When Mikan Sakura finds out her best friend Hotaru is transferring to an elite school, she chooses to enroll with her. She finds out that this school teaches gifted students with special abilities called “Alices.” These abilities vary depending on the person and Mikan learns she possesses a rare Alice that cancels out a person’s Alice when they come near her. On her first day of school, she runs into local delinquent Natsume Hyuuga, who uses his Alice to take off her skirt after escaping from class. The two start off on a rocky relationship, but eventually become formidable partners in the school. Mikan shares some similar qualities with Sana. They’re both bright and cheery and have had rude first impressions with boys. Their wacky antics matched with their equally outgoing personalities set the tone for the anime’s wild slapstick comedy. Natsume has no respect for authority and, like Akito, has dedicated followers who admire his rebellious acts. Gakuen Alice incorporates more fantastical elements to its story. Nonetheless, it's the subtle drama involving many of Mikan’s friends that drives this series to success. The anime focuses on character development and the relationship between Mikan and Natsume. They both despise one another at first, but slowly grow to understand each other and eventually become a couple.

Kosaku adores the famous idol Yuka Kusakabe. He calls himself her biggest fan, sending her letters and collecting all her CDs, posters, and idol related memorabilia. When Yuka suddenly announces her retirement, Kosaku is devastated to the point of turning into hikikomori. He eventually returns to class, but is shocked to hear that Yuka has transferred into his school, under the name “Ringo.” Kosaku tries to learn why she enrolled in his school and deepens his relationship with her. Nourin takes place at an agricultural school - a setting totally different than the ones featured in this list. Despite this change, Nourin still keeps the wild spirit of Kodocha. It has a cast of uniquely rambunctious individuals that often get roped into weird situations. The humour also features many slapstick gags, sprinkled with a bit of parody. Ringo’s background as a Japanese idol is similar to Sana’s background as a child actress. However, while publicly she has a cheerful persona, this turns out to be a facade as she’s shown to have a dandere personality (with a hint of kuudere mixed in). Kosaku unknowingly changes Ringo to help her express her feelings for him. Overall, Nourin has flashes of drama, but is more focused on exploring the comedic everyday school life.

Kumiko “Yankumi” Yamaguchi is the granddaughter of a yakuza boss. Her parents died when she was young and her grandfather has been grooming her to be the heir of his empire. Kumiko, however, wants to become a teacher and, with her grandfather’s approval, lands a job at Shirokin Gakuen Private School. The catch is that she has to keep her Yakuza background private. Kumiko is put in charge of an all male class of delinquents that try to push her buttons. Nonetheless, she perseveres and eventually changes them to gain their respect. When your anime title is a parody on The Godfather, you know it means business. Kumiko’s tough attitude defines her role as an ideal teacher who takes no disrespect from students. Despite her hardlined personality, she’s got her own unique quirks that often lead to various comedic situations. Additionally, her relationship with the relaxed and level headed Shin Sawada begins mildly, but slowly develops into feelings of love like Sana and Akito. Having been a well known delinquent in the school, Shin is the most perceptive of Kumiko’s nature and utilizes his intellect to help her out later on. Kumiko tries to balance her reputable yakuza background and her public image as a teacher. Sana has the same dilemma when she attends a regular school while maintaining her career as a prolific child actress. Throughout their hectic lives, they still take the time to help those that are hurting and serve as inspirational characters in their own right. Gokusen is an overall goofy school comedy that takes its time to build characters and romances.

Kotoko has been in love with the very handsome Naoki since her first day in high school. When she finally musters up the courage to confess her feelings to him, Naoki flat out rejects her because he hates dumb girls. Their fates would intertwine when Kotoko’s house is destroyed by a solitary earthquake and she and her Dad are forced to live with a friend of his. Little did she know that her Dad’s friend has a son, who turns out to be Naoki! Kotoko resembles a more grown up Sana and is more airheaded than the latter. On the other hand, they’re both hopeless romantics in the pursuit of love. Naoki’s a top honour student who regularly attends class and keeps his grades up. As a result, he has a following of admirers and often makes fun of Kotoko’s intelligence. However, deep down he knows he secretly loves her. Like Kodocha, time is spent developing the relationship between the main characters. ItaKiss does this more quickly than Kodocha, as it shows Kotoko and Naoki’s rocky first encounter and the various circumstances that lead them to marriage

Miki Koishikawa’s life is turned upside down when her parents get a divorce and swap partners with a couple they met in Hawaii. While getting used to this ordeal, Miki meets the couple’s son, Yuu, who first appears as a jerk that constantly teases her. They eventually come to terms with their own differences and their new family, but their relationship gets complicated with run ins from old acquaintances. Marmalade Boy explores the dramatic tensions of families. The Kodocha formula here is pretty much the same: Miki meets a distant boy, they have some crazy interactions with one another, and they eventually fall in love. Marmalade Boy, however, takes more risks in its story. The partner swap involving the two main characters’ families is a touchy subject even for an anime. Although the story is more mature, Marmalade Boy still has Kodocha’s charm. Miki is your regular outgoing optimist who is often the victim of Yuu’s teases. Yuu is more outgoing than Akito, but he hides a resentful nature that stems from his relationship with his father. Marmalade Boy has its happy moments, but mixed in is a complex drama that involves a cast of friends and exes.

