What Anime Should You Watch When You’re Bored?
When you’re bored, you want an anime that offers something completely different. You also want a series that grabs you with an exciting premise or depth but is still easy to watch so everything stays chilled. Our list of the perfect anime to watch when bored includes a wide range of genres, so there’s something for everyone. Basically, we’ve put a lot of effort into curating the perfect bored anime playlist, so you don’t have to! Just sit back and enjoy these classics. We hope this list of great anime will help alleviate your boredom! If you want to enjoy something a little different, why not check out our list of the best anime based on classical literature? Also known as Yuru Camp, the series follows Rin Shima, a high-school girl who spends her free time camping. Nadeshiko Kagamihara is an energetic girl who joins the school’s small camping club and convinces Rin to join. Now with a bigger group, Rin and the others share their love for camping in different spots across Japan. Laid-Back Camp is a love letter to camping and comes with all the chilled outdoor energy the pursuit provides, without the cold nights or trying to pack your tent. Based on a video game franchise, Danganronpa: The Animation takes place inside Hope’s Peak Academy, a prestigious high school that almost guarantees success for its graduates. Makoto is a very average teenager who can’t believe his luck in being accepted, but upon arrival, nothing is as it seems. He and 15 other students are locked inside the school. There, an anthropomorphic bear called Monokuma explains that there is only one way to leave the school: get away with the murder of a fellow student. The Fate series revolves around Holy Grail Wars, where specific magic users summon powerful Heroic Spirits to fight for them in a battle royale. The last surviving ‘master’ wins the Holy Grail, which supposedly grants any wish. Unlimited Blade Works follows the events of the Fifth Holy Grail War. There is a particular focus on Shirou Emiya, who enters the competition by accident, and classmate Rin Tohsaka, the latest participant from a long family history in the Holy Grail Wars. The story follows Cocona, a seemingly normal and slightly aimless middle schooler whose boring world is flipped upside-down when she meets Papika, a strange girl full of energy. Papika pulls Cocona into the world of Pure Illusion, an alternate dimension where she works to retrieve fragments for a mysterious organisation called Flip Flap. What follows is a quirky story that delivers fun in each episode. The plot plays second to the incredible animation that looks like a combination of Japanese and European animation styles. Flip Flappers is a true feast for the eyes. Honey and Clover follows a group of college art students, each trying to find their way in the world while navigating their feelings for one another. Yuuta appears to be the most normal of all, struggling to find meaning in his life until he’s swept off his feet by new student Hagumi. The only problem is that the eccentric and hugely talented Shinobu may have also fallen for the new girl. Honey and Clover combines many of the best elements of slice-of-life, comedy and romance anime, while also having beautiful animation! It’s one of the best anime if you just want to while away lazy summer days. Code Geass isn’t just a mecha anime, though. There’s so much intrigue and depth to the series that you can easily find yourself hooked. Code Geass takes place in a Japan that has been taken over by the Holy Empire of Brittania, the world’s dominant military nation. Lelouch is a Brittanian exile in Japan, now known as Area 11, who finds himself caught in the crossfire of a skirmish between Brittanian and rebel forces. Lelouch’s life is saved by a mysterious girl named C.C., who gives him a power known as Geass, allowing him to command the obedience of anyone who looks into his eye. Using his newfound power, he takes up a second identity as Zero, a masked vigilante supporting the rebels in their fight. However, with his best friend part of the Brittanian army and one of the rebel’s best fighters also going to his school, Lelouch’s hidden identity is constantly under threat. Kobayashi is your average adult, living alone in her city apartment and spending most of her time working. However, her life is made a little brighter when she’s suddenly greeted by a dragon maid named Tooru whom she accidentally bumped into while drunk the night before. Kobayashi agrees to let Tooru become her live-in maid, leading to a range of quirky adventures as she acclimatises to normal life on Earth. While the premise is a little weird (although not compared to many other anime), it’s really just a setup for a wholesome and fun show about the small joys of modern adult life. The series takes place in a world where devils live among humans, wreaking havoc wherever they appear. Ryou is conducting research into the devils and enlists the help of quiet childhood friend Akira, whom he coerces into taking on the power of devils and becoming Devilman. Akira has to deal with extreme changes to his personality as a result of his new power, while also working to protect his loved ones from the rising devil threat. Devilman Crybaby has won a lot of fans not only for its dark story but also for its excellent animation, courtesy of the hugely popular Science SARU. This anime is quite a feast for the eyes. K-On follows the exploits of an all-girls high school music club that’s on the verge of disbanding due to a lack of members. Yui joins, believing the club to be about simple instruments, but asks to leave when she realises it’s more like an actual band. However, the other members convince her to stay. The series follows the young group’s life at high school, including their practice time together. The