It's no secret that anime can get pretty weird sometimes. Many series take their audiences on a mind-boggling ride, leaving them to question everything they thought they knew about reality. While just about every anime title is weird in its own way, some are just beyond strange. They play with the audiences' minds, relying on psychological storylines and eccentric characters to keep everyone guessing.
Sometimes they don't even feel real at all and seem more like a strange dream. A lot of times, these kinds of series are too much for general audiences, becoming far too confusing to keep up with. But for those who enjoy the challenge, these anime are the perfect watch.
10 Bobobo-bo Bo-Bobo Is Hilariously Strange
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Bobobo-bo Bo-Bobo is one of the most infamously strange anime series of all time. Nearly everything about it is bizarre, from its wacky style and characters to its ridiculous story. It takes place in a world where hair is freedom, and the tyrannical Maruhage Empire plots to take this freedom from everyone by shaving everyone bald.
Luckily, the titular hero has joined forces with a gang of friends, and with their skills in the "ways of hair," they're set on defeating this evil foe. With one of the craziest storylines of all time, Bobobo-bo Bo-Bobo is unlike any other anime out there, giving fans the experience of a lifetime.
9 Paprika Takes Viewers Into A Crazy Dream World
Coming from the genius mind of Satoshi Kon, it's no surprise that Paprika is bizarre. Just about all of his works are nothing short of trippy, but this final film is probably one of his trippiest. The story delves deep into humanity's innermost thoughts and dreams, making for a puzzling psychological thriller that often makes little sense.
After a tech lab creates a mysterious machine called the DC Mini, they gain power to enter a test subject's dreams. Unfortunately, this has catastrophic results after the device falls into the wrong hands. As a result, dreams and reality collide, and it slowly becomes harder to establish one from the other.
8 Kaiba Is A Surreal Experience
Kaiba is a dystopian sci-fi series that takes weirdness to a new level. The story follows the journey of a young man named Kaiba, who one day wakes up to find he has no memories. Viewers join him on a quest to discover who he truly is, learning about the complexities of memory and the human mind along the way.
From its unique art style to its unusual themes, there's a lot about this series that makes it stand out from the rest. It delves deep into some very thought-provoking themes, such as memory, identity, and self-discovery, and it presents them in a surreal and otherworldly way that gives this series a dream-like feel.
7 Evangelion Is Famous For Its Psychological Themes
At first glance, the Evangelion franchise looks no different from any other mecha story. It's got all the makings of a typical series from the genre, with its rag-tag group of adventurers and giant battle robots.
As the series progresses, it becomes much more psychological, delving into themes like individuality, consciousness, and mental instability. For many, this drastic shift in the story is confusing or even upsetting. However, it's made Evangelion one of the most innovative mecha series of all time, and it's become famous for its mind-bending moments.
6 Cat Soup's Bizarre Journey Is A Work Of Art
Cat Soup is a rather overlooked OVA of the 2000s. Few have heard of it, but those who've seen it know all too well just how strange and surreal it truly is. It has a fairly simple storyline, following the epic journey of Nyatto as he searches for his sister's soul. However, this film is anything but simple, taking the audience on a dark and twisted adventure filled with strange and disturbing imagery.
Though Cat Soup is one of the strangest anime OVAs to exist, there's a kind of beauty in its oddity. It's not something everyone can enjoy, but anyone can appreciate its creativity and innovation.
5 Pop Team Epic Is Absurdity At Its Finest
There are some weird comedy series in anime, but Pop Team Epic is definitely one of the weirdest. It's the absurdly random adventures of two strange high school girls, Popuko and Pipimi. Together, they get into all sorts of wacky and mischievous antics, throwing the world into complete chaos in the process.
Pop Team Epic is filled to the brim with slapstick, pop culture references, and fourth wall breaks. Sometimes it's hard to even understand what's going on. While it may be confusing, crude, and extremely strange, Pop Team Epic is one of the best examples of gag humor in anime, and fans can't get enough.
4 Welcome To The NHK Delves Deep Into Mental Health
Welcome to the NHK is an underrated classic that focuses on mental health, psychology, and the damaging lifestyle of the hikikomori. It centers around a young college dropout named Tatsuhiro Satou, who has gradually become delusional from many years of isolation due to his hikikomori lifestyle. Throughout the series, Tatsuhiro struggles to overcome his fears and delusions and become a normal part of society again.
Tatsuhiro's journey paints a clear picture of the harsh realities of mental illness firsthand through dark humor and emotional narratives that are almost too relatable sometimes. The series accurately portrays the pain of mental illness, sometimes taking it into very strange psychological territory.
3 Redline Is A Wild Ride From Start To Finish
Redline is a beloved cult classic that many consider one of the greatest anime films of all time. It's also one of the craziest anime movies to ever exist, jam-packed with high energy and excitement from the very start.
There's so much going on with this film that it's often hard to keep up with the pace. Not to mention, it's got a slew of colorful characters, each with their own storylines that take the plot down a new path. Despite what viewers might think, Redline is far more complex than it seems, becoming much more than just a simple racing story.
2 The Tatami Galaxy Is A Mind-Bending Adventure Through Space & Time
Many series over the years have taken a surreal approach when covering heavy subjects such as depression and mental illness, but few do it quite like The Tatami Galaxy. After a strange encounter leaves him filled with regret over his wasted college years, a young man finds himself sent through time to relive these days. Given a second chance, he tries to make the most of his life this time, but it proves to be harder than he thinks.
The series follows his many lives, using time travel, symbolism, and psychedelic imagery to create a puzzle-like message for the audience to put together as the story unfolds. It's a mind-bending and surreal experience that many believe is one of the best psychological anime series to date.
1 FLCL Reigns As The Weirdest Anime Of All Time
To this day, FLCL, also known as Fooly Cooly, remains one of the strangest anime series ever. It centers around the misadventures of a young boy named Naota, who finds his life turned upside down after he literally collides with a mysterious pink-haired girl named Haruko. After this encounter, a strange lump grows on his forehead that turns out to be a portal to the universe. As weird as this all is, that's only the beginning of what makes FLCL so bizarre.
Just about every aspect of this series is strange, leaving many fans scratching their heads even decades after the story's conclusion. Despite its oddity, fans love this series. To this day, it's hailed as an innovative masterpiece and one of the greatest anime of all time.