The Ultimate Romance Anime List
If you’re looking for your next anime romance watch or just want to tick the important ones off your list, here’s a breakdown of the 20 greatest around. These anime have everything from high school tropes to high fantasy settings. In fact, a lot of these anime offer interesting plots and unique characters we don’t often see in traditional media, making them worth a watch.
Dick Thomas Johnson from Tokyo, Japan on Wikimedia
1. Horimiya
Considered one of the best romance anime around, Horimiya is focused on Kyoko Hori and Izumi Miyamura. It’s a slice-of-life romance with a warm vibe! Kyoko is your typical popular girl, while Izumi is the quiet introvert. However, the anime shows looks can be deceiving, and acceptance exists in unlikely places.
2. Your Name
This award-winning anime follows Mitsuha Miyamizu and Taki Tachibana. Mitsuha is a small-town high school girl, while Taki is a city boy. The twist is that the anime follows them swapping bodies, allowing them to experience each other's lives and develop a transcendent bond.
3. A Silent Voice
This anime focuses on Shoko Nishimiya, who is a transfer student who faces bullying due to being deaf. However, her bully, Shoya, ends up getting shunned by his classmates for his actions, and decides to make amends. It’s a story about redemption and understanding and making good things out of the bad.
4. Kamisama Kiss
If you want fun vibes and a good amount of fantasy, then Kamisama Kiss is the anime for you. It follows Nanami, who makes herself a home in a dilapidated shrine only to end up becoming a land god. She must now work with a fox familiar named Tomoe to fulfill her duties, but it’s easy to see feelings develop between the two.
5. Maid Sama
This high school anime follows Misaka, an accomplished student council president who secretly works at a maid café to make ends meet. Unfortunately, Usui, a boy from her high school, discovers her secret. Comedy ensues as Misaka tries to keep her secret under wraps, only to grow closer to Usui.
6. Snow White With the Red Hair
If you want a fantasy anime that feels like it’s out of a fairytale, then this one is worth a watch. It follows a commoner with striking red hair who ends up involved with a narcissistic prince. She attempts to escape from him and meets another charming prince willing to help her.
7. Your Lie in April
This heartfelt musical anime follows Kousei, who is a piano prodigy. However, after the passing of his mother, he loses the desire to play and can’t stand his music. This all takes a turn when he meets a violinist named Kaori, who reignites his passion.
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8. Fruits Basket
Fruits Basket is an adorable emotional anime that follows an orphan named Tohru. Tohru ends up meeting the Sohma family, who are cursed to turn into zodiac animals when hugged by a girl. It’s a bit silly, but the anime explores Tohru’s past trauma and how friendship can help one heal.
9. Blue Spring Ride
This anime follows Futaba, who meets her former crush, Kou. He’s less friendly than she recalls, so Futaba is desperate to break his barriers and reconnect. This emotional bond ties the two together as they rekindle old flames.
10. Kimi ni Todoke
This anime follows Sawako, who’s often mocked for looking like a popular horror movie character. To change her perception, she focuses on being exceptionally kind to her classmates, nonetheless, and captures the eye of Shota. The anime follows the two as their lives take a dramatic turn, and they must face their own doubts.
11. Yona of the Dawn
This anime has plenty of romance but also leans into elements of fantasy and adventure. It follows Princess Yona of the Kouka Kingdom, who is forced to flee her kingdom with her bodyguard. The anime follows her as she transforms from a princess to a warrior.
12. Kaguya-sama: Love is War
This anime follows two brilliant students, Kaguya and Miyuki, who are often at odds with each other due to their pride and intelligence. However, they’re harboring secret feelings and are determined to make the other confess their love first. This leads to a comical yet heartfelt anime that viewers adore.
13. Toradora
This anime perfectly contrasts a cute and outlandish girl with a stoic and intimidating type. Ryuji is a gentle soul who wants a normal life, but his Yakuza background makes that hard. Meanwhile, Taiga has a fiery temper and a reputation of her own. The two realize they have a crush on each other’s best friend, so they get to work helping one another out, only for a different romance to bloom.
14. Ouran High School Host Club
This comical anime follows Haruhi, a scholarship student attending a super prestigious school. After she accidentally breaks a vase, she has to join the host club to pay off her debt. This means she dresses as a boy to pretend to be a host, and all the other boys try to help her keep her identity a secret, only for most of them to slowly fall in love with her.
15. Howl’s Moving Castle
This anime movie follows a girl named Sophie, who is cursed by an evil witch and ages rapidly. To undo the curse, she seeks out the wizard Howl, who is caught in his own curse. Sophie helps him find himself, and with the backdrop of a war behind them, the two find love in unlikely places.
16. Violet Evergarden
This anime received critical acclaim for its stunning artwork and cinematography. It follows a girl named Violet left on her own after a great war. She doesn’t have anywhere to go after her purpose is destroyed. However, she finds a new job transcribing people’s memories and ends up meeting new people and going on a heartfelt adventure.
Dick Thomas Johnson from Tokyo, Japan on Wikimedia
17. Say I Love You
This anime follows Mei, who is tired of being hurt and wants a life without friends. However, she meets Yamato, a popular boy who is intrigued by her and wants to be her friend. Despite early resistance, Mei eventually gives dating a chance, only for her to struggle with her past isolation.
18. Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku
This comedic anime follows office workers as they struggle with their own dating problems. The characters are relatable and offer more maturity than high-school-focused anime. It mainly focuses on four friends who are pretty sure they could only find love with each other, so they pair up and see how that goes.
19. My Happy Marriage
Miyo has lived a hard life from the get-go, especially after her father married a cruel woman. She’s the only one in her family born without their power and is promised off to a military leader rumored to be quite cruel. But Kiyoka ends up being stern but kind-hearted, and together they carve out a little happy marriage of their own.
20. Clannad
This classic romance is a coming-of-age story that follows Tomoya, a high schooler struggling with the loss of his mother. That is, until he meets Nagisa, who convinces him to join the drama club. The couple eventually even gets married, although a happy ending isn’t guaranteed.
