Romance accounts for 63 of the 260 tracked 2026 entries in AniGems' current catalogue, up from 24 of 212 in 2021. Among these romances, You and I Are Polar Opposites offers a highly rated first season to start with. Other results are less clear-cut: The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten sits near the top of its matched 2023 group on MyAnimeList and near the bottom on Bangumi.
We compared 263 Romance-tagged anime entries released from 2021 through 2026 to help you choose your next watch. The ratings come from MyAnimeList, Bangumi, Filmarks and Gamer, with perspectives from English-speaking, Chinese-speaking and Japanese-speaking anime communities. All figures come from the November 7 snapshot; the 2026 group includes completed seasons and shows still airing.
Romance’s growing share of the catalogue
Romance’s share more than doubled
Romance rose from 24 of 212 tracked entries in 2021 to 63 of 260 in 2026 so far: from 11.3% to 24.2%. The largest increase in share came between 2022 and 2023. The 2026 figure describes the catalogue at the November cutoff, while the earlier figures cover complete release years. These are selected catalogue entries, including separate seasons and parts; changes in tracking coverage limit what they can tell us about industry production or viewing demand.
More school romances, a smaller fantasy share
Fantasy-tagged romances increased from nine entries in 2021 to fifteen in 2026 so far, while romances without that tag increased from fifteen to forty-eight. Fantasy's share of the romance group fell from 37.5% to 23.8%. The School theme appeared on eight of the 24 romances in 2021 and 29 of 63 in 2026; Comedy appeared on thirteen and twenty-eight respectively.
That means the School share rose from 33.3% to 46.0%, while Comedy's share fell from 54.2% to 44.4%, even as its entry count grew. The tags overlap: a show can be both a school romance and a comedy. These figures describe how the recorded selection changed, without establishing why it changed or which settings viewers prefer.
How romance scores compare
Romance has no consistent scoring advantage across the four platforms. Its median score is almost the same as the wider catalogue's on MAL, lower on Bangumi and equal on Filmarks and Gamer. The data notes give the exact medians and explain how the comparison changes with a higher rating-count requirement.
The highest and lowest-rated romance anime
The top ten
Both lists cover the same 186 Romance-tagged entries with at least 100 ratings on every site. AniGems converts five-point scores to ten and weights each source by the logarithm of its rating count. That gives us a common numerical scale, though the communities still use their scales differently.
Show exact rankings and platform scores
Article data table — scroll to view all columns
| Rank | Anime | Year | AniGems /10 | MAL /10 | Bangumi /10 | Filmarks /5 | Gamer /5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kaguya-sama: Love is War -Ultra Romantic- | 2022 | 8.97 | 8.95 | 8.3 | 4.3 | 5 |
| 2 | The Dangers in My Heart Season 2 | 2024 | 8.91 | 8.68 | 8.3 | 4.3 | 5 |
| 3 | You and I Are Polar Opposites Season 2 | 2026 | 8.81 | 8.54 | 8 | 4.3 | 5 |
| 4 | Fruits Basket: The Final Season | 2021 | 8.70 | 8.93 | 7.1 | 4.3 | 4.9 |
| 5 | Teasing Master Takagi-san 3 | 2022 | 8.69 | 8.36 | 8 | 4.2 | 5 |
| 6 | You and I Are Polar Opposites | 2026 | 8.65 | 8.27 | 7.7 | 4.3 | 5 |
| 7 | Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines! | 2024 | 8.52 | 8.07 | 8 | 4 | 5 |
| 8 | The Dangers in My Heart | 2023 | 8.50 | 8.19 | 7.8 | 4.1 | 4.9 |
| 9 | My Dress-Up Darling Season 2 | 2025 | 8.47 | 8.16 | 7.7 | 4 | 5 |
| 10 | Call of the Night Season 2 | 2025 | 8.42 | 8.34 | 7.7 | 3.8 | 5 |
You and I Are Polar Opposites Season 2 takes third at 8.81. The first five places all belong to continuing installments, so newcomers should start those stories with their earlier seasons.
For a first season, start with You and I Are Polar Opposites, sixth at 8.65. Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines! follows in seventh at 8.52, and the first season of The Dangers in My Heart is eighth at 8.50. You can begin any of these without catching up on earlier seasons.
The bottom ten
These are the ten lowest scores within the same qualifying group. Summoned to Another World for a Second Time and the 2026 High School! Kimengumi share sixth-lowest rank at 5.53. A low overall score does not settle whether you will enjoy the story.
