If there is one universal commonality in the entire human experience it is love. People have been feeling feelings of love since before they had a word for it. While there is something relatable about romance anime set in modern times, watching love bloom in a different time period has its own charms.
Historical romance anime is often not steeped in much historical accuracy. In fact, for many of these historical romances, you will find flourishes of magic and supernatural, or a fully fictional worlds.
However, what makes a historical romance anime historical is that the setting evokes feelings of or takes heavy inspiration from a real time period in history.
As such, you may see a few fantasy romance anime here, so it may not be the more accurate period piece you are looking for. However, if you are looking for historical romance anime recommendations, then give these a try.
Historical Romance Anime
Taisho Maiden Fairy Tale
Like the title suggests, Taisho Maiden Fairy Tale takes place in Taisho Period (1912 – 1926) Japan in which you can really see a Japan that is melding their culture with a lot of western influences and inventions.
This series follows the son of a doctor whose hand was hurt in the car accident that also killed his mother. Unable to become a surgeon like his father, he is shipped off to a rural estate, sure that he is to be forgotten about. As he wallows in unaddressed depression, his father also sends a girl that he purchased to be his bride.
While having a purchased wife is perhaps not the most wholesome start to a romance, the series does at least address it rather than glossing right over it. Regardless, his new bride-to-be and her cheerful and earnest nature have a sort of healing effect on him which allows them to grow closer.
My Happy Marriage
Similar to Taisho Maiden Fairy Tale, My Happy Marriage takes place near the end of Japan’s Meiji Period (1868 – 1912). This era is where the melding of western influences started while some traditional Japanese cultural practices waned, creating a sect of increasingly unhappy traditionalists. However, while the series represents the Meiji style well, it also injects a bit of supernatural into things.
My Happy Marriage follows the daughter of a prestigious family known for their spiritual abilities. Not manifesting any abilities, she is shunned by her father and abused by her stepmother and stepsister. As she is still a daughter, she is given to another family as a bride, and knowing her family will not take her back, she is determined to do everything she can to please her new husband so she isn’t homeless.
While he has a terrifying reputation, her new husband is actually quite kind and even goes so far as to try to rehabilitate her non-existent self confidence and self esteem. The series really is about the happy marriage that they build together despite the variety of forces that try to pull them apart.
Emma: A Victorian Romance
There is no shortage of anime set in a Victorian Era Britain, but there are actually very few that depict the time period without some sort of supernatural or fantasy element to it. Emma does just that. It is a period romance about a servant in a normal Victorian Britain.
This series follows the titular Emma in her life as a maid for a retired governess. After receiving a visit from the eldest son of a wealthy family that used to be the ward of the governess, Emma finds herself falling in love with him as he continues to visit.
While the love is mutual between the two, Emma is the story of love barred by societal stations. Her lover is of the wealthy gentry while she is working class, and in a Victorian Britain where the class lines are guarded as fiercely as a country’s borders, it serves as a sizable obstacle.
Ooku: The Inner Chambers
Ooku is a unique experience as a series overall. It takes place in an alternate history version of Japan’s Edo Period (1603-1868) in which a form of smallpox that only kills men spread throughout the country.
While about 3/4ths of the country’s male population died off, women began taking up the roles traditionally filled by men. Women started to work the fields, run shops, and eventually lords even passed down their peerage ranks to their daughters. Men, on the other hand, became a coveted status symbol for families to have as well as prostitutes, their bodies sold for breeding each night in return for money.
It is a distinctly unique setting for a series, and is definitely more a political drama than a romance. However, even a woman in power has a tender heart, and the series does well to balance romance without undermining the authority and expectations of the station.
Earl and Fairy
Earl and Fairy takes place in a supernatural-laced version of Victorian Britain. It’s actually interesting in that it has creatures of myth throughout the story, and yet the modern populace of the country has very little belief in them, which I thought was a nice touch.
Earl and Fairy follows a Scottish fairy doctor who mediates problems between humans and fairies. As no one in her village really believes in fairies, she is often “the weird lady” in her community. One day, a dashing young gentleman hires her for her fairy knowledge to help her find a mythical sword that will prove that he is the Blue Knight Earl, a title granted by the King of England to the fairy kingdom, bringing them under his rule.
