The 21 Best Anime Like 'Horimiya'

A young man named Sakuta Azusagawa lives his life and minds his own business. Until the fateful day he meets classmate and idol Mai Sakurajima, dressed in a bunny outfit, parading around at the library. No one can see her except for Sakuta, which opens up into a bizarre investigation into a phenomenon called "Adolescence Syndrome," a mysterious illness that's been plaguing Mai, Sakuta, and a number of others. The two continually become closer and closer while the world is unable to see Mai, and the series revolves around unraveling why Mai has disappeared from the world, and why Sakuta is the only special person fated to continue to see her after her "disappearance." This selection is the top candidate for anime like Horimiya.

If you tend to hide parts of yourself (like the hobbies you enjoy) from others, you'll vibe with Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashi, also known as Wotakoi. It follows office worker Narumi, who never lets anyone know she loves anime and video games. The ironic part is that her friend, Hirotaka Nifuji, is just like her in nearly every respect. They're boyfriend and girlfriend, and they bond over being an otaku. But as the title of the anime suggests, love is hard for otaku, as we see that philosophy play out time and time again throughout the series. It would be hilarious if it weren't so frustrating for both of them. The "anime like Horimya" vibes are very strong here.

Sometimes, all you really want to watch is a sweet romance, and that's what Kimi no Todoke: From Me to You delivers. It centers on the love growing between high school freshman Sawako Kuronuma (nicknamed Sadako after the Ring movies) and popular student Shota Kazehaya. Sawako looks unapproachable and terrifying, which nets her the reputation of being a ghost and cursing people. But she's actually very kind and unassuming and just wants to help people. When she meets Kazehaya, he opens her eyes again to the idea of having friends and even being in a relationship. And slowly but surely, the two fall in love. There's a lot to appreciate here from this quality anime like Horimiya.

Kaichou wa Maid-Sama, or Maid Sama!, centers on high school student Misaki Ayuzawa, who's the only female student at the formerly all-boys school Seika High. Now that it's co-ed, Mizaki is doing her best to whip the boys into shape so the girls filtering in can feel safe and supported. She's an uptight, boy-hating force who acts as a sign of hope for the girls, and as such has something of an ominous reputation at school. That's why, when it's discovered she has a sweeter, softer side to her while working at a maid cafe, she has to fight to keep classmate Takumi Usui from spreading her secret all around the school. It'd be mortifying if everyone knew the tough-as-nails Misaki was actually working as a maid!

Ryuji Takasu is a high school student who tries to look friendly and approachable, but his eyes always make him look like a delinquent. That makes his love life a bit of a non-starter. One day, he runs into the school's "most dangerous" girl, Taiga Aisaka, who's the best friend of the girl he's got a crush on. Taiga is volatile and angry, with the nickname "Tiger," and she dislikes Ryuji. But she has a crush on Ryuji's best friend. With this knowledge, the two try to navigate relationships with the other's best friend, arranging to help with their respective crushes. Of course, this devolves into a relationship between the two, and if you've seen any romance anime, you can probably guess where this all goes.

My Dress-Up Darling might sound strange on paper, but it's an addictive and wholesome series that any romance fan will love to the moon and back. The lovably clueless Wakana Gojo and the gorgeous and kind Kitagawa Marin are memorable characters who aren't afraid to be their authentic selves, and the romance that blossoms between them are unlike you've seen before in the anime realm. Gojo wants to be a professional doll creator, while Marin is a model and aspiring cosplayer who needs help creating her costumes. An adorable partnership is formed between the two that turns into one of the cutest relationships you've ever seen. And Marin is the best waifu of the past anime season. Period.

Fruits Basket is a shoujo classic, and for good reason. Tohru Honda is a high school student who lives with the Sohma family. It's anything but a normal life, however, as a collision or even a hug results in family members Yuki and Shigure turning into a mouse and a dog, respectively. They’re still their same charming selves (good news for the Prince Yuki Fan Club!) but they’re adorable little critters you want to scoop up and hug. The rest of the Sohma family is a menagerie, too. The volatile Kyo shifts into a cat, and living in a house with this trio can feel like a real circus. Can love grow in this circus of a family? Of course it can, but you'll have to wait and see what happens. Fruits Basket embodies what you're looking for in an anime like Horimiya.

