It's undeniable that Shimoneta is a direct response to Japan's current decency laws. Television anime is heavily censored in Japan due to broadcasting regulations, so shows have been getting increasingly dirty without showing anything in order to skirt around the rules. Shimoneta chooses to amp everything up to its maximum, as a way of sticking it to the man. Or perhaps sticking it IN the man. O ho ho!

The story is set in a not so distant future, where political correctness and prudish decency has taken over. Japan is now the most morally decent country in the world, where everyone is a sound-minded individual with no dirty thoughts in their heads. In other words, everybody is under government control, brainwashed into being law-abiding citizens by their PMs, bracelets worn on their wrist that monitor their thoughts, words, and deeds. This has created a self-censoring generation of people who do not know what sex is, do not have healthy and natural sexual desires and therefore do not know how to express their desires in a safe way.

Our main characters, Ayame Kajo and Tanukichi Okuma, are fighting to bring lewdness back to Japan. Together they make up the lewd terrorist organization SOX. Armed with materials once believed to have been burned by the Decency Squads, and wearing panties over their faces, they do battle with Japan's hypocritical head honchos to bring healthy sexual desires back to the Japanese public. Their goal: make Japan sexy again!

Our heroes perform these actions in secret, right under the nose of the head of the Student Council, Ana Nishkiyomiya. Daughter of Japan's current prime minister, and extreme moral compass, Ana will stop at nothing to bring an end to SOX, spurred on by her parents' ridiculous ideological obsession with moral cleanliness. Meanwhile, Ana herself is conflicted, having uncontrollable sexual desires for Tanukichi. Can he protect his manhood from this raging psychopath? That's a very good question, the answer to which is certainly "no".

What?

Is there much of a story? Honestly, no. This show exists for the sole purpose of pushing the envelope as far as it possibly can. While it certainly HAS a story, Shimoneta doesn't go anywhere. In the end, the main characters are seemingly still far away from achieving their goal of returning Japan to its original smutty form.

The opening song is a wonderfully Kamen Rider-esque number carrying references to modern shows like Attack On Titan. The ending theme is a Denpa Wave track that is wonderfully catchy. The soundtrack is decent and contains a lot of Pink Panther-esque sleuthing. The dubbing (courtesy of Funimation) is average tier and again contains quite regular faces. The episode commentary is quite surprising, with the voice actors straight-up telling those who are offended by the commentary to "fuck themselves". Huh, for people who moral grandstand on Twitter this much, I'm genuinely amused by their crassness. Such morally indecent people would seem like the perfect fit for these characters, but nah, there's nothing indecent about our main characters. What is indecent is the government brainwashing the general public.

There is a very specific audience for Shimoneta, and I'm not sure I'm part of that audience. I did enjoy the show and its various one-liners had me cracking the occasional smirk, but it's honestly a hard sell. The show exists to push the boundaries of what's acceptable, no different to show like Haiyore! Nyaruko-san, where an overarching plot and message seem haphazardly stuffed into a show that is predominantly about getting as much smut on TV as possible.