The Story of Saiunkoku
You don’t see it a lot in anime that isn’t specifically from China, but The Story of Saiunkoku is a historical romance anime that mimics the politics of historical China’s Imperial Palace. As it is set in a fantasy world, there is no set period in China’s history as its setting, but its imperial court is infamous for being a complicated den of intrigue throughout the country’s history.
The Story of Saiunkoku follows a girl who enters the imperial palace simply as a way to make money for her noble, but destitute family. There, she becomes close and intertwined with not just the young emperor who is dealing with his own problems, but a number of handsome ministers as well.
As a old school shoujo romance, The Story of Saiunkoku is awash in beautiful men, endless drama, and a number of romantic connections.
Raven of the Inner Palace
Like The Story of Saiunkoku, Raven of the Inner Palace takes place in a fictional, but clearly inspired Chinese Imperial Palace setting. However, this time, it is a lot more restrained and focused with everything from the intrigue to the romance.
The series primarily focuses on the new young emperor growing curious about one of his consorts that he isn’t traditionally supposed to interact with. The Raven Consort is in charge of dealing with the supernatural matters in the palace and doesn’t actually service the emperor, except that this time, he grows curious enough to go meet what turns out to be a pretty lonely young girl.
The romance here is slow and nuanced with the plot actually more focused on the mystery of the Raven Consort while also showing the girl forming meaningful relationships for the first time.
Spice and Wolf
While there are endless “medieval” set anime out there and Spice and Wolf doesn’t evoke any specific historical inspiration other than “medieval Europe” in its fantasy land, it is one of those fantasy romance anime that puts more effort into its world than you may expect.
Spice and Wolf follows the journey and growing relationship between a goddess who left the village she was blessing after their belief in her waned and the visiting merchant she strong-arms into giving her a ride.
Spice and Wolf is very much a journey anime where they travel, grow closer, and often get involved in various going-ons in the towns they visit. However, what makes this romance anime particularly historical is the detail they put into being a merchant. They go into full-on dialogues over the specifics of medieval economics in a way that pretty historically accurate even though it is a fantasy land.
Kids on the Slope
While Kids on the Slope is more of a coming-of-age story between two very different boys brought together by music, there is nothing more significant when coming-of-age than romance.
Kids on the Slope tells the tale of a pair of boys becoming friends in 1960s Japan. One is uptight, bound by strict expectations and tradition, the other rebellious and outcasted due to his mixed ethnicity. They form a strong bond with each other through an appreciation for Jazz, and right there with them is the daughter of the music shop owner.
As these things go, a love triangle forms between them and, as a drama anime, it doesn’t shy away from showing you the messier, complicated, and unhappy feelings of young romance.
Maria the Virgin Witch
Maria the Virgin Witch takes place in a fictionalized version of France during the Hundred Years’ War between France and England. It follows a witch who, sick of seeing the suffering that war inflicts on the common people, uses her magic to prevent conflicts and foster peace.
This interference garners her attention from the heavens and they forbid her from interfering further and state that if she loses her virginity, she will also lose her magic.
While romance isn’t the primary focus in this series, since the primary threat is her losing her magic if she loses her virginity, you can rest assured that romance is going to be a part of it. Well, either that or a more unhappy fate. Luckily, it doesn’t go down that road.
The series is lighter on romance than you may like, but is definitely a more thought-provoking series than you might expect.
Inuyasha
While Inuyasha is more of an action romance, the romantic relationship and how it builds is a central element of the series. It is as quintessential to Rumiko Takahashi anime as being overly long and occasionally meandering.
In Inuyasha, a girl from modern Japan falls down a well at the shrine where she lives and ends up in Feudal Japan. While belief in demons has waned in the modern age, it turns out the Sengoku Period (1477-1573) was overrun with the supernatural. There, she ends up freeing a half-demon boy from a tree and is forced to team up with him after an event that forces them to travel all over the world collecting shards of a sacred jewel.
Throughout their journey, you watch them go from barely tolerating each other to becoming inseparable.
