There are a lot of lighthearted anime genres that exist, such as slice-of-life, while others are more serious and high-stakes. Some series even take a double approach, beginning on a more serious note but quickly becoming lighthearted during their run.
Some of these anime grew lighthearted thanks to focusing more on humor than the main story, while others focused on the developing relationships between characters. Other anime had the potential to develop more serious storylines but never bothered to do so. From Bonjour Sweet Love Patisserie to Eromanga Sensei, these anime started on serious notes but quickly grew more fun and easy over time.
10 Bonjour Sweet Love Patisserie Never Explored The Consequences Of Potential Student-Teacher Relationships
Despite student-teacher relationships being heavily frowned upon at the patisserie school, there were never any actual consequences for the main heroine and her classmates getting close to their attractive instructors other than spoken warnings from the head teacher. This was a topic that warranted further serious exploration, but instead it resulted in simple misunderstandings and apparent comedy scenes.
Despite the initial signs that the heroine could be at risk for being expelled for getting so close to her instructors, she never actually suffered any consequences for doing so other than warnings. Some viewers wished that this was a plot point the series looked at more, but it would also require the series to have longer episodes rather than its short, five-minute-long ones.
9 Hinako Note Initially Focused On Hinako Overcoming Her Anxiety But Quickly Focused On Her Friendships Instead
Hinako Note first started with the main heroine, Hinako, moving to the city to join the theater club to overcome her social anxiety. However, the series increasingly focused more on the friendships she developed with her classmates and peers rather than tackling her anxiety in-depth, much to the chagrin of some fans. However, others welcomed the change and argued that the focus on Hinako bonding with her friends showed how much she overcame her social anxiety. It also helped that Hinako rarely froze up in front of her friends after getting used to being around them.
8 My Next Life As A Villainess: All Routes Lead To Doom Started Seriously But Had A Lighthearted Second Season
My Next Life As A Villainess: All Routes Lead To Doom! initially had the protagonist Catarina trying to prevent her doom by befriending many of the conquerable characters and the protagonist of the game "Fortune Lover," since that was the world where the protagonist was reborn after dying.
However, she successfully avoided her doom by the end of the first season, and this resulted in a much more lighthearted second season overall. Even though there was a bit more exploration into dark magic and a few kidnappings ensued, the stakes in the second season were much less serious than the first.
7 I've Been Killing Slimes For 300 Years And Maxed Out My Level First Focused On The Consequences Of Azusa's Actions
I've Been Killing Slimes, much like My Next Life As A Villainess, initially focused on the consequences of Azusa doing nothing but lazing around and killing slimes for three hundred years. This resulted in Shalsha nearly killing Azusa in the second episode alone if it was not for Laika quickly defeating her.
The series focused increasingly on Azusa's friendships with the rest of the main cast from there, rarely touching on the consequences of Azusa's actions again. Though there were plot points such as the war between the red and blue dragon clans explored, they were resolved as soon as they were introduced thanks to how overpowered Azusa was as an isekai protagonist.
6 Blend S Initially Focused On Maika's Struggles With Her Looks But Later Honed In On Her Coworkers' Amusing Bonds
Blend S was another anime that initially focused on the heroine's struggles, but quickly focused on her and her coworkers' bonds with each other. Maika struggled with looking sadistic, thanks to how slanted her eyes were compared to most people, and this ironically earned her a job at the cafe run by Dino. However, the series later focused on her and her coworkers' developing bonds with each other more than Maika's sadistic traits. Considering that this is a slice-of-life series, some funny shenanigans between the whole cast were inevitable.
5 Drugstore In Another World Had Practical Solutions For Problems That Quickly Grew More Hilarious
Drugstore In Another World initially involved the Kirio Drugstore offering very practical solutions for problems that were difficult to solve for their clients. These concoctions included energy potions, tea that helped the consumer sleep and reduce anxiety, and beast repellent to get rid of the beasts eating crops.
However, the problems and their solutions grew more nonsensical with each new episode. This included making addictive sauce for a tavern that was struggling with business and medicine that made food taste bitter so Noela would stop eating things off the floor.
4 Girlfriend, Girlfriend Focused On The Repercussions Of Dating Two People At Once But Quickly Softened Up
Though Girlfriend, Girlfriend gave an ironically serious take on the repercussions of polyamorous relationships despite its humor, it quickly softened up on those consequences in its latter half thanks to focusing more on hilarious misunderstandings than further developing the relationship Naoya had with Nagisa and Saki. The finale mainly consisted of everyone running after Nagisa while Naoya tried to assure her that she had as equal of importance in the relationship as Saki did to him.
3 Monster Girl Doctor Initially Hinted At Resistance To Monsters And Humans Living Peacefully But Gave Way To More Surgical Shenanigans
A few early episodes of Monster Girl Doctor initially hinted that not all of the humans were happy about monsters and humans currently living peacefully. However, this plotline was quickly dropped in favor of focusing on Glenn conducting surgery on Skadi, and all of the hilarious shenanigans that led up to that moment.
Even though the surgery itself sounded and was serious, all of the events leading up to that point were filled with more humor instead of driving a serious story.
2 Eromanga Sensei Started With A Serious Collaboration That Grew Increasingly Hilarious
The main two siblings in Eromanga Sensei were initially shocked that they were working with each other this entire time, with Izumi writing the same light novels that Sagiri, also known as the titular "Eromanga Sensei," illustrated. Their collaboration was serious at first, but it grew increasingly hilarious as the series focused more on the various relationships they had with each other and their fellow light novel writing peers. There was also more focus on Izumi and Sagiri gaining a closer relationship, including exploring how they first met each other.
1 Monthly Girls' Nozaki-Kun Later Focused On Nozaki And Sakura's Relationship
Monthly Girls' Nozaki-Kun gave a fun, in-depth look at the process of creating manga. Nozaki, a shojo manga artist, was always trying to get enough inspiration to make sure his works were perfect for publication. However, the latter half of the anime adaptation focused more on his and Sakura's developing relationship with each other. Though Sakura had a crush on Nozaki from the start, viewers only started seeing signs of Nozaki potentially reciprocating those feelings in the series' second half, much to their joy.