I've been rereading Kamisama Hajimemashita and I've found I'm in the mood for a sappy supernatural shoujo. ahaha (it dosent happen often much anymore). Only one a bit specific.

I'm looking for a supernatural romance (dosent have to be shoujo) where the main male love interest plays a Familiar/ companion-like role to the heroine, as in the case of Kamisama Hajimeshita. Another good example would be Her Majesty's Dog and the role the male love interest plays in helping the heroine banishing spirits to the underworld, or something. It would be a major plus if this Familiar turned into a cute animal! haha. But that isn't necessary.

definition of familiar - a spirit (usually in animal form) that acts as an assistant to a witch or wizard (wiki). Only in manga it has a much much broader definition.

I don't really mind what genre it comes from. Opposite suggestions are fine (as in, a female familiar to the male protagonist), but I prefer to avoid that if possible because most storylines featuring female Familiars (or who have familiar-like roles) are usually harem/ecchi/shounen orientated. Thats okay, if it's really good, but I get a litte bored reading about heroines with amazing powers and equally amazing bouncy breasts to go along with it. 🤣 .

And thats my part said! Please do suggest whatever you think would fit that description! It woud be very much appreciated. 🙂

Aquarian Age Juvenile Orion should fall neatly into this category. I guess it's technically a harem series, but only two of the guys are ever actually interested in the heroine romantically.

The Twelve Kingdoms isn't a romantic series by any definition, but the relationship between the 'King' and Kirin (Both of whom can be either gender) of each kingdom is basically this, and most of the pairs can be easily read as either couples or pre-couples. If you're only interested in M/F, You'd probably be most interested in the Youko/Keiki parts of the series, which would be the first and fourth books (Shadow of the Moon and A Thousand Leagues of Wind) and the first half and last quarter(ish) of the anime. Novel translations are available here, since the Tokyopop versions are out of print by now.

Dunno if you're interested in yaoi at all, but ZE, Mister Mistress and Uraboku would also definitely qualify. Tactics and Shounen Onmyouji would also fit the bill if you're interested in mildly slashy gen. Those last three all have very nice animes available as well!

zero no tsukaima

Spice & Wolf (Novel)! You must!! For an introduction, you can try the anime (2 seasons). It's a story about a male merchant and his "foxy" companion (well, she's a wolf goddess). Their chemistry is ELECTRIFYING! Soooo much sexual tension, and they help each other! The only downside to this series is that it's heavy on economics dialogue (which go over my head sometimes), but the character development and charming relationship between the two are gold. 😃

Not exactly sappy (yet), but if you don't mind seinen, Kikou Shoujo wa Kizutsukanai

Not quite a familiar role but I think The World God Only Knows, Gan-Kon, Kannagi, Maga-Tsuki, and even Tsuki Tsuki! could work. They all feature gods as the companions though so be forewarned.

Straying off the path of familiar is also a sword/female companion in Kandachime though personally, there a bit too much ecchi and not enough everything else.

Kitsune no Yomeiri is a good fit as the heroine is a fox goddess that becomes the hero's bride. Similarly in Seto no Hanayome, a mermaid becomes the hero's bride, though most of the time the heroine's in "human" form. I highly recommend Seto no Hanayome to watched as an anime as it is just too freaking hilarious and definitely worth your while if you want a good laugh.