History Main / NoHuggingNoKissing

** Played with in ''Videogame/DarkSouls3''. Technically, there is one character who has something of a romance plot, however it involves [[spoiler:a cult you can work with kidnapping him/her (his/her gender changes depending on yours), possibly killing him/her, then you stabbing his/her face with a ceremonial sword in some sort of ritual. Though you do see him/her alive in the ending you get from doing this,]] it's clearly not your standard romance plot.

* The VideoGame/TalesSeries games usually avert it with at least one OfficialCouple, but a few play this trope straight:

* Creator/CraigMcCracken tends to follow this rule for all his series, with any romance involving main characters being one-sided (e.g. [[{{Yandere}} Berry]] in ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'' and [[spoiler:Lord Hater]] in ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'') or ending badly (e.g. [[StrangledByTheRedString The Professor and Ms Keane]] in ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls''), and mostly PlayedForLaughs. [[WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls2016 The 2016 PPG reboot]], which didn't have [=McCracken=]'s involvement, gives Blossom a SatelliteLoveInterest.

* ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan'' completely avoids every form of teen romance, which is ironic given how complicated Peter's love life has been in almost every other version. WordOfGod Loeb established "Our show lives in a world that is pre-romance".

* ''WesternAnimation/MarvelsSpiderMan'' takes cues from ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan'' in not having Peter getting into a relationship or even implying one with either Anya Corazon or Gwen Stacy, though there are hints that his Aunt and her friend Anna Watson are trying to set him up with Anna's niece, a certain iconic red head...

* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' clearly has no time for romance between all the HackAndSlash action, WordOfGod stated the relationship between Dante and Trish and Lady are purely [[JustFriends platonic]] (it does help that Trish resembles Dante’s mother Eve). The real exception is Nero and his childhood sweetheart Kyrie from the [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry4 fourth game]] who are explicitly couple though their only kiss is [[KissingDiscretionShot off-screened]].

''Don’t feed me no lines and keep yer hands to yerself''
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* In one of the [[WordOfGod author freetalk sections]] in the first volume of ''Manga/NatsumesBookOfFriends'', the author mentions that she wanted to "make a supernatural manga without much of a romantic element".

* Creator/NaokiUrasawa's ''Anime/{{Monster}}'' is probably the only anime that can regularly feature a [[LoveChart relationship/connections chart]] between its LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters without ''even one'' romantic relationship. Eva had a few minor ones (none of them ended well), there was an old man and woman in a town Tenma went through that were implied to have developed a relationship after he left, and [[spoiler:Johan disguised as Nina]] seduced intel out of a young detective with pure romance in volume 11.

** ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasyOperaOmnia'' generally has a touching reunion occur when the two halves of a game's OfficialCouple find each other, but there are no new pairings among the LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters from across the series who make up the main party. The closest it comes is having the flirtatious characters universally being turned down.

* ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' has no onscreen romance whatsoever, despite Ken, Guile, Dhalsim and Haken being married with children. It gets pretty ludicrous when Ryu and Chun-Li who have plenty of chemistry together and appeared in every crossover have [[ChasteHero remained single]] since 1994.

* ''Webcomic/FreeSpirit2014'' cartoonist Peter Paltridge has no plans to make Winnie Goodwin and Thomas Harper a couple. While [[Series/FreeSpirit the show]] that inspired the comic created romantic tension between them, Peter fears that hooking them up would require Winnie to out herself as a witch to Thomas. The pilots of both the show and the comic had Winnie clearly state that the terms of her staying with mortals forbid Thomas from finding out about her magical abilities.

* Unlike it's sequels (exept it's own [[VideoGame/DisgaeaD2ABrighterDarkness direct sequel]]), there is very little romance in ''VideoGame/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness'', and any feelings between the trio of Laharl, Flonne, and Etna are left ambiguous. Even as they make appearances in later games they retain their status quo, and the subject of who likes who is a ''very'' touchy subject among the fandom.

** [[WordOfGod Lauren Faust specifically noted]] that ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' was not a show which would contain romance of any kind for the [[FanNickname mane cast]], which was a rule followed even after she left the production in season two. That said, in season one, Rarity is initially attracted to [[PrinceCharmless Prince Blueblood]] (she got over ''that'' quickly though) and Spike has a PrecociousCrush on Rarity herself that lasts up until the final season. All other romantic scenarios happen to minor or less recurring characters, most notably between Princess Cadance and Twilight's older brother Shining Armor.