story follows Natsuki Subaru, a shut-in NEET who, on his way home from the convenience store, suddenly finds himself in a fantasy world. He is saved from some thugs by a half-elf named Emilia, but when he tries to return the favour somehow, both of them are killed. Suddenly, Subaru wakes up back in the fantasy world where he started. Cursed with going back in time after his death, he saves Emilia from her fate and pledges to support her in her mission to be appointed the next queen of the kingdom, no matter how many times he needs to die. While the setting and characters in Re:Zero are quite similar to most isekai and fantasy anime, Re:Zero has a notably dark and psychological side to its story. It also has one of anime’s most iconic characters in Rem, the blue-haired maid. The comedy anime follows Yurine, a goth girl who summons a demon named Jashin-chan from hell. However, not knowing how to send her back, the demon is forced to live with Yurine unless it can kill her. Jashin-chan is clumsy, and Yurine can quite easily turn the tables – often in violent ways – whenever Jashin-chan tries to drop-kick her. With Jashin-chan able to regenerate herself, Yurine often kills the demon as punishment. However, between the constant fighting and Jashin-chan’s various deaths sits a fantasy slice-of-life comedy as the demon, and others from heaven and hell, get accustomed to their seemingly endless life on Earth. Mirai Nikki (Future Diary) follows quiet high-schooler Yukiteru who one day discovers that his cellphone diary is predicting events in his near future. He then learns that other people, including his stalker classmate Yuno, also have similar diaries. Yuki, Yuno and 10 others are part of a game being run by the god of space and time to find their successor and prevent the apocalypse; the last player alive will take his seat as the next god. While Yuki searches for a non-violent way out of the fight, Yuno obsessively accompanies him, killing anyone who would stand between her and Yuki. Beyond Yuno, Mirai Nikki is a solid battle royale series that you can easily binge through when bored. The series follows Kazuma who, like many isekai protagonists, meets an untimely death and finds himself in the presence of an arrogant goddess that offers him a chance at life in another world, where he can take one item of his choosing. In spite, Kazuma chooses to take the goddess herself. When the two of them arrive in the fantasy world, they discover that they’re both pretty useless. Struggling to scrape by a living, they end up creating a malfunctioning team of adventurers with a masochistic crusader and an arch wizard who is always incapacitated after using her only attack. The story revolves around Komi, a high-school girl who looks like a perfect ice queen from a distance. However, Komi actually has extreme social anxiety which stops her from talking to others. Tadano, the painfully ordinary boy sat next to her, notices her condition and decides to help her, discovering Komi’s dream of making 100 friends. Each episode follows Komi and Tadano on their mission which brings together a whole cast of weird and hilarious classmates, particularly the energetic and genderqueer Najimi. Most Komi Can’t Communicate episodes are divided into three small stories, so even if you only have ten minutes to spare, you can enjoy the class antics. Set in the futuristic Sugomori City, the story follows Katsuhira Agata, a quiet and often bullied kid who can barely feel pain. One day, he is greeted by a mysterious and emotionless girl who explains that he, along with six varied students, has been chosen to form part of the experimental Kizna System. As Kiznaivers, the seven students are given scars that allow them to physically share their pain. The anime follows the students who have to look past their different and flawed personalities as they uncover the true meaning behind the Kiznaiver experiments. The Gintama series takes place in the historic city of Edo, although in this world it’s been taken over by aliens that have banned the carrying of swords in public. The story largely follows eccentric samurai Gintoki Sakata who, along with a teenage samurai and an alien girl with superhuman strength, make up Yorozuya (literally ‘the anything store’) performing odd jobs to make enough money for rent. Gintama is largely a gag anime, with only a few story arcs across its years of episodes. The series has made a name for itself through rude jokes and spoofing other anime. Steins;Gate follows the exploits of self-proclaimed mad scientist Rintarou Okabe, who rents out a single room in a flat that doubles as his secret laboratory. While much of his work is brushed off as nonsense ramblings, that changes when he accidentally discovers that one of his experiments, a ‘phone microwave’, can send messages into the past and alter the flow of time. As Okabe tries to develop his machine further, jumping back and forth through time, his small group starts to attract the attention of outsiders, including the acclaimed scientist Makise Kurisu. The story primarily takes place in Honnouji Academy, a unique prestigious school where the powerful student council rule over all. The elite members of the student council wield powerful god clothes that offer the wearer superhuman abilities. Ryuuko arrives at the academy to avenge her dead father, with her only lead being the remaining half of his secret weapon, the Scissor Blade. When she’s beaten by the Student Council, she discovers in the remains of her home a set of god clothes of her own. Now armed with more power, it’s up to her to stand up against the Studen Council and unravel the mystery surrounding her father’s death. Kill la Kill is a hugely fun series, balancing great action with light-hearted moments. Whether you enjoy action or comedy, there’s plenty to enjoy here.
