Shimoneta: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn't Exist

Robert Murphy


Suggestive themes in anime has always been a hot button issue for people, I know I have spent hours talking to my friends about it and whether or not it is really needed or if it ruins the show entirely. Shimoneta: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn't Exist stands out from all other anime in this grey area of viewing though by jumping right in front of the bus on the whole situation. Yes, it is without a doubt the second most lewd anime that I have watched this year but it does so in a more humorous way than you would expect.

The story follows Tanukichi Okuma who is about to start at a new school with the highest decency ranking across Japan and he aims to dismiss all the negativity surrounding his family name after his father was sent to jail as a Ero-terrorist (erotic terrorist). This is due to the fact that the world of Shimoneta has gone in a different direction entirely by effectively outlawing all public forms of nudity, obscenities and foul language. Yep, you can't even swear in this universe and it is monitored by advanced government agency as well as PM's (Peace Maker) devices worn by everyone to make sure the law is enforced. You can't even use the correct syntax for medical purposes either, it's completely ridiculous, so it wasn't at all surprising to find that there were organizations known is Ero-terrorist hell bent on fighting back. Okuma would find himself set on an entirely different path than the one he originally planned on because of all this when a woman known as Blue Snow recruits him for her group called SOX.

The idea may be a completely ridiculous one but it does have it's layers to it in more than one way and the show brings this up. Blue Snow reveals herself as Ayame Kajou who is vice president of Okuma's student council and is the last person you would expect to be in a Ero-terrorist group, let alone running it. She has a special program on her cellphone which allows her to disable her PM in order to make lewd gestures and express her inner most self to Okuma. This is where the ridiculousness kicks in as Kajou slips in her own twisted metaphors into just about everything she says which often is laid at the expense of Okuma. As the story progresses Shimoneta finds a number of other ways to express itself though by using things like an Eel given to Okuma in order to express certain male functions along with finding a way to make lewd drawings and stories by painting with your teeth, a function used by one of my favorite characters Saotome.

Behind all of the jokes and witty banter there is an underline message to the story being presented and that is how censorship can negatively affect people. Our story is innocent enough when it first begins, the kids at Okuma and Kajou's school are curious and get flustered at the slightest sexual conduct and it is hilarious to think about trying to explain all these functions to a generation that knows nothing about male and female relationships. The negative points begin to add up when we meet Anna who is Okuma's love interest and main reason for joining this particular school in the first place. She is far more oblivious than any of the other students and even hangs up a picture of a "mushroom" in the student council office because that's legitimately what she thought it was. 

Due to certain events in the story however, Anna becomes insanely infatuated with Okuma, super insanely incredibly infatuated! Her character basically stalks Okuma for the entirety of the series and more than once takes him against his will, she offers him water that is in no way water and threatens to kill anyone who is female that ever touches him. The scenes are all censored of course and despite the undertone they had me bursting out in laughter just by the sheer ludicrous circumstances behind it all. Shimoneta may take it to the extreme with some of themes but the point still remains and that is you can't have people be completely oblivious to all things sexual, you will end up with a world of repressed and confused kids like the one presented here who can't even express their feelings to someone they like. Again, it's still a bit of an extreme here but it's more humorous than harmful. 

Shimoneta creates an interesting dystopian society of people and one where I truly hope that SOX and the other Ero-terrorist win in. The story takes a fresh new approach in how certain fan service ideas are presented but at the same time there's actually a great underline message to be found buried underneath the mountain of obscenities. Everything isn't perfect especially when you meet the stories main bad guy and his obsession with cloth undergarments, they're used by the way. Still, if you can get past the one or two extremely obscene moments then you will be laughing your way all the way through.

Good:

- Solid main cast of characters especially Blue Snow/Ayame Kojou

- An interesting dystopian society where lewdness is banned

- Hilarious all the way through

Bad:

- Some of the themes go too far even by the shows standards

Scully Rating: 8.2 out of 10