The actual, mutual love confession is the two of them briefly saying that they fell in Love at First Sight for each other when they met.
• My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, as I Expected:
  • Hikigaya Hachiman gives a strange one to Yukino on the penultimate episode, the whole scene is filled with Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness, without any of them getting straight to the point:
    Hachiman: It may not be enough compensantion for distorting your life, but well... I'll give you everything. If you don't want it, then throw it away. If it's annoying, then just forget about it. I'm still gonna do it regardless, do I don't need you to reply.
    Yukino: Well, I'm going to say it clearly. Please allow me to have... your life.
  • But then on the next episode we hear it straight to the point, no buzzwords:
    Yukino: I love you, Hikigaya.
• Naruto:
  • Hinata finally confesses her love to Naruto in the Invasion of Pain arc. She gets stabbed before Naruto can respond or let her confession truly sink in.
  • Sakura also gives one to Naruto in the Five Kage Summit arc. However, it's Subverted as she's doing it to make him give up on his promise to bring back Sasuke. Naruto immediately sees right through her, calls her out for lying, and rejects her outright by telling her that he hates people who lie to themselves.
  • In The Last: Naruto the Movie, Naruto confesses his love to Hinata twice, after he realizes his love for her. The first one didn't go so well thanks to Toneri, but the second one ends with Hinata crying Tears of Joy and The Big Damn Kiss.
• Negima! Magister Negi Magi demonstrates this trope in several variations:
  • Nodoka confesses her love to Negi—unusually, it goes smoothly, without mispronunciation or interruption. It doesn't end in a First Kiss, Nodoka was satisfied just telling Negi her feelings. Negi, already under a lot of stress, suffered a Heroic BSoD.
  • When Negi was preparing to ask Ku Fei to become his martial arts instructor, a lot of the class thought he was planning to confess to her. Hilarity Ensues.
  • Asuna made several attempts to confess to Takamichi, finally succeeding during the Mahora Festival Arc.
  • In chapter 269, there is an example of this as it usually occurs in Western stories, a dramatic mutual confession between Nagi and Arika (Negi's parents), followed by a proposal of marriage, accepted. In a minor role reversal, Arika is the one who has trouble both realizing Nagi is in love with her, and spitting it out after he confesses, having to keep her personal feelings leashed.
• Nisekoi:
  • Most girls confess to the protagonist Raku Ichijou eventually, all of them near the end of the manga, except for Tachibana, who is straightfoward right at her introduction. His harem is huge, but since the beginning, only two girls have a high probability of ending up with him: Onodera (his childhood crush) and Chitoge (his fake girlfriend), and both of them are the last girls who confess to him, the former confessing on the fifth to last chapter (being rejected on the next), and the latter on the third to last, and he accepts, making her the winner.
  • Ruri Miyamoto confesses to Maiko on chapter 223, leaving him speechless, and they're planning to marry on the final chapter.
• Ojamajo Doremi: This is Doremi's reason for why she became an Ojamajo. She achieves the goal at the end of Dokkan, but someone else makes one to her: Kotake.
• Ojojojo:
  • Haru had to be creative when she confessed her feelings to Tsurezure since she suffers from a pathological case of Cannot Spit It Out when it comes to saying anything nice. She ultimately had to phrase it as "allowing him to go out with her" to get the words out. His response? "Yeah. Please do."
  • Chris gives a rather laid back one to Akane in chapter 46 after a discussion where he reveals to her that Tsurezure was raised as a Child Soldier.
• Omujo Omutsu Joshi:
  • Happens accidentally in the first chapter. After accidentally getting a peek under his classmate's skirt, Shouta tries to defuse the situation by changing the subject. The first thing he can think of is to talk about how much he likes strawberries. However, his classmate's name is "Ichigo", which means "strawberries", so she initially takes Shouta's words as a confession and flees the scene. The narration states the confusion was quickly cleared up.
  • Shouta's childhood friend, Morei, attempts to declare her love for Shouta in chapter six. However, after witnessing an Accidental Pervert moment between Shouta and Ichigo, she's jumped to the conclusion that Shouta has a diaper fetish and wears one herself to appeal to it. Between this, her explanation that the moment she fell in love was an incident when Shouta covered for her Potty Failure in elementary school, and getting too nervous to clearly say she loves Shouta, Morei unknowingly convinces Shouta that she's the one with the fetish. This leaves Morei confused when Shouta assures her it's "Fine by me, I guess."
• Only the Flower Knows: Arikawa confesses to Misaki in Chapter 9. He ends by requesting, "Please love me more than anyone".
• In the h-manga Otherworldly Maidens: Monster Girls from Another World has a chapter dedicated to a harpy named Tui Cook, who works as a delivery woman for a parcel service, and when she delivers a package to a frequent customer, Dr. Johan Schmidt, she happily gives him an egg she laid that morning, and the narration explains that in harpy culture, females would give an egg they recently laid to the person they're in love with. Dr. Schmidt awkwardly thanks her and says he'll cook and eat it later, leaving Tui devastated, as the narration explains that tradition is not universally known outside of harpy culture. Several days later, Tui works up the courage to make another delivery to Dr. Schmidth, and is happy to see there is no awkwardeness between them. However, when Tui complains of abdominal distress, Dr. Schmidth examines her and diagnoses her with egg binding, a stress induced malady that causes harpies to get an egg stuck in their reproductive tract. After Dr. Schmidth extracts the egg via a non-surgical, but very invasive, procedure, she cries because "she got off" during treatment and isn't fit to be a bride anymore. Dr. Schmidth proposes to her saying that he did some research on Harpy culture, and he accepts her gift, and spend the afternoon having sex, though he asks her to stop because he needs to examine a patien that insists on only seeing him at night.
• The Pet Girl of Sakurasou:
  • Misaki does one to Jin in episode 12, although it was partly due to the events of the game/event they were taking part in. And while she doesn't explicitly say she loves him, she does tell him to pay more attention to her rather than her sister.
  • Daichi Miyahara, Sorata and Nanami's friend in their class, does this to Nanami in episode 12. Unfortunately for him, she rejects him since she never thought of him in that way, which should be obvious to viewers in earlier episodes—Nanami is more interested in Sorata, despite it's likely she'd be a Hopeless Suitor for him.
• Pretty Cure:
  • Futari wa Pretty Cure: In Episode 18, Honoka helps a girl confess to Kiriya that she likes him (both are unaware that Kiriya is on the side of evil).
  • Fresh Pretty Cure!: In the first episode, Love tries to help her friend Yumi confess to a senior boy she likes, but messes it up by being extremely pushy when the boy denied Yumi's request. The end result is an embarrassed Yumi and a very unhappy Love.
  • Delicious Party♡Pretty Cure: In one episode, the Cures stumble across Tomoe confessing to Takumi. She gets rejected.
• Puella Magi Madoka Magica: to Sayaka's despair, Hitomi gives one to Kamijou on a bench, the dialogue is muted to the audience, but from his reaction, we assume that he accepted.
• The Quintessential Quintuplets: All the quintuplets eventually confess to Fuutarou, except for Itsuki. And Fuutarou confesses to Yotsuba near the end of the manga, revealing that she was the bride shown in the first chapter, making them the Official Couple of the story.
• RaButa has to have set some kind of record for this given that the very first panel is Kurume confessing to Harundo.
• Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai:
  • Sakuta to Mai on the end of her arc, quite loudly in the front of the whole school.
  • Tomoe to Sakuta at the end of her arc, but he already has Mai so rejection gets on her way, she even tried trapping him in a loop with her in order to make him forget Mai.
• Record of Grancrest War: Without fear or embarrassment, Theo confesses to Silica, and kisses her right there.
• Re:Zero: almost a whole episode dedicated to Rem confessing to Subaru (episode 18), unfortunately for her (and for others), he loves Emilia.
• Masayoshi in Samurai Flamenco did this to Goto in the final episode, in the form of a Wacky Marriage Proposal. Funny thing is, the Love Epiphany came after the confession.
• Appears as a central plot point in School Rumble. We see one confession briefly at the beginning—Harima is about to confess to Tenma when a big burly "student" he had recently fought shows up and takes the credit for the note. This is actually good for Harima, since Tenma immediately tells him that her heart belongs to someone else.
• Serial Experiments Lain : Lain to Alice at the end of the series.
• In Shingeki no Eroko-san's manga, the male lead, a 16 year old high school boy confesses to the female lead, a 27 years old otaku woman, chapter 05.
• A Sister's All You Need: Nayuta always feels the need to make clear that she loves Itsuki.
• Steins;Gate: After Rintarou goes through lots of time travels, different timelines etc, he finally confesses to Kurisu, who didn't have with him the same experiences he had with her.
• The Story Between a Dumb Prefect and a High School Girl with an Inappropriate Skirt Length: Tougo finally admits he likes her to Poemu at the end of Chapter 23. Unusually, he's not a case of Cannot Spit It Out, since he only realized he liked her earlier that day.
• Strawberry 100%: The main character does chin-ups to confess to the Veronica.
• Sword Art Online:
  • Kirito to Asuna, he first kisses her, and then says that his life is hers, showing that he was pretty confident that she would accept him. The situation is not that romantic but he needed to do it in order to calm her down.
    Kirito: My life belongs to you, Asuna, so I will use it for you. Let's stay together until the end.
    Asuna: And, I'll protect you too. I'll protect you forever.
  • And also his cousin Suguha confesses to him on the next arc.
• In Tantei Team KZ Jiken Note, Aya and Sunahara did this reciprocally during The Valentine Knows. For your information, they're seventh graders.
  • Aya's Valentine note to Sunahara is seen to be a "legitimate confession" by the people who read it at the train station:
    ''I want to believe in you. You have what it takes to find happiness. I give you these chocolates with all my heart. Don't forget I'm always rooting for you. Don't give up."
  • Sunahara said this when he calls Aya later:
    Sunahara: But I was really happy. The chocolates and the card were your way of expressing your feelings, right? Right now, I... I like you so much, it's kind of embarrassing. I'm glad I met you.
• Ten Yori Mo, Hoshi Yori Mo: For a very naive shoujo manga heroine, Mio Mizumori is surprisingly bold and honest with her feelings. She gives one to her love interest Shou/Rei very early; her confession is accepted by him. Staying together is the hard part.
• Tonari no Kashiwagi-san:
  • Surprisingly, considering Yuuto's awkwardness with Kotone, he's not late in confessing his love for her once he realises he is in love with her (previously never having had affections for any real girl), and he even does it later on just to be perfectly clear.
  • While the story shows it as happening much faster, Kazuki's confession is actually much further from when he fell in love with Sayaka. Her response is much more clear than Kotone's, but equally ambiguous, since it allows for the situation to go either way.
• One happens in Toradora! in the second episode—and completely fails, even though the confessor was being about as blunt as possible. Why it fails is left very ambiguous—it is unclear whether the person being confessed to is actually misunderstanding the confession or is deliberately avoiding a clear and hurtful rejection. There's also the fact that the confessor (Taiga) pretty much confessed to someone else in the process... she just didn't realize it yet.
• Train Man (2004): Densha Otoko revolved around one.
• Too many to count in Tsurezure Children, the plot revolves about several couples getting together, so this is a given.
• Several confessions have happened in Wandering Son:
  • The first was Nitori confessing to Takatsuki; she got rejected by him, but they stayed friends.
  • Within the same week, Chiba confesses her feelings to Nitori. She gets rejected, and that helps spark her characterization change. She stops talking to both Takatsuki and Nitori. It takes until late middle school for them to become friends again.
  • A random boy confessed to Takatsuki once in middle school, and he got rejected.
  • Mako confessed to Nitori, and also got rejected.
  • On the opposite side, Nitori confessed to Anna and they became a couple… Only to break up several chapters later due to the fact Anna was confused about dating a Transgender woman. They got back together later.
  • Fumiya formally confesses to Saori after years of flirting with her and being rejected. They end up dating afterwards.
  • Takatsuki confessed to Nitori at the very end of the manga but Nitori rejected it. The last scene of the two together is Takatsuki crying while holding Nitori's hand.
• When Will Ayumu Make His Move?: Handled in a somewhat unorthodox way: Ayumu admits his feelings about Urushi from the start — he outright tells Urushi that she's "cute" and that she's the only person he wants to play shogi with — albeit in a deadpan manner that leaves her wondering if he's serious or teasing her. However, Ayumu has vowed to himself that he won't ask her out until he beats her at shogi, and has held himself to that.
• In Wild Rose, as Kiri decides to leave Mikhail he finally confesses his feelings towards him.
  "I... don't know how to fix what is already broken, but you, as you are, I love.
• All the girls from Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs do this at some point to the protagonist Fuyuzora Kogarashi, in order:
  • Karura Hyougi is the first one, trying to force him to marry her.
  • Oboro is the second one, although she does it quietly.
  • Hibari is the third, and it's more drama-heavy than the first two.
  • Sagiri comes next, she didn't mean for him to hear, but since he did, she reaffirms her love in front of him.
  • Miyazaki Chisaki is the fifth.
  • And the last girl to do so is Yuuna, near the end of the story.
  • And finally, Kogarashi himself confesses to Yuuna in the final chapter, making her his chosen woman. And then we're left wondering what happened to the others.

