Most Disappointing "Good" Shows

Devilman: Crybaby; people talk about it like it's a masterpiece but it's just so bad, I had to drop it after a few episodes.


@SuperAdventure Watch the 1997 adaptation, it's great, or read the manga, it's great.
Also Casca isn't real unfortunately.

Toaru Majutsu no Index - I love this show, but according to the source readers, it could be so much better, a huge chunk of Touma's personality got removed in the anime. I love the world building, the characters, the power system and the story.


This as well, I love the twist in episode 6, but the show as a whole lacks a good hook, the main casts other than the protagonist are kind of bland. The good thing about it though is that apparently it's a pretty faithful adaptation without rushing.

This series could've benefited from having more episodes. I enjoyed Charlotte a lot but I wish it had 50 episodes, and if not, then at least 26 episodes.

Personally I feel Touma isn't hurt as hard as other characters by the adaptation. I didn't feel any differently about him after reading the books.

@Lucifrost I don't read the LN so I could only imagine how much better the series could be if some of those characters didn't get shafted. As for Touma, what I heard was they removed a lot of his inner monologue in the anime, in response to some criticism regarding his character.

I'm currently experiencing that with Death Note. I'm 13 eps in and I just don't think it lives up to the reputation that the fanbase gives it. As a game of cat and mouse it's an enjoyable watch, but it doesn't seem to be much more than that, despite what people say. I hope I'm wrong, but right now it feels pretty pseudo-intellectual.

Ergo Proxy would be my pick. It's not too horrible but it tries extremely hard to be deep when its story is rather too linear for its own good. The thing about the show is that it takes its own premise way too seriously. It wants to tell you a dark message in an indirect manner which isn't bad but everything about it is really pretentious. I also can't stress to you just how much filler it contains. It's as if the show tries to compensate for its lack of direction toward its selling point by making half of its runtime unintentionally funny. The most infamous example of this is that one episode where it has those Mickey Mouse-esque stuff around. If I want to watch a show that includes such a thing, I'd go watch Psycho-Pass instead.

Not a show but I would also like to add in the Tsukihime VN to my list (whether it's the OG and the remake). The thing about Tsukihime is it actually has the most unique buildup of any TYPE-MOON series. Unlike most other TYPE-MOON titles where they may focus a little more on their own magic, Tsukihime's beginning might be more human and has the potential to be a standout. Sadly, that buildup is BODIED by exposition. I'm not kidding when I say even DEEN/Stay Night and KnK's 6th chapter have better scriptwriting. Tsukihime is filled to the brim with exposition dump that the series eviscerates its own story objective. Again, Tsukihime is pretentious because it tries way too hard to be deep when it doesn't know how to handle its own routes. The characters in this series are one-trick ponies that show next to no relevance besides TYPE-MOON lore fanservice, with the worst offender being Arcueid who essentially is a living ball of mystery and creates a lot of plot conveniences every time the story wants to show importance around her.

I would like to play Tsukihime someday. How does it compare to Witch on the Holy Night, my favorite Type Moon work so far?

How can a good show be disappointing? I think that is a contradiction.

For me it's probably Toaru Majitsu no Index. I've seen a lot of praise for the series online (and also a lot of criticism) I started the toaru series with Railgun and I loved Railgun a lot, so I was happy to hear there was more to the series, especially with how I'd seen people hyping up the magic side. Nothing could have prepared me for the absolute wet fart that was Index.