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

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

Duration: 12 episodes
Supplied: Third Party
Released: July-September 2015

Shimoneta is an interesting series. It's a hypothetical world where censorship has completely run amok. In fact, it is so ludicrous, that young people are completely incapable of understanding different feelings they have in regards to various situations. Human reproduction is also something that is so taboo that it is not discussed anywhere because it might lead people down a path of lesser morality.

How is this all enforced?  Why, with collars of course! Any bad behavior or language will instantly alert the Decency Squad. A police-like force set up to handle any and all matters pertaining to morality.

The series opens with the protagonist, Tanukichi Okuma, innocently trying to help a woman out of a situation with a groper on the train. The woman was actually a scammer, who was dismayed, calls for help, alerting the Decency Squad. Fortunately, he is "rescued" by the appearance of renowned Erotic-Terrorist Blue Snow who throws dirty pictures around the platform. Tanukichi is able to escape in this confusion. Unfortunately, our hero is identified, blackmailed, and recruited for ero-terrorism by Blue Snow.

Things get very wacky in this series. There are tons of lewd and crude jokes and almost everything, save for clever innuendo, is censored. This is deliberate since it helps us better understand what kind of world this is. Our anti-heroine has an application on her phone that lets her circumvent the power of the censorship collars and she uses this to skillfully insert horribly crude jokes into almost any situation. We are never safe from this and it happens when we least expect it!

The character designs overall are nothing especially notable save one. One character's hair poofs up and becomes more phallic-like the more happy she is. What is actually most notable about the cast is how they deal with the various situations. The student council president is especially bad and has some of the most jaw-dropping scenes.

Conclusion
This series is really not for the faint of heart. There are tons and tons of sex jokes and innuendo. Even worse, are the demonstrations of character ignorance when they act upon things that they do not understand. These instances can be extremely cringe-worthy. In a train-wreck sort of way. Where you just cannot look away despite the horror.

Recommendation
I really enjoyed the series. It gives us a window to look into a potential future where censorship goes to crazy extremes. If you are looking for something really over-the-top, just for the heck of it, then look into this. Just be warned that it somehow manages to keep on shocking. If you are not sure that you can handle this, maybe steer clear of this one.