Comic Books

• In Robin (1993), Tim Drake lets slip to the mysterious person dressed as the deceased Spoiler who really is Spoiler, Stephanie Brown that he loved the original Spoiler. Whilst he is beating her up. When later they simultaneously confront each other, she mostly berates his idiocy in not considering she was alive. He had already confessed his love to Spoiler way back when Batman gave away Tim's real identity to her. In a fit of rage, he told Batman that he felt betrayed that Batman gave away his identity so easily (while all the time he hid the secret for Batman's sake), and it affected their relationship because they were in love. It so happened that Spoiler was standing right next to Batman and she was startled by this sudden confession from Tim.
• In Supergirl story Supergirl's Three Super Girl-Friends, Kara Zor-El visits the 30th century to join the Legion of Super-Heroes, and meets Brainiac 5. Before Supergirl goes back to her own time, Brainiac begs her to stay and become his girlfriend. Kara feels very flattered, but she answers she regretfully cannot stay in the 30th century.

Fan Works

• In Chapter 4 of As Fate Would Have It, Nate finally confesses to Yancy after she asks several not-so-subtle questions to him following a romantic dinner. Thanks to his actions and timing, however, she's caught completely by surprise, suffers a conflict of emotions, and runs out on him. Fortunately, she eventually reciprocates once he apologizes to her the following morning.
• A Crown of Stars:
  • In chapter 25—properly named "The Only Question That Ever Matters" after a long talk where Asuka opens up and talks to Shinji about her feelings of inadequacy, loneliness, self-hatred and abandonment… her lack of self-esteem, her doubts and her fears she dares to ask him what he feels for her:
    Asuka: And you are still looking at me, Shinji. So no more running away. I've finally found the courage to ask; Shinji Ikari, do... [...] Do you... love me?
    Shinji: Yes.
    Asuka: S-say it. P-please… I need to hear you say it.
    Shinji: ...I love you, Asuka Langley Sohryu.
    Asuka: ...why?
    Shinji: What?
    Asuka: Why? I didn’t have to tell you all those horrible things about me. I did most of them to you. How can you still bear to look at me? I’ve hurt you in every way I could to keep you away. How can you still love me?
    Shinji: Because just being around you makes me feel more alive. Because you're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. Because when I see you smile, the whole world glows. Because when I kiss you I feel like I'm on fire. Because when I held you I didn't care about anything else. Because I can't imagine a world without you. Because... [...] Because when you are happy, it makes me feel the same. When you cry, I cry. When you hurt, I hurt.
  • And in chapter 74, when Shinji is trying to talk her into staying behind while he fights, Asuka gets angry and confesses in turn.
    "Me?! What about you? Du verflucht Idiot! Du hirnlose Ochse!" She pressed right up in his face, stabbing him in the chest with her fingers. "You don't get to do this. Not to me. Not again. You owe me a life, Ikari! You promised! So I'm claiming this one! I have just as much right here to risk my life as you do, and I'll be damned before I let you run off and maybe get killed without me! You go where I go and vice versa, remember? And what the Hell am I supposed to do if you die?!" Her vision was blurring and she could feel her cheeks were wet. It didn't matter. She was still able to punch him in the chest. "I love you, du verdammt baka! Live or die, you're staying right by my side! Together! You promised!"
• Advice and Trust: After The prologue showed Shinji and Asuka keeping a Secret Relationship, chapter 1 narrated how it came to pass: Shinji accidentally placed his hands on Asuka's waist during their First Kiss, and that action turned the moment into The Big Damn Kiss. Right after Shinji blurted his feelings out… and Asuka said she liked him back and had been actually trying to get his attention for weeks.
  Shinji: You're beautiful.
  Asuka: What?
  Shinji: You were right, I've never kissed anyone before and I'm so glad it was you for my first kiss and it was incredible and you're so beautiful and I think I really like you and oh shit I'm going to stop talking now.
  Asuka: Say it again.
  Shinji: Um... say what again?
  Asuka: What you just said. Say it again.
  Shinji: I'm glad you were my first kiss, it was incredible, you're beautiful, and I... [...] I think I like you?
  Asuka: Do you mean it?
  Shinji: Yes.
  Asuka: I like you too.
• In the Pokémon: The Series fic “The Beginning of a New End”, after Ash and Misty resume travelling through Kanto together after Ash’s victory in the Hoenn League, Ash tells Misty he loves her while they’re out for dinner in Celadon. Misty initially runs off in shock, but returns in time to assure Ash that she loves him too, the two subsequently sharing a bed as their Pokemon watch.
• The Bolt Chronicles:
  • Mittens nervously declares her love to Bolt in "The Ship." They both mull the possibility over before deciding to take the plunge.
  • In "The Teacher," Penny quickly develops a teen crush on a young teacher that her classmates all find attractive. He refuses her when she reveals her feelings for him.
• The Child of Love: Asuka confessed her feelings to Shinji in chapter 5 after watching fireworks and kissing. She had got a hard time accepting them until then.
• Child of the Storm has, in chapter 36 of the sequel, Harry make one to Carol. Since she has justified trust issues and has previously made it clear that she wanted them to remain Just Friends and Best Friends, despite their mutual feelings because of said trust issues, and he's a little shy and terrified of accidentally pushing further than she's comfortable with, he couches it in a The Princess Bride quote: "As you wish." Carol being a Pop-Cultured Badass and nobody's fool, later bluntly tells him that she recognised the reference and its significance, and admitted that she felt the same way, but that she wasn't ready (and as Harry admits, with his issues, he probably isn't either)... though the door remains open. They get together in chapter 46.
• Children of an Elder God: In chapter 23 Shinji and Asuka are resting in his room, wondering if they will be slaughtered in the next battle by the latest Eldritch Abomination they are fighting, how longer the war will last… then Asuka tells him she loves him, and Shinji replies he loves her, too.
  "Shinji," she said softly. "I love you."
  He gulped and kissed her again, then said softly, "I love you too, Asuka. Don't ever leave me. Please."
  "I won't," she said. "Never."
• Wednesday fanfic Either Way What Bliss: Enid admits that she is in love with Wednesday when she sees that the latter is okay, with Wednesday reciprocating Enid's love.
• Evangelion 303: After spending several months being lovers and getting engaged Asuka was able to bring herself to tell Shinji that she loved him.
• Both Germany and Japan end up confessing their love to Italy in Gankona, Unnachgiebig, Unità. However, he couldn't choose one over the other. He chooses both.
• Ghosts of Evangelion: Shinji confesses Asuka he likes her in 2019. At the beginning she didn't want to believe him, but she eventually got that he was in love with her (and she was horrified when he nearly took it back).
• In Gold Poisons, Lan Xichen makes a very public one about loving Jin Guangyao and, more subtly, Nie Mingjue at Jin Guangyao’s trial. Jin Guangyao then follows it up with one of his own, which is very similar to the canon one Wei Wuxian makes to Lan Wangji. Nie Mingjue doesn't have one of these for either man, but says that they’ll discuss it later.
• Hail to the King (Thuktun Flishithy): First thing Asuka did after accidentally drinking a G-cells serum -which boosted physical abilities, booted hormones and instinctive behavior and lessened inhibitions—was tackling Shinji, declaring he was hers and demanding to be taken by him.
• HERZ: After revealing to Misato that he was alive, Kaji at last said he loved her.
• In Hellsister Trilogy, Supergirl confesses to her crush completely by accident during an argument.
  Kara Zor-El: Oh, Dev, stop it! What you showed me a few minutes ago was the best thing I've ever seen from you. You saved several hundred individual lives. You brought a whole bunch of people back from the verge of death. You were like a one-man salvation crew out there, and I'm proud of you.
  Dev-Em: You did it, too.
  Kara: Let me talk! We're talking about you, Dev. You were right to be mad at me about blowing the mission. But now I know why. It's because you can't stand to see all those people killed, can you? The big picture.
  Dev: Tell me, commander. You've got all the answers now.
  Kara:(grimacing) I feel like slapping you again. If I didn't love you more now than I ever have before, I'd do it. I—
  (covers her mouth)
  Dev: (murmuring) So you said it.
• Higher Learning: In chapter five after having got too many drinks Shinji and Asuka are hammered. Shinji jokes Kaji is an idiot and all of sudden Asuka cries and tells Kaji is not an idiot. Shinji is an idiot… her idiot. That was the point where they tentatively began to have a real relationship.
• Infinity Train: Blossoming Trail: In Chapter 10, Trip confesses his love to Ash after stating that the Self-Portrait Car — in which a portrait of whatever person is on your mind comes to live — had the painter paint a copy of Ash, meaning Trip was thinking of the Kanto trainer even while he was on the run from the Apex.
• In Which Mistakes Are Made And Nagisa Is Made Fun Of features several that occur off-screen and then are described in the group chats. These include confessions between Miyuki and Akane, Nagisa and Honoka, Love and Setsuna, and Mana and Rikka.
• Last Child of Krypton:
  • In chapter 12, Shinji and Asuka kiss. Then Shinji reveals his secret identity and tells he likes her. Her reaction? Getting angry because he had risked his life to save hers, tackling him and kissing him.
  • In the chapter 9 of the Redux a distraught Asuka goes to Shinji's room to seduce him. When she is trying to make something more than kissing, Shinji stops her. Trembling, she asks if he does not like her and he tells he does, but he is not ready and he is afraid of hurting her.
• Kagami delivers one to Konata in Lonely Kagamin after hearing the other bemoan her probable inability to find a boyfriend.
• In the Power Rangers: Dino Thunder fic "Legends and Heroes", after Conner and Kira have been dating for most of the events of the series, Conner explicitly tells Kira that he loves her as they prepare to sacrifice the zords to stop Zeltrax, Kira reciprocating Conner's declaration before they make their final stand.
• In The Hunger Games fanfic "Loyalty", after Katniss has become involved with Johanna Mason (here a Peacekeeper assigned to Twelve from Two rather than a past Victor), the two spend a day out at a cabin Katniss's father found during a past hunting trip. As they rest in front of the fire, Katniss whispers to the apparently sleeping Johanna that she loves her, prompting Johanna to stir back to consciousness and squeeze Katniss's knee to avoid breaking the silence while affirming that she loves Katniss too.
• The Twilight fic "Luminescence" opens with Bella and Victoria meeting before Bella even goes to Forks, forming such a connection that Victoria ends up defending Bella from Edward when he is briefly overcome by her scent. Although the two shared the occasional kiss and Victoria affirms that she sees Bella as her mate, Bella is still unaware of the full depth of Victoria’s feelings until she says “Whatever, you know you love me” in a moment of playful banter. When an embarrassed Bella tries to withdraw what she thinks of as an unwanted confession, Victoria affirms that she genuinely does love Bella in turn.
• Naru-Hina Chronicles:
  • In Chapter 86, Tsunade admits to the still unconscious Jiraiya that she loves him.
  • Naru-Hina Chronicles Mini-sodes:
    • At the end of one of his dates with Naruko, Hinago nervously tells her that he loves her. She then kisses him on the cheek and leaves. However, when she's alone, Naruko ends up crying, saying she had no idea how to react given that no one ever said that to her.
