Summary
- Romance and adventure blend well, elevating anime stories to epic levels.
- Anime like Fushigi Yuugi, The Vision of Escaflowne, and Yona of the Dawn masterfully combine romance, adventure, and fantasy.
- Shows like Kobato, Cardcaptor Sakura, and Spice and Wolf focus on sweet romances paired with heartwarming adventures.
Romance and adventure mix well together. On the one hand, romance is its own sort of adventure, but with a little danger and peril, it can truly elevate a story from middling to epic. There is a plethora of anime that combine these two genres to impressive effect.
In these stories, there is a goal to strive for and a journey to be had, which are the elements necessary for an adventure. Paired with the warm fuzziness of a romance, it’s a perfect blend. Here is a list of shows that elicit these two feelings in people and what makes them so unique.
5 Best Isekai Anime That Blend History & Fantasy
With a mix of history and fantasy, these isekai anime bridge the gap between fiction and reality.
10 Fushigi Yuugi
About Relationships, Romantic and Otherwise
Fushigi Yûgi - The Mysterious Play
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- 1995 - 2002-00-00
- Seasons
- 1
Fushigi Yuugi somehow manages to blend fantasy, adventure, isekai, and romance into one cohesive story, and it does this well for the most part. Miaka and her friend Yui are sucked into another world while reading a mysterious book and are tasked with saving the world….or at least Miaka is.
The romantic relationships here are decent, but it isn’t the be-all and end-all of the show, as the great friendship between Miaka and Yui is also a major focus. The two must fight through some terrible misunderstandings to save their friendship.
9 The Vision Of Escaflowne
Hitomi And Van’s Adventure Can Be Enjoyed By All
The Vision of Escaflowne
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- 1996 - 1996
- Seasons
- 1
- Studio
- Sunrise
- Japanese Title
- Tenkuu no Escaflowne
- Based On
- Manga
- Number of Episodes
- 26
The Vision Of Escaflowne is one of those shows that deserves to be called a classic. Released in 1996, it perfectly blended several genres, including adventure, romance, fantasy, and action. It was also well-suited for everyone, neither being too vanilla nor too angsty.
Best Anime From The 90s
The 1990s were a great time for anime, and several series from the era remain popular today. Here are the best anime from that decade.
The story of Hitomi helping Van fight against the Zaibach kingdom is exciting to see unfold. The romance between Hitomi and Van, while not as developed as people might have hoped, is still pretty sweet.
8 Kobato.
Kobato Is One Of The Sweetest Anime Characters
Kobato.
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- 2009 - 2010-00-00
- Network
- NHK BS1
- Directors
- Masahiro Hosoda
- Seasons
- 1
- Studio
- Madhouse
- Based On
- Manga
- Creator
- Clamp
- Number of Episodes
- 24
The romance of Kobato isn’t immediately obvious, but it is certainly there as she struggles with feelings for Kiyokazu. The anime centers around Kobato trying to fill up a jar by helping people heal their hearts, which entails doing good in general.
Kobato is also from the famous CLAMP collective, and therefore, there are a couple of cameos, including one from Watanuki Kimihiro from xxxHolic. That said, the star of the show is clearly Kobato, whose sweetness carries the show and makes people want to root for her in love and in completing her mission.
7 Yona Of The Dawn
Yona’s Growth As A Character Is Satisfying To Watch
Yona of the Dawn
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- October 7, 2014
- Directors
- Kazuhiro Yoneda
- Writers
- Shinichi Inotsume
- Seasons
- 1
- Studio
- Pierrot
- Japanese Title
- Akatsuki no Yona
- Based On
- Manga
- Creator
- Mizuho Kusanagi
- Number of Episodes
- 24
Yona Of The Dawn’s tale of a naive girl growing in character after hardships and tragedy is hardly new, but the show does a good job of pitching it to its viewers. Yona has led a sheltered life and is in love with her childhood friend, Soo-Won. But when said love interest kills her father and almost has her killed, she needs to flee.
Her only ally initially is the handsome Hak, who also acts as a bodyguard — and a very capable one at that. Yona has to gather the four dragons in the hope of wresting control from Soo-Won. Her developing relationship with Hak is sweet, and with some pretty great action added in, Yona Of The Dawn is an amazing watch.
6 Eureka Seven
Renton And Eureka Are Positively Adorable
Eureka Seven
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- 2005 - 2006-00-00
- Directors
- Tomoki Kyoda
- Writers
- Dai Sato
- Seasons
- 2
- Studio
- Bones
- Japanese Title
- Koukyoushihen Eureka Seven
- Number of Episodes
- 74
Renton Thurston is torn between carrying on the legacy of his famous parents or sticking to life as a mechanic, which his grandfather envisions for him. But things change when he meets Eureka, the pilot of a powerful mech which she asks for his help to fix.
