Anime like Joshiraku

Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

Also known as Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei.

Studio: Shaft , Starchild Records , Omnibus Japan , The Right Stuf International
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy

Itoshiki Nozomu is always in despair! Even simple things like paying for the toll on the subway can send him to a despair so deep only attempted suicide is the answer. How Strange is it then, that he should be the teacher of a High School Class filled with students with even more emotional problems than his. This great Comedy will leave you in anything but 'Despair' as you meet each of his students and watch their wacky adventures.

Tags: Satire , Episodic , Surreal Comedy , Teacher , Suicide , Parody , School , Meta , Primarily Female Cast , Male Protagonist , Ensemble Cast , Philosophy , Female Harem , Heterosexual , Dissociative Identities , Nudity , Hikikomori , Kuudere , Ghost , Shounen , Tsundere , Yandere

Azumanga Daiou THE ANIMATION

Also known as Azumanga Daioh.

Studio: J.C. Staff , Genco , Lantis , Imagica , TV Tokyo Music , Cosmic Ray , Sentai Filmworks , J.C. Staff
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Slice of Life

Ten year old child prodigy, Chiyo Mihama, is finding it tough fitting in at high school with the girls five years her elder: Osaka (dimwitted with a weird take on the world), Tomo (a powder keg that goes off at a moment’s notice), Kagura (the competitive athlete of the bunch), Yomi (the hothead), and Sakaki (timid and obsessed with a love of animals that isn’t reciprocated). Together with their teacher, they navigate the rough waters and fun times of high school.



Tags: Episodic , School , Primarily Female Cast , Surreal Comedy , Slapstick , Cute Girls Doing Cute Things , Ensemble Cast , Coming of Age , Female Protagonist , Primarily Teen Cast , Teacher , Iyashikei , Tomboy , Shounen , LGBTQ+ Themes , Kuudere

Lucky☆Star

Also known as Lucky☆Star.

Studio: Kyoto Animation , Lantis , Rakuonsha , Lucky Paradise , Funimation
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Slice of Life

What’s the best way to eat dessert? Do twins really have a psychic connection? What kind of guys are into moe girls? These are the kinds of questions that float through the inquisitive mind of anime super-fan Konata Izumi. When she’s not lost in her favorite manga or logging hours in one of her online games, she’s debating the mysteries of the universe with the best friends a girl could ask for.



Tags: Cute Girls Doing Cute Things , Female Protagonist , Primarily Female Cast , Primarily Teen Cast , Ensemble Cast , Parody , Otaku Culture , School , Meta , Episodic , Coming of Age , Twins , Video Games , Philosophy , Tsundere , Kuudere , Cheerleading , Ojou-sama , Shounen , Shrine Maiden , Baseball

Nichijou

Also known as Nichijou - My Ordinary Life.

Studio: Kyoto Animation , Lantis , Kadokawa Shoten , Movic , Rakuonsha , Bandai Entertainment , Kadokawa Pictures Japan , KLOCKWORX , Animation Do
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Slice of Life

Nichijou primarily focuses on the daily antics of a trio of childhood friends—high school girls Mio Naganohara, Yuuko Aioi and Mai Minakami—whose stories soon intertwine with the young genius Hakase Shinonome, her robot caretaker Nano, and their talking cat Sakamoto. With every passing day, the lives of these six, as well as of the many people around them, experience both the calms of normal life and the insanity of the absurd. Walking to school, being bitten by a talking crow, spending time with friends, and watching the principal suplex a deer: they are all in a day's work in the extraordinary everyday lives of those in Nichijou.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Tags: Surreal Comedy , Episodic , Slapstick , School , Female Protagonist , Ensemble Cast , Primarily Female Cast , Primarily Teen Cast , Achronological Order , Parody , Cute Girls Doing Cute Things , Robots , Philosophy , Shounen , Drawing , Tsundere , Guns , Football , Love Triangle

Teppen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also known as TEPPEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Laughing 'til You Cry.

Studio: Drive , Bushiroad Creative , Bushiroad Move , CyberAgent , TOKYO MX , EPX
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Slice of Life

Yayoi Sakamoto, a diehard fan of comedians and comedy acts, enrolls in the private Kazuki High School in Nanba (Osaka's entertainment district famous as the starting point for many comedians). She reunites with Yomogi Takahashi, a childhood friend who once formed the comedy duo "Konamonzu" with her when they were little. Before long, they find themselves putting together a routine at a park like they did before, in order to enter a local shopping area's contest. At that moment, a mysterious girl calls out to them.



Note: The airing of the show's second episode had originally been cancelled due to "various circumstances." It was later broadcast on September 10th.