Satoshi Yabe’s new life as a teacher just got harder with the Marui triplets. Mitsuba is the eldest sister who’s a self proclaimed sadist and enjoys causing mischief. Futaba is the goofy oddball who’s very strong and athletic. Hitoha - the youngest sibling - is a quiet bookworm who secretly enjoys reading porn. Mitsudomoe follows the everyday life of these three girls, their class, and their unfortunate teacher. Mitsudomoe is the most perverted anime on this list. What it does have in common with Kodocha is its positive slice-of-life nature and downright outrageous characters. The anime relies on gags and comedic situations to move its story along. Although the Marui triplets cause a lot of chaos in their classroom, they genuinely care for each other and their close friends (most of the time). Mitsudomoe has its perverted humour, but also has sentimental moments worth grabbing some tissues for.

These twins are inseparable, so the two of them shares one spot. The two were born and raised in Adai village, and due to the strict rule of maintaining the village population to 50 and Gimmy and Darry having no parents, they were chosen to leave the village - or in other words they are sent to their deaths in the beastmen infested surface. The twins survive thanks to fellow village member Rossiu, and they eventually cross paths with Kamina and Simon, and then become part of Team Dai-Gurren. Seven years after the fall of the Spiral King, Gimmy and Darry grew up and joined the Grapearl squad, and with their exceptional skill, the two became squad commanders due to their skill and leadership. And after the defeat of the Anti-Spirals, Simon bestowed the Core Drill to Gimmy and the two became the new pilots of the venerable Gurren Lagann.

Leeron is openly gay and provides comic relief to lighten up the mood or gives the viewers something intriguing to look at, but despite his sexuality, Leeron is a very rational man and can be very serious at times. Yes, looks can be deceiving, but make no doubt, Leeron can fix anything he can get his hands on. Leeron is a mechanic who has a knack at fixing and modifying gunmen and other equipment used by the Beastmen. Leeron is one of the most intelligent people on Earth and ever since he joined Team Dai-Gurren, he invented various tools, weapons to exploit enemy weaknesses, and provide detailed information regarding how the universe works.

Unlike most beastmen, Viral has a very strong sense of honor, despite his hatred towards humans. He never uses cheap tactics or attack from behind, or hunts down the injured. He is the commander of the Human Eradication Army and his goal is to hunt down humans who dared to go to the surface. Viral has fast reflexes and is skilled in piloting a gunmen. Viral is also an immortal, a gift given to him by the Spiral King and this gave him an advantage during combat — his wounds heal instantly and never tires out. However, he lacks the Spiral power and he was soon bested by Kamina and Simon. During the Anti-Spiral’s invasion of Earth, Viral allied himself with Simon and became the co-pilot of Gurren-Lagann, and helped Simon in combat. From a rival to a powerful ally, Viral is the only beastman to acquire Spiral energy after being exposed by Simon.

Kittan is the eldest and leader of the Black Siblings, a group composed of 4 siblings that specializes in hunting down beastmen. Much like Kamina, Kittan is a boisterous and reckless guy with matching ferocity to boot. During the Beastmen War Arc, Kittan pilots a custom-made gunmen called King Kittan and while he’s a reckless, he knows how to fight and he’s a natural born leader. Also, Kittan is the 3rd human to have ever harnessed Spiral power to create his own Giga Drill Break move, one of the most powerful moves in the anime.

Yoko is one of the main characters in the anime and unlike her male companions, Yoko relies on agility, smarts, and long-range attacks. Her main weapon is a custom sniper rifle that’s powerful enough to take out enemy gunmen with only a few shots. She is also a skilled marksman with fast reaction times to adapt into any situation, and has a knack of hitting enemy weak spots at different angles, while the target is moving (i.e. rockets). If the situation calls for more firepower, she is also a skilled gunmen pilot and can rain down death with her gunmen’s assorted range of a deadly barrage of rockets, including her patented boob rockets.

