Best Romance Anime of 1986

In the town of Clock Hill, an unremarkable boarding house named Maison Ikkoku stands, but its residents are far from ordinary. Among them is the quiet tenant Yuusaku Godai, who is fed up with the endless noise and lively gatherings of his neighbors. Determined to relocate to a quieter environment to focus on his studies, he prepares to leave. However, his plans are suddenly disrupted upon meeting Kyoko Otonashi, the new manager of the boarding house. Captivated by her, Godai changes his mind about moving out. Kyoko, however, harbors her own romantic struggles; she is a widow who lost her husband only six months into their marriage. As her feelings for Godai begin to develop, she remains attached to the memory of her late spouse, believing no one else can fill the void in her life. With Godai's persistence and support from the quirky residents, Kyoko may yet discover love once more.

In the era of peace established by the Interstellar Alliance, the renowned Cosmo Academy was founded. Known for producing highly successful graduates, its entrance exams, held every three years, attract fierce competition. Lane Tadatos, a Terran, has advanced to the final phase of these exams. Along with ten other candidates, he is sent to the Esperanza, a ship adrift in orbit. Their final challenge is to survive on the vessel for 53 days with no means of contacting the outside world, except for an emergency surrender button. However, after a headcount, the candidates discover a discrepancy: there are eleven people aboard the Esperanza, meaning one of them is an impostor.

Rumi Natsumi runs Telephone Communication Madonna, a phone sex service that occasionally sets up in-person meetings between its female staff and specific customers. As the company's director, Rumi handles the most difficult situations, such as that of a young man named Ryo Sugiura who loses all self-control when sexually excited. Confident she can manage this unusual case, Rumi decides to meet him. But when they finally come face to face, she realizes Ryo's loss of control is far more extreme than she expected—he literally turns into a massive monster.

Two pairs of young lovers are drawn into a conflict between two opposing kingdoms: the primitive yet splendid Isa and the militaristic yet unruly Paro. Izu and his wife Marin work as simple farmers in the humble village of Saki, situated directly between Isa and Paro. Though Saki lacks the elegance of Isa or the war engines of Paro, the village is home to a magnificent tree called "Windaria," to which the villagers offer their prayers in exchange for "good memories." When war breaks out, Izu decides to enlist in Paro's army, lured by the promise of a fantastic motorbike given to him as a bribe. Before he leaves, the couple makes a mutual promise: he will definitely return to her, and she will wait for him until he does. The other pair consists of Jill, the prince of Paro, and Ahanas, the princess of Isa. Initially they want no part in the rapidly escalating war, but after Jill's father—the king of Paro—dies by his son's hand during an argument over the conflict, Jill has little choice but to carry out his father's final wish: the conquest of Isa. The only complication is that Jill had sworn to his beloved Ahanas that he would not get involved. Windaria is a war parable set in a fantasy land filled with unicorns and ghost ships.

Unusual occurrences start happening in Tomobiki Town... While Lum and her companions are working on filming a movie, a large cherry tree named Tarozakura gets suddenly cut down. Soon after, Lum loses both her horns and her supernatural powers. This marks the start of the most unconventional and whimsical film in the Urusei Yatsura series.

Hikari is a young school girl who dreams of becoming a great rhythmic gymnastics champion like her idol, Diliana Gueorguiva. Despite facing setbacks during her performances, she works hard and eventually joins her school's rhythmic gymnastics team with the help and support of Takaaki Oiishi, the best male gymnast at her school. As they spend time together, Hikari develops feelings for him. However, she is not the only one interested in Oiishi; Bazuki Shiina, the top gymnast in the entire school, also harbors feelings for him. A friendship begins to form between Hikari and Shiina, but it is quickly complicated by a rivalry that grows both in their pursuit of gymnastics excellence and their mutual affection for Oiishi. Furthermore, Hikari finds herself torn between her feelings for Oiishi and her conflicting emotions toward Mao Natsukawa, an old childhood friend and the lead singer of the band Mr. D. Mao composes the music Hikari uses for her performances and has been developing feelings for her since childhood.

Based on the novel trilogy of the same name by Taku Mayumura. In the new Calendar Year of 392, in Neo-Tokyo, a young man named Agino Jiro steals a time synchronization system and attempts to escape to the past. The authorities give chase and damage his ship during the pursuit, forcing him to land in modern-day Tokyo. Determined, he breaks into a van and attaches the device, recklessly kidnapping Nobucho, Shinichi, Teko, and their teacher, Hokubei. Their initial resistance lands them in Tokyo on March 9th, 1945, during the US bombing campaign. Escaping again to the past, the group eventually arrives at the Warring States period. There, the future and the past collide as factions from Jiro's era seek to alter their past at a pivotal moment at Honnoji.

