Top 10 Weirdest and Most Bizarre Anime Movies and Series of All Time13Jul08

Anime can be about different themes, but “Yakitate!! Japan” manages to stand out for being an animated series entirely dedicated to the art of making bread. For centuries, western civilizations constructed their identity creating bread for their nations, such as French and German breads. Outraged because his country doesn’t have a national bread, young Kazuma Azuma sets out to become a great baker to create Ja-Pan, Pan meaning “bread” in Japanese. This “bakery series” became a hit, with 69 episodes broadcast between 2004 and 2006.

The creators of the science fiction animated series “Evangelion” caught their fans by surprise in 2000 as they released “FLCL”, also known as “Fooly Cooly”. Both series have giant robots, but only in “FLCL” do they come from the head of young boy Naota Nandaba, which is also an interdimensional portal. Next to him is Haruko Haruhara, a psychotic alien girl who wants to save her boyfriend by using a guitar as a weapon. “FLCL” combines top-notch animation with frantic action and a little melancholy.

The title of Bobobo-Bo Bo-Bobo alone makes this 2005 anime created by TV Asahi, together with Toei Animation, is an example of extremely bizarre material (it only takes a few minutes from the show’s opening to see that’s only the beginning). The plot is approximately as follows: in the year 300X, an evil organization terrorizes the world by cutting the hair of the innocent people and destroying villages, but rebel Bobobo-Bo Bo-Bobo uses his blond afro and his nose hairs to defend the oppressed. The series is a parade of jokes, parodies and odd scenes, capable of perplexing anyone.

Sargent Keroro is in an alien elite troop trained to dominate the Earth. But his mission fails, for earthlings consider him to be no more than a cute little frog and force him to perform domestic duties. Sgt Frog, initially a cartoon created by Mine Yoshizaki, became a very successful anime directed by Junichi Sato, thanks to light humor and an enormous amount of parodies to symbols of Japanese pop culture. This anime was in the air on Japanese TV from 1999 on, and became a motion picture in 2004.

“Cat Soup” or “Nekodiru gekijyou” is a short film released in 2001 that stands out for its carefully-made art. Directed by Hiroshi Fukutomi, the animation is about kitten Nyatta’s search for her elder sister’s soul after she had a meeting with death. The surreal and melancholic mood is a reflection of the manga that originated the anime, created by artist Nekodiru, who committed suicide in 1998, after a long period suffering from depression. The animation was honored with different awards in specialized festivals around the world.

“Excel Saga” started as a manga (Japanese comics) created by Rikudou Koushi to make fun on the economic crisis that affected Japan in the 1990s. It became an anime that was successful in many countries. Excel is the hyperactive assistant of an organization that plans to conquer the world, starting with the city of Fukuoka. The success of the series is due to the intense rhythm of jokes referring to Japanese culture and other anime. In the West, its nonsense humor has been compared to Monty Python and to Tex Avery’s animations. This anime was on the air in 1999, with 26 episodes, of which the last one was censored for its violence and obscene themes.

“Panda-Z: The Robonimation” is about pandas, but not just any pandas, or it wouldn’t be in this list. These pandas are robots that fly giant robot pandas and fight other robotic animals, whenever they aren’t having lunch or playing cards. Each episode in the series lasts about 5 minutes and concerns simple and funny situations with nice Pan-Taron and his enemy, Skullpander. Directed by Mamoru Kanbe for Bandai Visual, the series became a merchandising hit when it was launched, in 2004.

During the morning, Lain is a shy little girl like so many others in her school, but at night, in a nightclub, she turns into a cold and cerebral woman. “Serial Experiment Lain” is a profound voyage about loneliness, the digital society and philosophical extrapolations on humanity in the new millennium. A series directed by Ryutaro Nakamura for TV Tokyo in 1998, “Lain” became a staple in the anime world for its complex themes and the sensitivity with which it develops the main character.

“Popee The Performer” is a CGI animated series created by Ryuji Masuda for the Kids Station in 2001. At first, everything seems very ordinary, with colorful characters who work in a circus in the middle of the desert. That’s until the adventures become completely surreal, with Freudian questions of identity, reflections on unconscious evil and, of course, talking frogs coming out of the orifices of a wolf who uses different masks to express its emotions.

“Oruchuban Ebichu” would be another one of the many anime series with cute animals, if it wasn’t for the fact that small hamster Ebichu gives tips to spice up the sex life of a 25-year-old single lady who has a troubled relationship with her alcoholic boyfriend. Invariably, Ebichu is abused by its owner. Produced by Gainax, this unusual sitcom was on the air in 1999.