Battle Programmer Shirase

electric air wave

As far as I'm concerned there's an anime about pretty much everything if you look hard enough: diving, underwear design, insurance investigation (yup!) and don't even get me started on cooking. So there, picked titles with main characters directly involved and at least some focus on whatever they're doing for a living or a hobby or both.

Part two^ https://myanimelist.net/stacks/30206 (it's a work in progress though)

Bygone days spent as an otaku, often captured in OVA format, have been lost as trends shifted. It’s undeniably melancholic to see the evolving portrayal of otaku in a meta-sense and slowly watching the dwindling importance of Akiba-kei.

This will serve as a continually-updated list of anime that I feel are representative of "otakucore" being a type of show that promonently features otaku characters as one of the main characters, and depictes the zeitgeist of otaku culture/Akiba-kei during the time of airing. Some are less obvious as otaku-oriented, but still contain many elements that are appealing to databasing-types (computers, figures, video games etc.)

Genshiken, Daicon IV and Otaku no Video are the essentials :3

(Still adding WIP)

Series that do not stick to the 10-13 or 22-28 or 36-43 or 47-53 chapter rule. Not including longer anime nor OVA/ONAs nor less than 6 episodes.

list of animes that are usually 15 minutes short with some lewd jokes.

these are the one that I remember for now...

feel free to suggest more if you know of some.

Anime that heavily feature flip-phones, are based on games / other media that originally released on Japanese feature phones, or have some other niche connection to the beloved Garakei.

Anime whose adaptations are incomplete and have less than 150K members.

WIP, if you know of another one, feel free to tell me in DMs or comments in my profile!

Animes with integral characters who are hikikomoris, NEETs, or shut-ins

Hikikomori: Young adults who had withdrawn from society and remained isolated in their homes for extended periods

NEET: Not in education, employment, or training

Shut-in: a person who tends to stay indoors and avoid social interactions, often due to physical or mental health issues, anxiety, or other personal reasons

Experimental Anime for paranoid people. Themes of technology, escapism, trans-humanism or digital spirituality. Deconstructions or Reconstructions of Otaku Culture. Or, simply, heavy Y2K/Akihabara aesthetics.

Ecchi anime with episode length less than 22 minutes.

Part 1: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/42419
Part 3: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/65808
Part 4: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/65898
Part 5: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/66418
Part 6: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/67818
Happy Lolis, No Romance: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/37228
Unhappy Lolis: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/58065

A small stack that features sci-fi/cyberpunk anime with themes of computers, where the concept of a computer is directly used or abstracted to a degree where what we know as a 'computer' (such as desktop PCs) is still recognisable. This can include references to things like files, operating systems and widespread usage of technology.

This stack features stories with different types of sciences. From microbes to time machines, these anime celebrate science in all its variety!


Aug/Sep 2025 Official Challenge Stack
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To get the limited-time badge:
1. Click the Restack button
2. Complete at least 1 anime (*) on this list by September 30th!

*　Anime you completed before the challenge started (Aug 1) will not count. You will need to watch something new, finish something you have on-hold, or re-watch something you've watched before.



This stack was inspired by spiritdudegamer's Anime Across the Science stack. https://myanimelist.net/stacks/67175

Anime for CompSci minds