Slapstick comedy is simplistic, but it's also one of the earliest forms of humor, dating as far back as William Shakespeare. Slapstick has admittedly lost some of its charm over the years, but it's still a popular form of comedy today, especially for cartoons and children's shows.
Slapstick humor often relies on exaggerated circumstances and props, which is why it works so well in animated content where the only limit is your imagination. Classic cartoons such as Tom & Jerry and the Looney Toons rely heavily on slapstick for their humor and these cartoons have managed to stand the test of time. Like cartoons, Japanese anime also uses the medium of animation, so there are plenty of anime out there that use slapstick humor in its gags.
10 Pop Team Epic Blends Slapstick With Absurdist & Surreal Humor
Slapstick humor is right at home in this series, especially considering nearly every situation in Pop Team Epic is strange and exaggerated. Not every skit in the series features the physical type of gags that slapstick is famous for, but it still takes advantage of slapstick humor whenever it gets the chance. One such skit features the main characters at an idol concert where Popuko unceremoniously breaks a bottle over one of the concert-goers' heads. Suffice it to say that such an action isn't an idol concert norm, making the scene drip with physical comedy.
9 Aho-Girl Uses Extreme Physical Humor In Its Gags
Yoshiko Hanabatake, the titular aho-girl (or "idiot girl" in English), is frequently at the business end of another character's fist. While her love interest Akuru Akutsu is often the one dealing the punishments, other members of the cast aren't shy about giving her a hearty wallop whenever she says (or does) something stupid. The physical humor here is very exaggerated and often done without the use of a tool or weapon, with several scenes showing characters uppercutting Yoshiko into the air. Aho-Girl is a must-see for slapstick humor aficionados.
8 Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-chan Is A Dark Comedy That Uses Slapstick To Great Effect
Dokuro-chan's main gimmick is an overuse of gore and death, culminating in countless scenes of literal murder throughout the series. The series follows the angel Dokuro, who was sent by God from the future to prevent Sakura Kusakabe from inadvertently inventing a method that grants humans immortality. Dokuro ends up falling in love with Sakura instead and decides to keep him in line rather than kill him. Ironically, Dokuro's superhuman strength and spiked demon's club, Excalibolg, often kill Sakura anyway. But she always resurrects him after the literal blood showers.
7 Azumanga Daioh Has Become A Classic Slice-Of-Life Comedy Anime That Utilizes Slapstick
Azumanga Daioh relies heavily on absurd and surreal humor, albeit in a more down-to-earth form. Being a slice-of-life anime, it needs to stick to some kind of continuity, so viewers won't see the wacky antics of shows like Pop Team Epic that have far less continuity.
Nevertheless, the slapstick antics of this series make it an endearing title for long-time anime fans to look back on fondly. Yukari's violent temper, Sakaki's bad luck with cats, and Chiyo's occasional clumsiness are all amusing moments that helped this classic series stick.
6 Nichijou Uses Overly Dramatic Slapstick Humor To Accentuate Its Bizarre Comedy
Nichijou is strikingly similar to Azumanga Daioh in its plot: a slice-of-life that follows a set of high school girls as they go about their daily lives. It needed to do something a little different to stand out, so they decided to go over the top with the slapstick gags. There's the time that Yukko accidentally stabbed her thumb on the sharp side of a mechanical pencil and let out a scream of pain that pierced the heavens, the times Misato pulled out an entire arsenal of guns on her crush Kojiro, and the time Mio knocked out every character that accidentally saw the pages of her boys' love manga featuring her classmates, just to name a few.
5 Zombie Land Saga Takes Advantage Of The Undead To Pull Plenty Of Physical Pranks
It might be disconcerting for some to see slapstick humor along the likes of Dokuro-chan and Aho-Girl, which are incredibly violent towards living beings. Zombie Land Saga has fans covered as most of the slapstick violence is aimed at zombies! In other words, there's less reason to feel bad since the members of Franchouchou are dead anyway and ostensibly immortal. Kotaro isn't afraid of slapping around and yelling at a group of dead girls, to great comedic effect... especially when they return that violence back to him.
4 Mr. Osomatsu Is A Slapstick Homage To A Gag Manga From The 1960s
Originally known as Osomatsu-kun, the series follows the Matsuno sextuplets in their daily lives. The original series followed the siblings as children, but the 2015 anime shows off the brothers as adults. The original cast is still there, including the siblings' mutual crush, Totoko-chan. This series relies on surreal comedy and various skits, so slapstick gags are welcome and plentiful. Much of the series focuses on each of the Matsuno sextuplets' individual personalities and how they clash with each other.
3 KonoSuba Uses Slapstick Antics To Punish Its Morally Bankrupt Main Cast
KonoSuba: God's Blessing On This Wonderful World! is a fantastic parody of the isekai genre that breaks all expectations. The usually competent goddess figure is represented by Aqua, a completely inept and arrogant crybaby. The strong tank is represented by Darkness, an incorrigible masochist who can't hit the broad side of a barn. The mage character is represented by Megumin, a powerful mage who insists on using the spell "Explosion" exclusively, even though she could learn and use a multitude of powerful spells.
And the usually fastidious and honest main character is represented by Kazuma, a shameless pervert who wants an easy life.
2 Asobi Asobase's Absurdist Comedy Greatly Benefits From Slapstick Gags
Slice-of-life anime can be a bit boring to the uninitiated, so slapstick humor is always a welcome addition to these types of shows. It's not always enough to see cute girls doing cute things on the daily, so why not have them play an overly violent game of Look-The-Other-Way? Or how about a completely absurd punishment game that results in a character shooting a make-believe Kamehameha blast at a teacher, only for that teacher to comedically strain his back while playing along with the game? Asobi Asobase: Workshop of Fun can offer viewers just that, and more.
1 Panty & Stocking w/ Garterbelt Is A One-Of-A-Kind Comedy That's Better Dubbed
Panty & Stocking is unapologetic in its approach to comedy, as nothing is off limits here, whether it be jokes about sex, morals, or full-on parodies. This series is heavily influenced by American culture and standards, which makes it a series that is undoubtedly more enjoyable as an English dub. The series' animation is unorthodox and eye-catching all at once, resembling something like a cross between the Powerpuff Girls and South Park. Slapstick gags feel right at home in an art style so cartoony, making the gags in Panty & Stocking incredibly effective as a result.
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