Best Comedy Anime On Funimation

Funimation is a prominent anime service in America, especially after acquiring Crunchyroll as a subsidiary in 2021. Be it old or new shows, Funimation offers a substantial catalog to its subscribers, and the comedy genre is certainly not an exception.

Anyone looking for a hearty laugh should be well served by Funimation. There are dozens upon dozens of great comedies on the platform, so much so that narrowing it down to the funniest of the bunch is no simple feat. Nevertheless, here are the best comedy anime on Funimation.

Each show’s Japanese title includes a link to its Funimation page.

Kaguya-Sama: Love Is War

Kaguya-Sama: Love is War has taken the world by storm over the last few years, and Ultra Romantic is a prime contender for 2022’s best anime series. Shuchiin Academy’s student council is run by the equally brilliant Miyuki Shirogane and Kaguya Shinomiya, two highly competitive characters who are hesitant to reveal they like each other out of fear that will give the other person an edge. Consequently, they engage in fierce but profoundly silly mind games to see who will confess first.

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An argument could be made that Kaguya-sama was already one of the best comedy anime on Funimation before Ultra Romantic‘s launch, and the new season only added weight to this belief. Even though Miyuki and Kaguya are still the heart of the story, the anime has done an admirable job of fleshing out its supporting characters, resulting in a more diverse and satisfying overall package.

Baka & Test – Summon the Beasts

Baka & Test is all about idiots. The anime takes place in a high school that gathers its worst students in the same class and then discriminates against them at every given opportunity. Class F comes packed with some of anime’s most lovable morons, people who might not score high on tests but at least have good intentions.

Baka & Test‘s humor reflects its premise since it is mostly over-the-top slapstick; however, the anime does it well. This show is certainly not for everyone, but it will be hilarious to a number of people.

Daily Lives Of High School Boys

A sketch comedy, Daily Lives of High School Boys delivers exactly what its title advertises and also a whole lot more. While centering around the antics of three boys attending Sanada North High School, these characters are just used as an entry point into this quirky and endearing world.

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Daily Lives of High School Boys pokes a lot of fun at anime conventions, parodying tropes and series along the way. The humor is also quite relatable.

Hinamatsuri

A Yakuza member, Nitta, has his life flipped turned upside down when a powerful girl from another dimension lands in his living room. Once Nitta realizes he is stuck with Hina, the two start to try and get along. It is a process.

Whenever Hinamatsuri is not delivering oddly poignant scenes about homelessness, the anime is a giggle factory. Hina’s deadpan delivery perfectly complements Nitta’s exaggerated reactions, producing both laughs and sweet moments in the process. The side characters are also fantastic, particularly Hitomi Mishima, a girl who somehow winds up as a bartender.

Lucky Star

A classic in the “cute girls doing cute things” sub-genre, Lucky Star cast such a wide shadow that its influence can still be felt today. The anime centers around the perfectly ordinary lives of four girls – none of the characters are prodigies and there are no talking animals. This series is grounded, basing its humor on familiar everyday events that most (Japanese) people can relate to.

The girls themselves are a delight, and they bounce off each other like comedy pros. Konata Izumi, the resident otaku, is Lucky Star‘s breakout star, but her laissez-faire personality only works as well as it does because of the surrounding characters.

My Bride Is A Mermaid

Nagasumi is saved from drowning by a mermaid named Sun. While that’s certainly fortunate, the middle school student also learns that, in order to keep mermaids a secret, he must either marry Sun or be killed. Naturally, Nagasumi picks the former; conversely, Sun’s yakuza father would very much prefer the latter option.

My Bride is a Mermaid takes its absurd premise and runs with it, crafting a comedy of errors that has a literal fish out of the water. Putting aside a handful of uneven attempts at dramatic beats, My Bride is a Mermaid mostly focuses on making people laugh, a goal the anime achieves more often than not.

