Summary
- Supernatural romances allow for high stakes and limitless imagination, creating unique love stories with celestial beings and monstrous creatures.
- The best supernatural romance anime explore the depths of love and the sacrifices made by the characters, showing that there is someone or something for everyone.
- These anime showcase different types of supernatural romance, from ancient curses and divine intervention to deep connections formed in the spirit world.
The best supernatural romance anime explore every facet of what it might be like to fall in love with a magical or even monstrous creature. From vampires and werewolves to celestial beings like gods, romance anime often proves that there is literally someone, or something, for everyone.
Ideally, one lover's supernatural nature, or the circumstances of the pair's meeting and falling in love shouldn't just be set dressing. Supernatural romances, by nature, allow a story to have particularly high stakes and reach heights that fans don't get from more grounded slice-of-life love stories. The only limits are the creators' imagination.
10 Princess Mononoke
Created by Studio Ghibli and written by Hayao Miyazaki
Like many of the best Studio Ghibli couples, San and Ashitaka meet through supernatural circumstances. In searching for the source of his fatal curse, Ashitaka discovers a brewing war between humans and spirits, and comes into with San, the vengeful daughter of the wolf spirits. Fighting for their own ideals, the two soon come to rely on and love one another.
As Ashitaka struggles with the curse stealing his life, San viciously rejects her own humanity at every opportune moment, to varying success as the movie goes on. Ashitaka was enamored by San the moment he laid eyes on her. San takes much longer to let down her guard around a human, but after watching Ashitaka risk his life over and over, she feels safe enough to it affection for him.
9 Wolf Children Ame & Yuki
Written by Mamoru Hosoda and Satoko Okudera
Wolf Children is one of the best anime films about parenting, but the first quarter of the film is devoted to the titular siblings' parents, and their budding romance. In college, Hana falls in love with her mysterious classmate, who chooses her as the only person he shares his deepest secret with – he is the last living werewolf.
When her beloved dies suddenly, Hana is forced to raise their two young children on her own. She makes bold choices and discovers a deep inner strength within herself in order to do so, but the absence of her lover is an omnipresent void. By the time her children are strong enough to leave her, Hana is still alone, but far from lonely.
8 Your Name
Created by Makoto Shinkai
City boy Taki Tachibana has always wished for a simple country life, while country girl Mitsuha Miyamizu yearns to escape to the big city. When a once-in-a-lifetime comet es over Japan, they get their wishes when they wake up in each other's bodies. Even though they're shocked and alarmed by the sudden swap, Taki and Mitsuha both quickly get to know and like each other. The closer they grow, and the nearer they try to get to one another, the clearer it becomes that there’s a deeper reason they met. Their love may be the only thing that can save hundreds of lives from a looming disaster.
7 Angel Beats!
Created by P.A. Works
One of the greatest mysteries of the supernatural is what happens after death. When he es away, Yuzuru Otonashi finds himself in an otherworldly high school among a group of students rebelling against its system. They claim that a mysterious white-haired girl, Angel, is their enemy, but the more Otonashi tries to get to know her, the more he realizes that none of them have any idea what this place really is.
Angel Beats! does its best to be one of those anime series guaranteed to make fans cry. Otonashi and Angel's confession of love is delivered at the perfect time in the story. Though they helped make each other's dreams come true, in life and death, the question hangs in the air of whether their souls will ever find one another again.
6 Bakemonogatari
Created by Studio Shaft, based on the light novel series written by Nisio Isin
When he was younger, Koyomi Araragi survived a vicious vampire attack, and was forever changed as a result. His enhanced senses help him realize that something is up with his classmate, Hitagi Senjougahara. After he frees her of a crab deity's curse, the two gradually become closer, with Hitagi winning out over Koyomi's other love interests, and Koyomi becoming the only one to earn Hitagi's trust.
As one of the best vampires in anime, Koyomi's nature doesn't just introduce him to his future girlfriend. He runs into a whole host of supernatural creatures, from gods and spirits to monsters and ghosts. His big heart moves him to try and help all of them with their problems, no matter their complexity.
5 Future Diary
Created by Asread, based on the manga by Sakae Esuno
God is dying, and needs a successor. To this end, he devises a game, selects twelve human players, and informs them that the last survivor inherits his position. Weak and unassuming Yukiteru Amane is terrified, believing he has no chance, but not to worry: Yuki's greatest weapon is another player, Yuno Gasai, who is madly in love with him.
Whatever Yuki and Yuno have going on isn't exactly a romance to aspire to, but it's a love story nonetheless. Yuno is viciously possessive of Yuki and raring to kill anyone who could take him away, and Yuki, in spite of himself, becomes protective of Yuno in turn. The two go from total non-contenders to one of the best battle couples in anime.
4 Into The Forest Of Fireflies' Light
Created by Brain Base, based on the manga by Yuki Midorikawa
Midorikawa is also the author of another well-known supernatural manga: Natsume Yuujinchou.
From childhood to adolescence, Hotaru spent her summers in the mountains with a very unusual friend. The mask Gin wears and his family of spirits aren't even close to the strangest thing about him. The two can never touch each other, because if Gin ever comes into with a human, he will disappear forever.
There are many anime based on Japanese mythology and folklore, and Into the Forest of Fireflies' Light is an excellent example. Gin is an abandoned human turned youkai, and as they grow up together, he and Hotaru become each other's most important people. Even after their visits end, it’s clear that the love Hotaru felt for Gin made her time with him the most special of her life.
3 Noragami
Based on the manga by Adachitoka
When she risks her own life to push what she thinks is a normal boy out of the way of a speeding bus, Hiyori Iki survives, but is forever changed. The boy she saved was actually the centuries-old god Yato, and her brush with death has given her the ability to leave her body and interact with the spirit world. Now, the pair's lives are intertwined.
While romance isn't the core focus of Noragami, much of the story runs on the love growing between Yato and Hiyori. The supernatural world spurns Yato for his many failings as a minor god, but Hiyori never loses faith in him. Yato eventually feels safe enough with her and his weapon partner Yukine to extend them his trust and open up about his tragic background.
2 Howl’s Moving Castle
Created by Studio Ghibli, based on the Moving Castle novels by Diane Wynne Jones
The other girls in town have told Sophie stories of the mysterious wizard Howl, who seduces beautiful young women and eats their hearts. Shy and insecure, Sophie is sure she's safe from him, but ends up running into a spiteful witch instead. In an even bigger twist, the infamous wizard steps in to break her new found curse.
Howl's Moving Castle is a fan-favorite Studio Ghibli movie for many reasons. Chief among them is the thrilling and heartfelt romance between Sophie and Howl. The two complement each other perfectly, from Sophie's steadfast will and refusal to be pushed around by Howl's dramatics, to Howl's bluntness coming in handy when he's telling Sophie exactly how highly he really thinks of her.
1 Fruits Basket
Originally created by Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket has had two anime adaptations, one in 2001 and a reboot in 2019.
At first glance, Fruits Basket is a quirky fantasy about a family cursed to turn into animals of the Chinese Zodiac whenever they hug a member of the opposite gender. Scratch the surface even a little, and the darkness underneath becomes clear. The Zodiac curse is representative of the abuse and trauma ed down from one generation of Sohmas to the next, and it's up to Tohru and the youngest Sohmas to break it for good.
Though Tohru's budding romance with Kyo, the ostracized Cat of the Zodiac, is the heart of the show, Fruits Basket features several romantic relationships. Between Yuki and Machi, Hatori and Mayuko, and Hatsuharu and Rin, each relationship helps both lovers involved heal from the wounds of their past and become stronger as they take on the future together.
