For many, Carnival is a chance to hit the streets and party a lot, but revelry can also be really cool for the couch gang. If you’re an otaku, how about enjoying the days without classes or work to binge watch some short and amazing anime?
Don’t worry, we won’t recommend anything that requires a deep investment of time (after all, we’ve already done that recently with one piece). Here, we’re only going to stick to works that have a full season of up to 26 episodes at most so you can watch them all in one day!
FLCL (6 episodes)
You can’t have a good carnival without music, and that’s why FLCL it’s a great idea to start the holiday off on the right foot! This absolutely frenetic anime has an aesthetic and rhythm that is very reminiscent of the late MTV, with its music video clip interspersed with insane vignettes. Underneath it all, we still have a lot of action and an amazing coming of age story!
Source: Disclosure / Crunchyroll
golden boy (6 episodes)
A little bit of ecchi also has everything to do with this time of the year, and in this cult anime it’s done with a light eroticism and a lot of humor! In each episode of the series, we follow a boy with a heart of gold venturing into new professions and activities in order to meet beautiful women. His great direction and impeccable comic timing give a real lesson in animation technique!
Disclosure / Crunchyroll
devilman crybaby (10 episodes)
If our list was too cheerful and high-spirited for your taste, here’s a tip for anyone who wants to lose all faith in humanity in an extremely melancholic story full of good philosophical questions. The most recent adaptation of Go Nagai’s classic work has scenes so shocking that they can even traumatize, and it is certainly only recommended for older readers.
Source: Disclosure / Netflix
Yuri!!! On Ice (12 episodes)
Back to the holiday mood, Carnival is also a great date to meet a new love and immerse yourself in romance, whether it’s something for just one day or a relationship for life. For the hearts in love, Yuri!!! On Ice brings a beautiful love story between a figure skater and his coach, all conducted with extreme good taste and going far beyond the clichés of the Yaoi genre.
Source: Disclosure / Crunchyroll
Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-Kun (12 episodes)
Still in the romantic footprint, but now going more towards the comedy side, in Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun we follow the protagonist Sakura Chiyo, who early on makes a declaration of love to the detached mangaka Nozaki. The problem? Instead of accepting or denying the request, he gets it all wrong and takes her on as a production assistant. From then on, we follow the misadventures of the duo normally with a very uplifting and cute footprint.
Source: Disclosure / Crunchyroll
Puella Magi Madoka Magica (12 episodes)
Who hasn’t dreamed of being a magical girl?! At Carnival, anything is possible, and in the world of Madoka Magica also! One fine day our heroine Madoka gets the chance to act as mahou shoujo, but… well, this is a complicated work to write about, since its main attractions revolve around a big spoiler that happens in the third episode . Just know that not everything is what it seems and get ready for a surprise like that in an unforgettable and remarkable story!
Source: Disclosure / Crunchyroll
After the Rain (12 episodes)
Closing our trilogy of novels, Koi wa Ameagari no You ni manages to do what seemed impossible and overcomes a very problematic premise at first sight: student Akira Tachibana ends up falling in love with a kind and polite man named Masami Kondo, but the age difference between them is too big. The great text revolves precisely around this complication, and discusses in depth the emotions of the two parties and what to do in such a strange situation with a lot of maturity and emotion.
Source: Disclosure / Prime Video
Kill La Kill (24 episodes)
Finally, let’s step up the time investment a bit to recommend a trio of excellent and essential anime that you might as well check off your backlog during Carnaval! In Kill La Kill, the talented Studio Trigger does miracles to create fluid and stylish animation while managing to make a text about clothes with powers and a dictatorship inside the school exciting and coherent. Surrounding several dollops of ecchi is an improbably brilliant treatise on fascism, the kind of thing you only find in anime!
Source: Disclosure / Netflix
Cowboy Bebop (26 episodes)
Even if Cowboy Bebop has nothing to do with carnival, it has a luxury that most anime don’t have: it’s the perfect work to persuade someone who still doesn’t like Japanese animation to give them a chance! That’s because this series has a very strong pop footprint, using the most diverse references and cultures to create an extremely diverse and easy-to-appeal work. With a charismatic crew and weekly case structure, it’s easy to fall in love with the story!
Disclosure / Crunchyroll
Neon Genesis Evangelion (26 episodes)
Every carnival has its end, and the end of the revelry is also synonymous with hangover, introspection, and thinking a little about life. Another absolute anime classic, Neon Genesis Evangelion it awakens passions and is usually that eight or eighty thing. Those who like it, passionately love Hideaki Anno’s masterpiece, but those who don’t embark on the transition from a mecha and beating anime to an analysis of depression and human relationships tend to leave the journey frustrated. Whatever your case, it’s so worth at least trying!
Source: Disclosure / Netflix
