I say lesbian anime series or I say Girl X Girl because I have included both Yuri and Shoujo-ai in this list.
They’re very very similar to each other.
Shoujo-ai is basically the sweet romance that ensues between two female characters who usually keep it just to holding hands and maybe a little lip-locking, while Yuri sometimes takes it to a more.
If you get what I mean, delving into certain NSFW paths requires a bold outlook on things.
So here are 25 of the best lesbian anime of all time, and yes, they are hand-picked by me, and also, they are randomly placed in the ranking.
25. Simoun
In the peaceful theocracy of Simulicram, where “Simoun” takes place, everyone is born a woman.
At the age of 17, they can go through a special ceremony to choose their sex.
Simoun is a unique flying ship that protects Simulicram. Two girls who haven’t gone through the ceremony yet can fly it.
After the enemy attacked and did a lot of damage, Aer was asked to pilot the Simoun with Neviril, who had just lost her partner.
After Aer becomes interested in her friend, she wants to be near her.
Neviril is still having trouble coming to terms with her past, which is sad.
Will she have the strength to accept Aer?
24. Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san
In the yuri comedy anime, Yachiyo Inugami and Suzu Nekoyama, two high school girls, are at the center of the story.
The first person likes dogs, while the second person likes cats.
Even though the girls seem to be very different from each other, they start to like each other.
Even though both of them know there is something between them, Yachiyo is the first to make romantic moves, but Suzu is a bit shy.
The anime is mostly about the two girls as they figure out how they feel and fall in love.
23. El Cazador de la Bruja
In “El Cazador de la Bruja,” a bounty hunter named Nadie has an adventure.
Her latest target is a girl named Ellis who has no memory and is thought to have killed a famous scientist.
Even though Nadie finds Ellis, she gives her a chance to remember by taking her to Wiay Marka, which is said to be a place where amnesia can be treated.
Their only clue is a stone called Inca Rose, which has some ties to Ellis.
Will this be enough to solve all the mysteries?
22. Maria†Holic
Ame no Kisaki Catholic School is just for girls and has only one gender.
Kanako Miyamae is a transfer student who comes to a well-known school hoping to find true love like her parents did.
She is thrilled when she sees Mariya Shidou, who is beautiful and charming, and realizes that she may have found the right person for her.
Mariya is a cross-dressing boy, and she threatens to tell everyone that Kanako wants to go to school if she doesn’t keep his gender a secret.
Want to know how the story turns out?
21. Konohana Kitan
Yuzu, a happy fox girl, gets her first job as a waitress at the traditional hot springs inn Konohanatei in a village full of ghosts.
Even though Yuzu has never worked at such a high-end place before, Kiri, the friendly and reliable head attendant, puts her to work right away so she can learn the basics.
At first, Yuzu’s eagerness is more of a problem than a help. However, her playful personality adds a unique charm to the inn, and customers and coworkers quickly get used to her clumsy but well-intentioned mistakes.
Yuzu slowly learns how to be an innkeeper with the help of the other foxes, including the strict Satsuki, the carefree Natsume, the critical Ren, and the quiet Sakura. She also grows to love the magical world around her.
Konohana Kitan tells the heartwarming story of a simple fox girl who makes friends and finds a place to live in the mysterious and beautiful spirit world.
20. Yagate Kimi ni Naru
Yuu Koito has always been drawn to romantic shoujo manga and loves song lyrics.
She waits patiently for love to grow wings and make her heart skip a beat on the day she finally gets a confession.
But when her middle school classmate tells her he loves her at their graduation, she is surprised to feel empty.
She realizes that she can understand romance as an idea, but she can’t feel it for herself.
Now that Yuu is in high school, she is confused and sad, and she is still thinking about how to answer her suitor.
There, she sees the student council president, Touko Nanami, who seems to be perfect, rejecting a confession of her own in a mature way.
Yuu is impressed by how elegant Touko is, so she goes to her for advice. To her surprise, the president tells her something!
Yuu is quickly in the palm of Touko’s hand, and she doesn’t know it, but this sets her on a path to find an emotion that has eluded her for a long time.
19. Mnemosyne: Mnemosyne no Musume-tachi
A lot of people would like to live forever.
But if people knew they would get attacked a lot because of it, they might not want it as much.
This is the case with Rin Asougi, who is an immortal private investigator. Many people want her dead.
She has died many horrible deaths over the years, but each time she comes back to life as if nothing ever happened.
In 1990, Rin meets Kouki Maeno when she is looking for a lost cat. Kouki Maeno thinks that his memories are wrong.
When Rin agrees to help Kouki, she finds out that he is not what he seems to be.
At the same time, she gets closer to her real enemy.
This enemy knows too much about Rin and her kind, and if she dies at his hands, she might stay dead for good.
18. Noir
Any fans of Mr. and Mrs. Smith? Well, let’s just say Noir is a gender-bending anime version of that.
