The Weekly W: Wacky

Some anime are funny, others are serious.  Some make sense, others don't really explain why things are the way they are.  Sometimes a show seems strange, but turns out to be really, really good.  Let's take a look at some of the wacky shows I've seen!


First Up: Kuuchuu Buranko (trapeze)

This show is wacky from the animation style, to the characters, and even in the manner the story is portrayed. 

If I remember correctly, these three are all the same character.

Our former VP showed it to the club, and only some people stayed after the first week, since it was decidedly strange.  As the episodes went on, however, it became much more enjoyable to watch.  I wouldn't necessarily watch it again, but I am glad I watched it. 

There was a repeating scene of this nurse in most episodes, and suddenly she went from animated to live-action.  It was sort of like a magical girl transformation, but not.  This scene is, of course, all of the fanservice in the series (predictably occurring each episode)/

She's normally animated...  but not in this scene.

The art styles in this show were very fascinating, since characters would not necessarily be rendered in the same style as the other ones in the frames.  All of the background scenery characters were also drawn in a unique style.  They were 2-d paper cutouts which were animated (blank and flat, but moving limbs).  In addition, none of the strange goings-on (see picture #1 - green bear mask gets no comments at all).

The characters animation styles don't always match

The plot recounts the interactions of psychiatrist Irabu and his nurse assistant Mayumi with different patients of his.  The storytelling style is fascinating, as the episodes overlap in time, and although each "patient" has their own episode, they show up in the other episodes as well.  It's a fascinating method of conveying a story.

Second we have Nichijou.

Their daily lives are not quite like ours.

This show chronicles the daily lives of a group of high school girls.  One girl is a troll (the internet kind, not the under-the-bridge kind), another is perpetually lazy, and another is a robot dreaming of being a real girl.  The show is a collection of shorts woven together.  Some shorts are repeating segments, developing upon characters and circumstances in the town, while others are animated renderings of mundane events.  Overall, this series is really entertaining, and I would definitely recommend it. 

She is a robot.  No one notices.

We have the robot girl here.  She is self-conscious of the winding key in her back, but cannot convince the Professor to remove it.  The professor is more interested in sharks, milk, and her cat Sakamoto.

The professor is adorable

The classmates are all wacky, and their interactions in their "daily lives" are odd.  Even classmates that appear "normal" at first glance turn out to be their own kind of eccentric.

Rich boys ride goats to school, and bring their butler with them.

Nichijou is hilarious, fun, and wacky.  It's easy to sit down and watch 5 minutes or 5 full episodes.  Watching it with friends is especially good, since they call back to prior segments occasionally or have something in the background that only one person may notice. 

Do you have a favorite wacky series?  Post about it in the comments ^ __ ^

Hope Burns Bright