Shadow daddies, fated mates, and chosen ones—Oh my! Romantasy is the book genre that is enticing people back to reading again. Sure, it might be doing so with the occasional heaping dollop of smut, but what’s so wrong with that? People be horny, ya’ll. Always have been.
While we’ve been through fantasy romance anime recommendations before, romantasy offers a different vibe. Many have tried and died to explain the differences between fantasy romance and its literal portmanteau, and I shall not be one more. The differences are a bit apples and oranges, and the genres are pretty interchangeable to many, but romantasy has a distinct vibe—yearning, drama, and sometimes spice.
For the purpose of this list, I’m going to do something divisive and wholly inadvisable—try to sort fantasy romance anime from what I believe more closely relates to romantasy fiction.
And I’m going to prove it with a trope map, my bookish darlings.
Romantasy Romance Anime
The Ancient Magus’ Bride
- Shadow Daddy?
- Slow Burn
- Forced Proximity
- Beauty and the Beast
The Ancient Magus’s Bride follows the ongoing story of a girl who sold herself into slavery amidst being abandoned by her family who is then bought by an inhuman mage made of shadows with the intent to, eventually, make her his wife.
While the male love interest in The Ancient Magus’ Bride is indeed a literal Shadow monster with big ancient Daddy energy. He doesn’t quite project the cold exterior that is expected from such an esteemed label. In fact, he is a rather bookish, awkward man most of the time—but you still get that dark, destructive power and violent possessiveness later on.
The Ancient Magus’s Bride has a subtle romance, focusing instead on its whimsical, mythical fantasy world and the often dark and tragic stories that go on there while repairing the heroine’s nonexistent self-worth.
With You, Our Love Will Make It Through
- Non-Human MMC
- High Spice Levels
- Instant Attraction
- Unrequited Love
With You, Our Love Will Make It Through follows a girl meeting a beastman who has recently started school with her. As Beastfolk live in a walled off section and have only recently started integration, this is her first interaction with one. However, the two quickly find themselves drawn to each other in a primal way.
Usually all the lusty stories in anime are reserved for the menfolk and their boobery. However, With You, Our Love Will Make It Through brings romantasy spice to anime by making these two so… very… horny for each other. Of course, you will need to be able to vibe with a ripped, but non-human dog man male main character, which can be especially hard if you fall for the also ripped, but distinctly human end of the love triangle.
The World is Still Beautiful
- Force Marriage
- Political Intrigue
- Shadow Daddy
- Special Heroine
The World is Still Beautiful features a girl who is forced to go marry a conqueror king who covets her special power in order to preserve the peace and sovereignty of her nation. However, she find this brutal conqueror to be… quite young, and not nearly as terrifying as his reputation suggested.
The Ancient Magus’ Bride may have an actual shadow monster Shadow Daddy, but the MMC in The World is Still Beautiful more captures the arrogant, powerful, brutal because he needed to be, secretly wounded, actually soft on the inside side of things. Though, he’s also a boy and the heroine is only a slightly older teen girl, so it sort of limits things like spice and progressing romance. Still, The World is Still Beautiful presents unique world-building and some excellent political intrigue.
I’m Giving the Disgraced Noble Lady I Rescued a Crash Course in Naughtiness
- Cozy Romance
- Innocent x Innocent
- Revenge
Not nearly as lusty as it’s title makes it sounds, I’m Giving the Disgraced Noble Lady I Rescued a Crash Course in Naughtiness follows the cute and cozy building romance between a noble girl on the run for a crime she didn’t commit, and the hermit mage who finds her collapsed near his forest home. He takes her in, realizes she is too innocent for this world, and tries to teach her how to indulge in the joys of life—like late night snacking, buying things she doesn’t necessarily need, and relaxing.
So it’s pretty much the two cutest, most innocent weirdos you know flirting the entire time. There’s a slight plot to it, but the charm is in the cozy, somewhat low-stakes nature of the story and it’s passion for silliness.
Maria the Virgin Witch
- History-Inspired Fantasy
- Virgin
- Dark Romance
- Strong Heroine
Maria the Virgin Witch follows a witch in a fictionalized version of the One Hundred Years War. She is interfering in the war in order to try to stop the bloodshed, and the Archangel Michael tell her she is to stop and curses that if she loses her virginity, she will lose her powers.
So, of course, you know that virginity is in imminent danger, and unfortunately, it is in danger in a very sexual assault sort of way. It makes this almost whimsical story actually get quite dark as it goes on.
That said, the rape is for the plot, not for the romance—still not great, but better than the alternative, I guess.
Nina the Starry Bride
- Love Triangle
- Enemies to Lovers
- Royal Romance
- Grumpy/Sunshine
Move over Helen of Troy because there’s a new woman launching two nations into war in Nina the Starry Bride.
This series follows an orphaned girl who is plucked off the streets to be the replacement for a princess who died. The princess in question was meant to be a sort of sacrificial bride to a hostile nation to preserve the peace. Unfortunately, not only does she fall for the prince of her nation, but when she is eventually sent to the enemy nation, her betrothed develops affection for her as well.
Now, with the political climate contentious at best, two men vie for the love of one woman and have the armies to take her by force.
Earl and Fairy
- Lovable Rogue MMC
- Outcast Heroine
- Banter
As is tradition, the heroine in Earl and Fairy was just living out her best life being the town outcast. She is a fairy doctor, meaning she is a rare human who can see and communicate with spirits, and most people think she is a complete nutter.
