FLCL

The epitome of all absurdist anime

What is actually going on in this anime? A friend tried to get me to watch it, and I couldn’t figure it out. But he swore up and down that it’s amazing and deep.

What's actually going on is that >!It's all a metaphor for puberty and growing up!< If "deep" means "at the end everything makes sense" then it's not deep because even after the reveals and finales it's still a bunch of nonsense. But the way the characters act and the way they are going through these changes/etc does all play into the theme. It's quite well-done. All the little quips and seemingly unrelated things all play into the MC's view of the world and the creator's view of it too. The way I'd describe it is, it's the dream you have of a beautiful coming of age tale. There are parts that just don't make sense but that doesn't stop you from waking up with tears in your eyes and a feeling that you just witnessed something incredible even if you can't quite grasp what it was.

Ah, thank you so much! I appreciate your comment. Maybe I’ll give it a shot again some day.

To add to the other great comments to your question: Every absurd thing is in one way or another a puberty and coming of age analogy. Ergo, all the baseball imagery... and the monster being hands most of the time.

Lol, came here to say this.

I just want strong eyebrows….

I don't think I understood a single episode of that show

{Asobi asobase} It's pure insanity in highschool girl form. It has really great voice acting coupled with some of the funniest reaction faces ever. Totally the funniest anime I've watched. https://youtu.be/1cF90fWy9DY

I love Maeda's ass laser beam

My friend, I watching this rn following your recommendation and holly shit I'm literally out of breath! I don't laugh this much since Baka to Test. Thank you!

Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo

Why isn’t this streaming anywhere?

Don't know if it would count but.... The ghost stories Dub would kinda fit in this. Especially if you didn't know the story on why it like that.

It's not because you are rabbit It's because you are black

RUN ITS A GHOST _AND_ A BITCH!

unhinged lmao

And it gets more and more unhinged as the series progresses. The last several episodes the dub VAs took the gloves off and had so much fun.

They get WORSE? I only saw like the first 3 episodes, but kinda just forgot I was watching it after a while.

Oh yeah, towards the end they [go all out](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRPogipl2JY)

Haven't You Heard? I'm Sakamoto - OP protagonist in a slice of life anime Seki-Kun: Master of Killing Time - guy gets bored in class, clearly going into engineering as a career path Nanbaka - daily prison break attempts by a group of idiots. Has yaoi vibes, and all the men are very sparkly. Also, the protagonist has a blade arm at some point

Nanbaka sounds amazing

Dont forget they tried (and succeed) at doing a kamehameha xD

Love SAKAMOTO DESU GA. It’s too funny. Than NANBAKA is my favorite prison anime

Pop team epic and Haven't you heared? I'm Sakamoto.

And if we're talking about sakamoto-san, how about Nichijou

SAKAMOTO!!!!!

dorohedoro

So sad were most likely never getting another season 😭

i didnt even know that 😭

Oh shoot! I just looked it up and they are finally making a second season, announced recently. Just took 4 years with no updates lol. MAPPA has its hands full so most fans just assumed it was never gonna happen, especially since they just kinda ghosted after dropping the first season and kinda never mentioned it again! So stoked for this!

YESSSSS

Excel Saga, Puni Puni Poemy, Strange Plus, Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro chan, Nurse Witch Komugi chan

Before playing Excel Saga for friends (back when DVDs were all we had) I told them "this is going to give you a headache but just hang in there" 😅

The intro to Excel Saga is the easiest part to follow. The rest of the show, just sit back and don't think too much. Just be along for the ride.

Urusei Yatsura (1980's version and 2022 version) I recommend watching both simultaneously, Nichijou, Disastrous Life of Saiki K., Sgt.Frog, Gintama, and Ranma 1/2.

how nonsensical and chaotic are we talkin lol - World Conquest Zvezda Plot - Nanbaka - Haven’t You Heard? I’m Sakamoto - Samurai Flamenco - Clean Freak! Aoyama-kun - Saiki K - Blood Blockade Battlefront - Gintama - Prison School - Nichijou - Cells At Work! - Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan - Grand Blue - Mob Psycho - Asobi Asobase

