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- The Ice Guy & His Cool Female Colleague
- Zero-G, Liber
The 21 Most Wholesome Romance Anime Of All Time
Vote up the romance anime that gave you warm, fuzzy feelings.
Tragic romances are great and all, but sometimes what you want is a cute, heartwarming story about two people falling in love. If you're looking for new wholesome romances to watch, we've got you covered.
Love your adorable romance with a heavy side of humor? Check out Kaguya-sama: Love is War or Komi Can't Communicate. Prefer a more serious vibe? Check out Tsuki ga Kirei or Snow White With The Red Hair. No matter what you like most, if you're a romance fan, there's something on this list for you.
- 11,093 VOTES
Kimi ni Todoke
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- Kimi ni Todoke
- Production I.G
Socializing isn't easy for Sawako Kuronuma. She's shy and anxious, and her classmates don't always respond well to her spooky appearance. She admires Shota Kazehaya, a popular boy who manages to draw everyone to him with his charisma and kindness.
When Kazehaya organizes a test of courage for the class, Sawako uses it as a chance to get to know her classmates. In the process, she and Kazehaya grow closer, and start to have an unexpectedly positive impact on one another.
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- 21,137 VOTES
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- Kamisama Kiss
- TMS Entertainment
Thanks to her deadbeat dad, Nanami Momozono finds herself with nowhere to live. When she helps a strange man who is being bothered by a dog, he offers her a place to stay. This place turns out to be a decrepit shrine. Nanami doesn't want to stay, but she ends up being practically forced into the position of “land god.”
With few other options, she throws herself into the gig. Unfortunately, her new fox familiar Tomoe isn't super jazzed about having to help her. The two are hostile toward each other at first, but they soon form an unexpectedly tight bond.
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- 31,808 VOTES
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- Horimiya
- CloverWorks
On the outside, Kyoko Hori and Izumi Miyamura don't seem to have much in common. Hori is bubbly and popular, while Miya is quiet and nerdy. But they're more similar than they appear to be, because both of them are hiding their true selves from their peers.
Hori pretends to be carefree, but she has to spend most of her free time practically raising her younger brother. Meanwhile, Miya comes off as shy and nerdy at school, but in reality, he's covered in tattoos and piercings. While they can't reveal their lives to others, they can be open with each other.
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- 41,243 VOTES
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- Snow White with the Red Hair
- Bones
Shirayuki is enjoying her life as an herbalist in the nation of Tanburan until the prince of her country demands that she become his concubine. She steadfastly refuses, and ends up being rescued by Zen Wisteria, the second prince of the neighboring nation of Clarines.
Hoping to repay Zen for his kindness, she follows him to Clarines and begins working as an herbalist for the palace. Unfortunately, the rest of the royal family doesn't approve of Zen taking in a commoner. Shirayuki is determined to prove her worth, while Zen just wants to get closer to her. Starting the relationship they both want is no easy task, but love can prevail over even the biggest of challenges.
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- 5403 VOTES
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- A Sign of Affection
- Aija-do
Yuki Itose grew up with a sheltered lifestyle due to her hearing disability. When she starts her college journey, she makes it a mission to branch out and make new friends, have new experiences, and try new things. This path leads her to a meeting with Itsuomi Nagi, who is a multilingual travel enthusiast friend-of-a-friend.
While their first meeting was fleeting, it left a lasting impression on Itsuomi. He finds himself curious about her, and Yuki is touched by his indifference to her hearing impairment. The two quickly forge a friendship that begins to develop into something more in this feel-good romance.
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- 61,068 VOTES
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- The Ice Guy & His Cool Female Colleague
- Zero-G, Liber
The Ice Guy & His Cool Female Colleague is a josei series that's totally adorable right out of the gate. As the descendant of a yokai called a snow woman (yuki onna), Himuro has ice powers that flare along with his emotions. This results in things like being literally frozen in place because he's nervous about his new job, or unleashing flurries of snow when he sees a cat that's too adorable.
