Written by Ross Locksley on 30 Jan 2025
From February 1st - 28th, Crunchyroll is offering a huge number of romantic anime shows for free to celebrate the month of Valentines! This is a great chance to catch some top-notch shows and get the warm fuzzies while you're doing it!
We'd heartily recommend Fruits Basket, My Dress Up Darling, A Sign of Affection and the Quintessential Quintuplets, but pretty much everything in the list is a good time - take a look below and start planning your romance marathon!
Here's a complete list of the titles available:
A Couple of Cuckoos (Shin-Ei Animation, SynergySP)
On the way to meet his birth parents, super-student Nagi meets brash Erika, who needs a quick favor. Pose as her boyfriend at dinner so she can avoid an arranged marriage. But things get tricky once they realize they’re heading to the same spot, and her parents still want them wed. How does he ask out his school crush, keep his grades up, and hide his pending nuptials? No one said love was easy! (Trailer)
A Sign of Affection (Ajia-do Animation Works)
Yuki Itose is just a typical student dealing with the pressures of college. She is struggling one day on the train when an upperclassman named Itsuomi Nagi helps her out. As he gradually opens a new world to her, Yuki develops feelings for Itsuomi. A pure love story begins to grow. (Trailer)
Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian (Doga Kobo)
Alya is a transfer student enjoying popularity at her new high school, often sporting a cold shoulder while earning high marks in class. She ignores her nerdy classmate, Kuze Masachika, except for when she blurts out a flirtatious line to him in Russian. Little does she know, Kuze understands Russian, though he pretends not to. Let’s see where this wacky love story takes them! (Trailer)
An Archdemon's Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride (Brain's Base)
Zagan might be the most feared evil sorcerer, but when it comes to social interactions, he’s the most inept. All those days studying the dark arts won’t help him when he falls in love at first sight with Nephelia, the beautiful elven slave, and spends his entire fortune to purchase her. With no clue how to talk to each other, the awkward arrangement for a bumbling sorcerer and timid elf begins. (Trailer)
Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki (Project No.9)
With no written rules, the real world is hard for gamer Tomozaki Fumiya, but he’s about to get the experience he needs from a seasoned player. (Trailers: Season 1 | Season 2)
Fruits Basket (2019) (TMS Entertainment)
Tohru Honda thought her life was headed for misfortune when a family tragedy left her living in a tent. When her small home is discovered by the mysterious Soma clan, she suddenly finds herself living with Yuki, Kyo, and Shigure Soma. But she quickly learns their family has a bizarre secret of their own: when hugged by the opposite sex, they turn into the animals of the Zodiac! (Trailer)
Girlfriend, Girlfriend (Tezuka Productions - S1; SynergySP - S2)
The protagonist, Naoya, is a first-year in high school. He asks out Saki, a girl he has been in love with, and she agrees to be his girlfriend. He's currently on cloud nine. But then, a beautiful girl named Nagisa comes up to Naoya one day and tells him that she wants to go out with him. Naoya feels himself wavering because Nagisa is such a good girl, and he comes to a decision! A new kind of romcom from a rather unexpected decision is about to begin! (Trailer)
Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! (Silver Link, Blade)
Snowflakes aren’t the only things dropping in Hokkaido—so are jaws, thanks to the super adorable gals who are turning the icy north into a hotbed of fashion and fun. Brace yourself for a winter storm of laughs, love, and killer outfits as these gals prove that being cute is an all-season affair. Here, frostbite meets fashionista! (Trailer)
Horimiya (CloverWorks)
A secret life is the one thing they have in common. At school, Hori is a prim and perfect social butterfly, but the truth is she's a brash homebody. Meanwhile, under a gloomy facade, Miyamura hides a gentle heart, along with piercings and tattoos. In a chance meeting, they both reveal a side they've never shown. Could this blossom into something new? (Trailer)
Kaguya-sama: Love Is War (A-1 Pictures)
Known for being both brilliant and powerful, Miyuki Shirogane and Kaguya Shinomiya lead the illustrious Shuchiin Academy as near equals. And everyone thinks they’d make a great couple. Pride and arrogance are in ample supply, so the only logical move is to trick the other into instigating a date! Who will come out on top in this psychological war where the first move is the only one that matters? (Trailer)
More than a Married Couple, but Not Lovers (Studio Mother)
