Narm Charm / Anime & Manga

Narm Charm in Anime & Manga.

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• Many English dubs from the 80s and 90s possess this for old-school fans, with just a few notable examples including AKIRA, Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon, and — in an interesting case of straddling the line between this and (in some people's opinions) Superlative Dubbing — Neon Genesis Evangelion.
  • Neon Genesis Evangelion plays with this, as the dub can really be hit or miss. On one hand, you have lines like "Every single missile hit the target!", but the last two episodes are captivating in their Mind Screw.
  • Something to be kept in mind about early dubs is that not only were they many people's introduction to anime (in an era where there was no such thing as internet fansubbing groups or streaming services such as Crunchyroll). Some of them were basically fandubs with publishing rights - what they lacked in talent and budget they could sometimes make up for in earnest passion, even if it was corny as hell.
• Lots of the dramatic scenes in One Piece are incredibly over the top even for manga. Because the rest of the story is just as exaggerated and fantastic, and the characters and situations themselves are uniquely compelling, there's still a rather moving effect. All the snot, tears, and loud broken groaning are usually indicative of Narm (even the girls had them), yet here it makes the story more raw and emotional.
  • The original 4Kids dub opening. The rap was gratuitous, but you'll find many who grew up with the 4Kids dub enjoy their theme the same way kids enjoy the Pokemon theme song.
  • The dub itself, to a far lesser degree. It says a lot about the quality of a show when even a thorough butchering like the 4Kids dub of One Piece managed to get people interested in the series.
• One-Punch Man gets a lot of mileage out of this trope, but Mumen Rider takes it to a whole other level.

• Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Many anime fans groan from usual Power of Friendship speeches. However, here they were pulled off with awesome. Do the impossible, see the invisible... ROW! ROW! FIGHT THE POWAH!!!
• G Gundam. Easily the most light and soft of the Gundam series, it goes for a Super Robot feel with a series-long Tournament Arc, touches on the "War Is Hell" theme of the series far less, and has most of its battles involve characters shouting at the top of their lungs, often in unison. It also wouldn't be half as good if it wasn't so corny.
  • Sekiha Love Love Tenkyoken is easily one of the cheesiest attacks in the history of anime. It's also among the most awesome.
    • This attack is such narmy goodness that it, along with the series in general, is parodied/referenced just as much, if not more, in as many separate shows as any other Gundam series.
  • "I WILL BECOME SUPER ASIA, AND BE CHAMPION OF ALL!"
  • "Except this time... I'M A WONDERBUG!!"
• The Big O: "I'm one of the tomatoes!" Both pulled off surprisingly well, if you'd seen the rest of the series, but The Big O was all about Narm Charm in the first place. It's a show where a Batman Expy drives a giant robot and waxes philosophical before calling out In the Name of the Moon and beating the snot out of baddies.
• The Narm from Trigun's Vash and Knives is entirely appropriate for their childlike, naive personalities. Vash is an idealist who honestly believes that all the evil and suffering of the world can be conquered by love and peace, takes harm on himself to spare others, and wants nothing more than for people to stop hurting each other. Meanwhile, Knives can casually kill anybody that he pleases — including his brother whom he actually does love — but collapses in incredible fear and confusion when he himself is hurt. This arguably makes Knives' psychopathy that much more terrifying, hating pain but happily inflicting it on everybody he considers "beneath" him, as though they were mere insects undeveloped enough to experience pain themselves.
• Code Geass: "You fellas know full well what this badass mother can do!"
  • Any time Emperor Charles gives a speech, it is bound to masticate scenery left, right and center, especially whenever said Big Bad uses the corny but Badass Catchphrase of his Empire: ALL HAIL BRITANNIA!, Pronounced like heil.
  • Lelouch as Zero is the biggest ham ever and that actually helped it to reel in legions of followers.
    • Julius Kingsley from Akito the Exiled, who covers most of the same ground within barely over a single episode of screen time, to the enjoyment of many fans ^note it helps that Kingsley is a brainwashed Lelouch.
