Anyone that watches anime can tell you that it can be about anything, and when I say anything, I really mean it. Just to show you what I mean, I have compiled a list of 10 anime that I’m sure no one (or at least very few people) would have thought of unless they were drunk or high.
Akikan
Anyone who has been to Japan will know that there are vending machines everywhere, and they sell everything from the regular stuff like snacks and drinks, to weirder things like underwear and lobsters. One thing that they don’t sell, however, are girlfriends, but that’s where Akikan comes into the picture. This anime is about soda cans that transform into girls. These soda can girls, which are either steel cans or aluminum cans, then battle it out with each other to determine whether steel or aluminum is better. Did I mention that they also need to be regularly infused with carbon dioxide? I’ll let you guess where the CO2 comes from.
Sleeping with Hinako
The Training with Hinako anime may have been predictable; after all, there are tons of workout videos out there so why not make an anime version of one. Sleeping with Hinako is an entirely different matter though. The main point of this anime is to have it playing while you sleep. Basically all it is is a girl named Hinako sleeping in bed. Now lonely otaku will never have to worry about sleeping alone because they have Hinako sleeping beside them (or wherever their TV is located).
Lucky Star
Most people who follow anime will know what Lucky Star is, so you might be wondering why it’s on this list. Well, rather than try to explain it, let me just ask this: can you summarize the plot of Lucky Star for me? Exactly, think about it and you’ll realize that Lucky Star is an anime about absolutely nothing. Whoever thought that an anime with no story whatsoever would be so popular?
Midori Days
We all want to be close to people we like, but Midori Days takes it even further and physically attaches a girl to a guy. Seiji is a regular, lonely, high school boy that wakes up one day to find a mini-girl named Midori attached to his right arm. By attached, I mean that his hand has been replaced by the top half of a girl (from the waist up). If you don’t think this is a bizarre idea, you’ve probably grown immune to the strangeness of anime.
Samurai Pizza Cats
They’re cats who are also samurai, and they work at a pizza joint. I don’t think I need to say more to justify this title’s placement on the list.
Qwaser of Stigmata
Qwaser of Stigmata is an anime about people called Qwaser who have special powers and use those powers to battle each other. That sounds pretty standard for anime, but the twist here is that Qwasers need to feed off breast milk to replenish their powers. Yes, you read that right, breast milk. Naturally, there is a lot of breast-sucking going on in this anime. This is probably the most “wtf” anime that has come out this year.
Unko-san
I have a feeling that the idea for Unko-san came about while someone was taking a dump on the toilet. The title can be translated as “Mr. Feces” and from that you can probably tell what this anime involves. It’s about a poo fairy that lives on lucky island and brings good luck to all of his other poo friends. Apparently some people find it cute, but I prefer my poo flushed down the toilet and not floating around some island.
Pokémon
Everyone knows who Pokémon is; it’s so popular that even old grannies can identify Pikachu now. Heck, Microsoft Word even recognizes Pikachu as a name. So why have I added this anime to the list? When you think about it, Pokémon in the Pokémon world are no different from animals in our world. We do a lot of things to animals, but most of us don’t stuff them into tiny balls and then force them to fight with each other until one is unconscious. I’m actually surprised that animal rights activists aren’t up in arms about it. Whoever came up with this idea had a sick mind.
Moyashimon
Moyashimon is about a college boy that can see and communicate with microbes. I guess no one told the producers that microbes aren’t complex enough to think on the same level as us, not to mention that the microbes don’t look anything like what they’re supposed to. This is meant to be an educational anime too.
Yakitate Japan
There are anime about various sports and board games, but Yakitate Japan is the only anime about baking bread. Most people know the basic process for baking bread: you get some flour and water, knead it into dough, and bake it. Yakitate Japan gets into the nitty-gritty details of bread baking and actually manages to pull off being serious and funny at the same time. It certainly makes baking seem a million times more exciting than it actually is.
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Actually, PETA has had a fit about Pokemon lately, and done some really stupid stunts.
