Anime shorts - shorter episodes in anime - range in length anywhere from 3 minutes up to 15. Any longer and we may as well call it a full episode. The nice part about anime shorts is that they provide a reprieve from those longer works. They hit the sweet spot when it comes to balancing our time with our anime addiction.
The problem with anime shorts is that we often find ourselves wanting more, even with all the praise we heap upon these genius works. There's nothing like falling in love with an anime, only to find out it's shorter than originally thought. It's amazing how much content can be packed in 3-minutes, but how much more amazing would it be to see these shorts turned into full episodes?
10 Ojisan And Marshmallow
Soft, fluffy marshmallows must be the way to Habahiro Hige's heart. At least, his younger co-worker Iori Wakabayashi seems to think so. Tabekko marshmallows are Hige's favorite snack, and Iori does her best to tempt him with them. Little does he know, Iori wants a romantic relationship with him, but Hige cannot see past those marshmallows.
This 3:30 episode is simply not given enough time to capture this cute and fluffy couple. Iori cannot help falling for this rotund middle-aged man at their company, and the antics she gets up too are just too funny. It's definitely a show that deserves more running time to portray the many shenanigans these coworkers get up to.
9 Space Patrol Luluco
An out of this world anime short that follows middle schooler Luluco in her adventures to repay her debt in order to unfreeze her father. This alien world is full of travel and spaceships and space gear. But why? Luluco just wants to live out her dream of being a normal girl but is dragged into her father's mess.
This 8 minute short is not enough to express the bizarre world Luluco does her best to survive in. Even when paired up with her love interest, a transfer student named Alpha Omega Nova, she's still hoping for that normal life. Although, she wouldn't mind if it came with a touch of romance.
8 Miss Monochrome: The Animation
Miss Monochrome is an android that is well on her way to becoming the next big idol. At least, that's her dream. After a friend's deception leaves her near homeless, Miss Monochrome decides to gain a name for herself. To achieve her dream, she pulls together a rag-tag team of members in order to form the business end of her goals and sets out to perform for the masses.
This 4 minute short is not enough for us to watch Miss Monochrome's growth from unknown android to a popular idol. Even if we have 3 seasons on our hands, full episodes would have been well worth the effort.
7 Orenchi No Furo Jijou
This anime, also titled Merman in My Tub, is a tale of a typical high school boy living with a merman. Tatsumi found the merman Wakasa on the side of the riverbank and moved him into his bathtub. It's here that the cute and fluffy merman engages with the cool and reserved Tatsumi. During this time, the two bond and learn how to live together in these circumstances.
This 4 minute short deserves the grace of a full episode. Each encounter offers us some form of comedy where Wakasa and Tatsumi engage in silly ventures.
6 Love Is Like A Cocktail
Chisato is an office worker with a side to her she'd rather no one but her bartender husband see. Each day when she returns home from work, Sora makes her a drink to which she takes a sip, takes out her ponytail, and does a complete 180 in personality. She becomes this drunken cute fluff of joy as she drinks her cocktail and eats dinner. While in this state, she has a habit of asking her husband for attention, which showcases her adorable nature.
These 3-minute shorts come with drink recipes and glimpses into Chisato's and Sora's beginnings and their current marriage. However, it's not enough time! We're not through watching this couple interact or seeing how the other couples around them develop as well.
5 Tsuredure Children
There's nothing like high school students falling in love and then finding the courage deep within themselves to confess to that love interest. This show focuses on various couples and how the pairings connect to each other. It's either showcasing couples that beat around the bush or those that are a little too direct with their partners.
A 12:30 short, this anime captures our interest and leaves us with a "happy for now" in the romance department. It would prove more satisfactory if we had full episodes that took these relationships from beginning to end in a satisfactory manner.
4 BONJOUR♪ Sweet Love Patisserie
Fleurir Confectionary Academy is a trendy school for those looking to achieve their pastry chef dreams. This is true of Sayuri Haruno, a recently enrolled student that is found in trouble more often than not. This school is famous for its handsome teachers, and no unsavory business between students and teachers is allowed. Sayuri does her best, but she cannot help but be dragged along into sweet encounters.
These 5:30 shorts are enough to grab our interest, but full episodes would allow for greater depth into the backgrounds of the characters and their budding relationships.
3 Kenka Bancho Otome -Girl Beats Boys-
Hinako Nakayama is an orphan that has the fortune (or misfortune) of bumping into her twin brother Hikaru. This was a planned interaction, as he asks for her to take his place in a rough and tough all-boys school. In this perilous position, Hinako accepts her task and begins to live her days beating up boys and trying to hide her identity.
This thrilling 8 minute short is filled with the exhilarating promise of violence and confused romance as the males surrounding Hinako question their feelings towards him (her).
2 I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying
A well-known shorts series, office worker Koaru and her otaku neet husband Hajime often end up in hilarious misunderstandings about their hobbies. Those misunderstandings are always super cute in this slice-of-life romance. Their story focuses on the daily life of otaku culture and showcases jokes between this pair.
3:30 is not enough to show all the antics this pair gets up to in their witty dialogue. It's also not enough to allow the focus to shift to the other three couples within the show. The main couple is satisfying, but we're greedy and want to see more of the side couples.
1 Hetalia: Axis Powers
A famous short among the anime community involving the Axis powers and the Allies of WWII: Italy, Germany, Japan, United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia, and China. It's a satire that revolves around the social interactions and misunderstandings between the characters. Each has their own personality, which makes the proceedings between them that much more hilarious.
This 5-minute beloved anime short series is one that we would love to see as full episodes. We'll survive with the shorts, but imagine a whole episode of poking fun at this world and its array of stereotypes.