While the manga rarely has heartwarming moments that don't end up being a Moment Killer or Played for Laughs, they do exist (and even the gag moments can be nice in their own way). Beware of unmarked spoilers.
General
- Hori and Kashima's relationship in general. Even though she annoys him a lot, she usually means well and they both have a lot of admiration and respect for each other and their talents. His adoration for her has been compared to a doting parent.
- The entire reason he agreed to help Nozaki with the backgrounds to his manga was because he was running out scripts for plays that Kashima can act in. Nozaki agreed to create him new scripts in exchange for his help.
- Hori's official profile states he quit acting because Kashima's perfect lead material and that he "grins when girls go to see plays for Kashima and become absorbed in the play, laughing and crying".
- One Valentines joke revolved around the fact that Kashima gave Hori - who explicitly refuses to eat homemade chocolate - chocolate that she made to look exactly like ones bought from a store. However, Hori's profile later revealed that he doesn't mind eating food made by people he's close to, and had he known that Kashima made the chocolate, would have probably eaten it anyway.
- Seo has stated that she loves crushing the dreams of men who admire the golden-voiced "Lorelei", but even though Wakamatsu has professed his love of "Lorelei" multiple times in front of her, the thought of breaking his heart doesn't seem to cross her mind. She even becomes saddened enough to stop singing when Wakamatsu became distressed over the possibility of Lorelei not being anything like he thought.
- If you look at how far they have come, even if Sakura's crush on Nozaki goes unrequited, in the end they're still practically best friends.
- Chapter 41, the opening sequence of the anime specials and another official chibi art has Nozaki rubbing Sakura's head which is adorable.
- If one thinks about it, Nozaki's pen name. Though his little sister is a bit of an eccentric and practically breathes Shoujo tropes, the fact that the name "Yumeno Sakiko" unscrambles to "Yumeko Nozaki" shows he still paid tribute to the girl who got him into Shoujo in the first place.
Anime/manga-specific
- In the anime-only stinger in Episode 3, Nozaki comes to a drama club performance and asks Hori why he doesn't want to act anymore. Hori watches Kashima going over the script with other actors, smiles and says, "Well, we have her, so I like just watching from here."
- According to Kashima's official profile and chapter 27/first half of episode 12, it was Hori's performance at the school festival during her last year of middle school that convinced Kashima to attend Rouman High School and join the drama club.
- In Chapter 29, Seo overhears Wakamatsu wanting to buy a cutting knife to help with Nozaki's screentones. Though she has no idea what it's for, she goes out of her way to buy one for him anyways. It moves Wakamatsu enough to promote her to a sparkly screentone, and he promises himself to take care of it ... right before immediately dropping it into his leg.
- After spending an entire day doing things to startle Sakura in Chapter 31/the first half of Episode 11 (in an attempt to find material for surprising developments in his manga), Nozaki invites her to walk home with him. Sakura, expecting yet another attempt to surprise her by Nozaki, spends the whole walk waiting for it and is surprised when it never comes. When she asks him about it, he says that he just felt like walking with her. This elicits a Luminescent Blush from Sakura.
- In Chapter 48, Sakura recalls her and Nozaki's first meeting. Due to fatigue that day, Nozaki unfortunately has forgotten about it ever since, however it's shown Sakura still left such an impression on him that he unconsciously based Mamiko's design off of her and her single-ribbon hairstyle.
- Also a funny moment, in Chapter 54 during a test of courage at school, Nozaki suggests to Kashima that a senpai finds it cute when their scared kouhai clings to them. Hori initially scolds the two when they try to test out the theory, retorting he finds neither of them cute. However later on when Nozaki leaves, Hori decides to take Kashima on another test of courage and tell her a ghost story. Two panels later, Kashima is shaking with fear while clinging to Hori's arm, and Hori is grinning as he tells Nozaki on the phone, "When they're scared for real, they're actually quite cute."
- Chapter 60 shows that, for all the times Hori has been annoyed and bothered by Kashima's clinginess, he'd actually get really depressed if she ignores him for even less than a day. He's been so traumatized by this that when Kashima went back to her usual self he even changed train stations just so they could walk to school together everyday.
- In Chapter 72, Sakura comforts Nozaki (who's worried that his mangaka job is embarrassing), and he responds by suddenly hugging her. This is naturally played for laughs too, with poor Sakura not expecting it and screaming for dear life.
- In Chapter 78, Kashima tries to get a drunk Hori to say affectionate things about her that he normally wouldn't say. One of the things he says is... that he wished the two of them would do club activities together more often. This stuns Kashima into silence, and afterward she actually starts going to the drama club seriously (much to the confusion of Hori, who has no memory of what he did while intoxicated).
- In Chapter 87, Hori seems to have a love epiphany a week after one of his underclassmen points out that Kashima's his type. He admits to Nozaki that he always saw Kashima as his picture of an ideal man, but he's starting to wonder if she's also his ideal woman as well...
- Following up on Chapter 87, in Chapter 90 Nozaki and Mikoshiba attempt to make Hori become a more affectionate senpai towards Kashima when they "coincidentally" go to the pool together. Hori plays along, but his efforts come off as awkward and misunderstood (with Kashima thinking he's acting most of the time). Afterward, Hori concludes that regardless of his Love Epiphany he should still be nicer to Kashima, and absent-mindedly ruffles her head while complimenting his "cool, cute kouhai"... only this time he finally and accidentally gets his message across to Kashima, who looks genuinely touched and brags about this compliment to the rest of the drama club at school.
- In Chapter 95, despite enjoying Seo's absence and finally getting to relax at school, Wakamatsu is eventually revealed to be feeling a little lonely without her and is upset by the thought of her having fun on her school trip without him. He lightens up when she finally gets round to messaging him (she forgot to charge her phone) and they exchange their usual banter.
- Chapter 96 has Nozaki legitimately worried about Sakura when he thinks he's lost her during their school trip (she just went off to take photos for manga reference), something Mikoshiba picks up on. Nozaki's adamant on keeping an eye on Sakura and even holding her hand when they reunite, and after they join their groups Nozaki actually admits to Kashima to feeling something towards her... (Unfortunately, the way he words itnote leads Kashima to conclude his feelings are of a maternal nature.)
- In Chapter 98, Kashima is very worried about Hori finding out about her tonedeafness, but eventually decides to reveal herself when the group are at karaoke together and she's out of ways to avoid singing. Hori surprisingly reacts well... almost too well, to the point he requests she keeps singing (much to the chagrin of Nozaki, Sakura and Mikoshiba, who are collapsing in agony with their ears covered). Nozaki finds out in the end that it isn't because Hori actually thinks she sounds nice, but because he just enjoys watching her blush a lot when singing badly in front of him.
- Chapter 137 had Kashima misunderstood the drama script. She thought Hori's jealous of her for stealing his chance to be an actor. Kashima was almost in tears. Cue Hori pulled and hugged her (although he mistakenly thought it was all an acting).
- It's brief and only in the anime (2nd half of episode 10), but Kashima smiling at Sakura, who's excitedly anticipating Nozaki wearing a costume, is pretty sweet.
- The anime-original ending of episode 12, while somewhat bittersweet, is much more wistfully heartwarming in tone than the chapters it was derived from.
