Looking for romance (or magical girl like sailor moon) animes to watch with my wife that aren’t “odd.”
No upskirts or weird non-character sexualization (if the main characters are attracted to each other it’s vastly different than sexual harassment by schoolmates/teachers/the invisible camera man…)
No children (obviously, but 🤮 at so many titles in this genre)
Either apolitical (impossible), or at least empowering to women and not the typical Western/Japanese “your job is to be your husband’s token”
Edit: Non hetero-normative animes fully welcome but I would be lying if I said she wouldn’t be pissed at a lesbian anime if it’s overtly and obviously written for/by men.
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I really like the apothecary diaries altho its more of a mystery anime with some slowburn
I don’t like isekai generally but I enjoyed the one about reincarnating as the perfect villainess. Female-oriented romance, and quite funny. +1 to Apothecary Diaries.
Yaoi wise I liked Yuri on Ice
you probably want to look into shoujo. it’s targetted at girls, so it’s a lot less horny. it’s also usually lower budget and less is made, though
for lesbian anime bloom into you is good. though i think the go-to recommendation for that is Nana, I can’t say I’ve watched it.
more recently, i really enjoyed the apothecary diaries. there’s some romance but very little. and i guess there’s some sexualization but like, it’s not really fanservice as much as there are multiple sex worker characters bc the mc grew up in the pleasure district.
The queerness in Nana is all repressed and closeted, but it’s there. Nana’s an exceptionally-crafted cautionary tale about the destructive influence of the straight lifestyle.
This season’s The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity is really cute and has none of that weirdness! Another one I enjoyed is A Sign of Affection which is set in college and features a Deaf protagonist.
It’s been a while since I watched these, but I don’t think Wotakoi (office romance) or Recovery of an MMO Junkie have any of that weirdness, and they both have adult casts.
Bloom Into You is one of the best yuri anime out there, and Sasaki and Miyano is a very cute BL show.
Separate from romance, if you haven’t watched Cardcaptor Sakura it’s an absolute classic of the magical girl genre.
Not anime, but manga with a live action drama I haven’t watched yet: She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat.
I also like Apothecary Diaries, but fair warning: POWER DYNAMICS!
She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat
I absolutely adore the manga, so I hope the live action is good! I mean, it got two seasons, so that’s gotta count for something. I’m actually slowly working my way through the adaptation of Even Though We’re Adults right now…really feels like we’re entering a golden age of yuri adaptations.
They need to update the manga more often! Or the scans at least 😅
You know, I’ve only ever followed the official English edition for this manga, which had the most recent volume release this January, so for me it appeared to be releasing at a regular clip. But looking into it, it seems like it’s been on an extended (year+) hiatus due to the author’s health.
It (first?) went on hiatus on June 23rd, 2023 after the publication of Chapter 40. It returned December 1, 2023, with the announcement saying that after twice-monthly releases of Chapters 41-47 from December 1 to February 23, it would move to a monthly schedule. It appears this schedule was adhered to, with Chapter 52 releasing June 14, 2024, but there have been no new chapter releases and no new volume since; Volume 5 was released in Japan on February 15, 2024 and contained Chapters 38-45. The most recent tweet on the official account is on February 6, 2025 apologizing for keeping people waiting retweeting while quote retweeting an earlier statement that updates would be irregular after Chapter 52.
The author also has an Instagram account (which among other things has a “ceasefire now” post from February 17, 2024 with a watermelon, hell yeah), and it’s been regularly updated since May 31 of this year after not having posted anything since March 19, 2024. Hope that’s a sign that she’s at least recovering physically and coping with the pressure okay.
Oh dear. Shoot, hope they’re doing better. Looking at the insta it’s hard to tell if they’re posting progress pages or just random one shots, but yeah at least they’re posting.
The answer is to find stuff that’s targeted to women.
You’ll still get a lot of eroticized harassment and SV and at best break even on the rest of it most of the time.