Rossiu came from an underground village who went to the surface after he and two others were chosen to leave the village. He then met with Kamina and Simon, and he eventually became part of Team Dai-Gurren. Rossiu is not a fighter by any means, but his strength lies in his intelligence. After the fall of the Spiral King a few years later, Rossiu pursued politics and science, and became the Chief Adviser, and eventually, the Supreme Commander of Earth. Unlike his hot-blooded companions, Rossiu spends his years in the confines of research facilities improving the technologies and making the right calls to ensure mankind’s survival and be one step ahead if another crisis occurs.

Kamina has explosive potential ever since he and Simon got out of their underground home. He’s cocky, brash, and reckless, but these traits gave the people around him a sense of security. A big brother looking after his siblings and, more importantly, hope for the future. Team Dai-Gurren started out with two members and gained other members from people Kamina came into contact with. Kamina is a quick learner, able to pilot a gunmen and was able to stand toe-to-toe and, eventually, overpowered the beastman Viral, the commander of the Human Eradication Army. Kamina is also a crafty individual who can adapt to any situation and take advantage of his enemies. What makes Kamina a skilled fighter is despite not knowing Spiral power, he can freely control Gurren-Lagann to create ridiculous deadly moves with equally ridiculous names. His over confidence is what makes him formidable against the Beastmen. Sadly, Kamina had sustained heavy wounds during a battle against one of the Four Generals, and bestowed his most powerful move, the Giga Drill Break, to his young brother Simon.

There was once a race of beings who realized the abuse of Spiral power will result in the creation of the Spiral Nemesis, an apocalyptic event that will end the entire universe. Knowing this, the Anti-Spirals purged their own evolution to rid themselves of Spiral power, and travelled across the universe to control Spiral power by destroying every Spiral being to save the universe from destruction. Over countless millennia, the Anti-Spirals attained omnipotence by having the ability to control the very fabric of the universe, and can create immense power that rivals that of the Big Bang. The Anti-Spirals rarely attack head on, preferring more on overwhelming the enemy with infinite numbers and using psychological warfare. One of the biggest victories of the Anti-Spirals was they successfully broke Lordgenome’s will, plunged him to despair, and turned against his fellow Spiral warriors and eventually destroyed almost all life on Earth.

Simon was a shy, cowardly and withdrawn boy, digging holes for his village. His life changed when he meets his bro Kamina, and a gunmen fell onto his village. Simon followed Kamina in his quest to stop the beastmen from harming more humans. The two founded Team Gurren and along their adventures, the team grew with more people joining in the fight. On one fateful day, Kamina lost his life after a grueling battle against one of the Spiral King’s Four Supreme Generals, Thymilph. Simon fell into despair, but got back on his feet after realizing what Kamina wanted and what Simon should strive for — To be himself. Simon has literally an infinite amount of Spiral power and he can defy the laws of nature by creating anything from nothing. He can conjure infinite amount of drills to use as weapons, assimilate machines to be part of Gurren Lagann, and eventually can create mechs as large as galaxies. He’s a natural gunmen pilot and it showed after the death of Kamina. He controls Gurren Lagann like it is part of his own body. He can do crazy acrobatics and with his infinite Spiral energy, he’s a force to be reckoned with.

The Lordgenome was the main antagonist in the first half of Gurren-Lagann. He is the ruthless and cruel ruler of Earth, who created the beastmen to eradicate every human being on the surface without mercy. With his army of beastmen roaming the planet, Lordgenome watches over his kingdom high atop his castle-fortress Teppelin, and keeps the human race in check. Eventually, his reign of terror ends at the hands of Simon and Team Dai-Gurren, but he didn’t go down without a fight. Lordgenome was the most powerful Spiral Warrior a thousand years ago until he came into close contact with the Anti Spirals as it corrupted his soul. The Anti Spirals showed him a vision of the Spiral Nemesis, an apocalyptic event that occurs when life forms overuse the Spiral power. Driven by his dwindling sanity and fear the universe will end, Lordgenome single handedly killed all of his comrades and eradicated life on the Earth’s surface, forcing the remaining survivors to live underground. With his overwhelming Spiral power, he made himself immortal and was almost near indestructible. Of all the characters in the anime, Lordgenome is the most formidable one. He can take on Gurren Lagann without piloting a gunmen, can conjure enormous drills instantly and as mentioned before, he almost killed every human to near extinction, including fellow Spiral Warriors. His main specialty is energy absorption and converting it into a form he can use. His last superhuman feat was he absorbed energy equivalent to that of the Big Bang and converted that energy into a drill Simon could use. It’s easy to pick Simon as the most skilled character in Gurren Lagann with his infinite Spiral energy, but Lordgenome accomplished more feats than Simon. He’s a formidable foe against the Anti Spirals, which forced them to use psychological warfare that destroyed Lordgenome’s sanity. He single handedly destroyed the Earth and almost eradicated the human race. Aside from his combat skills and ruthlessness, he is a prodigy who made many breakthroughs in the field of genetic engineering like cloning and spatial-temporal travel (aka travel faster than light). The gunmen, the beastmen and every technology at the time were all thanks to Lordgenome.

