Giggles and Grins: 25+ Uplifting Animes to Tackle Depression

Feeling blue? Have you tried reading your favorite book, eating comfort food, or maybe taking a short walk? If nothing works, it’s time to try some amazing manga and comedy animes that help with depression.

Depression or Major Depressive Disorder is a common and severe ailment of mental health that negatively influences how you feel, your thinking process, and how you act.

Enter the vibrant maze of the anime world and get lost in a colorful place that will chase away the dull and bleak sadness of the real world.

All around the world, reading manga and watching anime are widely used to escape the stress of normal daily life, relax, and have a good time.

So get ready to watch the best comedy animes that help with depression and will make you smile.

Top Comedy Animes to Lift Your Spirits

Hearing the word ‘anime,’ you probably think of Naruto, Pokémon, or Dragon Ball. Maybe you have even heard of others like Sailor Moon, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Death Note.

However, the universe of anime series does not end there. The universe of Japanese animation is so vast that you can get a little lost.

This list will help you find the perfect animes that help with sorrow.

1. KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World!

KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World! is a unique way to start your anime experience.

This anime is about Kazuma, who, after an embarrassing death, gets reincarnated in a fantasy realm after. He has no special power, and the goddess of water, Aqua, with her endless tears, is no help! Chaos ensues in his new life… death?

With contrasting, colorful, and amazing characters, this anime series gets progressively funnier and more exciting with each episode and is watched by many.

Based on the light novel first published in 2012, the series then expanded to manga, anime TV series, and movies, and it is one of the most loved comedy animes that help with depression.

2 One Punch Man

Love action-comedy and superheroes? Then One Punch Man was made for you. One Punch is another well-known funny comedy animes that help with depression.

The protagonist Saitama of the anime series, is sorely disappointed in his search for worthy opponents as everyone he fights gets defeated by a single punch. This hilarious show is a must-watch for anime lovers.

3. A Silent Voice

Based on the manga A Silent Voice by Yoshitoki Ōima, this Japanese animated drama was released in 2016.

A Silent Voice featuring a deaf girl, is a bittersweet movie dealing with heavy topics of mental illness, bullying, and peer pressure with some surprising elements of comedy.

Though not a typical comedy, this beautiful story of a silent voice, school life, love, and redemption will surely put a smile on your face.

4. Great Teacher Onizuka

The ex-biker gang leader Eikichi Onizuka has a unique ambition: to become the best high school teacher in Japan.

One of the greatest slice-of-life comedy anime, this show with the unusual teacher and high school boys are loved by many.

While the show deals with many heavy topics, the hilarious antics of the unusual teacher’s life and his high school boys make for the best comedy animes that help with depression and sadness.

5. Aho Girl

Don’t watch this expecting something meaningful or emotional because the point of Aho Girl is among the pure slapstick comedy animes that help with depression.

The daily life of high school girls Yoshiko and Akuru is perfect if you need a good laugh.

6. Gintama

The breaking of fourth walls, gags, and hilarity characterizes the series. It is one of the longest-running and watched comedy anime with 367 episodes!

The widely popular Gin Tama manga has been adapted into light novels, films, and tv series.

With the alien invasion and samurai squad, Gintama is a great entertaining way to pass your time and escape the drab reality of a monotonous life to a crazy new reality.

7. School Rumble

School Rumble is the ideal mixture of slapstick gags, romance, and emotion. The series centers on Tenma Tsukamoto’s and her friends’ lives as they struggle to confess their feelings.

In short, this show about these friends is certainly something you should watch if you are feeling down and need to watch something fun and to entertain to forget your troubles for a moment.

8. The Way of the House Husband

This Netflix show is about Tatsu, a former gangster turned hilariously devoted stay-at-home husband who does it all – Grocery shopping, cooking, and aerobics lessons.

This new show has become a favorite of anime lovers just with one season. It has become one of the popular comedy animes that help with depression. Also, Netflix has announced that season 2 will release in January 2023, and the fans can hardly wait!

9. Grand Blue

With only 12 episodes in a single season that came out in 2018, the story of Grand Blue follows Iori Kitahara, a college student living in his uncle’s dive shop, Grand Blue.

His college life gets interesting when he meets a group of rowdy upperclassmen when he joins the college’s diving club – Peek-a-Boo.

Grand Blue is great for its vivid wit and humor. So watch this slice-of-life comedy series, join Iori in his messy, chaotic, and adventurous life, and have a grand time!

10. Nichijou

Nichole is a fun and unique anime with a colorful and controlling group of characters like a robot caretaker, a child scientist, and a talking cat.

The intense and extravagant animation is more like Dragon Ball than a simple comedy show. Nochijou is thus both visually spectacular and hilarious.

11. Angel Beats

The plot follows a group of high school students in the afterlife fighting against the unfairness and injustice of their deaths. The show is well-equipped with stories that are equally likely to make you sob emotionally and laugh till you cry.

It has everything you want in a show – action, comedy, music, and more.

Not a conventional kind of comedy, Angel Beats is something more intense but with genuinely funny moments.

12. Assassination Classroom

Similar to Angel Beats, this series combines the best of great humor and action. The story is silly yet emotional and is a ride you cannot miss.

The story of a yellow tentacle monster and a group of high school misfits is not something you may think to try at this moment, but you won’t regret it if you do.

13. Your Name (Kimi no Na Wa)

In this 2016 Romance/Fantasy, two teenage characters discover a profound connection when they realize that they are swapping bodies. As if that is not complicated enough, things get even more complex when they meet in person.

