Best Japanese comedy series
Get ready to binge. We've found a collection of must-watch comedy shows from Japan, now streaming on Netflix, HBO, Hulu, Prime Video, and other top services!
K-ON! (2009)
K-ON! (2009)
The Sakuragoaka Girls' Academy curriculum traditionally focuses on the three "R"s of reading, writing and arithmetic, but Ritsu Tainaka wants to add two more "R"s: Rock and Roll! To do that, however, Ritsu has to save the Light Music Club from being shut down due to little problems like not having any other members or a faculty advisor. After strong-arming her best friend Mio into joining and convincing Tsumugi Kotobuki to make it a trio, Ritsu's would-be rockers are soon only one talented guitarist short of the quartet they need for school approval. What they get, unfortunately, is Yui Hirasawa, who's never held a guitar in her life, but she's determined to learn! Will the school halls come alive with the sound of music?
Bocchi the Rock! (2022)
Bocchi the Rock! (2022)
Hitori Gotoh, a shy, awkward, and lonely high school student dreams of being in a band despite her doubts and worries, but when she is recruited to be the guitarist of a group looking to make it big, she realises her dream may be able to be fulfilled and come true.
Welcome to the N.H.K. (2006)
Welcome to the N.H.K. (2006)
Sato's life – or what's left of it – is a paranoid mess of conspiracy theories and social anxieties. He's terrified of the outside world; his apartment is overflowing with the remnants of cheap take-out food; and his retinas have been permanently scarred by a steady diet of internet porn. But maybe it's not all his fault. After all, the nefarious N.H.K. is out there, and they’re determined to turn society's fringe-dwellers into a brainwashed lot of jobless, hopeless, futureless recluses.Enter Misaki – a mysterious girl-next-door type who is Sato's last chance to beat-down his inner demons and venture out into the light of day. She's ready to help him overcome his crippling phobias, but Sato would rather cower in his existential foxhole and pretend to work on the demo for his virtual sex game.He’s afraid to face the world. She's strangely desperate to fix a total stranger. Maybe together they can be normal.
ODDTAXI (2021)
Maid Sama! (2010)
Maid Sama! (2010)
Misaki Ayuzawa is the first female student council president at a once all-boys school turned co-ed. She rules the school with strict discipline demeanor. But she has a secret, she works at a maid cafe due to her families circumstances. One day the popular A-student and notorious heart breaker Takumi Usui finds out her secret and makes a deal with her to keep it hush from the school in exchange for spending some time with him.
ReLIFE (2016)
ReLIFE (2016)
Arata Kaizaki (27) quit the job he landed after graduation in only three months. His life did not go well after that. Now his parents are threatening to stop sending money, and want him to come back to the country. He has no friend or girlfriend to share his troubles with...as he hits rock bottom a strange man named Ryou Yoake appears. He invites Arata to join a societal rehabilitation program for NEETs called ReLife. This program uses a mysterious drug to make him look younger, and sends him back to high school for a year...
Hyouka (2012)
Hyouka (2012)
Oreki Houtarou is a minimalistic high school boy. One day, he joins the Classic Literature Club at his elder sister's request. There he meets Chitanda Eru, Fukube Satoshi, and Ibara Mayaka. Chitanda is a calm beautiful girl but she turns into an embodiment of curiosity once she says, "I'm curious." Fukube is a smiling boy with a fantastic memory who calls himself a database. Ibara is a short girl and is strict with others and herself. They begin to investigate a case that occurred 45 years ago. Hints of the mystery are buried in an old collection of works of the former members of Classics Club. The collection is titled "Hyouka."
Fruits Basket (2019)
Fruits Basket (2019)
After a family tragedy turns her life upside down, 16-year-old high school student Tohru Honda takes matters into her own hands and moves out… into a tent! Unfortunately for her, she pitches her new home on private land belonging to the mysterious Soma clan, and it isn't long before the owners discover her secret. But, as Tohru quickly finds out when the family offers to take her in, the Somas have a secret of their own—when hugged by the opposite sex, they turn into the animals of the Chinese Zodiac!
The Tatami Galaxy (2010)
The Tatami Galaxy (2010)
When a college dropout stops for a late night bite at a mysterious ramen stand, he crosses paths with a self-proclaimed deity of matrimony. This bizarre meeting sends the young man hurtling through a horrifying flashback to his not-so-glorious college days when the influence of a cruel new friend turned him from a hopeless romantic into a mischievous “black cupid.”