** In actuality, romance and attraction is implied in various skits but it rarely actually goes anywhere: in the second half of the boys' school skit mentioned above in Episode 3, the unnamed student and Fat Tom find the female NewTransferStudent "awesome" but are reprimanded by the teacher; and in Episode 15, when one of the girls reveals she got a tattoo in a place covered by her summer uniform, her male classmate asks to see it, but that's where the skit ends.

* According to Craig Gerber, the creator of ''WesternAnimation/ElenaOfAvalor'', Elena will not get into a relationship with any of her friends, focusing instead on strengthening their relationships as really good friends. This also applies to his other show, ''WesternAnimation/SofiaTheFirst'', with the little romance that's shown being either for side characters or parents, or played for quick gags if involving main characters .

* Romance is essentially non-existent in ''Manga/AttackOnTitan''. The few examples of romantic attraction are either [[AllLoveIsUnrequited unrequited]] (e.g. Jean's crush on Mikasa, [[spoiler:Bertholt's feelings for Annie]]), or just implied (e.g. [[NotBloodSiblings Mikasa's feelings for Eren]], [[HideYourLesbians Krista and Ymir's feelings for each other]]). In any event, all the characters have far more pressing problems than romance, and only [[spoiler:Gabi and Falco and Annie and Armin]] more or less explicitly get together in the end.

* Romance is essentially non-existent in ''Manga/AttackOnTitan''. The few examples of romantic attraction are either [[AllLoveIsUnrequited unrequited]] (e.g. Jean's crush on Mikasa, [[spoiler:Bertholt's feelings for Annie]]), or just implied (e.g. [[NotBloodSiblings Mikasa's feelings for Eren]], [[HideYourLesbians Krista and Ymir's feelings for each other]]). In any event, all the characters have far more pressing problems than romance, and given how [[CrapsackWorld dark the setting is]], it's unlikely that any of them will explicitly get together in the story.

* This is lampshaded by Venus from ''Manga/HeavensDesignTeam'', who complains that the office is lacking any sort of romance. None of the main characters ever show the slightest hint of romantic interest towards one another, and the one ShipTease moment between Mars and Mercury is immidiately subverted within about three panels.

* Marvel's ''ComicBook/TheTransformers'' comics sway in this direction, as head writer Simon Furman didn't see why robots should or could think about such things. Cybertronians are typically portrayed as not having any relationships beyond friendships, and other works for Transformers that Simon is behind the pen on tend to follow suit.

* To quote the summary of ''FanFic/AdventCrossoverCrisis'' directly; "Rated T for swearing and violence, but relax, there's no kissing!" Indeed, romance is effectively non-existent in the story -- a single ship between two featured characters is alluded to in the vaguest possible terms, and the two members of same never actually meet.
* ''FanFic/ImperfectMetamorphosis'' spreads around oodles of ShipTease, especially between Marisa and Alice, Kaguya and Mokou in a side story, and whatever is going on between Rumia and [[spoiler:Rin Satsuki]], but never makes any relationships or attractions explicit. Even Yuuka's [[DepravedBisexual depravations]] are only implied.

* ''Anime/HaibaneRenmei'' contains absolutely no romance. The only vague implications of romance comes from a minor character being pregnant. At first glance it seems like Reki had a romance with TheOneGuy {{Childhood Friend|Romance}} Hyouko, however Hyouko and Reki's relationship (and by extension, Midori and Hyouko's relationship) are platonic. It's unknown if Haibane are {{asexual|ity}} or if the characters simply have no interest in each other.

* The protagonist of ''Literature/TrashOfTheCountsFamily'' never expresses any romantic or sexual interest in anyone, coming off as {{Asexual}}. There's barely any mention of romance at all in the story, and it doesn't play an important part to any character.