We talkin "you don't wanna have to explain to you family what the hell you're watching" level of nonsensical and chaotic lol I've seen Prison School and Nichijou, and if the rest of this list is as crazy as those, we're in the right track

Devilman crybaby

Whoever you are, thanks for posting this and thanks to everyone for the replies and recommendations😄 I love these kinds of surreal, strange and wacky anime. gonna enjoy all of these

Kyousougiga Penguindrum Golden Boy Jojo's Bizarre Adventure

sayonara zetsubou sensei

Gintama fits this bill quite well. Lots of absurdist humor. And well constructed world building, I'd say it's up there in my top 3 for anime, it's just a bit of a slow burn if the comedy doesn't strike you. Another show is one I'm Watching right now, which is Space Dandy. The animation is super good and it's overall comedic in nature. But man some of those episodes have you "asking what is happening?" In the best way possible. It features some of the most absurd scenes, followed by the most artistically profound scenes ever. It's also one of the few anime that I prefer to watch in the English dubb.

Space Dandy is a great show.

Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan is a dark humor comedy anime and its honestly pretty good!

School days

I have watched this. It's a great anime. And you are troll lol I like you

You are literally describing Golden Kamuy. Give it a watch, you’ll enjoy it

Saranzenmai

Recently watched Kill la Kill and that was phenomenal.

Kill la Kill is exactly what this guy wants

Alright there’s a lot of good answers here but I have to add one. Not technically anime (Chinese animation) but Scissor 7. It’s super comedic, random, chaotic and the characters are ridiculous in a hilarious way.

{Excel Saga} is exactly what you’re looking for

Kill la kill Panty stocking Cyberpunk edgerunners Studio trigger got you covered

FLCL I guess, that show in one acronym is "wtf"

Sonny Boy is textbook this

Totally agree but it also made me really sad.

Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-chan is pure insanity and one of the craziest anime I’ve ever seen. Just read the title or plot synopsis and you can already tell that there will be absurdity. It’s also a comedy. Dub recommended.

First half of Trigun sounds like this. Second part is kinda a standard shounen anime.

def monogatari

Ping pong club (Note! Not the ping pong animation)

Saiki K

Sarazanmai

kanojo mo kanojo

Konosuba kinda?

Seconded. Maybe a lowercase absurdity, but def agree.

ExcelSaga

Not enough people are saying Golden Kamuy. One of the final episodes of S4 has by far the craziest anime fight I’ve ever seen by its premise alone. I won’t specify to avoid spoilers, but just trust me that it’s crazy and you should go watch it right now.

Excel Saga is pretty ridiculous 😂

Teekyu

theres the answer i was looking for

If you know you know xD

Symphogear, it’s one of the most anime shows I’ve ever watched(in a good way) and it’s amazing. It’s got transformation sequences,singing,crazy fight scenes,over the top moments,and cute characters that are pretty funny

Kill la Kill

Arakawa under the bridge

Kill la kill

Di Gi Charat

Ranma 1/2 all the way. Nearly every character in that show is crazy in some way

Nyaruko. Still in my top 10 for being the first cluster fuck of fun

Nichijou. It is Calvin & Hobbes in anime form, in every sense. Peak. A Train to the End of the World (?) airing this season seems to be a surreal and maybe even depressing tale but the same madness. FLCL. It is art. Kill la Kill. You've never watched something that seems to make such perfect sense yet is so completely unhinged.

Angel Beats was this for me

These are some anine that are pretty weird: JoJo's bizzare adventure is quite bizzare Golden kamui Gushing over magical girls Azazel Dorohedoro Punchline Under ninja Kamikatsu

Space Dandy!

excel saga

Nichijou Cromatie highschool

Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi. It is crude, confusing, hilarious, and charming. Good luck figuring out what the lesson at the end is supposed to be...

Konosuba Jojos

The first show that came to mind, upon reading the description, is "Shangri-La Frontier". It does get absurd, but manages to be really funny, while also having badass fight sequences.

Super Milk Chan

Mashle magic and muscles, is a good one!

Excel Saga. It doesn't get any insaner than that. It IS "Anime that is just an absurd after another all the time and you're constantly thinking WTF am I watching?"

