Funny anime recommendations
Life can be tough, but there’s nothing a good dose of laughter can’t make better. Truly, comedies are a sure-fire way to get rid of boredom and unhappiness. To help you happily while away your time and give you a dose of positive vibes, we’ve compiled a list of 12 funny anime series that will surely bring a smile to your face.
1. My Ordinary Life (2011)
Image credit: Crunchyroll
If you like a good balance between the normal and crazily absurd, this funny anime is the one for you. The story is focused on the day-to-day lives of high school students Mio Naganohara, Yuuko Aioi, and Mai Minakami.
You will get to see them interact with Professor Shinonome, an 8-year-old intelligent inventor; Nano, the android who was built from scratch by Shinonome; and their black cat Sakamoto, who can speak to humans due to Shinonome’s inventions.
Image adapted from: ToksanAlpha
Ironically, although the show’s title means “My Ordinary Life”, their lives are anything but ordinary. “Normal” is out of the question when losing an “arm” and seeing your classmate bring a goat to school can all happen in just one day.
Image credit: Anime-Planet
This slice-of-life comedy is sure to give you a good laugh as you watch the unbelievable become believable and normal for this group of six.
Genre: Slice of life, Comedy
Length: 1 season, 26 episodes, 1 OVA
Available on: Netflix, Crunchyroll
2. D-Frag! (2014)
Image credit: Anime-Planet
D-Frag! follows the story of Kenji Kazama after he gets threatened into joining Fujou Academy’s Game Development Club (Provisional). His life gets entwined with the weirdos in the club – in fact, besides Kenji, everyone else he meets in the school seems to be abnormal.
The President of the club is Roka Shibasaki, who uses plastic bags as a weapon. Chitose Karasuyama resorts to violence to resolve issues, while Sakura Mizukami uses water in her attacks because she doesn’t want to get her hands “dirty”. To top it off, even their club advisor is an irresponsible teacher who brings a taser with her wherever she goes.
Image credit: LittleCloudCuriosity
Kenji gets dragged into many ridiculous activities due to the girls and although he is initially appalled by their behaviour and couldn’t wait to escape their clutches, he soon discovers that leaving is harder than it sounds.
Weird people are the ones who know how to have the most fun and this will become very evident in D-Frag.
Genre: Comedy, Game, School life
Length: 1 season, 12 episodes, 1 OVA
Available on: Netflix, Crunchyroll
3. Asobi Asobase: Workshop of Fun (2018)
Image credit: Crunchyroll
Asobi Asobase: Workshop of Fun is a story about the funny antics of three middle school girls – Olivia, Hanako Honda, and Kasumi Nomura – from the unofficial Pastime Club. Their unusual friendship, outlandish behaviour, and ridiculous activities will make you laugh out loud and cringe so bad.
Image credit: JustWatch
The exaggerated portrayal of their comical attempts in school will no doubt be hilarious but also very relatable for many.
Genre: Surreal comedy, Slice of life, School
Length: 1 season, 12 episodes, 1 OVA
Available on: Netflix, Crunchyroll
4. Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun (2014)
Image credit: Crunchyroll
Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun is a rom-com story about bubbly schoolgirl Chiyo Sakura and her many failed attempts at making the love of her life – the ignorant Umetarou Nozaki – understand her romantic feelings for him.
Misunderstandings ensue whenever Chiyo tries to confess, which results in her finding out that Nozaki is an up-and-coming manga artist. Even better, she ends up working as his assistant.
Image adapted from: MyAnimeList
Add other joke characters into the mix and you will get hilarious chaos that will make you clutch your stomach because of how much it hurts from laughing.
Image credit: TheJoseiNextDoor
Romance and comedy are a perfect match. Fans of these two tropes will delight and gush over Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun as they root for Chiyo and laugh at the silly interactions between each character.
Genre: Romantic comedy, School life
Length: 1 season, 12 episodes, 6 OVAs
Available on: Netflix, Crunchyroll
5. Lucky Star (2007)
Image credit: Crunchyroll
One of the best slice-of-life comedies to watch during your lunch break, Lucky Star is a story of four starkly different high school girls who are close friends. Most of the episodes are stand-alone, which make this anime an easy watch that doesn’t require commitment.
Image credit: IMDb
One girl is an otaku who doesn’t like studying and works part-time at a cosplay cafe, two are twins who can be described as polar opposites, while the last girl is rich and intelligent. Get ready for some fun and laughter as they talk about everything under the sun and get through each day with their weird shenanigans.
Image adapted from: Gifer
This no-plot comedy is the perfect remedy for boredom and you will be pleasantly surprised at the early 2000s trends incorporated into the show. See if you can spot them! It will be a good dose of joy and nostalgia mixed together.
Genre: Comedy, Slice of life
Length: 1 season, 24 episodes, 1 OVA
Available on: Netflix, Crunchyroll
6. Minami-ke (2007 – 2013)
Image credit: Anime-Planet
Minami-ke follows the daily lives of the Minami sisters, who are drastically different in personalities. Haruka, the eldest, is a stern motherly figure to her sisters but is honestly a slothful teen at heart. Kana, the middle child, is tomboyish and oblivious, while Chiaki, who is in elementary school, has an intelligence far beyond her age and does not hold her tongue.