Akira Tachibana is a high school student who works part-time at a family restaurant. Little by little, she starts to fall in love with the manager, Masami, who's a 45-year-old single father. Akira has difficulty figuring out why she feels the way she does about her manager and grapples with the potentially problematic aftermath of falling in love with her senior. But the story is a poignant and romantic one that anyone who enjoys anime like Horimiya will find charming in all the right ways.

High schooler Futaro Uesugi is down on his luck and needs some cash. When the opportunity to tutor the rich Nakano family presents itself, he jumps on it. As their tutor, he has to make sure five different sisters, each with their own personality, end up graduating from high school. They all view him as an annoyance and a stranger, but somehow Uesugi must work through their icy exteriors to get them to learn, improve their grades, and maybe even form friendships…if a relationship doesn't come of it first. Which quintuplet will Uesugi match with in the end? You'll have to watch and find out.

Arata Kaizaki is a 27-year-old NEET who stays at home, lies about having a full-time job, and only manages to work short shifts at the convenience store. He's offered a job one day by the mysterious Ryo Yoake, but he has to participate in an experiment called "ReLIFE", which will make him look 10 years younger and have him live out his high school days again as a regular student. This is in an effort to "fix" Arata, and everything that's gone wrong with his life, but of course, as is usually the case with anime like these, that only starts to cause more problems than it fixes as he falls in love with student Chizuru Hishiro and plenty of awkward situations ensue. Prepare to elicit a whole lot of laughs from this highly energetic anime like Horimiya.

Yuu Koito is a first-year high school student, but she doesn't really know what love is like – yet. Like many of us, she thinks it's all about finding someone absolutely perfect for you, then the dates that follow. She wants to be left breathless by it all. So when she finally gets her first confession from a childhood friend, she's a little shocked. She tries to figure out how to respond, and in the middle of it all, she finds someone she can fall in love with -- and maybe confide in. The girl she finds herself catching feelings for may not be the person who confessed to her, but she's certainly not about to give up on the love that can bloom between the two.

Student council members Miyuki Shirogane and Kaguya Shinomiya attend Shuchiin Academy together, and they look fabulous when out and about. As such, people think they're the perfect couple. The pair love to deny this and have mixed feelings about their true thoughts about one another. Neither one of them is willing to confess their love, as that would show signs of weakness. Instead, they just start trying to push each other by any means necessary to be the first to confess. The result? A hilarious time filled with zany antics. The abundant humor in this anime like Horimiya will put you in a very happy place.

Yuri!!! on Ice follows Japanese figure skater Yuri Katsuki as he develops his career while watching his idol, Russian skater Victor Nikiforov facing off against a talented Russian skater named Yuri Plisetsky. Yuri is in a bit of a depression after he's defeated in a series of skating competitions and decides to put his career on hold. However, when he mimics an advanced routine performed by his idol Victor, Victor ends up seeing it and comes to help breathe some life into his new protege's skating life. With Victor as his coach, Yuri is able to jump back into the skating circuit – and the pair become closer and closer with each passing day. The end result? A beautiful relationship that shimmers just like the ice the pair skate upon.

Nanami Momozono is a high school student who has nowhere to live. Thanks to her father's gambling debts, she's lost the apartment she lived in and needs to find a home. Still reeling from the turn of events, she meets a man named Mikage, who's being chased by a dog. She saves Mikage and he takes her to his home as a token of his gratitude. Once there, she realizes it's a shrine, and Mikage is the past Earth Deity of the shrine. He's marked her with the sign of his successor, which means she'll have to take on the role of a god while as a homeless human. And you know what? She may just find some romance while doing it all.

