SHIMONETA: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn’t Exist (Episode 1) – Whom Does Public Order and Morality Serve?

Tanukichi Okuma has been accepted into the most prestigious school in Japan’s new age of public morality. However, since he’s transferred from the worst school, all eyes are on him. Well, they would be if it weren’t for Blue Snow!

SHIMONETA: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn’t Exist (Episode 1) – Whom Does Public Order and Morality Serve?

What happened?

Japan introduced strict new morality laws that are monitored and enforced by the special devices that everyone wears around their wrists and neck. Saying a prohibited word can get you in serious trouble, but it gets worse if you have lewd materials on you! Anyhow, it’s been several decades since these measures were put in place, and Japan is now the country with the highest public morals. However, there are those who oppose the laws. One of these people is known simply as Blue Snow. She appears in public areas wearing just a robe and a pair of panties on her face before yelling rude words and distributing lewd cards. Tanukichi has a run in with her on his first day to school, but it won’t be the last.

After handling all of the gazes from the other students for most of the morning and the odd approaches from Hyouka Fuwa, a scientist who is trying to get to the bottom of how babies are made, Tanukichi is summoned to the student council room. At last, he’s going to see the reason he transferred here in the first place – Anna Nishikinomiya, his childhood crush. She reveals that it is believed that the terrorist Blue Snow attends this school and since they are all quite naïve about things of a sexual nature they were hoping he could help them find her, since he came from the worst school for public morals.

Tanukichi is delighted to help and was left in the hands of vice-president, Ayame Kajou. However, Ayame outs herself as Blue Snow and attempts to enlist his help in fighting back against the public morality laws. She figures that he would know how to help since his father was also a terrorist. He refuses, but she makes it quite apparent that he has no way of saying no. The next day, Tanukichi is kidnapped by Hyouka who has more questions about baby-making. Luckily, Ayame gets him out of there and tells him that they are about to do their first mission as SOX. Tanukichi can’t understand why he’s suddenly so excited!

What did you think?

I first watched this show back in 2017, and have been waiting for the right moment to go back and revisit it. Well, that time has come. With the world seemingly losing its mind as everyone gets offended about everything, it would appear that the world hasn’t learned anything from Shimoneta, so I’m going to take my time and spell it out. Yes, this is an ecchi comedy, but there’s far more to it that someone wearing panties on their face while yelling cock and balls! That is there, but that’s not the point.

Shimoneta potrays a world where invasive monitoring has been used to control the public. It isn’t that far from George Orwell’s 1984. We’re joining the story several decades after it was introduced and now we are seeing the effects of this sort of insane censorship. The students in the school are absolutely clueless. Surprisingly, Hyouka seems to be one of the more switched on members as she is actively asking questions and trying to understand things. However, the rest of the student body are so clueless that they believe all sorts of ridiculous gossip.

And, this is just the first episode. Things are going to get even crazier as things go on, highlighting why you can’t just ban stuff and expect the world to be fine. There’s often a lot more nuance to things than some politicians like to believe. I’m excited to continue this series and can’t wait to get into the mind of Anna, since she is probably the most damaged of all the students. They’re all broken, but she is on another level.

Series Information

English Title	SHIMONETA: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn’t Exist
Japanese Title	Shimoneta to Iu Gainen ga Sonzai Shinai Taikutsu na Sekai
Genres	Comedy, Ecchi, School

Anime

Season One

Season	SHIMONETA: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn’t Exist
Released	Summer 2015
Animation Studios	J.C.Staff
Episodes	12
1	Whom Does Public Order and Morality Serve?
2	The Mysteries of Pregnancy
3	How to Love Someone
4	“The Saying Goes… Love Is Justice
5	For Whom the Dirty Terrorism Benefits?
6	Handmade Warmth!
7	What SOX Created
8	The Devil Blows His Own Trumpet
9	Do Androids Dream of Electric Masseurs?
10	Masturbation Quest
11	Techno Break
12	Dirty Jokes Forever!

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