    • Naruko and Hinata from the Yuri-verse confessed their love to each other on the day Naruko left Konoha for her three years-long journey with Jiraiya.
• Nobody Dies: In chapter 21 Shinji tells he could have died in the Sea of Dirac but her voice brought him back. He heard her telling: "But I think I might be falling in love with you". She smiles and cries as he tells he is falling in love with her, too.
• The One I Love Is...: Rei blurted out she loved Shinji in presence of everybody during a celebratory party in Misato's home. Asuka said Shinji she liked him several weeks later when they were alone and sharing bedding space, but due to her fear to be vulnerable she did not say she loved him until she thought she had lost him. Shinji admitted he cared about both girls early on, but it was when Asuka got Mind Raped by Arael when he dared to tell her he loved her.
• The One to Make It Stay has two important ones take place in Silence Can Be Beautiful:
  • First, Luka tells Marinette how he feels about her during the events of "Silencer". She spends most of the story's length sorting out her own feelings on the matter before deciding to put her fading crush on Adrien behind her and give him an honest shot, leading to their Relationship Upgrade.
  • Near the end, the Obliviated Chat Noir, believing that he's been hiding his feelings from Ladybug, confesses his crush so that he can get it off his chest. Unlike his normal self, he accepts being gently turned down with grace. Unfortunately, Alya records this confession and edits the footage to make it appear that they hooked up, posting the results on her blog as a 'major scoop'... causing no small amount of drama as a result.
• The Pieces Lie Where They Fell: Diamond Back does this late in the story by planting a big kiss on Wind Breaker.
• RE-TAKE: Asuka heard Shinji telling he loved her by chance as he was talking to Rei. When he came home she asked him if he swore he would always be always hers and then she confessed she loved him back.
• Scar Tissue: In chapter 13 Shinji is ranting angrily that he does not want Asuka fights again because he wants to protect her. She quietly states it sounds like a confession. Shinji admits that it is one.
• The Second Try: In chapter "Love" Asuka argued with Shinji about him being unable tell someone how he feels but always waiting for someone showing kindness to him, and being unable to see there is someone loves him honestly if that person is unable to give the first step. During the next days she constantly ruminates over her words, pondering she is just like him. Finally, as they are sleeping in the same bed, she tells:
  Asuka: You... [...] you know that I love you, don't you?
  Shinji: I know. As sure as I love you too...
• Shinji And Warhammer 40 K: Although Shinji had said other people he liked Asuka they were dancing around each other for months, half-acknowledging their feelings but not acting on them. It was during the Black Earth Craddle Arc he told Asuka he loved her and she was hers. Asuka replied he was also hers and wanted everything of him.
• Surrender on No Sides It takes Sho Ritsu almost dying for the second time, this time of a heroin overdose, for him to confess. Even then Ritsu has to be the one to kiss him.
• Superwomen of Eva 2: Lone Heir of Krypton: In chapter 19, after going through a considerable emotional turmoil, Asuka tells Shinji about her inferiority complex driving her to try to stand out, how she became Supergirl, talks about her doubts and fears… and tells she would like him being her confidant, if he thinks he can stand it. Shinji answers of course he is willing to do that for her… and he would like be a lot more than a friend and confidant. Then he tells he likes her. They kisses and Asuka confesses she likes him in turn.
• Thousand Shinji: During pillow talk before the battle against Israfel Shinji asked Asuka if she would resent him for filling her heart's void even though he was a Manipulative Bastard. When she asked him why he would want to her heart he asked if she would believe his answer was honest. Then he confessed he liked her.
• True Potential: Naruto and Hinata confess their feelings to each other during the Kiri Civil War arc.
• In X-Men: The Early Years's last chapter, Jean Grey finally becomes fed up with their avoidance dance and hits on Scott Summers. Scott replies he can't be her fall-back guy and stalks off. Angrily, Jean follows him and demands an answer.
  Jean: Damn it, Scott, slow down! I won't be ignored, Summers! You'd better slow down so we can talk. Damn you and your long legs!
  Scott: What do you want?
  Jean: What do I want? You have the nerve to ask that question after you left me hanging in the middle of the dance floor like that?
  Scott: I did not leave you hanging. I told it like it is. There's a huge difference.
  Jean: Don't even try to worm your way out of this! Now finish what you were going to say on that damned dance floor!
  Scott: Why?! It doesn't matter anyway.
  Jean: Because I need to hear it, you ass, that's why!
  Scott: Fine! I care for you too much to be just your friend any more! Every time I see you out with another guy, it rips my heart out! I've loved you from the moment I set eyes on you! I won't play this game anymore.
  Jean: Scott...
  Scott: Don't.
  Jean: You stubborn jerk! Don't you dare run away from me after saying that! I love you, too! I've loved you from the moment you helped me carry my suitcase up the stairs to my room, my first day at school.
  Scott: What?
  Jean: You heard me, you stupid jerk. I love you. I'm not repeating it.
• Walking in the Shadow of Dreams: In chapter 5 Asuka comes home drunk. She lunges at Shinji and kisses her. When he tries to stop her because he think they should not do this as she is plastered, Asuka cries out nobody wants her. Shinji tells he does.
• Neon Genesis Evangelion: Genocide: A short while after defeating an Eldritch Abomination, Shinji and Asuka were arguing in the middle of their classroom during lunch break. Asuka reminded Shinji that he said he hated her, and Shinji replied that he cared about her. Several chapters later, Shinji spits it out at last:
  Everyone at school already considered them a couple, and the way their relationship had grown would make it appear that they actually were. Ultimately, it was just an illusion, a cauldron of mixed feelings and unspoken emotions. Lying there on his bed, his arms around her slender form, Shinji wanted to end the illusion and make it a reality. For he knew now what he'd seemed to know all his life.
  "I love you, Asuka."
  "I know."
• It's mentioned in The True Love Loop Hole that a feverish Raven previously had confessed to Apple by reciting an erotic poem. It was in riddlish, so Apple couldn't understand the meaning.
• Butterfly Nets has one between Candace and Angela, taken near word-for-word from from Candace's confession to the male lead in Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility:
  Candace: I, uh... wanted to tell you something. Um, this may seem awkward, but I... love you, Angela. I know it's weird and wrong b-because we're... girls... but I can't help it! I really, really l-love you.
• RWBY: Scars: Weiss and Blake confess to one another in chapter 35 after the former comes out about her Dark and Troubled Past and says that she forgives Blake for her past crimes because since changed. This leads them to officially begin dating.
• Kara of Rokyn: At the end of the "Last Waltz with Luthor" arc, the titular character confesses to her crush Van-Ol:
  Van: So. You want to go over these lines again, and see if you get 'em right? Or do you feel like playing script doctor again?
  Kara: "What would you think of me if you knew that you're wearing the soul I've been looking for all my life to find?"
  Van: Oh, come on, KZ. That is not in my script. That's Lyla's line from Scarlet Song.
  Kara: I know. But what was the line her leading man gave her after that?
  Van: "I'd say that one of us is probably crazier than the other. But I'm not sure which."
  Kara: [smiling] Yeah.
  Van: Uh, KZ. I don’t know... that is, I'm not sure...
  Kara: Don't get your hopes up too much yet, VO. But I think I like you, too.
  Van: You mean, you know I li–
  Kara: Women can tell, Van.
  Van: Stop finishing my sentences.
  Kara: [kissing him] Who wants to talk?
  Van: Holy sun and Mother Moon. Fade to black.
• A Diplomatic Visit: Variant in chapter 24, when Moondancer confesses to Princess Celestia that she thinks she was in love with Twilight and may still be, even though Twilight was Oblivious to Love then. The second sequel, Diplomacy Through Schooling, picks up on this in chapter 1, almost a year later, when Moondancer finally gets to tell Twilight how she feels in person, though she also gives Twilight time to figure out how she feels in return.
• In the Facing the Future Series story "Hearts and Minds", after being trapped in a dream world where they didn't remember each other by Nocturne the Ghost of Sleep, Danny and Sam initially had difficulty trying to say the "L" word, but after an insignificant little touch between their pinkies, they finally managed to confess the true depth of their feelings for each other in one of their 'Unison' moments.
• In the Synchro Channel arc for YuyaVision, Placido confesses his love for Yusei before they plan to pull Kiryu out of the Facility to which Yusei reciprocates. Later, after Yusei states he's conflicted between Kiryu and Placido, and a bit of nudging from Lucciano to tell him to just take both of them, he decides to have the three of them be together.
• Maria Campbell of the Astral Clocktower:
  • Anne Shelley becomes the first person to successfully confess to Katarina Claes, when Katarina is the first person to realize that Anne is sleeping with Maria's mother. Katarina politely turns her down.
    Katarina: That's nice, but you shouldn't cheat on your girlfriend.
  • The Third Prince, with significantly more difficulty, becomes the second person to successfully confess. After years of friendship, several false starts, and Katarina's cousins repeatedly pointing out that he's being serious, he finally manages to convince Katarina that he's in love with her.
    There was silence.
    "Wait, WHAT?-!-?-!-?-!-?-!-?-!-?-!-?-!" Katarina Claes shrieked.
• Role-Playing (Evangelion): After the final performance, Asuka is able to openly say Shinji she loves him.
• Pokémon Reset Bloodlines:
  • In the main story, Iris and Anabel are the first of Ash's female companions who outright say that they want to be his girlfriends. Misty follows the day after during a club date.
  • The Holiday Special 2017 has Giselle, who calls Joe to ask him to be her date for the Pokémon Tech's Christmas ball, and telling him that she always liked him because he was a sweet boy.
• In the His Dark Materials fic "The Window in the Desert", after Lyra finds a window back to Will’s world (following the events of The Secret Commonwealth), she is followed by Malcolm Polstead, who admits that he’s in love with her. Lyra is initially just disturbed at the notion of her teachers having those kind of feelings for her (Malcolm insists that he only fully acknowledged these feelings once Lyra was no longer his student), but while she wonders if she would have been more receptive if he’d said any of this before she reunited with Will, she ultimately concludes that she would have reciprocated any such affection for the wrong reasons, and in any case Malcolm is only telling her now to alleviate his own guilt and make himself feel better.
• The 2 Broke Girls fic "Unexpected" depicts a world where Max and Caroline met a year before the Channings lost their money, allowing Caroline to help Max start the cupcake business and sign everything over to her from the beginning. When Caroline loses her money, Max is the only one of her friends who not only calls her to offer help, but even gives Caroline a place to stay. After living together for most of a year, Max has been torturing herself with the idea that she's just "an idiot who hadn't been able to not fall in love with Caroline's perfect everything", but her self-deprication is blown out of the water when Caroline apologises if she's reading the situation wrong, kisses Max and admits that she's in love with her.