  • Mao's infamous "I'll make you compact" line has become slightly memetic among his fans. It's ridiculous... but it actually gives a good view of how insane he really is.
  • Most of the openings are grade-A Narm Charm. They're extremely Hot-Blooded, with Gratuitous English and dramatic, optimistic lyrics ("I'll take away your flowing tears right now," anyone?) that don't always fit with the mood of the show, but they're Awesome songs regardless. Possibly averted by the opening for the last 2 episodes of Season 1, "Hitomi no Tsubasa", which has a slightly more serious tone.
  • Many other scenes already described under Narm also tend to have the Narm Charm effect, such as Euphemia's smiling face and cute personality mannerisms even while ordering the deaths of Japanese people near the end of the first season.
• Everyone makes fun of the infamous potato-chip scene in Death Note, or the somewhat "overexpressive" anime in itself. Still, it is a very popular and critically acclaimed show with a ton of fans. In any language, it's seen as funny because some seem to know to deliver the lines to make it funny.
  • This is especially evident in the final episode, in which the over-the-top fashion in which Light and Mikami break down runs a weird line between comical and horrifying.
  • Sakujo
• The opening theme song of Black Lagoon is incredibly Engrish-ridden, barely even making sense... yet still sounds incredibly badass, and sets the tone for the show brilliantly.
  • The English dub takes the premise of the anime (stuff every single Hollywood action movie trope you can think of into one anime) and runs with it, transforming it into something that can stand alongside the cheesiest of those movies with pride. Scary Black Man now sounds authentic, everyone is dropping Cluster F Bombs and Revy is, well, even more Revy. We also get a Taiwanese knife-wielding assassin named Shenhua who speaks in broken, heavily-accented English.
• Star Driver, similar to Gurren Lagann before it, is filled to the brim with this.
• The official English translation of the Negima! Magister Negi Magi manga has some rough spots, but it's also responsible for several great lines from Negi, such as asking if he can have a cookie after getting wedged between Shizuna's boobs, and yelling "Damn my charisma!" upon getting mobbed by a group of high school girls who think he's the cutest thing ever.
  • Evangeline's: "They who have the most guns, kick butt" and "Are you on CRACK?" ^note Her reaction when Negi asks her if he can be her disciple.
  • Chisame's response to Jack Rakan's death would lean dangerously close to an unintentional parody if not for the fact that given who's talking, and who she's talking about, it fits the scene perfectly.
• Princess Mononoke: "Forest Spirit, we give you back your head!"
• In Pokémon: The First Movie, we hear the two Dewgong crying in their ridiculously comical voices. But the fact that they're crying over Ash being killed stops it from being funny. It also helps that the next shot is of the Vulpix crying which is a genuinely sad sound.
  • In the same film, a lot of Mewtwo's dialogue in the dub sounds comically overwrought and stereotypically villainous if you walk in after the start of the movie, which shows his seriously sad childhood and growing distrust of humans.
• Dragon Ball Z is a good example. Viewers stuck through all the grunting, multi-episode power up scenes, and ridiculous voice acting both because it was part of the appeal, as well as knowing they'd get to witness something genuinely awesome in the end.
  • Adding to it all is the ridiculous Theme Naming. Characters tend to be named after mundane things like food (e.g. all the Proud Warrior Race Saiyans are named after, of all things, vegetables) to underwear (e.g. Bulma, Trunks) to musical instruments (e.g. Piccolo, who note is a hardly small burly green slug person who started out as a murderous villain).
  • The way Goku strains when trying to power-up or endure a lot of damage inflicted upon him.
    • In a similar fashion, Stephanie Nadolny's performance as Kid Goku, also during straining but on top of general screaming as well as laughing. The character's age, as well as his sincere attitude during the rest of his dialogue combined with his very earnest nature, means that the dub is able to get away with it.
  • Goku’s Japanese voice doesn’t change when he becomes an adult. This means this beefy muscle man has an incredibly squeaky voice that nonetheless is iconic and beloved in Japan.
  • Any of Frieza's "Am I male or female?" quotes.
