It can be said that anime that is adapted from an otome game or any sort of romance-based game where you can choose different routes to explore will always be disappointing. You see, satisfying romance anime series is only focused on one primary pairing. You can have a series that has the main character explore all relationships, but it won’t be satisfying to fans of any of those pairings. Yet, only the fan of the main pairing will be satisfied by a good otome game anime adaptation crafted like a successful romance anime.
It is rough to be a fan of otome games and also want to watch the anime for that series, but if you have a stalwart heart that can withstand the pain of being disappointed constantly, all of these lovely anime series all have corresponding otome games that you can hunt down and play too.
Best Otome Game Anime
Kamigami no Asobi
We’ll start off the list strong with one of the better otome game adaptations. Kamigami no Asobi is about a human girl who is transported to a special school in which she must instruct young deities on the wiles of the human heart before they can leave and go about their godly business.
What makes this particular adaptation so successful, aside for that lovely animation, is that it has very little focus on romance. There is tons of flirting, but the relationships build to about close friends without ever tipping over the edge. This means that your best boy may not win, but they aren’t losing to another boy either. Instead, you can just go play what is also a very good otome game to get that romantic plot line.
Amnesia
Amnesia is not just the title of this series, but the plot too. One day a girl faints and wakes up with amnesia. She later discovers that a spectral being manifesting in our world was the cause of it, so that being is now helping her regain her memories. As it turns out, she was friends with and possibly stalked by a number of handsome men whose relation to her she recovers piece by piece.
Now see, this is an excellent plot for Amnesia, the otome game, since it is interesting to unravel that story yourself. However, for an anime series, it is often rather confusing. That said, there are many handsome archetypes here, and that is really the charm of the series.
Meiji Tokyo Renka
This is one of those notoriously disappointing anime series adapted from otome games. It follows a girl that is sent to a version of Meiji Era Japan in which people accept that ghosts exist. She meets a number of handsome historical figures from that time and discovers that she has the very special power to see ghosts.
From there, a problem arises each episode, which is then solved by her special power and the handsome boy that happens to be accompanying her in that episode.
So what is so wrong with this series?
Well, in terms of romance, it has a clear winner. This in itself is a fine way to do things, but what makes it notoriously maddening to otome game anime fans is the ending of the series. It put literally everyone who enjoyed it right on tilt.
Uta no Prince-Sama
Idol anime, it’s so hot right now.
All-male idol anime is meant to appeal to otome game fans, but Uta no Prince-Sama is an idol anime and adapted from an otome game as well. In it, a girl aims to compose songs for an idol she enjoys, so enrolls at a competitive music school to achieve that dream.
Now the seasoned shoujo watcher may suspect she meets and falls in love with her idol there, but no, they twist it up by making the main man his twin brother instead.
While Uta no Prince-sama is a keystone of otome game anime, it tries to give every boy that best boy spotlight, but you, the audience, can clearly see who the main love interest is supposed to be. It leaves you a bit out of luck if you fall for someone that is not him. Well, unless you play the game, that is.
Code: Realize
The Code: Realize game is unique in that it is a romance otome game, yes, but also a really intriguing adventure game. As such, the Code: Realize anime brings the hefty plot of the game to life with mixed results.
It follows a girl who lives in a secluded mansion with hazy memories. Her father implanted something powerful in her body that will rot anything that touches her skin. Needless to say, it has had a pretty negative impact on her ability to have interpersonal relationships.
She is ultimately stolen from the British Military guarding the cursed substance within her by terrorist and gentleman thief, Arsene Lupin.
The biggest issue with Code:Realize is that it tries to wedge what is truthfully a very girthy and detailed plot into just 12 episodes. It leaves the romantic plots languishing and the actual plot badly paced.
It is, however, a very good game for those that do like otome games with more plot than just beautiful men. Though it has those in spades, too.
Hakuoki
While there are quite a few beloved otome game anime adaptations out there, Hakuoki remains low-key the best one. This also explains why it has gotten so many subsequent seasons and even movies. It was successful in both pleasing fans of the games and making fans of the anime want to play said games.
