Romance and anime have a great connection. They take us to another beautiful world of love. And when it comes to Japanese romance anime, the expectations are set high. There have been many romantic anime throughout the years, some are heartbreaking and some make us believe in love again.
Today, I have brought to you the 30 best romance anime that have different kinds of stories but one thing is for sure, you will find immense love in the story.
Check out these romantic anime, which will never disappoint you.
Best Romance Anime Series
20. The Pet Girl Of Sakurasou
- Total Season(s)- 1
- Total Episodes- 24
- Watch On- Crunchyroll
The story is about the Sakura-sou dormitory, which is the house for all the notorious students.
A student named Sorata Kanda was recently transferred there. The moment he got transferred, he started making plans to escape the dormitory. But failing to do so, he decides to deal with his fellow weird students which include a charming playboy writer, Jin Mitaka, a bubbly animator, Misaki Kamiigusa, and others.
One day, in the foreign exchange student program, a student named Mashiro Shiina joins the dormitory. Sorata is fascinated by her beauty and her talent.
Mashiro is an autistic girl. Sorata sticks with her and helps her in performing daily tasks.
19. Wotakoi: Love Is Hard For Otaku
- Total Season(s)- 1
- Total Episodes- 14
- Watch On- Netflix
Wotakoi is one of the best romance anime for guys. The story is about Narumi Momose, a 26-year-old girl who is an otaku and fujoshi.
She recently starts her new job and there she meets her middle school old friend Hirotaka Nifuji. Narumi swears to hide her interest from everyone in the office, but she opens up in front of Hirotaka.
She comes to know that Hirotaka is also an otaku. They both go on a dinner date, where Hirotaka proposes to Narumi and they both start their relationship as a couple.
After these two otakus start dating they both face some hardships. Will they overcome all their differences?
18. Bakemonogatari
- Total Season(s)- 1
- Total Episodes- 15
- Watch On- Crunchyroll
An anime series adapted from the light novel, Bakemonogatari is a story about a high school boy, Koyomi Araragi, who was once bitten by a vampire. Though he was immediately helped by a man named Meme Oshino, he still has some of the vampire traits left.
He has got enhanced vision and superhuman healing abilities. One day his fellow student Hitagi Senjougahara was about to fall from the stairs when Araragi saved her. He realizes that Hitagi was unnaturally weightless.
Araragi decides to help Hitagi despite her protests. Does Hitagi also possess supernatural maladies?
17. Ao Haru Ride
- Total Season(s)- 1
- Total Episodes- 12
- Watch On- Crunchyroll
Ao Haru Ride is a school romance anime. The story is about a very popular high school girl Futaba Yoshioka, whose mission is to repel and act weird with boys so that no one gets attracted to her.
The reason for this behavior is that Futaba is very popular amongst boys in school, which makes her female friends jealous and no one wants to befriend her. Later, it is revealed that she has a crush on a boy named Kou Tanaka, who suddenly stops coming to school.
He again comes in high school, but totally different even with a different last name. Will the love between them spark?
16. Maid Sama
- Total Season(s)- 1
- Total Episodes- 28
- Watch On- Hulu
Maid Sama is set in an all-boys high school, which got converted into a co-ed one. This leaves enough room for a school romance and any other plot one can think of.
Misaki, a newly enrolled girl student, becomes the student president in no time. Due to her strict and disciplined behavior, she has gained the name “Demon President.” But Misaki has got her own secret. She works part-time as a waitress at “maid café” to earn a living and to pay her bills.
Takumi, a popular boy in the school, finds Misaki in the maid café.
This secret will blossom into something more special.
15. Ouran Highschool Host Club
- Total Season(s)- 1
- Total Episodes- 26
- Watch On- Netflix
Ouran Highschool Host Club is a story about an elite upper school Ouran Academy and its ultra-rich students. Haruhi Fujiko, a middle-class scholarship student one day searching for a quiet place to study, ends up in an unused music room.
That music room was the club room of Ouran Host Club, with good-looking and charming boys. They used to entertain the girls. Accidentally, Haruhi breaks a very expensive vase. Not able to repay the amount, she is made to serve in the club until her debt is paid off.
Tamaki, the founder of the club, asks Haruhi to act as a boy and a host for the girls of the club. Will there be a love interest between them?
14. Given
- Total Season(s)- 1
- Total Episodes- 11
- Watch On- Crunchyroll
Given is the best romance anime for guys and it is also perfect for fans of LGBTQ+ anime viewers.
Ritsuka, when came to high school, was attracted to Mafuyu. He wanted to understand the history of Mafuyu and the guitar he carries. Later, he comes to know that the guitar Mafuyu carries belongs to his ex-partner, who took away his life.