Films — Animation

• Strange Magic ends with Marianne and The Bog King confessing to each other, in song.

Films — Live-Action

• Elin does this to Agnes at the end of Swedish lesbian movie Show Me Love in an adorably awkward babble that can basically be summarized as "Viktoria said that you loved me. Is that true, because if it is then I do too, to you I mean?" to which Agnes responds with a glowing smile and a nod.
• In Volunteers, the female love interest is about to do something dangerous, and Tom Hanks is refusing to let her go. She finally demands to know why, and he answers:
  "Because I love you!"
  <beat>
  "Who said that?"
• Peeta Mellark does this on national television in The Hunger Games.
• Lolita. Unaware that her lodger is only staying because he's fallen for her underage daughter, Charlotte Haze leaves a letter for Humbert as she takes Dolores to summer camp, confessing her love and asking him to leave the house by the time she gets back unless he shares her feelings. In the Stanley Kubrick adaptation, Humbert is shown laughing in disdain and disbelief as he reads, until he realises accepting Charlotte's advances gives him a perfect opportunity to stay close to her daughter.
• In Carefree (1938), Amanda (Ginger Rogers) confesses her love for Tony… (Fred Astaire) just after her fiance Stephen (Ralph Bellamy) has excitedly announced their upcoming wedding.
• Theodora Goes Wild: In the midst of telling Michael she finally stood up to her aunts, Theodora slips in that she loves him. Promptly, Michael gives a bad reaction to the news.
• The Wackness: Luke tells Stephanie he loves her after the pair have sex in the shower, which weirds her out.
• A New York Christmas Wedding: Jenni planned on confessing her love to Gabby in the prime timeline, but angrily broke off contact due to the latter blowing her off for her boyfriend. In the final timeline, she succeeds and Gabby reciprocates, kissing her.
• Girls Like Magic: At the end, Maggie and Jamie tearfully confess that they love each other before both kiss passionately, having thought they'd never see each other again, before pledging to stay together.
• Carmen y Lola: Toward the end of the film the title characters write passionate letters to each other confessing their love.
• Save the Date (2012): Midway through the film, Jonathan tells Sarah he loves her over the phone. She hesitates over returning it. He says not to worry about it, and Sarah doesn't say the same.
• Kiss Me (2011): Frida and Mia confess their love for each other late in the film.
• Sweet, Sweet Lonely Girl: Beth whispers she loves Adele after the two have been hanging out together, naturally making Adele think they're an item (but it turns out this isn't the case).
• Bodies Bodies Bodies: Sophie confesses she loves her girlfriend Bee in the first scene, but adds immediately that she doesn't have to say it back. Bee doesn't.
• Trap for Cinderella: Do confessed her love for Micky in the past, who rejected this angrily.
• August In The City: Clem confessed that she loved August in the past, who reciprocated.
• Perfect Addiction: Sienna and Kayden admit they've fallen for each other around halfway into the film, although neither uses the specific word "love" while doing so.
• Castaways: Emily tells Cara she loves her after they have a scare when Cara's stung by a jellyfish when they're swimming in the sea. Cara tells her she'd been in Love at First Sight with Emily before they came to the island in reply.
• A.W.O.L.: About halfway into the film, Rayna and Joey confess they love each other while in bed.
• Heatwave (2022): Eve declares she loves Claire toward the end when attempting to persuade her they can run away together. Claire says it back but she rejects the idea.
• Colette: Missy, Colette's lover, says he loves her near the end of the film. Colette just says "Thank you" in response, though Missy accepts this. Colette later mouths it when they're riding the train together later though.
• Yes or No: Kim declares her love for Pie once they act on their feelings for each other.