Last year we saw a lot of long white or light violet hair, not only in kuuderes and danderes, but in general. This season still has a few of those, but its looking a bit more varied and leaning towards more blues, aquas and greens. And pink, but there’s always pink, this is anime we’re talking about! Long flowing hair - most commonly blonde or black - is usually a symbol of beauty and femininity in anime. Danderes and kuuderes are usually not ones to care about fitting into a mold and so their hair tends to be short, messy and/or asymmetrical and comes in varied colors! This season we saw a lot of short hairstyles; some brightly colored bobs, like Nanami Shiranui from Norn9 and Lelei from GATE; and even shorter shaggy styles like Mana Asuha from Luck & Logic and Koito Minase’s red shag from Musaigen Phantom World. And of course, there’s also Saki Inui’s very anime-ish asymmetrical pale aqua hairstyle in Aokana which matches her outfits perfectly. A little more than half our kuuderes and danderes had short hair this season, making it the go-to look. And the vast majority of them had unnatural hair colors. In fact, all of the long haired girls had either a cool color or an interesting hairstyle making all of them stand out in some way. Clarion from Koukaku no Pandora and Shizuru from BBK/BRNK both accentuated their innocent looks with different shades of pink, while Sylvia from Schwarzesmarken keeps her wavy violet mane wild and messy.

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And while kuudere/dandere boys are rare, we had a couple this season, and though one is blond and the other’s brunet, one thing they have in common is, they both have long hair! Aoto from Divine Gate keeps his chin length; and super kuudere Tomoe Yagami from Prince of Stride has his layered, asymmetrical and in his face. Such the cool guy!

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The vast majority of the danderes and kuuderes this season (though I think that’s usually the case), were pretty modest with their outfits. Granted, Sylvia shows her cleavage when in uniform in Schwarzesmarken and some girls give a peek of thigh, but you don’t really see anything else! Lelei in GATE and Merry in Hai to Gensou no Grimgar also wear the clothes required by their profession and so they are limited as to how much skin they can show. The modesty of kuuderes and danderes can also be appreciated in their choice of legwear when in school uniform. This season we saw many of these girls decked out in thigh-highs or full-on tights. Nanami from Norn9 and Mana (Luck & Logic) are completely covered up, while Saki Inui (Aokana) opts for thigh-highs and short sleeves. The boys didn’t fall behind; Tomoe from Prince of Stride was entirely covered up from neck to toe almost the entire time! Well, I guess he did show his forearms a few times…

Let’s be honest, few things say “cool chick” like a pair of knee-high or combat boots! And this season, most of the kuuderes and danderes were wearing just that. There were some pretty cool cyber boots you’d probably see at an electronic music show like Mana’s, especially when she’s Tranced with Artemis. Her boots have neon accents and buckles and are just all-around badass. Aika Suzuki’s boots in PSO2 are actually more than knee-high and they almost have a mecha-ish feel to them.

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As for the more subdued looks, we have some styles we could wear on the daily! Koito wears brown fold-over knee-high boots with brass accents. Nanami Shiranui also sticks to brown but wears the laced-up style that came with the uniform all the girls wear on the ship. Sylvia of course, wears her military issue black combat boots (no laces). But not everyone’s in knee-highs, Inui rocks short black combat boots with neon green accents to match her outfit and Merry wears navy blue booties to match her outfit and hair!

Except for Lelei, all the kuuderes and danderes this season wore black in some way. Inui and Mana both wear all black except for a few accents in lime green and aqua respectively. All others have black tights, skirts or a dress in Shizuru’s case. Saki Inui’s flying outfit is green and black with black wing-like sleeves (talk about a cool-dere!). Lelei la Lelena’s outfit is mostly white and green with some blue accents and Aika Suzuki’s outfit while in PSO2 is teal colored with a bit of black and white mixed in. Koito wears the same white, teal and black pattern on her uniform as well! No doubt these were the colors of the season! Though there was quite a bit of blue as well. Merry’s outfit is mostly white, one of the seasonal colors, but her cincher and accents are mostly navy blue like her hair. And Clarion’s Lolita dress is mostly dark blue with a bit of black and white here and there. Even our dandere Aoto and kuudere Tomoe got into it! Aoto rocks a blue jacket, white tee and black pants and Tomoe is seen in black most of the time.

