>>374685Old-school anime that come to mind as being similar to Archie are Kimagure Orange Road and stuff by Rumiko Takahashi such as Ranma 1/2 and Maison Ikkoku, but there's no indication that either writer was inspired by it at all (seems highly improbable that a Japanese would ever read Archie). Both are kino shows/manga by the way. Maison Ikkoku especially is a must watch - very sweet show, very long at 96 episodes (+ OVAs), it captures 80s Japan (a.k.a. heaven on earth) better than any other anime I've seen. Totally hilarious, it takes place over the course of a few years so a ton of events and arcs transpire, it was so engrossing that I remember watching it all over the course of 3 days many years ago. The basic gist is the MC falls head over heels over the woman who is the manager of his boarding house, who is two years older than him. He starts the show out being a very immature student shamefully having to repeat his first year of university, but tries to prove himself over the course of the show while dealing with rival chad (hilarious). There's also a very short live-action movie adaptation of the show which is fun as well.
Later romcom anime just remix, reuse, and pay homage to the tropes classics like Maison Ikkoku set in place - Love Hina comes to mind (like when the two MCs accidentally meet each other at the bathhouse). Not that this is a bad thing, it's just something you can't help but notice.