One day, Olivia – blonde-haired, foreign-looking transfer student – lies to air-headed Hanako about her English skills. Despite her looks, she has actually lived in Japan almost all her life and can’t speak English very well, but succeeded in tricking Hanako. This bit of mischief sparked a series of small games in the classroom between them, annoying the nearby deadpan Kasumi who hates games after being teased mercilessly by her older sister for always losing. However, the mischief eventually draws all three of them into the Pastime Club, a club Hanako created just to goof off.
Filled with an intoxicating mix of cuteness and absurd comedy, if you are looking for more anime recommendations like Asobi Asobase, then look no further.
Anime Like Asobi Asobase
For Fans of Absurd School Comedy
Daily Lives of High School Boys
This is the tale of three boys that roam the halls of the all-boys school of Sanada North. Their lives are filled with nothing but giant robot drama and true love stories, at least in their imaginations. In reality, these three boys are nothing special, but they try their best to pass the time.
Where Asobi Asobase is about girls, Daily Lives of High School Boys is about boys. Both feature incredibly grounded absurd comedy series where the absurdity of real life situations as well as the facial expressions make them very effective comedies.
Nichijou
Nichijou is about the daily lives of a trio of three friends who soon find their fate intertwined with a young genius, her robot maid, and talking cat. Needless to say, the normal does not ensue.
Three girls. In school. Doing very random things. Nichijou sets the bar for random and absurd comedy and Asobi Asobase dares to meet it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite get there. However, both do try to be cute while making you die of laughter.
The Disastrous Life of Saiki K
Saiki Kusou has a wide array of superpowers that include things like telepathy and telekinesis. He is so overpowered that he could, in fact, conquer the world in just a few days, but Saiki just wants to live a normal life. He dislikes his superpowers and does his best to hide them so he can live peacefully. It doesn’t go well.
Despite being about the trials and tribulations of having psychic powers, Saki K and Asobi Asobase have a fair amount of similarities in their dedication to gag comedies. Furthermore, the facial reactions in each lend to the enjoyment a fair bit. However, Asobi Asobase has it beat in terms of cuteness.
Chio’s School Road
This is the story of Chio, a young bookworm, and her daily walk to school. Of course, she won’t be getting to school anytime soon as her usual route usually takes her weirdly off course.
Both new in the Summer 2018 season, both shows have notable similarities, mostly that the most random situations lead to the most entertainment value. However, Asobi Asobase remains fairly firmly grounded where Chio’s School Road can get a little caught up in the grandeur.
For Fans of Girl-Centric Anime
Lucky Star
Lucky Star follows the average, but surprisingly eventful lives of four high school girls, led by the short and lazy otaku Konata Izumi. Throughout their hijinks, they discuss humorous observations about the world around them, ranging from everything from otaku culture to the correct way of eating foods.
The key difference between these two shows is that Asobi Asobase lacks the otaku spin that Lucky Star has. Otherwise, both shows are about cute girls doing really random things for both the sake of comedy and for the sake of being cute.
Pop Team Epic
Popuko is small and quick to anger. Pipiumi is tall and serene. Together these two high school girls swear like sailors and get up to all sorts of insane and meta activities.
In both shows, they aim towards the most random comedy possible, but it is best to think of Pop Team Epic as a more intense version of Asobi Asobase. With more nerd comedy and a lot more energy, Pop Team Epic doesn’t try to be as cute, but they both try to be as funny as possible.
Yuru Yuri
After being reunited with her childhood friends in middle school, Akari is enticed to join the Amusement Club that Yui and Kyoko created in their own first year of middle school. They convince Akari to join, only for her to discover that the club’s only function is to amuse its members.
If you look hard enough, you can find yuri undertones in Asobi Asobase, but they are much more heavy handed in Yuru Yuri. However, that’s not the real similarity. Both shows are about a girl trio in a school setting basically doing fuckall. Everything in both shows is random, cute, and angles towards the hilarious.
Plastic Neesan
Iroe Genma is often referred to as Elder Sister, despite her short height. She is the president of the model club with her two very different underclassmen. Together they attempt to carry out club activities, despite many distractions.
You know what these two series have in common? It’s very simple. They are both school life tales about girl trios that are best friends, but also act like complete jerks to each other for the sake of comedy. That breeds the comedy and it works very well.
Did we miss any more anime recommendation for Asobi Asobase? Let us know in the comments section below.
Sakamoto desu ga is another hilarious one that does a good job at mixing slice of life with comedy. It’s also an anime that doesn’t take itself too seriously