Strangest premise for an anime

[Weresquirrel]

Yu-gi-oh is pretty damned weird when placed under any form of scrutiny. Leaving aside the whole Egyptian gods, ancient prophecies, evil spirits, reincarnated pharaohs and the like, you have a society that has almost completely based itself around a children's card game.

I seem to recall one section of one of the DS handheld games has your character thrown in prison, only to be released because you beat the warden in said card game. The warden takes the somewhat reasonable stance of "Just because you beat me doesn't mean I'm going to release you." only to have his boss say in effect: "No, fair is fair. Let this potentially dangerous in mate out of prison."

And let's not forget...

CARD GAMES ON MOTORCYCLES!

 

[Mausthemighty]

Not sure of what show was called, but I remember hearing it was a show entirely about bread making and the overreactions people had to it.

That was Yakitate! Japan. It was heavy on puns, and it had a tournamentsystem like most shonen anime, but this time they fight it out by making the most delicious bread...

 

[Saidan]

The Devil Is a Part-Timer! (Hataraku Maō-sama):

The story is about a demon king named Satan seeking to conquer the world of Ente Isla but, when confronted by the Hero Emilia Justina, is forced to retreat through a portal that transports him to modern day Tokyo, Japan. To survive and find a way to return to Ente Isla, Satan gains part-time employment at a fast food restaurant.

---

Satan.
Working in Mc Donald's.
I rest my case.

 

[Snowbell]

You are now aware that there is an anime called Akikan which is about drinks cans turning into naked women

 

[Ultress]

That's a pretty good one but for some reason never came of as weird to me. It's the shonen thing of everything being serious business.

I was thinking the same thing for awhile, the show just plays it so straight and heroic, with our main character accepting it so easily so did we. It wasn't really until I just about got done with writing my original comment that I noticed, some of these really strange setting aren't all that strange within the context of their worlds, only slightly odd at best. After realising this I came to the conclusion.
Strange is subjective, so for something to be strange it needs to have a contrast of expectations and truth.

Ben-to is an average earth and set in an average city, with average people, the only difference?
Fight club for a half price dinner.
Just, what...
So after thinking it over I feel that Ben-to is the perfect example for an anime with a strange premises.
[sub][sub]Also it's a fucking master piece.[/sub][/sub]

I'll definitely agree with you on the last two parts.

 

[cojo965]

Also... FLCL... that is some bonkers stuff there...

A 12 year old boy who lives in a town with a strange factory that looks like a Clothes Iron, is attacked by a Space Cop who creates a portal in his forehead (by whacking him with a Base Guitar) that spawns giant robots allegedly from the Clothes Iron Factory. One of these robots becomes his "friend" and together with the Space Cop they fight the evil corporation that owns the Factory. Also the Factory looks like a Giant Clothes Iron because its purpose is to "Smooth The Wrinkles of Reality"... also there's a pirate king... and the 12 year old can spawn a massive guitar out of his forehead because of his manliness... it's also a coming of age story... and it parodies everything from Mecha Shows to Sports Anime... there are Manga bits...

Yeah... FLCL FOLKS!

I think I actually caught some of that while channel surfing once (didn't have satellite at the time, sue me), didn't it also use South Park's art style at some point? 'Cause I seem to remember that happening in what I caught, though that may have just been me changing the channel to one that had South Park on.

To contribute something though, out of curiosity, I put "airsoft" into TVTropes and came across this:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Manga/TokureiSochiDantaiStellaJogakuinKoutoukaC3Bu

You read that right, the premise is based around an all girl's school's airsoft club with a possibly delusional dreamer in the lead role. I'll let you guys read the page 'cause I cannot be arsed to type any more, but I may update this if I actually decide to watch it.