Most Controversial Enemies-To-Lovers Romances In Anime
Descriptions
The enemies-to-lovers trope will always be popular and cause eternal debate. The nature of the trope means that there will be extra conflict between the characters. Sometimes it means two people on opposite sides of a war or a pairing between a hero and a villain.
To pair a hero with a villain, the hero has to be virtuous and sympathetic, and the villain has to be villainous. Otherwise, the trope will ring hollow. It sets the stage for plenty of heated debates about whether the couple should be endgame — or even if one of the enemies should just be thrown in jail.
10 Prince Jin & Su Luo (The Demonic King Who Chases His Wife)
Prince Jin and Su Luo are remarkably alike in The Demonic King Who Chases His Wife. She is a former renowned assassin, and he's the most powerful and nefarious prince in the Eastern Ling Empire. But just because they're alike doesn't mean they get along.
Su Luo initially objects to Prince Jin's attentions. They butt heads plenty, even as they start to genuinely fall in love. Series fans criticize Prince Jin's characterization, especially further in the books, because they feel he gets too high-handed with Su Luo.
9 Yukako & Koichi (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure)
Anything can happen in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, and that includes a sweet guy falling in love with his torturous kidnapper. Most fans view the relationship as entirely tongue-in-cheek, but the relationship is no less notorious.
Yukako is a yandere supreme. If she can't have Koichi, then no one can. She's violently obsessive, and yet she also wants to change Koichi into something that he's not. She becomes even more obsessed with him when he saves her life. Koichi's compassion is what links them together. Somehow, he's moved by her plight, and the two defy the odds and grow closer.
8 Taiga & Ryuuji (Toradora!)
The enemies-to-lovers trope exists on a spectrum. Enemies can mean people on opposite sides of a war, or in Toradora!'s case, it means two people with conflicting personalities who fight a lot. Toradora! is a popular anime, and most who enjoy romantic high school comedies love it, but even the fans find Taiga tiresome.
Taiga is very violent, and her outbursts seem to stagnate the plot after a while. Sometimes, it can make for funny moments and misunderstandings that can get worked out. But most of the time, it just seems like she's browbeating Ryuuji for no reason.
7 Anasui & Jolyne (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure)
Anasui is in jail for a good reason in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Oftentimes, fans enjoy a hero pairing with a villain-type, but not in this case. Jolyne isn't very interested in Anasui's overtures, either.
Anasui covets Jolyne, and he makes life far more difficult because he's trying to manipulate her into loving him. They are friends and allies, at best. He does help her from time to time, but his desperation to marry her results in schemes like tripping her down the stairs.
6 Misaki & Usui (Maid Sama!)
Misaki and Usui are like the lite version of enemies to lovers in Maid Sama! Misaki has a decided distaste for all the boys in her school. They make student life for her and the other girls pretty difficult.
It also took a lot for Misaki to be taken seriously. When Usui starts hanging around her, finding out her secrets, and reading her personality like a book, she doesn't think of it as Usui extending the hand of friendship but rather a threat to all she's worked for both in and out of school. It's not for a long time that she starts to realize that he likes her and wants to help her. Many fans take umbrage with Usui, though, because of his persistence and (at times) possessiveness.
5 Inuyasha & Kikyo (Inuyasha)
No matter how many times Kikyo shows up and tries to kill Inuyasha, he is still stuck on her. It's to the point where fans groan when Kikyo shows up. It's a shame because, obviously, they weren't always enemies.
Inuyasha and Kikyo could have had a nice, happily ever after if it wasn't for Naraku. And rather than letting that tragedy go, especially because he's also falling in love with Kagome, Inuyasha cradles his pain and past feelings. Between Inuyasha holding onto his love for Kikyo, Kikyo can't move on because her vengeful spirit has been fractured into something violent.
4 Yui & The Sakamaki Brothers (Diabolik Lovers)
Diabolik Lovers gets a lot of mileage out of childhood trauma as an excuse for the love interests being so abusive toward Yui. It's to the point where even fans know that they're watching a total train wreck. The vampire brothers treat Yui like a blood bag and pelt her with insults and rude names.
Yui's romance with any one of the brothers gives many the ick because she also carries the heart of their mother in her chest. That detail really highlights the proverbial mommy issues going on with the vampires. Diabolik Lovers is less a prescriptive show about relationships and healing and more of a dark romance romp.
3 Naru & Nephrite (Sailor Moon)
In the '90s Sailor Moon anime, Nephrite changes sides entirely just to protect Naru. The main complaint fans understandably have about Naru and Nephrite is the age difference. In the anime, Naru is 15, and Nephrite is four years older, putting him at 19. They are both teenagers, but a four-year age difference at that young age is too much.
This kerfuffle stems from the anime creators' dubious decision to age up Mamoru and his peers. In the finale, the audience finds out that Mamoru once fought alongside Nephrite and the other Dark Kingdom agents. Had the anime retained the original ages, Nephrite's arc with Naru would be far more palatable.
2 Zuko & Katara (Avatar: The Last Airbender)
Zuko doesn't end up with Katara in Avatar: The Last Airbender, but that doesn't stop fans from latching on to the episodes where they were a possibility. Zuko is a dark prince with a heavy destiny — a regular Heathcliff-type. Pairing a Byronic hero with a do-gooder love interest will always be popular.
To this day, there is still plenty of fan debate about whether Zuko and Katara would have truly worked. Many think that Katara is better off without him. And other fans mourn the rumor that they were originally meant to be endgame.
1 Erika & Kyouya (Wolf Girl And Black Prince)
Wolf Girl and Black Prince is a romance anime classic. It completely inverts the bishonen character trope. Bishonen characters tend to be kuudere school princes. They're sweet, kind, and honorable.
Kyouya feigns this personality, but below the surface, he's completely awful. Erika hopes that he will help her in her fake relationship scheme, but rather than "helping" her, he takes full advantage of her. Many enjoy watching Kyouya's progression as he comes around and changes, while others find him just plain abusive and beyond redemption in terms of their relationship.
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