Smiling Friends is an adult animated comedy that follows the chaotic duo of Pim and Charlie. It’s filled with gag-heavy and bizarre jokes. Smiling Friends is also known for mixing visuals such as cel animation, CGI, live-action, rotoscoping, and even claymation!
Here are 10 anime like Smiling Friends! These anime lean into the same absurdity, comedy, and visual experimentation. We hope they make you laugh, and maybe even squirm a little!
Staff Note: *most* of these are not anime I would recommend to those new to anime. So, fair warning!
1. Pop Team Epic
A sketch‑comedy anime full of random vignettes, gags, and parodies of all the other anime we know and love. Two eccentric teenage protagonists (Popuko & Pipimi) bounce from one bizarre scenario to the next. They often break the 4th wall, break out into sudden musical numbers, or plunge into total nonsense. The show also doesn’t adhere to a single art style: some segments look like “normal” anime, while others use completely different animation techniques (even felt‑doll or live‑action bits) for comedic effect.
2. Excel Saga
A satirical, parody‑heavy anime where the protagonist, a hyperactive agent named Excel, works for a secret organization intent on world domination. But everything spirals into absurd chaos instead! Each episode feels completely different from the last, sometimes mocking anime tropes, sometimes going full surreal or over-the‑top. If you like your comedy unhinged, this is a good one!
3. Kuuchuu Buranko (Welcome to Irabu’s Office)
Much like Smiling Friends, this anime uses traditional 2D animation, live‑action footage, rotoscoping, psychedelic collage elements, and even puppet‑like or cutout visuals. It’s darker than some of the pure comedies on this list, but its unpredictability makes it a super fun watch.
4. Flip Flappers
I bet you didn’t think there would be a magical-girl anime on the list… much less YURI MAGICAL-GIRL. Flip Flappers is a magical‑girl & adventure anime that shifts its visual style depending on where the characters travel. Sometimes vivid, dreamy, and otherworldly. It’s a mix of normal‑life scenes and surreal fantasy sequences. I would describe this more as a surreal comedy without the pure chaos.
5. Popee the Performer
A 3D‑CGI anime (originally aimed at kids) following a clown named Popee and his wolf‑sidekick Kedamono working in a circus. The show’s use of CGI, combined with absurd and often dark comedic events, creates an unsettling tone. It’s definitely on the weirder side… I would probably only suggest this for those who are curious to see how weird it can get.
6. Space Patrol Luluco
A 13‑episode anime from Studio Trigger (directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi). Sci‑fi, comedy, and space‑adventure collide as a normal-ish girl Luluco, ends up working for a bizarre space patrol and gets sucked into absurd intergalactic missions. It’s very goofy. Fast-paced episodes, playful animation, and plenty of “what even is happening” moments.
7. Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt
(Created by the same director, Hiroyuki Imaishi) This show blends Western cartoon aesthetics, unconventional humor, and over-the-top antics. Two fallen angels: the wild, sex-seeking Panty Anarchy and the goth-sweet-tooth Stocking Anarchy, are exiled from Heaven and forced to hunt ghosts in a chaotic metropolis called Daten City. It’s edgier and more adult-oriented, so if you’re comfortable with that tone, this is a wild ride.
8. Ai-Mai-Mi
Ai-Mai-Mi originated as a 4-panel manga, adapted into a TV anime about a group of high school girls, and sometimes their senpai, who belong to a “Manga Club.” But instead of diligently drawing manga, this club seems better at attracting chaos and the occasional alien invasion. While the art leans “cute”, the content can be unexpectedly dark with slapstick violence, bloody gags, and black-comedy twists.
9. Nichijou: My Ordinary Life
A 26‑episode series (plus an OVA) that follows a group of high‑school girls and other eccentric characters living “ordinary” lives… Except that everyday events quickly escalate into absurd, over-the-top chaos. The contrast between “normal life” and “sudden chaos” gives the show comedic whiplash. Which is perfect if you like how Smiling Friends mixes the mundane with the bizarre.
10. FLCL (Fooly Cooly)
At first glance, FLCL tells the story of a seemingly ordinary 12-year-old boy named Naota Nandaba. His mundane life gets turned upside down when a pink-haired alien girl named Haruko Haruhara crashes into him on a yellow Vespa and smacks him with her bass guitar. From that moment, a chain of hyperactive events begins. It mixes slice‑of‑life, sci‑fi, and absurd comedy in a way that never gets predictable. Ideal if you like anime that constantly surprises you.
Why These Fit So Well for Smiling Friends Fans
Visual unpredictability: Smiling Friends loves to throw weird animation at you, and these anime do the same. Sometimes it’s just a weird color choice or a trippy background, sometimes it’s a total switch in art style or even animation medium. You never really know what you’re going to get.
Narrative freedom: None of these shows follow the usual anime rules. Whether it’s the surreal comedy of Nichijou and Ai-Mai-Mi, the trippy sci-fi of Space Patrol Luluco, or the wild parodies in Excel Saga and Popee the Performer, they all just do their own thing.
Emotional and thematic variety: Some of these are here just to make you laugh; others mess with your head. Basically, whatever mood you’re in, there’s something here for you.
I love Smiling Friends this list is SO good!