The year 2020 has been a rough year so far, hasn’t it? Luckily, not everything is about doom and gloom.
If you’re feeling under the weather because of all the things wearing down on you, maybe sitting back and unwinding with a couple of anime shows would do the trick.
10. Daily Lives of High School Boys
This anime centers on the antics of three friends, Hidenori, Yoshitake, and Tadakuni attending Sanada North High School. The anime portrays the adolescence experience by playing around with the nothingness that runs through a teenager’s life with the exception of a couple of bizarre moments.
These are the type of people who would pick up a stick to reenact an intense RPG battle or try on their sister’s undergarment for no real reason.
While the title suggests the focus is on the boys, Sunrises’ anime boasts an extensive cast and is more of an ensemble comedy.
9. Baka and Test
The anime centers around Akihisa Yoshii, the “baka” of the show. The academy divides the students into classes from A to F. Akihisa being the “baka” that he is, is put into class F and was not too keen with the worn-out facilities and how the other classes treated them.
He decides to rally the class F to use the examination’s summon battle system between the classes for school supremacy and better facilities.
An anime about an idiot (Akihisa Yoshii) and a test, this show does have some generic tropes to it but uses them in humorous ways where I definitely found myself laughing throughout most of the series.
8. Barakamon
Do you like calligraphy? Slice of life? What about wacky antics and bothersome children? What about advice from wise old Japanese people? If any of that sounds interesting to you, Barakamon is right up your alley.
The anime starts off with Seishuu Handa, a calligrapher, who possesses all the required tools to sit among Japan’s greatest calligraphers. The only thing standing in his way? His lack of maturity and willingness to fly off the handle at any given moment.
Seishuu’s father exiled him to live on a remote island after violently assaulting an elder at a calligraphy expo. Seeking for inspiration of his work while on the Island, he amasses a harem of little children generally acting like little heathens around him.
Seishuu is fish-out-of-water as he interacts with the island’s locals which is also what makes this show funny and enjoyable.
7. Haven’t You Heard? I’m Sakamoto (Sakamoto Desu ga?)
There’s always that one guy in class that seemed like he has everything figured out for himself.
Sakamoto is the perfect guy. No matter what he does, he will always look cool. However, not everyone is pleased. Some of the guys in class try to thwart him however, it just ends up making him look more flamboyantly cooler.
The level of Sakamoto’s weirdness and charisma in using his wits to overcome any situation thrown at him is just funny to watch.
6. Gintama
The Amanto, aliens from outer space, have reigned supreme over feudal Japan and banned the use of swords putting an end to the way of the samurai. However, Gintoki Sakata refuses to voluntarily cease the way of the samurai.
Gintoki together with Shimura Shinpachi, a samurai in training, and Kagura, a bottomless pit for a stomach, they do odd jobs to make ends meet causing sorts of mayhem in their city of Edo.
Sure it has moments of drama, scenes of real danger for the characters but at the end of the day, you remember scenes like giving a scary shogun a bad hair cut, the cast turning into poop, going crazy over anpan (soft bread filled with red bean filling), constructing the Neo Armstrong Cyclone Jet Armstrong Canon, and many more. The most ridiculous things happen on this anime and most of the jokes will catch you completely off-guard.
5. Hina Festival (Hinamatsuri)
This anime show goes absolutely balls to the wall with its gags and jokes but unlike other comedies, the jokes aren’t just forgotten when the punchline is said and done.
Hinamatsuri follows the arrival of Hina, a super-powered telekinetic child. She crash lands in the apartment of a rich Yakuza thug Nitta, who, fearing her immense power, subsequently takes her in. The two slowly form a familial bond as they and those around them deal with absurdity both mundane and extraordinary.
From telekinetic assassins to middle school bartenders to the eternal struggle posed by teleportation balls, the show gets funnier the more you get to know these characters.
4. Grand Blue
The anime centers around Iori Kitahara starting college and moving into a coastal town with his uncle, who runs a scuba diving shop.
With high hopes and dreams in starting his new life as a college student, all of these go away as he is sucked into a spiral of alcoholic activities and bad hangovers of the scuba diving club members.
Grand Blue explores a carefree life while mixing in adult humor, diving elements, and drinking shenanigans. It’s one of those shows that it’s hard not to laugh your ass off once you’ve realized what you’re in for.
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3. Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun (Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun)
This anime revolves around Chiyo Sakura who finally gathers up the courage to confess to her crush Nozaki. To her dismay, the dense Nozaki isn’t exactly the brightest when it comes to reciprocating a girl’s feelings.
Furthermore, Nozaki turns out to be a popular manga artist and interprets her confession as wanting to be his assistant.
Hilarity ensues as Chiyo gets involved in Nozaki’s manga work and is introduced to schoolmates and people with their own entertaining quirks.
In its 12-run episode, the show never fails to entertain through its colorful cast, dynamics between characters, and the development of their relationships.
2. Asobi Asobase
This is a school comedy anime series revolving around the members of the “Pastimers” club, a not officially recognized school group with an unclear premise of discussing various “pastimes” the members happen to come up with.
The “Pastimers” club consists of three middle school girls: the hyperactive, impulsive and rich girl, Hanako Honda; the shy, introverted, but often quietly intense avid BL fan, Kasumi Nomura, and the airheaded blonde girl, Olivia, who pretends to be an American exchange student with poor Japanese speaking ability but was actually born and raised in Japan by foreign parents and can’t speak English.
A lot of the humor stems from its over the top art style and so the girls sometimes appear as super silly, sinister, and bonkers with their perfectly timed surrealistic comedy antics divided into skits.
1. Kaguya-sama: Love is War
Miyuki and Kaguya seem to be the perfect couple. Miyuki Shirogane is a genius who claims to have some of the highest grades in the country while Kaguya Shinomiya is an heir of a wealthy family that owns one of the largest companies in Japan.
What seems to be a match made in heaven is hindered by pride. Even if they have feelings for one another, their pride doesn’t allow them to confess their love. That’s because the first one to confess would be declared the loser.
Putting their pride on the line, Miyuki and Kaguya engage in a battle to make the other side confess first. It’s an intense battle of wits and psychological warfare like no other.
There’s a reason why this show ended up becoming one of the most popular shows last winter.