Romance anime
On November 22, 2010, Japan was hit by missile strikes, a terrorist act that fortunately did not harm anyone, becoming known as "Careless Monday." Quickly forgotten, society goes on about their lives as normal. During her graduation trip to America three months later, friendly college student Saki Morimi's life is forever changed when she finds herself saved from unexpected trouble by Akira Takizawa. Takizawa is cheerful, but odd in many ways—he is stark naked and suffers from amnesia, believing himself to be a terrorist. In addition, he possesses a strange cell phone loaded with 8.2 billion yen in digital cash. Despite Takizawa's suspicious traits, Saki quickly befriends the enigmatic young man. However, unbeknownst to her, this is the beginning of a thrilling death game involving money, cell phones, and the salvation of the world. Higashi no Eden chronicles Saki's struggle to unravel the mysteries behind her savior, while Takizawa himself battles other individuals armed with similar cell phones and returning memories which reveal his possible connection to the event from months ago. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
A world where it has been established that people routinely swing between slightly different parallel worlds... Koyomi Takasaki, who lives with his mother following his parents' divorce, enrolls in a local university prep school. Due to the atmosphere concentrated on studies and his social awkwardness, Koyomi is unable to make friends. One day, he is suddenly approached by his classmate Kazune Takigawa, who tells him that she has travelled from the 85th world where she and Koyomi are lovers. (Source: MAL News)
What happens when two people love each other but just aren't meant to be together? Takaki Toono and Akari Shinohara are childhood friends, but circumstances beyond their control tear them apart. They promise to stay in contact, and although the progression of time widens the distance between them, the chain of memories remains ever-present. Byousoku 5 Centimeter is a romantic drama that focuses on the mundane and harsh reality of long-distance relationships. Stuck in the past and unable to make any new memories, Takaki and Akari cling to the hope of seeing each other again. They live their everyday lives half-heartedly, both hurting themselves and the people around them. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
If not for his ability to take over people's mind and body, Yuu Otosaka would be an ordinary high school student. Though it only lasts for five seconds at a time, Yuu's mysterious power allowed him to cheat his way to the top of his class and enter a prestigious high school, where he continues his dishonest acts. His shenanigans are eventually stopped by Nao Tomori—the headstrong student council president from Hoshinoumi Academy—who sees through his deceit. Through coercion, Nao convinces Yuu to transfer to Hoshinoumi and join the student council. Hoshinoumi Academy is secretly an institution created for adolescents who possess supernatural abilities—with the student council serving as a means of locating those who abuse their powers. With Yuu begrudgingly assisting in council affairs, the group sets out to find and protect new ability users from harm. However, as they further investigate the abilities, their findings entangle them in far more complicated matters than they could ever imagine. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
Everybody has had that stage in their life where they have thought themselves to be special, different from the masses of ordinary humans. They might go as far as seeing themselves capable of wielding mystical powers, or maybe even believe themselves to have descended from a fantasy realm. This "disease" is known as "chuunibyou" and is often the source of some of the most embarrassing moments of a person's life. For Yuuta Togashi, the scars that his chuunibyou has left behind are still fresh. Having posed as the "Dark Flame Master" during his middle school years, he looks back at those times with extreme embarrassment, so much so that he decides to attend a high school far away where nobody will recognize him. Putting his dark history behind him, he longs to live a normal high school life. Unfortunately, he hasn't escaped his past yet: enter Rikka Takanashi, Yuuta's new classmate and self-declared vessel of the "Wicked Eye." As this eccentric young girl crashes into Yuuta's life, his dream of an ordinary, chuunibyou-free life quickly crumbles away. In this hilarious and heartwarming story of a boy who just wants to leave his embarrassing memories behind, the delusions of old are far from a thing of the past. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
Atop a hill overlooking a seaside port sits a boarding house named Coquelicot Manor. Since the building is run by her family, Umi Matsuzaki carries out many of the duties involved in managing the small establishment, such as preparing meals for her fellow boarders. When she isn't at home, she is a student at the local high school—one that is currently dealing with a small crisis. In anticipation of the upcoming Olympic Games, a beloved old clubhouse is set to be demolished to make way for a modern building. As a result, a large part of the student body has banded together, working tirelessly to prevent this from happening. Umi finds herself helping the newspaper club to spread information about this cause where she befriends Shun Kazama, whom she gradually begins to fall in love with. But Shun is an orphan who doesn't know much about his origins, and when the two begin searching for clues to the boy's past, they discover that they may have a lot more in common than either of them could have thought. [Writtten by MAL Rewrite]