    "Having these balls gives me something that resembles joy, I think. I want to caress them"
  • In his first form, Japanese Cell frequently makes a strange "Bwaaaah" sound. It's a silly sound, but Norio Wakamoto makes it sound chilling.
    • And that bizarre sound he makes when walking. It makes it seem like he has shock absorbers in his legs, or that they're made out of a squeaky insect rubber cartilage flesh, or something, but considering he's an engineered life form it fits.
  • Becomes more Charm than Narm with English dub of Dragon Ball Z Kai. While there are still tons of moments where the things the characters say are preposterous with silly voices, the sincerity and believability of the performances means you'll hardly care.
  • Replacing an anime's entire soundtrack would be unthinkable today, but Bruce Faulconer's rock themes work incredibly well for the show, and his music is probably half the reason the phrase "Next time on Dragon Ball Z!" is burned into so many dub-fans' memories.
• The second episode of Darker than Black has a line where Mao comments that the protagonist's coat is "bulletproof, but only when he wears it." This is simultaneously inexplicable and really badass. This line was altered in the dub to be a statement that the coat is "not just a fashion statement".
  • And then there's the ever so memetic NOW I'VE LOST IT/I KNOW I CAN KILL mantra just before the OP kicks in. Ridiculous? Maybe, but you're probably too busy gleefully chanting along to care.
  • In the beginning of the second season, as Suou narrates about how the world has changed since the Gate appeared, a very futuristic flying car briefly appears on screen. Kind of narmy because of how much of a cliche flying cars are as a symbol of the future, but it kind of works because weird Magitek and Black Box technology is a big part of the setting. And the fact that flying cars are just cool.
  • The scene in season 2 where Ilya talks to/scares those tourists might qualify. It's really hard to tell if that moment was meant to be somewhat humorous or not. If it was meant as a serious moment, they failed, but it works well as Black Comedy.
• In Gundam 00, during the original Lockon Stratos's death scene, the little robot Haro crying "Lockon! Lockon!" was a tad bit narmy. At the same time, though, it was rather effective. I mean, come on, even the robot was sad!
• Yu-Gi-Oh!, a battle anime about a children’s card game in a world which revolves around said card game. Especially the dub, but really the series in general. Sure, people getting so dramatic about card games is hilarious, but you're often too busy crying or cheering to care. Even before the card game was introduced, the whole thing and premise was so spectacularly, unashamedly over-the-top that it was difficult not to love.
  • In the first episode of the second series, the scene of Yugi summoning Exodia is narm charm enough. Then it progressively gets even more ridiculous.
    • The dub dialogue is on fire, helped by Dan Green's delivery...
    Kaiba: "Draw your last pathetic card so I can end this, Yugi!"
    Yami: "My grandpa's deck has no pathetic cards, Kaiba! But it does contain... the unstoppable Exodia!"
    Kaiba: "AAAAAH! IMPOSSIBLE!"
    Yami: "I have assembled all five special cards! All five pieces of the puzzle!"
    Kaiba: "Exodia? There's no way! No-one's ever been able to call him!" ^note Yeah, there wasn't a whole lot of search back then. Shut up.
    Yami: "Exodia, OBLITERATE!"
  • The dub of the sequel series Yu-Gi-Oh! GX generally consists of general old Narm. One exception is when a character steals Yugi's deck and begins imitating his voice. We get an voice actor who is usually a Large Ham imitation Dan Green. And it's awesome.
  • In the second sequel series Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds, the English dub always has to remove stuff. Naturally, they edit out weapons, text, add horrible puns to what should be relatively serious dialogue, but the main reason the dub is decent is simply because the Narm is so goddamn concentrated that it must be intentional. In one scene where the main character Yusei is in a motorcycle accident, when his friends go to help him he visibly has shrapnel sticking out of his chest. But not in the dub, no.They edited it out, and added the cheesy "Augh, my gut!" line instead. They turned what was supposed to be internal bleeding into "Thanks, Pepto Bismol!"