Your Name or Kimi no Na Wa is one of the best anime by Kyoto Animation.

Another unconventional movie, this winner of Best Animated Feature at the 2016 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, is filled with pure funny moments that will make you smile.

14. Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid

A ridiculous, slice-of-life comedy anime about the daily lives of a regular office lady and her live-in dragon maid.

The show is for anime lovers searching for a feel-good comedy who are tired of the same old recurring theme of high school. One of the craziest comedy animes that help with depression, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid comes with an LGBT and queer representation.

15. Cromartie High School

The plot of this slice-of-life anime follows the high school life of Kamiyama and an above-average student enrolled at Cromartie High.

In a school filled with delinquents, the experience of the new high school student is hilariously chaotic.

Absurd comedy is difficult to present correctly. There is barely any serious plot and very little character arc and development. However, the show still manages to rise as a comedy masterpiece as a parody of an 80s Manga category.

16. Pop Team Epic

It is a series of hilarious adventures of two 14-year-old girls. The short and temperamental Popuko and the tall and calm Pipimi.

Each fast-paced 12 minutes episode about these friends will feel like the strangest thing you have ever seen. The second half is always the same episode, but this time the voice actors are male! You will find yourself addicted to this bizarre ride of madness.

17. Squid Girl

After her attack on the surface world ends in a spectacular blunder, Ika Musume has no choice but to work at a seaside restaurant.

Even with super-powered, ink-spitting tentacles, Ika is hopelessly incompetent in this new life and cannot win over the grumpy restaurant owner.

Ika’s hilarious attempts at schemes and plots in her disastrous life make this show one of the top comedy animes that help with depression.

18. Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro

The clever and amusing plot of the slice-of-life comedy anime revolves around a student bullying the boy she has a crush on.

It is a sweet and funny rom-com featuring two people who refuse to express and communicate their feelings and emotions properly.

19. Teasing Master Takagi-san

This other anime perfectly captures teasing and budding romance. The main characters are the extremely naive Nishikata and the ever-hesitant Takagi, who engaged in a hilarious prank war.

The show presents a healing, therapeutic, and calm atmosphere that is perfect for soothing your sad soul.

20. Neon Genesis Evangelion

Neon Genesis Evangelion is a Japanese mecha anime show set in a fantasy world that delves into the ordeals and feelings of Evangelion pilots and members of Nerv as they strive to stave off Angels from resulting in more cataclysms.

The show won critical acclaim but also triggered much controversy. It is a satire of the mecha anime with intricate characterizations and a gripping storyline, making it one of the most captivating comedy animes that help with depression.

21. Asobi Asobase

Even though it is a gag comedy anime about a trio of classmates playing simple hand games, Asobi Asobase has a gorgeous but natural art and design style that serves as an ideal base for the distorted faces the characters pull that are sure to get a laugh out of you.

22. Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san

Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san manages to weirdly portray and present the bizarre and crazy life of commercial work.

The eccentric buyers, the impossible interactions, and the attempts to correctly understand foreign clients.

The show is a funny and relatable compilation of relations at the bookshop where Honda is employed.

It’s a wonderful, quick comedy anime for busy viewers who need a good time. And if you work in retail, this show is just for you.

23. Ghost Stories (Gakkou no Kaidan)

There is a funny story behind this funnier show. It was a complete flop when Gakkou no Kaidan first came out in Japan. When Animax bought it, remaking it with an English dub, it was one of the most absurd and strangest anime shows with an English dub on the record.

It is not for everyone, and most people may find this comedy anime tasteless. If you are bold and daring enough to try everything, go for Ghost Stories! Offensive and vulgar this anime is a weird masterpiece.

24. Summer Wars

Summer Wars can easily be ranked as one of the best anime films ever.

The plot is about a young mathematical genius who solves a complicated equation and accidentally gives a virtual reality’s AI the power to obliterate Earth.

The movie is a stunning spectacle of vibrant and vivid colors, characters, and scenarios. If you feel overwhelmed under the grey blanket of depression, this colorful film will cheer you up.

25. Ore wo Suki Nano wa Omae Dake ka yo

It’s difficult to explain the first nature and genre of this show. It is well-packed with all the characteristics and components of romance, drama, and comedy.

As you can conclude from the title, Ore wo Suki Nano wa Omae Dake ka yo, love is quite a powerful theme of the series.

However, it also has great jokes, gags, and funny antics. As depicted in the show, the whole flirting process is somewhat one of the primary sources of comedy. It has a ‘nice guy’ protagonist and a strange but captivating antagonist.

Altogether, the show has a great blend of sorrow and laughter, making it perfect for every life mood!

These are some of the best comedy animes that help with depression and mental health by curing your sadness with pure laughter. The list of such anime is endless. So, start with the ones on the list and then venture to find your favorite anime and enjoy more.

5) Stay Happy and Healthy!

If you are feeling down and depressed, give cheerful and sweet anime movies and shows. It is no magical cure, but it will undoubtedly bring a smile.

However, depression is a serious issue that should be dealt with with utmost care and attention. Seek the help of medical professionals and experts to treat and battle the disorder.

So, What are you waiting for? Enter the land of the magical wizard with a moving castle, a mystical place with a buffet that will turn you into a pig, a witch flying on a broomstick delivering food, and an actual castle in the sky!

Last Updated on January 14, 2024 by ayeshayusuf