Literature

• The Beginning After the End, Arthur Leywin to Tessia Eralith in volume 7, He confesses to her finally breaking himself out of his emotional shell from his past life, both of them Share a Big Damn Kiss and both make a promise to survive.
• In the climactic end of Charles Dickens' David Copperfield, David and Agnes finally confess their love for one another, after decades of being just close friends.
• In the third Anne of Green Gables book, Gilbert finally confesses his love to Anne and asks her to marry him (someday). Anne basically tells him she can never love him and crushes his heart to bits.
• Peeta Mellark does this on national television in The Hunger Games.
  • The series ends with Katniss making such a declaration to Peeta.
• In Twig, Mary gets Sylvester alone and (with a knife to his throat) informs him that she likes him after five arcs worth of flirting. He agrees with her on this, but also points out that he's pretty sure she likes Gordon, too, and that confessing her attraction to Sylvester is easier for her, and letting him into her confidence is a way of building up her confidence in herself, and that if she wants to make a move on Gordon she'll have to do it fast because Gordon is approaching an expiration date with his body parts rejecting him.
• Inverted in The Wheel of Time. Rand tells Egwene that he feels their relationship is more Like Brother and Sister than love. She agrees.
• At the end of the Warrior Cats book Starlight, Crowfeather saves Leafpool's life and then confesses that he's loved her for a while.
• In The Pillars of Reality, Mari thinks Alain is about to make such a confession, but he's actually just going explain the prophecy about her. She cuts it short by saying that she already knows (without saying what she knows) and defers the discussion, therefore missing some important information.
• Just Juliet: Lena confesses her love to Juliet when they've broken up as the latter is leaving to study in London. Years later, when they meet again and have gotten back together, Juliet returns it, right before the end of the book.
• Girls Don't Hit: Echo confesses her love for Joss after the latter rescues her in New Orleans. Joss later reciprocates, and means it-the first time in decades that's been true when she said the words.
• Of Fire and Stars: Dennaleia confesses that she loves Mare near the end of the first book, who says this back and kisses her.
• Tigana: Alessan has a Love Epiphany and realizes how much he loves Catriana as he watches her jump from a window. It very nearly was a Belated Love Epiphany—but it's not!
  Alessan: When I saw you fall, I realized that I was falling with you, my dear. I finally understood, too late, what I had denied to myself for so long, how absolutely I had debarred myself from something important, even the acknowledging of its possibility, while Tigana was still gone. The heart… has its own laws though, Catriana, and the truth is… the truth is that you are the law of mine. I knew it when I saw you in that window. In the moment before you leaped I knew that I loved you. Bright star of Eanna, forgive me the manner of this, but you are the harbor of my soul's journeying.
• Presidential: Emily tells Connie she loves her right before temporarily ending their relationship. Connie reciprocates soon after when they get back together while at a press conference.
• The Chronicles of Dorsa: Tasia and Joslyn confess their love for each other at the same time, after the latter first successfully dreamwalks into the former's mind.
• The Obsidian Chronicles: Sweet declares her love for Arlian after he saves her from slavery.
• Sweet & Bitter Magic: Tamsin and Wren both finally admit they love each other near the end.
• Daughter of the Sun: Aelia tells Orsina she loves her after a lengthy period where it's increasingly obvious. Orsina doesn't say it back but she also clearly reciprocates.
• Quarters: Vree admits at last that she does love Gyhard at the end of No Quarter.
• Tales of the Pack: Archer tells Lexie she loves her after the two have begun a relationship, and Lexie says the same to her back.

