Mohsin Lag 
The Fish I Missed Was Big — known in English as Always a Catch! — is the rare romance that understands the best love stories are just two strange people deciding to be strange together. A runaway princess and a fisherman with the patience of a saint. If that combination is what hooked you, these twelve shows are the same species of charm. Ranked by how well they sell the “unlikely pair, earned devotion” formula.
Everything on this list is a completed or ongoing romance with an actual ending in sight — no abandoned adaptations that leave you hanging at episode twelve. I checked, because nothing breaks a romance fan faster than a cliffhanger with no season two.
Twelve Romances About Being Strange Together, Ranked
1. The Holy Grail of Eris
The 2025 anime of one of the sharpest villainess stories in years: a wronged noblewoman’s ghost teams up with the quietest girl in society to take down the people who ruined her. It’s a mystery first and a romance second — and the two leads’ unlikely alliance is exactly the Always a Catch flavor: two mismatched people who turn out to be each other’s best shot.
Skip if: you want the romance front and center. It’s simmering under the plot, not driving it.
2. Yona of the Dawn
Princess and bodyguard again, but this time the princess becomes the warrior. Yona’s arc from sheltered royalty to archer-queen is the best “fish that was missed” trajectory in anime — the boy she overlooked becomes the man she fights beside. Pierrot’s 2014 series is a romance hiding inside a war epic.
Skip if: you need the anime to finish. It pauses at a natural point, and the manga continues the real story.
3. 7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy!
Rishe has lived six lives and died six times — on the seventh, she walks straight up to the prince who killed her in the last one and proposes. The 2024 anime (Hornets/Studio Kai) is the villainess genre at its most confident: the romance is built on two people who are finally meeting as equals after lifetimes of missing each other.
Skip if: time-loop logic needs to be airtight for you. The show runs on charm more than mechanics.
4. Pass the Monster Meat, Milady!
The 2025 anime of the food-romance everyone underrated: a proper lady with a secret appetite and the monster-hunting duke who finds it delightful. It’s Always a Catch with more cooking — the mismatch is played for comedy, but the respect between the leads is completely sincere.
Skip if: food-centered romance doesn’t do it for you. Half the show is lovingly animated meals, and the other half is the same joke done well.
5. The Dark History of the Reincarnated Villainess
A girl reincarnates as the cringy villainess from the fanfiction she wrote as a teenager — and has to live inside her own embarrassing writing. The 2025 anime is the funniest self-own in the villainess genre, and its romance sneaks up on you through all the secondhand embarrassment.
Skip if: secondhand embarrassment is physically painful for you. That’s the core engine, on purpose.
6. The Do-Over Damsel Conquers the Dragon Emperor
Jill was executed by the prince she loved — and wakes up six years earlier, engaged to the enemy emperor everyone fears. J.C. Staff’s 2024 series is a speed-run of the “wrong partner, right person” premise, and the dragon emperor turns out to be the genre’s most likeable tyrant.
Skip if: you need the political plot to make sense. The romance does; the war stuff is decoration.
7. I’m the Villainess, So I’m Taming the Final Boss
Aileen realizes she’s doomed to die at the end of the game and immediately re-strategizes: marry the final boss before he becomes one. Maho Film’s 2022 series is peak “competence is attractive” — Aileen is the genre’s most proactive heroine, and the final boss’s gradual melt into a devoted husband is the whole show.
Skip if: you’ve already binged every villainess anime. You know exactly what this is — it’s just a very good version of it.
8. Tales of Wedding Rings
Childhood friends, a magic ring that demands five more brides, and a hero who would really rather just marry the one girl he loves. Staple Entertainment’s 2024 series is harem-shaped but romance-hearted — the central couple’s devotion is the spine, and the “additional brides” are the complication they refuse to let break them.
Skip if: harem structure is a hard no even when the heart is monogamous. Fair — it does look like a harem from outside.
9. Unnamed Memory
A cursed prince asks the most powerful witch alive to break his curse, and her price is becoming his wife — then the real story starts. ENGI’s 2024 series is dense, fast, and built on the Always a Catch dynamic: two people too strange for anyone else, negotiating the strangest marriage in the kingdom.
Skip if: rapid pacing and lore drops overwhelm you. This show covers a lot of ground per episode.
10. No Longer Allowed in Another World
The dark-horse pick: Osamu Dazai isekai’d, declaring the new world a nuisance and trying to die heroically while a cast of fantasy people refuses to let him. AtelierPontdarc’s 2024 series is a comedy, but the devotion between the suicidal writer and his companions — especially the elf priestess — builds into something genuinely moving.
Skip if: suicide as a running joke is a bridge too far. It’s handled with surprising care, but it is the premise.
11. The Ancient Magus’ Bride
Two strangers who didn’t choose each other, building something like family anyway — Chise and Elias are the “fish that was missed” premise played as dark fairy tale instead of comedy. Wit Studio’s 2017 series is the most beautiful romance on this list, and the most patient.
Skip if: the master-apprentice framing bothers you. The show interrogates it constantly, but the shape is there.
12. I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History
Alicia wants to be the greatest villainess in the storybook — not because she’s evil, but because villains are the characters who change things. Maho Film’s 2024 series pairs her with a prince who sees through the act immediately, and their dynamic is the list’s purest “strange people, strange together” energy.
Skip if: you need the heroine humble. Alicia is a lot, in the best way, and she will not apologize.
Where to Start
For the exact Always a Catch feeling — two odd people becoming each other’s person — start with 7th Time Loop or I’m the Villainess, So I’m Taming the Final Boss. For the serious version, Yona is the masterpiece of the batch. And if you want the premise without the fantasy wrapper at all, our best anime couples list is the natural next stop.
FAQ
Is Always a Catch! getting an anime?
The manga is running and popular, but as of mid-2026 there’s no announced anime adaptation. This list covers the dynamic while you wait — and half these shows came out of the same post-villainess boom.
Which of these has the best banter?
7th Time Loop and I’m the Villainess, So I’m Taming the Final Boss — both leads actually enjoy each other’s company, and you can hear it in every scene.
Where can I watch them?
Most of these are on Crunchyroll in the US and Europe. Unnamed Memory and The Do-Over Damsel rotate across platforms — JustWatch has your region’s current listings.
