In the interesting world of anime, anything goes in terms of theme, setting, and story - which explains why some of the best anime feature amazing battles amongst comrades and their rivals, fierce competition in various sports, dazzling displays of magical prowess, or sheer laughter in witty antics in clever slice-of-life stories. However, perhaps of all anime genres, none could beat the versatility and sheer hilarity of the parody anime, particularly comedy anime that parodies shounen tropes.Unlike other comedy genres, the shounen parody genre makes fun of and rejoices in all the wacky things that make shounen anime and manga crazily unique. These include things such as transformation, giant weapons, cool rivals, poses, and even attack names that protagonists scream in combat. However, these aren’t the end-all, be-all of shounen parody anime. Here are the best anime that parody shounen tropes for fans who just want to celebrate the genre:
10 One Punch Man
While not entirely classified as a parody genre, One Punch Man is probably one of the first that comes to mind when it comes to a shounen parody. In One Punch Man, Saitama, also the titular protagonist, is a typical Japanese adult - he has his own apartment, pays his rent and taxes, and is often on the lookout for opportunities to get by. Thanks to his hard work and perseverance, Saitama trained himself to become a superhero and now possesses the ability to defeat enemies in a single blow.
Under the Hero Association, Saitama isn’t known as “One Punch Man,” though. He’s rather assigned the moniker Caped Baldy and is initially a part of the C-Class. Funnily enough, Saitama at the time didn’t get into a higher Hero Class because of, guess what, poor grades. And somehow, no one seems to witness whenever Saitama does something ridiculously strong, such as defeating entire villains when no hero could. One Punch Man is a hilarious take of the overpowered shounen hero, but this time showing what happens when the world doesn’t seem to notice them.
9 Haven’t You Heard? I’m Sakamoto
Fans of any shounen anime would understand the sheer frustration of not having the secondary protagonist - almost always the timid, quiet, and in all ways cool guy - take the spotlight from the over-enthusiastic main character. Thankfully, Haven’t You Heard? I’m Sakamoto does exactly that, when the protagonist Sakamoto is the “coolest” student in school. And when people forget about his reputation, he always has ways to unexpectedly remind them just how cool he truly is.
In many ways, a parody of the popular guy trope, Haven’t You Heard? I’m Sakamoto may as well be a parody of all equal-parts-edgy-and-cool secondary protagonists out there, such as Sasuke Uchiha. When deliberate pranks and misfortunes strike Sakamoto at school, he always has some way to emerge victorious - and in a hilariously perfect way as well.
8 The Misfit Of Demon King Academy
In The Misfit Of Demon King Academy, the Demon King Anos Voldigoad made a deal with the hero Kanon - the hero’s life for peace across the land. Now, 2,000 years, Anos finds himself reincarnated in a world where magic is weak and royal demons rule over “lesser” hybrid demons with an iron fist. And while Anos decides it’s time to reclaim his title as Demon King, he slowly realizes that he’s reincarnated into the body of a hybrid. Not only that, he’s a student in Demon King Academy and can't technically get anywhere in life unless he graduates.
Similar to One Punch Man, this anime parodies the overpowered protagonist of shounen manga. Not only that, but given the sheer weakness of magic in the anime, Anos’ displays of his sheer power just make teachers label him more and more as a delinquent. With flashy displays of power being not so much of a priority in a school with a rigid social hierarchy, there’s a lot of room for hilarity in The Misfit of Demon King Academy.
7 The Disastrous Life Of Saiki K
Another take on One Punch Man and its superpowered protagonist idea lies in The Disastrous Life Of Saiki K. In this story, pink-haired high schooler Saiki K. has a host of various psychic abilities that don't necessarily faze people around him. His parents love him, his classmates bore him, and he doesn’t see the point in hiding his powers because no one necessarily notices them. Equipped with a sharp wit and superpowers to save the world, The Disastrous Life Of Saiki K parodies the one thing shounen protagonists never do: not doing anything with their powers.
In fact, The Disastrous Life Of Saiki K turns shounen on its heel by being a slice-of-life anime with a whole host of referencing tropes from other shows. With threats from evildoers just an eyesore to Saiki K. as his classmates always seemed to him, it’s hilarious to see how Saiki K.’s powers seem useless to the shenanigans of his friends.
6 Gintama
When anime fans think of a parody anime, Gintama will probably take first place, and for good reason. Taking place in Feudal Japan, the arrival of alien conquerors has suddenly placed a ban on swords, making life for samurai extremely difficult. Gintoki Sakata, one such samurai, had to resort to doing odd jobs just to get by, which almost always meant unpleasant encounters with people like criminals, assassins, and even authority figures.
