It’s a tale as old as time~
Wait, no really it is! And it is not just a Disney tale either.
The beauty and the beast themes have long been present in anime and indeed all media. Disney may own the title that this trope has taken on, but they don’t own the metaphor it represents. And really, they just stole it from literature anyway.
In the Beauty and The Beast romance anime , the message is clear – Even the ugliest, scariest monsters can have a little light on the inside, and you shouldn’t judge them by how they look. Sometimes all it takes is the right person to see that when no one else does.
If the tender message of Beauty and The Beast-style romance anime is what you are looking for, then give these anime recommendations a try.
Best Beauty and the Beast Romance Anime
Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts
A good chunk of “Beauty and the Beast” style anime romances are more about a clash in personalities rather than actually loving a scary monster, but Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts is actually one of the closest things you can get to that Disney love story in anime.
This series tells the story of a human kingdom and a beast kingdom that made peace on the terms that humans send one sacrifice every year to be devoured by the King of Beasts. The main character is the latest, and after discovering that she was only adopted by her family to use as a sacrifice to protect their own true-born daughter, she is pretty okay with just being eaten.
The king, intrigued by her lack of fear, ends up bonding with her. He ultimately decides not to eat her after showing her the softer side of his heart and ends up deciding to marry her despite the issues it will cause.
Inuyasha
Ah, it’s the same old story. Normal high school girl falls through a well and meets a demon pinned to a tree.
However, he is not just any demon, he is a half-demon who is feared by humans and shunned by pure-blooded demons. After she frees him, he acts a villain, but there is a big soft heart on the inside.
It is this social neglect that has turned him into a real beast of a man, but throughout the series, you watch his rehabilitation through affection.
Fruits Basket
Fruits Basket is an interesting series as a romance sometimes, and often a shipper’s dream anime. In the beginning, you can’t actually be sure who the main romance is supposed to be between since the main heroine has two solid candidates on deck.
However, over time, the OTP becomes clear and it is a real beauty and the beast affair. It is much the same set up as Inuyasha, actually. The male love interest is violent and unruly due to the constant neglect and abuse foisted on him by his family. However, it is the heroine’s tenderness and understanding that begins to break that rough exterior.
My Love Story
So often anime is about literal monsters, but we all know there are no literal monsters, just people. This is a romance story about people.
You have Takeo, a literal giant of a man with a very… difficult to love face. Men fear and respect him, but girls are, as you’d expect, scared off even when he is being so nice and gentle.
However, after saving a cute girl on the train, he finds that she is attracted to him. The rest of the series is gags, misunderstandings, and so much “cringe but in a good way” sort of awkwardness.
Don’t be fooled, though. This is as nice a romance as it is a comedy.
Kamisama Kiss
I’m conflicted as to whether to consider Kamisama Kiss a Beauty and the Beast romance anime.
The series follows a normal girl who accidentally becomes a land god at a shrine. Now, she has to deal with land god duties with the help of her grumpy and human-hating handsome kitsune familiar that came with the shrine.
See, the issue here is the familiar is the typical grumpy-type of romantic male lead that warms up over time, but he is not too hard to get along with nor is he particularly beastly looking. Even in his true demon form, he is still dazzlingly handsome even if the anime tries to tell you he is scary looking.
In the end, this is one that is for you to decide since it does have Beauty and the Beast earmarks, but may not be exactly what you are looking for.
Kakuriyo – Bed and Breakfast For Spirits
Kakuriyo has the recipe for success – food and handsome demon men.
This series tells the story of a girl who can see spirits. One day while feeding a little spirit, she is approached by an ogre who tells her that her grandfather sold her to him as a bride in order to settle a debt he accrued at his inn inside the spirit realm before he died.
While she refuses to marry him, she starts a little restaurant on the inn’s grounds to slowly pay him back. Over the course of her effort, she begins to find that this handsome, though stoic ogre isn’t actually as scary as his reputation says. In fact, she begins to find him quite charming over time
Toradora
Toradora is kind of a unique entry in terms of its Beauty and the Beast story, but the things you enjoy about this type of romance anime are there.
Toradora follows the new friendship between Ryuji, a boy with a thug’s face but the kind-heart of a househusband, and Taiga, a small and beautiful girl with all the indomitable rage and violent tendencies of a tsundere.
While initially they form an agreement to help each other woo their respective crushes, it becomes increasingly clear that they have become more dear to each other than just friends.
The Ancient Magus’ Bride
Before Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts, The Ancient Magus’ Bride was the clear winner for anime series most like the Beauty and the Beast movie set up that you are trying to chase.
This series isn’t just a simpering fantasy romance anime, however. The Ancient Magus’ Bride follows a girl who, after being abandoned by her parents and shunned by her relatives, sells herself into slavery to not have to take care of herself anymore.
She is bought by a skull-faced mage who buys her not to be a slave, but to be his apprentice. He also quickly adds on as an addendum that he would like it if she would someday also be his bride, but you know, no pressure.
He trains her in magic so she can control her unique magical abilities that will, if left unchecked, cause her early death. They travel the world to deal with various issues, and yes, over time, they develop a romance.
This Beauty and the Beast story is more akin to the Disney Beauty and the Beast story in that the beast has a pretty nice personality. It is just his looks that scare people off.
Devils’ Line
Devils’ Line is one of the very rare vampire romance anime that actually dares to try to do something unique with the concept of vampirism.
In Devils’ Line, vampires don’t need to drink blood to live. However, if they do taste human blood, it affects them like doing the best drugs and having an orgasm all at the same time. It sends them into a feeding frenzy often leading to rape and murder. To restrain these superhuman now-criminals, Japan established a secret police force of both humans and specially restrained vampires.
The series follows one rather self-loathing vampire on that police force who ends up saving a college girl from an attack by her friend that she didn’t know was a vampire. He ends up spending more time with her, despite knowing he shouldn’t, and their relationship becomes a slow blooming romantic one.
My Little Monster
My Little Monster – It’s got “Monster” right there in the title, so you can kind of expect some things. However, there are no demons or beasts here, just a boy that acts like he was raised by wolves.
This is another show where the beauty and the beast are just people. Shizuku, though cold and somewhat plain, is considered the beauty in this series and Haru, the wildly violent beast of a man that he is, forms a near immediate attachment to her after she is casually nice to him.
Unfortunately, while the characters fit the trope, the series (the anime series, at least) spends its time more so exploring the difference between like and love, going around in a bit of a circle until it ends.
Taisho Maiden Fairy Tale
This is yet another Beauty and the Beast romance anime where the characters are people, but they feature the same dynamic.
In Taisho Maiden Fairy Tale a boy from a prestigious doctor’s family loses his mother and the use of his hand in a car crash. Not being able to follow in his father’s footsteps as a doctor with his disability, he is exiled to an estate in the countryside.
Feeling adrift and without purpose, he wallows in grief and depression until his father also sends him a wife he purchased from someone who owed his family a debt.
While he initially feels even worse that she is stuck with a failure of a man such as him, her cheerfulness and determination to do her best begin to warm up his heart again.
While the romance is born of rather dubious circumstance that is justified given that the series takes place in 1920s Japan, Taisho Maiden Fairy Tale does actually become quite a nice romance.
Do you have more Beauty and the Beast-style romance anime? Let fans know in the comments section below.