Two femme fatales who just happen to be two assassins, who just happen to be manipulated by the same high priestess of the same organization.
Go on an adventure filled with some strong gun action. Events take a dramatic turn as memories return and identities are revealed.
Who are they?
Why are they paired together?
Was it a coincidence?
Is there more than meets the eye?
What is the relationship between these two?
Friends?
Colleagues?
Just assassins?
Lovers?
Strangers?
Enemies?
Noir will keep you hooked until you get all the answers you’re looking for.
17. Canaan
Keeping in line with the themes of guns, violence, and assassins, Canaan is something you can’t miss.
A terrorist in disguise meets a Middle Eastern assassin and a victim of a terror attack that their organization perpetrated at an anti-terrorism summit in Shanghai, China.
This anime takes another step forward into uncharted waters by being one of the rare portrayals of synaesthesia in anime.
Synaesthesia is a disorder where senses that would otherwise be separate, get mixed up causing the person having the disorder to be able to see sounds or taste colors.
With an intriguing premise, beautiful visuals, and captivating sound, this story is definitely worth at least one watch.
16. Netsuzou Trap
Do you know how your other friends always tease that you and your best friend are gay for each other?
Well, this is basically that. Two girls who have always been best friends. One gets a boyfriend and is nervous about the whole relationship ordeal.
The other obviously comes to the rescue, not only helping her practice conversations but also some intimate situations that soon involve their lips and hands.
Netsuzou Trap is actually a very realistic coming-of-age story where feelings slowly bloom in their minds as they spend more and more time with one another.
Now, there are two options. Cheat on your boyfriend, in other words, betrayal, OR leave your best friend to get rid of these feelings for her.
Which side will you choose?
15. Asagao to Kase-san
All you were doing was minding your own business!
Be busy with your volunteer work at the greenery committee.
Tending to plants, watering them, singing to them, and just, in general, taking care of them.
But then she had to arrive!
With her beautiful face and deep eyes, soft words, and silken hair.
How could anyone not fall in love with someone so kind and beautiful?
The problem?
Like in every romance anime?
Acceptance. Acceptance of your own feelings towards them. Acceptance of yourself that you have such feelings for a girl being a girl.
fear of having these feelings.
fear of not being accepted by her. Fear of messing up being at least just friends.
So, what will you do?
14. Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid
There are two kinds of people in this world. The ones who kill and the ones who get killed, Wait!
I mean!
People turn into weapons upon being excited in a certain way, if you know what I mean.
And people who can wield these weapons and use them.
Suddenly, teleported to a beach, she is kissed by a very attractive lady who immediately turns herself into a weapon.
Now, it’s up to you.
Would you take up the challenge and wield the weapon to protect yourself?
Or would you give in without a fight?
13. Kiniro Mosaic
Five years ago is a long time.
Five years ago, you stayed in England with a friend.
Five years later, she’s coming to Japan!
To live with you!
To go to school with you! To have lunch with you! To study with you!
To play with you and your friends.
Will it be fine? Will she fit in okay? Will she be able to make friends with your friends?
Will she be able to do all her studies properly?
This feel-good anime will fill you up to the brim with serotonin with the adventures of these goofy girls just trying to make it through their lives.
12. Destiny of the Shrine Maiden
The Shrine has long been believed to have had two Shrine Maidens, the Sun and the Moon.
Our protagonists, one being a purebred perfect noble lady while the other loyal one isn’t. Their friendship is supposed to remain a secret.
Their friendship is supposed to remain hidden, but something happens.
Both the Shrine Maidens, the Sun, and Moon reincarnations, now must take action in order to stop horrible things from happening.
Will the Sun and Moon be able to work together to achieve their goal? Or will darkness reign over humanity until someone else defeats it?
11. Sakura Trick
“I’m jealous that you’re making friends on the other side of the classroom.”
So, to ensure that you remain my best friend, we need to share something that best friends don’t.
Mission: To share something that best friends don’t usually share.
Clothes? Nope.
Matching accessories? Nope.
Food? Obviously not.
Oh yeah! A kiss! Best friends usually don’t share something like this!
Another friendship turned relationship.
This visually appealing anime showcases female friendship perfectly.
A few provocative movements here and there but definitely is a realistic portrayal of what female friendships are like.
10. Akuma no Riddle
Food Wars? School for Culinary Arts.
Kakegurui? School for Gambling Arts.
My Hero Academia? School for becoming a superhero.
Akuma no Riddle? School for becoming an assassin.
Mostly after you’ve lost almost all of your emotions thanks to all the killing, you have to now fight against 11 other super attractive assassins.
But just like all the other anime schools, there’s stuff happening here too.
Someone controlling things, manipulating things sitting in the shadows.
What really gets you hooked is the variety of weapons that are used.
Explosives, poison, scissors, and whatnot!
9. Strawberry Panic
This is one of the better representations of what Shoujo Ai is supposed to look like.