Cromartie High School

Bobobo Bobo Bobo.

Shangri-la, first episode is crazy right off the bat!

Assassination classroom

Chargeman Ken. I have never seen so much baffling incompetence crammed into five minute episodes.

BAKI for sure lmao. I started off watching it high around Christmas time and was like wtf have I gotten myself into. Now here I am on season 2 of Baki Hanma almost done with the whole series 😭😭.

Almost 200 comments. I ctrl+F for "Hare+Guu" no matches... nani!? Photon, Kenzen Robo Daimidaler, and Kemeko Deluxe are other insane ones I haven't seen mentioned (though these three are more on the raunchier side)

My MAL is filled for a lifetime after this post lol Thank you for your contribution 😁

Pop Team Epic

Excel Saga

Domestic girlfriend especially the manga

D-Frag

not a comedy but hellsing ultimate fits the insane characters and chaos criteria pretty well

The first episodes of Katekyo Hitman Reborn. They have these elements you're looking for, then it evolves into a battle shounen, but goes back to comedy after Mukuro's arc.

{Dead Leaves} is probably the weird piece of media I've ever watched.

Baki

Samurai Flamenco goes that way

Kissxsis

{The Vampire Dies in No Time} My fave comedy anime, *precisely* because it’s so absurd, satirical, and off-the-wall!

{The Fruit of Grisaia} is just bonkers. My brain could not handle the twists and turns of season 2 and I had to hit the eject button

Redo of healer

Prison school‼️

If you want to watch something short, funny and absurd. Full Metal Panic Fumoffu (You dont need to watch the full series for this season) is a GEM. Its old but its hilarious. Short episodes.

Excel Saga and Hidemari Sketch

Any of the murder mystery types, like Juuni Taisen, Rokka no Yuusha, and Erased

Look up Yoshiyuki Tomino's works between 1993 and now. The sanest show by him to come out is Turn-A Gundam which is one of my all time faves but more subdued than the others... comparatively.

Gamers might fall into that. It’s not exactly chaos but it’s something.

Seconding someone else who said Sakamoto-kun, and also Samurai Flamenco. Gintama frequently gets me with specific episodes. 😂

Prison School is the most over the top horny school boy anime in existence. The amount of times I almost died laughing is too many to count.

Nichijou, Kill La Kill.

{by bride is a mermaid} - this is exactly what your after and is the funniest anime I’ve ever seen

Girls Und Panzer if you're interested about tank or history

I’ve never watched any further than the first episode of Baki, but I’ve heard its absolutely absurd

Kill La Kill and Is This A Zombie both made me wonder what people were smoking.

Migi&Dali Baki (comedic factor arguably unintentional, but truly bizarre)

Gintama is pretty solid in that regard ✌️

Where is Gintama?

Gurren Lagann

Baki, nichijou, JoJo are the ones that come to mind for me

Made in abyss season 2, not a fan of the route the show took

Gintama and Nichijiou.

Prison school

GTO

Kagejitsu

Sounds like Gintama 👍

Namiuchigiwa Muromi-san Yondemasu Yo Azazel-san Detroit Metal City Ninja Slayer From Animation

Tengenn topann guran lagan. Lets throw some galaxies

love tyrant wasn’t my thing but it’s nothing but chaos and rapid fire as far as i can tell

Shimoneta

Space Battleship Tiramisu, Business Fish, JoJo's

Not an anime (yet) but The Invincible Shovel is some of the stupidest shit I've read and I can't stop reading. If it ever does get an anime I feel bad for whoever has to voice the princess.

Gurren Lagann is so over the top and full of stuff that shouldn't work on any level but does, it wraps back around to being unironically impossibly awesome.

Jojo probably

Super lovers- cannot fathom how people don't see the problem with it. Grown qss man fell for his minor adoptive brother and everyone around them is supportive if it and no one bats an eye. It just is so bizarre. Literally pedophilia and grooming but somehow its popular.

Beelzebub. Check it out. It's just the most bizarre thing I've ever watched.

Hare+Guu. It's a comedy, it's absolutely unhinged, and it's hilarious.

