The beach episode is a well-loved anime trope, from Gintama to Ouran High School Host Club. But which anime beach vacation is the very best?

Who doesn't love a trip to the beach? It's a well-loved cliché in anime for characters to don sunscreen and swimsuits and take to the beach for a day of summer fun, such as in Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma and Fruits Basket.

Many beach episodes are just humorous filler. But the best bring something new to the table, whether by upping the stakes, revealing something about its characters, or using a deceptively light tone to make a sudden dark turn hit like a sucker punch.

10 "Summer Vacation Is The Most Fun Right Before It Begins" (Gintama)

Gintama takes its usual brand of over-the-top humor to the seaside in this episode. As part of their endless string of odd jobs, Yorozuya get themselves hired as lifeguards. Predictably, not much work gets done, and things go off the rails for them very quickly.

After being caught in a fight between two giant turtles, the gang finds themselves marooned on an island. Gintoki takes advantage of being alone to practice Dragon Ball's Kamehameha, Kyubei tries and fails to make art on the sand, and the whole group tries in increasingly wackier ways to signal for help.

9 "Demon Of The Deep" (Blue Exorcist)

While Rin and his classmates would love to kick back and enjoy the beach, duty as exorcists-in-training calls. They must take on a demonic Kraken that's been menacing the coastal town, but they also find themselves protecting a boy who wants revenge on the Kraken for apparently killing his father.

When the boy tries fighting the Kraken with only a harpoon gun, Rin dives into the ocean and swims out to protect him. Just when it looks like Rin will have to fight the Kraken alone, the boy's father returns. The Kraken hadn't killed him, but had helped him back home after he'd gotten lost at sea. This episode continues the theme of some demons being more benign than the cast assumes at first.

8 "Hair Stand" (Another)

If ever an anime cast really needed a break at the beach, Another's would be it. Class 3-3 of Yomiyama North Middle School is under a curse that condemns students to horrific deaths each year. So it's only fitting that even its beach episode begins with a blood splatter.

Kouichi and his classmates visit a resort hotel to find someone who might know how to break the curse and enjoy themselves on the beach in the meantime. The fun of watermelon, swimming, and barbecue is cut horrifically short when Junta is ripped apart by a boat propeller, revealing that the curse isn't actually contained to Yomiyama and will follow the kids wherever they go.

7  "Summer Day: Courtship Behavior" (Guilty Crown)

Souta and his friends' trip to the beach has more going on under the surface than he realizes. Gai and the Undertakers are watching their every move, waiting for the chance to use Souta's Void to find and take the origin of the Apocalypse Virus.

This episode is another example of lighthearted summer fun giving way to heavier plot moments. Not only does Souta's Void open, but it happens because a jealous Shu stops him from confessing his love to Inori. This leads to explanations about not only the Virus, but how Voids can change based on Shu's actions.

6 "The Sun, The Sea, And The Host Club!" (Ouran High School Host Club)

While the previous episode "Jungle Pool SOS!" saw the Host Club at a public pool mimicking a beach, this time they really do get to enjoy a beach vacation. As Ouran is one of the funniest comedy anime out there, viewers are treated to plenty of jokes, but the humorous moments lead to a much more serious ending.

After watching Haruhi thrown off a cliff by some drunk men she stood up to, alone, the Host Club panicked and want to teach her to be less reckless. To do so, they try to figure out what she fears, but it's to no avail, as Haruhi seems to be fearless. Tamaki discovers completely by accident when a storm hits that she's actually afraid of thunder, and is quick to comfort her, and their earlier argument is forgotten.

5 "Episode 9" (Gakuen Babysitters)

Ryuichi and company take the children from the Babysitting Club for a day at the beach. While the episode is as soft and gentle as the rest of the show, it also has some emotional moments befitting one of the best anime about parenting. Ryuichi and Kotaro visited this beach with their parents before their deaths, and back then Kotaro wasn't afraid of the ocean at all.

On this visit, though, Kotaro is terrified of the water, and Ryuichi worries that he isn't as strong a source of security as their parents. Hayato tells him bluntly that that's stupid: Kotaro only wasn't afraid before because he was a baby who didn't know any better. Sure enough, when Kotaro sees his big brother in the ocean, he musters up the courage to approach the water.

4 "Final Exams" (Food Wars! Shokugeki No Soma)

As expected of the elite Tootsuki Academy, even its students' beach trips are a fast-paced trial where those who fall short are expelled. The second-year class must form teams of 10, manage their own restaurants on the beach, and earn 27,000 yen within three days. Even for Soma and his Elite Ten teammates, it's a daunting task.

The test isn't just about cooking some of the best dishes in anime, it's about how well they can present and advertise a restaurant, an essential skill for professional chefs. Soma's team struggles for the first two days as they figure out how to win customers. All their efforts pay off on day three, though, when they attract the entire beach to their stall and earn 6.5 million yen in one day.

3 "Trial In Open Water!" (Free! Iwatobi Swim Club)

Swimming in a pool is one thing, but the ocean is a different beast entirely. No beach episode demonstrates this better than this one. The Iwatobi swim club goes to the beach for a training camp, which tests the skills of the veteran swimmers and greatly challenges newcomers to the sport Rei Ryugazaki, as well as shows off some of the most heartwarming friendships in Free!

Feeling inadequate, Rei goes swimming alone at night, hoping to get some extra training in. But he underestimates the powerful currents and is swept out to sea. Makoto faces his fear of the ocean even further to go after him, but he is swept away too, forcing Haruka and Nagisa to save them both. It's the first truly intense moment in a generally lighthearted series.

2 "Remote Island Syndrome" (The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya)

This episode breaks from typical beach episode fare in a big way: it's a murder mystery! The SOS Brigade, one of the most obscure but fun anime clubs, are invited on a vacation to an island villa, but their fun is cut short when a storm hits and their host is found dead. Now it's up to them to solve the mystery.

Haruhi, Kyon, and the rest of the club follow the clues around the villa and locate suspects. Once they think they've tracked down the murderer, they explain in characteristically over-the-top fashion, complete with an Ace Attorney parody. In the end, it's revealed that their host was never murdered at all: the "case" was set up as a game for Haruhi.

1 "Who Are You?" (Fruits Basket 2019)

Fruits Basket's beach arc is infamous among fans for its dramatic character moments and plot revelations. In the episode, "Who Are You?", while they set off fireworks on the beach, Tohru reflects on how all her friends have changed for the better and are looking forward to their futures, resolving to break the Zodiac curse holding them back.

However, the episode also spotlights Akito's steadily unraveling emotional state. He comes to the beach house to intimidate Tohru, telling her that all the Zodiac's development is for nothing because, in the end, they will all spend their lives bound to him. Tohru realizes then that Akito isn't one of the animals of the zodiac: he's the God that controls them all.

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