Dreams are doomed to die in Night City, a futuristic Californian metropolis. As a teenager living in the city's slums, David Martinez is trying to fulfill his mother's lifelong wish for him to reach the top of Arasaka, the world's leading security corporation. To this end, he attends the prestigious Arasaka Academy while his mother works tirelessly to keep their family afloat. When an incident with a street gang leaves David's life in tatters, he stumbles upon Sandevistan cyberware—a prosthetic that grants its wearer superhuman speed. Fueled by rage, David implants the device in his back, using it to exact revenge on one of his tormentors. This gets him expelled from the academy, shattering his hopes of ever making his mother proud. After witnessing David's newfound abilities, the beautiful data thief Lucyna "Lucy" Kushinada offers to team up with him, handing him a ticket to salvation. However, associating with Lucy introduces David to the world of Edgerunners—cyborg criminals who will break any law for money. Edgerunners often lose their lives, if the cyberware does not break their minds first; but in his fight for survival inside a corrupt system, David is ready to risk it all. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
In the distant future, humanity has been driven to near-extinction by giant beasts known as Klaxosaurs, forcing the surviving humans to take refuge in massive fortress cities called Plantations. Children raised here are trained to pilot giant mechas known as FranXX—the only weapons known to be effective against the Klaxosaurs—in boy-girl pairs. Bred for the sole purpose of piloting these machines, these children know nothing of the outside world and are only able to prove their existence by defending their race. Hiro, an aspiring FranXX pilot, has lost his motivation and self-confidence after failing an aptitude test. Skipping out on his class' graduation ceremony, Hiro retreats to a forest lake, where he encounters a mysterious girl with two horns growing out of her head. She introduces herself by her codename Zero Two, which is known to belong to an infamous FranXX pilot known as the "Partner Killer." Before Hiro can digest the encounter, the Plantation is rocked by a sudden Klaxosaur attack. Zero Two engages the creature in her FranXX, but it is heavily damaged in the skirmish and crashes near Hiro. Finding her partner dead, Zero Two invites Hiro to pilot the mecha with her, and the duo easily defeats the Klaxosaur in the ensuing fight. With a new partner by his side, Hiro has been given a chance at redemption for his past failures, but at what cost? [Written by MAL Rewrite]
Ten years have passed since Nagomu Irino left his home to pursue his dream that ultimately failed. He finally decides to return after hearing that his father—owner of the Kyoto sweets store Ryokushou—has been hospitalized. Worrying that no one would inherit the shop if his father passes away, Nagomu prepares himself to embrace his family's legacy and the art of making sweets. Unsurprisingly, Nagomu discovers that his father has already chosen a different successor—a 10-year-old girl named Itsuka Yukihira, who was abandoned at Ryokushou by her father for reasons unknown. While she has since become a part of the family and is now the shop's poster girl, Itsuka still longs to see her father and follows all possible clues that may lead her to him. Sympathizing with Itsuka's situation, Nagomu's mother asks Nagomu to act as Itsuka's father, hoping that Itsuka will open up to him and relieve her pain, even if just a little. Starting on bad terms, Itsuka and Nagomu gradually learn more about each other, realizing that they are more similar than they had thought. Connected by their mutual love for both Ryokushou and its confections, their relationship as child and father figure begins to make lives around them a little bit sweeter. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
Hiroki Fujisawa and Takuya Shirakawa harbor admiration for two things in their life: their classmate Sayuri Sawatari and the vast Ezo Tower that stands boundlessly across the Tsugaru Strait. Fascinated by the limitless structure beyond their reach, Hiroki and Takuya begin constructing an aeroplane from a fallen drone they discovered—naming it the Bella Ciela—to fulfill their dream of one day reaching the sky-scraping top of the tower. Later joined by the girl they love, Hiroki and Takuya promise Sayuri to fly with her to the seemingly otherworldly top together. However, Japan has suffered a North-South partitioning that has fueled conflict near the base of the tower, which marks the border between the America-controlled Southern islands and the Northern lands occupied by the Soviet Union. Further along, Sayuri suddenly disappears, and Hiroki and Takuya never see her again. Unbeknownst to them, she fell victim to a sleeping disorder that left her comatose for the past three years. Although Hiroki and Takuya later learn about Sayuri's condition, they also discover that the girl's unconscious state is oddly linked to the same tower the trio had promised to conquer together. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
