Stolen glances. Handwritten confessions. Whispered wishes for senpai to notice. Do you know what this means? Anime love is in the air! If you’re looking for a will-they-won’t-they between a painfully shy pair, or a roller-coaster romance between high-octane lovers, odds are there’s something here for you. After all, these aren’t your run-of-the-mill love stories, but the greatest tales of anime devotion ever told. Here they are, the ten best anime romance movies of all time. And best of all, you don’t have to wait three seasons until they kiss!
Your Name
Directed by Makoto Shinkai, Your Name is a sci-fi/romance box office smash, and was briefly the highest-grossing Japanese film of all time. With a track record like that, you know it’s good. It’s the story of Mitsuha and Taki, two Japanese teens who periodically switch bodies at the same time a strange comet passes close to the Earth. Attempting to make sense of their Freaky Friday circumstances, the pair communicate with each other by leaving messages—and fall head over heels in the process. As Taki and Mitsuha attempt to meet each other in their own skin, they realize that distance isn’t the only thing that they’ll have to cross; they’ll need to travel through time as well. It’s a profoundly moving tale of devotion that transcends time and space—two teens who refuse to let even the most apocalyptic of circumstances stand in the way of love.
Howl’s Moving Castle
Adapted from a book by Diana Wynne Jones, Howl’s Moving Castle is one of Hayao Miyazaki’s best films to date. The story follows young Sophie Hatter—well, not so young anymore. After running afoul of the wicked Witch of the Wastes, Sophie is cursed to inhabit the body of an old woman. To cure her affliction, she seeks the help of a certain sorcerer living in a perambulatory palace, offering her services as a housekeeper in exchange. What begins as a professional relationship soon becomes deeply personal, as Sophie and Howl struggle to connect over the course of a devastating war with a neighboring kingdom. A sweeping anti-war opus that doubles as a heart-thumping fantasy romance, Howl’s Moving Castle will have you pining for a kind of love you never knew you wanted: a tryst with a hot and magical bird-man voiced by Christian Bale.
The Stranger By The Shore
While most anime romance stories revolve around a boy and a girl, The Stranger By The Shore is a refreshing break from the mould. Directed by Akiyo Ohashi, the film follows aspiring novelist Shun Hashimoto, who one day meets Mio Chibana while wandering the shores of Okinawa. The pair’s attraction to one another is palpable as salt water on the tongue, but is hindered by Mio’s traumatic experience of coming out to his parents. An unflinching portrayal of heteronormative Japanese society and the difficulties that it causes queer people, The Stranger By The Shore is a story of two young men struggling to choose one another despite what the world might think—but choose each other they do.
I Want To Eat Your Pancreas
Directed by Shinichiro Ushijima, I Want To Eat Your Pancreas is the anime equivalent of The Fault In Our Stars—equally tender and devastating. It’s the story of an unnamed high school boy who discovers that his classmate Sakura Yamauchi is secretly suffering from a terminal pancreatic illness. Drawn to his calm demeanour, Sakura begins to confide in the boy, and the pair begin a bucket-list romance that leads them on a trip across Japan. It’s a movie about the inevitable grief that comes with love, the ever-present threat of loss that shadows every romance. As the title suggests, it’s also a film about wanting to perform impossible acts of devotion to save another person. I can’t think of anything more woefully romantic and viscerally tragic than the desire to literally consume a person’s sick organs to save their life. I don’t know how human pancreas tastes, but if I had to guess, it’s probably like the ending of this movie: bittersweet.
The Wind Rises
One of Hayao Miyazaki’s most personal films to date, The Wind Rises is a historical romance about an aviation engineer who falls in love with a childhood sweetheart that he met during the Great Kantō earthquake of 1923. Reunited as adults, engineer Jiro Horikoshi and painter Nahoko Satomi’s relationship takes flight like one of Jiro’s creations, but an unexpected tragedy sends the pair crashing back to Earth. Inspired by Hayao Miyazaki’s passion for aviation, the film uses flight as a metaphor for the experience of love. Whether soaring in joy or plummeting in sorrow, Jiro and Nahoko are co-piloting the same plane, devoted to keeping each other aloft.
