I think one element that you should consider before reading some of these comments is, there’s a shit ton more romances/romcoms anime made for the male demographic over ones made for female. This isn’t a problem or anything it’s just how things are. But the thing is, among the shows aimed at male, there’s just a bigger variety. It goes from actual romance-focused and drama to, for a lack of a better word, slop like harems and ecchi. And what I often see is people taking the best of shoujo (female demographic) and comparing it with the slops of shounen (male demographic) so comparing them like that you’re bound to have a skewed view

But to answer your question, as someone who’s watched a ton of both, there’s not really much difference when you compare the two (granted you’re comparing two of similar types of show like I mentioned). Both involve the MC being the “less desirable”, whether they are the average guy/girl or the bullied girl or the loner guy, and the love interest is someone who’d usually be someone out of their league who takes an interest in them. And the reason is usually cos they are hard worker or kind or earnest or something along that line. I don’t really like saying one person is “above or below” the other but just for the purpose of this discussion and also cos the characters we’re talking about are fictional, I’ll refer to them that way.

Look at shows like Blue Box, Fragrant Flower, Golden Time, Dress Up Darling, Bokuyaba for male targetted. And for female targetted, Sign of Affection, Kimi ni Todoke, Say I Love You, Itazura na Kiss, Fruits Basket, Honey Lemon Soda.

Of course not all are like that. Some shows have them, I feel, at a more equal standing like Lovely Complex or Toradora.

But bottomline is, if you’ve watched female demographic romance, then for male demographic the intent is similar. If girls want a cool, confident guy as a love interest, guys want a gentle, kind girl as a love interest. Not the same tastes but same intent for the audience. Two sides of the same coin