Comedy anime

Ian Wolf

Ian Wolf

Mushi-shi
AUKN Staff
I've jsut written this article for the website Giggle Beats about comedy in foreign languages. In it I devote sections to two comedy anime - Hetalia and Gurren Lagann.

I was wondering what people's views were of comedy anime. What are your favourites? Do you often worry about not get the jokes?
 
Enjoyable article, made my bus trip feel shorter :)

I usually miss the jokes in western comedies anyway (since I don't have television and don't go out much I'm a bit isolated, in terms of access to local pop culture) so it has never fazed me. My anime comedy pick would probably be Hare+Guu (Jungle wa itsumo Hare nochi Guu) which is criminally underappreciated. I like very absurd/crazy comedy most, and can sit through popular stand up without even smiling most of the time, much to my family's disgust.

Also good to see a positive summary of Hetalia. I don't find it at all insulting since Japan and England are some of the more ruthlessly poked fun at in the show, and the manga artist has travelled before so has first hand experience of some of the things he mentions. It's a shame quite a few people in the west seem to avoid watching it just because it has a large female fan following. Avoiding it due to hating ridiculousness is more understandable.

R
 
While I've never actually seen Hetalia, I really don't feel any desire to watch it. The fan-base certainly doesn't encourage me, but I kind of feel its attempts at making cute personifications of fascism is ignoring the atrocities carried out by the nations in question. Basically, I tend to lump it in with Sengoku Night Raid in the 'uncomfortable revisionist history' genre.

I don't know, maybe I'm overreacting - I laughed at 'Allo 'Allo...
 
Urusei Yatsura is one of my favourite comedies. That show is packed with puns and other forms of word play, as well as topical references that won't make much sense unless you were around in Japan in the early 1980s. AnimEigo decided to translate the jokes into something roughly equivalent in English while explaining the originals in their liner notes - an approach I favour. Unfortunately most distributors don't put that much effort in, so I'd be wary of buying, say, the apparently reference-heavy Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei (the licence for which Media Blasters have been sitting on forever).

But thankfully most anime comedy is more accessible than that. Fumoffu, Ping Pong Club, and Kodocha are examples of shows that rely more on visual and situational humour, and they're plenty amusing even if there are still a few things that your average Western viewer would miss.
 
Urusei Yatsura(funniest and best anime ever)
Ranma 1/2
Dragon Half
Doraemon
Chie the Brat
Excel Saga
Haunted Junction
You're Under Arrest
School Rumble
Ny Neighbours the Yamadas
Dr Slump
Dragonball
Genshiken
 
Professor Irony said:
While I've never actually seen Hetalia, I really don't feel any desire to watch it. The fan-base certainly doesn't encourage me, but I kind of feel its attempts at making cute personifications of fascism is ignoring the atrocities carried out by the nations in question. Basically, I tend to lump it in with Sengoku Night Raid in the 'uncomfortable revisionist history' genre.

I don't know, maybe I'm overreacting - I laughed at 'Allo 'Allo...
Click to expand...

To be fair, most comedies about the war are not overly poignant. Some do deal with the tragic side of war of course (see ending of Blackadder Goes Forth).
 
-Tachi- said:
Hey Ian, whats you thoughts on Comedies like Azumanga Daioh?
Click to expand...

I'm rather fond of Azumanga Daioh. I've read both the manga and watched the anime and found to be a very entertaining series. It was the first anime I watched which was focused mainly on school life. I've also started watching Nichijou on Anime on Demand and quite liked the first episode.
 
Ahh cool :) yeah i really enjoyed it, slice of schoollife and nice and easy to watch. likeable characters and little funny moments that repeat over the course of the show (like the evil cat) that gets "sorted" at the end :p

Abit sad when it finished though, Pani Poni Dash is meant to be another good one to watch. Wanted to pick it up when ADV where still live, but on their last appearance under the ADV banner at the expo the other year i missed out on buying the series for £20 by being £2 down (unlike beez, they didn't want to lower their prices even by the slightest margin) Tight wads ¬__¬
 
-Tachi- said:
Ahh cool :) yeah i really enjoyed it, slice of schoollife and nice and easy to watch. likeable characters and little funny moments that repeat over the course of the show (like the evil cat) that gets "sorted" at the end :p

Abit sad when it finished though, Pani Poni Dash is meant to be another good one to watch. Wanted to pick it up when ADV where still live, but on their last appearance under the ADV banner at the expo the other year i missed out on buying the series for £20 by being £2 down (unlike beez, they didn't want to lower their prices even by the slightest margin) Tight wads ¬__¬
Click to expand...
i got Pani Poni Dash its a opposite of negima with out magic i really enjoyed that too
 
the manga of both trigun and pokemons suppose to be better then the anime because the trigun ending of the anime was crap but the anime its self was amazing i would of enjoyed the manga version ending in the anime.
and as for pokemon filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler and filler manga would be more enjoyable as a anime
 
Back
Top