I’ve noticed a recent trend that’s been affecting contemporary anime comedies, namely the emergence of the hardcore anime comedy. By hardcore comedy, I mean comedies that deliver barrage after barrage of industry related jokes, and are obviously intended for the hardcore otaku segment.
The first aspect of appealing to the hardcore crowd is constant use of references and parodies of existing anime and games. With that statement, I know some titles easily come to mind. Lucky Star, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, Hayate no Gotoku and Paniponi Dash. While this handful of titles is a small sample of comedy shows, I consider them the most successful comedies to hit the scene in recent memory.
Becky! Wait a sec…
Miku Hatsune auditioning for the voice of Meru in Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei.
Code Zetsubou.
Yes your majesty!
Cultural jokes and pop culture references in anime comedies are nothing new, but the major key to the humor of hardcore comedy is the frequency with which they indiscriminately reference and parody the anime industry. Current anime comedies have been increasing the focus on the hardcore otaku segment with tons of anime and game references and parodies. Casual audiences can still watch the hardcore comedies, but many reference jokes require an extensive anime knowledge to find funny. Who else would have extensive anime knowledge besides the hardcore fans?
Mmmm… Bacon.
Hayate as Shigeru Akagi.
Just as keikaku.
Kansai dorifto!
All shows are subject to parody, but popular subjects tend to be various shounen (particularly the Super Saiyajins of DBZ), Gundam (and the Newtype flash), Code Geass, Death Note and popular visual novels. These references can lightly poke fun at other anime, as in how Kyoto Animation loves to constantly reference their older show. However studios like SHAFT are notorious for blatantly mocking the industry in their comedies, most recently blasting Kyoto Animation and Key in the Goku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei OVA.
Kotori Shirakawa from Da Capo. Sort of.
Ramba Klaus.
Director Yutaka Yamamoto flips the bird at KyoAni with Kannagi’s infamous karaoke scene.
No further explanation needed right?
Seiyuu jokes are an emerging form of referential comedy that cater to the hardcore otaku that actively follow seiyuu careers. By far and large, seiyuu jokes stem from fan creation, but some shows will feature a couple seiyuu jokes here and there. The most common type is acknowledging a seiyuu’s past role by having their character dress up or imitate a prior role. Konata Izumi cosplaying Haruhi Suzumiya, Maria dressing up as Suigintou, and Nagi’s quick Shana impersonation are a few examples.
Seiyuu jokes don’t get any more blatant than this.
Maria as Suiguntou
Urusai urusai urusai!
The high points of hardcore, reference based comedies like Lucky Star and Hayate no Gotoku comes from the parody skits. The non-reference humor is frequently hit or miss and often not as funny. Overall, the writing relies on parodies for laughs, but does the hardcore comedy overuse parody as a crutch to cover for weak writing? Hmm… I wonder.
All said, casual comedy is still alive and kicking though. Hidamari Sketch, Minami-ke and Ichigo Mashimaro relied more on situational comedy rather than references and all were reasonably successful, but they’re not especially prolific either. They do have their followings but at least to me, they are far overshadowed by the hardcore comedies.
PS: Most of these screen caps are borrowed from Random Curiosity, so credit goes where it’s due.
PSS: There may be a part two to this article soon.
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How are we judging success? If we say that Hayate is successful among English-speaking anime fans who are present on the ‘net, aren’t we just saying ‘comedy anime aimed at people who are likely to get obscure references is successful among people who are likely to get obscure references’? I’m thinking of Brack’s comment here, in which he suggests that TTGL lost out to Pretty Cure and that Toradora is only popular among (bluntly) unpopular people.
I’ve heard it suggested that anime companies have been moving towards producing more late-night content focused precisely at the slightly obsessive, merchandise-buying, fact-knowing crowd. If there has been a rise in the production rate, rather than success, of this kind of ‘hardcore comedy’, it might be part of that. I don’t personally know anything about viewing figures or much about air times, so I’m guessing. (Actually, I’m pretty sure I heard that Hayate is broadcast during the morning?) If you asked me to point to a successful anime comedy, I’d think of Sgt Frog — which is indeed very referential. Or do we mean ‘inherent’ success — it’s successful because it’s funny?
Anyway, don’t let the questions above give you the impresson that I didn’t like the post — I think it’s a good post on an interesting subject, and one well worth poking with a stick to see what happens. You’ve also reminded me of some pretty funny moments from stuff I’ve seen, which is always good.
IKnights last blog post…Detroit Metal City: Laughing on the Outside
It’s easy to get a laugh out of referential humor, but there’s a limit to the number of people who’d get it (inside jokes are a perfect example). The general form looks something like this.
For an awesome non-”hardcore” comedy, check out Detroit Metal City.
@IKnight: I’m aware that Sgt. Frog is also heavily referential but opted to leave it off because I’m not familiar enough with it. My personal measure of a show’s success is by the perceived number of fans and whether or not it still gets discussed after its run ends. When talking about funny comedy moments with others, I’m more inclinded to name drop referential comedies than regular comedies. You made me think too much on this comment. After posting this I’ll find myself unhappy with it and come back a couple hours later for an edit.
@Baka-Raptor: For your graph I’d start the red line higher than the blue line and make the slope steeper. Referential humor has higher highs and lower lows to me. I’ve been hearing some fuss over Krauser-tan moe in Detroit Metal City, so it will get added to my always expanding backlog.