After rescuing a roguish man, she ends up being hired by him to help him find a specific sword from among the fairies that will prove his nobility to the English court. However, not only is the fairy world dangerous and unpredictable, but there are forces that follow the girl’s new employer that wish to see them fail.
If you like your male love interest to lean more toward the flirty, charming rapscallion end of the spectrum, then this is the romantasy anime for you.
Yona of the Dawn
- Political Intrigue
- Princess X Bodyguard
- Slow Burn
- Fighting For Her Kingdom
Yona of the Dawn is a good old-fashioned “she lost her kingdom in a coup, now she wants it back” story.
After her father is killed, by her crush no less, Yona is forced to flee with her handsome bodyguard where she decides to gather the not-so-mythical Dragon Warriors of legend to help her take back her throne. Of course, as a naive girl out in the world for the first time, Yona has a lot to learn, but it is her sincerity and kindness that endears her to others.
While this is heavier on plot than it is on romance, you sure are awarded with a number of small nuggets between Yona and the (non-age-gap) man who has protected her since childhood.
The Gorilla God’s Go-To Girl
- Strong Heroine
- Golden Retriever MMC
- Forced into Military School
- Not Like Other Girls
The Gorilla God’s Go-To Girl takes place in a world where everyone gets a blessing from an animal god to gain their boon. For the heroine, she gains the blessing the of the strongest—the Gorilla God—which gives her superior might and durability, making her a perfect warrior. As such, this girl craving a normal, low-key life is forced to become a knight among handsome, dashing men—the captain the most dashing of them all!
Move over, Fourth Wing because this is worse. Well, really, The Gorilla God’s Go-To Girl is just a lighter story working with the same concept of “a girl has special powers that make her so-very-strong and is forced to join the military full of men.”
That said, The Gorilla God’s Go-To Girl is really just watching a very sweet, almost problem-free romance progress with a little political intrigue.
May I Ask for One Final Thing?
- Grumpy/Sunshine
- Political Intrigue
- Strong Heroine
- Banter
- He Falls First
Do you like your heroines strong? A heroine can be strong in many ways, but usually when they come in physically strong flavor, you tend to lose some of their girlishness—which isn’t always a bad thing—but May I Ask for One Final Thing offers you the best of both worlds.
While the heroine in May I Ask for One Final Thing is a proper noblewoman, who is even willing to marry a prince who berates her for her duty, there is one thing she delights in—violence against those who deserve it. She gets to exercise that passion when her betrothed finally dumps her in a very public way.
Now free from that arrangement, after her pummeling of an entire ballroom’s worth of nobility, she finds herself weeding out corruption in the kingdom with the prince’s older brother, an overly charming man who finds annoying the heroine to be his favorite new hobby.
Saint Cecilia & Pastor Lawrence
- Innocent X Innocent
- Cozy Romance
- Chosen One
- Caretaker
The cozy romance that is Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrence follows a young pastor in a rural town who takes care of the town’s saint, Cecilia. While Cecilia has the power to perform miracles, she is somewhat dismal at taking care of herself and interacting with others.
Enjoy this laid-back slow romance following two awkward dorks spending a lot of time alone together in a church with their pure personalities striking glancing blows of cuteness against each other.
Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts
- Sacrificial Heroine
- Forced Marriage
- Political Intrigue
- Beauty and the Beast
Imagine being all ready to die only to find that the handsome monster you were sent to just happens to be into that sort of thing.
Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts lives up to its title as it follows a heroine who, as per a peace treaty between the human kingdoms and the beast kingdom, is sent to the beast king to be devoured. There, she discovers that, not only does he really not actually kill these girls, but he has a tidy secret of his own that he has to hide from even his closest advisors.
The king throws all caution to the wind and decides to marry this human girl for real, only for the rest of the show being about the consequences that has for his reign over the beast kingdom.
This is a series that focuses most on the heroine slowly winning people who hate her over. As it has a pretty drama-free romance, it may not have quite as an intense romance as you may hope for.
Kamisama Kiss
- Grumpy/Sunshine
- Fated Mates
- Banter
Anime has a little passion for putting supernatural things in the normal world and pretending that they were part of it all along. Kamisama Kiss keeps some of the whimsy in by having a normal, newly homeless girl accidentally be named temporary land god of a shrine.
Her new familiar, a once feared fox demon, is grumpy about the change but slowly comes to appreciate her company over time. As things go on, you begin to discover they have more of a connection than once believed.
Kamisama Kiss makes the list if only for its male lead, who is peak snarky grump for much of the series, making his moments of genuine softness extremely rewarding.
Vampire Knight
- Fated Mates
- Love Triangle
- Yearning
- Touch Her and Die
Supernatural vampires and those that hate them certainly love getting into tug of war matches with boring, lightly melancholy brown haired girls. Unlike Twilight, it isn’t a game of vampire versus werewolf, but between a vampire and… another vampire who also hates vampires.
This series follows the daughter of the headmaster at a private school who is also part of a select handful of students who make sure the day and night classes behave themselves. While humans go to school during the day, the night class is made up of, not single mothers and GED hopefuls, but mysterious sexy vampires.
A more dramatic shoujo there likely isn’t as secret upon secret about their various past relationships are revealed and this not-so-average girl is in agony deciding who she loves most.
These are just my picks for the “most” romantasy-style fantasy romance anime. There are certainly tons of others that fit the bill in some way or another, so let fans know your picks in the comments section below.