Isekai Quartet

What would happen if some of the most popular isekai characters were summoned to a world that happens to look like a traditional Japanese school? Apparently, a lot of hilarity. Isekai Quartet is a show that could have gotten old quickly if it was handled poorly, however, the comedy crossover series wisely collects characters who have either big personalities or hail from predominantly serious shows like Re:Zero and The Rising of the Shield Hero.

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Pairing up these tortured figures with KonoSuba‘s irreverent cast and Overlord‘s intimidating powerhouses proves to be a recipe for success, while the episodes’ short lengths mean the anime never outstays its welcome.

YuruYuri: Happy Go Lily

YuruYuri is like the archetypal “cute girls doing cute things” anime, although the series does not mind blurring the lines when it comes to what qualifies as “cute.” This is also a shoujo-ai anime, so expect a lot of nods and winks towards potential romances between the girls (although they never actually take that step).

More importantly, YuruYuri is hilarious, particularly once the anime starts to bring in more characters to complement the four leads. Unfortunately, Funimation only has the first two seasons, but they are a fun watch.

Nichijou – My Ordinary Life

Take “cute girls doing cute things” and add evil organizations, genius kid scientists, a sympathetic robot girl, and a talking cat, and the result would be Nichijou. This sketch-based comedy is unpredictable in the best possible way. Regardless of how mundane a segment’s premise might seem, things can get weird very quickly. More importantly, the humor does not come across as random. Sure, the anime is fond of surreal situations, but everything that transpires feels like something that could happen in this universe.

Nichijou is creative, charming, and painfully hilarious. The main trio – Yuuko, Mio, and Mai – complement each other beautifully, while secondary characters like the teacher Izumi and the aristocratic farmer Koujirou provide plenty of quick laughs. Even some of the more frustrating dynamics, such as Hakase and Nano, produce a number of inspired segments.

Panty & Stocking With Garterbelt

Animated by Gainax, Panty & Stocking With Garterbelt follows two fallen angels – the titular Panty and Stocking – who fight Ghosts so they can earn a ticket back into Heaven. However, Panty and Stocking are fond of humanity’s vices, so much so that they frequently have other things on their minds than proving their holiness. Also, they are monitored by reverend Garterbelt, who is unlike any other priest in fiction.

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Irreverent, silly, and adult-oriented, Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt is a bizarre thrill ride filled with moments that seem too absurd to believe. It is also painfully funny, although tolerance for some cringe is recommended.

Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid

After a night of drinking, Kobayashi stumbles upon a strange sight: a dragon in a spot of painful bother. Kobayashi helps the downed creature and wakes up the next day to a grateful Tooru who wants to be her maid to repay the favor. Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid follows these two and an assortment of other characters as they seek to balance two very different worlds.

Mostly a slice of life show, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid predominantly concerns itself with the characters’ everyday experiences and how they define their relationships. Season 2 is especially strong; in fact, it is one of the best comedy anime of the last five years.

Blend-S

Blend-S is a delightful work comedy set in a maid cafe that centers around role-playing. While extremely nice, Maika has struggled to find a job since she tends to inadvertently give off a rather threatening look, which makes her the perfect person to take on the role of a sadistic waitress at Cafe Stile. Although initially hesitant, Maika quickly finds that she is a natural at this job, and the rest of the cafe’s employees make her feel right at home.

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Blend-S lives and dies by the strength of its cast and whether a viewer finds the likes of Dino and Hideri Kanzaki endearing. The former is the most consistent source of humor in the show, producing plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. The anime is also not afraid to get sweet on occasion.

Prison School

Prison School is irreverent. Prison School is obscene. Prison School spits in the face of Newton’s law of gravity. More importantly, Prison School is hilarious. Hachimitsu Private Academy decides to welcome its first male students, who naturally get caught spying on the girls and are sentenced to be rehabilitated by the school’s Student Council.

Unapologetically over-the-top and raunchy, Prison School is the type of anime that most people might want to watch alone and with the door locked to avoid a possible scenario of a parent walking in during a scene featuring Meiko Shiraki.