It does take the classic plot of an extremely popular, charismatic student who falls for the source of trouble, a newly transferred student.
The plot carries well and depicts their feelings blooming for each other, their realization, and the process of them actually coming to confront these feelings with the triangle being formed.
Strawberry Panic definitely packs a punch with an overall powerful performance with driven characters, a gripping storyline, eye candy visuals, and perfect sounds.
It’s a shame all good things must come to an end and this one does in 26 episodes.
8. Citrus
One of the more known Yuri anime.
Bubbly, kind, energetic, smiling sunshine characters fall in love with the dark, mysterious, silent type.
The only catch here is that they’re traveling to be stepsisters.
The story definitely keeps the curiosity of ‘Will they? Won’t they?’ alive until the end while the characters grow and evolve to see one another for who they are.
The anime also shows how difficult it is to be openly homosexual in certain environments.
It takes a step to show that there’s nothing wrong with liking someone of your own gender, be it male or female.
Citrus will take you on a slow-burn journey of coming to know and accept yourself.
7. The Virgin Mary is watching you
This is also one of the popular students falling for the troublesome newly transferred student, but where the popular student doesn’t mind making blatant moves of affection towards you.
Offering to be your sister and guide for the entire journey through the entire school when you’ve only known each other for about 3 minutes 47 seconds.
The transfer student doesn’t know if she should accept the offer or not.
What is the problem?
The constant attention?
The rumors?
The alleged assumption that they might be dating?
Who knows?
6. Adachi and Shimamura
Dreams, aren’t they just perfect?
Show us what we want and just drift away like it never happened.
I wish this dream would drift away too, but it just keeps roaming around in my head.
Blossoming friendships and romances.
Working together to come to peace with yourself.
Characters make up for each other’s weaknesses while still embracing them and accepting them as a part of themselves.
Meaningful and such well-written dialogue that conveys exactly what it wants to at any given point.
Hilarious and quirky side characters make you realize that they have a life outside.
In general, this anime does an amazing job of showing what it takes for girls to come to peace with their feelings.
5. Yuru Yuri
You’ve just had a hard day at school, college, work, or just at home. You deserve this.
This is one of those light-hearted animes that have little to no plot and just do things for the sake of doing them.
They aren’t too heavy on your brain or overload you with details of an intricate murder mystery or bother you with too much action or violence.
It’s just a cute fluff story of some girls leading their lives wanting to do certain things that are characteristic of puberty but shouldn’t be done without proper consent.
Have fun with these hilarious characters in hilarious circumstances in this hilarious premise.
4. Shoujo Kakumei Utena
You have finally met the perfect person.
Your knight in shining armor, the one from your dreams, the one who’s going to come to get you trotting glamourously on a white horse.
And they are also the perfect sword-fighting opponents! Oh! What else could you ever want from life?
This anime is worth as many repeated viewings as you can.
Impatience, longing, darkness, beaconing, the beginning, the end, the black rose, the drops of blood.
An intriguing plot + two badass swordsmen + dark secrets + true love that blooms amidst the crisis + poisoned politics + evil, scary and manipulative antagonists = Shoujo Kakumei Utena.
If this show isn’t on your watchlist then, add it.
3. Mai Hime
Children are robotic beasts.
At least in the world of Mai-Hime, they definitely are!
A group of schoolgirls discovers that they have been bestowed the ability to control these children and materialize weapons.
There is so much going on in each and every episode of this anime. There are people fighting.
There’s a dark plot unfolding. Plans of domination are coming to fruition.
The jokes are being cracked. Fan service is being made. Emotions are conflicted.
Once all the characters, premise, and ground rules are laid with this anime, you’re in for a joyride.
2. Sweet Blue Flowers
Who was your first love?
Why was it them?
Was it okay for you to fall for them?
Will they accept you now, if you loved them now?
Should you have told them about your feelings?
Would they still be your friend even if they didn’t share your feelings for you?
Sweet Blue Flowers will make you remember all those butterflies that you had when had your first love.
It’s bold. It’s beautiful. It’s new. It’s deep. It might not be the superficial fan-service Yuri anime that you want, but it’s the more mature, realistic, and relatable showcasing of lesbian relationships that you deserve.
1. Bloom Into You
Another one without melodrama or clichés.
There’s a lot that can be said about this anime.
Realistically developed character arcs.
Taking off the veil of misconceptions about love and relationships.
Slowly and steadily, layers are being peeled off to become more vulnerable and intimate with each other.
Flawless visuals, setting, and composition of scenes.
Interesting symbolism that conveys the point while still not directly throwing it in your face.
All of these make Bloom Into You take a very real-life turn of events with no dramatic “in-your-face confessions,” extravagant efforts, fetishizing of random scenarios, or overly flamboyant situations that you will never truly experience in life.
‘Bloom Into You’ tells you the sweet truth about love.