Image credit: Draggle
Watch the Minami sisters go through each day with different people from their respective schools and see how unalike their daily interactions are due to their varying character traits.
Genre: Comedy, Slice of life
Length: 4 seasons, 13 episodes each, 3 OVAs
Available on: DVD
7. No-Rin (2014)
Image credit: Crunchyroll
A popular idol unexpectedly quits the idol industry and enrols into an agricultural school where her biggest fan is studying – such is the plot of No-Rin.
Kousaku Hata gets to befriend his all-time favourite idol, Yuka Kusakabe, who has become his classmate while using the alias “Ringo Kinoshita”.
Image credit: Kageryuu23
A hilarious school comedy that centres on unearthing Ringo’s purpose in enrolling in an agricultural school and giving up her rising idol career, No-Rin will send you on a wild ride as you watch Kousaku and friends get on Ringo’s nerves on the daily.
Image adapted from: Lord Delta
Genre: Comedy, Romance, Parody, School life
Length: 1 season, 12 episodes
Available on: Crunchyroll
8. KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World! (2016 – 2017)
Image credit: IMDb
KonoSuba is animated by Studio Deen, which is known for its action-packed and isekai– related. KonoSuba follows the story of video game lover Kazuma Satou, who is transmigrated into a fantasy world to begin a new life.
Image adapted from: Singularity
However, life in a fantasy game setting here is a far cry from how it is in his video games and Kazuma begins to find out about this harsh truth as he travels together with Aqua, a “dumb blonde” – except that she is blue-haired. Maybe choosing to reincarnate was a bad choice after all. But too bad for him, there’s no reset button to press.
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Parallel universe, Swords and Sorcery
Length: 2 seasons, 10 episodes each, 2 OVAs, 1 Movie
Available on: Netflix, Crunchyroll
9. Aho-Girl (2017)
Image credit: IMDb
Those with friends who often act stupidly and cause a lot of trouble for those around them will relate to Akuru Akutsu, who’s nicknamed “A-kun” by his childhood best friend Yoshiko Hanabatake.
Aho-Girl, which literally translates to “idiot girl”, is a fitting title for Yoshiko as she lacks any form of common sense and intellectual ability.
Image credit: WeeaboOtaku
Unfortunately for A-kun, he is often dragged into her nonsensical schemes and forced to be the straight man to prevent her from getting into trouble.
Image credit: JustWatch
“Boring” is a word that does not exist in Yoshiko’s dictionary, so buckle up for a rollercoaster ride of idiocy, bananas, and wildness.
Genre: Comedy, Slice of life, Romance
Length: 1 season, 12 episodes
Available on: Crunchyroll
10. Wasteful Days of High School Girls (2019)
Image credit: IMDb
The story follows the lives of a group of girls at Sainotama Girls’ High School. Each one of them is unique, quirky, and abnormal. They all have their own childhood aspirations but are sadly far from achieving them. Wasteful Days of High School Girls puts a comical spin on this otherwise tragic scenario.
Image credit: VraiKaiser
Watch the adventures of these girls as they try to make full use of their high school life but end up wasting each day instead.
Genre: Comedy, Slice of life
Length: 1 season, 12 episodes
Available on: Netflix
11. Kin-iro Mosaic (2013 – 2016)
Image credit: Crunchyroll
Kin-iro Mosaic is a tale where the English meet with the Japanese and the two different cultures are exposed to one another in a cute and comedic way. Alice Cartelet, Shinobu’s good friend whom she met during her homestay in England five years ago, has come to Japan to study along with and Karen Kujou.
Now in Japan, they meet and befriend Shinobu’s friends, Youko Inokuma and Aya Komichi.
Image credit: The Chuuni Corner
These five friends attend school together and have a fun-filled high school life. Cute, funny, and educational, Kin-iro Mosaic will teach the audience about cultural and lifestyle differences between the Japanese and the English through the daily lives of Shinobu and her friends.
Genre: Comedy, Slice of life
Length: 2 seasons, 12 episodes each, 1 OVA
Available on: Netflix
12. WataMote: No Matter How I Look At It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular! (2013)
Image credit: IMDb
Tomoko Kuroki is a hermit otaku who played a bunch of otome games right before entering a new phase of her life – high school. She is led to believe that the ideal and fulfilling high school life is that of those pictured in the games she has played. Tomoko often tries to act like the female heroines in order to become popular in school, which always backfires on her.
Image credit: kiddtic
Tomoko, as her socially awkward self, does her best to fit in and make friends in high school – albeit rather weirdly.
Image credit: Echo168
This comedy series details Tomoko’s attempts at leading a normal high school life despite her ineptness and naivety. Get ready to cringe so bad at the things Tomoko does in a bid to fit in and how she misinterprets all sorts of social cues in her journey.
Genre: Dark comedy, Cringe comedy, Slice of life
Length: 1 season, 12 episodes, 1 OVA
Available on: Netflix
Funny anime to laugh away your stress
Truly, a good laugh makes everything better. We hope these funny anime series will be your source of entertainment and comfort to relieve your stress whenever you are feeling overwhelmed.
Check out these other Japan-related articles:
- Sports anime series
- Japanese live-action dramas
- Japanese anime based on mythology
- Horror anime series
- Best Japanese dramas from the last 20 years
Cover image adapted from: Andrew, Zerochan, caveman, 1ZOOM.ME