Paranoia agent and narutaru should have made this list
How can you say that you are surprised that animal activists aren’t baring teeth about Pokemon?! Heck, they make their own versions of the games in which they purposely have the Pokemon chained up and sad having to obey their slave masters’ commands!! The latest installments I read somewhere provoked activists to try to get people to boycott the games even.
On a separate note, Pokemon is so big and ever-present that Google chrome suggests I even capitalize the title even while typing this comment lol.
Good day!!
Katteni Kaizo.
Oh man Seikon no Qwaser, I don’t really judge anime series but that was one was actually pretty difficult to watch for me. (coming from someone who enjoyed Highschool DxD)
Mentioning pokemon and then talk about animal cruelty means going full retard…never go full retard man… I hope you recover soon
Is is ok If Your 11 and you are a gril and love anime?
It’s more natural for kids to watch anime, then it is for adults. Anime is just like cartoons, after all.
cool list but you know pokemons are not really animals, they’re monsters! ^^;
Honestly my list would be
Lucky star- no plot but still cute but konata’s dad so such a loli addict for her.
Fooly cooly aka FLCL- massive sex joke spaning 11-12 episodes and according to wiki is really a plot based in the pov of a boy just entering his early teen years and how odd adults are and how teenage sisters are seen as aliens
Bobobo-bobobo-bobo- no comment just freeky.
Hetalia- its a show where each contry is personified as a character using basic steryotypeicak satire on the japanese pov of the world… and it has some education.
big O- it has no true ending.
sailor stars- about guys who turn into girls who turn intio sailor scouts
this ugly yet beautiful world- basic plot is angel of death firgets she is an angel of death falls for the human races fail safe when she is suppose to cause a mass exstinction. the fail safe uses his powers to protect her she then regains her memories they fight realise they still love each other she takes souls of the next race and brings them to a distent world
B Gata H Kei
Only 3 out of the 10 I haven’t seen. I have seen the other 7 haha. Good anime’s though.
School Days.
What’s Crazy about Samaurai Pizza Cats is when Saban Productions got the broadcast rights to air SPC n the 1990’s they (Saban Productions) didn’t recivied a original script of the original series so what Saban Productions did was ad lib the entire series from a new musical score to all new scripts to new names for the characters fronm naming the Emperor “Fred” and (this was the strangest of all) change the species of the villian in the original Japanese version he was a fox to a RAT And name him “Seymour Big Cheese”! Go Figure!
Mostly a good list, but a few choices i question, such as calling pokemon odd because it has creatures disappearing into balls, there are many other animes with similar lines. Samurai pizza cats sounds to me to be an alternative to TMNT. And while you mention lucky star having no credible story(which is true), i think this comes more from it is making an anime 4-panel comic, basically the japanese equivalent to peanuts(which has also been made for tv).
Having that a few suggestions instead,
BoBo BoBoBo (i can’t remember how many ‘bo’ you need) – the main character attacks with his nose hairs and if you’re bald you’re evil
Dogtato kun – Characters are half animal/half vegetable
Kogepan – the life of a burnt bread roll (all episodes are less than 5 minutes)
Why isn’t Sgt. Frog on the list? That’s one of the strangest shows in existence!
My brother and I started watching Midori No Hibi, and we both found that it’s surprisingly good! I thought it would be pathetic, but I actually like it! It is quite weird though…
Um, I’m pretty sure Colorful needs to be one here. A bit of a rare find but really random anime about japanese perverts
why did nobody say PANI PONI DASH … lucky star was the first anime i ever watched
That is absoutely hilarious! I find all them a bit odd! I absolutely love anime but the anime that I have seen all were a bit normal… I suppose shapeshifting, having extraordinary powers and having weird creatures are pretty standard for anime… but I think the winner is Qwaser of Stigmata! Why would anybody even think of it??? *goes off to watch it….*
One show is even wierder than any of these… Bobobo-bo-bobobo
I actually really like Qwaser of Stigmata (Seikon no Qwaser). It’s pretty beast.
midori is not strange (^^;) …. it’s just totally cute.. in an awesome way hehe
ive never watched lucky star but the characters kinda remind me of the characters from a manga called azumanga which is a compilation of weekly Japanese comic strips so it could be based of of that…
Some other animes that should be added to the list:
Excel Saga
Di Gi Charat
Super Milk Chan Show
Orochuban
how is bobobo-bo-bobobo not on this list or flcl weirdest anime ive ever seen
I have actually seen ALL of these…..(although I never did finish the Qwaser of Stigmata anime, or the Midori Days manga…) *sniffle* Now I’m all depressed….