A delectable slice of life pie like Orange is always a treat, especially when it’s coupled with a premise like this one. Naho Takamiya receives a letter addressed to herself from ten years into the future. She’s quick to write it off as a prank -- that is until the things written in the letter begin coming true. Takamiya, currently a second-year high school student, finds the letter urging her to kickstart certain chains of events in order to alter the past for her future self. While she's stuck trying to figure out who this letter came from and whether it contains the truth, she'll discover hidden truths that lead to relationships she may have never explored without this catalyst. Get out the tissues, because this series is a real tearjerker.

Kosei Arima is a piano prodigy whose mother suddenly dies in a tragic accident. When he does, he has a mental breakdown while performing on stage during a recital. After that, he can no longer hear the sound of a piano, despite his hearing being perfectly fine otherwise. He meets the free-spirited Kaori Miyazono, who plays the violin and helps Kosei get back to playing the piano the way he used to before losing his mother. As Kosei falls in love with Kaori, he realizes that her health is deteriorating. We won't spoil what's left from here, but this is a powerful story about love, grief, and acceptance that'll certainly tug at the heartstrings. As an anime like Horimiya, Your Lie in April sticks out as one of the more emotional picks on this list.

A shy student named Mafuyu Sato is often seen carrying around a guitar at school. There's just one problem: he doesn't know how to play it. He's apparently on the search for someone to help him, and one day he finds Ritsuka Uenoyama, who's trying to get some rest in his favorite spot to nap in the entire school. All Ritsuka wants to do is sleep, but Mafuyu has other plans – like begging Ritsuka, the guitarist in a band with two other guys, Akihiko Kaji and Haruki Nakayama, to help him learn how to play guitar. Ritsuka has to worry about his reputation, but he cares for Mafuyu. Given turns in a slow-burning love triangle that'll delight and entice viewers looking for a rock-and-roll romance that's quite unlike most of the other series out there. This pick is one of the more unique variations of an anime like Horimiya.

Haruhi Fujioka is a student attending the prestigious Ouran Academy on a scholarship. She doesn't quite fit in with all the rich kids, given her background, which makes her anxious. On her first day, while looking for a place to study, she finds the Third Music Room, where the Ouran High School Host Club, with six male students dressed to the nines, entertains female students with tea, sweets, and a good time. Haruhi accidentally destroys an $80,000 vase while there and ends up having to work off her mistake disguised as a male host club worker. Of course, that doesn't stop some of the club hosts from falling in love with her. With all that being said, it earns its placing here as a great anime like Horimiya.

Raku Ichijo is the son of a Yakuza faction leader. Chitoge Kirisaki is the daughter of a boss in a rival gang. When the pair meet, Chitoge accidentally knees Raku in the face. In the aftermath, Raku loses the locket his childhood friend gave him. When it turns out Chitoge is a new transfer student in his class, he forces her to help her look for the locket. They grow to hate each other, only to find that the gangs their families belong to want to marry their children off -- so Raku and Chitoge must pretend to be in a relationship together. This doesn't go well, as you'd expect, but it's extremely entertaining.

Kazuya Kinoshita is down on his luck when it comes to romance. His very first girlfriend dumped him. But he didn't give up. He turned to an online dating app in a bid to "rent" a girlfriend instead. True, it's hardly the same as finding a real partner, but in Kazuya's case, he needed something to fill the void. Enter Chizuru Mizuhara, Kazuya's date. Sweet, kind, and attractive, Kazuya is smitten with her, even as he forks over cash to benefit from her services. Kazuya's falling hard for his new rental girlfriend, and Chizuru is keeping it professional. Someone's undoubtedly going to catch feelings, however, and things are going to spiral out of control. Welcome to Rent-A-Girlfriend, where the feelings are real, but the dates are not.

Yuzu Aihara breaks all the rules, while schoolmate Mei is a stickler who won't tolerate disobedience. What happens next when they clash at school? In this situation, opposites attract. The two begin living together as sisters (a surprise that comes out of nowhere), but they still have to grapple with their feelings for each other, and that's easier said than done. In this case, the series featuring a lesbian relationship isn't the part that's hard to decipher, but how in the world it could potentially play out. That’s going to be one puzzle you won’t figure out anytime soon -- but you'll know one thing for sure: these girls are falling in love with each other, and fast. And there's nothing that can stand in the way of true love, after all.