Live-Action TV

• Deconstructed on the "And the Silent Partner" episode of 2 Broke Girls. Andy wants to tell Caroline he loves her, but is dissuaded by Max from doing so in the diner because it's not a terribly romantic place to do so. At her suggestion, he watches several Romantic Comedies to get ideas, and comes up with a plan to take her to Central Park and do it over hot dogs and cocoa. It keeps getting frustrated (at one point Max points out that Caroline looks cute, is embarrassed and in a public place, but then Sophie interrupts), so Max tells Caroline he was going to do it and she runs into his shop… only to find him sitting on the toilet, where he finally tells her.
• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: In the Season 3 Finale, Lincoln tells Daisy that he loves her while he flies an atomic bomb into outer space, dying in the explosion.
  Daisy: You can't just die for me like this, it's wrong!
  Lincoln: I don't know. Saving the girl I love and the world at the same time, seems pretty right to me.
• Amazing Stories (2020): In "the Heat" Sterling confesses that she loves Tuka as more than simply a friend. Tuka reciprocates her feelings.
• In Angel: Wesley, who tells Fred he has been in love with her basically his whole life, with her being the part that had always been missing.
  Fred: Would you have loved me?
  Wesley: I've loved you since I've known you. No, that's not — I think maybe even before.
• Arrow: In the season 3 mid-season finale "The Climb", Oliver drops this on Felicity after two seasons' worth of Unresolved Sexual Tension before heading out for a duel to the death with Ra's Al Ghul to save his sister from the clutches of the League of Assassins:
  Oliver: Felicity, I honestly don't know if I'm a killer anymore. But I do know two things. The first is that, whoever I am, I'm someone who will do whatever — whatever — it takes to save my sister. [kisses Felicity on the forehead and starts to head out]
  Felicity: [tearfully] And the second thing?
  Oliver: I love you. [leaves]
• Babylon 5: John Sheridan, to Delenn, in "Ceremonies of Light and Dark".
  Sheridan: I think it's time you knew that I can no longer imagine my world without you in it. I don't know exactly when or how it happened, but I'm glad it did.
• Battlestar Galactica: Laura Roslin and Bill Adama have been slowly falling in love with each other pretty much since the miniseries, with their first onscreen kiss in season 2 kicking off an increasing depth to their definitely-not-platonic relationship, but Laura has been… a bit oblivious to this fact. Finally, in "The Hub", after a truly epic reunion:
  Roslin: [teary-eyed] I love you.
  Adama: [huskily] About time.
• Bridgerton:
  • In the final episode of season 1, when the ball in their estate is stopped by the rain, Daphne eventually confesses to Simon that she marries him because she loves him for who he is, including his scars and flaws, not solely to save her honor or to have children:
    Daphne: [to Simon] I am tired of pretending. And I can't continue acting as if I do not love you. Because I do. I love all of you. Even the parts that you believed too dark and too shameful, every scar, every flaw, every imperfection. I love you.
  • In the final episode of season 2 , Anthony eventually has the courage to say it out loud to Kate after holding himself back for so long:
    Anthony: I love you. I've loved you from the moment we raced each other in that park. I've loved you at every dance, on every walk, every time we've been together and every time we've been apart. You do not have to accept it, you do not have to embrace it, or even allow it. Knowing you, you probably will not. But you must know it, in your heart. You must feel it because I do. I love you.
    Kate: I do not know what to say...
    Anthony: You don't have to say anything...
    Kate: I do not think there is anything to say...other than I love you, too.
• In Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
  • Spike confessing his love to Buffy in a moment of quiet and fear ("Touched"):
    Spike: A hundred plus years, and there's only one thing I've ever been sure of. You. Hey, look at me. I'm not asking you for anything. When I say I love you, it's not because I want you, or because I can't have you—it has nothing to do with me. I love what you are, what you do, how you try… I've seen your kindness, and your strength, I've seen the best and the worst of you and I understand with perfect clarity exactly what you are. You're a hell of a woman. You're the one, Buffy.
  • That is one of many confessions Spike makes, but was the first one he made while with his soul. His original proclamation of love was a little less romantic. It involved chains.
  • Xander to Anya, after seeing how Poor Communication Kills the Buffy/Riley relationship ("Into the Woods"):
    Xander: I've gotta say something... 'cause… I don't think I've made it clear. I'm in love with you. Powerfully, painfully in love. The things you do… the way you think... the way you move... I get excited every time I'm about to see you. You make me feel like I've never felt before in my life. Like a man. I just thought you might wanna know.
  • Subverted with Anya's wedding vow in "Hells Bells", which she rehearses over a shot of Xander walking in the rain, having decided to call off the marriage.
    Anya: Okay. For the last time. "I, Anya, want to marry you, Xander, because... I love you and I'll always love you. And... before I knew you, I was like a completely different person. Not even a person, really... and I had seen what love could do to people, and it was... hurt and sadness. Alone was better. And then, suddenly there was you, and... you knew me. You saw me, and it was this... thing. You make me feel safe and warm. So, I get it now. I finally get love, Xander. I really do."
  • Tara's song to Willow "Under Your Spell" in "Once More With Feeling". Also subverted in that Tara is unaware that she is literally under Willow's spell, and that her discovery of this fact will cause them to break up.
  • Also subverted in "Passion" when Jenny Calender admits that she loves Giles. That night Giles comes home to find a bottle of champagne waiting and a trail of roses leading upstairs… to Jenny's body.
  • Done with a lot less words, but no less CMOH, in "New Moon Rising" when Tara assumes Willow has decided to go back to her ex-boyfriend Oz.
    Tara: No, I-I understand. You have to be with the person you l-love.
    Willow: [smiles] I am.
  • In season 11, before parting ways for a while, Spike had asked Buffy to keep her confession for when they're reunited. At the end of the season, she does:
    Buffy: I didn't forget, y'know.
    Spike: Mmm? Forget what?
    Buffy: I love you too.
• Castle has two very powerful ones. The first is an Anguished Declaration of Love, from Castle to Beckett as she lies on the ground, having just been shot. The second one is from Beckett to Castle as she confesses that she nearly died, and yet the only thing she could think about was him.
• Charité at War: Otto confesses his love for Martin fairly confidently, although the latter's reaction makes it a very anguished scene anyway. Martin returns his feelings, but he's had a lover a few years earlier who had been denounced to the Nazis' department for the persecution of homosexuals and was deported to a concentration camp. Martin and Otto still strike up a relationship, but they permanently have to deal with fear for each other.
• Class of '09: Hour confesses to Poet how she's loved her for years after her marriage ends (but doesn't use the specific word).
• Community:
  • In the episode "Pascal's Triangle Revisited," Britta confesses her love for Jeff onstage in front of about a hundred people. Jeff's ex, Slater, then does the same thing. It's pretty obvious that they're just childishly trying to one-up each other, so Jeff flees instead of choosing between them. He ends up finding Annie outside and kissing her.
  • In the episode "Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design" Annie get one out during the Gambit Pileup. It is unclear if Jeff thinks it is real or that she is just acting, but Annie admits that the whole thing "got too real."
  • In the episode "Intro to Recycled Cinema," Jeff and Annie get caught up in the movie and confess their love for each other when they're about to die. They're about to kiss when Britta reminds them that their characters are supposed to be father and daughter.
• The Company You Keep: In "The Spy Who Loved Me" Emma tells Charlie she loves him. Later on he says this back, while also confessing he works for the woman she's hunting, Daphne Finch.
• Conversations with Friends: Nick confesses he loves Frances after the pair have a brief falling out. She tells Nick the same thing in return. Frances later also tells Bobbi she loves her via an email.
• Mac Taylor finally told Christine he loves her on CSI: NY, a huge step for the guy who's spent most of the series struggling with losing his wife on 9/11.
• Dickinson:
  • In the pilot, "Because I Could Not Stop", Emily and Sue admit they love each other then share a passionate kiss.
  • In "You cannot put a Fire out" Sue passionately reaffirms her love to Emily, saying it's the only true thing she'll ever feel. Emily reacts by kissing her fiercely.
• Doctor Who:
  • River Song confesses her love for the Doctor — by unraveling reality, creating a distress beacon that broadcasts to all points of space and time simultaneously, and getting a million million voices to cry out their love for the Doctor with her, simply so he wouldn't die without knowing that he was loved, and by no-one more than her. As love confessions go, that one is pretty spectacular.
  • At the end of the series 8 episode "Mummy on the Orient Express", while on the phone to Danny, Clara quite loudly and deliberately says "I love you" while looking directly at the Doctor. Her actress, Jenna Coleman, later confirmed that those words were indeed meant for the Doctor, even so, neither of them act on it — other than Clara actively and consciously beginning to "cheat" on Danny with the Doctor as of this episode (insofar as continuing to travel with the Doctor while lying to Danny about no longer doing so counts as cheating) and the UST and Will They Or Won't They dynamic continued on to the end of the season.
  • The euphemism "I had a duty of care" becomes this at the end of Series 9 when the Doctor tells Clara why he spent 4.5 billion years punching through a diamond wall simply for the chance to save her from death. This spurs Clara into delivering her own, although we don't get to hear exactly what she says as the camera pulls away to give the two time-travellers privacy.
• Everything Now: Cam says to Becca that he loves her in Episode 8, after the two broke up and she's with another boy.
• Friends: When Chandler and Monica secretly become Friends with Benefits, one Thanksgiving ends with Chandler and Monica falling out. To cheer him up, Monica tries putting a cold turkey on her head complete with sunglasses, hat and a ridiculous dance. Laughing, Chandler exclaims, "You're so great! I love you!". Played with in that Monica is pleased but Chandler is so freaked out by his own confession that he immediately takes it back and refuses to admit he ever said it. In a later episode, Phoebe and Rachel catch on and conspire to break Chandler into confessing he and Monica are Friends with Benefits. When Chandler finally snaps, his confession is more than anyone was expecting.
  Chandler: Okay! Okay! Okay! You win! I can't have sex with you!
  Phoebe: Hah! And why not?!
  Chandler: Because I'm in love with Monica! [Reacting to everyone's shock] Love her! That's right! I love her! I love her! I love you, Monica.
  Monica: I love you, too, Chandler.
  • In "The Last One: Part One", Gunther decides to tell Rachel he loves her because she's about to move to Paris and it's his last chance. Rachel gently lets him down, but assures him she loves him in her own way. Ross, who was about to make his own declaration before Gunther interrupted, decides he can't risk getting the same result and decides not to say anything.
• Ginny and Georgia: Ginny and Marcus confess their love for each other in Season 2 at Christmas.
• Good Omens (2019): In season 2 episode 6 Crowley finally confesses his love of 6000 years to his best friend Aziraphale. It is definitely an Anguished Declaration of Love.
• High Fidelity: Simon is shown confessing he loved his ex Ben in the past, who later says this too.
• Hightown: Jackie texts Leslie to say she loves her after getting a topless pic Leslie's sent, in a half-joking manner, but then worries afterward that she's gone too far. Leslie doesn't text or answer her voicemail back when she explains this, worrying her further.
• How I Met Your Mother:
  • When Ted and Robin finally began dating at the end of season 2, their relationship progressed steadily and even took the two to 'I love you' land, but their first visit doesn't go that well:
    Robin: Ted!
    Ted: Yea?
    Robin: Falafel!
  • Also in the first episode, Ted confesses his love for Robin after their first date. She was not pleased.
  • She tries again later on in the episode and is happy for doing it.
• In From the Cold: Faina told Anya she loved her after they had been romantically talking on the phone.
• Interview with the Vampire (2022): Near the end of "In Throes of Increasing Wonder...", Lestat de Lioncourt reveals his feelings for Louis de Pointe du Lac.
  Lestat: I love you, Louis. You are loved.
• Jane the Virgin:
  Jane: So instead of telling you the reasons why I love you, I'm gonna tell you the reasons why I don't. I don't love you because you're smart, and kind. I don't love you because you're hard-working, and competitive, and way too defensive.
  Micheal: I'm not defensive.
  Jane: I don't love you because you are incredibly sexy. I love you because you're my best friend, and I want to grow old with you.
• Law & Order: Organized Crime Elliot’s kids set up an intervention for Elliot to convince him to get help for his PTSD stemming from his wife Kathy’s death and it leads to one of these.
  Olivia: Elliot, tell us what you need.
  Elliot: I love you.
  • He then tries to backtrack into a Bait-and-Switch Sentiment once he realizes what he said.
• Let the Right One In: Isaiah confesses that he loves Eleanor after she saves him from a man who'd come after them in her apartment.
• In chapter 23 of The Mandalorian, Din's private vow to Bo-Katan is staged like a love confession despite being a pledge of Undying Loyalty, complete with emotionally charged background music incorporating both of their themes and a poetic reference to the wedding vow "until death do us part." But because the word "love" isn't used and she doesn't immediately respond despite obviously being touched, it leaves the Unresolved Sexual Tension intact for the next season.
  Din Djarin: To be honest, it means nothing to me or my people. Nor does station or bloodline. What means more to me is honor, and loyalty, and character. These are the reasons I serve you, Lady Kryze. Your song is not yet written. I will serve you until it is.
• Manhattan Love Story: In the series finale, Dana and Peter confess their love for each other at last, cementing the two's relationship.
• A fairly unexpected example happens in The Mentalist in The Crimson Hat when Jane tells Lisbon he loves her before pretending to shoot her. He later acts as though he doesn't remember saying it. Whether it was strictly platonic or something more is a matter of speculation.
• Mimpi Metropolitan:
  • Since Bambang has been obviously in love with Melani since day one yet never confess it to her, Alan and Prima tricks him into thinking Melani is asking him out in episode 36. When Melani does come to the park at Prima's urging, Bambang confesses his feelings to her, but Melani tells him that she considers him just a friend.
  • Early in episode 46, Juna and Bambang bets whether Juna can win Melani over, so Juna confess his love to Melani in the ending. Melani rejects Juna with "not wanting a relationship at the moment" as an excuse.
  • In the same episode where she rejects Juna, Melani realizes that she actually returns Bambang's feelings and confess it to Bambang in the ending.
• Mohawk Girls: Thunder confesses he loves Anna in Season 3, who tells him this too.
• Never Have I Ever:
  • In "...been a perfect girl", Fab says she loves Eve while they're at the dance.
  • In "...said goodbye" Ben and Devi confess their love for each other.
• One episode of The O.C. deals with the first 'I love you' between Marissa and Ryan. It is played for laughs and drama at first, but works out eventually.
  Marissa: I love you.
  Ryan: Thank you.
• The Office (US):
  • In the season 2 finale, Jim Halpert decides to confess his feelings to his best friend, receptionist Pam Beesly, whom he's been in love with since the start of the series (to the point Everyone Can See It but Oblivious to Love Pam). There are complications aplenty: Pam sees them as Just Friends as she's already engaged to (abrasive) warehouse employee Roy, and Jim, unable to torture himself further with Pam's impending nuptials, is on the cusp of transferring to another branch and takes his shot outside during a Dunder-Mifflin "casino night". However, Pam rejects him for the reasons above, leaving a welled-up Jim to leave. The season cliffhanger ends on Pam confessing to her mother on the phone she might reciprocate the feelings after all, before Jim comes in wordlessly and they kiss.
    Jim: I was just...I'm in love with you.
    Pam: What.
    Jim: I'm really sorry if that's weird for you to hear, but I needed you to hear it. Probably not good timing, I know that, I just—
    Pam: What are you doing? What do you expect me to say to that?
  • The season 3 premiere reveals that despite the kiss, Pam can't return the sentiment and Jim leaves and eventually transfers to the Stamford branch without a goodbye. Pam winds up breaking off her engagement, and through some corporate merging, Jim winds up back at Dunder-Mifflin Scranton, but in a relationship with his co-worker from Stamford, Karen. Throughout the whole season, Pam goes through a Humiliation Conga of reconciling and breaking up again with Roy, her disconnect with Jim and feeling like she's in an Unrequited Love Switcheroo, and the usual disrespect from co-workers. Finally, in the penultimate S3 episode "Beach Games", Pam, emboldened by a walk over hot coals, gathers up the nerve to not just tell off her peers for treating her like dirt, but drops one of these on Jim in front of Karen (and everyone else):
    Pam: Jim, I broke up my wedding because of you. And now we're not even friends, and things are just weird between us and that sucks. And I miss you. You were my best friend before you went to Stamford. I really miss you. I shouldn't have been with Roy. And there were a lot of reasons to call off my wedding, but the truth is I didn't care about any of those reasons until I met you.
• One of Us is Lying: Nate tells Bronwyn he loves her in Season 2. She says this back and they soon have Their First Time.
• Perry Mason (2020): Della and Anita confess they love each other in "Chapter 13".
• Psych has Shawn confess his feelings to Juliet, though in an ADHD way as it started with a rant about how much he loves his motorcycle. And, in the following season Shawn actually says that he loves her. While hooked up to a polygraph. Everyone (Shawn included) immediately look at the readout to see if he is telling the truth.
• The Rising: In the series finale, Neve tells Alex she loves her fervently.
• She's Gotta Have It: While having sex, Nola and Opal passionately profess their love for each other.
• Single Drunk Female: James says he loves Sam after falling off the wagon, while she dismisses this as he's drunk.
• Siren (2018): Maddie tells Ryn how she and Ben love her in "Leverage" before the three have sex together.
• Star Trek: Picard: In "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1", Narek admits to Soji that he loves her, and because she's a Living Lie Detector, she knows that he's telling the truth. However, his feelings don't stop him from trying to kill her, so Soji is disgusted by Narek and describes him as a "sad, twisted thing."
• Swarm: Rashida tells Dre she loves her, and Dre says it back as she's later strangling Rashida to death.
• S.W.A.T. (2017): Street finally challenges Chris to deny she loves him after she's leaving SWAT. In "Zodiac" she admits it, they kiss and go into his bedroom.
• Trigonometry: In Episode 3, when drunk, Ray accidentally tells Kieran and Gemma that she's fallen in love with them both. Both are thrown by this, but then admit in the Episode 4 that they love Ray too. They tell her in Episode 5 after having a threesome together.
• The White Queen:
  • Richard of Gloucester and Anne Neville dance around this trope, hoping the other will reveal their true feelings first. In Episode 5, she has just been widowed, and yet he can't resist asking her an out-of-the-blue, inappropriate question because they've been separated for so long. He then has to rephrase it in a more platonic sense so that she can openly answer in the affirmative.
    Richard: Do you love me, Anne?
    Anne: (smiles shyly) What? ^note What she wishes she could say is, "Of course I do," but decorum prevents her from doing so.
    Richard: Do you love me, and the king?
    (Anne nods yes with a small grin)
  • During their first secret meeting in the garden, Anne attempts to coax Richard into disclosing his romantic affection for her:
    Anne: You would approach the king on my behalf?
    Richard: Yes, if you'd like me to.
    Anne: Why would you do that?
    Richard: (stares at her longingly) Why do you think? ^note What he really means is, "Because I love you, don't you know?"
  • He finally admits during their second garden encounter that he does indeed love her, possibly even as far back as when they first met as kids.
    Richard: I will be a true husband because I love you.
    Anne: Do you love me, Richard? Truly?
    Richard: I do. Perhaps I always have.
• The Wilds: Shelby tells Toni she loves her after they start dating. At first Toni is quite anxious over this and doesn't say it back, due to implied fear of abandonment by loved ones (since both her parents were AWOL). She masters her anxiety though and tells Shelby she does love her in turn though.
• Willow:
  • Jade confesses she loves Kit in Episode 5, "Wildwood".
  • In Episode 7, "Beyond the Shattered Sea" Graydon also tells Dove he loves her.
• Early in season six of The X-Files, Mulder professed his love for Scully after a harrowing Wizard of Oz-like dream sequence involving Nazis and a World War II ship. However, he is on some pretty heavy duty medication, so whether that influenced his confession is up for interpretation. Scully obviously thought he was confessing under the influence, if her reaction is anything to by:
  Mulder: Hey, Scully.
  Scully: Yes?
  Mulder: I love you.
  Scully: Oh, brother. (walks away)
• You Me Her:
  • Emma and Jack confess they love Izzy, who says the same, multiple times in the series.
  • Shaun tells Nina he loves her in Season 4, which she reciprocates (kind of, saying "me too" in return). After this they start cohabiting.

