Romance anime are often adapted from light novels or manga. They’re usually the version international audiences are familiar with. This is partly due to anime being more popular than light novels, or source novels having no official English translation.
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Finding official English-translated light novels is easier now than in the last two decades. eReaders, the accessibility of services like Bookwalker, and frequent sales further pushed English light novels into slightly more mainstream consumption. Plus, the short length of light novels and their conversational tone make these titles easier to get through.
Romance is a perfect genre for light novels. Readers get swept by blush-worthy moments, steamy scenes, and emotional bits in bursts. Catching up to events is also easier while finishing volumes in half a day is also possible.
わたしの幸せな結婚
Author: Akumi Agitogi
English Publisher: Yen Press
Miyo Saimori has not felt love since her mother died. Her father allows their step-family to abuse her and treat her like a servant for having no supernatural talent. She fears the worst when her family forces her into a live-in engagement with a man reportedly so cruel his engagements only last for three days.
Unexpectedly, Miyo finds kindness and protection in her fiancé, Commander Kiyoka Kudou. As they slowly become a true couple, spirits and humans alike threaten to end their last chance at love and happiness.
Fans of melodrama, soap operas, and telenovelas have a lot to look forward to inMy Happy Marriage.Its first seasonaired in 2023 and an additional OVA will be released along with its eighth light novel volume in 2024. A live-action and manga version are also available.
夢見る男子は現実主義者
Author: Okemaru
English Publisher: Monogatari Novels
Wataru Sajou’s days of chasing Aika Natsukawa comes to an abrupt end after a soccer ball nearly hits his face. The close encounter makes him realize she’s out of his league. Wataru abruptly distances himself from Aika, who realizes that she might actually miss him.
Instead of communicating, the two act like their age. Wataru attempts to widen the gap as Aika tries to make him stick around in a roundabout way. But almost eight volumes in, they’restill hopelessly entangled, even as more girls crowd around Wataru.
87th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy!
ループ7回目の悪役令嬢は、元敵国で自由気ままな花嫁生活を満喫する
Loop 7-kaime no Akuyaku Reijō wa, Moto Tekikoku de Jiyū Kimamana Hanayome Seikatsu o Mankitsu Suru
Author: Touko Amekawa
English Publisher: Seven Seas Entertainment
No matter how far she runs or what she does ina time loop, Rishe Weitzner ends up dead at 20. At her seventh run, she’s had enough. She becomes the fiancé and hostage of Hyne Kingdom’s prince and her former killer Arnold.
All Rishe wants to do is loaf around and avoid dealing with politics, wars, and other things that got her killed in the past. Yet she ends up using her experience from previous loops to find a way to end it. The key may lie with Arnold, who is strangely kinder to her than in previous loops.
7Tearmoon Empire
ティアムーン帝国物語～断頭台から始まる、姫の転生逆転ストーリー～
Tearmoon Teikoku Monogatari: Dantoudai kara Hajimaru, Hime no Tensei Gyakuten Story
Author: Nozomu Mochitsuki
English Publisher: J-Novel Club
Mia is a brat. She also happens to be the only princess of Tearmoon Kingdom. Those two things and her “Mia First” policy eventually put her in prison and under the guillotine at 20.
Death miraculously does not claim her. She instead wakes up 12 again with a chance to turn her entire life around. But it’s not easy for Mia to put others before herself, nor does any duty expected of royalty after a lifetime of doing what she wills.
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Then there’s Abel Remno, a prince who wasted his first life fooling around with girls and cards. Abel eventually meets Mia in new timelines and finds the motivation to change at her encouragement. Although Mia is the focus of the series, their romance and growth are plot-critical and appropriately sweet.
6Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte
ツンデレ悪役令嬢リーゼロッテと実況の遠藤くんと解説の小林さん
Tsundere Akuyaku Reijō Rīzerotte to Jikkyō no Endō-kun to Kaisetsu no Kobayashi-san
Author: Suzu Enoshima
Shihono Kobayashi absolutely adores Liesolette Riefenstahl, the villainess of MagiKoi. She eventually gets broadcasting club classmate Aoto Endo to try the game with her as his guide. But neither expected anyone to hear their running commentary or be considered gods by in-game characters.