    • Also, because of the habit of ignoring most FATAL things a lot of issues were changed. Even though, by the time of a certain episode beginning to explain the plot, the season finale has occurred in Japan. And only 2 people STAY dead. Rex and Rudger/Roman Go(o)dwin. So to protect the children, the plot got so warped that they got a new "Shadow Realm" in "The Underworld."
• Sailor Moon has a good example of this. One episode had Nephrite's death, and the line that comes next has Narm written all over it: "I'm so sorry, Naru... I guess I won't be taking you out for a chocolate parfait." It Makes Sense in Context, but still sounds silly when taken by itself. No one cared because they were sniffling...
  • There is plenty of Narm Charm in the original DIC dub: After apparently escaping Zoicite and her mooks Molly mentions the local Cafe makes exquisite Cholote Parfaits and asks if Nephrite if they could go have one sometime, which he agrees to. Then she asks him if he has "holidays in that evil society of his." The sheer silliness of the second question,already silly in Japanese and the Viz Media dub, gets funnier with Molly's goofy Brooklyn Accent, Nephrite and Molly herself have a bit of a laugh about it. Instead of ruining the scene, it somehow manages to keep the drama and pathos of the Japanese version wonderfully.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: From the FAAABULOUS character designs, the sheer amount of ridiculous out-of-context moments, to the outrageous abilities (fighting with a bladed hat, putting zippers everywhere, turning rocks into mud, somehow literally hiding a big sailboat inside another sailboat, stopping time), to the characters themselves... then there are the manly tears, such as when Polnareff cried when Avdol took a bullet for him, to when Joseph saw his daughter's stand turning on her, et cetera. Yet, somehow, Jojo manages to work.
  The next thing you're going to say is ____.
  Muda da, MudaMudaMudaMudaMudaMudaMudaMuda! vs OraOraOraOraOraOraOraOraOra!
  Za Warudo!
  Road roller da!
  WRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!
  DUUUURURURURURURURURURURU!
• Case Closed: Conan's use of broken English while telling his former idol, Ray Curtis that his circumstances do not justify turning to drugs and murder would otherwise be funny, but it, combined with the music and his facial expressions, effectively conveys how the poor guy feels, and Ray Curtis's response in perfect English makes it clear that the grammar mistakes are Conan's, rather than the writer's.
• Zoids. The first series (Zoids: Chaotic Century) in particular. The entire script is so laughably bad it's amazing that everyone keeps a straight face. (Van and Raven's exchange in episode 33 is a personal favorite example) But that's the reason it works. The whole universe speaks in narm and once you get used to it you realize that it's the language of the universe and it's a much more entertaining universe as a result.
• Eureka Seven, episode 48. Anemone is on a suicide mission after having learned that Dominic has abandoned the military to stop the Big Bad's plan. Lines like "I want to live! I wish I didn't have feelings like this!" are tearfully screamed at full blast, with all the pretentious angst of a bad Goth band. ^note This makes sense, given how this character is a severely emotionally crippled and confused teenager. The viewers are just as likely to be crying themselves at this point. ^note If not, they're probably saving up the tears for the happy reunion of Dominic and Anemone a few minutes later.
  • The entire PREMISE is built on this. The series is built on giant surfboarding robots, tons and tons of blatant counter-culture references (including one of the most disastrous incidents in recent history being called the Summer of Love), and an incredibly sappy romance at the forefront (hell, the main mecha of the series is practically POWERED by love.)
  I! Can! Fly!
• In Haruhi Suzumiya, many examples result from Engrish for English-speaking viewers.
  • During Itsuki's rooftop talk with Kyon, after Haruhi has fallen asleep beside Mikuru, he suggests to Kyon that he should "embrace Suzumiya-san from behind, and whisper 'I love you' in her ear." What the English audience hears is assorted Japanese, and then, "AI LAAV YU." What keeps it from falling into Narm is the heart-warming playfulness of the scene.
  • The Image Songs use a hefty pile of Grautitous English in their lyrics. Lost My Music has a chorus in English, while God Knows... appends English words to the ends of certain verses.