Ya boy kongming. After the first episode there is no fan service. I watched it with my wife and she is not an anime person, she loved it. It is a music focused anime. I will have to ask her for some more
Also BOFURI: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense.: https://trakt.tv/shows/bofuri-i-don-t-want-to-get-hurt-so-i-ll-max-out-my-defense https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11428630
I think there might be some fan service but it is mostly just a fun ride. It is about a girl who doesn’t know how to play rpgs trys one with a friend and ends up breaking the game. It is very funny is you have played any MMORPG or rpgs.
My time has come:
Revolutionary girl Utena (still weird but I’m a different way, magical girl, yuri)
The tatami galaxy (only subbed last time I checked, a bit fast, college-age, has weird parts)*
Kono Kaisha ni Suki na Hito ga Imasu( they’re adults but the anime is alright, but they’re adults so I’m happy)
Yubisaki to Renren(college age)
Honorable Mentions + Movies:
Howls moving castle
Koe no Katachi(high schoolers)
Chihayafuru (high schoolers, no weird shounen energy cause it’s Josei, best of the best it’ll be disservice not to watch)
Cider no You ni Kotoba ga Wakiagaru
Kimi no na wa
Kimi no na wa is as far as I know the only anime with an Esperanto dub
Chihayafuru
I did enjoy this, but it’s never going to be finished!
I still have hope but finished the manga just in case TT-TT. Love that series too much
Yeah, I suppose I should give that a shot when I have time to kill.
I’ll say, finishing the manga didn’t take away my urge to see new episodes.
So I just found out there was a live action movie and currently a live action series on Netflix that’s like a group of totally different kids 10 years later or something. So maybe there’s still hope for the anime. Chihayafuru Full Circle
Lol, rarely does.
Tatami Galaxy is good but I think the whole thing with the
spoiler
doll
is probably going to break the threshold for weirdness/objectification.
Good point, I’ll add and asterisk
Library War has a romance plot but is a lot more action oriented, but yeah, the characters are all adults and it definitely shows a woman in an empowered position, and I can’t recall any weird sexualization. I wish I could recommend Maison Ikkoku and Servant x Service as romance anime between adults but I worry they might break the sexualization rule.
When it comes to magical girl shows, I kinda want to recommend Precure foremost. It’s got like 1,000 episodes or something, I have not seen them all but from what I have seen it’s about as tame if not tamer than Sailor Moon, though there was a scene where the main characters’ classmates had their minds possessed by the bad guys and they were made to almost jump off a tall building (they were saved, though).
Is there anything like this but for Yuri or yaoi
Don’t watch ninkoro lol.
Golden time, Nana, Fune wo amu and Nodame Cantabile. Honey and clover too maybe.
I haven’t seen it but I think Spy x Family checks out. Its also the most popular romance anime atm so its probably an easy place to start.
My friend has recommended Way of the Househusband. Sorry these are both hetero romances
Just added the edit to say it was “allowed” because my first draft was very obviously hetero-normative. People took the edit and ran with it 🤣
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Dandadan has some pretty hefty sexualization scenes from time to time, 1st ep especially. But it’s like rehab for gooners/incels; they occasionally give the horny audience a carrot and then out of nowhere beat them over the head with an emotionally traumatic stick for not respecting women.
It is rather sweet and genuine at times, but not something I would recommend for someone wanting to avoid weird.
Yeah that’s fair lol. I recommended because it is cute when it’s not really weird and like you said, good on themes. But remembering the very first episode I don’t think it’s what OP is looking for.
Well Dandadan is pretty weird but not in a creepy/male gazey way
The first episode is not literally the worst creepy male gaze shit ever put to screen, but that’s mainly the indictment of other anime. The later hot spring attack is gratuitous and pandering to creeps, but not as horrendous, but don’t worry, it will get back to elements that are nearly as bad as E1 in a season or two (the idol and the blackmailer, mainly)
I liked wotakoi and apparently The Ice Guy and his Cool Female Colleague has an anime adaptation now.