Partnering up for a high school project with your crush is a dream, but what if it’s with someone you can’t stand and the project is marriage? That’s what Jirō Yakuin and gyaru, Akari Watanabe will find out as they’re tested as a couple. If that wasn’t enough, their crushes are partners too! If they wanna switch, they’ll have to make this arranged marriage work and make it to the top ten. (Trailer)
My Dress-Up Darling (CloverWorks)
Wakana Gojo is a high school boy who wants to become a kashirashi--a master craftsman who makes traditional Japanese Hina dolls. Though he's gung-ho about the craft, he knows nothing about the latest trends and has a hard time fitting in with his class. The popular kids – especially one girl, Marin Kitagawa – seem like they live in a completely different world. That all changes one day, when she shares an unexpected secret with him, and their completely different worlds collide. (Trailer)
My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999 (Madhouse)
Akane Kinoshita, a female college student, faces the absolute worst situation when she ends up breaking up with her boyfriend after he has an affair with a woman he met playing an online game. While relieving her stress by rampaging through the open hunting grounds of an online game, Akane spills everything about her heartbreak to “Yamada”, a player she met by chance who happens to be in the same guild. “I don't care,” is his curt reply. But when Akane gets a makeover and joins an offline event to get back at her ex-boyfriend, she hears those dreadful words again. And that was Akane's fateful encounter with “Yamada”─! (Trailer)
Ouran High School Host Club (BONES)
You’ll fall for the boys in the Ouran Host Club: Tamaki’s truly romantic. Kaoru and Hikaru offer displays of brotherly love. You’ll adore brainy Kyoya, innocent Honey, and manly Mori. Oh, and don’t forget Haruhi. He knows what girls want—of course, it’s because he’s a girl too! The Hosts must do their best to hide her secret, but Haruhi’s having a blast turning their perfect world upside down. (Trailer)
Recovery of an MMO Junkie (Signal.MD)
Morioka Moriko (♀) is 30, single, and a NEET. She has dropped out of the real world. Searching for a safe place, the place she ended up... is the online world!! In this online game, Moriko starts a new life as a handsome young man with silky hair named Hayashi. However, she’s an obvious noob and ends up dying numerous times when a lovely girl named “Lily” lends her a helping hand. Meanwhile IRL, she ends up having a shocking encounter with a mysterious handsome salaryman named Sakurai Yuta. After meeting him, the real world starts to change and starts affecting her online world as well?!
Rent-a-Girlfriend (TMS Entertainment)
Kinoshita Kazuya is a 20-year-old failure of a college student. He managed to kiss his girlfriend once, but was dumped after a month. "Ugh... Damn it. I never want to go through that again." Completely spiteful, Kazuya uses a certain method to date a girl. He goes to their meeting place and suddenly hears, "You're Kazuya-kun, right?" A beautiful girl brushing her long, black hair behind her ear was there, smiling at him. Her name was Mizuhara Chizuru. Something real is born after just a single rental! A reckless rom-com filled with love and excitement is about to begin! (Trailers: Season 1 | Season 2)
Sasaki and Miyano (Studio DEEN)
Miyano’s world of Boys’ Love manga turns to reality when chance leads him to Sasaki. Now, Sasaki wants to spend every opportunity with him. (Trailer)
The Quintessential Quintuplets (Bibury Animation Studios)
Uesugi Fuutarou, a high school second-year from a poor family, receives a highly appealing offer to work part-time as a tutor... but his students turn out to be girls from his own class! What's more, they're quintuplets... and all five are beautiful, but happen to be problem students who have borderline grades and hate studying! Looks like his first assignment will be to win all the sisters' trust?! Every day is a wild party in this rom-com centering around the quintuplet sisters of the Nakano household! (Trailer)
Tomo-chan Is a Girl! (Lay-duce)
Tomboy Tomo couldn’t have picked a more awkward high school crush ’cause it’s on her childhood friend, Junichiro, but he only sees her as one of the guys. Despite her pretty looks and signals, nothing gets through to this meathead! Will Junichiro ever realize Tomo’s into him and see her for the cutesy girl she actually is?! (Trailer)
TONIKAWA: Over The Moon For You (Seven Arcs)
The sweet story of Nasa and Tsukasa continues! After surviving some awkward first nights together, dealing with doubters, and recovering from their apartment fire, it’s clear the fate of these lovers was written in the stars. Now, they’re ready to settle back into domestic bliss and finally plan their wedding ceremony! But with plenty of new friends on the way, what will their big day look like?! (Trailer)
Ross founded the UK Anime Network waaay back in 1995 and works in and around the anime world in his spare time. You can read his more personal articles on UKA's sister site, The Anime Independent.
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