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szczuroarturo @programming.dev

anime that are built diffrent

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.

32 comments

  • 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 - Takes itself a little more seriously than the examples you gave, but things still get very wild.
    • BOCCHI THE ROCK! - Nothing absurdist about the plot, but the animators get very creative.
    • Nichijou - My Ordinary Life - Most people already know what this is, so I'll just say that City from the same author will be releasing later this year. I haven't read it, but odds are it's great.
    • Akiba Maid War - Maid-themed Yakuza drama.
    • Space Dandy - Cowboy Bebop if all the main characters were incompetent
    • Cromartie High School - High school for delinquents.
    • Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead - Guy has an opportunity to finally leave his abusive company when zombies attack. He resolves to live each day as fully as possible and makes a list of things he wants to do before being turned into a zombie.
    • Ghost Stores (the dub of course) - They realized this anime had no appeal as-is to a western audience so they made a batshit insane dub that only loosely follows the original story.

  • Not really anime (but imo the anime version is worse): The way of the househusband.
    Basically a Yakuza retires as a househusband.

    Quite enjoyable

  • 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.

  • So, OP wants weird anime. "Anime" anime.

    • Odd Taxi
    • Ping Pong Club
    • Excel Saga
    • FLCL
    • Gantz
    • Otaku No Video
    • Way of the Househusband
    • Golden Boy
    • Colorful (of note, the English dub is heavily adapted to the point where it can't really be considered accurate. But it is faithful. The format helps. This approach doesn't often work, but it does here.)
    • Cromartie High School
    • Paranoia Agent
    • Nerima Daikon Brothers
    • Puni Puni Poemy
    • Great Teacher Onizuka
    • Gundam-San
    • Oruchuban Ebichu

    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.

      It does a very good job at making the city feel like a city, and making every taxi drive feel like its going somewhere. Obviously there's red herrings to throw you off of the core mystery. But everything felt appropriate and actually relatively mundane.

      Like seriously: the "weirdest" character is a rapping Yakuza / gangster who puts too much effort into making things rhyme. Nothing else about this show is "weird". Its like, good (but dumb) cop, bad corrupt cop, unexpected Yakuza / gangsters, pop-idols, fanboys, dumbass (failing) Youtubers, Gachapon Whale, unpopular Radio comedian duo, dumbass friend who gets catfished and of course the titular character: the Taxi Driver.

      If anything, I'm surprised at how incredibly mundane the whole situation is and yet how awesome the story was told. Its a murder mystery in a big city, but as it turns out this Taxi Driver is surprisingly at the center of it all as his list of customers happens to line up with the entire damn mystery.

32 comments