The 13 Most Disappointing Anime Of 2021
- 1891 VOTES
The Promised Neverland Season 2
Photo: The Promised Neverland / CloverWorksThe Promised Neverland was one of the most beloved series in recent history, so when its second season was announced, fans were hyped. Unfortunately, the second season was a huge disappointment.
The first problem was that it cut out huge portions of the manga - the Goldy Pond arc was excised entirely. While an anime doesn't have to follow its source material to the letter, removing major chunks with no explanation and nothing meaningful to replace them is rarely a good move.
But manga readers weren't the only people who were disappointed by this ending. It didn't work for anime-onlys either. The ending was incredibly rushed, barely made sense, and was ultimately resolved far too easily. Even if you didn't know what was missing, you could tell that something was.
- 2267 VOTESPhoto: Platinum End / Signal.MD
Platinum End is still airing, so it's possible that it could redeem itself and become the awesome series that fans were hoping for - but that seems unlikely.
The anime is based on a manga by Takeshi Obata and Tsugumi Ohba - the artist and writer behind Death Note. For that reason, many fans had high expectations. But so far, Platinum End has fallen flat. The series follows a young man who tries to take his own life, but ends up being rescued by an angel and conscripted into a survival game where the winner becomes God.
In some ways, the story provides an interesting contrast to the creator's earlier works. While Light Yagami was a relatively sheltered kid who upended his own life to become God, Mirai is desperately trying to cling to his humanity and morality through immense suffering, and is being forced into the God position. That could be cool, but Mirai's personality also seems depthless and lacking in complexity.
Also, the plot seems far less well-crafted than Death Note. In general, it just seems lackluster by comparison.
- 3349 VOTESPhoto: The Detective Is Already Dead / ENGI
One of the reasons that The Detective Is Already Dead didn't do well in the US had to do with timing and availability. It streamed exclusively on Funimation, which meant it wasn't available to anime fans who stick to Crunchyroll, Netflix, or other platforms. Also, the light novels weren't available in English prior to the release, so a lot of fans had never heard of it at all. It was set up from the beginning to be under-watched. That could have made it a hidden gem... but because of structural problems, it's not.
In order to fit two volumes' worth of content into a one-cour anime, the creators cut a ton of content and focused on two main storylines. However, some of this extra content is actually necessary to the core of the plot, and needed to be referenced later. Also, the series mixed up the plot and included Volume 2 plotlines in the middle of Volume 1's plot. This created confusion and resulted in incoherency. While certainly not the worst offender on this list, it was a disappointing series.
- 4366 VOTESPhoto: Wonder Egg Priority / CloverWorks
When Wonder Egg Priority was first coming out, many people thought it was going to be one of the best anime of the year. It had a lot to recommend it. The art and animation were beautiful, and the story seemed fresh and innovative. It dealt with serious topics that anime rarely touched upon such as gender identity, suicide, eating disorders, and more.
The series handled those sensitive topics poorly. While some instances were well-done, others seemed hastily thrown in for drama. The fact that all of the characters experiencing extreme pain were female brings up questions of how the series views women and girls. The series seems to revel in their anguish, and it also seems to blame them for it. Some of the plot points that were revealed towards the end, such as the introduction of Frill, were clumsily handled and made the whole story feel like a morass of hopelessness and misery.
Perhaps the series would have been able to get its message across more clearly if not for its production issues, which resulted in a planned episode being replaced by a clip show and a new special episode being planned to resolve the story. It did seem like the creators bit off more than they could chew, content-wise.
- 5271 VOTESPhoto: Yasuke / MAPPA
When Yasuke was first announced, it was met with almost universal excitement. It was a collaboration between LeSean Thomas of Legend of Korra fame, and Studio MAPPA, one of the best anime studios working today. It also starred LaKeith Stanfield as the titular voice actor. The story centered around a real historical figure - an African man who ended up serving as a samurai under Oda Nobunaga during the Sengoku period. With such a great premise, few people thought it could fail.
Sadly, the execution was pretty lackluster. Sure, the art and animation were awesome, but that was about it. The anime was only six episodes long, which is half the length of a typical one-cour anime. This wasn't nearly enough time to contain the story, so the whole thing felt rushed and convoluted. Also, while some fans appreciated the introduction of magic and mecha, others were really hoping for a more grounded, historical take on the content. Even some who enjoyed those additions felt that they were introduced with little explanation and didn't fit the rest of the story.
Hopefully, this won't be the final take on the story of Yasuke - the real historical material is fascinating, and it deserves another adaptation.
- 6466 VOTESPhoto: Record of Ragnarok / Graphinica
Sometimes, bad animation can totally ruin an anime. That's what happened with Record of Ragnarok. The premise is awesome - all the gods of the world get together to decide whether to let humanity continue, then decide to destroy it. In order to save mankind from extinction, 13 human warriors must face off against 13 gods in an epic tournament.
That's the kind of story that requires stellar animation. Most of the appeal is in the fights, so the fights had better look amazing. If they do, action fans will love it... but if they don't, the series won't appeal to anyone. Likely due to constraints created by the pandemic, the animation was awful. Full of weird transitions and characters who hardly move or emote, it looked like something slapped together in Windows Movie Maker.
- 7258 VOTESPhoto: Fena: Pirate Princess / Production I.G
Fena: Pirate Princess was a Crunchyroll original, which meant that it was promoted heavily on one of the most popular anime streaming sites in the USA. With all that hype, it's hard not to get at least a little excited. Sadly, the hype didn't add up to much.