In their teenage years, few things can hurt people more than the heartaches that come with unrequited love. Such is the case for Natsuo Fujii, who has found himself entranced by his school's ever-cheerful teacher Hina. Deflated by this unreachable desire, Natsuo humors his friends and attends a mixer. There he meets Rui, a girl whose lack of excitement rivals that of himself. After bonding over their mutual awkwardness, Rui takes Natsuo to her house and asks him to have sex with her, hoping that the experience will stop her friends from treating her like a clueless child. With his hopeless feelings towards Hina still on his mind, Natsuo hesitantly agrees. Equally unfulfilled by their "first times," the two decide to part ways as strangers. However, before he even has a chance to process this experience, Natsuo's father drops a major bombshell: he is getting remarried, and his new wife Tsukiko Tachibana is coming over now to meet Natsuo. As if that was not enough of a shock, her daughters—and, in turn, Natsuo's new sisters—are Hina and Rui Tachibana, the woman he's in love with and the girl with whom he shared his first night. Now, Natsuo must come to terms with the feelings he has for his step-siblings as his eyes open to a darker side of love. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
Yuuta Takemoto, a sophomore at an arts college, shares a cheap apartment with two seniors—the eccentric Shinobu Morita, who keeps failing to graduate due to his absenteeism, and the sensible Takumi Mayama, who acts as a proper senior to Takemoto, often looking out for him. Takemoto had not given much thought to his future until one fine spring day, when he meets the endearing Hagumi Hanamoto and falls in love at first sight. Incredibly gifted in the arts, Hagumi enrolls in Takemoto's university and soon befriends the popular pottery student Ayumi Yamada. Ayumi is already well acquainted with the three flatmates and secretly harbors deep feelings for one of them. Hachimitsu to Clover is a heartwarming tale of youth, love, soul-searching, and self-discovery, intricately woven through the complex relationships between five dear friends. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
During a summer vacation at her grandfather’s house, six-year-old Hotaru Takegawa gets lost in a forest rumored to be inhabited by spirits. While crying out in desperation, Hotaru is approached by Gin—a mysterious boy wearing a mask—who offers to help her. Overjoyed at the sight of another person, Hotaru runs to Gin with open arms only to be rudely fended off. However, she quickly learns the grave reason behind his behavior: a dreadful curse has been cast upon Gin. Should he ever be touched by a human being, he will disappear forever. Though Gin urges her to never return, Hotaru does the exact opposite, and before too long, the two become close friends despite his delicate situation. Nonetheless, as years pass and their mutual feelings grow stronger, Hotaru and Gin start struggling with the boundaries that destiny has set between them. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
High school freshman Houtarou Oreki has but one goal: to lead a gray life while conserving as much energy as he can. Unfortunately, his peaceful days come to an end when his older sister, Tomoe, forces him to save the memberless Classics Club from disbandment. Luckily, Oreki's predicament seems to be over when he heads to the clubroom and discovers that his fellow first-year, Eru Chitanda, has already become a member. However, despite his obligation being fulfilled, Oreki finds himself entangled by Chitanda's curious and bubbly personality, soon joining the club of his own volition. Hyouka follows the four members of the Classics Club—including Oreki's friends Satoshi Fukube and Mayaka Ibara—as they, driven by Chitanda's insatiable curiosity, solve the trivial yet intriguing mysteries that permeate their daily lives. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
Entranced by surfing and the sea, Hinako Mukaimizu is a spirited girl who attends college in a coastal city with no consideration for her future career. Her life takes an unexpected turn when a fireworks mishap sets the apartment building she lives in ablaze, where she is saved by a talented firefighter named Minato Hinageshi. Upon meeting, the two quickly become acquainted with one another—Hinako is instantly enamored by Minato's reliable personality and passion for saving others, while Minato is intrigued by surfing and is eager to learn how. As Hinako begins to teach Minato about surfing, the pair eventually fall in love and begin a gentle and devoted relationship. However, while surfing may seem fun and carefree, it can still be a dangerous and unpredictable activity. This is what Hinako learns when a surfing incident completely changes her life, leaving her forced to contemplate her undecided future. In search of her own calling, Hinako begins her journey of self-discovery, keeping Minato by her side as she gradually attempts to find her purpose and ride her own wave. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
Haruki Kitahara's light music club is on the verge of disbanding. At this rate, the third year's dream of performing at the school festival would never be realized. However, as his exhausted fingers drift through the chords of "White Album," the first song he would ever play, an angelic voice and mysterious piano begin harmonizing with his lonely guitar. It is a momentous performance that marks the beginning of everything for Haruki. White Album 2 orchestrates Haruki's final semester with complex romance and exhilarating music, as the curtains of the stage he so desired begin to open... [Written by MAL Rewrite]
