'Community' Anime Cartoon Episode Stills: Joel McHale, Yvette Nicole Brown Go Cartoon (PHOTOS)

Last season, "Community" experimented with stop motion animation. This season, they're branching out into anime.

The cult hit NBC sitcom has become the smartest comedy on television through its willingness to experiment with time, story structure, meta-level scripting and years-in-the-making easter egg hiding. And while they're going on an uncertain hiatus from NBC's mid-season schedule, that doesn't mean they're going out with a whimper.

In Thursday's new episode, the study group will enter into an anime cartoon segment. We don't know much more than that, but we have, through the generous offerings of CartoonBrew.com, gotten our hands on a couple of the images from the segment. Check out Jeff and Shirley, 80s anime style (anyone remember "Voltron"?) and then watch "Community" tonight at 8 pm EST.

PHOTOS:

Comments

[greenbug14]

04:03 AM on 12/03/2011

I LOOOOOOOOOVED this last night!

[GoldDustDreams]

07:21 PM on 12/02/2011

Last night's episode was amazing. I'm gonna be bummed when this show goes off the air. At least I'll have my precious Parks n Rec...

[LSRules]

02:52 PM on 12/02/2011

I love Community. I said "wow" at that episode before the anime part even showed up.
And the anime didn't put it over the top, it was simply another thing/time this show did something wonderful.

I have long considered NBC Thursday to be a special television night - growing up on The Cosby Show and Must See TV - but since the news of the benching of Community, NBC has lost it's luster in my eyes.

[jcapflorida]

12:03 PM on 12/02/2011

This show is clever, funny, smart, and NBC is stupid to remove it from the line-up. "Up All Night" and "Whitney"? Please.

[UserNameJane]

11:20 AM on 12/02/2011

A friend has been telling me about the show, (I dont watch much tv, just Pawn Stars and American Pickers on a regular) but I did check this episode this week. It seems neat, but of course I dont know the charactors, I may check it out again next week, It seem like a interesting show.

[thesadtruthliveson]

09:01 AM on 12/02/2011

Tinkle town !!

[Puzzlr]

08:20 AM on 12/02/2011

This episode was very funny. The only thing that would have made it better, would have been to have them beat those German guys.

[NyCa05]

10:46 PM on 12/01/2011

This is similar to when non-Trekkies cannot distinguish Klingons and Romulans. No one cares because at the end of the day, you're putting thought into distinguishing two fake species with bad hair.

[AnimeFanJerk]

06:51 PM on 12/01/2011

Anime cartoon segment? You know that's like saying 'cartoon cartoon' segment. I mean Anime isn't a genre, it's an abbreviation for the word 'animation'. Do these people even know the difference between anime and cartoons? Or are we just going for laughs and irrelevance?

[Chiquitalasta]

02:12 PM on 12/02/2011

Anime is actually an abbreviation for the word "japanamation". It is a style of drawing that originated in Japan. Compare Tom & Jerry/Simpsons to Pokemon/Yu-Gi-Oh!/Full Metal Alchemist.

[AnimeFanJerk]

05:08 PM on 12/02/2011

Japanamation isn't a real word. 'Anime' is an abbreviation for the word 'Animation'. Sure there are websites that claim that the word 'Anime' is an abbreviation for 'Japanese Animation', but it's just 'Animation'. People like yourselves change the definition so the word 'Anime' only applies to 'Japanese Animation'.

[mandyjane123700]

06:16 PM on 12/01/2011

Do Nielsen unicorns really exist?

[olafTheAwesome]

09:19 AM on 12/02/2011

Ya. I see them all the time in my dreams :-)

[dollyblue]

06:05 PM on 12/01/2011

Some of you seem a bit confused. That's clearly Troy in the top picture with the cat. Shirley is the in the lower one talking to Jeff.

[swlabr413]

05:50 PM on 12/01/2011

Yeah so that's Shirley and not Troy.... awkward.

[NyCa05]

10:47 PM on 12/01/2011

LOL

[Mythika]

05:34 PM on 12/01/2011

Wow.. that's a bit racist.. it's Yvette Nicole Brown, not Donald Glover.

[mjredder]

05:10 PM on 12/01/2011

Yuck feah!

[Kevin Arthus]

04:50 PM on 12/01/2011

They look constipated.

[yellowdoggie]

06:57 AM on 12/02/2011

...also strangely two-dimensional. Hmmm.