Endo and Kobayashi end up becoming Prince Siegwald Fitzenhagen’s guide to his fiancée Liesolette. As the “Voices of the Gods”, Endo and Kobayashi team up to help Siegwald navigate Liesolette’s behavior. Through their guidance, the two hope to save Liesolette from her grim fate in thegame’s original timeline.
5The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten
お隣の天使様にいつの間にか駄目人間にされていた件
Otonari no Tenshi-sama ni Itsu no Ma ni ka Dame Ningen ni Sareteita Ken
Author: Saekisan
Amane Fujimiya is a slob. Luckily for him, Mahiru Shiina is a figurative angel great at housework and lives next to him. Despite this, they’ve never interacted even when they belong to the same class.
One rainy day changes that, as Amane finds a crying Mahiru in the rain and lends her an umbrella. Mahiru returning the umbrella should have ended things, but she decides to help Amane after she sees the trash mountain inside his apartment. The two end upspending more time together, growing closer and opening up to each other.
四畳半神話大系
Author: Tomihiko Morimi
English Publisher: HarperCollins
The Tatami Galaxyis renowned for its experimental art style, gorgeous animation, andhandling of its multiversal story. The story centers on an unnamed third-year Kyoto University student, appropriately referred to as “Watashi” or “I” in the anime.
Watashi thought he would have the ideal college life. But two years in, he’s on the verge of dropping out and making another bad decision with his only friend, and terrible influence, Ozu. A chance encounter with a god of matchmaking, and the consequences of another Ozu-led decision, lead to time rewinding back to Watashi’s freshman year.
In four parallel universes, Watashi joins different clubs and makes choices he failed to make in his previous life. He also does something about his crush on Akashi, an engineering student who appears in almost every universe as his muse.
Aside from the anime,The Tatami Galaxyhas a sequel calledThe Tatami Time Machine Blues. HarperCollins publishedThe Tatami Galaxy’s English translation by Emily Balistrieri in December 2022, while its sequel will come out in September 2023.
精霊幻想記
Author: Yuri Kitayama
Haruto Amakawa promised his childhood friend Ayase Miharu that they would meet again. Unfortunately, Ayase goes missing just as they were about to reunite in high school. Even worse, Haruto dies in a bus accident without discovering what happened to his childhood friend.
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He and Ayase would meet again in the new world. But reuniting this time around is a lot more complicated than passing a high school entrance exam. Haruto was reincarnated into the body of Rio, and they want revenge against the villains who killed their mother.
舟を編む
Author: Shion Miura
English Publisher: Amazon Crossing
While an old anime,The Great Passagestill stands out for itsfully realized adult cast, character growth, and down-to-earth plot. It follows Mitsuya Majime, a bookworm salesman who’s bad at talking. Veteran editor Kouhei Araki discovers Mitsuya’s love for reading and offers him a spot in the dictionary department instead of languishing in sales.
But the opportunity comes with a catch. Mitsuya must now help Araki and his new co-workers complete Araki’s last project before his retirement, The Great Passage. As he swims the sea of words to shape this new dictionary, Mitsuya also learns how to connect with others, including potential love interest Kaguya Hayashi.
乙女ゲームの破滅フラグしかない悪役令嬢に転生してしまった…
Otome Gēmu no Hametsu Furagu Shika Nai Akuyaku Reijō ni Tensei Shite Shimatta…
Author: Satoru Yamaguchi
Fortune Lover was the protagonist’sfavorite otome gamebefore she was hit by a vehicle. Yet she didn’t expect to be reincarnated into its world after death, much less as its villainess Katarina Claes.
Faced with death in every route, she resolves to avoid every death flag and, failing that, retire as a farmer in another land. Except the reborn Katarina does a little too well at avoiding death flags. Katarina’s determined march through each event without a thought in her head makes her the unsuspecting center of a harem, resulting in a very entertaining story for readers.
