Submitted 4 weeks ago by szczuroarturo@programming.dev to anime@ani.social
So what i want here are recomdations for anime that are weird af. What i would consider to be the ‘anime’ anime. Like this weird whatewer tf it actually is in thumbnail link ( my dear friend nokotan for those that dont want to clik on them ). Some other good example would be gintama.
Akiba Maid War had me laughing and saying “what the fucking is going on?” out loud a lot.
Maid war is underrated. Its basically a gangster comedy anime pretending to be about maids.
Some that haven’t been mentioned yet (I think):
Kuuchuu Buranko: This one uses rotoscope animation. It’s a “trippy” anime that deals with various mental health problems (mostly OCD). I think this is one of those anime that almost nobody really knows about. It’s very obscure.
Aku no Hana: This also uses rotoscope animation. I actually never watched the anime and only read the manga. It’s one of those psychological types but it’s well-grounded in reality. The animation itself is weird however. Probably because rotoscoping at this level is uncommon in anime.
Monogatari Series: The notoriously “immoral” anime series (and one of my all-time favorites). Generally speaking, anything by SHAFT have really unique visual storytelling which includes Madoka Magica and Sangatsu no Lion.
I see things like Nichijou, Lucky Star, Azumanga, etc. Those are all favorites of mine but I don’t think they are very weird. I would recommend Poputepipikku, Sakigake! Cromartie Koukou and most of all Pani Poni Dash! Maybe Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. Depends on how weird you want your weird shit to be.
Not sure on the exact flavor of “weird af” that Nokotan or Gintama get into since I haven’t seen them, but here’s some of the weirder shows I’ve watched:
be forewarned that if you watch lain (made in 1998) you’ll be like “how the fuck did they know this would happen”
Seconding Penguindrum as “built different”. It’s a classic imo, but it isn’t discussed enough, probably because everyone (like me) is convinced it isn’t a real anime but a fever dream they had after watching too much anime.
So, OP wants weird anime. “Anime” anime.
Depending on which flavor of weird one is going for, not all of these are going to scratch that itch.
Odd Taxi
I don’t consider this weird at all. The “weirdest” thing about this is just the artstyle. Otherwise its basically a Film Noir / Detective like story except the Taxi Driver is the detective-protagonist who saw the crime (and has a perfect memory of his customer’s faces). So as you go around the cast of characters and see where they want to go + their small talk with the Taxi Driver, you end up figuring out the mystery with the protagonist.
I like watching anime that’s build different:
Sonny Boy - Execution: S tier Weirdness: S tier
Kyousougiga - Execution: S tier Weirdness: S tier
Id: Invaded - Execution: A tier Weirdness: B tier
Flip Flappers - Execution: A tier Weirdness: B tier
Junk Head - Execution: A tier Weirdness: S tier
Olympia Kyklos - Execution: C tier Weirdness: A tier
Train to the End of the World - Execution: B tier Weirdness: A tier
Your list sounds like you’d like “Undead Unluck”, a buddy cop comedy of two superpowered characters: an unkillable Super-zombie with the unluckiest character (who spreads her unluck to everyone close to her).
“Undead” is trying to finally find a way to die. And hanging around “Unluck” is finally managing to hurt him.
“Unluck” is just trying to live, despite her superpower.
Dorohedoro is fantastically weird but solid world building and funny as fuck too.
Shuumatsu Train isn’t difficult to watch! It is the most classic of classic plots: a band of heroes sets off to save their village and faces all kinds of trials along the way, making them stronger as individuals and as a group, before defeating the Great Evil and saving the princess. It also has trains.
Hands Off Eizouken! Is my favorite anime of all time but not that weird compared to others.
I was specifically thinking of the parts where the girls “go into” their drawings to develop their ideas, as being different from your standard manga/anime narrative story.
IIRC, the town that they live in is strange too…
asobi asobase is, imo, one of the funniest anime ever made
aho girl (be forewarned the anime ends on the creepiest fucking part of the manga)
azumanga daioh (be forewarned there is anime bullshit here as well, different time)
hinamatsuri (definitely well worth it to read the manga, which is one of the funniest I’ve ever read. It’s so good. The anime is great but it only got 1 cour which is an abridged version of the first 9 volumes. There’s 10 more and the story just keeps getting better), I felt like it was a bit of a spiritual successor to ranma which is also a good suggestion
Imo nichijou isn’t very good, though the animation is excellent. City was a much better manga and I’m excited to watch the anime for that. People love it though so it’s worth checking out
I genuinely enjoyed nokotan but the above picks all destroy it imo
Nichijou has a pretty safe spot in my top 10. It very much depends what your sense of humour is like.
I’m not saying it’s bad, clearly many many people like it. It’s exactly what you say. For some people it clicks and for them it seems to be a borderline masterpiece, but for me I was just bored
I get it because there’s so many people right now that endlessly shit on nokotan, and when asobi asobase aired there was a similar contingency of people who loudly moaned about how stupid it was and how stupid people were for liking it and I just thought those people were dumb. I still think those people are dumb because I can understand why someone would like nichijou, I just didn’t
It sounds like when you say “weird” you mean absurdist, so I’ll not recommend things like “Ping Pong the Animation” even though it’s both excellent and weird.
With that said, the absurdist anime I’ve seen in roughly descending order of preference are:
Dan Da Dan just for that kickass OP by Creepy Nutz!
One anime that really is built differently, in structure, art style and themes:
Tatami Galaxy
Every episode is the main character making a different choice to try and fulfill his dream. It’s like Groundhog Day, but where Mr Groundhog eventually manages a perfect day, Mr Tatami learns to accept the imperfection of life.
Pop Team Epic. It was so weird I couldn’t get anything at all and dropped it in first 10 minutes, but I’m planning to give it another try someday 😅
I think we got through two episodes. Not planning on kicking it back up lol.
Spirited Away
Hunter x Hunter (2011)
Howl’s Moving Castle
One Piece
One Punch Man
Chainsaw Man
Steins;Gate
Evangelion
Cyberpunk Edgerunners
Mob Psycho
Bocchi the Rock
If you can get past the part where it is pure, unabashedly crass, Panty + Stocking & Garterbelt oozes style. Actually, it oozes multiple styles, as it’s more than willing to switch from a ‘chibi’ style, to an overly ‘high-res’ style, and even to real world paper mâché within a single episode. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before, and certainly “built different.”
Saiki Kusuo no Ψ-nan, if you speak Japanese or can read subtitles fairly quickly.
Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan
FLCL
Scissor 7
Y’all are all sleeping on Sarazanmai. Weird, but lives rent free in my head
anime that are weird af
The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You
Dead Leaves
Not really anime (but imo the anime version is worse): The way of the househusband.
Basically a Yakuza retires as a househusband.
Quite enjoyable
I read manga. There is a tv series?
Yep. Both Anime and live action
dragontamer@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Excel Saga
Bobobo-bo bobo-bo
Azumanga Diaoh
Nichijou
Lucky Star
Haruhi (actually a serious romantic melodrama but with absurd things happening).