Nana (2006)
Nana (2006)
Nana Osaki is a guarded and ambitious young woman with a strong will and a rough past. She is the vocalist for a punk band called Black Stones and she desires fame and recognition more than anything else. Nana Komatsu is an outgoing and flighty young woman with a weak will and a stable past. Her life revolves around her desire to find love and marriage. The two meet for the first time while traveling to Tokyo - in pursuit of their respective dreams - and they later decide to be roommates. Although drastically different people, the two become very close and together they find out if their biggest dreams have room for their best friend.
Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions! (2012)
Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions! (2012)
As one of the thousands of Japanese students afflicted with "chunibyo," a state where they're so desperate to stand out that they've convinced themselves that they have secret knowledge and hidden powers, Yuta spent most of his middle school years living in a complete fantasy world. He's finally managing to overcome his delusions but his chunibyo have attracted the attentions of another sufferer, and she's decided that this makes him her soul mate.
Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun (2014)
Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun (2014)
High school student Chiyo Sakura has a crush on schoolmate Umetarō Nozaki, but when she confesses her love to him, he mistakes her for a fan and gives her an autograph. When she says that she always wants to be with him, he invites her to his house and has her help on some drawings. Chiyo discovers that Nozaki is actually a renowned shōjo manga artist named Sakiko Yumeno. She then agrees to be his assistant in order to get closer to him. As they work on his manga Let's Fall in Love (恋しよっ), they encounter other schoolmates who assist them or serve as inspirations for characters in the stories.
Rent-a-Girlfriend (2020)
Rent-a-Girlfriend (2020)
Kinoshita Kazuya is a 20-year-old failure of a college student. He managed to kiss his girlfriend once, but was dumped after a month. Completely spiteful, Kazuya uses a certain method to date a girl. He goes to their meeting place and a beautiful girl brushing her long, black hair behind her ear was there, smiling at him. Her name was Mizuhara Chizuru. Something real is born after just a single rental! A reckless rom-com filled with love and excitement is about to begin!
Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku (2018)
Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku (2018)
When Narumi, an office lady who hides the fact that she is a yaoi fangirl, changes jobs, she is reunited with Hirotaka, her childhood friend who is attractive and skilled but is a hardcore gaming otaku. They decide to start dating for now, but being otaku, both of them are awkward so a serious romantic relationship is rather difficult for them...
The Pet Girl of Sakurasou (2012)
The Pet Girl of Sakurasou (2012)
Sorata Kanda, a high school sophomore living in Sakurasou, the den of their academy's problem children, spends his days being dragged around by the strange residents, swearing he's going to escape Sakurasou one day.
The Quintessential Quintuplets (2019)
The Quintessential Quintuplets (2019)
Fuutarou Uesugi is a poor, antisocial ace student who one day meets the rich transfer student Itsuki Nakano. They argue but when Uesugi realizes he is to be her tutor, he tries to get on better terms. While trying to do so he meets four other girls.
Golden Time (2013)
Golden Time (2013)
Banri Tada is a freshman at a Tokyo law school. After an accident, he suffers severe memory loss. Despite the incident, he befriends fellow freshman, Mitsuo Yanagisawa, which leads him to the beautiful, yet obsessive, Kouko Kaga.
Don't Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro (2021)
Don't Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro (2021)
"A girl in a lower grade just made me cry!" One day, Senpai visits the library after school and becomes the target of a super sadistic junior! The name of the girl who teases, torments, and tantalizes Senpai is "Nagatoro!" She's annoying yet adorable. It's painful, but you still want to be by her side. This is a story about an extremely sadistic and temperamental girl and you'll feel something awaken inside of you.
Blue Spring Ride (2014)
Blue Spring Ride (2014)
At the end of her first year of high school, Futaba Yoshioka suddenly has a chance encounter with her first love, Kou Tanaka. Three years ago, he transferred schools before she was able to say how she felt about him. After meeting each other again, Futaba realizes that he has gone through many changes. He acts more cool and even had his last name changed to Mabuchi. Gradually the two rekindle their love while piecing together what had happened in the time that they were apart.
