You can't really blame otaku for looking out for unusual setups and premises. After all, it might be hard to watch similar things all over again. And sometimes, things get so weird that fans can't even try to explain it in a way that makes sense.
Of course, this is often the desired effect, and if you for some reason want to watch something like this, here are 10 series that fit the bill.
At first, the premise of Dorohedoro sounds pretty normal. There's basically an underworld slum district where human rights are more like guidelines, and the denizens are trying to survive.
Except, the protagonist is an amnesiac with a crocodile head. The viewers follow him on his journey to learn more about himself… while also occasionally visiting the world of sorcerer's — the high class society here. Oh, and he meets literal demons from Hell and a mage who wields the amazing power of mushrooms.
An adolescent boy who struggles to find his place in life gets run over by a crazy woman on a motorcycle. Then she proceeds to beat him with a guitar, so robots start growing out of his head. This is arguably the most understandable part of FLCL — the series is a chain of odd references and metaphors, intertwined with coming of age themes. You don't even need to understand the plot: just get hyped enough for crazy animation.
Mawaru Penguindrum
A girl dies from an unspecified terminal illness, and while her brothers are struck with grief, she is revived by a talking hate. The hat proceeds to order the two brothers, saying that they have to find "the Penguindrum". The series only gets weirder from there, and almost everything is a metaphor for a social issue. Mawaru Penguindrum is a very complicated anime that requires multiple rewatches to fully understand it, but that's what makes it so good.
Gonna be the Twin-Tail!!
Souji Mitsuka, the protagonist, is obsessed with twintails — and that's putting it mildly. Then aliens attack Earth, and Souji is forced to become one of its defenders… and the defenders are powered by twintails, so that's why he was chosen.
What's the catch? Well, to fight the invaders, Souji transforms into a girl in a powersuit. The enemies often being as bizarre and single-focused as Souji himself only adds to the comedy.
Punch Line
Yuuta, the protagonist of Punch Line, gets his powers from seeing panties. However, if he sees them one more time, the world will end… and the rest of the anime is just as nonsensical. Featuring spirits, robots, cybernetically altered bears and whatnot, Punch Line is a non-stop sequence of randomness full of completely insane plot twists.
Moyashimon
What would you do if you had powers of seeing all sorts of microorganisms and talking to them? Well, Moyashimon provides a surprisingly realistic answer to that scenario, which is… not much. Despite its crazy initial premise, the series is a more or less grounded mix of drama and comedy, and while Tadayasu's powers come up regularly, the anime is not just about them.
Sekkou Boys
Sekkou Boys is your usual idol anime, except the characters are… statues. Yes, just actual stone statues. The strangest part? It works! Though obviously a comedy, Sekkou Boys is a surprisingly decent series with likable characters, and its short runtime means it won't take much time for you to watch it.
Issho ni Sleeping: Sleeping with Hinako
A girl sleeps. You're watching her. In the first person. Yes, it's a first person POV anime. That's it.
Well, no, that's not actually it — she gets up a couple of times, but this is still extremely weird, and there's hardly any actual point. This would feel like an elaborate joke, but this is not the only OVA in the series. There are also ones for exercising and taking a bath. Because there was a target audience, presumably.
Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo
Let's see what we have here. A man with the powers of nose hair is fighting the evil organization that is trying to make everyone bald. His companions include a talking jelly, a man with ice cream instead of a head, a spiked ball — and other crazy entities that can't be explained properly.
The anime relies heavily on wordplay, references and bizarre humor not everyone can understand. The premise is actually the most normal part of it: trust us, it gets crazier and crazier.
Akikan!
What if we had a harem anime, but every girl was a soda can? Yeah, you read that right. Akikan! features Kakeru, a juice can collector, suddenly finding that a can he was trying to drink from transforms into a girl. And if this wasn't crazy enough, let's also add the fact that this is actually a battle royale series where the cans fight to find out which one is the… strongest? Whatever. Just turn your brain off and enjoy the ride.