Space Dandy

A sci-fi epic filled with ridiculous characters, Space Dandy is about a bounty hunter who specializes in aliens. Dandy is quite the personality; an overconfident protagonist who is known for diving headfirst into perilous situations like a bull in a china shop.

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Space Dandy doesn’t pay too much attention to continuity or structure, both things that allow the anime to push the envelope creatively. Not every risk taken by the show pays off, but Space Dandy hits more home runs than it misses.

Servant X Service

While overshadowed by Karino Takatsu’s other workplace comedy, Working!!, Servant x Service still has its charm, and the anime is a decent way to spend an afternoon. Revolving around the life of a Civil Servant, A-1 Pictures’ anime does not shy away from showing the profession’s thankless and often mind-numbing nature; frankly, at times, the show is a bit too realistic for its own good.

Servant x Service lives and dies by its characters, be it the likable Lucy, the slightly obnoxious Yutaka, or the abrasive Tohko. If the anime’s opening two episodes fail to click with someone, then it is safe to assume that the show is not going to be for them. Conversely, if Servant x Service‘s pilot manages to inspire a few laughs, then the chuckles should remain a constant fixture for the show’s entire run.

D-Frag!

The leader of a wannabe gang, Kenji Kazama is all bark and no bite, a fact that becomes painfully apparent once he inadvertently winds up becoming a member of his school’s Game Development Club. For all his aspirations to reach the pinnacle of teenage thuggery, Kenji finds himself utterly outdone in the strangeness department by the club’s other members, which are naturally female.

D-Frag! is an amusing show with a fun roster of characters, and Kenji works well as the anime’s straight man. The humor can be a touch hit-and-miss, but it is diverse enough to ensure that a couple of jokes should land with most viewers. Sadly, the anime is quite short, although it makes the most of its 12 episodes.

Azazel You’re Being Summoned

Rinko works for a detective who uses demons to solve cases. So far, so ordinary; however, these demons are anything but standard helpers. In fact, they are kind of the worst, something Rinko learns very quickly when she ends up tied in a contract with the titular Azazel.

Azazel You’re Being Summoned is an adult comedy, with an emphasis on the “adult” part. Unapologetically irreverent and delightfully sleazy, Azazel You’re Being Summoned happily goes to places that common decency dare not thread, and the anime is all the better for it. While not every joke lands and most of the characters are rather one-dimensional, this comedy cannot be criticized for being forgettable, even if one scene involving a “cow” might make someone wish they could reverse time.

Chio’s School Road

Chio’s School Road specializes in one important part of everyday life; a rite of passage that most people must endure while growing up – the walk to school. That is it. Each episode follows Chio as she tries to make it to class on time, a feat that proves to be rather difficult following a long night of gaming. Also, Chio’s tendency to run into quirky people along the way certainly does not improve her chances of beating the clock.

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At face value, Chio’s School Road seems like it might be a one-joke show, but the comedy anime’s strength lies in its willingness to blend realistic situations with flashes of absurdity.

Arakawa Under The Bridge

A quirky show about quirky people doing quirky things can be used to describe roughly half of the comedy anime on Funimation, and yet, Arakawa Under the Bridge feels unique despite being cut from the same cloth. Shaft’s anime finds a successful businessman, Kou Ichinomiya, indebted to a woman named Nino after she saves his life. At her behest, Kou agrees to become Nino’s partner and moves in with her under the bridge.

Arakawa Under the Bridge delights in exploring the peculiar society that exists within this small part of Arakawa, Tokyo. The anime celebrates the outsider, while also framing the “normal” Kou as the biggest deviant in his new home. Divided into skits, Arakawa Under the Bridge can be a touch uneven at times, but its high points are incredible.

