8 times anime broke the fourth wall

Breaking the fourth wall is when a character speaks directly to the audience. It is often about the characters turning to the camera to talk to the audience, because the character who recognizes that the performance is fictional in some way, or by even mentioning the existence of the audience.

There are many anime that breaks the fourth wall, sometimes as a minor moment in a romance, as a brief comic moment, or as a whole theme within the show. Here are some of the best examples that the fourth wall breaks in some fantastic anime show.

8

Gintama

Samurai goodness

Gintama is a nine season Historical Anime about a Samurai and his friends in an alternative universe where Japan has been taken over by foreigners. Gintoki Sakata is the main character in the show, and the one who breaks the fourth wall most.

When they crush, Gintoki asks to cut to commercially, and when the show forgets the opening he reminds them to play it. Often characters will admit which section it is, tell people to die to make the show legendary and talk to the audience in almost every episode, which makes it a really unique show.

7

SAIKI KS CAPASTAL LIFE

Powerful psychic

Saiki K's disastrous life is about a powerful high school students with mental abilities that discreetly use their forces to deal with small challenges in their daily lives without paying attention.

Saiki breaks the fourth wall many times throughout the show, when he comments on his friends and family directly to the audience and even takes time to explain his powers directly to us as viewers. This anime is one of only a few with an almost constant fourth wall crime and is probably the most famous for it.

6

Bakemonogatari

Vampire problems

The Monogatari series is about a student who works to restore their humanity after becoming a vampire. He goes through the series and tries to help people affected by strange problems, including friends, classmates and his sisters.

This show breaks the fourth wall in several ways: it takes up the voice actresses throughout the series, advances what will happen and points out that they are in an anime. Often they look straight into the camera to talk directly to the audience. This show can be a bit odd, but it only contributes to its character.

5

Ouran High School host club

Tamaki and Haruhi

This show is one of the most iconic Romanticanime out there and follows Haruhi as she joins a new school and is mistaken as a boy and is recruited to the host club to pay off a debt to break a vase.

Tamaki is the most important perpetrator for breaking the fourth wall here, but there are other moments as well, as when Kyogya looks straight on the camera and talks directly to the audience about how we witness a flowering love. It is one of the older show that has used this as a form of communication, and many see it as a catalyst for Second Anime's fourth wall crime.

4

Animegataris

Dreaming dreams

Minoa Asagaya has a dream of an anime that she used to love as a child and cannot stop trying to remember its name, which leads to her connecting to classmates and creating an anime research club.

Throughout the show, the characters slowly begin to realize that they are stuck in an anime. They see when people change in front of them and switch in personality when they are “rewritten” and struggle to find out what they will do. It can be almost horror-esque sometimes when they fight against the anime creator to live their lives as they please.

3

Sailor

Magic moons

Sailor Moon breaks the fourth wall a little differently than the others on this list. Usagi will look at the audience and introduce himself or other characters. Many episodes would end with a “Sailor saying”, which is basically a moral from the show that was explained to the audience.

There are a couple of other moments of the fourth wall break where Sailor Moon asks the audience to discover Luna for her and sometimes gives a brief summary of the show. Although this is a more unique way of communicating with the audience because it is not even distant subtle, it is still a fourth wall failure.

2

Pokemon

Law rocket

We know and love all Pokemon, anime who surrounds adorable furry creatures and captures them all for being the very best. Team Rocket almost constantly breaks the fourth wall in anime. They talk directly to the audience about their excitement about plans, how they have succeeded and how the audience should pay attention to them.

There are also several moments where characters argue with the narrator and even interact with fantasy sequences as if they can also see them, which strongly points out that they are aware of their anime status. In addition, there are fantastic moments where the characters refer to their world as a children's show or look directly into the camera.

1

Fruit basket

Hat

Fruits Basket is a comedy romance that follows Tohru Honda when she is homeless and is taken in by members of the Sohma family. When she gets to know Sohmas, she discovers their secret: every member of the Sohma family is cursed by one of the 13 zodiac animals (which they have added a cat here for narrative purposes). When one of the family members is embraced by one of the opposite sex, or sometimes because of stress, they will turn into their stars.

During a fight, Hatsuharu turns to the audience and points out that they should not try it at home because they could be seriously injured. Tohru even has a little reflection and wonders if they have become part of a fighting anime. This is the only time they do this, but it is a fantastic fourth wall outage.