Show exact rankings and platform scores
Article data table — scroll to view all columns
| Rank | Anime | Year | AniGems /10 | MAL /10 | Bangumi /10 | Filmarks /5 | Gamer /5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hyakki Yakoushou | 2026 | 4.89 | 5.35 | 3.7 | 2.4 | 2.7 |
| 2 | The Fruit of Evolution: Before I Knew It, My Life Had It Made Season 2 | 2023 | 4.92 | 5.48 | 2.8 | 2.7 | 2.8 |
| 3 | Rent-a-Girlfriend Season 5 | 2026 | 5.14 | 6.26 | 4.1 | 3.6 | 1.6 |
| 4 | I Want to Escape from Princess Lessons | 2025 | 5.35 | 5.67 | 4.2 | 2.8 | 2.8 |
| 5 | The Fruit of Evolution: Before I Knew It, My Life Had It Made | 2021 | 5.42 | 6.15 | 3.2 | 2.8 | 3.1 |
| 6 | Summoned to Another World for a Second Time | 2023 | 5.53 | 5.67 | 4.2 | 2.7 | 3.3 |
| 6 | High School! Kimengumi (2026) | 2026 | 5.53 | 5.66 | 4.2 | 2.7 | 3.4 |
| 8 | Rent-a-Girlfriend Season 4 | 2025 | 5.76 | 6.16 | 3.8 | 3.7 | 2.7 |
| 9 | Killed Again, Mr. Detective. | 2026 | 5.82 | 6.22 | 4.3 | 2.7 | 3.5 |
| 10 | Osamake: Romcom Where the Childhood Friend Won't Lose | 2021 | 5.90 | 6.06 | 4.4 | 2.9 | 3.6 |
Four of the lowest-rated entries are from 2026. Hyakki Yakoushou has the lowest score at 4.89, just below The Fruit of Evolution Season 2 at 4.92. Its sample is much smaller: 679 MAL ratings, 102 Bangumi ratings, 114 on Filmarks and 331 on Gamer. It only just clears the 100-rating requirement on two sites, so treat its position more cautiously than a result supported by thousands of ratings.
Rent-a-Girlfriend Season 5 is third-lowest at 5.14, and Season 4 is eighth-lowest at 5.76. Yet their Filmarks scores are 3.6/5 and 3.7/5. Comparing each with its site's baseline shows how a low overall result can coexist with a more favourable reception elsewhere.
Where the rating communities disagree
How common are large rating gaps?
We compared the relative score positions of every eligible romance entry. For MAL and Bangumi, that means 253 romances with at least 100 ratings on each site. Each is ranked against the same release year's matched, genre-tagged titles. A high percentile means a high score relative to that site's group: the 80th percentile is above roughly 80% of the other titles, with ties sharing their position.
Of the 253 romances, 31 sit at least 30 percentile points apart. The proportion is 12.3%, compared with 12.7% for other genre-tagged entries. The 30-point boundary is a descriptive way to find large differences; it does not count disagreeing viewers. Romance is not especially prone to large differences under this test.
The biggest differences across platforms
We searched the whole eligible romance group for the largest differences in each direction. The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten has the largest gap in favour of MAL over Bangumi; Ayakashi Triangle has the largest gap in favour of Bangumi. Both remain the largest in their respective directions when each site must have 300 ratings.
Angel's 7.85 on MAL sits around the 85th percentile of its matched 2023 group, while its 4.5 on Bangumi sits around the sixth. Ayakashi reverses the direction: 6.43 on MAL is around the 16th percentile, while 6.2 on Bangumi is around the 62nd. In that matched group, the site medians are 7.21 and 5.9 respectively. A lower raw number on Bangumi can therefore have a higher relative standing.
Rent-a-Girlfriend Seasons 2 through 5 occupy the four largest romance gaps in favour of Filmarks over MAL. The 2026 fifth season extends the pattern: it sits around the 13th percentile on MAL and the 64th on Filmarks within their matched 2026 group, with native scores of 6.26/10 and 3.6/5. For Season 4, MAL's 6.16 is below its matched 2025 median of about 6.98, while Filmarks' 3.7/5 is above its median of 3.4. Its relative positions are around the 14th and 67th percentiles. The comparison draws on 39,301 MAL ratings and 1,302 Filmarks ratings.
Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle stands higher on MAL than on all three other platforms. Its 7.44 on MAL is above the relevant pair-specific MAL medians, while 4.1 on Bangumi, 2.9/5 on Filmarks and 3.5/5 on Gamer are below theirs. Its gaps in favour of MAL are the largest against Filmarks and Gamer, and the second largest against Bangumi. Its comparatively favourable MAL score sits alongside a low overall position.
Makina-san's a Love Bot?! has one of the largest gaps in favour of Gamer, but its 4.8/5 is exactly the median of that matched 2025 group. Its very low MAL standing contrasts with a middle-of-group position on Gamer.
These are self-selecting platform communities. The comparisons do not explain why contributors rated the shows differently or establish national tastes. Each platform pair has a different eligible group, so a title's MAL percentile can differ between comparisons.