MY number one wierd anime is still panty and stocking with garterbelt
there is bobobo-boboobobo who can be put in this, sometimes what happens is so WTF that the ennemies of bobobo sink in crazyness :D
well that makes japanese anime unique and well loved (by ofcourse most otaku and also by some come and go anime viewers). what is amazing about these japanese creators is that they know how to think out of the box, put this crazy and so out-of-this-world imagination into cartoons where most people then find themselves amused with.
I guess with the so much varied genre and story line in over thousands of anime, one can really pick up an anime as to which either the deepest desires of their childhood or simply just for entertainment are fully much satisfied.
Did no one think to include animes like Fooly Cooly? That’s probably the most WTF? show I’ve ever seen. Ever.
Cromartie High School is a close second.
I’ve seen that one. and yeah its totally bizarre but somehow it manages to give me some laugh.
Have you seen Excel Saga? It might just be weirder than FLCL, and FLCL is pretty fucked-up.
Midori No Hime- musturbation’s gotta be fun….
Yeah because no educational show has ever taken liberties with appearances and what nonhuman things can and can’t do.
I used to LOVE Pokemon! I grew up with it! But it wasn’t really weird, the weird thing was that nearly everybody in my school had wanted a REAL Pokemon. lol.
Foolly Coolly should have been on the list. For sure.
Pokemon changed a generation and is continuing to influence those to come (more so than any other “weird” anime listed here and I dare you to argue otherwise). I am somewhat offended that you say the creator had a sick mind. If you’ve played popular videogames the majority of them involve violence, most of which to a higher extreme than Pokemon. Pokemon took the fun of raising and bonding a colourful and adorable little friend much more aesthetically pleasing than dogs or cats. When it comes down to it, would you rather go catch, befriend, bond, care for and grow with a bulbasaur? or spend X amount of hours trying to tame and settle for a tiny frog in real life. Only to have it die a few years later. People who have played Pokemon, back in the day, even now will miss their Pokemon. Most of us wish we still had them because alot of us either had them taken away and sold off in a yard sale, stolen by siblings and pawned, handed down to cousins etc. and will never see them again. All the time that was spent raising and training with them, to be the ‘best there ever was is’ gone. You dont even have to be an Otaku to recognize Pokemon from this list, and granted it was weird in its own way (applying to the list). Most fantasy oriented games/shows/movies were. They didnt commonly abide by the laws of nature and the real world. Which is what made them ”fantasy”. But to say it was created by a sick mind doesn’t do it justice. The whole theme and idea, with the shows and games did and continues to provide a wonderful escape for children (and adults, you know who you are) that in my opinion is healthier than running onto Halo or Call of Duty and killing people and hearing unnecessary amounts of vulgar language.
I hope that you did see the show, because there was a bit more to it than fighting Pokemon, granted the newer series is much more watered down. But you could actually get into the story back when Ash was training for the elite four and collecting his badges. Also, not every trainer was so sick minded as to stuff their friends into tiny balls, (which they would break out of if they werent willing in the first place) Not only Ash’s PIkachu but Rickys Sparky, and AJ’s Sandshrew. (Look it up and watch it AJ’s background story is actually pretty intense Episode 8).
Noted that his training methods seem like abuse to an extent thanks to Ash, but its not far from putting weights on dogs to help build muscle.
So in the realism of the Pokemon concept, its completely acceptable, realistically its still not that twisted.
I apologize for the tone of attack but I firmly disagree with the thought of a sick mind providing such a wonderful experience to so many.
They were joking.. don’t take things as stupid as an anime so seriously.
Forgot Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo.
Also why does my icon look like a swatstika? T_T*
Yakitate to me is the best amongst all those wierd anime mentioned above.