One thing that stood out to me this season, and even inspired me to write this article is that two of the characters I think have the coolest style wear headphones! And they happen to be a dandere and a kuudere as well. These two of course are Mana Asuha and Koito Minase. Both of them send the international sign for “don’t bother me” by wearing the biggest headphones they could find. We don’t always have headphone characters, and this season we had two!

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Another unexpected trend this season was the beret. Usually a symbol of involvement in the military, the beret is no longer only for Street Fighter characters and Jean-Claude Van Damme! danderes and kuuderes can also rock this look regardless of their affiliation. Aika Suzuki’s look in PSO2 is a bit military and she wears her teal beret with pride! Shizuru opts for a cute purple beret that matches the rest of her outfit and adorns it with a cute little onigiri pin.

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Another set of head accessories were ears and horns. And of course, we couldn’t have an anime list of any sort without some sort of a cat-girl making an appearance! Clarion has cute little cat ears that go extremely well with her Lolita look and Mana’s trance outfit comes with one of the coolest hoodies I’ve ever seen. It’s baggy, black and has horns!

Nourin is about students at an agricultural school in Japan. The main character, Kosaku Hata, is obsessed with the idol Yuka Kusakabe. When Yuka decides to stop her idol career, Kosaku is devastated. But lucky for him, Yuka soon shows up at the agricultural school under the name Ringo Kinoshita! Kosaku thus finally has his chance to actually get to know the idol he has been in love with for so long. Many plot points and character traits in Nourin are done in a very over-the-top manner, which is why this anime has made it onto our list of the Top 10 Parody Anime. Kosaku’s obsession with idol culture is an exaggerated (or in some cases, not so exaggerated) look at Japan’s own love for idol culture and the people that are at the centre of it. Kosaku owns an incredible amount of Yuka’s merchandise, all the way down to a body pillow of her. Nourin also takes a look at the unique phenomenon of agricultural schools in Japan, though in a comedic way that features teachers that destroy the crops out of rage and out of control farm animals. These exaggerated imitations of real parts of Japanese society set Nourin apart from simply being another comedy, ecchi anime and make it a parody one as well.

Binan Koukou Chikyuu Bouei-bu LOVE! (from here on referred to as Binan Koukou) comes in at ninth on our list of the Top 10 Parody Animes. Binan Koukou is the story of five magical boys – you read that right, magical boys, not magical girls! Each of them has been gifted with a very special power from an alien, and they fight alongside the alien to defend Earth from those who are trying to spread hate. And how do they fight? With the power of love, of course! If you aren’t already laughing just from the summary, you will be soon if you watch Binan Koukou. With a name that literally translates to “beautiful men” from Japanese, Binan Koukou is a parody of the extremely popular genre of magical girl anime. These anime always feature cute or pretty girls that have special powers that they use to fight against evil, usually with elaborate transformation sequence and overarching themes of friendship and love. Binan Koukou has the same thing, except the cute girls have been replaced with cute boys. Get ready for over-the-top characters and plots, and have a laugh at Binan Koukou!

Haiyore! Nyaruko-san tells the story of Nyaruko who for all outward appearances is a normal girl. However, in reality she is Nyarlathotep, the god of chaos from H. P. Lovecraft’s works. The anime begins with Nyaruko saving Mahiro Yasaka from an alien who was trying to kidnap and traffic him. It turns out that all of the monsters described in Lovecraft’s works are actually aliens that are coming to Earth for one reason or another – and Mahiro ends up responsible for several of them in his home in this comedy anime! Haiyore! Nyaruko-san is unique in the parody world of anime because of the subject matter it has chosen to be a parody of – H. P. Lovecraft’s famous works. Instead of the monsters being portrayed as they usually are by pop culture and other stories, they are represented by comedic anime characters living in Japan. They still have some of the original traits from Lovecraft’s stories, but they have been adapted and exaggerated to exist in a sci-fi anime taking place in Japan instead. If you are a fan of Lovecraft, or just looking for a parody anime that has a source other than other aspects of Japanese culture, then Haiyore! Nyaruko-san might be exactly what you’re looking for.

