The snow is melting, the sun is shining, and upon us smile the gods of spring. The goddess of love herself seems to be roaming around with all the romance flourishing and couples eager to celebrate the warming weather.

At the same time, it seems like many couples are breaking up. This raises the question — is love actually in the spring air?

Winter is a rough time. University students are not only stressed to the max with assignments and exams but are also trying to couple up with someone to survive the cold. It’s a test of love for many couples to juggle between school and relationships as the stress reaches new levels, and unfortunately, they sometimes end up breaking up once spring comes.

Simultaneously, the white blanket of winter is lifting, giving way to the colour pops of spring. The seasonal depression lifts, and we become more open to looking for a new beginning. That new beginning, for some students, is springtime romance as portrayed in anime.

It may seem silly to say that you broke up or felt down because of the winter blues, but studies have shown that, because of the lack of natural sunlight during the winter months, our daily body rhythms get out of sync and cause us to have low moods. However, in the springtime, the natural light comes back and our daily body rhythms return to their usual synchronization, elevating our moods.

If you’re in a good mood, you’re more willing to be social, and this could lead to a budding romance. You are able to do fun activities with your significant other — or potential significant other — rather than just staying at home all day to avoid the cold. This is just basic psychology.

You can go out and enjoy a nice stroll in the park, go to a festival and just do things that make you happier. Also, because dopamine levels increase in the spring, so does your sex drive — just saying.

Yes, the reason we fall in love in spring is because the natural neurotransmitters in our bodies, like serotonin and dopamine, increase. Add in the stimuli of seeing more people with fewer clothes on, brighter coloured clothing, happier moods and a better atmosphere, and you’re bound to be more vulnerable to falling in love.

If you’re an avid anime fan, you would know that this is around the time for new spring animes to drop, and those are known for their idyllic onscreen romances. They usually start of with the cliché of two teenagers meeting under a cherry blossom tree on their way to their high school with the petals falling beautifully around the two.

As time slows down, it seems like they are the only ones in the world. It’s the start of a beautiful romance, and it’s all thanks to those cherry blossom petals.

Of course, add in a harem, some weird characters and many subplots, and you’ve got a classic spring anime. But the idea of that romance is still prevalent, and we all know those two initial characters will end up together anyways.

With this in mind, I encourage you to get out there if you want and try to find your own romance, complete with imaginary cherry blossom petals falling and all. In the words of famous anime songs, like from Ouran Highschool Host Club, “kiss kiss fall in love.”

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Yashica Bither

Graphic: Yashic Bither