Ah! My Goddess: Flights Of Fancy

Ah! My Goddess is a pretty popular series that has multiple manga, anime series, OVAs, and even a movie. The franchise is more popular in Japan than Western countries, but it is not an unknown property in the latter either. Funimation only has the second season of the TV adaptation, which is not great for new viewers; nevertheless, Flights of Fancy is a fun light-hearted rom-com that leans heavily into the “com” side of things.

At its core, this story is about Keiichi’s relationship with the goddess Belldandy, and this romance moves at a snail’s pace. That said, Flights of Fancy is far more interested in the show’s secondary characters, most of which have bigger personalities than the leads.

The Devil Is A Part-Timer!

A reverse isekai anime, The Devil is a Part-Timer! follows the Demon Lord Satan who, after losing a battle with the designated hero, ends up on Earth and mostly stripped of power. In order to survive until he regains his strength, Satan, aka Sadao Maou, decides to get a job at a fast-food restaurant.

Sadao forms a hilarious double-act with Shirou Ashiya, a demon general who maintains the household while his master earns the big bucks. The ridiculousness of the characters aside, The Devil is a Part-Timer! is quite realistic when it comes to its presentation of working at this type of establishment.

The Devil is a Part-Timer! season 2 aired as part of the Summer 2022 anime line-up. Overall, the sequel was a notch below its predecessor, chiefly a result of lackluster animation and a narrative shift away from Sadao’s fast-food life. Still, season 2 produced its share of funny moments.

Pop Epic Team

One of the few Fall 2022 anime airing on Funimation, Pop Epic Team season 2 maintains the surreal humor of its predecessor. Frequently swapping art styles and genres, this skit-based series is among the most creative and irreverent comedies of the last few years. The anime constantly goes for broke, and such a bold approach translates to an inconsistent experience. When Pop Epic Team knocks a sketch out of the park, it is as hilarious as any other anime on Funimation; when a skit falls flat, it can feel like a waste of time.

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Pop Epic Team is the definition of hit-and-miss, but the show’s willingness to take risks is commendable. Ultimately, humor is subjective, and a skit that might not work for one viewer could be laugh-out-loud funny for someone else.

Uzaki-chan Wants To Hang Out!

Another Fall 2022 comedy, Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! is currently completing its second season, which has been a slight improvement over its 2020 debut. The anime revolves around the bubbly Hana Uzaki and the reserved Shinichi Sakurai’s friendship. When she arrives at college, Hana realizes that her senpai, Shinichi, spends all his time alone. Consequently, she decides to become a big part of his life, a prospect that the guy gradually warms up to.

Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! sprinkles some light romance into its story, but the anime is primarily comedic in nature. Hana tends to flip-flop between unapologetically boisterous and charmingly shy, and her personality bounces well off the stoic Shinichi. The anime’s side characters are also decent, especially Itsuhito and Ami.

Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki

Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki is a unique beast as the anime seems to purposefully present its leads as unlikeable. Fumiya Tomozaki starts out as a frustrating protagonist who spends all his time moaning about life, while Aoi Hinami’s manipulative nature becomes increasingly more evident as the series progresses. These factors could ruin this anime for a number of people, but the story does focus on character development, particularly in Tomozaki’s case.

Humor-wise, Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki is fine but unspectacular. The anime has a couple of hilarious scenes, but it is not a laugh-a-minute sort of series either. Although there are better comedy anime on Funimation, fans of the genre should try this show out once they have exhausted their other options.

The Disastrous Life Of Saiki K.

The streaming service only has the first season of The Disastrous Life of Saiki K., which is enough for the show to rank as one of the best anime comedies on Funimation. Kusuo Saiki is an extremely powerful psychic, a fact that he wants to keep hidden at all costs. Unfortunately, the stoic protagonist cannot seem to help but attract just the most peculiar people.

Split into short sketches, Saiki K. delivers a laugh-a-minute, courtesy of its stacked cast of supporting characters and the ideal lead to unleash their potential. The anime does a surprisingly solid job of developing its characters beyond their defining comedic traits, particularly Shun Kaidou and Kokomi Teruhashi.

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