Need a new anime? I’ve definitely been revisiting some old favorites lately. Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun was just as hilarious the second time around and I’m still wishing I had more Is It Wrong To Pick Up Girls In a Dungeon?. While the few new episodes of GATE have been pretty intriguing, I’ve been revisiting some older releases to tide me over as I look to new releases. These series are available on Netflix and/or Hulu for streaming!
Heaven’s Lost Property
Tomoki Sakurai loves the peaceful, quiet life. But fate has other plans for him when a strange yet beautiful girl with big fluffy wings and long pink hair falls from the sky. Ikaros, an “angeloid” comes to live with Tomoki and can do all kinds of strange and magical things, including making Tomoki’s greatest wishes come true. However, she knows nothing of the human world and lacks common sense, and her origins remain a mystery…furthermore, she’s not the only angeloid, and Tomoki and friends must protect the angeloids from what seems to be a sinister fate.
This show is a comedy, and it is pretty hilarious. The dub is pretty well done (I have no idea what the sub is actually like) and while you shouldn’t expect too much from the plot, just roll with it to enjoy the funny moments, which are quite abundant. My favorite moments? The flying flocks of panties which later detonate in Tomoki’s house, anything with Delta, and that one time Tomo and Sohara were stranded on a desert island. Take note, the series is rather fan-servicey.
Shimoneta: A Boring World Where The Concept Of Dirty Jokes Doesn’t Exist
You guys, I don’t even KNOW what to make of this one.
In the near future, in Japan, pornographic materials and even anything remotely dirty- language, books, pictures- is totally outlawed and destroyed by the authorities. People even wear electronic devices ensuring that their hand motions and words are pure. One high school student finds himself kidnapped by “Blue Snow”, a perverted terrorist whose goal is to spread porno mags and dirty jokes to the masses, and forced to join her organization.
The first few episodes of this show were pretty funny. However, one of the female antagonists is a pretty extreme yandere which ends up being really creepy and I couldn’t get through the second half of the show without cringing. This is definitely not one for the kids.
Is This A Zombie?
This series is so weird and I love it. It’s about a boy who is a zombie, having been resurrected after death by an adorable necromancer. As though that’s not enough, he encounters a Magical Garment Girl and accidentally takes her powers, thereby being forced to become a Magical Garment Girl (frilly skirt and all!) himself. Coupled with a vampire ninja, they battle demons as zombie-boy Ayumu tries to discover the circumstances behind his mysterious death.
The World God Only Knows
Keima Katsuragi, known to many girls at his school only as the geeky “glasses”, loves video games. He plays them at school, at home, while eating, while walking, and even has multiple copies of his favorite games. To be specific, he loves dating sims, and hasn’t found a virtual girl that isn’t vulnerable against his moves. One day, he gets an email with a contract to conquer girls, and he accepts- not realizing that the contract is in fact to pick up real-life girls instead of pixelated ones, and that the contract he’s just signed was made with a demon and bound to his life! Keima must romance these possessed high school girls and get them ultimately to kiss him in order to flush out evil spirits that have gotten loose from Hell.
This anime shouldn’t work. The concept is pretty awful, but it’s executed in a really fun way and even though the first couple of episodes are cringe-worthy, it finds its footing and becomes a really deep story. I think Keima’s characterization is really key to the success of the series. Too often male protagonists in harem-romance animes are either way too lecherous or are too flippant while having girls fall all over them desperately, and this show doesn’t fall into any of those typical harem traps. Keima romances each girl using logic picked up in video game sims, but still distinctly prefers virtual girls, and because the girls’ memories are lost after the romantic encounter (due to them being possessed by evil spirits and all) life goes back to normal after each spirit is conquered. The series only edges in on harem territory a few seasons in and even then it’s really not so bad.
The Devil is A Part-Timer
Honestly? This is one of my favorite fluff animes of all time! The plot is essentially that the devil himself and one of his high-ranking demon lords from an alternate plane of existence are transported to Japan, losing almost all of their magical powers and are stuck with no money, food, shelter, and also an inability to speak Japanese. They decide to conquer the world, and in order to do so…must find a place to live, and get jobs so they can make money.
The devil gets a part-time job at “MgRonalds” and must work hard to get a promotion so he can earn more money! It’s really about as silly as it sounds. One of the great sword-wielding heroes from the devil’s realm is also transported to Earth (and gets a day job at a call center) while trying to figure out what the devil’s next nefarious move will be, and good and evil discover they may need to join forces to ward off supernatural threats to Earth.