In "Majo demo Steady," Seki Hisashi lives an ordinary life working at an auto parts company in Shinjuku, dodging his boss's unwanted advances, and riding his motorcycle back to his lonely apartment. But one morning, his routine takes a strange turn. When he wakes up, Seki finds a naked woman lying next to him, who surprisingly announces she wants to be with him. She also claims to possess magical abilities, such as telekinesis. Rather than questioning how she got there, Seki feels drawn to her, seeing her as his perfect match. On his way home, a vision of this new lover causes Seki to lose control of his motorcycle, resulting in a police chase. Back at his apartment, the woman, restless from being apart, waits for him. When Seki finally arrives, she vanishes right in front of him, leaving him uncertain whether she will ever return. Unknown to Seki, she intends to come back.

Compilation movie of the first year of Touch timeline. Contains plot differences, added scenes and an alternate ending.

A compelling anthology of animated adaptations highlighting selected masterpieces of modern Japanese literature. Crafted to appeal to a broad audience, this series showcases the diverse richness and distinctive essence of Japanese literary works developed over the past century. Featuring stories from Higuchi Ichiyo's "Takekurabe," Mori Ogai's "The Dancing Girl," and Natsume Soseki's "Botchan," through to Nobel laureate Kawabata Yasunari's "The Izu Dancer" and Mishima Yukio's "The Sound of Waves," the collection includes celebrated authors who have defined the course of Japanese literature.

The film compiles scenes from the second year of Touch's story, yet its plot has little connection to the events of that year in the main series.

Seizo Watase, creator of Chalk-Colored People, produced a series of short manga in Comic Morning starting in 1983. That series has been adapted into a number of romantic vignettes, each meant to convey a straightforward love story in "no more time than it would take to smoke a cigarette"—which often means there is scarcely time to learn the characters' names; many entries simply star "Me" and "Her." Among the tales are Emblem of My Father, Two in the Beer Garden, Old Hawaii Corner, My Brother's Zippo, and Takeru's Love of Two and a Half Millennia. The cigarette comparison may seem odd in today's politically correct climate, but it is preferable to the alternative: bearing in mind that these brief manga stories are actually intended to require no longer to read than the average dump.

Movie based on the Ami series of the Cream Lemon franchise. This movie was co-aired with Project A-Ko movie.

Set in Los Angeles, USA, this story follows the endearing Anderson family, whose members each possess distinct personalities that both clash with and complement one another. Through a series of shared experiences—ranging from heartfelt to outright bizarre—the family's connection deepens and grows ever stronger.

This work was created as the ninth special animated entry for the 24-hour television program, with Tezuka Production overseeing the original story, screenplay, and direction. Tezuka Osamu tells a love story set during humanity's expansion into space at the close of the 21st century, using an omnibus format reminiscent of Bradbury's "The Martian Chronicles." The narrative shares similarities with "Phoenix: Nostalgia." After marrying and leaving Earth, a woman is stranded in space following her husband's sudden death from a cosmic disease. These background elements were also employed in "The Phoenix." This time, her friends on Earth journey into space to rescue the woman who was once everyone's ideal lady. In this special animation, Tezuka Osamu highlights his core beliefs that "love can save the earth" and "only love can save humans."

In the "High School! Kimengumi" movie, the Kimengumi and their friends go through three more escapades. First, they flunk their exams just before summer break and are forced into remedial classes. The second part involves a mandatory beach trip with a swimming contest during the holiday. In the final episode, as school starts again, the karate club faces a formidable new opponent.

Adapted from the manga Mamonogatari Itoshi no Betty by Koike Kazuo and Kanou Seisaku, the story follows Betty, a devil-girl possessing an angelic face and a golden heart. During a rainstorm, she falls for Danpei Kimogawa, a human gangster, and the two begin living together in Tokyo. However, Danpei struggles to manage his new in-laws, a witch and a demon, who frequently drop by at inconvenient times. Unbeknownst to Danpei, Betty's true purpose for coming to the human world is a mission to defeat the demon Lutan. As she pursues this goal, her skeletal grandmother dispatches nubile nymphs to tempt Danpei, testing whether he is worthy of being a husband.

A high school boy named Kenichi Watanabe is completely devoted to his MBX50 motorcycle. He and his friends form a motorcycle club, which they name Culture.