With over-the-top action and surreal imagery, a few anime series can test all limits of human imagination, yielding some memorably bizarre visual and storytelling elements. From Buddha being friends with Jesus Christ to tiny cats living inside bananas, there's a lot to explore in a subculture of animes with intentionally ridiculous plots.
In general, mainstream anime classics like Dragon Ball Z and One Punch Man end up subverting all notions of reality with strange characters, physics-defying action, and a general aura of excessive unpredictability. At the same time, there exist animes that might otherwise have a comedic/dramatic approach but their general premise ends up being delightfully absurd.
Saint Young Men
Saint Young Men is a pretty wholesome series that reimagines Gautam Buddha and Jesus Christ sharing a flat in Tokyo. Each episode documents their average human life experiences. The series is a fun take on the two figures as they vacation on Earth in disguise.
Rather than engaging in any miraculous display of their powers, they strive to fit in as young individuals of an ever-changing suburban society. There might be a moment or two where Jesus would be compelled to turn water into wine or Buddha has a radiant halo around him, but otherwise, they seek amusement in mundane activities like shopping and playing video games.
Bananya
Comprising of just 13 episodes of 5 minutes, Bananya makes for a bizarrely engaging watch. At the core of its narrative is a species of cats who perpetually reside inside bananas. Bananya, one such 'banana cat' harbors his lifelong dream of bathing in chocolate with his peers.
Again much like other slice-of-life anime comedies, Bananya celebrates the ordinary and highlights the beauty of simplicity. The titular protagonist doesn't engage in any heroic tasks to achieve his goal. Instead, he keeps on dreaming while completing everyday tasks.
Assassination Classroom
An unpredictable sci-fi thriller, Assassination Classroom combines extraterrestrial invasion tropes with classic classroom drama. When a creature plans to take over the world, he chooses a classroom at random, challenging its students to stop his destructive plans. The octopus-like stranger teaches these young 'misfits' the many ways of assassinating him. If they eventually fail to do so, the world will end.
Based on the manga of the same name, the anime was praised for its character-building and unconventional premise. It also went on to spawn two live-action films.
Mysterious Girlfriend X
While the main couple in Mysterious Girlfriend X (aka Nazo no Kanojo X) are madly in love with each other and might just stay with each other for the rest of their lives, they harbor a weird quirk.
Urabe is a transfer student at Tsubaki's school and they find that they share a strange fascination with one another's drool! Both keep on exchanging their saliva in amusingly disgusting ways till their bond turns into a full-fledged romantic relationship.
Shimoneta
Shimoneta's over-the-top nature is quite evident from its complete title that reads as Shimoneta: A Boring World Where The Concept Of Dirty Jokes Doesn't Exist. This title might be evident in encapsulating the anime's satirical approach as it deals with a dystopian future where all forms of vulgar language and thoughts are banned.
The authoritarian government tries its best to control the citizens with an iron fist until 'dirty joke terrorists' start waging a counter-attack. The lead character, a shy high-school student similarly finds himself in the midst of a conspiracy involving such activists fighting for free will.
Cells At Work
What if human cells and other microscopic entities had emotions of their own? This is the core question that Cells At Work attempts to answer. Comparable to the central concept of Osmosis Jones, the anime is a comedy focusing on the interiors of the human body as White Blood Cells and Red Blood Cells work hard to keep the body healthy and to fight intruding microbes.
True to its name, Cells At Work features visually exciting sequences on how the titular cells complete their constant series of medical tasks.
Sekko Boys
Sekko Boys is easily one of the most surreal animes in recent times. Four stone busts wish to make it big in the entertainment world, aided by their human manager. In more ways than one, the four leads also poke fun at celebrity culture.
The very concept of using immobile statues to represent fame is oddly funny, yielding some good-enough situational humor.
Jingai-San No Yome
Fantasy and comedy entangle the romance shared between an ordinary human and his creature wife in Jingai-san no Yome. For reasons initially unexplained, Tomari Hinowa is compelled to marry the creature known as Kanenogi.
Concise and hilarious in its approach, the anime details this odd marriage with sincerity and warmth. Other 'creature features' in anime end up being too graphic or complicated with their own mythologies. In this case, the context is simple while not compromising on the overall peculiarity of its central couple.
Kill La Kill
It would be a Herculean task in itself to sum up Kill la Kill in a few lines. If one may try, Kill la Kill revolves around a schoolgirl who seeks revenge for her father's murder, tracking down the killers. That is not all. In her quest, the protagonist also goes at loggerheads with a Student Council President and her own mother who runs a fashion empire. And then for some reason, these characters also develop superpowers owing to their supernatural clothes.
A cult favorite from the late 2000s, it was the first original anime by Trigger Studios that attained further fame with Little Witch Academia.
Bobobo-Bo Bo-Bobo
In the 31st century, the notorious Hair Hunt Troop terrorizes populations of innocent civilians, attacking their hair with gusto. Bobobo and his allies wish to dismantle the Hair Hunters' rising empire, by relying on body odor and nose hair as weapons!
Not only is it plot ridiculous, but viewers can expect the dialogues also to be as random as ever, varying from conventional comedy to deadpan humor. Fans of comedic action anime like One Punch Man must definitely check out Bobobo-Bo Bo-Bobo.