The Way of the Househusband (2021)
Romantic Killer (2022)
Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid (2017)
Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid (2017)
Kobayashi lives alone in an apartment, until one day, Tohru appeared and they ended up living together. Tooru looks down on humans as inferior and foolish, but having been saved by Kobayashi-san, she does everything she can to repay the debt and help her with various things, although not everything goes according to plan.A mythical everyday life comedy about a hard working office lady living with a dragon girl.
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (2006)
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (2006)
I thought that when I entered high school, my days of believing in aliens, time travelers and ESPers were going to be over. That is, until she introduced herself. Claiming to be interested in only aliens, time travelers, and ESPers, Haruhi Suzumiya was the strangest girl I've met in a long time... Before I knew what's going on, I've been dragged into her weird club, and it looks like I'm not the only one who has been drafted into this "SOS Brigade" of hers, because there are three other students who don't seem to be so ordinary themselves.
Call of the Night (2022)
Call of the Night (2022)
Nanakusa is a vampire. That's okay with human Ko. He wants to be one too. But transformation doesn't come that easily...When Nazuna invites Ko to spend the night at her place in an abandoned building, he's stoked! But then he awakens to kisses on his neck with a little too much bite to them... Is it just the delicious taste of his blood that makes her meet him night after night for late-night adventures, conversation and...naps? Or something else? Then, when a cute girl from Yamori's past shows up and competes for his attention, his budding relationship with the undead is put to the test!
Fruits Basket (2001)
Fruits Basket (2001)
Tohru Honda is 16 year old orphaned girl who gets invited to live in the house of her classmate, the handsome boy Sohma Yuki, and his cousins, 16 year old Kyo and 27 year old Shigure. However, these young men and parts of the rest of their family (both close and distant) hold a curse; if they are hugged by the opposite gender, they transform into animals of the Chinese Zodiac. Everyday is an adventure for sweet Tohru, as she gets to know everyone in the large family better (especially Yuki and Kyo), in both common and bizarre situations. But, the Sohma Family curse is certainly no laughing matter... it also holds horrible cruelty and heartbreak.
Masamune-kun's Revenge (2017)
Masamune-kun's Revenge (2017)
As a child, Masamune Makabe once suffered greatly at the hands of a wealthy and beautiful girl named Aki Adagaki, who nicknamed him "Piggy" due to his chubby appearance. Seeking revenge against his tormentor, Masamune works hard to improve himself and returns as an incredibly handsome, albeit narcissistic, high school student. When he encounters Aki once again, he is prepared to exact vengeance.With the aid of the rich girl's maid, Yoshino Koiwai, Masamune slowly begins to build his relationship with Aki, intending to break her heart when the time is right. However, as his friendship with Aki begins to grow, Masamune starts to question the objectives of his devious plans, and if bringing them to fruition is what his heart truly desires.
My Love Story With Yamada-kun at Lv999 (2023)
My Love Story With Yamada-kun at Lv999 (2023)
Recently dumped, Akane is just about to quit the game she used to play with her boyfriend, when she meets Yamada in the same RPG. Yamada in real life turns out to be somewhat of a legend. The only problem is - he is ONLY interested in the game. As Akane's feelings grow, will Yamada's focus stay on the game?
My Love Story!! (2015)
My Love Story!! (2015)
Takeo Goda is a giant guy with a giant heart. Too bad the girls don't want him! (They always go for his good-looking best friend, Makoto Sunakawa.) Used to being on the sidelines, Takeo simply stands tall and accepts his fate. But one day when he saves a girl named Rinko Yamato from a harasser on the train, his (love!) life suddenly takes an incredible turn! Takeo can hardly believe it when he crosses paths with Rinko again, and he finds himself falling in love with her... But with handsome Suna around, does Takeo even stand a chance?
Tomo-chan Is a Girl! (2023)
Tomo-chan Is a Girl! (2023)
Tomboy Tomo couldn't have picked a more awkward high school crush 'cause it’s on her childhood friend, Junichiro, but he only sees her as one of the guys. Despite her pretty looks and signals, nothing gets through to this meathead! Will Junichiro ever realize Tomo's into him and see her for the cutesy girl she actually is?!
Lovely Complex (2007)
Lovely Complex (2007)
Love is unusual for Koizumi Risa and Ootani Atsushi, who are both striving to find their ideal partner in high school—172 cm tall Koizumi is much taller than the average girl, and Ootani is much shorter than the average guy at 156 cm.