  • Christy Vee's translation of "Hare Hare Yukai" has her first line shouting (in the most high-pitched voice she can muster) "ALL RIGHT SOS BRIGADE, ASSEMBLE!" It's incredibly cheesy, but also incredibly hilarious and in-character for Haruhi.
• Hell Girl has a lot of this because of the very poor by modern standards of animation, the surplus of Large Ham villains and regularly repeating the structure of the episodes. Everything can become even funnier if you think that the main character understands all this and therefore it is embarrassing for her every time to participate in the events of the show.
• Hello! Sandybell: The final scene of the anime. Linda and Mr. Ronwood sit inside the Sandybell Van, while Charles, Oliver and the neighborhood kids sit on top and Sandybell and Mark sit together. The van starts driving, and inexplicably, it's lifted off the ground and begins flying in mid air, and the camera pans to showing the van flying in front of the sun, before the words The End show up at the bottom of the screen.
• When the ending of Umineko: When They Cry's second arc was adapted to anime, quite a lot of people were collapsing in laughing fits over the "takomaria". However, there was a significant creepy factor to seeing her head rolling around like that, and in a series of over-the-top messed-up scenes like the banquet of the witch and Rosa's feast afterwards, to a certain extent, it actually fit pretty well.
  • OH DESIAH! In spite of the Narmy Engrish — or perhaps because of it—the song still manages to be epic.
• In Higurashi: When They Cry Satoko's breakdown in episode 10 involves her somehow throwing a guy twice her size all the way across the room, with the chair he's sitting on. The voice actor's delivery, combined with the music, is what makes the scene work.
  • "Gomenasai... gomenasai... gomenasai... gomenasai..."
• Fullmetal Alchemist. Father's expressions are often over the top, but he's still the main source of Nightmare Fuel of all the series... especially when he looked pregnant of Hohenheim after having just absorbed him... but his One-Winged Angel form was absolutely terrifying.
• Naruto:
  • Episode 167 of the Shippuden anime. Full stop. It goes into full-on Looney Toons action at various points, including the "hammer person into ground without killing them" and "Road Runner legs" effects. Yet, it can also be absolutely awesome.
  • Sasuke's Evil Laugh in Chapter 483/Shippuden episode 214 is Narm Charm. It's hilarious mainly because it's Sasuke but it also shows how far gone he is.
  • Itachi's epic Freak Out may be ridiculous in the manga though since it was an act, this may have been the point; it's also seemingly the terrifying instant when a normally emotionless, albeit already evil, character reveals his true nature as a complete and utter psychopath. In the anime, both Hideo Ishikawa and Crispin Freeman's respective performances are so utterly bone-chilling that the scene becomes much less ridiculous than it was in the manga.
  • Gaara screaming "BLOOD! IT'S MY BLOOD!" in the dub is so over the top it's almost laughable... But how genuinely terrified he sounds due to Liam O'Brien's brilliant voice acting makes it pants wettingly terrifying!
  • Naruto screaming "Obito was the coolest guy!" after said character's death is ridiculous since Obito was mainly a horrible person... But to some people, it's also heartwarming and a Tear Jerker.
  • The Last: Naruto the Movie, full stop. General consensus is that even with the action, it's one of the cheesiest romance movies in the history of animation. However, since the main pairing is Naruto and Hinata, two characters with incredibly painful and lonely pasts who had several significant moments throughout the series, along with being one of the biggest Fan Preferred Couples in anime and manga for the last fifteen years with Naruto's entire run, it works. Had it been any other couple, this movie would just be overly-cheesy. However, since it's the two of them, it's a cheese factory, making some of the tastiest cheese an audience will ever taste.
• Weiß Kreuz. Genuinely interesting characters with great characterization, illogical plot points, So Bad, It's Good animation, awesome cinematography, music that ranges from forgettable to awesome, Rule of Cool villains, impossible unrealistic stuff, epic voice acting, ridiculous/awesome facial contortions, Rule of Cool weapons for Weiss... Weiss Kreuz is awesome.