Hayate no Gotoku! follows the tale of Hayate Ayasaki, a boy who starts out the anime by being sold by his parents to the Yakuza in an attempt to settle their insane gambling debts. Rather than have his internal organs taken and sold, Hayate makes the natural decision to escape, turning to kidnapping as a means to earn the money to pay off the debt collectors. However, while attempting to kidnap the rich young girl Nagi Sanzenin, his efforts are misinterpreted as a love confession! Soon after, Hayate finds himself employed by Nagi as her newest butler. Growing up, Hayate developed many unique skills as he attempted to work to help support his struggling family, and he uses those skills to protect Nagi and her maid Maria from anyone that tries to do harm to them. While that description of Hayate no Gotoku! may make this anime sound quite serious, in reality it is quite the opposite. Just a look at the translation of the title to “Hayate the Combat Butler” should be your first clue that this is definitely a comedy anime, and the story and characters are quite light-hearted and fun. On top of a fun concept, Hayate no Gotoku! draws a lot of its comedic value from the parodies it makes to other anime, manga, Japanese television, and idols. The show makes many references to these other forms of pop culture, always bleeping out the names to avoid saying them directly and breaking the fourth wall by directly engaging with the audience at times, too. And it doesn’t happen once, but rather many, many times. The constant references to other anime and more are what put Hayate no Gotoku! right at the middle of our list of the Top 10 Parody Anime.

Watching Hetalia Axis Powers is a very unique anime viewing experience however you look at it. At around five minutes an episode, it’s incredibly fast paced and a lot of things happen per episode with many characters. It revolves around the concept of creating the countries of the world as people, playing to all of their major traits, stereotypes, and cultural interests and letting them interact with one another. In Hetalia Axis Powers, the characters specifically are mostly from the major players in World War II. The result is very clever, quickly delivered humour that you can relate to wherever you are from. Most of the anime on this list has been a parody of other anime, but Hetalia Axis Powers is unique. Instead, it is a parody of history, and of countries themselves. All of the traits used to give the characters their personality are extremely exaggerated and the stereotypes are played upon without shame. For example, Italy is obsessed with eating pasta and pizza above everything else, Germany is extremely intense and serious, and Japan is very quiet and loves cats. If you like history, or even if you don’t and just want to see how your own country is portrayed, Hetalia Axis Powers is a hilarious look at our world.

Lucky☆Star is, quite basically, an anime about a girl who likes anime. Izumi Konata may be a schoolgirl, but she would rather spend her time reading manga, playing video games, and of course watching anime rather than studying. While Lucky☆Star does not feature much of an overarching storyline, it instead follows the lives of Izumi and her friends throughout their years of high school and showcases the experiences that they have. Because Izumi likes anime and manga, Lucky☆Star constantly makes references to them. While the references may be a little aged now considering it aired in 2007, for fans that still know their older anime and manga (such as Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu, Full Metal Panic! and Code Geass) it is easy to understand what Lucky☆Star is doing parodies of. And even if you are less familiar with older works, most of the references are obvious enough that you can still probably recognize, or at the very least appreciate, how they are used so critically in making Lucky☆Star exactly what it is. Lucky☆Star also calls on “real” daily lives of anime and manga fans in Japan by exaggerating what it is like to be a fan to continue to add to its relatability and humour.

Keroro Gunsou is about the Keroro Platoon, a group of five aliens that have the appearance of frogs that are trying to invade Earth. However, they are notoriously unsuccessful each time, and eventually find themselves abandoned by their army and left on Earth. The platoon, led by Keroro Gunsou, find themselves in the care of the human Hinata family, with each alien specifically attached to one human. Keroro Gunsou himself ends up spending most of his time forced to do household chores for the Hinata family, while in his free time building Gundam models. If a story revolving around a main character that looks like a frog isn’t already a unique enough concept to get you interested, Keroro Gunsou still has more. Throughout its staggering 358 episodes, Keroro Gunsou makes light of so many things – other anime (including even obscure ones!), politics, celebrities, Otaku culture, and more. Nothing is safe from being used and abused in this anime to get a laugh, making Keroro Gunsou a fun addition to our list of the Top 10 Parody Anime.

As the title suggests, the lead character of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei Nozomu Itoshiki is full of despair. Everything that he does can cause him great distress and sadness, even simple things in life. And yet, somehow he ends up a teacher at a school where all of his students are even more emotional in various ways, and he is left to deal with all of them! Each student has their own unique personality and exaggerated quirks, both positive and negative, with each episode revolving around one of them. Each episode of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei is a parody of some aspect of Japanese life. Even the titles of the episodes are plays on Japanese literature, and usually give a hint as to what the episode will be exploring. Instead of using these themes in a typical manner, however, Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei takes them either extremely logically, or incredibly literally. For example, one episode revolves around the idea of arranged marriages in Japan, but in Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei you are matched up with someone you make eye contact with. These intense looks at Japanese language and culture are done in a surprisingly comedic way so that even when the subject matter might be dark, Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei remains a really fun parody to enjoy!

