Summary
While the genre is often known for its absurd premises and over-the-top deliveries, many anime go above and beyond that bybreaking the fourth wallin the best ways. A concept with roots in theater, the “fourth wall” is what separates fictional characters from the real-life audience; the latter is aware of it while the former is generally not. Breaking the fourth wall is when the characters in a story become aware of their status as such, commenting on their world or the fact that they’re being watched.
Sometimes, characters will even try to interact with the audience, or come to affect the way the story goes. This is most often played for comedy, which is especially effective in animation, because it’s easier to have animated characters interact with their environment. In rarer cases, it’s played for drama or even horror, with the characters despairing over being just part of someone else’s story.
10Gintama Breaks The Fourth Wall However It Can
Based on the manga by Hideaki Sorachi
Gintamahas long reigned as one of thefunniest comedy anime ever made, with its cast of lovable goofballs and its perpetually over-the-top humor.Naturally, it has more fourth wall breaks than you can shake a stick at,from addressing the audience to loudly criticizing the production process to even explaining what anime filler is in “The Color For Each Person’s Bond Comes In Various Colors.”
The most outrageous instance of this joke comes fromthe episode “Screw Popularity Polls,”near the end of the series. Upon discovering that the author’s avatar scored higher in a fan popularity contest than she did, Otae leaps from the TV, aiming to kill him. As soon as she does, the entire show goes to pieces, enough to cause it to be canceled until an equally ridiculous solution is found.
Gintama
Cast
Gintama is a Japanese anime series based on Hideaki Sorachi’s manga. Set in an alternate Edo-period Japan overrun by extraterrestrial invaders, it follows the eccentric samurai Gintoki Sakata and his odd-jobs crew as they navigate a world of adventure, humor, and rebellion.
9Anime-Gataris Takes Anime Fanaticism to a New Level
Original anime written by Mitsutaka Hirota
There are manyanime about making anime, and plenty more out there about school clubs just trying to have a good time. Surprisingly, there aren’t quite so many that focus on the humble anime club, like the one led in this show by Minoa Asagaya. Minoa’s club is on a quest to find the name of the obscure anime she’d adored as a child.
Their efforts shake their world up far more than they expected.The further they dig, the more they come to realize that they themselves are in an anime, and cannot escapeeven as their world starts unraveling. To their horror, they go from pointing out anime tropes and design choices to watching their and their friends’ personalities be rewritten before their eyes, unable to do anything about it because their lives and selves are not their own and never were.
8Fruits Basket’s Fourth Wall Breaks Get Better in the Dub
Based on the manga by Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basketisn’t usually given to these types of gags, but Hatsuharu Sohma seems to bring them all out at once. The jokes centering around him go beyond poking fun at common anime tropes by, for instance, having him prove his two-toned hair is all natural. When his competition with Kyo turns violent,Tohru remarks from the sidelines, “Somehow, this has turned into a fighting anime!”
Many times, thebest English dubs in animecan make a funny moment hilarious by the way they choose to translate or add to a particular line. In the same episode’s original subs, after Haru warns viewers not to try provoking their angry relatives at home, all Kyo snaps back is “Don’t do it here!” The dub has Kyo hang a lampshade on the fourth wall breaking joke when he also demands to know, “Who are you even talking to?!”
Fruits Basket
Fruits Basket (2019) is an anime adaptation following Tohru Honda, a high school girl who ends up living with the mysterious Sohma family. She discovers that twelve members of the Sohma clan are cursed to transform into animals of the Chinese zodiac when embraced by the opposite sex. The series delves into the lives and challenges faced by the cursed members while exploring themes of acceptance, friendship, and personal growth.
7Pokémon: The Series Has Team Rocket Regularly Demolish the Fourth Wall
Produced by OLM, based on the video games by Nintendo and Game Freak
Several characters besides Misty interact with the show’s narrator, usually to yell at him for getting something wrong.
Many characters in thelongest-running anime of all timeacknowledge that status with surprising regularity for a show whose humor doesn’t center around it. Ascomic relief villains, Team Rocket are far and away the most consistent jokers.For instance, inPokémon 2000,they’re the ones most excited to be in a movie,and are pointed directly at the viewers as proof that lots of people saw their heroic sacrifice and are proud of them.
In “Hypno’s Naptime,” along with Team Rocket knowing they’re working within half-hour episodes, Misty yells at the narrator for congratulating her on acquiring Psyduck. Several times, when characters are separated by split-screens, they’ll fight over it to be the only one onscreen. It’s also repeatedly implied that the other characters can see fantasy sequences as well as the viewers can, and can interfere with them as well.
Pokémon
Pokémon follows Ash Ketchum on his journey to become a Pokémon Master, accompanied by his loyal Pikachu. Released in 1997, the series explores Ash’s travels through various regions, where he encounters new friends and challenges, underscoring the themes of adventure and teamwork.
6Kill la Kill’s Villains are the Only Ones to Break the Fourth Wall
Original anime written by Kazuki Nakashima
Kill la Killis a bonkers show in general, so it takes a lot to communicate instantly to the audience that a particular character is several notes more deranged than everything else going on around them. With Nui Harime, the best way to show it is tohave her openly mess around with not just the other characters, but the setting itself as well.
Subtitles are used repeatedly throughout the show to introduce each new character Ryuko meets on her journey, but Nui is the only one who is introduced casually leaning on her own name. Split screens don’t stop her from bothering enemies and allies alike, she just reaches right over the line. Even the credits can’t keep her away: “Imitation Gold” seems to end on a high note for the heroes, only for Nui to interrupt the ED to gloat about how unstoppable Ragyo’s transformation is.
