While most young girls make an effort to show off their feminine charms, Futaba Yoshioka deliberately behaves like she wants to repel anyone who might be attracted to her. Ostracized by her female classmates in middle school for being a little too popular with the boys, she desperately strives to avoid a similar situation in high school by being unnecessarily noisy and graceless.

Nevertheless, scattered among Futaba's unpleasant memories are the treasured moments with the boy she had a crush on, Kou Tanaka. Unfortunately, that spell abruptly ended on a sour note when he suddenly stopped attending school and never came back. When Futaba finds out that Kou has returned—with a different last name this time—she can already feel the butterflies in her stomach. However, Kou Mabuchi is not the warm boy that she remembers from her days in middle school; he is now taller, more charismatic and withdrawn—making him far less approachable.

Futaba believes that if she returns to her former self, Kou will begin to take notice of her again. But is she prepared to sacrifice her bubble of normalcy and risk losing her friends in the process?

Ao Haru Ride is the anime adaptation of the manga series written and illustrated by Io Sakisaka, which was serialized in the shoujo magazine Bessatsu Margaret between 2011 and 2015. It has sold over 5.84 million copies, and released in Germany, France, Italy, Taiwan and Poland. It was adapted into a live action film directed by Takahiro Miki and released on 13 December 2014. The anime is licensed for release in North America with English subtitles by Sentai Filmworks.