Osomatsu-san is the story of the identical sextuplets Osomatsu, Karamatsu, Choromatsu, Ichimatsu, Jyushimatsu, and Todomatsu. It is a sequel to the 1960s anime Osomatsu-kun, though it can be watched alone. In Osomatsu-san, the story follows the brothers from the first show as they move into adulthood. It turns out that all six of them have become NEETs and spend their whole day being lazy at home! The anime follows their daily lives, showcasing each brother’s unique and extreme personality, and even their neighbours are all eccentric characters as well to add to the chaos. Osomatsu-san parodies mostly other animes and parts of Japanese culture in its episodes, but occasionally Western pop culture as well. The entire first episode of the anime has an incredible amount of anime parodies that happen very quickly, including big names like Shingeki no Kyojin and Kuroko no Basuke – and has subsequently been removed from the Japanese Blu-ray release. The third episode so closely resembled Anpanman that the network forced it to be reanimated, as Osomatsu-san is written for an adult audience. However, never fear – many, many other parodies still exist in the show, so if you are looking for the anime equivalent to a Western show like South Park or the Simpsons, full of pop culture references and a dry look at society, Osomatsu-san is definitely for you.

Gintama takes place during Feudal Japan, but it’s far from your typical samurai anime. In Gintama, aliens have taken over Japan, and they have placed a ban on the use of swords that makes life very difficult for samurai. The eccentric Gintoki Sakata does his best to live in this society despite being a samurai himself, and has become mostly an errand boy in order to pay the rent. However, keeping life interesting he has constant run-ins with the authorities, assassins, and other criminals. As one of the most popular anime in Japan, Gintama is doing something right – and that something is utilizing amazing parodies in its storytelling. Gintama breaks the fourth wall by making fun of tropes common in other shounen anime, such as making fight scenes shorter because it is easier for the artist. It also includes exaggerated versions of historical Japanese figures as characters, and has an underlying theme of social equality that is a look at the struggles of modern Japanese society. All the while, Gintama is a funny show, with fast humour and hilarious characters. If you’re curious about why this anime has become so popular in Japan, be sure to check it out and give it a try yourself!

The story follows Misaki Ayuzawa, a student council president of a co-ed school that truly isn’t used to a female authority figure. The boys nicknamed Misaki the “Demon President” for her no-holds-barred philosophy for enforcing discipline. She could also be viewed as a man hater. You’ll find out she has well-founded trust issues when it comes to men. Her image is one of perfection in the classroom and at sports, oh and she is gorgeous. She has a secret though, her family is struggling. The house they live in is falling apart and every member of her family works just to pay the bills. Misaki is no exception; she gets the best job she can and does it to perfection, working at a Maid Café. We know, it’s shocking in a show with a title like Maid-Sama. The twist is that the most handsome boy at school, Takumi Usui, wanders into her café one day and uncovers her secret. The question is what will he do? Will he expose her? Will he blackmail her? Or just fall in love with this amazing, hardworking heroine? Maid-sama shares the common school life theme following a character through a combination of slice-of-life and romance adventures. The drama in Maid-sama is a little deeper than School Rumble; you care about the trouble in Misaki’s life.

The story centers around two characters, Kaname Chidori and Sousuke Sagara. Kaname is an exceptionally bright second-year high school girl with a gift. She is what is called “Whispered,” an individual who possesses an innate knowledge to build and operate amazing and powerful technology. She leads an ordinary high school life -- that is until she is secretly singled out as a Whispered candidate and becomes the target of terrorists hoping to capture her and use her skills for nefarious purposes. So she needs the protection of an agency called Mithril, and namely Sergeant Sousuke Sagara. The battle-hardened Sagara is forced to work undercover and becomes the classic “transfer student.” His plate fills up fast as he has to guard Kaname and his secret from classmates and terrorists. School Rumble and Full Metal Panic! are both set in your average high school, not one of those super elite schools for the uber-rich or one of those magical high schools where students are encouraged to fight each other like it’s ancient Sparta. The schools are just your basic high school with your average students, no super powers needed for admittance. The shows also have a similar slapstick humor, whether it is the outlandish behavior of the characters or the events around them. The use of guns and military hardware including giant robots is a little out of the ordinary, but outrageous humor still stands. The arrangement of the episodes is also similar, in many cases segmenting the story into slice-of-life arcs in each episode. The majority of the slapstick has to with the overreaction of Sousuke to the most benign situations and him leaping into action to “save” Kaname. Like School Rumble, the story boils down to an awkward relationship. While neither character in Full Metal Panic! starts off with a full-fledged confession, you understand that there will be a romantic connection the moment he threw her to the ground in the girls’ locker room and pointed a gun at the door to protect her.