Mafuyu later introduced Ritsuka to his band “Given.” He has got an incredible voice, which makes him the lead singer in the band. The series focuses on the relationship between Ritsuka and Mafuyu, as they come closer while performing in the band.
13. Love Is War
- Total Season(s)- 3
- Total Episodes- 39
- Watch On- Crunchyroll
You all must have heard the quote, “Love is War and everything is fair in Love and War.” Well, this quote is actually true for this anime series.
The story is about Shuchiin Academy and two students Miyuki and Kaguya, who are the President and Vice President of the student council respectively.
Kaguya and Miyuki have feelings for each other, but both of them are not ready to confess it. The first one who admits the feelings loses and will be looked down upon.
With their pride at stake, both of them play many challenging games so that the other can confess first. Who will confess first?
12. Your Lie In April
- Total Season(s)- 1
- Total Episodes- 24
- Watch On- Crunchyroll
Your Lie in April is a musical romance anime series that keeps the audience interested till the end.
The story is about a great pianist, Kousei Arima, who, with training from his strict mother, plays piano with perfection. He has won several awards due to his precision in playing.
But his life turns upside down when his mother passes away suddenly. Kousei couldn’t play the piano anymore. Suffering from depression, Kousei one day meets Kaori, who plays the violin.
Kousei is amused by Kaori’s playing. Kaori pushes Kousei to start playing again. And they both start getting close.
11. Toradora
- Total Season(s)- 1
- Total Episodes- 25
- Watch On- Netflix
Toradora is a story about a love interest between four high school students.
The story revolves around Ryuuji Takasu, who takes care of his mother and has a charming personality, and a girl named Taiga Aisaka, who is self-centered.
In one of the class rearrangements, Takasu finds himself with his best friend Yusaku, and his secret crush Minori. Minori happens to be Taiga’s best friend. And Taiga’s secret crush is Yusaku. Pretty confusing right?
Takasu and Taiga befriend each other so that they can play cupid in each other’s love story. As both of their crushes are each other’s best friends.
A must-watch school romance anime.
10. My Love Story
- Total Season(s)- 1
- Total Episodes- 24
- Watch On- Crunchyroll
My Love Story is a series about Takeo Gouda, who is a giant man with a golden heart. Due to his courage, he is famous amongst his male friends. Unfortunately, he has no luck with girls.
Saddened by this fact, his best friend, Makoto, who is charming and kind, keeps on cheering him up. Any girl which Takeo likes has an interest in Makoto. So, he keeps playing cupid. Until one day he rescues a girl, Rinko, from getting molested.
Takeo instantly likes Rinko, but due to his past experience, he does not make the first move.
9. Sword Art Online
- Total Season(s)- 2
- Total Episodes- 47
- Watch On- Netflix
Sword Art Online is a series that mostly happens in the virtual world.
In the series it is shown that recently a NerveGear was launched, these are the special helmets by which gamers can actually go into the virtual world of the game and play it.
Kirito is one such gamer, who is also a beta tester of the game, to go inside the virtual world of video games. There he meets another character named Asuna. Both of them really hit the chord. Now, they both have to cross 100 levels of the game together to survive both in the virtual and real world.
8. Fruits Basket
- Total Season(s)- 3
- Total Episodes- 63
- Watch On- Crunchyroll
Fruits Basket was adapted into anime after its manga became popular. The series is about a 16-year-old girl named Tooru Honda, who lives in a tent after the demise of his mother.
One day, while returning back from work, she finds her tent is damaged due to a landslide. The place where she put up the tent was the private property of the Souma Clan.
When they find out about the landslide, they invite Tooru to stay with them. She finds Yuki Souma, who is a popular boy at her school. Will staying under one roof spark a love interest between them?
7. Yona of the Dawn
- Total Season(s)- 1
- Total Episodes- 24
- Watch On- Crunchyroll
Yona of the Dawn is a romance anime that all of us fantasize about.
Yona, a beautiful and happy princess living a lavish life in her Crimson Dragon Castle is totally ignorant about life outside the castle.
One day, treason occurs in the kingdom, killing his father and removing all her birthright as a princess. She has no other choice but to flee from the kingdom with her only childhood friend who is her bodyguard also, Son Hak.
Son has been secretly in love with Yona since childhood. The story proceeds slowly in their relationship. We can see a gradual increase in their chemistry and their closeness.
6. Yuri on Ice
- Total Season(s)- 1
- Total Episodes- 12
- Watch On- Crunchyroll
Yuri on Ice is one of the best romantic anime series revolving around sports.
Katsuki Yuri is a great skater, who retires from the game after his terrible defeat at Grand Prix Finale. But destiny has something else planned for Yuri. Yuri’s performance video goes viral and a Russian skater, Victor Nikiforov, who is also a 5-time consecutive world champion, decides to coach Yuri.
