Is there an actual ROMANCE visual novel?

[Endless Nine]

I'm looking for a romance VN where the romance is actually light-hearted and "real", so excluding excessive fanservice or blatant otaku pandering, rape, and typical harem archetypes. I don't mind if it has routes, but I want to read something that doesn't have "romance" shoved in it for the sake of completeness. I'm not looking for yuri/yaoi or homosexual romance in general, also no incest romance. Possibly only Japanese VNs translated in English.

I've currently played only these VNs:

Higurashi & Higurashi Kai, Umineko & Umineko Chiru, Inganock, Gahkthun, Sharnoth, Forest, Steins;Gate, Fate/Stay Night Realta Nua, Narcissu, Chaos;Head, Tokyo Babel.

Edited November 22, 2016 by Endless Nine

[WinterfuryZX]

Enigma

Supipara

Edited November 22, 2016 by WinterfuryZX

[Dergonu]

Eden*.

There is a small amount of fanservice, but the main romance is beautiful and "real," (the surreal setting aside.) Just be mentally prepared, as it is a nakige; you will cry. 

[yorikbad]

Kira Kira, Deardrops, Little Basters!. Light and easy to read VNs with consistent down-to earth romances.

[littleshogun]

Maybe Clannad would be good for you. And I think if you want some good song as well, perhaps Symphonic Rain there for more recommendation. Hope it'll be help.

[Valmore]

Sepia Tears. It's free, it's a good mix of light and heavy emotions. It's free. And it's good. No harem. No fanservice. No sex. Just mystery, romance and humour.

[Okarin]

5 hours ago, Palas said:

Katawa Shoujo is the best romance visual novel you'll ever find. Light-hearted, solid characters, amazing interactions, no fanservice, no nonsense.

Really? I always thought Katawa Shoujo was filled with drama. Mind you, it's a novel that teaches you that disabled people, and people in general, no matter how different, are just people like the rest. Not so heavy a drama that it ends up a nakige, but every route has its share of drama, even if they also have humour and slice of life.

[Valmore]

2 hours ago, Palas said:

It's lighthearted in that it doesn't involve any edgy stuff and is down to earth in its themes. There is drama, but it's not full of angst. 

I dunno, I tend to rate KS more on the heavy side than light side. It has it's moments, but it gets pretty heavy pretty often.

[Zakamutt]

It's been a while, but Autumn is kind of weird in a good way and should at least somewhat dodge tropeyness. I wouldn't necessarily call it light-hearted though... sigh.

The problem with your request is that the more towards the light-hearted side you go, the more archetypical characters in Japanese VNs tend to become (or perhaps you'll just be more familiar with said archetypes from other Japanese media. Hard to tell now that I think about it.) There'd probably be a better selection in Japanese... as pretty much always, rip in language barriers.

[Shota_Victory]

On 11/22/2016 at 7:00 AM, littleshogun said:

Maybe Clannad would be good for you

Clannad is one of the most depressing non-utsuges out there in my opinion. There's a lot of good romance in it, but the Kappei, Kyou, and Tomoyo routes have some hardcore drama stuff in them. It's not as bad as, say, Rewrite, but it's still not "lighthearted". And that's not even starting on After Story...

Da Capo is good from what I've heard, but the archetypes are though the roof on that one. Look at the character list, and see if it's bad enough that you don't want to go though it.

Based on your list, I'd recommend Subarashiki Hibi ~Furenzoku Sonzai~, but that's about as far from what you're asking for as you can get.