Though Himuro's chill is only literal, his co-worker Fuyutsuki has it in a more literal sense. She handles Himuro's issues with ease, and goes out of her way to solve his problems with simple, well-researched suggestions. As a result, Himuro is head over heels in love with her.
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- 7914 VOTES
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- Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku
- A-1 Pictures
For most of Narumi Momose's life, being an otaku hasn't done her any favors socially. That's why when she starts a new job, she wants to keep her nerdy hobbies on the down low. What's more, she absolutely refuses to tell anyone she dates. This proves impossible when her childhood friend Hirotaka Nifuji turns out to be working for the same company. He knows all about her interests, and he shares some of them.
Luckily, they aren't the only people at the office with these hobbies. As Narumi becomes more comfortable being herself at work, she realizes that she's probably better off with someone who understands and accepts her for who she is - her childhood friend.
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- 81,218 VOTES
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- My Dress-Up Darling
- CloverWorks
Wakana Gojo is totally obsessed with creating hina dolls, but he's too embarrassed to share his passion with anyone because it's considered a “feminine” hobby. When his popular classmate Marin Kitagawa finds out, Gojo is sure his life is over - but Marin doesn't want to expose him. She thinks he's super talented and cool, and she wants him to use his talents to help her with her own slightly embarrassing hobby - cosplay!
Though the story certainly qualifies, it should be noted that not everybody considers the series' heavy fan service to be wholesome. Use your own judgement to decide if this anime is for you!
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- 9510 VOTES
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- Taisho Otome Fairy Tale
- SynergySP
After a car accident leaves Tamahiko Shima with a paralyzed right arm, his father deems him useless and sends him to live in the countryside. Just when the isolation is about to drive him to the brink, his father sends a girl named Yuzuki Tachibana, who he has purchased from her family to be his wife.
While this sounds like a pretty bleak set-up, it ends up being totally wholesome. Tamahiko is resistant to Yuzuki's presence at first, but that changes. Yuzuki works hard to reduce Tamahiko's grief and depression, and to connect him with the rest of the world. As her efforts begin to work, he starts to care about her deeply, and decides that if she's going to be his wife, he's going to have to be a husband deserving of the name.
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- 10543 VOTES
Lovely Complex
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- Lovely Complex
- Toei Animation
If you ask Risa Koizumi and Atsushi Otani, they have very little in common and they don't get along at all. But because they're always squabbling in a way their teachers and classmates find amusing, they're looked at as a comedy duo. The fact that Otani is shorter than the average boy and Risa is taller than the average girl doesn't make them less amusing to the people around them, either.
But the fact that they stand out is ultimately what brings them together. It might be a rocky start, but it's a rocky start that leads to actual love.
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- 11576 VOTES
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- The Saint's Magic Power is Omnipotent
- Diomedéa
When Sei Takanashi is on her way home from work, she's suddenly pulled into the magical realm of Slantania to be a Holy Maiden - that is, a person who deals with dangerous creatures spawned by a miasma. But she isn't the only Holy Maiden summoned, and she ultimately isn't chosen for the gig.
With nothing else to do in her new world, she busies herself with work at the Medicinal Flora Research Institute, where she learns botany, medicine, and other disciplines. Her ability to heal wounds puts her in contact with a knight named Albert Hawke, who she soon develops a relationship with.
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- 12770 VOTES
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- Tonikawa: Over the Moon for You
- Seven Arcs
Nasa Yuzaki has his eyes firmly affixed on the future. He's doing wonderfully in school, and he can't wait to embark on whatever illustrious career awaits him. He's thrown a curveball when he gets hit by a truck and survives thanks to a beautiful young woman.
In fact, he's so stricken by her beauty that despite his injuries he asks her out. She agrees, but on one condition - he has to marry her right away.
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- 13421 VOTES
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- Recovery of an MMO Junkie
- Signal.MD
Sick of corporate life, 30-year-old Moriko Morioka quits her job and decides to take a nice, long break playing an MMORPG called Fruits de Mer. Though she intends to totally isolate herself, she ends up befriending someone with a cute female avatar named Lily in-game - all while using a male avatar herself.
