“Omnibus” is a term that you more commonly see in the realms of manga. It is a term used to describe volumes of an advanced size. These could be manga omnibus volumes that contain multiple volumes in on large, girthy book – usually shined up with a hardcover for both visual appeal and sturdiness – or in some cases it could be an entire manga series in one large omnibus volume!
However, anime fans have sort of pilfered the term “omnibus” from manga to describe what is essentially a harem anime, but transformed into a satisfying romance anime.
Omnibus romance anime is a sub-genre used to describe anime – usually adapted from visual novels or dating sims with multiple girls to romance – where you don’t need to have a main love interest for the anime adaptation, disappointing fans of the other girls.
Omnibus romance anime instead splits into multiple short arcs that follows the main character’s romance with a girl from start to conclusion before resetting and following the next love interest. In essence, omnibus romance anime is a harem anime where every girl wins.
Best Omnibus Romance Anime
Amagami SS
Amagami SS is the poster anime for the omnibus format. It is the most popular series and has a decent array of girls and stories to explore.
However, what Amagami SS probably does best is showing you not just the romance, but the couples in the future. At the end of each arc, it jumps forward ten years to get a peek at the main character’s relationship with each girl. However, its entire second season is made up of just showing more of that future wholesomeness to make sure fans are very satisfied.
Photokano
Photokano deviates from the mold a little bit by starting off generally setting the scene for a few episodes before switching to an omnibus style.
As it follows a man that enjoys photography, particularly taking pictures of girls, you get to see how each upcoming girl is viewed in his eyes before the romance starts. After the first few general episodes, you get down to the romance where each girl gets their story told.
Unfortunately, this series does kind of rush through everything as it is only 13 episodes.
Seiren
Seiren was made by the same author that created Amagami SS, so if you came here more for more anime recommendations like Amagami SS rather than just omnibus-style romance anime, this is an excellent one to follow up with.
Seiren follows a main character weighing the concerns of university and his future, but also noticing a few girls around school, which gets him considering his future with each one of them.
Seiren is less ambitious than Amagami SS with only three girls, but also less finessed with the stories.
Amnesia
Unfortunately, while there are a lot of visual novels marketed toward women, there are not a lot of omnibus romance anime adaptations that take advantage of that. They tend to live and die unsatisfyingly in the reverse harem genre.
Amnesia, instead of using the usual omnibus reset style, follows a girl with memory loss. You watch her form relationships with a number of men as she slowly regains her memories. Rather than resetting, each man sort of has his time in the limelight with her and a conclusion to their romance while time remains linearly moving forward.
Sky of Connection
Sky of Connection can often be a difficult sell even for those looking for an omnibus romance anime because of the reputation that comes with it.
Sky of Connection is a romance anime where time resets and each girl gets her happy end, but one of those relationships is an incestuous one. Furthermore, there is some pretty graphic sex in this one, which means you might want to watch it on your own.
Though the relationships are touching, the story is a little darker than your standard omnibus romance.
The World God Only Knows
In a sub-genre often specifically for adapting dating sim games to anime, it seems only natural that one be about an actual dating sim.
The World God Only Knows focuses on the main character that is literally the best at playing dating sims. However, he is cocky and accepts a challenge from a demon that he can make anyone fall in love with him, and thus he starts using his dating sim knowledge on 3D girls.
This series resets the feelings of each girl, though in a non-traditional way that doesn’t reset time. However, as the main character is really just coldly manipulating different girls, The World God Only Knows isn’t exactly what you would call a touching romance, at first.
Tatami Galaxy
While The Tatami Galaxy has long been lauded as a ponderous and artistic anime, it is also a romance anime in an omnibus form.
In The Tatami Galaxy, a cynical man meets a god one night, complaining to him about how he wasted his youth in college bitterly breaking people up after his attempt at romance failed. However, he is ultimately given a chance to return to his college years and try his romantic luck again, and again, and again.
While he is pursuing the same girl each time, the looping nature of this anime series is the keystone of an omnibus romance.
Clannad
In its own way, Clannad both is and isn’t an omnibus-style anime. While it is based off a visual novel where you can pursue multiple girls for different endings, the Clannad anime instead focuses on one main girl and the main character’s romance of her.
However, every girl that was a love interest in the game gets an arc in the anime. It simply doesn’t see them through to the romantic conclusion. This makes it more of a harem than an omnibus, but there is one thing that can make it fit more into this category – the OVAs.
Clannad has two OVAs in which instead of Tomoya ending up with the main girl, it features him pursuing relationships with two other choices. It is this reset in time that does technically make it a semi-omnibus anime.
Do you know any more omnibus romance anime? Let fans know in the comments section below.
