A little while ago I remember one of my fellow bloggers educating us on the differences between Ecchi and Hentai but I can’t find the post anymore. It might have been a Twitter thread. So I looked it up on wikipedia instead and essentially, Ecchi is soft hentai, if you know what I mean!
I don’t have anything against “sexual overtones” in anime but I will admit that if it’s the only thing a show has going for it, I tend to get a little bored. I just rather watch hentai in that case. As such, I haven’t seen that many ecchi shows but there are some which I find fantastic. And these are 5 of them! (At least according to my AniList scores which I remind you mean nothing at all)
5. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime OAD
Most of the series: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime is a fairly innocent isekai comedy with minimal fanservice. It certainly does not qualify as Ecchi. But they did release a series of OAD which are a rambunctious beach adventure complete with miniature bikinis which get creatively torn in the adventure.
It’s still mostly innocent as far as I’m concerned but I guess there was a lot more skin than slime usually shows. And I had fun with it. The episodes fit in well with the rest of the season, even though they did feel like extras and the characters were their charming selves, so no complaints. I’m still a little surprised it’s officially considered ecchi.
4. How Not To Summon a Demon Lord
O.k. I am not surprised that this show is considered Ecchi. It clearly is. It’s what I would call a softcore sex comedy. And I enjoyed it because it had some decent character development, a couple of pretty good jokes and even an occasionally compelling plot to go along with it.
How Not to Summon A Demon Lord is not a masterpiece by any means. There are a few similar shows I enjoyed considerably more. But to me, it was still an entertaining and pleasant enough adventure. I will likely watch the second season.
3. Haganai season 1
I was not a huge fan of the second season of Haganai, which now that I think about it does boost the sexual elements quite a bit. That wasn’t the issue though. It was mostly because I loved the first season and found the second didn’t live up.
Haganai does have quite a few ecchi moments yet somehow that’s not what sticks with me. I had forgotten they were even there until this list reminded me. The fact is, the sexy bits are just smoothly integrated into the whole and it somehow feels natural. Does that make any sense? I’m not sure. But it just fit better than let’s say the Faity Tail fanservice.
2. No Game No Life
I find that people tend to either love this show or wonder what other people see in this show. I’m part of the first group. I loved it. I understand that it’s not to everyone’s tastes but it is to mine. And the colours were beautiful.
I’m not sure if NGNL is still as popular as it used to be but there was a time when it was considered one of the most mainstream ecchi shows out there. I think it did a lot to popularize the genre. It seems to have gotten some backlash from ecchi lovers in the years since it aired but I still like it a lot.
1. Kill la Kill
This is a difficult one to categorize. In many ways, it’s a parody of Ecchi but I can’t deny there are a lot of sexy outfits or lack thereof throughout this series. And I love Kill la Kill so why not take the opportunity to stick it at the top of a list.
Kill la Kill is a show that I’ve seen pointed out to both support how great ecchi can be and how awful ecchi can be in equal parts. And just for that, I think it deserves some praise. It might have muddled its own message but it did it in a way that made fans think. That’s got to be worth something!
These seem like pretty safe choices. My ecchi tastes are basic! Do you have a favourite ecchi anime? Why is it your favourite?
