Anime Abridged Series: If it exists, there is a parody of it

The mark of a truly great anime is the existence of a parody. Kind of like rule 34, but not nearly as traumatizing.

An abridged series is a shortened version of an existing work of fiction for the express purpose of making fun of it. Books, movies, and television shows can all be made into abridged series, but for the purpose of this post, we will be focusing specifically on anime parodies. Anime abridged series have become the norm, with some shows having several abridged series, of varying quality.

Usually abridged series can be found on video streaming sites like YouTube, but in some cases “Da Man” will feel threatened by the popularity of a particular series and have it removed due to “copyright infringement”.

I have been watching abridged series for a while now and I’ve seen some good ones and some terrible ones. So here is a list of some of my favorite Abridged Series!

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Dragon Ball Z Abridged

This is one of my favorites! DBZ Abridged was created in 2008, a group called, Team Four Star, and is one of the most well known fan parody series. It is currently ongoing, but it is definitely worth a look see, especially for DBZ fans. It never gets old!

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50% OFF

So I just discovered this gem, and to be honest I can’t imagine my life without it! This is a parody of the anime series Free! Iwatobi Swim Club and  was created by Octopimp with the writing done by SparkyTheAndroid. So first let me say I love the title, which is a pun on free…get it 50% off…it’s not quite free…okay I’m done… But my most favorite part of this parody is Thugisa, he is my spirit animal!

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Sword Art Online Abridged

So my brother introduced me to this series created by Something Witty Entertainment. Why I love it: Because Kirito is an ass, he is a complete jerk to everyone, and it works. To be honest I prefer the abridged Kirito to the actual canon anime Kirito. The series is currently ongoing, with episodes uploaded to YouTube, sporadically.

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Death Note Abridged

Okay so there are several Death Note Abridged Series…like a whole bunch, but only one of them has actually made it to completion (this is not that parody). So it was kind of hard to pick just one (but I did), the best in my opinion was Team Dattebyo’s abridged series!

The premise is similar to the Death Note anime, but instead of killing criminals, Light kills off anime characters! Unfortunately the series was cut short due to issues among the cast, so only a few episodes exist and to make matters worse YouTube deleted the first episode…and I can’t find it anywhere else (save for one video with Spanish subs)…But I still recommend it!

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Attack on Titan Abridged

So granted this is only one episode…but even that one episode is awesome! Created by Team Four Star’s Takahata 101 and TehExorcist. The entire episode is 20 minutes long, which can be daunting, but once you start watching it just flies by! I am especially partial to the parts where they are still in training, it has some of the most memorable jokes. It was meant to be a full abridged series, but Da Man won this battle…so sad…

But we do get some gems like:

“WELL SWEET MOTHER TERESA ON THE HOOD OF A MERCEDEZ BENZ, YOU SOUND LIKE A MAJESTIC FUCKING EAGLE! DO YOU SING?! HARMONIZE WITH ME MAGGOT!!”

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Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged

Now this series has had the most drama over the years. Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged was created by YouTuber LittleKuriboh aka CardGamesFTW and has spawned legions of imitators and parodies. Over the years YouTube has deleted and reinstated the series several times, much to the amusement and disgust of fans. This series is huge, heck it might as well be its own genre…it even makes fun of itself at times, I ABSOLUTELY APPROVE OF THIS SERIES!!!

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Take Away

Well that is my list of Abridged Series, I know there are plenty of awesome ones not included in this list (and I am open to suggestions), these just happen to be the ones that I’ve seen and actually like. One series that is not on this list that I did enjoy is MasakoX and Vegeta3986’s Naruto the Abridged Series, I loved it, but when Naruto and I had a brief falling out, I just stopped watching…

So on that note, the next time you have free time or you just need something to distract you from work, give an abridged series a try. They will have you snickering all day long…or at least until you reach the latest episode!

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