The Best Comedy Anime of All Time

Mobile Suit Gundam’s creator, Yoshiyuki Tomino, is one of the most influential directors of all time. And while his works as Gundam’s director is great, my favorite work that he has ever done is the anime that our blog’s title is based on: Garzey’s Wing, a three episode epic of a man whose spirit is sent to another world where “twelfth and thirteenth century foreigners surround” him. Now he is left to fight with his “unbelievably dull” sword.

I’m sure that summary was slightly confusing. Well, that’s because I don’t really understand either. Let me take a step back. Garzey’s Wing is, at first glance, worst anime ever. Everything about the animation and the colors looks super ugly even considering that this was a show from the 90s. The story is incredibly hard to understand because of the incredibly fast pace that zips through everything. And the writing and characters are incredibly bland. 

Even the director Tomino seems to know how bad this show ended up. In an article in Anime News Network called “Buried Garbage – Garzey’s Wing,” there’s a section of an interview from the US licensing of the show, where Tomino replies with “I’d rather not talk about it” to the questions.

Honestly, I can spend hours talking about the flawed cinematic choices that are made throughout the three episodes. But these flawed choices are actually what makes the show great. From these flaws, with the english dub that shouldn’t have existed in the first place as the cherry on top, this anime becomes perfect. As this strange english dub mixes with these horrendous mistakes, Garzey’s Wing becomes a complete picture: the greatest comedy of all time.

Let me guide you through the first scenes of the show. At the start of the show, we see Chris, our main character, getting on this motorcycle next to a girl. He decides to go somewhere even though he failed the college entrance exam twice. The camera then moves to the most awkwardly moving Cicada on the ground trying to flip itself back up foreshadowing our adventures to come.

Chris drives off in this awesome motorcycle driving scene. Presumably, he is trying for quite a long time because the sunsets as he drives. Then suddenly, Chris yells “My necklace is rattling I wonder could it be the shiratori Shrine”

The camera then pans to a shrine for less than half a second and we hear Chris say “this must be the place where Yamatotakero no Mikoto came down from the sky!” Up till here, we have no clue what the heck is going on, what the shrine is, where he is going, what the necklace is, or any other questions you may have. This is because we have zero contextual information that the show supports us with, and the show zips through everything extremely quickly.

But this is where it starts.

Immediately after, Chris’ necklace starts glowing upon where he yells “what the heck is this now” with the most awkward scream I have ever heard. Then, a giant rainbow bird swoops in from the sky taking a naked body of Chris up in the air as he yells:

“Chris! What’s going on Chris!!!”

Good to know that the characters don’t know what is happening just like the viewers.

The show then hits us with the title card Garzey’s Wing as an old man yells,

“SHOW ME THE ANCIENT JAPANESE MAN’S SPIRIT”

This is where you realize what you have stepped into. This journey you are about to witness is the most hilarious, messy, and confusing thing you will ever see in your life. And honestly, it’s hilarious.

You may have noticed that I put yelled instead of said when referring to any of the dialogue. This is because the english voice actors actually yell. They don’t have any change in tone or intonation that fits the story (not that I understand the story) and they sound hilariously awkward the whole time.

It doesn’t end there; the show continues the confusingly fast pace. Chris then falls down some black hole as he tries to find out who the man who wanted to see the ancient japanese man’s spirit was. Next to him we see some women yelling “a man is falling down, a young male isn’t he?”

Some small fairy with green hair then attaches to his necklace, Chris gets a shining wing on his foot, and fights black and brown man. This happens in the span of 40 seconds and they do not explain anything that is happening. The only explanation of what is happening is this super fast one line dialogue about how they are running away because they are slaves but because of how the voice actor pronounces all the words and the amount of tribe name jargon, it’s hard to understand that this is even english on first watch. This is a great example of show don’t tell, except for the fact that it doesn’t really show either. 

But the thing is, this confusingness that happens is absolutely hilarious. You continue to find yourself saying “what??” to yourself and just laughing out loud wondering how this show is real. 

Oh, this is just the first three minutes

There are other hilarious lines in just the first episode. Some of my favorites are:

Chris from Byston Well: “I was bruised all over my body because I had to fight naked” 
Chris on Earth responds: “Mom told me I had Bruises all over my body, is there any connection to this?

Chris in Byston Well: “There is a war going on, even dinosaurs are here. And they use bows and arrows. My sword is unbelievably dull!”

Chris on Earth: “I must somehow make sense of our convoluted situation. I have to strengthen my mind. I must do chi, spiritual unification, and practice…
Chris in Byston Well: “I’m being chased by a real army!!”
Chris on Earth: “I know, I will do that here”
Chris in Byston Well: “Please do so”

Elder in the group of fighters sees Chris struggle: “He’s just a human, humans are just human. They go into this life filled with dreams and aspirations. They want it all. And try to use the power of the universe and the power of the spirits.”
Guy next to him: (triumphantly) “You are right”

Chris on Earth: Aw! Grandma why did you make hot noodles on such a hot day
His Grandma: It’s easier to digest
Chris on Earth: (With a high, lax tone) Too hot~

This is just the tip of the iceberg and with how hilarious these are. If they released a Garzey’s Wing dialogue collection, I would buy it in an instant. This anime becomes hilarious as we “somehow make sense of our convoluted situation” 

Some of you may have seen my Arifureta post where I called it the greatest anime of 2019. Honestly, if I did not watch Garzey’s Wing, I would have never started to appreciate these hilariously bad shows. I will be forever grateful to Garzey’s Wing for giving me a new way to approach and consume shows.

The rewatch value for this show is incredibly high because you can watch it at any time at any day and you will find yourself laughing. And without fast the pace is, trying to pack in so much in to just three episodes, you will find a new plot element that you didn’t know about every single time you watch it! Garzey’s Wing is the greatest.

My ultimate goal is for this post to do well on SEO so when someone searches up “best comedy anime” they see Garzey’s Wing Dubbed.

If you are interested, watch the video below. It’s a collection of some of the funniest scenes from the show.

Thanks for reading! Please watch Garzey’s Wing and make sure that it is dubbed!