Most of the time, you will find anime fans looking to avoid ecchi or fan service at all costs. Ecchi anime is defined by its bouncy breasts, big butts, and oh-so-shiny skin. We know why people watch it, and most people don’t really need a reason to get into this genre other than its…Defining features. However, despite the fan service, ecchi series can usually have some good comedy and even some plot if you dig hard enough. If you want to get into the ecchi genre, it is better to go to the lighter side of it. With heavy ecchi, it tends to overshadow and detract from anything else in the series.
Best Ecchi Anime For Beginners
High School of The Dead
This series is complicated. You might start watching it because it is about a zombie apocalypse and doesn’t involve moe girls (I.e. School Live). Unfortunately, while it has some awesome zombie killing action, it also has a lot of ecchi action. Unexpectedly so, at times. It is anime like this that makes people mad at fan service as it takes away from the seriousness of the moment. However, watching it will almost assuredly help you land on one side or the other in terms of your feelings on this genre.
Love Hina
It used to be ecchi in your romantic comedies was a little bit expected. Love Hina was one of those. A guy manages a girl’s dorm and hot spring, so of course it sets him up for bad situations. However, while there is ecchi for comedy, Love Hina builds to a nice romantic comedy as it goes on.
Shimoneta
Ecchi is the joke here. They created a world where dirty jokes don’t exist, and the main characters decide to rebel against that system. So what you can expect is literally a dirty joke every second. There are some ecchi moments, but they are not there to arouse, they are there for the audience to laugh at. Honestly, if you aren’t hardcore against ecchi anime and love dirty jokes, you will adore this.
High School DxD
This series is legendary among the ecchi community. It is unrelenting in its characters and their proclivities. Combine this with your standard overly perverted male, and it sets itself up for a lot of situations. However, the plot inside is actually not too bad. What heavy ecchi typically suffers from is really bad plot, but High School DxD tells its story well without getting too distracted.
Food Wars
This is what we would call extremely light ecchi. You watch women (and men!) have literal foodgasms to the point where their clothes burst off. However, this show is very much about the food and cooking, not so much about the bare skin. The ecchi adds to the comedy of the moment, and in essence, is actually kind of the perfect way to use it.
Infinite Stratos
One guy. Many girls. For some reason he can use mechs that only girls can use. Infinite Stratos is packed full of interesting female characters, but it also has some good comedy about a guy adjusting to a previously all female sort of profession. Alongside that, it also has some decent action that makes this one ecchi show that is worth watching for more than just the skin and the jokes.
B Gata H Kei
This is an interesting take on ecchi. Typically, the male character is the pervert, but this series reverses it. The female is the pervert, but before she can start a life of conquest, she needs to lose her first time. Unfortunately, she is a bit of a innocent girl about it. Combine her constantly trying with a bashful boy that she chooses and some amazing comedy ensues.
Keijo!
It was only a matter of time before they found a way to combine the ecchi and the sports genre. Since they couldn’t manage it with a real sport (unless you count the male eye candy in Free), this was the result. The fictional sport in this series takes full advantage of female characteristics to create something that is wholly unforgettable.
Rosario + Vampire
While not as good as its manga counterpart, Rosario + Vampire is every bit a great ecchi anime as well as a good entry harem anime. It likes to poke fun at the genre a little bit too, which adds a layer of comedy. As the girls aren’t quite as exposed as often, this is one where you can worry a little less about someone walking in on you at a bad time.
Lord Marksman and Vanadis
If you don’t want to dive into something too hardcore, this is your best option. There are a lot of pretty ladies, to be sure. They all wear armor of questionable armor value and they all end up falling in love with the main character. However, outside of that, they also managed to create a pretty cool fantasy world with an interesting story and some pretty flashy battles.
