Can you endure any anime? You don’t know embarrassment? Then we have 5 anime series for you that are really good – but also incredibly cringe.
Anime can be quite absurd at times. In most cases, they are so bizarre that non-anime fans can only roll their eyes. But even for hardcore fans of Japanese animation, there are some series that send a chill of discomfort down your spine. Some anime are just so “cringe” that you have to wince painfully in front of the screen over and over again.
Nevertheless, you can’t just turn off. Here we show you 5 anime that you will find hard to endure – but still want to bravely stick with to the end because you simply can’t help it.
Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui!
Alternative names: WataMote, No Matter How I Look at It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular!
Genres: Comedy, Slice-of-Life
Episodes: 12
Stream available on: Currently no known German provider, only available with VPN.
Tomoko Kuroki is a true gamer. Having completed more than 50 virtual lives in college and successfully dated well over 100 guys in dating sims, she is ready for real life at college. At least that’s what she thinks. In reality, she is hopelessly overwhelmed by social norms and pressures and is simply overloaded with managing everyday life. Even the smallest mistakes throw her completely off track, causing her to stumble from one mishap to the next, making her increasingly anxious, which only leads to more mistakes.
What to expect from Watamote: Watching Tomoko in her daily life is quite amusing. Her well-crafted plans on how to finally become popular are always ultimately thwarted by her own mistakes. Watamote strikes quite a balance. Because every now and then, the tone shifts from “unpleasantly cringe” to “unpleasantly relatable”. Because every now and then, there’s a little Tomoko in all of us who feels overwhelmed by the social rules of society and wishes to escape them.
Why anime have such absurdly long names, we explained here.
Rent-A-Girlfriend
Alternative names: Kanojo, Okarishimasu
Genres: Comedy, Harem, Drama
Episodes: 24 (2 seasons, a third is currently airing)
Stream available on: Crunchyroll
The 20-year-old Kazuya starts college life with a big blow. His first girlfriend breaks up with him after just a month. To cheer himself up, he uses a “rental girlfriend” service, meets the charming Chizuru, and goes on a date with her. When he finds out that Chizuru gives all the guys such a nice time – for which she is being paid – he gets angry and gives her a negative review.
Just when the two are arguing about this, Kazuya receives a message from the hospital that his grandmother is not well. So they rush to the hospital, where Kazuya introduces Chizuru as “his girlfriend” so he doesn’t look like a loser in front of her. Chizuru plays along since it’s just a paid date. The problem is that Chizuru’s grandmother is also in the hospital, who knows nothing about her granddaughter’s side job and thinks Kazuya is Chizuru’s real boyfriend.
The two now have to maintain this facade of a relationship at least in front of their grandmothers, but otherwise want to avoid each other. How annoying that they also live next door…
What to expect from Rent-A-Girlfriend: Kazuya is not just “cringe”, but often difficult to tolerate. Not only does he misunderstand just about every sentence a woman says and maneuvers both her and himself into complicated situations; he also makes her deal with the consequences. This is compensated, as is typical in the “harem” genre, by the female characters, of which especially Chizuru stands out from the usual “harem cliché mush” and forces you to watch the next episode. Genre-typical “coincidences” ensure that you’ll be rolling on the floor laughing.
However, as the story progresses, the protagonist also becomes somewhat more complex and improves. Even if he may never shed certain negative traits.
More cringe anime (that are still worth watching!) can be found on the next page.
- 1
- 2
