Although a novice bounty hunter, Chateau Dankworth is confident in her skills. However, one day she is overpowered by a man who wasn’t even her target, and worse yet, he takes an immediate romantic interest in her. She soon learns that the man who continues to pester her is Song Ryang-ha – a former assassin and wanted by the Asian underworld organization he turned against. This leads them to constant run-ins with members from both of their pasts.
This show teeters obnoxiously between intriguing and annoying when it continuously squanders what it was building. Is this a case of “It’s better in the manga” syndrome? Regardless, if you want more anime recommendations like Love of Kill, then head on down below.
Anime Like Love of Kill
For Fans of Murderers in Love <3
Angels of Death
Rachel awakens to find herself trapped in the basement of an abandoned building. After wandering around – lost, dizzy, and without her memories – she happens across a man in full bandages named Zack. While at first he tries to kill her, eventually they come to an agreement. Together, they try to find a way to escape from their bizarre circumstance. In return for his help, Rachel offers up her own life to him.
While this series is less of a romance, it does build a similar relationship of trust and even admiration between a blonde girl of varying personality types and a dark haired stoic man with a talent for violence. He is always by her side and they both serve as protectors whether the female mains want protecting or not.
Akuma no Riddle
Tokaku Azuma has just transferred to the elite Myoujou Academy. Alongside her other 11 classmates, she is tasked with trying to kill another sweet-natured classmate, Haru. The assassin that succeeds is granted their deepest desire, but each assassin only gets one shot. However, when Tokaku develops feelings for the mark, she finds herself taking a different course of action.
Akuma no Riddle differs distinctly in that it is a yuri show. However, both series feature assassins that fall in love with someone who isn’t necessarily a killer. Chateau is definitely a little more badass than Haru in Akuma no Riddle, though.
Assassin’s Pride
Forced into small encased cities by the lycantheropes, human nobles have the ability to use mana to fight back. At the age of 13, Melida Angel has yet to manifest her mana. She is introduced to Kufa Vampir who is meant to help her as a tutor. Unfortunately, his secret job is to assassinate her if she proves to not be able to use mana. While he learns he must kill her, Kufa is struck by her determination and belief in herself. Instead of assassinating her, he decides to help her learn to awaken her mana.
Both series feature assassins who end up protecting women that they fell for or at least admire for some way. Both series also have the unfortunate similarity of squandering their potential a bit, too. However, that’s definitely more subjective.
For Fans of This Whole City is Assassins, Isn’t It?
Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens
The city of Fukuoka seems pretty normal, but it is awash in dangerous individuals. In the mix is Banba, a detective investigating hitman companies in the area and Lin, a hitman that is fed up with his lack of jobs. After being refused pay for a target that killed themselves, Lin is tasked with killing Banba, but instead asks him to team up.
Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens doesn’t have a romance element to it. Instead it focuses more on an overall plot that is building around an organization of assassins in a city. It really builds up the intrigue well like Love of Kill occasionally does as well. Both shows also make it seem like there is a lot more assassins in one area then there probably should be.
Darker Than Black
After the appearance of the Heaven and Hell Gates, then rose the Contractors, individuals that gave up their humanity for supernatural powers. In Section 4 of Japan around the Hell Gate, Chief Misaki finds herself constantly at odds with a Contractor named Hei, a man who takes missions from the ruthless underground Syndicate that slowly peel away the layers covering a threat to all Contractors.
While there is definitely a more supernatural element in Darker Than Black, the Contractors are essentially just assassins and underworld servants. Furthermore, like Love of Kill, it builds up a nice relationship between the main character and a woman he admires as well as portrays him as an absolute badass.
The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat
The greatest assassin on Earth lived only to be a tool by those that wished to wield his mastery. That is, until they decided that he was no longer needed and ended his life. By the grace of a goddess, this masterful man was reincarnated into a new world where he is asked to kill a hero that will later bring about the end of that world. Deciding to finally live for himself, this man, now named Lugh Tuatha De, puts his skills as a killer to the test with foes who wield real magic.
Let’s be really real with each other, Love of Kill is a form of wish fulfillment for people who think that given the right circumstances they could be a cool assassin and could make any panties they want drop. The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat is that too. As an isekai series, it is more fantasy with some magic. It also differs in that it features a harem of drooling girls rather than just one uninterested one.
Phantom – Requiem for the Phantom
America is rife with assassinations, with a mysterious company called Inferno behind many of them. One day, a Japanese tourist witnesses one of these killings, and is chased down. They are captured and brainwashed into a puppet with no memories that now works as an assassin with Inferno’s human weapon, Phantom.
You could say that Phantom has a similar kind of love story between two people with very difficult pasts who work in violent industries. However, Phantom puts a less fun spin on any character interactions and is overall a melancholic and tragic tale more akin to what you would expect from people who kill other people for a living. To add onto that, it does have an overall intriguing plot that it unravels as well.
For Fans of Persistent Stalking Means Romance?
Koikimo – It’s Too Sick to Call This Love
Successful businessman Ryou Amakusa is used to being the target of women’s affections despite never asking anyone out himself. One day, after feeling dizzy from a lack of sleep, he nearly falls down some stairs at the station. He is saved by high school otaku Ichika Arima, a girl who gives him her own lunch for energy and runs off. He later finds out she attends his little sisters’ school, and after offering his body in thanks, he falls in love with her and her disgusted reaction.
You would be right to say that this, in its plot and setting, really has nothing to do with Love of Kill. However, if the romantic element of Love of Kill was your thing, Koikimo features the exact same relationship. A girl is continually pestered by a man she has no interest in and is eventually worn down by his constant efforts.
Class President is a Maid
After their high school’s recent transfer from all-boys school to co-ed, it wasn’t easy for Misaki Ayuzawa to become the school’s first female class president. While she inspires terror at school, she also works part-time at a maid café to help her struggling family. However, when one of the most popular boys at school, Takumi Usui, discovers her secret, her world is about to get a whole lot more complicated.
While definitely a more wholesome and less violent show, Class President is a Maid and Love of Kill both feature romantic relationships that start with persistent stalking at their place of work. It’s just that maid cafes and bounty hunters distinctly differ.
Future Diary
Yukiteru Amano likes to imagine himself as an observer. He spends his days keeping a diary on his cell phone, but not about himself, about everything that goes on around him. At home, he spends his time conversing with his two imaginary friends, Deus Ex Machina, the God of space and time, and Murmur, his assistant. However, one day he discovers his friends are not so imaginary when they imbue him with the power of a diary that tells the future and forces him into a bloody survival game with godhood on the line.
While neither show is what you would probably call a pure romance show, both of them feature the relationship between the two main characters as a major element. In Future Diary, it is gender-swapped, as in the female is obsessed with the male main character and is also the more talented killer.
Do you have more anime recommendations like Love of Kill? Let fans know in the comments section below.