• The Intelligent Devices of the Lyrical Nanoha series have always spoken in rather questionably-translated English ("It can be done. As for my master.") Then The Movie came along and gave them proper English lines. Many English-speaking fans are not pleased with this, as they found the Devices' broken speech endearing.
• Hellsing's hamminess and over-the-top violence should be ridiculous, but many fans love the series because of it.
• Belldandy from Ah! My Goddess continues to call Keiichi "Mister Keiichi" even though they have lived together for a pretty long time. And she is just an overly melodramatic sugarqueen in general. But you just can't hold it against her when it comes with that weapons-grade smile.
• In Tiger & Bunny, Kotetsu/Wild Tiger used to wear a spandex costume that fans have affectionately named the crapsuit. General opinion was that it was either endearingly dorky or just plain dumb... until Kotetsu Breaks Out The Museum Piece as part of a plan to prove to the public he's the real Wild Tiger and strikes a Triple Take Ass-Kicking Pose at the end of episode 21, at which point the fandom decided it was the sexiest, most badass superhero costume ever.
  • Many aspects of the show count as Narm Charm—the relationship between the two leads, the frequent use of Japanese Stock Phrases, the campy costumes and the theme of friendship being noticable examples. Tiger and Bunny 's particular flavor of Narm Charm is actually rather simililar to that of Code Geass—both shows contain seemingly ridiculous amounts of drama and camp, but manage to achieve some really touching moments regardless.
• The Engrish opening and ending themes to the Berserk anime manage to be both hilarious on account of their mangled pronunciation and borderline-nonsensical lyrics (and a completely straight-faced use of the line "I can get it off!") and awesome on account of being damn good songs regardless.
• The Manga Bible; as noted in World of Ham article, the characters are so dramatic, the anachronism so blatant (calling someone "punk" in 1500 BC, think about it), but it still manages to keep the Original Flavor from the source while maintaining it as entertaining reading (for everyone, averting the Confirmation Bias trope).
• Demon King Daimao has Kena Soga, who, depending on the dub version, either has a certain charm to how her voiced is portrayed. Aki Toyosaki has a more wacky and cartoony route for her, while Melissa Davis makes her overly-dramatic and goofy.
• Penguindrum:
  • The fight between Masako and Yuri in Episode 15 is so ridiculously over-the-top (it involves Yuri swinging ping-pong paddles to swat Masako's slingshot balls, for crying out loud!) that it warps back to ridiculously awesome.
  • Also the buttloads of Engrish in episode 16. HERY MR. PRESIDEEEEEEEENTTTTT!
  • When Masako pulls her "Facing the Bullets" One-Liner in episode 22, we see Esmeralda next to her opening a paper fan. It would've made the whole scene hilarious in normal circumstances... but come on, Esmeralda is THAT loyal to her partner and to #1, and she's ready to die with Masako! How can that not be really touching?
  • The whole scene where Ringo remembers her parents eventually deciding to split up is reenacted via stuffed animals. It's ridiculous, but considering she was a young child at the time it actually works and conveys how traumatic it was for her. And by the same token, most of Ringo's Imagine Spots are so over the top ridiculous that you can't help but laugh, but they also managed to convey just how screwed up the girl is.
• The Bleach Concept Cover albums. The engrish is absolutely INSANE, with one of the best examples being Tonight, Tonight, Tonight, by BEAT CRUSADERS sung by KENPACHI ZARAKI. This is either the funniest or most absurd thing.
  • Go see "Science Show" from Szayel's album.
  • For an unexplained reason, Ulquiorra's release has him in a dress and waist-length hair. It stops being cute about 15 seconds later when the Arrancar nearly cuts Ichigo's head off with a pointed pole made of energy.
  • When Ichigo sees one of Aizen's... "special" transformations, he reacts via saying "What... the fuck... is THAT...?!" It should be hilariously out of place, but the context in itself was so odd that it worked — Ichigo was voicing EXACTLY what was going on in the readers's heads.
• The English Sherlock Hound theme song is ridiculously narmy yet it works.
• The English dub of Revolutionary Girl Utena is kinda dorky, and often sounds like a high school drama club performance (Nanami especially), but somehow it seems to work in the show's favor, adding to the general strangeness of the show.