** In the ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' anime it seems like the only couples allowed consist of minor characters. None of the main characters are in relationships, and the only ones who seems to want to be are Brock and later Serena. Ash is a ChickMagnet but is ObliviousToLove. Not even the Pokemon themselves get much romance, despite breeding being a thing in the games and being present in other adaptations like ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'', although there are some exceptions to this, such as Ash's Butterfree and Jessie's Dustox (and even then, we barely get to see their romance). However, in the original soundtrack, "Music/Pokemon2BAMaster", there is a love song which implies that Misty has very strong feelings for Ash; while it was added in by 4kids, the original Japanese anime had ShipTease between Satoshi and Kasumi too, though it's never been confirmed as anything concrete. A few [[ShippingGoggles popularly-agreed]] "exceptions" exist: Ash was kissed by two movie-only characters (Melody and Latias) and in-series [[spoiler:Serena]] was implied to have kissed him as well in the final episode of ''XY&Z''. Even then, for the last one the camera [[KissingDiscretionShot pans away]] from their faces so it's unknown if it was on the lips or just on a cheek. Professors Kukui and Burnet also do get married onscreen in ''Sun and Moon'', though with no onscreen kissing between them.

* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' has no romance whatsoever. Strangely this managed to ''help'' the massive shipping fanbase, as they could pair anyone with anyone else without any ShipToShipCombat or conflict with canon.

* Several novels by Creator/IsaacAsimov. Asimov himself openly acknowledged his (at least perceived) inability to write interpersonal relationships, let alone romance, and on several occasions lampooned himself for it. There ''are'' married couples in his books, but their relationship seldom plays a large role in the narrative. With the ironic [[AvertedTrope exception]] of ''The Gods Themselves'', written in part as a response to criticism that his books didn't have enough aliens or sex, which featured alien energy beings having the least titillating (to a human audience) threesomes in history. Which are ''absolutely essential'' to the plot.

* Creator/CraigMcCracken follows this rule for all his series, with any romance involving main characters being one-sided (e.g. [[{{Yandere}} Berry]] in ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'' and [[spoiler:Lord Hater]] in ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'') or ending badly (e.g. [[StrangledByTheRedString The Professor and Ms Keane]] in ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls''), and mostly PlayedForLaughs. [[WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls2016 The 2016 PPG reboot]], which didn't have [=McCracken=]'s involvement, gives Blossom a SatelliteLoveInterest.

* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' has a downplayed case. The manga lacks any ShipTease between most characters, and even the situation between the protagonists Midoriya and Uraraka is kind of left in the backseat so much, most arcs can go on without that being mentioned, since that is the only canon love interest in the plot. In this case, RealityEnsues, as it's heavily implied that being a Hero is a job that consumes your life, as almost no heroes shown so far seem to have any sort of romantic relationship.

* ''Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse:

* ''Anime/RuneSoldierLouie'' is both an [[AvertedTrope aversion]] and [[ParodiedTrope a parody]] of the HaremGenre. So despite joining a travelling party of single women, [[StrictlyProfessionalRelationship none of them have any romantic feelings]] [[JustFriends towards Louie]]. Likewise, even though [[SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan Ila]] is secretly in love with him, [[ObliviousToHints he fails to notice it]] and she never tells him.

* Averted in the HighSchoolAU SpinOff series ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls''. The [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls1 first film]] has main character Twilight Sparkle develop a crush on Flash Sentry, who had previously dated Sunset Shimmer in the human world. This romance doesn't go anywhere in later installments, as [=FIM=] Twilight stops traveling to the human world, and her native human counterpart enters a relationship with an entirely different character (who also serves as a SatelliteLoveInterest).

** Somewhat averted during the Troughton era. The BBC censor at the time forbade the Doctor from touching female companions of any degree. This led to a lot more touching with Jamie, particularly in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E1TheTombOfTheCybermen The Tomb of the Cybermen]]", where the Doctor and Jamie hold hands on several occasions.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'' despite the two Jedi pointedly not being {{Celibate Hero}}es and centering around two teenagers, has no romantic plots or subplots. The creators have said that the characters have no time for romance due to the war, so [[OfficialCouple Kanan and Hera]]'s relationship is only implied and Ezra's unrequited crush on Sabine disappears after season 1 and eventually becomes LikeBrotherAndSister. The most important relationship in the show is [[TrueCompanions the family bonds the crew share]]. [[spoiler:This is eventually averted in the final season, as Kanan and Hera finally get to kiss after a RunningGag of them getting interrupted. Mirroring the audience's reaction, the rest of the crew lets them enjoy the moment.]]

* In ''Literature/TheSpiritThief'', despite featuring at least three married couples, has no romance whatsoever - and of those three, Nibel and Slorn can't interact due to her nature as a demonseed, [[spoiler:Banage and Sara]] are in separation and Josef got married to Adela ''in absentia'', with neither interested in consummating the marriage, much less falling in love.