Chiyo Sakura is one of the most adorable characters in years with her short stature and big polka dot bows. The plot follows Chiyo, who has fallen in love with Umetarou Nozaki a high school student roughly four times her size. A great thing about Chiyo is she makes her confession in episode one, or at least attempts to. She somehow instead of saying “I like you,” she says “I’m your biggest fan.” A statement like that would be weird to most guys, that is unless they are secretly a successful shoujo mangaka. A few miscommunications happen and she ends up as his assistant. We see some of the ways these stories are alike right off the bat; the heroine is totally in love and the protagonist doesn’t have a clue. You get to follow Chiyo as she gets involved in many ridiculous circumstances all as part of her life working with Nozaki. You find yourself rooting for this adorable little artist as she does her best to get the man she admires to notice her. The setting is also similar in that they are set in a high school. While School Rumble doesn’t dissect the high school experience that much, Nozaki does. You see how he sees the students he is enrolled with. A great similarity is the way you get to see her and in many ways see the inner thoughts and monologue of the heroine. The anime of School Rumble and Monthly Girls are both perfect if you are in the need for a good laugh at the awkward world of high school love.

Yamada’s First Time focuses on Yamada, a 15-year-old high school girl, and a virgin, who wants sex. She doesn’t just want sex; her outrageous goal is to have 100 sex partners despite the fact that she is still a virgin. A chance encounter with a boy in a bookstore leads to her fixating on losing “it” to him. She doesn’t realize until later that he is a classmate of hers. You get to follow Yamada and her strange pursuit of Kosuda in vignettes. The similarities with School Rumble don’t stop at the fact that a lot of it takes place at a high school and it is about a high school girl. In both you get an inside look at the thoughts of a somewhat delusional main character as she navigates young love. We also get to watch the characters’ friends, like Chika Yamada (the younger sister) and Takeshita Miharu (the best friend), watch and comment on the hopelessness of the heroines. Yamada is absolutely not appropriate for all ages. But it is very, very funny. It’s a mad cap comedy with an outrageous main character as she bumbles her way toward love.

The plot of Nisekoi is a school romance based on absurdity and a love triangle that blossoms into that of a love quadrilateral later in the series. We start the story learning that Raku Ichijou, a first-year student, is the “heir apparent to a yakuza clan,” but is determined to follow the path of the straight and narrow. We also discover he has a crush on a girl named Onodera. He then gets kneed in the face by the new transfer student Chitoge Kirisaki, leading to a case of oil meets water. We’ve seen similar plots in Shakespeare; in this case it leads to a similar set up of these two being betrothed. Did we mention that Chitoge is a mob princess? We find the two of them have to at least bury the hatchet and hopefully not in each other, to avoid a mob war. The rest of this insane comedy is filled with slapstick; most of it at the expense of Raku. If you pay attention you’ll even see a callout to the classic arcade game Donkey Kong in the first episode. The pace of this series is excellent. You move from one segment to the other without getting too bogged down by overall story of a pending gangland war. We still get to see a character pining away for another girl as everything and anything gets in the way of them being together. We get to see a couple that can’t stand each other be forced to pretend to like each other. You don’t have the weird mental pictures from our character’s minds like you do in School Rumble, but you do get to hear their thoughts in many cases in small pauses between the action. Nisekoi has been one of the most popular anime in recent years and you’ve probably already watched it. The whole series is a great example of a romantic school comedy involving a great cast of supporting characters. Also, you can’t help but smile every time Chitoge says “darling.”

The story (or should we say stories) of Hatsukoi Limited focuses on the first loves of several middle and high schoolers. The episodes tend to focus on a different character in each episode, giving you the chance to look in on the lives of these young people. You will definitely develop a favorite as the story progresses and the various threads are woven into complex plot. The relationship between Ayumi and Zaitsu is the first one you get to see, and the story of beast loves girl feels like it could have been one of the inspirations for “My Love Story.” The following story features Kei, your classic tsundere, and Kusuda and is one of the best plot arcs because of its depth. The cast of characters and the stories of finding true love are one of the elements that make Hatsukoi like School Rumble. The Ayumi and Zaitsu storyline is similar in several ways to Tenma and Harima. Zaitsu is considered a tough guy and easily scares everyone despite his truly gentle personality and his only objective is to be with the girl he fell in love with. The humor is great, but a lot lighter on the slapstick. While there is some slapstick, you just have to keep up with the dialogue for the best jokes. You do have to be patient with this series; its pace is a little slow, but the payoff is wonderfully sweet at the end. We can’t help but think this is one of the more underrated series out there. Yes, its art style is showing its age a little but get over it, the girls are still cute in their seifuku (sailor style school uniforms).