The series follows the titular Fena as she goes from working as a servant to going on a grand adventure to an island of pirates where she'll learn the secret behind her family's origin. Sounds cool, right? In many ways, it is - the animation and art are exactly what you'd expect from Production I.G., and the show does have its compelling moments. But it could have been a lot better.
The biggest problem was the pacing. This hugely ambitious show had a ton of ground to cover, and it tried to do so at breakneck speed. But this resulted in a rushed, confusing story with a ton of characters whose arcs were left unfinished. Also, the final conclusion had questionable logic and left a lot of people dissatisfied.
- 880 VOTES
Farewell, My Dear Cramer
Photo: Farewell, My Dear Cramer / LIDENFILMSFarewell, My Dear Cramer is based on a manga created by Naoshi Arakawa, the same manga-ka behind the much-lauded Your Lie in April. The manga itself is highly regarded, but the anime didn't fare as well.
The series is about the unfortunate state of women's association football (soccer for the Americans reading this). The sport is declining in popularity because girls are discouraged from getting involved. A group of girls struggle to not only be successful at the sport, but also decide whether to affix themselves to a career that may fall apart for reasons beyond their control. It's a cool concept that does make you care about women's football... but the execution is just okay. While the characters are charming, there are way too many of them to fully develop in a one-cour series. Also, the art and animation are mediocre at best. Sometimes, it's outright awful.
If the story sounds good to you, you're probably better off reading the manga than watching the anime.
- 9147 VOTES
Otherside Picnic
Photo: Otherside Picnic / LIDENFILMS, Felix FilmOtherside Picnic follows two college-aged girls, Sorawo and Toriko - as they explore the Otherside, a mysterious and dangerous place where the rules of reality don't apply. Toriko's mission is to find her missing friend Satsuki, while Sorawo is interested in both supporting her new friend and doing her own exploration.
Cool premise, right? Unfortunately, the execution falls flat. Perhaps because it's a one-cour series, very little is actually resolved. They don't find Satsuki or come to a meaningful conclusion about her. The pacing is poor - for example, they spend way more time figuring out what to do with a glorified tractor than on going into detail about Sorawo's intriguing past that involves escaping a cult.
Also, Otherside Picnic is a shojo ai, which means that romance is expected. While Sorawo and Toriko's friendship occasionally takes on romantic shades, these are vague and minimally developed. They certainly aren't dating by the end of it. That would be okay in another genre, but not in shojo ai.
- 10126 VOTES
Joran: The Princess of Snow and Blood
Photo: Joran: The Princess of Snow and Blood / Bakken RecordAt first glance, Joran: The Princess of Snow and Blood looks like it's going to spectacular. Set in an alternate version of Japan where the Tokugawa shogunate remains in power up until 1931, the world relies on a substance called Dragon Vein. In this era, a group of assassins called Nue is responsible for protecting the shogunate from rebels called the Kuchinawa. Sawa Yukimura joins the Nue with one goal in mind - slaying the leader of the Kuchinawa to avenge her family.
This sounds epic, and in many ways, it is. The show is artistically beautiful, and it has plenty of great moments. But the ending, which we won't describe in detail, left a lot of people highly unsatisfied. It robbed the protagonist of her agency and undid many of the series' themes. Also, like many one-cour shows, it was too rushed to fully explore its characters and universe.
- 11661 VOTESPhoto: The Way of the Househusband / J.C.Staff
The Way of the Househusband is a Netflix original series that looked amazing. In fact, the premise was so much fun that it was hard to see how it could fail. A former yakuza member gives up his criminal ways to become a dedicated house husband - but he doesn't leave his gangster personality behind. Kenjiro Tsuda was perfectly cast as the yakuza protagonist.
The anime delivered on that premise, and in some ways it was pretty funny. The problem is that it wasn't animated - it was a colorful slideshow with voice acting and music. This was intentionally done to make the series more similar to the original manga.
While some people were able to appreciate the series despite the lack of animation, many found it extremely disappointing and enjoyed the series far less than they otherwise might have.
- 12222 VOTES
Cheat Pharmacist's Slow Life: Making a Drugstore in Another World
Photo: Cheat Pharmacist's Slow Life: Making a Drugstore in Another World / EMT SquaredFrom the jump, Cheat Pharmacist's Slow Life: Making a Drugstore in Another World looked like a mid-tier isekai. Few people expected it to be anything more than light comedy, and yet somehow it still managed to be disappointing. That might be because of the premise, which could have been really interesting if it were done differently.
The series follows Reiji, a depressed salaryman who gets reincarnated into another world with the ability to create basically anything he wants out of available ingredients. He uses this ability to open up a pharmacy. Very little of what he creates is even slightly medicinal - most of it is, say, soap or hair products. That's fun and all, but it also means that no one is coming to him with a particularly serious problem and the stakes are never especially high. The characters are all cute, but none of them develop appreciably, and most of their interactions are shallow. We're not asking for the series to swap genres and turn into a drama, but it's very possible to do the lighthearted, funny isekai thing and still have a plot and characters with depth.
- 13807 VOTES
Demon Slayer: Mugen Train Arc
Photo: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba / ufotableDemon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Mugen Train Arc was a genuinely good series, but it still received poor ratings in Japan - seriously, episode 5 was rated 5.7/10. For a series this popular, that's abysmal.
Why were the ratings so low? It wasn't because of the actual quality - the new season was as well animated and interesting as the rest of the series. The problem is that there was already a hugely successful movie - Demon Slayer: Mugen Train - that covered the same content. Yes, the series had a few extra scenes, but it was largely identical. Many people chose to skip this season if they'd already seen the movie.
Fortunately, the Entertainment District Arc will cover new ground in the winter of 2022. Hopefully, it'll be the same quality that fans are used to.