Attention on MyAnimeList and Bangumi
Among all 253 eligible romances, Cultural Exchange With a Game Centre Girl has the largest saved-list gap towards Bangumi. The 2026 title In the Clear Moonlit Dusk has the largest gap towards MAL. These positions measure relative attention within each site, separately from scores.
Game Centre Girl has scores of 6.63 on MAL and 6.3 on Bangumi. In the Clear Moonlit Dusk has 7.48 and 5.4. Higher saved-list standing does not guarantee strong reception. In the Clear Moonlit Dusk has 266 Bangumi ratings and drops out when we require 300; under that stricter rule, Honey Lemon Soda has the largest gap towards MAL. Game Centre Girl remains the largest gap towards Bangumi at both thresholds.
The ranks describe positions within each site's lists. They cannot be read as comparable audience counts or proof that more people watched a show in one country. The 2026 comparison uses titles tracked through November 7.
Four romances for your next watch
You and I Are Polar Opposites: A highly rated place to start
You and I Are Polar Opposites follows outgoing Suzuki's feelings for the reserved, straightforward Tani. Choose it for a school romance with broad positive reception: its scores sit above the 90th percentile on every site among the same 146 qualifying, genre-tagged 2026 entries.
Start with the 12-episode first season. There are no earlier seasons to catch up on; a second season followed in July.
Ayakashi Triangle: Ranks higher on Bangumi
Ayakashi Triangle is an option if you want supernatural battles and romantic comedy with a gender-bending twist. Exorcist ninja Matsuri protects his childhood friend Suzu from spirits.
It has 12 episodes and no earlier season to catch up on. Bangumi places it above the middle of its matched group, making it worth considering if the premise appeals despite its low MAL standing.
Rent-a-Girlfriend Season 4: A mixed verdict for returning viewers
Rent-a-Girlfriend Season 4 is for returning viewers who enjoy Kazuya and Chizuru's tangled relationship. The series begins with heartbroken college student Kazuya hiring a girlfriend through an app, then becoming involved in her life. If that setup already works for you, Filmarks' more favourable relative response offers another perspective on continuing.
For a newcomer, this is a longer commitment: 36 episodes across three earlier seasons precede the fourth season. Begin with Season 1 and decide whether the relationship holds your interest before committing to the catch-up.
Game Centre Girl: Higher on Bangumi’s saved lists
Cultural Exchange With a Game Centre Girl is worth a look if you want romance built around arcade games and language misunderstandings. Arcade worker Renji helps an English girl, Lily, with a crane game on Valentine's Day. She reads more into the gesture, setting up a romantic misunderstanding.
There are 12 episodes, with no earlier season to watch first. Its moderate scores make it a more tentative choice than Polar Opposites.
About the data
Score-baseline checks
Romance scores show no consistent advantage across all four platforms. Among the same 877 entries with at least 100 ratings on each site, the 186 romances have a MAL median of about 7.17 versus 7.16 for the whole group. On Bangumi it is 5.7 versus 5.9; both groups have medians of 3.5/5 on Filmarks and 4.8/5 on Gamer.
Raising the requirement to 300 ratings leaves 157 romances among 688 entries. Romance medians are then slightly below the whole group's on MAL, Bangumi and Filmarks, and equal on Gamer. The comparison changes as different titles qualify. The records compare different release-year groups using scores available in the current snapshot; they do not trace how opinions evolved during those years.
Scope and sources
The current snapshot was frozen on November 7, 2026. It contains 1,408 tracked anime entries with release years from 2021 through 2026; 263 have the recorded MAL Romance genre tag. TV and web-release series are treated together. Separate seasons and parts remain separate entries. Tags overlap; School is a theme, while Comedy and Fantasy are genres. The 2026 catalogue and comparison groups cover the year through November 7; individual seasons in that group may already have ended.
The top and bottom lists require at least 100 valid ratings on each of the four sites and retain AniGems' existing log10-voter-weighted formula. Platform-pair analyses require at least 100 ratings on both sites, recorded genre metadata and the same release year. Percentiles use midranks for ties; saved-list comparisons also require positive MAL member and Bangumi collection counts. MAL/Bangumi includes 253 romances, MAL/Filmarks 259 and MAL/Gamer 194. Raising the threshold changes which titles qualify.
The snapshot contains records from different dates. Earlier records were often updated in August or September; the first Polar Opposites season's scores were updated August 21, its second season's October 10, and the current Fall leader records November 7. These are not historical scores as they appeared at release. The database records release seasons and does not have a general completed-series status.
MyAnimeList, Bangumi, Filmarks and Gamer are self-selecting communities, not representative national samples. Scores describe contributors' reception; saved lists describe platform-specific attention. Neither identifies the reasons behind a difference. Cover art comes from the catalogue URLs in the snapshot. Some platform edition mappings remain to be independently verified before publication.