Kill la Kill
Kill la Kill follows Ryuko Matoi, a high school student searching for her father’s killer. She enrolls at Honnouji Academy, a school ruled by the student council led by Satsuki Kiryuin, who wields powerful clothing known as Goku Uniforms. As Ryuko battles through the ranks with her own sentient outfit, Senketsu, she uncovers deeper secrets about the academy and her father’s death.
Based on the light novels by Nagaru Tanigawa and Noizi Ito
There are 12 volumes of the originalHaruhi Suzumiyalight novel series.
Haruhi has such off-the-charts world-bending powers that it’s all the SOS Brigade can do to keep her happy and her abilities in check. However, nothing is stopping her or the omniscient narrator from breaking the fourth wall to smithereens any time they like. As such,much of the humor in the show comes from how blatantly Haruhi gets to break the rules of reality.
However, the humor comes to a screeching halt when Haruhi’s desire for an eternal summer affects the viewing experience of every single audience member. The “Endless Eight” is the same episode shown over and over again with only infinitesimal differences, for eight real-life weeks. What better way could there be to make increasingly anxious audiences really feel the slog of Kyon and company living the same two weeks thousands of times over, never understanding why?
The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya centers on high school student Kyon, who inadvertently becomes involved with the eccentric Haruhi Suzumiya and her unusual club, the SOS Brigade, which seeks to find aliens, time travelers, and espers. Unbeknownst to Haruhi, she possesses the power to alter reality, leading to a series of strange and supernatural events that Kyon and the other brigade members must navigate.
4Ouran High School Host Club Embraces Being a Romantic Comedy
Based on the manga by Bisco Hatori
It’s no surprise thatthe students of Ouran Academy treat the fourth wall as merely a suggestion:being theatrically dramatic seems to be in their nature. Famously, Tamaki correctly identifies the show as a romcom and himself as Haruhi’s primary love interest early on, and warns the “homosexual supporting cast” to give him space to do his thing (naturally, they all ignore him for their own grabs at the spotlight.)
In Mori’s first starring episode, Tamaki apologizes for his not having any episodes about him before; Mori, who never realized he was a background character, nearly cracks his neck in shock. When blood types are discussed, Haruhi apologizes to AB-blood-type viewers for Kyoya’s perpetuating harmful stereotypes about them. The unadapted manga kept it up, with narration poking fun at just how many times spring has sprung in their high school career and how graduation doesn’t seem to be anyone’s concern.
Ouran High School Host Club
Ouran High School Host Club is a 2006 anime series centered around Haruhi Fujioka, a scholarship student at the prestigious Ouran Academy. Mistaken for a boy, Haruhi joins the school’s Host Club, where handsome boys entertain female students. The series explores themes of friendship, identity, and social class, and features a diverse cast of characters including the charming Tamaki Suoh and the stoic Kyoya Ootori.
3My Deer Friend Nokotan Is a Surrealist Ride
Based on the manga by Oshioshio
My Deer FriendNokotanhas been a hit in the Summer 2024 lineup of anime, especially among fans of weird and surrealist comedy. The entire premise of the show is absurd, as it’s based on a transfer student with deer antlers disrupting the peaceful school life of an ex-delinquent. The show never takes itself too seriously, reveling in the antics of its cast.
No one except the protagonist, Torako, takes notice of Nokotan’s antlers or ofthe absurd, reality-bending things that happen around her. These include plenty of fourth-wall breaking, of course, especially in the form of references and spoofs on famous movies and other anime, includingFist of the North Star,Rambo, and more. Of course, there is also plenty of dialogue between Torako and the narrator, too.
My Deer Friend Nokotan
Torako, a high school student hiding her past as a delinquent, maintains a perfect facade until Nokotan, a transfer student with antlers, enters her life. Nokotan’s ability to sniff out secrets disrupts Torako’s world, leading to hilarious and heartwarming moments as they navigate high school together.
2Pop Team Epic’s Heroes Revel in Being in a TV Show
Based on the webcomic and manga by Bkub Okawa
This absurdist comedy boasts way more than one of thebest anime openings of 2022, which fully embraces the shorts’ surreal nature. Popuko and Pipimi blatantly don’t think much of the producers and crew putting the show on, butadore being the stars and getting to do whatever they want.The only reason Pipimi repeatedly worries about Popuko drinking and smoking onscreen is that youth in Japanese media can’t be shown doing such things.
1JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure’s Openings Often Bend the Fourth Wall
Based on the manga by Hirohiko Araki
JoJo’s fourth wall breaks don’t tend to show up in the show itself, but itsintensely creative opening sequencesare a whole different ball game.When they’re not openly giving away important plot points, they’re hiding them to reveal later.Attentive viewers may notice that the second opening ofStardust Crusadersskips awkwardly at one point: once the gang begins their fight with Dio, it’s revealed that that was him freezing the credits with The World to mock Jotaro.
While Yoshikage Kira’s Another One Bites the Dust power makes the opening ofDiamond Is Unbreakablego back in time, Diavolo and Pucci are no slouches here, either. Diavolo uses King Crimson to erase some time fromGolden Wind’s opening, too, until Giorno turns the tables in the final episodes with Gold Experience Requiem. Enrico Pucci takes the absolute cake with this inStone Ocean’s final episode, when Made in Heaven reverses the opening sequence all the way back toPhantom Blood’s opening as Pucci resets the world and creates a new universe.
JoJo Bizarre Adventure
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is an anime adapted from Hirohiko Araki’s manga, following the Joestar family whose members discover their unique supernatural abilities. Spanning multiple generations and diverse settings, each arc explores different members' battles against malevolent forces, blending action, horror, and fantastical elements.
