This last decade has shown such amazing growth in the field of animated television! It will be sad to see the era that had so many loveable series come to an end.
I can’t wait to see what will come out of the next ten years.
Classic Bookshelf: This site has put classic novels online, from Charles Dickens to Charlotte Bronte.
The Online Books Page: The University of Pennsylvania hosts this book search and database.
Project Gutenberg: This famous site has over 27,000 free books online.
Page by Page Books: Find books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and H.G. Wells, as well as speeches from George W. Bush on this site.
Classic Book Library: Genres here include historical fiction, history, science fiction, mystery, romance and children’s literature, but they’re all classics.
Classic Reader: Here you can read Shakespeare, young adult fiction and more.
Read Print: From George Orwell to Alexandre Dumas to George Eliot to Charles Darwin, this online library is stocked with the best classics.
Planet eBook: Download free classic literature titles here, from Dostoevsky to D.H. Lawrence to Joseph Conrad.
The Spectator Project: Montclair State University’s project features full-text, online versions of The Spectator and The Tatler.
Bibliomania: This site has more than 2,000 classic texts, plus study guides and reference books.
Online Library of Literature: Find full and unabridged texts of classic literature, including the Bronte sisters, Mark Twain and more.
Bartleby: Bartleby has much more than just the classics, but its collection of anthologies and other important novels made it famous.
Fiction.us: Fiction.us has a huge selection of novels, including works by Lewis Carroll, Willa Cather, Sherwood Anderson, Flaubert, George Eliot, F. Scott Fitzgerald and others.
Free Classic Literature: Find British authors like Shakespeare and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, plus other authors like Jules Verne, Mark Twain, and more.
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Italian Women Writers: This site provides information about Italian women authors and features full-text titles too.
Biblioteca Valenciana: Register to use this database of Catalan and Valencian books.
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Afghanistan Digital Library: Powered by NYU, the Afghanistan Digital Library has works published between 1870 and 1930.
CELT: CELT stands for “the Corpus of Electronic Texts” features important historical literature and documents.
Projekt Gutenberg-DE: This easy-to-use database of German language texts lets you search by genres and author.
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LibriVox: LibriVox has a good selection of historical fiction.
The Perseus Project: Tufts’ Perseus Digital Library features titles from Ancient Rome and Greece, published in English and original languages.
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Books-On-Line: This large collection includes movie scripts, newer works, cookbooks and more.
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Google Poetry: Google Books has a large selection of poetry, fromThe Canterbury Tales to Beowulf to Walt Whitman.
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Banned Books: Here you can follow links of banned books to their full text online.
World eBook Library: This monstrous collection includes classics, encyclopedias, children’s books and a lot more.
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I decided I wanted to put together a list of romance anime, but some of the ones that I thought of didn’t fall into a “romance” definition per se, but that was the aspect of the story I liked best. Likewise, there are some all-aboard-the-feels-train romances that I didn’t think were the point of the show (Spike and Faye, Kirisu and Okabe, Ed and Winry, to name a few) and there are ones I fought myself to include and to leave off. So, I guess that this isn’t necessarily a list of my favorite romance anime as it is a list of anime that I watched for the romantic elements more than anything else. So, in no particular order, yet another signature long post about pretty much nothing:
1. Kaze No Stigma
Still my favorite anime couple ever, Kazuma and Ayano run circles around the fact they are bonkers for each other, and it’s just too much fun to watch.
2. Spice and Wolf (Ookami to Koushinryou)
You can call this one about economics all you want, I’m going to call it about relationship goals. In all the anime I have ever seen, these two have the sweetest, most interdependent relationship between them, though they are too proud to admit it to themselves and each wants to pretend they would be perfectly ok without the other. Each brings something valuable to the relationship, both are intelligent enough to see the world for themselves, yet still wanting to just be with the other, to make sure the other is safe and happy. Their balance has always made Holo and Kraft pretty much the perfect couple to me.
3. Toradora!
Ryuuji. The palm-top tiger. Both in love with other people, and are the last to see that they’re actually insane about each other. Luckily, we don’t miss any of it, and it’s one of the most endearing shows I’ve ever seen.