LOL. THE GUY ON QUASTER, looks like Kakashi from Naruto? And they changed it from NINJAS to BREAST FEEDING FIGHTERS?
When you think about it all anime is strange! People eho turn into animals, talk to cats, robots growing out of heads, suicidal teachers that get attacked in showers, killing people with a book, getting hit with bullets that set your head on fire (which doesnt burn) while u lose your clothes, people who live under bridges dressed as kappas, magical cat aliens, eyes that can control people, extreme masochists that dont die despite flyin out of the top floor of buildings and much much more! Anime was strange since the beginning – but tis thst strangeness that makes it totally awesoome :P! The strangest for me is probs baka to test to shuukanju – love it but i mean wtf :P
Anime in Japan covers pretty much everything, from sports to cooking to samurais; it’s kind of like literature or friction, so basically what you are saying is the ‘top 10 literature creations/ book titles you would never have thought of’, which makes no sense. It only make sense under the context of Americans’ narrow view that comics/anime are about superheros, and for kids.
what about school rumble from the funimation channel
Sleeping with Hinako is part two of a video called training with hinako, when i saw it i though it was an exersise video for fat anime otaku but the video that came after, “sleeping with hinako” was kind of strange, any idea what’s the point of sleeping wiht hinako? its 20 minutes of watching a girl sleep, its kind of sick dont you think? I wonder why bobobo wasnt on this list?
only one I don’t know= Unko-san although I didn’t know Hinako made a sleeping video
seikon no qwaser (aka: qwaswer of stigmata) is a very awesome MANGA. not the anime, cause it’s censored… alot.
you can find uncensored versions. i was able to. normally it will say if its censored
I think Hare + guu should be up there I love that series :3
Bobobo Bo Bobobo needs to be on this list.
Agreed!
Agreed!, bobobo bo bobobo should be on this list I was waiting for it to appear on this list, I mean come on it’s an anime about a guy who fights with his nose hair and is basically a robot with little people living in him and the bad guys are only bad cause they shave people’s heads, not to mention the talking sun thing don patch, the guy with an soft serve ice-cream for a head and a jelly shaped human thing oh and the pickle, lol still it was a alright anime it certainly made me laugh
shugo chara is one weird anime too,little versions of the characters come out of little eggs to provide the characters hidden personalities that they have,it may not sound as weird as pizza cats though
okay, shugo chara is a little bit of a weird concept but really? compared to poo fairies and and a girl instead of a hand, should it really b on this list? i loved shugo chara.
Umineko no Naku Koro Ni. You have to dive into the VN to understand how truly weird it is. It’s a mystery that takes the unreliable narrator to an extreme: most fans nowadays just assume that any scene that isn’t proven to have happened, didn’t.
No Ranma 1/2 on the list. Gender swapping and people turning into animals when they dowsed in water is pretty weird stuff in my book. Not to mention integrating a martial arts battle into other activities (ie. figure skating, cooking)
midori days sure is weird but cute enough ^^
lucky star is popular for the same reason seinfeld was
This is how I describe Lucky Star: Like Anime Seinfeld with schoolgirls instead of Noo Yawkers.
Two more:
Eat Man 98: a mercenary that eats metal and materializes weapons with it.
FLCL: this is so bizarre that I did not know how to begin… A kid is hit by a guitar and a horn grows out of his forehead. The horn grows more until a robot goes out of it. And it is only the beginning… I liked it, but is totally insane!
Seconded for FLCL aka Fooly Cooly. That show was bat shit crazy.
you do know that pokemon is really just a dream world that ash’s subconscious creates while he’s under a coma right?
Show me the episode where it says that. Otherwise it’s just a b.s. hypothesis dreamed up by some college kid with WAY too much time on their hands.
Cromartie High didn’t make it? Sad!It has no plot and is hilarious beyond all reason!
Okay I didn’t see Nurse Witch Komugi on there, and it’s got to make the list, and if you watch it you will find out why….and Magical Play is not far behind. (basically a magical girl anime where instead of rabbit ears or a fox tail, the girl wears a carp. Yes, a freakin carp!)
