Iyashikei is a primarily Japanese genre where the main point is to have no point. Peaceful living, relaxation, and healing are the stars of these almost exclusively Japanese works. The occasional emotional or action episode is warranted, but things normally go back to status quo; i.e., relaxation, almost immediately.
Comedy, meanwhile, needs no introduction. A lot of iyashikei works have comedy mixed into them, like Laid-Back Camp, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, and Tanaka-kun is Always Listless. There’s rarely a work that’s pure comedy without a mix of other genres, even with gag anime like Asobi Asobase and Daily Lives of High School Boys.
Fall 2023 has a slate of iyashikei and comedy anime that span the spectrum. Most are adapted from light novels and manga, and are highly anticipated by fans who want to see their favorite moments brought to life.
10 Frieren: Beyond Journey's End
Sousou no Freiren is about the elf Freiren’s peaceful life after the end of the quest. But it’s more accurate to say that, to fans, Frieren is cathartic and a welcome release of pent-up and unrealized emotions.
Though it deals with heavy topics, Freiren’s journey is one of unwinding and taking the time to contemplate what one’s life means to themself and others. During her journey, Freiren realizes the richness of the life she had with her party, the magic of the world around her, and what experiences make human life worthwhile.
9 The Four Brothers of the Yuzuki Household
This sweet shojo manga follows a family of four brothers who lost their parents two years ago. Hayato, the eldest of the titular brothers, does his best to meet the needs of his younger brothers. High schooler Mikoto dotes on middle schooler Minato, despite their opposing natures. Gakuto is as serious and mature as Minato is clumsy, despite only being in the first grade.
Yuzuki-san Chi no Yon Kyōdai has simple, but gentle and heartwarming stories about the everyday challenges each brother makes individually and as a family.
8 You Were Experienced, I Was Not: Our Dating Story
This romantic comedy follows Ryuto Kashima, a down-on-his-luck high schooler who watches live streams and nothing else. Because of a punishment game, he's forced to confess to popular girl Runa Shirakawa, who gamely goes out with him afterward.
Runa is never mean to Ryuto, despite having the advantage of having dating experience. They're oblivious to each other's worries about their own dating history, but do their best to overcome their own insecurities. Ryuto and Ryuna grow together as people and as persons in a relationship.
7 Stardust Telepath
Umika Konohoshi finds it hard to communicate with others. All the way up to high school, she wishes for a friend who she can communicate with without needing to say a word, like the aliens in her sci-fi novels. Enter Yuu Akeuchi, a self-proclaimed alien telepath who literally barges into Umika's life.
Hoshikuzu Telepath is almost a "cute girls doing cute things" style of manga. It delivers gag upon gag expected of a girl who claims to be a telepath alien and another girl learning to socialize for the first time. But it deals with heavy emotions and painful themes in later volumes before swinging back into the gag manga formula.
6 Dog Signal
For a lot of pet owners, nothing is more healing than dogs. But training them is another matter. To dog trainer Shinichiro Niwa, however, it's just another walk in the dog park.
Indecisive pet owner Miyu Samura encounters Nawa on one such walk with a pet forced on him by an ex-girlfriend. Miyu's life changes with the encounter. Slowly but surely, Miyu learns more about responsible pet ownership and the best way to care for and train his new pal.
5 Pokemon Concierge
From the outset, Pokemon Concierge has a relaxing outline. The stop-motion series follows hotel concierge Haru as she welcomes Trainers and their Pokemon to the Pokemon Resort with her partner Psyduck.
Although assisted by VFX, dwarf studios does every shot with actual figures and physical sets. Based on trailers, human and Pokemon characters all have handcrafted expressions swapped out per shot. Special rigs also make it possible to move figures naturally. The special care put into each scene adds to the "healing factor" and pick-up-and-watch nature of the series.
4 A Playthrough of a Certain Dude's VRMMO Life
Playing video games to escape isn’t a foreign concept for GameZXC readers, but not every gamer wants to play games unconventionally. Hero Taichi Tanaka, or Earth as he’s known in-game, does exactly that for kicks in a world where anyone can do anything they wished.
Unlike other hot-blooded VRMMO heroes, Tanaka takes the sandbox game at a leisurely pace, and enjoys it the way he wants to. He busies his time making complicated food and potions, finds and makes new and curious weapons, and takes time to do things conventional gamers may find bizarre.
3 Heat the Pig Liver
Ignoring a blatant health concern lands an otaku in the body of a pig. Yet, this may not be the worst thing to happen to the unfortunate, unnamed protagonist, whose new owner Jess plans to eat him in the future. Despite this, her gentle and indulgent nature spurs Pig to do everything they can in their little hooves to save her from a dark future.
Premise aside, Pig Liver is full of meta humor that pokes fun at its format, whether in light novel or manga form. It's also quite full of ecchi or PG-13 moments. But readers who think they'll only get pure ecchi humor should go in with caution, as it has been likened to deceptively dark anime.
2 Tearmoon Empire
Tearmoon Empire answers the question “What if a villain reincarnates, but remains as scummy as ever?” Princess Mia wakes up as her 12-year-old self after she was guillotined at 20 for being a horrible royal. Remembering her future, Mia crafts a plan to avoid having her head cut off for a second time.
She uses her future knowledge to charm enemies and rebuild the empire, so she can save her own skin without changing her habits, and exert the least amount of effort while doing so.
1 The Family Circumstances of the Imbalanced Witch
Dekoboko Majo no Oyako Jijou follows Alissa and Viola, a witch and her adoptive daughter. Together they try to live a peaceful life together, barring magical mishaps and hijinks, and recounting how they got to that point. The central recurring gag is about Viola looking like a buxom adult compared to the petite Alissa. However, the manga is quite touching when it comes to their mother-daughter relationship.
Alissa’s parental anxieties and endeavor to raise Viola right are contrasted with Viola’s fear of separation and uncontrollably intense summoning power. The colorful side characters add to the situational humor and add insight to the family’s uniquely funny living situation.