SHIMONETA: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn’t Exist
The novel's story is set 16 years after the "Law for Public Order and Morals in Healthy Child-Raising" banned coarse language in the country. Tanukichi Okuma enrolls in the country's leading elite public morals school and is soon invited into the Anti-Societal Organization (SOX) by its founder, Ayame Kajou. As a member blackmailed into joining by Ayame, Tanukichi ends up taking part in obscene acts of terrorism against the talented student council president Anna (for whom Tanukichi has a crush).
Like several other people I'd assume, I was introduced to this anime from several short clips I saw on social media. I thought they were pretty funny, and always wanted to see what the anime was about. After procrastinating on that for god knows how long, I finally decided to do that, and I got what I expected out of it. I went in expecting an anime with a decent but not extremely impressive story I'd be invested in, but rather something I could watch to pass the time and make me laugh, while still enjoying a series.
The story revolves around a group of students (SOX) participating in acts of indecency across the city as a form of protest against the "Law for Public Order and Morals in Healthy Child-Raising", which banned coarse language nationwide. It's a pretty simple plot that isn't necessarily super impressive, but it's definitely an unusual topic that grabs your attention when you hear about it. Maybe that was the point? Regardless, the series was pretty funny, and the ending was actually great, so there definitely is a good amount to love about the anime.
As much as the whole story isn't super impressive, I will say that it couldn't have ended much better. The last couple episodes (Especially Episode 11) actually drew me in quite a bit compared to the rest of the series. It got quite climactic, and I just really liked how everything progressed and panned out. The minor plot twists, the pacing of it all, and several things I didn't expect to happen all kept me interested. I was actually quite impressed with how good the ending was, considering this anime is about dirty jokes and underwear.
I do like the bigger message that this show tells its audience. The greater picture is basically about authoritarian control, and the resistance that it almost always creates. It's not a new concept, as there are several different anime, games, and movies that cover very similar topics. Where I find this show to be unique is how it expresses that message. Rather than using war and mass murder to express rather anti-authoritarian messages, it expresses that through dirty jokes and panty snatchers. Seriously, how goofy is that?
Overall, this anime is about what you'd expect going into it, all of the suspense was in the last couple episodes (for me at least). This isn;t the kind of anime you watch if you want to find a story to really get invested into, or if you want to find your next favorite. I'd more recommend this if you want a shorter anime to put on if you wanna kill some time and watch something funny. The great parts about this anime isn't really the story, but rather how absurd it is, and I'm all for that. I enjoyed this anime quite a bit, it's definitely far from bad!
7/10
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