It turns out that Lily is Yuta Sakurai, a man who she will soon meet in real life. Maybe what Moriko needed wasn't to drop out of society, but to form a meaningful relationship?
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- 14851 VOTES
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- Komi Can't Communicate
- OLM
Shoko Komi is beautiful, popular, and smart, but she has one big problem - her social anxiety makes it nearly impossible for her to talk to people.
One of the only people she feels comfortable with is the chill and nonjudgmental Tadano, who agrees to help her with her goal of making 100 friends.
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- 15984 VOTES
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- Toradora!
- J.C. Staff
Taiga Aisaka and Ryuuji Takasu are different in many ways, but they do have two things in common. Both of them are the opposite of what they appear to be - while Taiga looks adorable, she's fierce as hell, and though Ryuuji is often accused of looking like a delinquent, he's a total sweetheart whose main focus is doing housework for his mother. The other thing they have in common is that they both have major crushes on someone they can't bring themselves to confess to.
The two plan to try and help the other person form the relationship they desire, but in the process they grow much closer to each other than they could have imagined.
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- 16907 VOTES
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- Kaguya-sama: Love is War
- A-1 Pictures
Student Council President Miyuki Shirogane and Vice President Kaguya Shinomiya are the perfect couple - or at least they would be if they could get it together and confess their feelings. Neither one of them is willing to make the first move, so instead they concoct an array of increasingly ridiculous strategies to try and trick the other into admitting it first.
While the series can sometimes seem like the rom-com version of Death Note, it also has some genuinely sweet moments, and it really makes you root for the protagonists to get together.
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- 17734 VOTES
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- Ouran High School Host Club
- Bones
Ouran High School Host Club is a classic, so if you haven't seen it already, you should put it on your list. Haruhi Fujioka is a scholarship student at a super fancy rich kid school, so her biggest priority is keeping her grades up.
One day, she accidentally breaks an expensive vase belonging to the school's “Host Club” - a group of boys whose mission is to provide top-notch service for the girls at their school. Since Haruhi can't pay for the vase, she's drafted into the group to work off her debt. It turns out that because of her androgynous appearance, they thought she was a guy. She's not, but she's willing to pretend for the sake of the club. Some of the members - Tamaki in particular - can't help but see her in a romantic light.
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- 18704 VOTES
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- My Love Story!!
- Madhouse
Takeo Goda isn't what most people would call conventionally attractive, but that doesn't mean he can't find love! Underneath his intimidating appearance is a sweet, cuddly teddy bear of a guy who would do anything for his friends and family - and his adorable girlfriend Rinko Yamato. Though the two have to deal with some pushback from people who don't get their relationship, they couldn't be happier about it.
There are a few odd moments that aren't quite as wholesome as one would hope for in this series involving Takeo's relationship with his best friend Suna, but overall it's an adorable show.
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- 19360 VOTES
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- Tsuki ga Kirei
- feel.
If you're looking for an adorably realistic love story, look no further than Tsuki ga Kirei. The story centers around Kotaro Azumi and Akane Mizuno, two middle school students who start crushing on each other after a chance encounter.
Because neither one of them have ever had a relationship before, they have no idea how to communicate their feelings. If they don't want to languish in seemingly unrequited love, they'll have to find the courage to open up.
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- 20611 VOTES
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- Sasaki and Miyano
- Studio Deen
Miyano is a huge BL fan, but he never imagined that his fictional interests would crossover into real life. When he lends some of his manga to his senpai Sasaki, he's delighted to have somebody to share his fandom with. But while Sasaki likes the manga that Miyano is lending him, he also likes Miyano - a lot.
Faced with a real-world version of the stories he loves, Miyano has to decide whether he's ready for it.
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- 21271 VOTES
Adachi & Shimamura
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- Adachi & Shimamura
- Tezuka Productions
Sakura Adachi and Hougetsu Shimamura are close, platonic friends - or at least, that's what they are at first. As the two grow closer and closer to one another through their high school experiences, it becomes clear that Adachi sees the relationship in a romantic light.
This revelation has the chance to ruin their friendship, but it could also result in a fulfilling romantic relationship.
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