Best Planetary Romance Anime, Ranked
Space is filled with opportunities to tell all kinds of exciting stories, including epic adventures to unknown alien worlds.
Renton eventually joins Gekkostate, the mercenary group that Eureka is a part of, as they take on a powerful enemy. The chemistry between Eureka and Renton is amazing, and they do seem to understand each other. Things get pretty sad towards the end, but this was an excellent offering from the mid-2000s.
5 Magic Knight Rayearth
A Seemingly Random Meeting Leads To A Long Friendship
Magic Knight Rayearth
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- 1994 - 1995
- Seasons
- 2
- Studio
- Tokyo Movie Shinsha
- Based On
- Manga
- Creator
- Clamp
- Number of Episodes
- 49
Magic Knight Rayearth sees three girls — Hikaru Shidou, Umi Ryuuzaki, and Fuu Hououji — whisked to the magical world of Cephiro, where they find that the fate of the new world rests on them. Tasked with saving the princess, Emeraude, the girls begin their adventure together, becoming close friends in the process while handling some pretty tough challenges.
As this is a a shojo anime, it was always going to have romantic themes and so it does, especially in the second season, where the girls are all in some form of romantic entanglement or the other. That said, the show also contains darker themes, and the girls go through quite a lot. This was a common theme with isekai anime of the 90s, and Magic Knight Rayearth is one of the best of its time.
4 Inuyasha
Inuyasha And Kagome Grow From Enemies Into So Much More
Inuyasha
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- 2000 - 2004-00-00
WHERE TO WATCH
- Seasons
- 2
- Based On
- Manga
- Creator
- Rumiko Takahashi
- Number of Episodes
- 193
Inuyasha is one of those ‘classic’ shows that people keep harping on as an essential anime to watch in one's lifetime — a bucket list anime, so to speak. Inuyasha is in that weird state where it's sort of an isekai, but also isn’t, in the strictest definition of the term.
10 Best Isekai Anime & Manga With Time Travel
Isekai and time travel seem like a perfect match, but it's a strangely underused set-up, something these great anime and manga are helping to change.
All of that is to say that it is an excellent adventure show in which Inuyasha and Kagome must seek the fragments of a jewel that has scattered all around. They do this starting out as enemies, because Kagome looks strikingly like the person that sealed Inuyasha away ages ago. But, as the two get to know each other better, the ice starts to melt, and it is wholesome to see.
3 Spice And Wolf
Lawrence And Holo Are Great In Every Iteration Of The Show
Spice and Wolf
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- 2008 - 2009
- Seasons
- 2
- Studio
- Imagin, Brain's Base, Marvy Jack
- Japanese Title
- Ookami to Koushinryou
- Based On
- Light Novel
- Creator
- Isuna Hasekura
- Number of Episodes
- 24
Spice And Wolf can be considered an underrated show, but perhaps a little less so with the reboot it got in 2024. The show follows Lawrence, a merchant, who is traveling with the god of harvest for a town, Holo.
The show focuses on the burgeoning relationship between Lawrence and Holo. It might lose some viewers thanks to all the talk of economics and trading. But this is one of the strong points of the show, and what makes it stand out in a sea of bog-standard romance shows.
2 Katanagatari
Smart Dialogue And Romance Pair Well
For a show about two individuals going through Edo-era Japan collecting 12 unique swords for the shogunate, Katanagatari delves a lot more in its dialogue than into fighting. On the bright side, that dialogue is riveting and the style of animation is deceptively cheery.
When the fighting does come, it is brilliant. When one sprinkles some romance between two polar opposite characters in Shichika and Togame, the result is an anime that is not for everyone, but is an excellent show for those who like stories such as these.
1 Howl's Moving Castle
Sophie Might Be Anime’s Most Pleasant Old Lady
Howl's Moving Castle
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- September 9, 2004
WHERE TO WATCH
- Studio
- Studio Ghibli
- Budget
- 2.4 billion JPY
Sophie is a young girl who works in her parents' shop. She is turned into an old lady by a very jealous witch who thinks she has designs on her man, a mysterious wizard known as Howl, who also happens to have a literal moving castle.
Sophie wants to be a normal girl again, and this drives a lot of her actions. She’s a pleasant character and a budding romance with Howl, who isn’t as conceited as he might first appear, is a charming concoction. Add to that the hilarious Calcifer, and anyone can see why this Studio Ghibli movie is so well-regarded.
The 8 Most Beautiful Studio Ghibli Movies
From the animation studio that's primarily known for the aesthetic beauty of all its films, which ones stand out above the rest?