The story follows a girl looking for her father. This leads her to witnessing a murder by creatures, and then witnessing the Shinsengumi take them out. They arrest her, contemplate silencing her, and then discover who her father was, a man who also has a mysterious connection to the Shinsengumi.
Why yes, everything about that plot is pretty vague, but throughout the series it unravels it all while dedicating myriad time to the main character bonding with each handsome member of the Shinsengumi secret police.
What sets this apart from other otome game adaptations is that it actually has fight scenes that are detailed and last longer than a few seconds. It makes the series into more than just romance and mystery, but throws the action genre in there as well. It all around makes for a more visually interesting watch.
La Storia Della Arcana Famiglia
Arcana Famiglia follows a Mafia-like family who all have special powers and use them to safeguard their home. The head of the family announces his retirement and decides his successor will be chosen via battle royale. They also get to marry his daughter, Felicita. Felicita, enraged by this revelation, enters the tournament too to fight for her freedom to marry whomever she wants.
Great sounding plot, right?
Well, the anime starts strong by really building out the characters. Then it keeps building out those characters, and then the battle royale doesn’t actually happen. So that was pretty disappointing.
In the game, the love confessions happen after the tournament. So I guess if the tournament never happens in the anime, they don’t have to commit to a love interest. That said, many of the love interests in Arcana Famiglia are incest or wildly large age gaps, which also puts people off the game as well.
Hiiro no Kakera
As it follows a girl who was named heir to her grandmother’s powers to keep gods and ghosts sealed away to protect humanity, you might expect some action and mystery here. To protect her person, she is assigned five handsome protectors who follow her around. However, Hiiro no Kakera probably struggled most because of its dull first season.
It heaped on dialogue and exposition and limited anything actually happening either plot-wise or romantically. All of that changes with the second season, but it is understandable that some simply didn’t continue after being bored to death in the initial episodes.
Dance With Devils
Dance With Devils is unique in that the anime came first and then received an otome game adaptation later. Unfortunately, the thin line between reverse harem anime and reverse harem anime adapting a game is near invisible. As such, everyone falls in love with the female protagonist and there isn’t one clear best boy of the lot.
The series follows a good student who is summoned to the student council suddenly for allegedly breaking the rules. After her meeting turns more into an interrogation, a series of unfortunate events befalls her and she is drawn into the battle between vampires and devils who are both looking for a forbidden grimoire that will turn the tide.
It is a series full of dark and brooding men, all of which with some sort of secret, supernatural or otherwise. It is a pretty fun romp in boy exploration, but romance is more prevalent in the game.
La Corda D’Oro: Primo Passo
While idol anime is pretty hot right now, La Corda was something different that came long before the craze. It takes place in a music school split between the musically talented and general studies students. The main character, a general studies student, happens across a fairy that gifts her a magical violin that gives her a competitive edge in the recently announced competition at her school.
As such, this series is more about competing with love interests and coming to an understanding through music and competition. If you enjoy your classical music and beautiful boys, there is no finer series to get into. Although, it is getting a bit on the old side.
Norn9
This series has perhaps the most interesting set up of all the otome game anime. It follows those with special powers chosen to be delivered to The World, a peace-keeping entity of mysterious origin. When onboard the airship taking them to The World, they discover that there are too many onboard. Now they are not only trying to discover who does not belong, but the airship is also attacked. Furthermore, they also have no idea what will happen when they are delivered to The World.
Unfortunately, when you have a complicated story told through hours and hours of visual novel, it is pretty hard to bring that detail to a compact anime series. So, Norn9, the anime, suffers in that regard. If nothing else, this series seems like it was more fan service for fans of the game, and that’s not a bad way to be.
Stand My Heroes: Piece of Truth
Stand My Heroes follows a narcotics unit in drug-rampant Japan. It then proceeds to follow what is essentially the human resources officer in charge of recruiting talented individuals for the unit.
