Particularly, and in my case I have Excel Saga occupying a really nice place inside my initial anime viewings. But its problem according to mw is that it couldn´t pass the test of time and the TOTALLY random things that pop out every episode make me cringe now.

About Seto… I liked it. Yeah, I liked the characters and the sense of control they put in the show, and the way they didn´t exceed with the references or repetitive jokes. It was good, never betraying blatantly the original premise and making some really good jokes. To me, its a good random comedy, but not exactly a great comedy.

And I agree about how Baka to Test totally trashed its premise to put blatant references, easy gay jokes and make the characters less than cliche using them as vehicles to every single random joke. No control, no quality, no plot. Just trying everything to make you laugh.

In my case, I think I laugh more with shows that aren´t “full comedy”. Thats just what I recently realized.

BTW, have you guys watched Yamanade? I think it was a really good comedy despite having a lot of random jokes(but NO references)

And excuse me for my writing. English isn´t my original language. I wish there were more people writing thoughtful articles like yours about the industry.

Greetings

There’s the perceptible crafting of good humor that everyone appreciates. The buildup is what separates a great joke from a cheap gag; an axiom that holds true no matter what culture you hail from.

The first is about the quality of random comedy. Sometimes you just need a quick laugh. Case in point is, as Shadowmage points out, something like FMP Fumoffu. That kind of visceral humor is a rather enduring form. However, I think the problem is 1. that jokes have been recycled over and over in endless variations and 2. that some jokes simply aren’t funny. The first is exemplified by how most series nowadays that are strictly comedy based are all derivatives of AzuDai’s quirky humor or Lucky Star’s otaku parodying, and as as such we’re all tired of them. The second is self explanatory, although it sometimes makes me wonder if it’s just a shotgun strategy. The craft has gotten to the point of trial and error, with each scenario tweaked ever so slightly across numerous jokes and numerous series. What’s really needed is a new formula that ignores the original form, which Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei did before falling back in line with everything else. But all of you already said that.

The second part of the problem is the lack of subtle comedy that everyon is addressing. I’d argue that the west is just as steeped in slapstick comedy, just that the smarter people in western culture have been exposed to irony for far longer. I could say it’s built into western culture, but it’s hard to pinpoint why it arises in this culture and doesn’t exist in the other. I don’t quite know how Dr. Strangelove can show this difference, but as food for thought, I’d say that Dr. Strangelove’s brilliant black comedy works where SZS’s doesn’t in the way you have to make your own decision that it’s absurd compared to SZS slamming the absurdity in your face. It’s a show vs. tell thing where one sets up an elaborate interwoven situation and the other just brings up a topic to mock.

In short: slapstick can be clever, but only if we haven’t seen it a million times. Irony is lacking from Japanese culture, but we have no idea why.

I find anime humor to be somewhat similar to that of Family Guy‘s. Especially in the case of Lucky Star: Konata says something, cut to humorous situation, cut back to discussion. The subject matter being discussed is different, naturally, but the style of humor is the same.

Japanese humor is steeped deeply in wordplay and schadenfreude. That’s why every Japanese game show is “HURRR LET’S SEE WHAT THEY DO WHEN WE STICK STEAKS ON THEIR HEAD AND UNLEASH A KOMODO DRAGON ON THEM!”

Because of that, Japanese humor isn’t “clever” in the Western sense. It appeals to a different part of our intellect; namely, the part that wants to see someone fall down a manhole and die, as TIF/Brooks put it.

@Jesus159159159
Oh damn, why was I under the impression you were anti-K-On!. And here I was thinking you were one of us. But yeah, your attitude to Excel Saga sounds a lot like mine towards Azumanga. People watching these series more recently just don’t find them as funny as those of us who saw them soon after them first aired, because nowadays all the series which were released subsequently and were, to a fair extent, inspired by those series, render a lot of what made the older series fresh and innovative feel ho-hum and done-to-death. It’s pretty much the Seinfeld Is Unfunny effect.

@jpmeyer
Directors these days don’t seem to often discuss their influences. Or maybe they do, but that stuff just doesn’t filter through to us in the West. It’d be interesting to hear what inspires today’s anime directors. I kinda have a suspicion that Shinbo takes things from Western post-modernism. Can’t really put my finger on something tangible to back up that thought… just a suspicion I have.

@TIF
A wise man.

@Shadowmage
Yeah, I wasn’t sure they could until I saw it myself. Nonetheless, watch Memories. The third episode is a little weak, but overall, it’s an impressive work.

Also.

The Japanese can do black humor?

Give me a sec as I dust off Memories from my collection of anime I have but have no will to watch.

I can no longer respect a man who hates Excel Saga, Gunbuster (original), AND K-ON!

I quote W.C. Fields:

“Anyone who hates children and K-On can’t be all bad.”

I swear this is a real quote. Yes I know the man died 63 years before that anime aired, but he was a visionary I tells ya.