Also if you want a serious laugh, watch the out-takes on the Midori disks!
Midori: “Do you like my tiny fun bags?” ROFL!
I Love Pokémon!
I LOVE SAMURAI PIZZA CATS.
Used to watch that after school every dang day. <3
lucky star really is about absolutely NOTHING! in the first episode, they spend a full 7 minutes talking about food. the whole show is about the girls having little discussions about random topics. its pretty good though. i agree with your article completely with all of the other anime as well.
A couple more that I think you should look at if you haven’t and that I think should be added to this list are;
Kampfer- not even sure how to describe it. Bassically a boy is chosen to be a kampfer, the catch, one has to have the body of a girl to use powers to fight with rival kampfers. Included in this show are entrails animals. These are essentially talking stuffed animals that have intestines hanging out of them and are named for the way they died, the main three being Disemboweled Tiger, Suicidal black rabbit, and Electrocuted Wildcat.
Chu-Bra – quite literally a show about underwear. Oddly educational, though if you tried to turn it into a panty-shots drinking game, then you’d have severe alcohol poisoning by the end of the opening credits.
Someone needs to make an Addicted to Curry anime, it would make this list for sure (as well as it being amazing)
i love samurai pizza cats
best show ever!
those other animes look pretty good in all fairness, but ill have to give them a look see
i’m sorry, but qwaser of stigmata is the most fail i’ve ever seen in an anime. it has everything that’s ever been done in an anime before, it was really disappointing. unoriginal characters, lame ass seiyuu that sound like any other, cliche “race of ass kicking people”, the whole stupid transfer student plot device (that really just was the cherry on top that made me fucking explode), and other shitty things i do not care to remember right now. seriously, are they just getting templates of this shit and passing them around there in japan? god, this destroys all my hopes for the future of anime.
Nice list! You should also add Magic Users Club…that show is seriously crazy.
@Archaeon:
I’ve heard of Jungle wa Itsumo Hare Nochi Guu, and the only reason it didn’t make it on to the list was simply because I haven’t seen it for myself (yet).
I probably would’ve put Dokuro-chan on the list, but like others, it just didn’t cross my mind at the time.
Some good ones on that list. Moyashimon is one of my favourite comedies, and Yakitate!! Japan is definitely erring on the side of odd, but you’ve forgotten the strangest anime of all (and no, I don’t mean Excel Saga). I’m not so sure about Lucky Star though, as it’s a pretty straightforward show.
Jungle wa Itsumo Hare Nochi Guu (roughly, The Jungle was always peaceful for Hare, then along came Guu), is without doubt the wierdest (and one of the funniest), anime I’ve ever seen, and it’s a prime candidate for strangest anime ever made.
Also, some others:
Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan (Club to Death Angel Dokuro-chan)
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
Keroro Gunsou
Potemayo
I love Moyashimon!
As addicted I am to anime, I still can’t imagine an anime out of feces! What…
The creator of Pokemon was inspired by when, as a kid, he would force bugs to fight each other.
All of these seem absolutely awesome – but what about Pani Poni Dash? That’s about the craziest anime I’ve ever seen.
@Dioxide & @dwindle:
Those are actually good anime to add to the list, but they didn’t cross my mind when I wrote this. Since you mention Puni Puni Poemi, I guess you’d also approve of Excel Saga :)
Actually, there is another anime about bread, but I forget what it’s called. Why isn’t Ebichu the Housekeeping hamster on here? Perverted, hilarious, abusive to animals, offensive to women, and looks like it was drawn by a six year old.
Is that the one that looks like Hamtaro visited the Crayon Shin-chan ‘verse?
But what about “Puni Puni Poemy”? Doesn’t that apply? THERE IS NO PLOT
It’s also only two episodes long. Worth an Honorable Mention, but probably not its own entry.
By your logic though, Excel Saga would definitely qualify for this list.
i second Excel Saga.
that’s an effed-up anime
i agree with puni puni poemy, i watched it last year and still can’t work it out lol
Midori no Hibi is funny but also one of the sweetest animes out there. I read the manga first & must admit it can get pretty emotional towards the end.
