Television series

Saiki Kusuo no Ψ Nan

Name: Saiki Kusuo no Ψ Nan
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Anime, Supernatural
Released: 2016
Cast: Hiroshi Kamiya, Ai Kayano, Daisuke Ono, Haruka Tomatsu, Kenji Nojima

An overpowered psychic teenager just wants to coast through high school unnoticed, but his god-tier ESP and a magnetic pull toward the school's weirdest personalities keep sabotaging that plan. Told in rapid eight-minute bursts with constant deadpan internal narration, it's less a story than a delivery system for gags — a comic engine built on the gap between limitless power and total social exhaustion. Great for fans of fast, silly, structurally repetitive comedy.

TVMaze rating

3.7

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like deadpan comedy where the joke is a teenager exhausted by his own brilliance, and you're happy to watch a gag build over dozens of tiny episodes.

Skip it if you need a plot that builds, because the episodes lean on repeated gags more than on a continuous storyline.

What it asks of you: Roughly 144 short episodes, each around eight minutes, so it works best in small doses, and it rewards steady attention to the throwaway lines.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Mob Psycho 1002016

From the same overpowered-kid-wants-a-normal-life lineage, but wrapped in one of anime's most emotionally intelligent, visually inventive character studies.

But Its earnestness and slower emotional arcs are a different animal from Saiki's rapid deadpan gags — expect heart as much as laughs.

One-Punch Man2015

Same joke on a bigger scale — a hero so powerful nothing is a challenge, mined for satire of shonen tropes alongside gorgeous action.

But Leans harder on spectacle and fight choreography than on rapid-fire dialogue comedy.

Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo!2016

A reluctant straight-man hero stuck with an insufferable party of misfits, mining the gap between their delusions and reality for constant laughs.

But More slapstick and crude humor, less deadpan narration, with some jokes leaning on fan-service.

Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Saiki Kusuo no Ψ Nan

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Chronicle2012

Both start from 'ordinary teenager suddenly has overwhelming psychic power,' but where Saiki turns that into deadpan gag comedy, Chronicle follows the identical setup to its tragic extreme — same engine, opposite tone.

Same premise stripped of jokes: three teens gain telekinetic power, and the story asks what happens when unchecked ability meets adolescent rage and isolation.

But Found-footage shakiness and a bleak final act are miles from Saiki's comic safety net.

Kaguya-sama: Love Is War?2019

Rapid internal-monologue gags and wildly over-the-top reactions to mundane school dilemmas, narrated by someone who can't resist explaining every absurd thought.

But Fixated on romantic one-upmanship rather than powers, a narrower target for its comedy.

Nichijou2011

Pure, unhinged sketch-comedy energy — ordinary school life escalated into surreal slapstick with immaculate comic timing.

But No ongoing plot or powers gimmick, just escalating absurdity, which some find exhausting rather than charming.

Gintama2006

A gag-a-minute samurai comedy that breaks the fourth wall constantly and skewers its own genre with gleeful anarchy.

But Sprawling length and heavy parody of other anime require some genre literacy to fully land.

Grand Blue2018

College slacker comedy with wall-to-wall physical gags and a cast willing to humiliate themselves completely for a laugh.

But No supernatural hook at all — just drinking, diving, and chaos, with a cruder, looser tone.

Assassination Classroom2015

Balances goofy ensemble comedy with real warmth, using an absurd premise — students must assassinate their tentacled teacher — to explore growing up.

But Carries more sincere emotional stakes and less gag density; comedy shares space with genuine drama.

Bewitched1964

Long before anime turned it into a genre, Bewitched ran the same joke — hide your powers, crave a normal life, watch that life become impossible — the sitcom ancestor of Saiki's whole premise.

A decades-old sitcom built on the exact same fantasy: someone with genuine magic desperately trying to pass as ordinary while chaos erupts anyway.

But Broad multi-camera studio comedy with dated gender politics and gentle 60s pacing.

Brainman2005

Saiki's comic wish for a mundane life gets its nonfiction mirror here — a real person whose extraordinary mind actually does isolate him from ordinary life, played completely straight instead of for laughs.

A real documentary about savant Daniel Tammet, whose extraordinary mind makes ordinary interaction a genuine daily struggle — the true story behind Saiki's joke.

But No jokes, no plot, just quiet, sometimes uncomfortable observation of a real person's difference.