Music

• Polish folk song "O Mój Rozmarynie" has one of these. However, the person the narrator confesses to turns him down. From there he joins the military and dies.
• Toby Fox: "Skies Forever Blue" revolves around the narrator working up the courage to tell her friend that she loves him, ending with her succeeding.

Video Games

• The Blaster Master Zero trilogy has this in the Golden Endings of all three games, either implied or outright told. In the true ending of I, the last line before the credits is Jason telling Eve he needs to tell her something. The true ending of II does this again, but with Eve saying it instead. III has Eve outright telling Jason "I love you" in the route to the true ending. Sure enough, he returns her feelings, and they end up Happily Married with children at the end of the game.
• Played With in Bugsnax. Just before the final level, Snorpy will gather all of his courage and ask Chandlo to be his boyfriend... and he responds by pointing out that they've already been dating for years. Snorpy was just too oblivious to realize that making out with someone and moving in with him means you're in a relationship (he thought they were "roommates with benefits"). Thankfully, Chandlo puts the ambiguity to rest by kissing him.
• The assorted love interests in Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age II each get one. (Alistair, in Origins, actually has more than one, and which one he makes depends on whether the player has "hardened" his personality or not.) It's up to the player how to respond.
• In Fire Emblem: Awakening, all characters that achieve an 'S' rank relationship and get married as a result have a confession. As all characters can marry an Avatar of the opposite gender, you get not just a confession with each one, but an extra picture of the person you are going to marry at the end of the final support conversation. The same thing occurs in the next game in the series.
• In Goodbye Volcano High, at the end of Chapter 1, Fang gets an anonymous text from someone proclaiming their love. Curious, Fang texts the secret admirer throughout the story, eventually becoming infatuated with them. As it turns out, the secret admirer is Naomi, who's liked Fang for a long time, and Fang never noticed because their laser-focus on their music career made them Oblivious to Love.
• Towards the end of Inazuma Eleven 3, you're given a choice of whether to talk to Natsumi, Aki, or Fuyuka. If you choose Natsumi, a cutscene occurs where Endou asks her why she went to all that trouble; Natsumi being her usual Tsundere self, she responds by stammering a bit then blurting out that she did it out of love, indirectly admitting that she has feelings for him. Endou being Endou, he immediately jumps to the conclusion that his love for soccer has rubbed off on Natsumi. It wasn't all for naught though, as they end up Happily Married in Inazuma Eleven GO.
• The King of Fighters XIII: Played or laughs and repeatedly defied, regarding Kensou's unrequited crush on Athena, because she's dedicated to her career as an Idol Singer. So, each time he tries to tell her, she either pretends not to hear him, or she'll cut him off by telling him to focus on their upcoming match instead.
• The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword has two sidequests featuring this trope:
  • If Link chooses to make Pipit hook up with Karane, the former will confess his feeling for her, which she gladly accepts. Cawlin, who was in love with Karane as well, doesn't take this well.
  • The Item Check girl, Peatrice, ends up obviously infatuated with Link as the sidequest goes on. At the end, she asks Link to come to her house at night so she can tell him something important, where she decides to confess her feelings to him. Her confession can either be reciprocated or rejected.
• In Rune Factory 4, you can make one of these at any time, to any character. Their responses range from taking it as platonic to confusion to Porcoline attempting to spirit you off to get married right that moment. In order to begin dating a Love Interest, however, you must confess to them when their Relationship Values are high, and hope they take your confession as serious.
• Can happen in Piss. The scene is optional and getting it depends on your choices, but if you do get the scene Astis will confess this to Moira. Moira is secretly in love with Astis too, but whether or not she actually admits it, remains non-committal, or(gently) tells Astis to forget her and move on, is up to the player.
• Since Shining Resonance is part Harem/Dating Sim, one of the end goals for the player is to make the girl of their choice fall for the protagonist, Yuma. Each of the playable female characters is eligible and they'll grow increasingly affectionate toward him, according to the amount of time he spends time courting them. Reaching max affinity enables their character ending, which concludes with the chosen girl confessing her feelings for Yuma.
• In Shin Megami Tensei I, Yuriko who is really Lilith makes it quite clear in the beginning of the game to your protagonist that she's in love with you. Finding out he doesn't feel the same does not result in her getting over it very well, unless you pick the Chaos path.
• Tomodachi Life is heavily built on this; there's a chance one of your Miis will have feelings for a Mii of the oppisite gender, and you can send them to confess and establish a romantic relationship, if the other Mii accepts.
• The original Valkyria Chronicles plays it straight when Welkin confesses his feelings to Alicia right before asking her to marry him (she says yes), while Valkyria Chronicles III plays with this by having Kurt attempting to give one to either Riela or Imca, but instead receiving a heartfelt kiss from them before he even can get more than one word out.
• Yandere Simulator has Yandere-chan's goal being eliminating any rivals to her affection for Senpai. She has a week to eliminate her rival before she confesses her love for Senpai. Yandere-chan won't be able to make her own confession until every single rival has been eliminated.

