When “恋” fills a head
Why it is in the set
Because 愛 on its own could not cover it. A head that is pleasantly full of a person it has been with for ten years and a head that is full of somebody it spoke to twice are not the same head, and a joke generator that cannot tell them apart is missing the funnier of the two. 恋 is the second one.
What a head full of it looks like
Rereading a short message. Deciding what a delay means. Arranging to be somewhere for reasons you would not say out loud. A head led by 恋 is doing a lot of processing on very little data.
Words that use it
恋愛 (renai, romantic love as a category), 恋人 (koibito, a partner), 初恋 (hatsukoi, first love), 失恋 (shitsuren, a broken heart), 恋しい (koishii, missing someone).
Kanji it turns up with
悩 (worrying) behind 恋 is the classic pairing and the quips lean into it. 愛 behind 恋 reads as somebody who has been in both states about the same person.
Where “恋” comes from
A heart, 心, at the bottom. Above it an element that once meant tangled threads.
Japanese draws a line English does not. 愛 is love that has settled into something; 恋 is love that has not. 恋 is the one that keeps you up.
恋人 (koibito) is the word for a partner, and it is literally “koi person”. You can be in 恋 with someone for years and the word does not change.
A line you might get for “恋”
“Thinking about one specific person more than is strictly useful.”
Count the “恋” in your own headOthers in “Feelings”
“恋” is filed under “Feelings”. These are the rest of that group.
The 36 kanji
This is entirely a joke and has nothing to do with any real person.