Victor is very open about his sexuality which sometimes makes Yuri uncomfortable. But slowly, Yuri too learned that he is attracted to Victor.
While getting trained, they both develop closeness and intimacy. Will this affect Yuri’s game?
5. My Dress-Up Darling
- Total Season(s)- 1
- Total Episodes- 12
- Watch On- Crunchyroll
My Dress Up Darling is a new romance anime and the series is still in running.
The story is about a high school boy, Wakana Gojou, whose passion is to make hina dolls. He got this passion from his grandfather. Gojou is blessed with sewing clothes for his dolls. But he has to keep his hobby a secret.
Marin Kitagawa, the most popular girl in the school, also has a weird hobby. One day, as destiny wanted it, they both get stuck in a school room, and both of them reveal their secrets.
They help each other with their hobbies and then start getting close to each other.
4. Horimiya
- Total Season(s)- 1
- Total Episodes- 13
- Watch On- Crunchyroll
Horimiya is a school romance anime that revolves around Kyoko Hori, an extrovert high school girl, and Miyamura.
Hori is a perfect example of beauty with a brain, at home she is a simple, family-oriented girl. Miyamura, on the other hand, is a gloomy high school fanboy, but his body is covered in tattoos and piercings.
These two opposite-natured people, when accidentally meet outside the classroom, notice they both are similar in many ways.
Both of them promise to hide each other’s secret and a sweet tale of school romance begins.
3. Clannad
- Total Season(s)- 2
- Total Episodes- 44
- Watch On- Justwatch
Clannad is a story about a high school student, Tomoyo Okazaki, who does not like to attend school and has given up on life. One day he meets Nagisa, who is very cheerful and always stays happy.
Tomoyo befriends Nagisa and comes to know that, due to her illness, she has to repeat a year and all her friends have moved on. Her dream is to bring back the drama club of school.
He and his other four female friends decide to help Nagisa. Slowly, Tomoyo realizes that life is not at all dull with Nagisa and he starts to enjoy both his school and life.
2. Gamers
- Total Season(s)- 1
- Total Episodes- 12
- Watch On- Crunchyroll
Gamer is a story about certain students and their only common hobby, playing video games.
Amano Keita is a hardcore gamer, who lives an average life. One day he meets a cute girl named Karen Tendou, who is considered the school’s idol. Karen is the club president of the video game club and invites Amano to their club.
Tasuku, Amano’s friend, is secretly a fellow gamer. Chiaki is always in conflict with Amano. The story revolves around these four students, their romance, and their comedy. An amazing rom-com series.
1. Vampire Knight
- Total Season(s)- 2
- Total Episodes- 26
- Watch On- Crunchyroll
The Vampire Knight story starts by narrating the story of Yuki Cross. One snowy night she was ambushed by a vampire but also rescued by another vampire, Kaname Kuran. The actual story starts 10 years later. It is shown that Yuki was adopted by the Headmaster of Cross Academy.
She, with her friend Zero Kiryu, manages the two very important classes in the Academy, one is a day class for humans and the other is a night class for vampires. But as love begins to spark, it hinders their duty of keeping both classes away from each other.
10 Best Romance Anime Movies
10. Your Name
- Runtime: 106 minutes
- Watch On: Crunchyroll
Your Name is a movie that revolves around the concept of two persons whose bodies got swapped. Mitsuha is the mayor’s daughter living in a small mountain town, she always wanted to run away from the town and live her life in Tokyo.
On the other hand, Taki is a schoolboy in Tokyo, who also works part-time and has dreams of becoming an artist. Taki daily used to dream that he had become a girl living in a small mountain town.
One day a meteor hit the Earth and the next day. Mitsuha and Taki’s lives changed.
Now, Taki is living Mitsuha’s life in the countryside in her body. Mitsuha is living in Taki’s body. And their wishes are a reality!
9. I Want to Eat Your Pancreas
- Runtime: 108 minutes
- Watch On: Justwatch
The series is also called Let Me Eat Your Pancreas, the movie is about a high school student who is shown waiting in the hospital. He suddenly sees a book and starts reading it.
The unusual thing about the book is not that it is written by hand, but it is more of a diary style. The name of the book was “Disease Coexistence Journal” and he realizes that it is written by his school friend Sakura Yamauchi.
Sakura is suffering from pancreatic disease, and only her family knows about it. Even after knowing this, he does not feel sympathetic toward Sakura. But, he wants to learn more about her.
He is now more connected to Sakura, whose main motive is to live her life to the fullest.
8. Violet Evergarden: The Movie
- Runtime: 140 minutes
- Watch On: Netflix
The movie is about a girl named Violet who was used by the Mayor in the war to understand the code of the enemy. In the war, the Mayor gets seriously injured. His last words to Violet were “I Love You”, but Violet didn’t know what it meant.
