Week 12 | Comedy in Anime

Comedy in Anime

Comedy is probably one of my favorite genres as a whole, not just limited to anime. It's a genre with the sole purpose to make you laugh and have a good time. At least when it's done right. And making a good comedy isn't easy. Jokes can easily fall flat or rely on more unsavory methods to get a reaction. Or sometimes the jokes just feel like something you've already seen before. The playing field is constantly changing, and the need to innovate new ways to get a laugh is often overlooked. Because of this, I feel that the genre is evolving at a rapid pace and comedy anime is definitely included. In fact, I believe that comedy anime is contributing some of the most unique work to the genre by perfecting timing and not being afraid to experiment outside of norms.

Plastic Neesan

Modern comedy anime has gotten frighteningly good at using timing to catch you off guard from an incoming punch line. Quick timing of a character interrupting another or the delay of a reaction until the camera fwips to an extremely exaggerated expression are some of the ways timing is being used to hilarious effects. 

This short clip from Nichijou is a really great example of fun comedic timing and adding absurd qualities. You have the set up, Yukko playing with a Darumaotoshi in class. Inciting moment, she hits a disk and it rebounds off a table. The disk flies, dramatic action lines included, and flies and flies and flies until. BAM. It hits Mio. She grabs it. SMASHES it back in Yukko's face. Yukko's smacked so hard her body leaves her soul behind as she flies out of screen with a long, "Ahhhhhh." The Darumaotoshi, it lands perfectly. 100 points. 

It's only a 25 second clip, but the use of incredible timing make the joke structure really sell. The delay of the disk flying helps sell the suddenness of the the impact and revenge. The drawn out sound of Yukko's, "Ahhhh," matched with her flying out of screen afterwards lets the unexpected twist get absurd. And then it's all wrapped up with a "button" that goes back to the original set up, a girl playing Darumaotoshi. What's also so great about this clip is that it's selling a joke that can only be done in animation with it's incredibly snappy timing and impossible actions.

This sort of extreme short form comedy in anime today can be attributed to the 4-koma style comic unique to manga. The transformation of this into anime is what leads to clips like the Nichijou one, which did start off as a 4-koma manga. Another example of this would be Pop Team Epic, another anime based off a 4-koma series. The four cell gag strip format has been around for a long time, but the quicker pacing of the joke structure is perhaps what makes it funnier for modern audiences. It's the surprise factor that makes you burst out laughing as you barely have time to think anymore of what could possibly happen, and then before you know it you're slapped in the face with something completely unexpected. Anime simply perfects this by setting it in actual running time, so you really don't have time to think before the joke punches.

The combination of great timing and sheer absurdity is what is making comedy in anime so fun. It's unexpected, catches you off guard, and before you know it, you're cry laughing on the couch. It also doesn't concern itself too much with whether you know what's going on. You'll be left going, "What the heck," but I mean, were you not entertained?