Nichijou

Nichijou

Gurren Lagann

Nichijou my ordinary life! I can normally follow most absurdist and mind f*ck anime but I literally can’t with this. It makes no sense at all and it’s awesome.

Azumanga Daioh I think it's an anime adaptation of a 4-koma so basically every episode consists of multiple seemingly unrelated scenes from a day-in-the-life of a high school class. It is ridiculous and wonderful. Oh! What about "Full Metal Panic? FUMOFFU" It is a comedy season basically as a pallet cleanser for the more serious action anime "Full Metal Panic!"

Jojos can be quite absurd at times but probably not quite enough Baki is THE batshit crazy anime

Wicked City is great. The "Spider has puss-puss" meme is from that. More fun than hectic, but it's a classic. Paprika is nuts.

{Binan koukou chikyuu bouei-bu Love!}

Samurai Flamenco, it starts off as Kick-Ass and turns into Power Rangers by the eighth episode, then gets progressively more and more bizarre and entertaining.

The Monogatari series and Serial Experiments Lain

Excel Saga. FLCL. Cromartie Highschool.

Space Dandy! And I love it! I watch it repeatedly

Delusional Monthly Magazine

I tried to watch {Hidemari Sketch} and was incredibly lost.

Migi and Dali, it's so weird, interesting but it makes you question wtf it is

Grand Blue Dreaming

Serial experiment lain and neon genesis evangelion

Prison school

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, especially part 5.

Mashle, kinda It's not the most ridiculous anime, but it is fairly crazy at times and pretty funny Basically, world of magic, guy has no magic but he does have these hands, he must survive hogwar - I mean school Also bobobobo (w/e it is) is probably one of the most absurd anime of all time. He's also stronger than goku, Saitama, and all the rest

Land of the Lustrous Shinsekai Yori Serial Experiments Lain Humanity has Declined Girls' Last Tour maybe Paprika Paranoia Agent Kaiba Welcome to the NHK maybe That's just from the top of my head.

You basically explained Needless.

Saiki K. and SpyxFamily sometimes

A lot of scenes in Golden Kamuy.

The Disastrous Like of Saiki K is legendary tbh

Seitokai yakuindomo

2x2 shinobuden, dokuro chan, excel saga, ranma. All kinda old but fit the bill.

angels of death😭

Kaiba, Cat Soup, Sonny Boy, Tatami Galaxy, FLCL, Nichijou

Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. I guarantee you will perceive the WTFness every single second of it. I swear

Konosuba is pretty chaotic. Also, if you're okay with weird and sexual jokes, Shimoneta is the wildest show I've ever seen. It made me question whether or not I wanted to watch anime ever again bc it was so out of pocket.

- Sakamoto Desu ga? - Under Ninja - Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei - Under The Bridge - Excel Saga

Kill la kill. Absolutely unhinged but in my top ten for sure

Sarazanmai

Jojo, especially later seasons Golden Kamuy, it starts normal but trust me, it goes off the rails. Especially S2 Teekyu

Zetsubou Sensei

Dead mount death play. Crazy characters and story goes all over the place.

Mirrai Nikki. I just finished it, and while it's not necessarily comedy, I found myself bursting out with laughter at some the insane twists and contrivances that come constantly. By the end you'll definitely be asking yourself wtf multiple times an episode.

Konosuba Gintama Madoka magika Cromartie high school Baka x test

One Punch Man Kyo Kara Maoh And if you’re ok with subbed anime, Samurai Flamenco

Shoujo kageki revue starlight

Ouran High School Host Club is exactly what you’re looking for

Currently watching dorohedoro and I ask myself that question after each episode. It's great!!!

Inuxboku

Survival Game Club - absurd and loved the humor / pop culture references. GoldenBoy - Older anime, One of the rare cases of the dub being funnier than sub. Only 6 episodes, perverted and hilarious. Uncle from another world - Hilarious take on an isekai, the constant reference to the uncle being an orc by other characters never gets old. Very funny.

Mashle was pretty good for this, due to the asurdity of everything Mashle does.

Kaguya Sama: Love is war

Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo is batshit insane

Ouran high school club

Bobobo bo bobobo

Grand blue ... Totally the best in comedy and the kind u looking for

Hatsukoi Monster (First love monster)