What makes Gintama such a timeless classic is its approach to parodying anime, particularly shounen anime. Often breaking the fourth wall, Gintama explores hilarious shounen tropes such as long fight scenes, exaggerated portrayals of historical figures, and other oddities present only in the world of super-powerful shounen protagonists and their equally-edgy archrivals.
5 Hayate The Combat Butler
At first glance, Hayate The Combat Butler seems quite the action anime given the “combat’ in its title, but funnily enough, it’s nothing like what viewers would expect. The story begins when young Hayate Ayasaki begins turning to kidnapping as a means to repay his family’s huge debt to the Yakuza. Unfortunately for him, his kidnapping of the rich Nagi Sanzenin is thought of as a love confession, and now he’s employed as her personal butler. Thus begins a rather weird and awkward adventure where Hayate is forced to protect Nagi from evildoers.
Although not necessarily a pure shounen parody, the premise of Hayate The Combat Butler almost immediately turns a popular shounen genre on its head: the edgy protagonist with a criminal past. A modern example of this would be Kogami Shinya of Psycho-Pass, a former criminal now serving as a police enforcer. In the case of Hayate, his criminal past is becoming more of an inconvenience as he gets to use his odd skillset in hilarious ways in every episode.
4 Lucky Star
For a slice-of-life anime, it’s safe to assume that Lucky Star is a comedy, but not all newcomers to the show would expect it to be a parody of otaku culture. Granted, this doesn’t make Lucky Star a pure shounen parody, but given the prevalence of shounen in otaku culture, it’s safe to say that each Lucky Star episode would at some point make reference to a shounen anime.
Given that a lot of its characters are shounen fans, Lucky Star almost always makes it a point to adapt popular poses and catchphrases from hit shounen series such as Initial D, Code Geass, Dragon Ball, Fullmetal Alchemist, or even Yu-Gi-Oh!. If anything, Lucky Star hilariously demonstrates how impractical - and equally cool - doing catchphrases and poses are in a “realistic” setting. It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s less cool to do them with friends.
3 Senyu
Although more of a parody of the fantasy genre than straightforward shounen, Senyu provides more than enough flavor to show just how ridiculous shounen plots can get. In Senyu, the human hero Creasion manages to seal a rampaging Demon King 1,000 years ago. And when a similar threat reemerges in the present, the King orders his descendant to save the day as their ancestor did. The problem is, they have no idea who Creasion’s true descendant is. So to circumvent this problem, the King simply has 75 “probable” descendants to do the job.
The story explores Alba, Hero 45, and his adventure that is clearly devolving into slice-of-life. Accompanying him is Royal Soldier Ross, who keeps on teasing him, and the Demon Queen herself. With each episode proving the mission to defeat the Demon King is more of a hilariously-impossible endeavor, Senyu parodies one of the most overused tropes in shounen: the destined hero, or in this case the hero’s descendant.
2 Gonna Be The Twin-Tail!!
In Gonna Be Twin-Tail!!, high school student Soji Mitsuka has a peculiar obsession for twin-tails. Fortunately for him, an otherworldly being named Towearle - with twin-tails! - enters Earth just in time when monsters declare other twin-tails as theirs. Twoearle entrusts Soji with a Tail Gear that allows him to transform into a girl with armor (in anime terms, barely any) named Tail Red to protect Earth. In the process, Soji befriends other twin-tailed girls to assemble the Twin-Tail Warriors to defend Earth from Ultimegil.
While Gonna Be Twin-Tail!! is more a parody of Super Sentai (the basis of Power Rangers) than the shounen genre itself, one couldn’t deny that removing a Sentai team’s costumes would probably leave a plot ripe for a shounen anime. After all, a protagonist with a penchant for red assembling a rag-tag team seems fresh out of a shounen anime. It just so happens that Super Sentai, like Gonna Be Twin-Tail!! has the luxury of getting themselves costumes in the process. Moreover, powerful girls in skimpy yet stylish outfits seem like typical shounen aesthetics - only this time it’s actually a guy wearing them.
1 Cromartie High School
What better way to explore some of the hilarity of shounen tropes in their most popular setting: the school. This is exactly what Cromartie High School explores, as its protagonist Takashi Kamiyama and his quest to change the students of Cromartie High School. That’s because Cromartie High School is home to some of the most infamous delinquents of Japan, and this is exactly what the anime parodies: the 1970s and 1980s obsession with juvenile delinquent stories.
On a serious note, Cromartie High School is an interesting throwback as to the origins of why a lot of shounen stories almost always begin with delinquents in high school. Just look at Yusuke Urameshi of YuYu Hakusho, who was also a school delinquent before becoming a Spirit Detective. And on a hilarious note, Cromartie High School has its fair share of hilarious characters - some seemingly straight out of a JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure story, and others just there for the comedic value.