Shimoneta

Recently, I felt the need to rewatch a series that I had randomly found when looking at a list of the weirdest anime. I loved how different it was, and felt like it was a good balance of ecchi and comedy, without being the sort of show that just tiptoes that line between anime and hentai. Mostly anyway.

Shimoneta is a story that combines the dystopian aspects present in books like 1984 or The Giver, and puts a sexual twist on them. Any lewd content has been banned from society in Japan, in order to make a more moral and pure country. They've changed how kids are taught about love and childbirth, and given no education on things like puberty, sexual health, or their own bodies. To enforce this, everyone wears a small collar (very Battle Royale inspired) that can listen to what they say and I believe detect things like pulse and inclination, and send a task force to respond to anything that breaks the rules.

And with any majorly restrictive society, we wind up with movements against it. In this case, we have one character, who teams up with our protagonist, and a few others, in order to break that social norm, and encourage sexual freedom again. They infiltrate schools and other areas to bring sexual content to the masses in an attempt to actually provide sex education and promote exploration. A covert punk rebellion set on the pursuits of putting lewd thoughts into the minds of the masses. They even wind up on treasure hunts seeking a trove of smut to unleash upon their schoolmates.

They're labelled as a terrorist by the city, but never have the intention of causing harm, but rather encouraging safe expression of oneself and sexual health. Given the lack of sexual education even in today's society, I wish there were more of a force like this, trying to sneak in information about sexual health and safety for the good of all. However, there is a section of the school bent on keeping all the students, as well as society "pure-minded" which is almost brainwashed into sensibilities so delicate, that it winds up backfiring on a few character's intentions.

Obviously, this creates a space for a lot of comedy, which is over the top in the best way. The humor is odd, and a little too much as times, but keeps itself in check with the supporting characters. It's absurd in a light way, that makes things fun for what is admittedly a serious subject when we look at the bones of the series. There's a good number of twists and turns, and even some aspects of morality and ignorance that make the entire series something that could be discussed by many.

Personally, I love this anime. Making sexual topics something that is safe to talk about, and removing the taboo from it is something that we need around the world already. Even on a good number of large media spaces, we see sex education being banned, throttled, and restricted while still following the rules of the platform. It creates the potential for people to wind up being less safe in the long run, and without education to help them through the risks. It also builds the idea that these things should be found and done due to the taboo aspects making them more alluring.

Really though, it's a fun series, and worth a watch. We're going to come back to it here soon I think, because there's a lot of good to pull from it.