If there's one kind of anime that fans really love, it's the slice-of-life story. Shows that focus on the mundane pleasures of life will always have a charm to them, especially those that focus on certain pastimes and hobbies.
Regardless of what it may be, anime high school clubs dedicated to unique hobbies always guarantee comfort; even the unconventional ones. From the niche to the oddball, these methods of killing time are all prime relaxing entertainment.
10 After School Dice Club — Tabletop Board Gaming Gets The Cute Anime Treatment
If Dungeons & Dragons' newfound popularity is anything to go by, tabletop board gaming is bigger and better than ever. Even so, the hobby is still a bit niche and may not be the first thing people would want to see an entire anime revolve around. Enter After School Dice Club, which does just that.
While on the way home, classmates Miki and Aya find their class president Midori hanging out in the local specialty games store, The Dice Club. Curious, Miki and Aya join Midori and play a few board games before realizing just how fun the hobby is. Each episode has the trio discovering new games and, more importantly, life lessons.
9 Laid-Back Camp — Camping Changed Nadeshiko Kagamihara's Life For The Better
Nadeshiko always wanted to see Mt. Fuji, and she did when her family moved near its vicinity. While looking at it, she bumped into Rin Shima, who's camping by herself near the mountain's base. This chance encounter introduces Nadeshiko to camping as a hobby, and so she joins her new school's Outdoor Activities Club to learn more.
Laid-Back Camp follows the club's camping trips while acknowledging how methodical the hobby is. Aside from camping equipment being so expensive that the girls need to get part-time jobs to buy them, they also have to take some very important survival tips to heart if they want to live long enough to enjoy the wilderness' scenery.
8 Diary Of Our Days At The Breakwater — Fishing Isn't As Boring As It May Look
In real life, fishing is methodically slow at best and incredibly boring at worst. If Diary of Our Days at the Breakwater is to be believed, though, fishing can be fun, relaxing and life-changing, especially if it's done with friends. This is what Hina Tsurugi learned when she joined the Breakwater Club and discovered the joys of fishing.
Over the course of the anime, Hina learns the specifics of recreational fishing and how detailed and meticulous the relaxing hobby actually is. Aside from learning a new pastime and meeting great new friends in the town her family just moved to, Hina slowly overcomes her childhood fear of sea animals the more she hangs out with the Breakwater Club.
7 Joshiraku — Rakugo Is More Than Just An Old Timey Oratory Tradition
In brief, rakugo is Japan's answer to stand-up comedy. Rakugo is basically a one-man theater show, where the rakugoka (read: storyteller) reenacts an often comical story while portraying all of the necessary characters. Rakugo is such a beloved if specifically Japanese pastime that it's been the focus of some anime, such as Joshiraku.
Joshiraku follows five female rakugoka (and a masked stranger), whose everyday lives almost always devolve into sardonic pun-filled tangents about literally anything other than the topic they started with. Regardless of whatever situation they find themselves in, the girls always find an excuse to show off their wordplay skills or indulge in poetic slapstick.
6 Chihayafuru — Karuta Is A Lot More Intense Than It Seems
Karuta is a traditional Japanese trading card game that was originally a kid's game before it eventually evolved into a competitive one. Here, players have to match as many of the image cards to a certain proverb or poem to win. While this may sound mundane in text, Chiahyafuru didn't just make it exciting but dramatic as well.
Determined to make a name for herself, Chihaya Ayase forwent a modeling career to become the country's number one Karuta player. Chihayafuru showed how complicated and difficult this children's card game could actually be, with memorizing almost 100 poems and their corresponding pictures being the least of Chihaya's worries.
5 Girls Und Panzer — Tank Driving & Maintenance Is Now A Martial Art
Anime about vehicular hobbies like Initial D or Super Cub aren't anything new, but Girls Und Panzer is easily one of the most unconventional. Here, schoolgirls participate in the anime's most popular martial art, Sensha-Do or The Way Of The Tank. As its name implies, the girls drive and maintain World War 2 tanks in war games.
Weird premise aside, Girls Und Panzer is notable for being historically and technically accurate when it comes to the tanks' ordinance and tactics. The only thing that separates this anime from more serious war stories is the fact that the girls' tank battles are fun sporting events, not bloody and brutal mechanized warfare.
4 Asobi Asobase — The Pastimers Club Is Dedicated To Doing Literally Anything Other Than Studying
On paper, the Pastimers Club was made to study and celebrate traditional games and entertainment. In reality, Hanako, Kasumi and Olivia just wanted to have an excuse to have chaotic fun in school and not study (which they hate). The only reason why their club is even allowed to operate is because the girls blackmailed their English teacher into vouching for it.
For the rest of the anime, the three did literally anything to justify their club's flimsy existence and to stave off boredom. Some of their made-up pastimes include: playing a mobile battle royale game, reading Kasumi's erotic fanfiction, making an original board game, learning English from a sex bot owned by Hanako's grandfather, and more.
3 The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya — The SOS Brigade Was Founded To Keep Haruhi Entertained At All Costs
Determined to live life to the fullest, Haruhi conscripted Kyon and some of her hapless classmates into the SOS Brigade. Under Haruhi's command, the Brigade's job is to find fantastical and supernatural beings and/or occurrences and have fun with them. While this sounds like a tall order, the irony is that Haruhi got more than she bargained for.
Haruhi never realized that she's basically God, and the world literally revolves around her. Should Haruhi suddenly lose the will to live or get bored of life, reality itself will cease to exist. While pledging to keep this truth a secret from her for her own sake, the SOS Brigade dedicates every moment they can to keeping Haruhi entertained.
2 Princess Jellyfish — The Nunnery Is Home To Some Of The Most Oddly Specific Hobbies In All Of Anime
Princess Jellyfish doesn't focus on one weird hobby, but instead stands out for having a collection of them. Tsukimi Kurashita, an unemployed aspiring artist with a jellyfish obsession, resides in an all-girls' boarding house that its eccentric residents dubbed "The Nunnery," since they believe no one in it has a chance at romance.
Tsukimi's closest girl friends are all otakus with very specific fixations. For instance, Mayaya is obsessed with the Chinese epic Romance Of The Three Kingdoms while Banba dedicated her life to trains. As strange as these hobbyists and their interests are, Princess Jellyfish never showed them negatively and instead sympathized with them.
1 Welcome To The NHK — Tatsuhiro Satou's Inner Circle Maintains & Deconstructs His NHK Conspiracy
Satou is a nervous wreck who sincerely believes that the NHK (a government-owned channel in Japan) is out to get him, hence his decision to drop out of college and become a NEET. Why exactly Satou thinks the NHK wants his life to be miserable never really makes sense, since he made up the entire conspiracy in the first place.
Welcome To The NHK follows Satou's journey down the conspiracy rabbit hole and back, with Misaki and other eccentric friends in tow. Misaki and company have no choice but to enable Satou's conspiracies for a bit before gradually revealing them to be unfounded fears, all with the intention of helping him and understanding his perspective.