Tags: Cute Girls Doing Cute Things , Primarily Female Cast , Surreal Comedy , Ensemble Cast , Primarily Teen Cast , Time Manipulation , Aliens , Episodic , Rakugo

Asobi Asobase

Also known as Asobi Asobase - workshop of fun -.

Studio: Lerche
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Slice of Life

Olivia is a blonde-haired beauty who was born and raised in Japan, but can’t speak any English. Despite always acting serious and as an intellectual, Kasumi is a bespectacled girl with short hair, who also can’t speak English. Finally, there’s the pig-tailed Hanako, who’s cheerful but can’t seem to become a normie. The three middle schoolers end up making a “Players’ Club”?! The ultimately cute, ultimately fun and hilarious teenage girls’ comedy is about to begin!



Tags: Surreal Comedy , Slapstick , Female Protagonist , Primarily Female Cast , Primarily Teen Cast , School Club , Episodic , School , Parody , Cute Girls Doing Cute Things , Seinen , LGBTQ+ Themes , Meta , Ojou-sama , Gyaru , Makeup

Kakushigoto

Also known as Kakushigoto.

Studio: Ajiado , Funimation , A-Sketch , Studio Mausu , Dentsu , AT-X , TOKYO MX , Kodansha , GREE
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Slice of Life

Single father Kakushi Gotou has a secret. He’s a top-selling artist of popular erotic manga, but his impressionable young daughter, Hime, can never find out! Now he’s having to bend over backwards just to keep her inquisitive little mind from discovering what he does for a living. A father-daughter tale of love and laughter.



Tags: Family Life , Work , Drawing , Coming of Age , Parenthood , Time Skip , Meta , Tragedy , Primarily Adult Cast , Slapstick , Female Protagonist , Amnesia , Male Protagonist , Achronological Order , Shounen

Uchi no Shishou wa Shippo ga Nai

Also known as My Master Has No Tail.

Studio: Pony Canyon , LIDENFILMS , Mainichi Broadcasting System , TMS Entertainment , Studio Pierrot , Yostar , BS Asahi , Sentai Filmworks
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Fantasy , Slice of Life

Throughout time, supernatural, shapeshifting tanuki loved playing tricks on humankind. One plucky tanuki, Mameda, is no different. But there's one big problem. She wasn’t born in the days of yore — she was born in modern, more cynical times! How can she fulfill her mischievous tanuki destiny when supernatural hijinks are a thing of the past? She finds an angle when she meets Bunko, a master of the Japanese art of rakugo, which uses storytelling to beguile its audience. Mameda is determined to use rakugo to cast a spell on humanity, but first this tanuki trickster must convince the no-nonsense Bunko to take her on as an apprentice.



Tags: Rakugo , Primarily Female Cast , Historical , Female Protagonist , Kuudere , Shapeshifting , Youkai , Acting , Seinen , Cute Girls Doing Cute Things , Kemonomimi , Mythology , Animals , Tsundere , LGBTQ+ Themes , Age Gap , Ojou-sama , Disability , Found Family

Maesetsu!

Also known as Maesetsu! Opening Act.

Studio: Studio Gokumi , AXsiZ , Kadokawa Shoten , AT-X , Kadokawa Media House , Rakuonsha , Q-Tec , Yoshimoto Music
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Slice of Life

When four hardworking friends pair up to chase their dream of becoming professional stand-up comedians, they quickly find out that being funny is seriously difficult!

Join Fubuki, Mafuyu, Rin, Nayuta, and the rest of their hilarious pals as they overcome obstacles on the journey to achieving their ultimate goal: performing live at the Namba Grand Kagetsu!



Tags: Cute Girls Doing Cute Things , Work , Primarily Female Cast , Female Protagonist , Gyaru , Parody , Primarily Adult Cast , School , College , Food , Rakugo

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu

Also known as Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju.

Studio: Studio DEEN
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama

The story revolves around a mature prisoner who was released on good behavior during Japan's Shouwa Genroku era (1960s to early 1970s). He is called Yotarou by others, a term that means an "anti-hero" or a "dim-witted man." When he returns to society, he starts a new life in rakugo (comic storytelling). Touched by Yakumo's role as the "grim reaper," he asks the master to take him in as an apprentice. Most of the season delves into Yakumo's own past during World War II and the years afterward.



Note: The first episode aired with a runtime of 48 minutes as opposed to the standard 24 minute long episode.

Tags: Rakugo , Acting , Tragedy , Historical , Primarily Adult Cast , Josei , Male Protagonist , Love Triangle , Time Skip , Disability , Meta , War , Suicide , Elderly Protagonist , Primarily Male Cast