• A bonus episode of .hack//SIGN taking place after the R1 games has Balmung proclaim "This shindig looks like the bomb-diggity," one of the most hilariously awful lines in the series. It even gets a double-take from Kite and Orca.
• Sankarea is all about a boy who revives a girl as a zombie and their ensuing relationship. It's full of Camp and over-the-top drama, sometimes verging into So Bad, It's Good territory. The later episodes involving the girl's parents (particularly her father) get especially ridiculous. But despise all the silliness, it still manages to be a genuinely funny and entertaining series.
• Toriko, the Ou Shoku Bansan/Dinner of Kings. It's a giant Pac-Man Energy Ball that eats everything in its path, and it is AWESOME!
• The English dub of Ranma ½ is ridiculously campy. The same is true for the show itself, so it works out.
• Although the young Faye's greeting and cheer routine to her older self in the "Speak like a Child" episode of Cowboy Bebop is rather painfully cheesy in both writing and delivery, it can still come across as a very emotional moment, in large part specifically because such cheery awkwardness stands in stark contrast to Faye's current guarded and cynical personality.
• Yuri Kuma Arashi can be translated into "Lesbian Bear Storm", which is a pretty good description of the events of the show. Although the premise and concepts (A character named "Life Sexy", overuse of the word "yuri", silly catchphrases) are utterly ridiculous, they actually fit into the symbolism perfectly and make it a lot more interesting.
• Keijo!!!!!!!! has this as its hat. A series in which the titular sport is where sexy women fight in swimsuits on platforms over water where they can only use their boobs and butts to hit their opponents off? Ridiculous and fanservice-pandering. A series where everyone considers this sport Serious Business, uses Shounen-styled super techniques with their butts and boobs, features a cast just as likeable and endearing as it is quirky and eccentric, and is absolutely and completely unashamed on how its Fanservice is presented? Crazy Is Cool at its finest.
• In the Latin-American Spanish dub of Saint Seiya Omega, Harbingir's first voice actor was Juan Alfonso Carralero, known as the semi-official VA for Paul Zaloom, Will Smith, David Hasselhoff. Older fans familiar with the guy's work couldn't help giggling upon hearing Harbingir talk like an angrier Agent J or Mitch Buchannon, yet at the same time they couldn't help thinking "so THAT is how Beakman sounds when he's truly angry?! Wow, cool!"
• In DARLING in the FRANXX, we have Hiro and Zero Two reuniting and making up for their mistakes in Episode 15. A bit cheesy and even suffering from Off-Model animation at one point? Yes. cathartic, heartfelt, incredibly pure, and much needed, especially after the two have been to hell and back? Hell yeah.
• Uma Musume is made of this, taking the ridiculous premise of famous Japanese racehorses being reincarnated as Little Bit Beastly girls and going to racing school and making a solid Sports Anime with charming characters and surprising tension out of it.
• The ninth episode of A Place Further than the Universe involves Shirase finally achieving her goal of reaching Antarctica, where her Missing Mom disappeared. Her first reaction is to shout "In your face!", which sounds ridiculous, until you realize that's what she promised to do every time someone made fun of how far she'd gone to achieve that goal. Then the moment becomes heartwarming when Shirase's friends and then the entire rest of the crew (who'd also had a similarly hard time arranging for a return to Antarctica) follow suit.
• From My Hero Academia, All Might's moves have names such as Texas Smash, Detroit Smash, all the way to the United States of SMASH. That last one might have been Narm if not for the fact that it's a Megaton Punch with enough force to create a building-sized crater, a shock wave powerful enough to blow a news copter away, and KO the Big Bad.
• The English dub of the 1990 Moomin anime. It comprises of veteran British voice actors of the time, but weirdly putting on Southern American accents (that aren't always consistent) along with the usual standard defects of dubs of its time like rapid lip syncing and some cheesy lines. Being made for CBBC however, it maintains a softer direction, giving the whole thing a warm and fittingly offbeat delivery, especially for American viewers.

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