Visual Novels

• Katawa Shoujo starts off with one of these. It literally gives Hisao (our main character) a heart attack, and our story begins. To make matters worse, the confessor is so emotionally scarred that she gives up on trying again and later sends him a "Dear John" Letter. Each route has one as well.
  • In Lilly's route, after Hisao suffers a near-heart attack during their an Hanako's trip to Hokkaido, Lilly confesses to him in the middle of a beautiful field. Their First Time comes right afterwards.
  • In Emi's route, after the argument at Emi's house, Hisao will tell Emi that he is not trying to help her out of pity, but because he loves her. At first she has difficulty believing him, but ends up accepting his feelings and dropping her self-imposed barriers to cry in his arms.
  • In Hanako's route, Toward the end, Hanako and Hisao confess their love for each other the day after their first time having sex, as they explain and reveal their real feelings that they have kept bottled up due to insecurity.
  • In Shizune's route, Hisao acknowledges to himself that he likes her early on, but only confesses and asks her out as they celebrate Tanabata alongside Misha. And later we find out that Misha herself confessed to Shizune a while ago, but got rejected; they decided to stay friends, but it does take a huge toll on Misha's emotions.
  • In Rin's route, the closest to a love confession happens after she gets chewed out by Nomiya, then cries in Hisao's arms. That same day she gets caught in the rain, Hisao helps her out and they end up having sex.
• This is the main goal to attain in non-H Dating Sims.
  • The Tokimeki Memorial series is the most notable example, and it's even more Serious Business than standard for its characters, since each of the schools in the series have a place of legend where couples confessing their feelings there on Graduation Day will grant them eternal happiness in their relationship.
• Higurashi: When They Cry:
  • Rena has a roundabout one at the end of Tsumihoroboshi-hen. She tells Keiichi that she wants him to be there for her always and that she wants to hear him say "good morning" to her each day and "good night" each evening. She never does outright say "I love you" but the scene is heavily implied to be a romantic confession.
  • In the anime adaptation of Minagoroshi-hen it's implied that Keiichi delivered a Dying Declaration of Love to Mion.
• I Love You, Colonel Sanders!: The title is one, fitting, for a Dating Sim, and occurs in the Golden Ending.

Web Animation

• The finale to Neko Sugar Girls has Raku confessing to Hitoshi. It fails as Hitoshi is dating Bokutachi, his kidnapper who he fell in love with.
• RWBY: Amidst the pun-derstorm, Blake and Yang have to admit their true feelings to one another in order to reach safety on a platform between two rickety bridges. After a number of confessions building up to it, they finally admit to being in love, and are reunited on the platform to happily embrace.
  Yang: I think I love you.
  Blake: I love you too.

Webcomics

• It takes fifty-one chapters of Bittersweet Candy Bowl, but Lucy finally confesses to Mike. He isn't interested anymore. Worse, he himself had confessed HIS love to her in seventh grade, only to be rejected. Abbey's confession to Daisy goes a bit better.
• In The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob!, Jean and Bob's mutual confession of love for each other comes off as a bit rushed (because, in the original print run of the strip, it was going to be the last episode), but no less heart-felt for that (though it's ruined a bit when Voluptua abruptly plants a big goodbye kiss on his face. The inappropriateness of this is lampshaded in the next strip when the comic has been revived.). Bob gives Jean a longer, more proper confession of love years later, when she's afraid that she's losing him to Voluptua. Voluptua, meanwhile, never actually tells Bob how she feels, but she does reluctantly tell Jean how she feels about Bob, much to Jean's consternation.
• With its usual Lampshading of these kind of tropes, this is naturally played to the hilt in The Order of the Stick. Haley's refusal to admit her feelings for Elan causes a brain growth that makes her The Unintelligible, and she figures out that the only way to speak normally again is to confess her love. She keeps chickening out on this, until finally, after getting caught by Elan in a compromising position with Elan's Evil Twin Nale (who has been masquerading as Elan), Nale tells Elan that Haley knew who Nale was all along, and is evil, a demon speaking in tongues, a slut, and The Mole who has been selling out the True Companions, all in a Brainwashing-supplemented Break the Cutie speech mocking Elan's noble stupidity, which Haley is incapable of rebutting, and nearly drives Elan to kill her. At the last second however, Haley finally blurts out that she loves Elan, destroying both her speech impediment and Nale's spell.
• Homestuck
  • Karkat's species has several flavours of romance that are alien to humans, so his grand confession of ardent romantic hatred for John falls flat.
  • After years of prevarication, Rose delivers a passionate love confession to Kanaya, which is slightly undermined by her being utterly soused on Liquid Courage at the time.
    ROSE: I wank you to,
    ROSE: Share wish me yur clumbs...
    ROSE: And your hearst.
    ROSE: I want..
    ROSE: Yuouo.... [delivers The Big Damn Kiss and promptly falls down the stairs]
• The oneshot Bridesmaid is unusual in that the confessor confessed her love to her best friend right after getting married. Elle didn't want to cheat on her husband though, she simply wanted to confess the long-lasting feelings she had for Fleur. Fleur liked her back but thought it was unrequited the entire time.
• In El Goonish Shive, Ashley tells Elliot she likes him here.
• In Rascals, Quick confesses his love to Chrissy.

Web Videos

• Zack in Echo Chamber tells Dana that he loves her, because she said he wasn't obese enough to cause a rotunda to collapse beneath him, and that was the nicest thing anyone had ever said about him. Dana, however, is not interested.

Western Animation

• Avatar franchise:
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender. Played for laughs in "Nightmares and Daydreams," but played seriously in "Day of Black Sun: Part 1."
  • The Legend of Korra:
    • Played straight in the Sequel Series when Mako is trying to tell a despondent Korra how much she still means to him even after Amon has taken most of her bending.
    Mako: Listen, when Tarrlok took you, I was losing my mind at the thought of never seeing you again. I realized... I love you, Korra.
    • Later, though not immediately, Korra reciprocates the feelings.
    • After both Asami and Korra end their relationships with Mako, they wind up together. While not done in the series itself, in the follow up comic book The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars, Korra fully confesses her feelings to Asami.
• In the climax of the Big City Greens episode "Gabriella's Fella", Cricket catches up to Gabriella on the bus and reveals his feelings for her; she reveals her feelings for him as well, and they happily become a couple.
• In Codename: Kids Next Door, Anna Worthington, the assistant to the fourth grade president James Nixon McGarfield, confesses her feelings to him after sabotaging his plans to make Lizzie Devine his girlfriend. The reason Anna became his assistant was because she had a crush on him.
  Jimmy: Anna... but why?
  Anna: The same reason I've worked tirelessly for you semester after semester. I... I... I love you, James Nixon McGarfield!
• Kaeloo: In the pilot, Mr. Cat confesses to Kaeloo that he has a crush on her, but she misses the point and instead gets angry at him for using a swear word in his confession. In other episodes where he does this, she thinks he's joking or ignores him.
• The original Grand Finale for Kim Possible had one that went like this:
  Kim: Do you really think there's a guy out there for me?
  Ron: Out there… in here.
  Kim: Oh… really.
• Phineas and Ferb:
  • Played for Laughs in "Isabella and the Temple of Sap" and "Bee Story". Isabella's Crush Filter goes up the roof, and she totally loses touch with the reality of what Phineas is actually saying to her.
  • A variation in "The Great Indoors", a few episodes after Candace and Jeremy became an Official Couple (and long after it was established their feelings were mutual), in which Candace wants to know what exactly Jeremy sees in her. He gets cut off every time he tries.
  • In "Night of the Living Pharmacists", Isabella is trying to earn a new Fireside Girl accomplishment patch for Emotional Bravery by finally telling Phineas how she feels about him:
    Isabella: Phineas, I LIKE YOU!!
    Phineas:' I like you too, Isabella!
    Isabella: No! I mean I like-you like you!
    Phineas:' Wow. I mean, gosh. I...I...I've always felt...
    (A zombie hand reaches for Isabella.)
    Isabella: Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!
    Phineas: Get away from her!
  • Don't worry, zombification is reversible. However, once the characters turn back to normal, they have a bad case of Missing Time, functionally undoing Isabella's confession.
  • In the Flash Forward "Act Your Age", Phineas (who has fallen for Isabella at some point in the past decade) finally learns about Isabella's giant crush on him when they were kids - just in time for her to leave for college. They eventually find each other and talk it out:
    Phineas: You know, Baljeet said something funny. He said you had a crush on me back in grade school.
    Isabella: Oh. Yeah. I had a big crush on you.
    Phineas: Wow...I had no idea.
    Isabella: Really? I thought I was being so obvious!
    Phineas: Absolutely clueless. Sorry.
    Isabella: I sort of gave up when we got to high school.
    Phineas: Yeah... I think that's when I started to have a thing for you.
    (Beat)
    Isabella: Well, that's unfortunate timing.
    Phineas: Yep. You're off to college.
    Isabella: Tri-State State. Have you decided where you're going yet?
    Phineas: You know what? I just did. (He gives her one of the acceptance letters he's been trying to decide between.)
    Isabella: (background music stops as Isabella frowns) Oh. Huh.
    Phineas: Hey, what's wro- Oh, shoot! I'm sorry. Wrong letter. (He gives her his own Tri-State State letter.)
    Isabella: Well, I guess I'll see you in two weeks.
    Phineas: Yes. Yes you will.
• In the Star vs. the Forces of Evil episode "Mama Star", Marco confesses his love to Star just before the amnesia-inducing Realm of Magic makes him forget not only his confession but his identity. Three episodes later in "Here to Help", after they've escaped the Realm of Magic and been reunited, Star tells Marco that while he might not remember the confession, she does. Marco admits that despite being "drunk" from the magic, what he said was completely true, but assumes this will mess things up between them again because she doesn't feel the same way. Star pulls him into a kiss and makes her own love confession, resulting in a long-awaited Relationship Upgrade.
  Star: Marco, I want you to love me, because I love you.
• Total Drama: At the climax of the World Tour finale, Heather seemingly gives up at the top of the volcano, and when Alejandro teases her, she accidentally admits that she loves him. Alejandro is elated, and admits that, despite his plans to sabotage her, she has "stolen [his] heart." Heather coyly admits she feels "a little something," and Alejandro kisses her. Then it's subverted when Heather hits him with a Groin Attack and knocks him down a volcano to steal victory, revealing that she was just toying with him. Come All-Stars, though, they've come to terms with their feelings offscreen and are finally a couple.

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