Shonen anime is best known to just about everyone for its larger-than-life fights and characters who embody good and evil, but there is a lot more to the demographic than strictly action. Shonen anime also have some of the most heartwarming and relatable romances in anime.
Some of the most energetic and epic shonen anime also make time for genuine emotions. Other shows are romantic stories that are gift-wrapped in shonen anime trappings. As a result, these anime have more substance than audiences assume at first blush, and give their characters a chance to develop meaning romantic relationships - sometimes amidst the action.
Updated on February 13th, 2023 by Alexandra Locke: Although shonen anime are typically filled with action, some of the best romances can also be found in the genre. While these love stories are not as flowery as the ones in shojo anime, they are nonetheless endearing and romantic. As such, this article has been updated to remind audiences of some of the best shonen anime that focus on romance.
Spoilers ahead!
15 Sword Art Online
25 Episodes
Sword Art Online starts as a survival story set in a video game, where Kirito and countless other players are trapped in the eponymous game. Despite that, the anime gives more focus to Kirito and Asuna’s relationship, so much so that the anime is more of a romantic isekai than anything else. Unfortunately, their love was more detrimental than emotionally satisfying.
More often than not, the relationship got in the way of more interesting things and emotional stakes. Examples include: ALfheim Online’s Fairy King Oberon kidnapping Asuna for a predictable save-the-princess finale, and Kirito and Asuna stopping Season 1 to start a family with Yui. Kirito and Asuna’s romance is still Sword Art Online’s core, but not always for the better.
14 Darling In The Franxx
24 Episodes
Darling In The Franxx is primarily a post-apocalyptic mecha anime, but love is what really drives its story. In a very literal sense, love is the center of Darling In The Franxx’s universe. This is not just because of the affection and romantic tension felt among the teenaged pilots of Squad 13, but the romance of Hiro and Zero Two – which is too pure for a sinful, war-torn Earth.
Their love is so pure that it can only blossom in the endlessness of space, where they become one being to end the VIRM’s threat for good. Even death cannot stop them, as Hiro and Zero Two are reincarnated 1,000 years later to restart their romance free of war. Darling In The Franxx is more about how the power of love can change lives, the universe, and everything.
13 Gundam SEED
50 Episodes
Romance has always been a part of Mobile Suit Gundam, but it is never the priority. This changed in Gundam SEED, which is more of a story about how love can survive on a battlefield than a commentary about the horrors of mechanized warfare. The main pairings are Kira/Lacus and Athrun/Cagalli, though it is the former that has the most prominence and notoriety.
Kira and Lacus’ love was shown as a thing of such beauty that it either endeared viewers or annoyed them. The sequel Gundam SEED Destiny doubled down on this, where they are already a couple. Free of courtship’s challenges, Kira and Lacus only existed in the anime to end the very concept of war by loving each other so much.
12 Shikimori's Not Just A Cutie
12 Episodes
Shikimori’s Not Just A Cutie is an endearing tale of a boyfriend and girlfriend who find their stereotypical roles reversed. In this anime, the boy, Yu Izumi, is extremely clumsy and accident-prone, while the girl, Shikimori, becomes his cool protector. Though Izumi is easily embarrassed about always getting hurt, the couple bonds while navigating increasingly precarious situations.
Unlike a lot of anime romances, this show is unique since it focuses on an already-established couple. This allows for the story to focus on problems during the relationship, rather than before. Shikimori’s Not Just A Cutie is a refreshing take on an easily repetitive formula.
11 Nisekoi
36 Episodes
Raku Ichijo and Chitoge Kirisaki are forced together when their families’ rival clans threaten war. The teens then pretend to be in a relationship to quell the tension, despite Raku having feelings for someone else.
However, the more time Raku and Chitoge spend together, the more they realize their similarities. Suddenly, their false relationship develops into actual feelings, leaving Raku to question who he truly wants to be with. Nisekoi is a hilarious and lovable anime about young love and the unexpected situations that can begin the most endearing relationships.
10 Beastars
12 Episodes
Thanks to its violence and focus on multiple burgeoning romances, Beastars is often mistaken for a seinen love story. In reality, Beastars is a shonen story that became its magazine’s flagship title. In a world of anthropomorphic animals, the awkward wolf Legoshi fights his carnivorous side so that he can pursue the love of his life: the dwarf rabbit Haru.
That said, Legoshi and Haru’s relationship constantly takes a backseat to the bigger picture. In Season 2, Legoshi’s angst is driven by the fact that he cannot make time for Haru due to his commitments to the Black Market, among other things. Even so, their growing love and its interspecies implications remain the emotional core of Beastars.
9 Future Diary
26 Episodes
As the progenitor of the modern death game anime, Future Diary is the last place one would expect to find humanity and compassion. And yet, these are what form its emotional core. For reasons explained late in the anime, Yuno has a demented romantic obsession with the unassuming Yuki, and she kills whoever gets in the way of their love.
