A good number of romance anime use fairy tale motifs to quickly establish characters – a dashing prince, a beautiful princess, an evil queen. Sometimes they even use these character archetypes for interesting subversions. However, a much smaller sub-set of romance anime enjoy using actually fairy tale stories in their plots.
From cheeky character names to very clear story parallels, these wonderful fairy tale-inspired romance anime take you back to beloved tales from your childhood.
Fairy Tale Romance Anime
Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts
There are many anime romances that can be described as “beauty and the beast” stories, but none more so than Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts. In this series, humans routinely send sacrifices to the beast kingdom for the king to devour to maintain peace, and his latest one charms him with her lack of fear.
Unlike many other beauty and the beast anime romances, this series has the king of beasts also have a strikingly handsome human form and a tender heart, both of which he must keep hidden from his subjects to maintain power. As such, he forms a strong bond with the female heroine because he has to hide nothing from her.
Okami-san and Her Seven Companions
You sometimes find fairy tale romance in the most unexpected of places. Okami-san and Her Seven Companions, primarily, follows a club that helps people with various odd jobs and problems around town. However, the unexpected part is how much it evokes fairy tales.
The obvious fairy tale it is trying to evoke in the title is Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. However, the title is rather odd considering it plays way more in to the story of Little Red Riding Hood.
Okami-san is tough and fearsome like a wolf, which is what her name translates to. Her friend, Akai Ringo, or ‘red apple,’ is very clearly modeled after red riding hood herself, and then there is Ryoushi, or ‘hunter,’ who is in love with Okami from afar but too timid to tell her his feelings.
Obviously, the set up is not the same as the fairy tale since you have the hunter trying to convey his feelings for the wolf and red riding hood is more a supporting character. However, this is a romance anime with fairy tale inspirations abound. It just eschews being a more traditional fairy tale romance in its plot.
Mermaid Melody
Mermaid Melody is one of those anime series, because it is a colorful magical girl anime, that is drowned out by all the many other colorful magical girl anime. However, what sets this fun little gem apart is its many parallels to The Little Mermaid.
Mermaid Melody follows a mermaid princess who leaves her home in search of a boy she rescued when he fell overboard seven years ago. She needs to find him and reclaim the pearl she gave him in order to protect her kingdom using the power of music.
From there, it veers away from fairy tale parallels into typical shoujo romance and magical girl-laced world-saving.
Kaguya-sama: Love is War
Unlike some other anime series on here, Kaguya-sama: Love is War’s fairy tale inspirations are a little less obvious. However, this is more because the fairy tale it is evoking is an Eastern one, though one of the more well-known Eastern fairy tales.
In Kaguya-sama: Love is War, you will find many inspirations from the story of The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. This story tells the tale of an elderly couple that finds a nymph in a stalk of bamboo who grows into a beautiful girl. She attracts many suitors for marriage, all of whom she gives impossible tasks in order to win her hand.
If you are familiar with the fairy tale, you will notice that most similarities in this romance anime come from the names. Many characters bear name of either characters themselves from the story or are evocative of objects from the impossible tasks. The most notable of which being the titular character herself who is a woman considered above all others and impossible to attain not unlike the Kaguya-hime from the fairy tale.
Fruits Basket
Like Kaguya-sama: Love is War, the fairy tale inspirations in Fruits Basket are a little less obvious, though – again – it is because it is evoking a Eastern fairy tale.
Fruits Basket takes a good deal of inspiration from the Chinese fairy tale, The Great Race. While there are actually two versions of this tale, Fruits Basket sticks closer to the version where the Jade Emperor decides to hold a race where the winners become one of the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac. The cat and mouse were best friends until the mouse made the cat purposefully fall off the ox they were riding, making him late for the race and unable to become a member of the Chinese Zodiac.
While that tale has little to do with the romantic aspect of Fruits Basket, it does bear a great deal of similarities to the relationship between Yuki and Kyo.
Snow White With The Red Hair
Snow White With The Red Hair may bear the label of a very popular fairy tale, but it actually has absolutely nothing to do with the Snow White fairy tale. There are no dwarfs. There is no apple-induced coma. There is, however, a girl chased from her kingdom by royalty and a prince she falls in love with, so there’s that. The main character’s name, Shirayuki, means ‘white snow’ in Japanese, so there is that as well.
However, what makes this series worth mentioning despite the lack of clear fairy tale inspirations outside of the name is that the romance very much feels like a fairy tale romance.
It tells a the tale of a girl that flees her home country to avoid being made a concubine and falls in love with the second prince of the country she flees to. She is a common girl, so their relationship grows quietly and unofficially as the series goes on.
Princess Tutu
Dancing right from the ballet Swan Lake is Princess Tutu, which also brings with it inspirations from The Ugly Duckling fairy tale. This series not just oozes fairy tale aesthetic and character tropes, at least in the first season, but its story is very Ugly Duckling-laced.
Princess Tutu follows a seemingly normal girl who was really a duck turned into a human. She uses her magical girl powers to turn into a ballet dancer whose dancing helps those viewing her dance overcome their pain and trauma. She ultimately uses this power to collect shards of a prince’s heart after it shattered to seal away an evil raven.
While this series is often overlooked due to its age, it is an amazing experience that embraces a sort of creativity that you don’t see as much anymore. Furthermore, don’t be fooled by the ballet dancer, the series has some dark stories to tell.
Sugar Apple Fairy Tale
Almost all other romances on this list have direct connections to actual fairy tales. However, this is more because they are very clearly taking from those stories. Why I included Sugar Apple Fairy Tale on this list in particular when it doesn’t take from a specific fairy tale is it is a romance anime that feels very much like it is writing a fairy tale.
Like Snow What With The Red Hair doesn’t really take much from the Snow White fairy tale aside from the title, Sugar Apple Fairy Tale creates its own whirlwind fairy tale romance between a determined human girl and the fairy slave she hired as her bodyguard in return for freedom.
It has that thing you often see in some fantasy romance anime where the male lead is cold in an alluring sort of way, and you become invested in watching him grow softer and warmer as the female lead thaws his heart.
Do you know more romance anime that were clearly drawing inspiration from fairy tales? Let fans know in the comments section below.
