I find myself often disappointed by shorts for some reason. In my opinion they either suffer from the lack of time or play it safe, where it just ends up being lackluster or without any substance. So the ones that I do enjoy tend to either be more on the artistic side, or series that manage to still put some meaningful story and character development in. Most of the ones I'm going to mention have been mentioned before in this thread, but I'm going to mention them again anyway
How all shorts should be
Teekyu - This is undeniably a unique experience. Best watched by binging if you ask me. It's a great example where the (very) short format is used as a strength. If the episodes would be any longer it simply wouldn't work. The spin-off
Usakame interestingly enough makes that mistake.
Japan Animator Expo - As
@Neil.T also said, most of the shorts are worth your time. And I think which ones will vary from person to person, so you should just watch them all. Some are more style of substance, some focus on story, others don't make any sense at all. It's a pity the official site is n
o longer online and there is no easy way to view them.
Kanojo to Kanojo no Neko: Everything Flows - A story told from the perspective of a cat. Has a nice and slow pace (as opposed to a lot of shorts that try to squeeze out everything they can in that short timespan), but manages to never be boring. Ultimately it conveys a very simple story, but done very well.
Positive surprises
Koro Sensei Quest! - A spin-off of Assassination Classroom. Normally I dislike comedy spinoffs, but this one had me genuinely laughing. Obviously you'll have to have seen Assassination Classroom, but it manages to stand on its own. Now it has been a while since I've seen it, so I could be wrong, but I believe it isn't a constant reference/fan-service fest, but simply takes the cast, re-imagines them in a fantasy setting, and amplify their "comedic" interactions.
Nobunaga no Shinobi - Basically a history lesson about Nobunaga, but with 3 seasons (26 eps each) it covers quite a lot of ground. Despite each episode only being 3 minutes long, it manages to have a good chunk of comedy, actually teach you bits about history and have some more serious moments. I was watching this as it was airing and I do recall "parts" being a bit boring, but honestly don't know which parts when/where. The good definitely outweighed the bad.
Senyuu - Wasn't really expecting something so funny. Binged both seasons and found it hilarious. A bit like Teekyu in the sense that there is a good chunk of random nonsense and recurring jokes
. That being said
, a word of warning: I tried rewatching it some time later and found it very unfunny. So not sure what to make of it, but it never hurts to give it a try?
Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san - YMMV, but I wasn't expecting much, but ended up quite enjoying it. It is quite episodic, focussing on different characters nearly every episode. With only ~2 minutes an episode that is quite bad, but through it all they do sort of develop the main couple and honestly, that was the best part of it IMO.
Give me story
Mysteria Friends -
My thoughts on this show
Netsuzou TRap - Definitely not for everyone due to the themes it deals with. The story doesn't handle them particularly well and it feels like condencing the story harmed it (although I haven't read the manga, so wouldn't know if that's actually the case). But nevertheless, I did end up enjoying it somewhat. The main reason I kept watching it is ridiculuous (don't ask), but that did bring me to the last episode which actually has a resolution of sorts.
Okay comedy shorts
Can't get enough of comedy short series? Here's a list of the ones that I enjoyed enough to mention:
Tonari no Seki-kun
How clumsy you are, Miss Ueno.
Oji-san to Marshmallow - Last episode made it worth it TBH
Hagane Orchestra - Don't even know/play the mobile game
Crossing Time - Different story each episode, some I enjoyed, most I didn't TBH
"Honorable"? mentions
One Room - Honestly I couldn't get through the first season at all, just isn't for me. But what I do acknowledge is that it
attempts something you don't see often in anime. Perhaps if they actually maintained the POV approach for all shots, had a slightly more realistic progress, compared to just plain pandering, it might've turned out as something half-decent. But my point is that I do believe the concept itself does benefit (or even require) the short format to succeed. POV scenes for a long time, would probably not really work.
Cheating Craft / Gin no Guardian - Both done by Haoliners and are some of the worst series I've watched. Both suffer from illogical stories that are hard to follow. Now you might think this is due to a story being condensed into a short format, right? Nothing could be further from the truth, there seem to be gaps introduced in the story
in between episodes for no apparent reason. The stories start of semi-serious but at some point just "derail". I would call it "jumping the shark", but honestly there is no event leading up to it, it just suddenly happens.
So why mention them? Well, if you enjoy things because they are "so bad, it's good", these could fit that bill. I had some good laughs with friends trying to make sense of these messes.