As the fight for godhood escalates, Yuki and Yuno’s love only strengthens – even if it started with a murder. More time is dedicated to their growing love than the game’s progress, which is more of a roadblock to Yuno’s romantic aspirations. So great is their love that it transcends parallel worlds, as Yuki and Yuno finally make things official in a new reality of their making.
8 Ranma ½
161 Episodes
Ranma ½ is the unquestionable progenitor of the modern romantic comedy anime, especially those of the harem variety. When Ranma is not kicking someone’s face or training, he is engaging in gender-bending shenanigans thanks to a magic hot spring’s spell. Additionally, he tries to avoid yet another romantic confession from another rival who fell for his female form.
This anime overtook the manga, forcing the animators to create filler arcs that were almost always rom-com events. This eventually overshadowed Ranma’s quest to become a top martial artist, while also redefining the anime. It is not surprising that fans remember Ranma ½ more for the Ranma and Akane’s will-they-won’t-they hijinks than the kung-fu.
7 InuYasha
167 Episodes
On paper, InuYasha is a sprawling adventure set in a magical version of Feudal Japan. That said, the never-ending rivalry between InuYasha and Naraku does little to cover up the anime’s romantic leanings. The anime’s true crux rests on the adventurer party’s main ships, namely InuYasha/Kagome and Miroku/Sango.
Each couple’s relationship status got more fan investment than the search for the jewel shards and whatever Sesshomaru was really up to. Truth be told, Kagome and InuYasha finally kissing in the (possibly) non-canon second movie – The Castle Beyond The Looking Glass – got a stronger reaction than InuYasha and his friends finally beating the immovable Band of Seven.
6 Your Lie In April
24 Episodes
Your Lie In April features young love through the power of music. Kousei Arima gives up on playing piano after his mother’s death but learns to love music again after he meets the inimitable Kaori Miyazono. Kaori shares that it has always been her dream to play with Kousei onstage, and the two plan to play at a future event.
As they practice, the couple begins to share feelings for each other, but they are hindered by Kaori’s health condition. Her anemia is so severe that she has elective surgery before their concert, but it does not go as planned. Your Lie in April is a tragic anime full of music, grief, and acceptance.
5 Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-Kun
12 Episodes
Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun is a parodic celebration of romantic comedies, which makes determining its demographic more challenging than expected. Despite it becoming one of the most definitive anime romances of recent memory, Chiyo’s pursuit of the unbelievably dense mangaka Nozaki is officially classified as a shonen title.
While it spoofs shojo manga and how it is made, Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun is practically a misplaced shojo title. It still takes the focal relationships seriously, even if the cast lampoons the genre’s character clichés and stereotypes. This mild confusion is not a detriment at all, as it only shows how much both sexes love Chiyo and Nozaki’s silly hijinks.
4 A Silent Voice
129 Minutes
Despite its seinen-level themes that include conquering years of self-loathing and suicidal tendencies, A Silent Voice is a shonen drama about high school life’s difficulties meant for a teenage audience. At the center of it all is the growing romance between reformed bully Shoya and Shoko, the hearing-impaired girl he used to torment.
Throughout the movie, Shoya struggles to forgive himself. Befriending Shoko, gaining her trust, and eventually, forgiveness and affection are his way of reconciling with his horrible past, but it is not an easy road to take. Unlike the previous examples here, A Silent Voice’s take on love is more cathartic and mature than just young love or a happy crush.
3 Horimiya
13 Episodes
When Izumi Miyamura and Kyouko Hori discover each other’s secret interests and responsibilities, the two form an unlikely friendship that begins to lead to something more. As they share more about themselves, Hori and Miyamura discover that they want to spend the rest of their lives together.
Like Shikimori’s Not Just A Cutie, Horimiya focuses on the problems and insecurities that arise once two people begin dating. Although Hori and Miyamura are very much in love, they still face many obstacles in their relationship. Their romance is a relatable tale that any fan can enjoy.
2 Gamers!
12 Episodes
Gamers! follows Keita Amano and Karen Tendou as they navigate seemingly insurmountable obstacles to be together. Amano is oblivious at first but quickly falls for Karen once he learns of her true feelings. They then traverse the terrifying and exciting world of dating, all while their friends scheme in the background.
Gamers! is a uniquely hilarious anime full of awkward situations and endless misunderstandings. Audiences will roll on the floor in laughter as Karen and Amano work through their feelings and learn how to be in a relationship.
1 The Flowers Of Evil
13 Episodes
The Flowers Of Evil is a (very dark) shonen title that technically counts as a romance – albeit of the subversive kind. Where almost every shonen love story is wholesome regardless of the characters’ backstories, the love triangle of Takao, Sawa, and Nanako is one defined by lies, perversion, and ulterior motives.
The Flowers Of Evil is a school-based romance taken to its darkest recesses. Beneath the anime’s nihilistic screeds about society’s indifference to the youth and overbearing darkness is a strange emotional sincerity, where Takao and Sawa connect by relishing in taboos. It may be a twisted romance, but it is a romance nonetheless.