You know how you might interview for something and be incredibly nervous about it? Well, in this series, the roles are reversed. She courts talented individuals and they walk all over her as she tries to recruit them.
The set up is an excellent way to introduce a lot of different characters, but the issue is that even in the sea of otome game character archetypes, these ones are pretty bland. It is nice to see an otome anime adaptation aimed at Josei, but this one just wasn’t particularly well done in any regard.
Diabolik Lovers
I like to think that Diabolik Lovers is something that only appeals to the most masochistic otome fan. Not because of “oh, haha, it’s so bad you’d have to be a masochist to watch it,” but rather because it is all about a girl being constantly assaulted by a house of vampire brothers, and seemingly kind of into it.
The story is pretty basic. A girl is sent to a mansion where six horny vampires live, each hornier than the last. She is meant to be a tool to take out their various horniness and aggression on. Yes, that is actually the reason given by the plot. As such, each brother takes their turn tormenting her in a variety of ways.
It is definitely not series for everyone, but there are plenty who are really into it.
Starry Sky
This series follows a girl who goes to a recently co-ed school where she is the first female student to enroll. She goes there because it is prestigious for its astronomy-based education. Alongside being accompanied by her two male childhood friends, she also gets to meet many others who are themed around the Western zodiac star signs.
This series is really bursting with boys. The innate and obvious problem with that is the series, while long, tries to explore each boy’s plot line like the game does, but there simply isn’t enough time. The games are great! The anime leaves things somewhat wanting, though it is nice to see the characters come to life.
Sengoku Night Blood
What happens when you want to take famous Japanese warlords, but want to handsome them up significantly and dress them as you please? Well, you take them, put them in a different Sengoku Era-inspired world, and make them either vampires or werewolves that fight each other.
The plot of the series is about a girl transported there and looking for the Himemiko, a person who used to keep the peace between vampires and werewolves, in order to get home. However, the constant warfare that draws her in is somewhat impeding that goal.
As is common in otome games, the main character is rather useless, but serves as the perfect set piece to let you observe the myriad of handsome and well-animated men going about their business.
Mr. Love: Queen’s Choice
Many otome game anime adaptations are what would be called “promotional anime” that exist to sell the game and not so much to be a good anime series in their own right. Mr. Love is very much that. The issue with this anime is that it is actually pretty confusing in terms of plot and looks kind of jank at times, neither of which are great for promotional material.
The interesting thing about Mr. Love is that it isn’t the typical cheerful, squee-type of series that many otome game anime series are. It has a rather serious plot about those with the next step in human evolution building tension with regular humans and a producer getting caught up in the flow towards war. It is great for those who want actual interesting plot with a big side dose of handsome talented men.
Libra of Nil Admirari
This series has the very intriguing premise of being about cursed books that often greatly effect the readers, one such books causing the main character’s brother to burn himself to death. She, of course, gains the unique power to identify these tomes and is recruited into an agency that works to secure them.
Usually in this situation, the reverse harem of beautiful men are all pretty good at keeping their unique main character safe. That’s not really the case here. In fact, the only thing most of the male characters are good at is looking nice.
Girl Beats Boys
It is unique to have a gender-bending otome game in which a girl switches places with her long-lost twin brother and goes to a school filled with Japan’s toughest delinquents. Unfortunately, this series never really gets off the ground. Perhaps its the 8-minute episode run time, but not a ton happens.
She gathers a reverse harem of tough men charmed by her earnest shoujo protagonist nature to help her, they flirt a little bit, and… Well, nothing really goes anywhere.
This is definitely another promotional anime that dangles boy bait in front of your nose and tells you that if you want substance, go play their game.
Obey Me
Unlike most otome game adaptations that try to tell the story of the game, Obey Me took a smarter route in being just some nice fan service for fans. It has short form 5-minute episodes of just all the demonic ikemen from the game doing cute things. There’s no female protagonist that is a stand-in for you. No, no. You have to go play the mobile game for that.
This is one of those series you watch after the playing the game, and that was really a great way to play it.
Do you have more anime recommendations based on otome games? Let fans know in the comments section below.