Rurouni Kenshin
Like Inuyasha, Rurouni Kenshi is yet another action romance, but this time distinctly less supernatural in its historic setting. Rurouni Kenshin takes place in 1878, the early years of the Meiji Period.
The series follows a once-cold-blooded-assassin who has given up his bloody skills to walk the path of a pacifist. On that wandering path, he eventually stops to help the female successor of a martial arts dojo and ends up staying to continue to aid her.
Throughout the series, people from Kenshin’s past continue to pop up and often demand blood for what he did to them or others. A part of that is also the increasing irrelevance of the samurai class in an age of westernization and limited conflict. The series is often about how to forgive people who have grown and changed from the people they were.
While the romance definitely takes a back seat to the action in this series, it is throughout Rurouni Kenshin as the pair grow closer and form a romantic relationship. He influence also serves as a balm to Kenshin in some of his darkest moments.
Yona of the Dawn
Yona of the Dawn is definitely more of a fantasy romance than a historical one, but unlike many other fantasy romance anime, the series does have some historic inspirations in the setting that are plain to see.
Yona of the Dawn follows a sheltered princess who was forced to flee her palace after her father was killed in a coup led by her crush. In the outside world, protected by her bodyguard, she learns that her father was not such a benevolent king, but still makes moves to take back her throne.
As the series follows her recruiting dragon warriors of legend, there is a bit of a reverse harem vibe in the series. However, there is a main romance between Yona and her loyal bodyguard.
The series, as I said, has a lot of fantasy. However, the setting is based on a fictionalized version of the Three Kingdoms Period (57BC-668CE) in Korea.
Demon Girl Zakuro
Demon Girl Zakuro is an interesting take on the Westernization of Japan during the Meiji Period (1868-1912). Instead of focusing on the clash of western influences with long-standing traditional practices, Demon Girl Zakuro focuses on the waning spirituality of the people in favor for modernization and the influence of Christianity.
As such, the series follow the members of the Ministry of Spirits who maintain the balance and peace between Japan’s spirits and humans.
The romance happens between the main characters during the course of their duties, one is a half-spirit girl who dislikes the growing Jesuit beliefs among the population and the other is an officer who has a fear of spirits.
The Rose of Versailles
The Rose of Versailles is a legendary period drama and romance anime set in the French royal palace prior to the French Revolution. It follows the captain of the Royal Guard who, due to her father’s desire for a son, was raised as a boy even though she is very much a girl.
The series follows her as she masquerades as a man, but also feels the desire to live and be loved as a woman all while dealing with the powder keg of political affairs at the time.
Romance in The Rose of Versailles manifests itself in different ways throughout the series. The main romance is between the main character and a childhood friend that knows her true identity. Their mutual attraction is kept secret from each other until a certain turning point in the story.
As the story takes place in the French royal palace, it also follows the romantic affairs of King Louis XV and Marie Antoinette. As theirs was a marriage of politics, they each often have their own separate love affairs that send the rumor mill swirling.
Gosick
Gosick is a supernatural-laced mystery series that takes place in post-World War II Europe. It actually plays its setting rather smart by taking place in a fictional country so that it doesn’t have to display any country’s post-War politics in any sort of accuracy.
While often focused on the mysteries, throughout the series you watch the clever lady detective and her Japanese assistant grow closer on a personal level which ultimately develops into a touching romance.
Although not solely focused on the romantic relationship, the series does an excellent job of showing the characters growing closer after each mystery and investing you in their relationship.
Romeo X Juliet
While most notably for being a spin on a very famous Shakespearean play, Romeo X Juliet as a historical romance anime is a bit unique. It certainly keeps the location of Verona and it keeps the fashion from the age of the play, but Romeo X Juliet, the anime, is very much a sci-fi story.
It takes place in neo-Verona, a whole floating continent, where the Capulets, the ruling family, have been unseated and slaughtered in a coup led by the Montagues, ultimately leading to their lone surviving daughter Juliet to become a vigilante.
I was unsure as to whether or not to count this as a historical romance anime since it is so sci-fi and so fantasy. However, I’ve found that whenever I waver on a topic, it is usually better to just let people make their own decisions as to if it interests them.
Do you know more historical romance anime that the hopelessly lovesick would enjoy? Let fans know in the comments section below.
