In the ever-evolving world of anime, romance has remained a cornerstone genre, delivering stories that tug at the heartstrings while exploring human emotions in raw, beautiful, and often humorous ways. Between 2020 and 2025, we’ve seen some truly stellar romance anime that broke the internet, became instant classics, or redefined what love means on-screen.
Whether you’re looking for slow-burn relationships, heart-pounding confessions, or tear-jerking farewells, this list of the Top 5 Best Romance Anime to watch (2020–2025) brings you the most unmissable love stories of the decade.
1. Kaguya Sama: Love is War, Ultra Romantic & The First Kiss That Never Ends
(2022–2023)
Studio: A-1 Pictures
Genre: Romantic Comedy, Psychological, School
Why It’s a Must-Watch:
No recent love anime has captured the cat-and-mouse thrill of love as intensely as Kaguya-sama: Love is War. Ultra Romantic, season three, and the movie The First Kiss That Never Ends provided the long-awaited emotional revelation in the romance between Kaguya Shinomiya and Miyuki Shirogane.
The impeccable mix of killer mind games, laugh-out-loud miscommunication, and heartbreaking emotional scenes between two high school geniuses as they try to get the other to break first in Ultra Romantic. Emotions spill here. We see growth, vulnerability, and redemption, leading to one of the most satisfying anime romantic highs. The film, The First Kiss That Never Ends, beautifully captures their realisation of their feelings and fixes their relationship in a warm and cosy way. The audience for the series left feeling whole and contented after seeing the development of Kaguya and Miyuki’s relationship through these newest episodes.
Standout Moment:
That legendary Christmas arc and the post-credits scene in the film will leave your heart full.
Episodes:
Season 3 (13 episodes), Film (~90 minutes)
2. Horimiya
(2021)
Studio: CloverWorks
Genre: Slice of Life, Romance, Comedy, School
Why It’s a Must-Watch:
Horimiya is a pleasant high school romance that skips over the usual “will-they-won’t-they” angst and addresses the heart of the matter immediately. The anime follows Hori and Miyamura, two vastly different classmates who conceal different facets of themselves from the world. They come to accept and enjoy each other’s peculiarities as they become more intimate.
Horimiya diverges from other romance anime because it doesn’t delay emotional mile markers. Confessions, dating, and even family life are introduced early on, so it feels grounded and realistic. It’s humorous, relatable, and full of little, precious moments that you fall in love with the characters. Horimiya also explores themes of self-acceptance and development, as Hori and Miyamura learn to accept themselves for who they are with each other’s help. The series beautifully portrays their relationship evolving, and hence, it is a joyous and tearful journey for lovers of the romance genre.
Standout Moment:
When Miyamura takes Hori to his dark side, and she loves him despite it, that’s romantically done right. This is why we have an honourable mention of our 5 Best Romance Anime to watch
Episodes:
13 episodes (2021)
Bonus: Horimiya: The Missing Pieces (2023) adds side stories from the manga.
3. My Happy Marriage
(2023)
Studio: Kinema Citrus
Genre: Historical, Romance, Fantasy, Drama
Why It’s a Must-Watch:
A mix of Bridgerton-quality elegance and emotionally naked narrative, My Happy Marriage is the story of Miyo Saimori, a girl without magical ability in a world where magic is being able to stand. Abused and cast off by her kin, she’s to be married to Kiyoka Kudo, a strong but remote army commander with his dark past.
What begins as a political marriage of convenience slowly becomes a sweet, believing relationship. The anime softly explores trauma, emotional healing, and self-worth through the characters’ journey. Every soft gaze, tender caress, and warm word is a milestone of romance. Miyo and Kiyoka, in sharing their shared suffering and frailties, comfort and sustain each other, gradually developing a deep bond founded on mutual understanding and support. Through their evolving relationship, My Happy Marriage emphasises the redemptive nature of love in mending past wounds and finding true happiness.
Standout Moment:
Kiyoka defending Miyo in front of her abusive family is powerful, tender, and deeply satisfying.
Episodes:
12 episodes
4. The Dangers in My Heart
(2023–2024)
Studio: Shin-Ei Animation
Genre: Psychological Romance, Slice of Life, Comedy
Why It’s a Must-Watch:
Kyotaro Ichikawa starts the series certain he’s the “edgy loner” destined to commit atrocities, an exaggerated manifestation of his middle-school adolescent angst. But his encounter with the cheerful, beautiful class idol, Yamada Anna, begins to chip away at that shell of isolation.
After that follows a slow-burning, unexpectedly innocent love story. The Risks in My Heart is emotionally gripping but sentimental, showing how awkward or nervous teens struggle to express emotions, and how intimacy can change a person. By Season 2 (2024), the romance blossoms into true mutual affection felt as earned and intense. While Ichikawa and Yamada struggle with their own emotions and weaknesses, viewers follow a journey of self-discovery and enlightenment, demonstrating the healing power of love and compassion. The program portrays so tenderly the agony of adolescent emotions and relationships and is universally appealing to viewers of any age.
Standout Moment:
That library scene with the quiet hand-holding? Subtle, intimate, and unforgettable.
Episodes:
Season 1: 12 episodes (2023)
Season 2: 13 episodes (2024)
5. Insomniacs After School
(2023)
Studio: LIDENFILMS
Genre: Romance, Slice of Life, School, Drama
Why It’s a Must-Watch:
Not all love stories are loud or explosive; some grow silently under the stars. Insomniacs After School is the story of Ganta Nakami and Isaki Magari, two insomnia-afflicted students who form a connection over their late-night meetings in the school’s dilapidated observatory.
It’s not just romance anime, it’s a beautiful and touching exploration of mental health, loneliness, and finding that person who understands you. Their nighttime adventures and slowly built-up intimacy turn every episode into a subdued poem. There’s something meditative about the series that sets it apart. The understated equilibrium between light-heartedness and emotional weight in Insomniacs After School makes it a very engaging watch. The characters’ insomnia and loneliness issues are handled sensitively and realistically, and thus, it is a very relatable and poignant story for viewers.
Standout Moment:
When they photograph the Milky Way together, a perfect metaphor for finding light in darkness.
Episodes:
13 episodes
Honorable Mentions
While the top 5 captured our hearts in specific ways, these deserve a quick spotlight:
- A Sign of Affection (2024) – A beautiful romance featuring a hearing-impaired protagonist navigating love and communication barriers.
- Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku (OVA in 2021) – Although the main series started earlier, its final episodes landed in 2021 and brought satisfying closure.
- Call of the Night (2022) – A romance with a supernatural, philosophical twist, where falling in love means becoming a vampire.
Final Thoughts on the 5 Best Romance Anime to Watch
From high school romantic comedy to deeper emotional purgation, the 2020–2025 romance anime taught us that romances are way more than overused clichés. These five shows are well beyond the simple crush and smooches
They explore what it is to open yourself up, to trust, to grow. If you are an old-timer for the romance genre, or someone who has always felt they might have to miss out, these volumes will touch, they will move you, they may even be enough to convince you why we become enamoured of anime to begin with.
Which of these have you seen, and which one won your heart the most? Tell us in the comments!