Shimoneta

Summary: >

In order to promote clean ideals in society, Japan bans all dirty actions and materials. This is enforced by a collar everyone must wear. Not everyone agrees with this oppression, and some fight against it. Among the most notorious is Blue Snow: a dirty joke terrorist wearing nothing but a sheet and panties on her head.

On the way to school Okuma is saved by Blue Snow from a false accusation, only to be blackmailed into helping her. Her true identity is Ayame Koujo, a member of the student council in the top school for morality - which Okuma joins as well. Leading this kind of double life is going to be tough.

Thoughts: >

Funny, weird, and very very dirty.

I like the concept, but wasn't convinced how far it could go very far. It actually does better than I would have guessed, but makes the story a bit convoluted the way they tie together. That's okay though, because Shimoneta: A Boring World Where Dirty jokes Don't Exist, is unusual enough to hold your interest provided you're not the least bit prudish.

Okuma isn't as bland as your typical male protagonist. He tends to play the "strait man" in the comedy, playing off Ayami and her relentless dirty mouth wonderfully. Okuma has a crush on Anna: the beautiful virtuous girl who doesn't understand dirty things at all; considering her the pure ideal maiden. This goes horribly wrong as Anna is subconsciously something like a perverted nympho, but has absolutely no clue how to appropriately express her lust - which comes out in very bizarre and scary ways.

At first it's so wacky it's fun just watching, but Shimoneta gets kinda lost the more it attempts to attach the concept to a bigger plot. There is a kind of "fight the power" theme going on, but it's unclear how a pair high schoolers running around with panties on their head would have any affect on the situation (this may come together better later though). I will say I couldn't stop laughing during the final boss battle because it's so hilariously wrong.

From a theme perspective, Shimoneta brings up many up good points about extreme censorship. Particularly when the enforcers themselves lack the education to understand the reason behind what they do. This leads to one enforcer randomly banning seemingly harmless things like toilet paper, yet allowing Boys Love manga when told it's fine. Because the kind of people doing this work are required to be mindless robots, they can't properly evaluate anything.

Shimoneta is well produced with an attractive design, and catchy soundtrack which fits perfectly (especially the theme song). While sexual innuendos are cross culture, the nature of puns in language put pressure on translators to somehow get a similar meaning in English. It's no small feat that Funimation does quite well in this regard.

I wouldn't put Shimoneta at the top of the list as far as comedy, story or intelligence. Then again dirty jokes aren't the best at those either. Shimoneta has a lot of fun being dirty, so provided you're okay with comedy surrounding the raunchy theme, it's a good watch.

Screen Caps: >