Romance is always a genre that is bound to get people's attention, and it is no different in anime. Some of the most popular anime every season often includes romantic comedies, and discourse about which pairings are the best can be found all over social media and forum threads.
Sometimes, however, the romance in the story is not authentic. Sometimes, the two leads must enter into a fake relationship for some circumstance, and hijinks that cause the two of them to become close to each other often ensue. Here are some of the best fake romances in anime history.
7 Erika Shinohara & Kyoya Sata – Wolf Girl And Black Prince
Erika Shinohara wants to fit in with her friends at school - so she lies about having a boyfriend. To prove it, she snaps a picture of a boy on the street, but he turns out to be Kyoya Sata, the most popular boy in school. Desperate to keep her lie going, Erika manages to get Kyoya to pretend to be her boyfriend, but on one condition: Erika must act as Kyoya's pet, and do whatever he says.
The dynamic between the hapless Erika and the dark-hearted Kyoya is fun to watch. While they initially seem like a bad match, as the two of them grow close, their relationship starts to improve as well.
6 Kei Kusanagi & Mizuho Kazami – Please Teacher!
Kei Kusanagi suffers from a bizarre condition that causes him to enter a "standstill," which are coma-like states that leave him frozen in time. One particular standstill freezes him in time for 3 years, leaving him an 18-year-old in a 15-year-old body. A fateful circumstance causes him to witness the alien observer Mizuho Kazami descending to earth. She would soon turn out to be his new homeroom teacher at school.
In order to solve a misunderstanding, Kei and Mizuho pretend to be a married couple in order to save her job as a teacher. The two genuinely fall in love fairly quickly, and it's quite fun to see them wrangle with their feelings as they navigate their strange new circumstances.
5 Eita Kido & Masuzu Natsukawa – Oreshura
Eita Kido wants nothing to do with romance, a result of seeing his parents divorce and abandon him after finding new lovers. One day, he is confronted by the beautiful Masuzu Natsukawa, who is tired of receiving love confessions day in and day out. She uses blackmail in order to get Eita to be her fake boyfriend to stave them off.
The relationship between Eita and Masuzu is particularly idiosyncratic, as the two of them are aromantic and dislike the concept of falling in love. However, as their relationship progresses, they begin to fall for each other for real. While many other girls vie for his affections, Eita's eyes end up focusing the most on Masuzu.
4 Kazuya Kinoshita & Chizuru Mizuhara – Rent-A-Girlfriend
Kazuya Kinoshita broke up with his girlfriend of one month, Mami Nanami. In his loneliness, he decides to use an app to rent Chizuru Mizuhara as a girlfriend. Kazuya finds Chizuru's performance inauthentic, but when he ends up bringing her along to meet his ill grandmother, she is delighted to see that Kazuya has a new girlfriend. Kazuya and Chizuru agree to pose as a couple in order to make Kazuya's grandmother happy.
Kazuya and Chizuru's relationship is rocky and mostly based on allowing Kazuya to present the facade of having a girlfriend. However, as their fake relationship continues, the two of them begin to have real feelings for each other. While their relationship comes with a lot of drama, their developing bond is enjoyable to watch.
3 Raku Ichijo & Chitoge Kirisaki – Nisekoi
Raku Ichijo is the son of the leader of the Yakuza group Shuei-gumi, though he has no interest in the underworld himself. By chance, he meets a girl named Chitoge Kirisaki and gets off on the wrong foot with her. However, he soon learns that she is the daughter of the boss of the Beehive gang. Their two gangs are on the verge of clashing, but the bosses have decided to pair them together to keep the peace.
The relationship between Raku and Chitoge is exacerbated by the existence of Kosaki Onodera, who is Raku's crush. While Raku wants to pursue a relationship with her, he must maintain his fake relationship with Chitoge. At the same time, Raku can't help noticing Chitoge more and more, and Chitoge also starts falling in love with Raku.
2 Kraft Lawrence & Holo – Spice & Wolf
Kraft Lawrence is a traveling merchant who goes from town to town trying to make his fortune. One day, he ends up encountering a young wolf girl named Holo, who was once worshipped as a harvest god. Now wanting to return to her home in the north, she decides to accompany Lawrence on his travels.
While Spice & Wolf is not chiefly a romance story, Lawrence and Holo do occasionally pretend to be husband and wife as it is the most easily acceptable explanation for their traveling together. As time passes on, the two of them do eventually come to care for each other and fall in love, but it is certainly not the focus of the series.
1 Loid & Yor Forger – Spy X Family
Twilight is a spy who must create a family to pull off a rather unorthodox plan to stop a war between Westalis and Ostania. To that end, he poses as a man named Loid Forger and ends up meeting and marrying a woman named Yor Briar. Unbeknownst to him, Yor has her own secret to hide: she is an assassin working in the darkness to kill traitors.
Together, the two of them are the perfect picture of happiness, and while they are not in love, they are friendly with each other and work together to maintain their image as a married couple. While signs of attraction are starting to appear, their marriage remains for show for the time being.