Yakitate Japan! :D The only one in this list I care about, but then again, it’s my favorite of all time.
An anime about baking bread? This I will have to check out! The picture you provided alone has me laughing.
Good call on Yakitate. Weirdly awesome in it’s own way.
I’ve been on a breadmaking kick lately, Yakitate Japan sounds perfect
definetely :)
I remember Samurai Pizza Cats! The theme song was hilarious!
“Samurai Pizza Cats! They’re so bad, they’ve got more fur than any turtle ever had!!!” LOL XD
Akikan looks really cute actually. Moyashimon and Yakitate Japan are both amazing. They may seem really obscure but the stories, art, and characters are all really good. I mean compared to a story about a poo fairy is bread making and chemistry really that strange? owo
Yakitate!! Japan!! :D I love that show!… It’s sad cuz’ it doesn’t come anymore in India… But i recomend it as a ‘must-watch’ if you ever come across it.. Trust me, it’ll leave you amaused and even more interested that how it looks. :)
However, it’s not the only anime about bread. If you are looking for another Bread/action anime i recommend Shining Hearts: Shiawase no Pan.
Actually some Christians/Catholics were against (as in boycotted) Pokemon when it first came out because “it supports the idea of evolution.” -I forget where I found that quote, sorry.
Which is odd because pokemon’s version of evolution and the theory of evolution are not even close to the same thing, its a complete non-sequitur. It goes to show just how tight a Christian/Catholic can get when the word evolution is even said, they don’t even bother to look into it, not that they ever have.
Get off your high horse, you hypocrite, you have obviously never looked into Catholics beliefs, I went to a catholic school, and they teach evolution as fact. They teach the creation story as just that a story that was around since before modern science.
Speaking of high horses… Do you ever look down?
only onto trashy Internet trolls ;)
Catholic’s teach biblical ideals as fact because, to them, it is just that; the fact of how they came to exist. You say Christian/Catholic’s are uptight in belief actions? You realize that teachers throughout America are banned from even speaking of the Bible because, “They are just attacking children’s minds while they are weak” else while evolution, the dissproven theory, is taught as fact. Your ideals are sullied with your bias.
Not all Catholics are the same. Fundamentalists DO think like that, but their more open-minded counterparts bend their beliefs to conform to actual science.
Funny because I am a Christian and actually a Pastor of Music and I love Anime! I wish other people weren’t so lame about unimportant stuff. Pokemon is what helped me really get into the whole Anime thing in the first place.
Oh man you’re so right ’bout Seikon no Qwaser, every time a new episode come out there’s a wft moment, tho I would added Kiss x Sis as well.
Seconded
Thirded!
Kiss x Sis… WTF, yet kind of addictive.
When I first started watching Qwaser, I had no idea what it was about. So, you can imagine how “WTF’d” I was. But, I have this thing where I have to finish a story, no matter how much it sucks, so i made myself finish. And as F’d up it seems, I honestly think that if they changed/took out some episodes and changed the wierd ass milk fetish to like kissing or hugging or even blood drinking it would have been a pretty cool series. IMO.
But the whole milk thing just made the whole show f’d up
omg i know my friend showed me qwaser her told me that breast milk was involved but i didn’t believe him till i saw with my own eyes…..yeah i wtf’d and lol’d at the same time that i tuned in for season two….i still can get over the fact besides the unexplained fact that breast milk is liquidy in non preggo girls there was a flipping dominatrix loli in there!!!
Fourthed!! Omg, I just can’t wait for season 3!! *cross fingers*
Samurai Pizza Cats used to be on Canadian TV during the 90’s.
It is as awesome as it looks!
While Canada had Samurai Pizza Cats, the rest of the world has Ninja Turtles. They were Turtles that were also Ninjas and Worked at a Pizza Joint.
I live in the USA and I definitely watched SPC as a kid!! I remember it distinctly. Loved that show.
I don’t know where you got that from, but Canada had Ninja Turtles too.
I want Samurai Pizza Cats so much!
I actually ♡ Midori no Hibi :)