Too often is a panty flash or a compromising pose elevated from simple fan service to mainline comedy in an anime. Sure, I love lewd comedies as much as anyone, but I can fully acknowledge that it is not for everyone, like for people watching anime in a public space, for example. If you are looking for comedy anime that won’t make your parents or friends think you are a degenerate when they walk in the room, we have anime recommendations.
While some of these series drift into other genres, I tried to keep the recommendations to more pure comedies rather than shows that mix comedy with other genres.
Best Comedy Anime Without Ecchi
Minami-ke
Minami-ke tells the story of the comical daily lives of three sisters – high school, middle school, and elementary school – who live alone. Much of the comedy comes from them and their wide array of odd friends that find themselves at their house. It is all-in-all a pretty wholesome comedy show.
Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun
There are a lot of ways that this could have been turned into at least a light ecchi show, but bless their hearts, they never did it. This series follows a girl who unsuccessfully confesses her love to a boy. The boy confuses her for a fan that discovered his secret alter ego as a shoujo manga author. As such, he ends up putting her to work. It’s silly, yes, but there are actually some decent romantic moments in it as well. It just doesn’t go as heavy with the romance since the male main is denser than a loaf of pumpernickel.
Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle
I honestly cannot tell you how they did it. They took a show whose whole premise was a kidnapped princess trying to take a nap, and they made it into a good comedy – even more so, a good show. The comedy is really aided by the demons in the castle being pretty big pushovers to a deadpan little girl, but they manage to make every shenanigan feel unique and interesting.
Barakamon
While also a bit of a slice of life show, there is no denying the comedy that surrounds the main character. The antics of the kids are solid an effective at, if not making you laugh, then certainly at least cheering you up a bit. The main character plays the straight man to a lot of the absurd situations that take place around him. Thankfully, this is one time anime did have a problem with kids doing lewd things, so it remains very wholesome.
Skull-Faced Bookseller Honda-san
Is it ecchi if you can see like all his bones? Joking aside, Skull Faced Bookseller Honda-san is one of those widely underappreciated comedies. As a short-form series, the episodes last about ten minutes each, which is just enough time to nail good comedy without overstaying its welcome. Much of the humor comes from the random choices of books that the customers choose as well as general workplace situations.
Polar Bear Cafe
This cozy little comedy series follows the workers of a little cafe by the zoo. Since they are all animals, there is virtually no chance of a panty shot eeking out here. To be honest, the show is, as I said, more “cozy” than “comedy”. It is distinctly one of those comedy shows that are meant to cheer people up.
Nichijou
Nichijou is absurdist comedy at its very finest. While each episode has a general plot, anything and everything can go off the rails in a completely different direction at any second. So if you enjoy the unexpected and often insane, Nichijou can get a few laughs out of you. I’d like to say that you know its fan service free because it is so very moe, but we all know that’s not a true thing you can say anymore.
Watamote
Watamote is hard to watch as an anime fan. Not because its lewd, but because it is stuffed to the bursting full of anime fan cringe. We’ve all had those moments, but when they are shoved in your face in the form of weeb comedy, it can be a little difficult to watch because you can relate to it so much. That being said, the cringe can be fun too.
Hinamatsuri
It’s hard to describe why the comedy in Hinamatsuri works so well, but it does. The show makes very casual attempts at having plot, but because everything always ends so irreverently, it never really goes anywhere. They take any emotional meaning in scenes and undercuts it with jokes. It is a great spin on the growing genre of guys that end up being psuedo-dads to little kids genre.
Tanaka-kun is Always Listless
It’s a show about a listless protagonist. You don’t expect too much from it, and may not expect it to be good. Yet, with such a vague premise about a listless guy simply trying to exist, it leaves a lot of room open for creativity as to how the world interacts with him. The comedy comes from everyone around him responding to that familiar feeling of listlessness. It actually is unique in how it shows how people react to listlessness.
Asobi Asobase
While Asobi Asobase is technically another absurd comedy, it likes to hide its extremes under its art style. The characters and world are all this extremely soft palate, but there are moments when they sharpen everything up to be almost heavy metal in style.
Tamako Market
Tamako Market highlights a small shopping district where everyone knows everyone and they are all up in each other’s business. However, unlike in real life where that would be pretty boring, everyone in this shopping distinct is rather odd and quirky. While Tamako Love Story is a little more charming, the comedic slice of life romp that is Tamako Market has its moments.
Lucky Star
Lucky Star is one of those “you love it or hate it” comedy series, particularly when moe was taking over anime. Still, if you are a long-time anime watcher, it has a lot of good anime jokes in it. However, much of the time it is a plotless slice of life series that finds comedy in everyday situations, which is not for everyone.
Azumanga Daioh
I get sad for Azumanga Daioh sometimes because it was such a great comedy show, but people tend to look at older anime, especially older comedy anime, and give it a quick pass. Azumanga Daioh was Nichijou and Lucky Star before they were even a twinkle in their creator’s eyes. It features some daily life comedy, but much of it comes from the absurd situations and characters that pop up.
Do you have more anime series that are funny, but keep the clothes on? Let fans know in the comments section below.