After the war, Violet is brought to the hospital for repair. Later, she works as a Memory Doll. But now, Telephone poles are being installed everywhere, which could put Violet’s existence in danger.
She is still in the process of understanding the emotions and hoping that the person who once told her those three magical words may still be alive.
Will Violet and Mayor be together again?
7. A Silent Voice
- Runtime: 129 minutes
- Watch On: Netflix
Another school romance anime- A Silent Voice is all about school romance, bullying, and other school life crises. The story is about a hearing-impaired girl, Shoko, who recently joined the high school.
In the new school, Shoko is being bullied by Shoya due to her disability. Shoya’s friends boycott him, as he bothers Shoko for no reason.
Years have passed by, and both Shoya and Shoko have grown. Shoya still regrets the way he behaved with Shoya in the past and has set out on a path of redemption. The story focuses on how they both meet later.
But will Shoko forgive Shoya?
6. A Whisker Away
- Runtime: 105 minutes
- Watch On: Netflix
A Whisker Away is a drama/romance anime about a girl, Miyo, who lives with her step-mom and is very unhappy. She has a secret crush in school named Kento Hinode. But despite her struggle, she is unable to gain his attention.
One day while going back to home, Miyo meets a mysterious mask seller, who gives her a magical Noh mask. With the help of this mask Miyo can become a cat whenever she wants. As a cat, she spends a lot of time with Hinode at his home.
She always feels like confessing to Hinode that the cat he loves and the girl he barely notices are the same, but there’s a twist in the story when Miyo’s human face mask falls off.
Now, will she always be in cat form? Will she be able to confess her love?
5. Into the Forest of Fireflies’ Light
- Runtime: 44 minutes
- Watch On: Justwatch
The author of this movie has dedicated the movie to her friend who passed away due to cancer.
Into the Forest of Fireflies’ Light is a sad romance anime movie that leaves viewers in tears. The story is about a 6-year-old girl, Hotaru, who gets lost in an enchanted forest during summer vacation. The forest has been rumored to be the home of spirits.
Hotaru couldn’t find anyone in the forest. Later, she finds Gin and with great hope, she starts running to him. But Gin repelled her off, the reason being if Gin is ever touched by a Human, he will disappear forever.
As the year passes by, and the story continues both of them grow old and start developing loving feelings for each other. How will this love story work?
4. Howl’s Moving Castle
- Runtime: 119 minutes
- Watch On: Justwatch
If you like watching movies with vampires and witches, then this one is the perfect choice for you.
Howl’s Moving Castle is a love story between a magician and an 18-year-old girl. The girl named Sophie was cursed by an old witch due to which she turned into an old woman. To break this spell, she sets out in search of an answer but ends up in Howl’s moving castle.
In the castle, she meets Howl’s fire demon, Karishifa. Karishifa makes a deal with Sophie that will free both of them from the curse.
3. Whisper of the Heart
- Runtime: 111 minutes
- Watch On: Justwatch
Whisper of the Heart is a movie about a 14-year-old girl, Shizuku, who visits the library to read her favorite books. But she notices that one boy named Seiji has read all those books just before her.
Later, she meets Seiji in an antique shop and befriends him. Shizuku comes to know about Seiji’s dream that he wants to be a great violinist like his grandfather.
Shizuku aspires to become a novelist. Both of them are fascinated by each other and help each other to pursue their dreams. Will they both understand each other’s value in their life?
2. The Garden of Words
- Runtime: 46 minutes
- Watch On: Netflix
Garden of Words is a cute but complicated love story, between a young man and an old woman.
Takao Akizuki is an aspiring shoemaker who, one day, was designing shoes after skipping school. He accidentally meets a charming but mysterious woman. It started to rain, so they both had to take shelter at a place. Takao tells her that he is a shoemaker and propose to make her new shoes.
Their complicated love story begins when they both start seeing each other unknowingly but frequently, especially on rainy days.
1. From Up On Poppy Hill
- Runtime: 91 minutes
- Watch On: Netflix
The story is about two students, Umi and Shun, who are members of the school’s newspaper club. They come to know that the chairman of the high school and businessman, Tokumaru, wants to demolish the school’s building for redevelopment purposes.
Now Umi and Shun’s main motive is to request the businessman to reconsider his plan. While working together, they gradually attract each other.
Umi comes to know that Shun is an orphan and doesn’t know anything about his origin. They both start finding clues to Shun’s past and end up knowing that they have a lot more in common than they know of.
Conclusion
So, above are some of the best romance anime that you can easily binge-watch.
All the above anime have different styles, stories, and endings. But they do justice to the love and romance one expects from a romantic anime.