It is one of the the oldest and most effective romance cliches in the book. A heroine finds herself in danger, and a hero sweeps in to save her, somehow deepening their budding romance further. Of course, rescue romance anime series, as I call them, need not be a damsel in distress. There are plenty of heroes need rescuing as well. Just look at Eren from Attack on Titan. That guy has been rescued like three times now from various kidnappings. However, Attack on Titan isn’t a romance series no matter how much Mikasa simps. These anime series may be action anime series in some cases, but they also have a distinct element of romance to them.
Best Rescue Romance Anime
Yona of the Dawn
The foundation of this series is built on the damsel in distress trope. Yona is a literal princess who narrowly escapes a violent coup led by a man she had a crush on with her bodyguard. From then on, it is her gathering allies to retake her kingdom. While initially, she has to be rescued frequently, she does grow into her own as a leader and requires less saving as time goes on as she becomes less naive.
Snow White With the Red Hair
While this series can be progressive in some ways, it is still very much a damsel in distress rescue romance at times. On one hand, Shirayuki skips town to avoid becoming a concubine. Except she ends up living with another prince and growing closer to him. She does also have professional goals as an herbalist, but also she frequently ends up in trouble and is saved by her prince. Although it gives as much as it takes when it comes to being progressive, it is still a good twist on a fairy tale.
Revolutionary Girl Utena
Although it is an older series, Utena was truly a revolutionary one. Essentially it takes the classic idea of rescue romances, and makes the white knight a girl. Even for today it is pretty progressive with its representation of gender stereotypes in most instances.
Inuyasha
This is the show I will always think of when it comes to this trope. At first, Kagome, a teens from the modern age, ends up alone in feudal Japan except it is filled with demons. As such, initially she needs a lot of saving. She will continue to need saving the rest of the series, even as she learns to fight. Though her archery skills do enable her to do some saving of other characters at times. Still, her need for rescue is a huge element of their romance in the show.
Escaflowne
While widely forgotten about, the relationships in Escaflowne are something it did very well for its times. It doesn’t have that same “love conquers all” message that continues to be enduringly popular, but rather insists that more is needed for both a good relationship and saving the damn world. Regardless, as the main characters start off not liking each other much, the various circumstances that force them to rescue each other help them understand each other more and build that unbreakable bond.
Rosario + Vampire
As a harem series, it should come as no surprise that the harem is built on rescuing the girls initially. The monster girls are so thankful to the sole human boy hiding in an all-monster school that they love him forever. However, the main girl, Moka, will require saving and her inner badass self will also do the saving at times too.
Sword Art Online
Sword Art is a lot of things, and one of those things is Kirito saving girls, and them falling in love with him in response. While romance becomes a bigger part of the plot as the series goes on, in the most recent season, this damsel in distress trope gets full on turned around as his entire gathered harem tries to save Kirito.
Spice and Wolf
The trope is reversed in Spice and Wolf. Holo, being a goddess and all, doesn’t need much saving. In fact, she is really quite snarky about how not vulnerable as a woman she is. Lawrence, on the other hand, is merely a puny human. He, on occasion, needs Holo to transform into her true form of a giant wolf to save his ass or save his business deal.
Full Metal Panic
Like many classic anime series that fit in that perfect trifecta of action, comedy, and romance, Full Metal Panic leans heavily on this trope. Sousuke is silly, but strong, and in the moments when it counts, he sweeps into save Kaname who is your standard tough but vulnerable tsundere girl. As the series goes on, unfortunately, it leans even harder on this and it becomes steadily less fun.
Chrono Crusade
When this series starts off, Chrono and Rosette are on more even terms. They are both reckless and snarky, as well as bound by a shared enemy. However, weirdly enough, as they develop feelings, it seems Rosette gets weaker. By the end, it truly becomes a rescue romance even if it didn’t start off that way so much.
Gosick
Gosick is a pretty unique beast. As a mystery series, the mysteries are actually pretty ridiculous initially, but they all lead up to the much darker overall plot. While most mystery series add in an element of rescue romance, Gosick goes really quite heavy with it. The nice thing is that it is a well developed romance but doesn’t take priority over the plot.
Familiar of Zero
As Louise is pretty shit at being a mage and often just being a person, she requires a lot of saving. Luckily, she summons Saito who seems like your normal Japanese teen, but he also a magical problem-solving, girl-rescuing, hero of destiny.
Berserk
While Casca in Berserk is made out to be a hardass and a badass, they sure do require her to need a lot of saving. They even really make it a basis for the romance in the show as well until things go horribly awry.
Rurouni Kenshin
As Kaoru is the heir to a sword dojo, she doesn’t often require a lot of saving. In fact, she serves as a tempering influence to Kenshin and saves him from his murderous past self. There is one instance where she does become a true damsel in distress, though. When she is debilitated by Jin-e, it almost makes Kenshin go full Battosai to save her.
Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles
Considering the plot is about traveling to different dimensions to collect feathers in order to save the life of a princess, this pretty obviously fits the bill. As she is not traveling with them, you only get a few moments of romantic payoff though.
Do you have more damsel in distress rescue romance anime series? Let fans know in the comments section below.