4. Plastic Memories
you better have the tissues ready before you take on this one. It hits like Tyson, and hurts even more. One of the deepest reaching stories feels-wise that I’ve seen, moments of overwhelming sadness, but so happy and warm at the same time. You definitely won’t be sorry you watched it, but… well, prepare to ugly cry your earballs out.
5. Golden Time
A beautiful, “slightly” possessive, “slightly” psychotic, spoiled rich girl and a broken, traumatized, amnesic nice-guy commoner wade through a buttload of drama of their own and of those around them, all the while scared that they’ll lose the other because one of them knows it’s definitely coming. Sounds awful, yeah? It isn’t. It’s actually very light and lovable. (ps - I still hatehatehate the ending. Bugs the daylights of me, but I still like the show.)
6. Your Name (Kimi no Na Wa)
I watched this because everyone was talking about how visually stunning it is, and they’re right - the artwork is captivating. But the relationship that develops between Mitsuha and Taki pulls your heart every which way and makes it run the whole gambit. I was overwhelmed by all the feels this movie brought out.
7. Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? (Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka)
wait, wtf is DanMachi doing on this list??!! Well, to be frank, it’s my list and these two charm the poop out of me, so I am using it. Sure, there’s magical beasts, a goddess with major jealousy and self-esteem issues, and a family obsessed with booze, but what’s wrong with throwing a little fun in here, eh? Even though she becomes his reason for wanting to change everything about himself to one day become worthy of her, Bell and Aiz are both so fundamentally awkward towards each other from start to finish that you can’t help but root for them to come together. OK, I can’t help it, and why I get the warm and fuzzy from them every time I watch it.
8. Your Lie in April (Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso)
I kind of feel like I don’t need to say much of anything about Your Lie in April, the entire anime world already knows it over. But it’s so amazing to me how 22 episodes of such an incredible love story between two people who were never lovers takes over our emotions so effortlessly and with such command and simply refuses to let go. The greatest couple that never was.
9. My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU (Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru)
OK, I shamelessly love, love, LOVE these three, and this story. The characters are so well written and layered, and are continually evolving. One wants love and is sure she has found it in someone, the other needs someone specific to love them back, and one is so full of self-loathing that he doesn’t even love himself, but refuses to allow his interpersonal relationships to be shallow and listless. The dynamic is as fragile as the tensile strength of a water bubble, and unironically weakens with even the smallest changes around it that threaten to cause it to pop. And now we get a third season to have a little more of their story (btw - there are only fan translations of the light novels, no official English one, so as an American I can’t keep up with this one on my own which sucks rhinoceros taint, but also provides enough distance to the story that I keep chasing it every time there’s a new anime release).
10. Chivalry of a Failed Knight (Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry)
Another one that I think is kinda odd to put on this list. It’s a little stupid, the fan service is annoying to the point it’s irritating in places, the writing isn’t particularly good most of the way through, and I’m not going to lie, I actually got disgusted with it and dropped it. But then I eventually went back and finished the show, and realized where I walked out was the turning point of where it got GOOD. I don’t need convincing that there are better romance anime out there, but the resolve to which one guy was willing to fight to protect his right to have feelings for a woman, all without tarnishing her image in the least? Ikki Kurogane is a m’f’ing MAN in that regard. I’ve never forgotten how much that sunk in, even if every time I search for “worst anime ever” it’s still about one-third Stella Vermillion memes lol
The mentions below are a combination of beautiful visuals animation movies that had captured an immediate attention due to its fresh and appealing color choices and drawing-styles; yet, still intrigued the audience with a unique plot. Before you check out the list, keep in mind that I did not forget any of Studio Ghibli productions. I think every project in Ghibli is so special that I feel I need to make a separate post, don’t you agree? Plus, I want to give a shout-out to other animes. Some are extremely underrated and need much more love and appreciation! ❤️ this and enjoy~
Hirune Hime: Shiranai Watashi no Monogatari / Ancien and the Magic Tablet (2017)