These make sense in the context. Mostly.
You can't really blame otaku for looking out for unusual setups and premises. After all, it might be hard to watch similar things all over again. And sometimes, things get so weird that fans can't even try to explain it in a way that makes sense.
Of course, this is often the desired effect, and if you for some reason want to watch something like this, here are 10 series that fit the bill.
At first, the premise of Dorohedoro sounds pretty normal. There's basically an underworld slum district where human rights are more like guidelines, and the denizens are trying to survive.
Except, the protagonist is an amnesiac with a crocodile head. The viewers follow him on his journey to learn more about himself… while also occasionally visiting the world of sorcerer's — the high class society here. Oh, and he meets literal demons from Hell and a mage who wields the amazing power of mushrooms.
An adolescent boy who struggles to find his place in life gets run over by a crazy woman on a motorcycle. Then she proceeds to beat him with a guitar, so robots start growing out of his head. This is arguably the most understandable part of FLCL — the series is a chain of odd references and metaphors, intertwined with coming of age themes. You don't even need to understand the plot: just get hyped enough for crazy animation.
Mawaru Penguindrum
A girl dies from an unspecified terminal illness, and while her brothers are struck with grief, she is revived by a talking hate. The hat proceeds to order the two brothers, saying that they have to find "the Penguindrum". The series only gets weirder from there, and almost everything is a metaphor for a social issue. Mawaru Penguindrum is a very complicated anime that requires multiple rewatches to fully understand it, but that's what makes it so good.
Gonna be the Twin-Tail!!
Souji Mitsuka, the protagonist, is obsessed with twintails — and that's putting it mildly. Then aliens attack Earth, and Souji is forced to become one of its defenders… and the defenders are powered by twintails, so that's why he was chosen.
What's the catch? Well, to fight the invaders, Souji transforms into a girl in a powersuit. The enemies often being as bizarre and single-focused as Souji himself only adds to the comedy.
Punch Line
Yuuta, the protagonist of Punch Line, gets his powers from seeing panties. However, if he sees them one more time, the world will end… and the rest of the anime is just as nonsensical. Featuring spirits, robots, cybernetically altered bears and whatnot, Punch Line is a non-stop sequence of randomness full of completely insane plot twists.
Moyashimon
What would you do if you had powers of seeing all sorts of microorganisms and talking to them? Well, Moyashimon provides a surprisingly realistic answer to that scenario, which is… not much. Despite its crazy initial premise, the series is a more or less grounded mix of drama and comedy, and while Tadayasu's powers come up regularly, the anime is not just about them.
Sekkou Boys
Sekkou Boys is your usual idol anime, except the characters are… statues. Yes, just actual stone statues. The strangest part? It works! Though obviously a comedy, Sekkou Boys is a surprisingly decent series with likable characters, and its short runtime means it won't take much time for you to watch it.
Issho ni Sleeping: Sleeping with Hinako
A girl sleeps. You're watching her. In the first person. Yes, it's a first person POV anime. That's it.
Well, no, that's not actually it — she gets up a couple of times, but this is still extremely weird, and there's hardly any actual point. This would feel like an elaborate joke, but this is not the only OVA in the series. There are also ones for exercising and taking a bath. Because there was a target audience, presumably.
Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo
Let's see what we have here. A man with the powers of nose hair is fighting the evil organization that is trying to make everyone bald. His companions include a talking jelly, a man with ice cream instead of a head, a spiked ball — and other crazy entities that can't be explained properly.
The anime relies heavily on wordplay, references and bizarre humor not everyone can understand. The premise is actually the most normal part of it: trust us, it gets crazier and crazier.
Akikan!
What if we had a harem anime, but every girl was a soda can? Yeah, you read that right. Akikan! features Kakeru, a juice can collector, suddenly finding that a can he was trying to drink from transforms into a girl. And if this wasn't crazy enough, let's also add the fact that this is actually a battle royale series where the cans fight to find out which one is the… strongest? Whatever. Just turn your brain off and enjoy the ride.
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