A Silent Voice
Directed by Naoko Yamada, A Silent Voice is a coming-of-age drama featuring the unlikeliest of couples: a young woman and her former bully. Born deaf, transfer student Shōko Nishimiya was relentlessly bullied by Shōya Ishida and his friends while in middle school—an act that forever damaged Shōya’s reputation and left him a social outcast. Seeking to atone before he ends his life, Shōya makes contact with Shōko years later and reconciles their relationship. What begins as a tentative friendship soon blossoms into a full-blown romance as Shōko and Shōya’s bond deepens—the latter ready to lay down his life to protect the former. A Silent Voice is one of the greatest redemption stories in all of anime, and a tender example of the healing power of love.
Millennium Actress
Directed by Satoshi Kon, Millennium Actress follows two documentarians who interview Chiyoko Fujiwara—a famous film actress who has spent the last 30 years out of the spotlight. At the home of the reclusive star, the trio takes a trip down memory lane, revisiting pivotal moments in Chiyoko’s life. Chiyoko became an actress not for riches or fame, but for love. After crossing paths with a government dissident on the run, a teenage Chiyoko fell head over heels and vowed to spend her life chasing the mysterious man. Offered a trip around the world on movie sets, Chiyoko spends her life in pursuit of love, though the journey becomes more and more hopeless as time passes. The film focuses on the most intoxicating stage of love: pursuit—following a woman who has dedicated her life to chasing passion. According to Chikyo, it was a life well spent.
Josee, the Tiger and the Fish
Directed by Kotaro Tamura, Josee, the Tiger and the Fish begins with the most dramatic meet-cute on this list: college student Tsuneo rescues the disabled artist Josee when she accidentally pushes her wheelchair down a dangerous hill. While Josee returns Tsuneo’s kindness with tsundere sass, the pair eventually grow closer as Tsuneo spends time with Josee and her grandmother. While the pair dream of study abroad programs and creative pursuits, real-life tragedies prevent many of their hopes from coming to fruition. Despite the pain, Josee and Tsuneo learn to lean on one another, rebuilding their lives with each other’s help. It’s a touching film about partnership, the dedication it takes to support a person through the highs and lows. Love isn’t always sunshine and rainbows, but lasting love is built in the hard times.
5 Centimeters Per Second
In a list full of romantic tear-jerkers, 5 Centimeters Per Second packs the heaviest emotional punch. Told in three parts, the film follows childhood best friends Takaki Tōno and Akari Shinohara as they attempt to stay connected after Akari moves away. The pair write letters to one another throughout high school, a ritual that deepens and challenges their romantic bond. They’re meant to be with one another, perfect for each other, but the circumstances of life keep getting in the way. The film is a slow-burning tragic romance, an example of how love is not always enough to build a lasting relationship in the real world. And the title? It references the speed at which cherry blossom petals fall: the velocity of romantic decay. Devastating.
Adolescence of Utena
Directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara, Adolescence of Utena is a cinematic retelling of one of the most influential shoujo stories of all time. Created as a retelling of the Revolutionary Girl Utena series, the film follows a high schooler named Utena Tenjou who is drawn into a sword-dueling secret society to win the hand of her classmate Anthy Himemiya. The pinnacle of sapphic anime romance, Adolescence of Utena‘s plot unfolds with Kingdom Hearts franchise levels of complexity. To sum it up: the genderqueer Utena is dueling men for the right to claim Anthy, using a magical sword that she pulled out of Anthy’s soul. Far from your standard magical girl anime, the series is rife with symbolism and metaphor, a dreamlike fantasia of devotion between two women. Confusing, terrifying, euphoric, Adolescence of Utena feels akin to the experience of first love.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
