What are some highly rated anime that you didn't enjoy or couldn't get into?

Badasssiper47 said:
Death parade had an interesting plot but it became repetitive and long

Texhnolyze has got to be so confusing i had to read a wiki episode synopsis to understand wth happend in episode 1 and im not gonna do that again!

benn14_ said:


Yea, same here for death parade. That was my main problem with it. It had a super interesting concept but just felt like nothing changed until the end.

AnimaExZero said:
-Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood
From the few episodes that I've seen, seems to be a good anime, I can't deny it. But I think that it's so overrated by it's fans, and without any valid reason.

-HunterxHunter (Both versions)
After 2 episodes, I don't know what people see in this anime, it's so boring and generic...

-Great Teacher Onizuka
Other one that is labeled as an "classic". After the first episode (and I couldn't even finish it...) it is too damn cringey and so unfunny.

-Gintama
Gintama had it's moments, and this could have been a better anime series, but the "story arcs" were so damn boring... Also, Tae Shimura and Yagyo Kyubey are the worst characters within the series, a clear example of what not to do when you are creating a comedy anime series.

NamikazeHime said:
There is a bunch of them but the most 'controversial' one is probably Madoka Magica. Spilling the blood on some lolis doesn't make it a groundbreaking masterpiece.

Amatniki said:
One Piece, I dont understand why its so loved. its super long and isnt anything special

dan918 said:

But Rei is your profile picture?? I'm confused


On another note, I found code geass -- albeit I haven't watched R2 -- very frustrating and lacklustre. It was riddled with way too many unconvincing plot twists and tried to focus on a way too big thematic scope, which it ultimately failed to execute well. The only redeeming factor of the season were the final 4-5 episodes, which were admittedly quite entertaining and a decent send-off.

Beastbane said:
Code Geass: Garbage, Ledouche is a boring character.
Anohana: Boring.

CuteAssTiger said:


Well luckily everything else besides spilling blood on some Lolis also contributes making it a groundbreaking masterpiece

NamikazeHime said:

Yeah it does. It makes it a regular mahou shojo.

WatchTillTandava said:
Psycho Pass (Dropped)
3-gatsu no Lion (Dropped)
Monster (Dropped)
Shinsekai Yori (Dropped)
Akagami no Shirayuki-hime (Dropped)
Dr. Stone (Dropped)
Claymore (Dropped)
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (Dropped)
Ghost Hunt (Dropped)
Tsuki ga Kirei (Dropped)
Shingeki no Kyojin (completed season one; dropped season two)
Eizouken ni wa Te wo Dasu na! (On Hold)
Spice and Wolf season two (Completed)
Neon Genesis Evangelion (Completed)

Psycho Pass because it's style over substance. Around 11 episodes in its plot felt very thin and superficial to me not justifying the grandeur of its premise/presentation and its characters uninteresting archetypes. This is the standard go-to "accessible" cyberpunk from what I've noticed since of its ratings and legacy, but it's very hollow and more like paint by numbers cyberpunk-lite rather than constructing a compelling novel story from the ground up. It doesn't do the hard ground work but just references everything else.

3-gatsu no Lion because I wasn't a fan of the comedy and after Shinji and Eva I'm just really put off depressed main characters which don't have another compelling or interesting feature about them to make me care or be interested about their despondency/self-loathing/anxiety/internalized servility.

Monster because I was fine with the show being a thriller, a horror, a medical drama, or any combination of the above and the first 12 episodes or so were fantastic, but then it kept changing focus every three or four episodes to more and more side characters and there's been very very few anime or stories generally (I can only think of one anime which qualifies) which made me care about such a large ensemble cast. I honestly ideally prefer two main characters and four to five at most and even though I know and can tell it's well written so all the side characters and tales will connect thematically and have a point either in the direct action or symbolically by its end, it still doesn't make me that interested (for now anyway) to keep watching a longer show of countless side characters and constantly shifting focus. There's something I also find a little irritating about the tell don't show aspect of the show surrounding Johan and the sort of quasi-low fantasy mystique surrounding him and his omnipotence - it's either poorly explained or left unexplained and even if it's explained more later, it doesn't make watching it repeatedly enjoyable in the meantime. A longer show has to have enough to make me enjoy it while I'm actually watching (Inuyasha, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu, Nana, etc. of those I've seen) rather than just kind of tolerating it whilst waiting for a payoff later.

Shinsekai Yori because the premise was fascinating but I can already kind of tell three episodes in that the characters are a little too plain plot devices and won't be interesting to me as they just feel like instruments of the story. It's a shame because it's always recommended on MAL and elsewhere alongside Higurashi and Shiki, two of my all-time favorite anime ever and both in my top 10, but with both of those I felt immersed, gripped, and invested within like the first five minutes of the very first episode.

Akagami no Shirayuki-hime because it just feels a little too milquetoast Shoujo romance with characters doing what they do because the plot demands it and moves them along in textbook fashion rather than feeling like free agents and characterization seems poor and lacking and goofy.

Dr. Stone because I both love post-apocalyptic anime and always wanted to see one set in the prehistoric Jurassic period or any age of dinosaurs and this feels close to it because of the doomsday event and returning the few humans left to a primitive state + overgrown flora/fauna, but the main character and his 10,000% is a little too obnoxious for me and it's a little too spinning wheels classic Shounen tropey to me, which I don't necessarily mind if I care enough about any of the characters, but here I didn't.

Claymore because with its medieval European aesthetic and recommendation it almost seems like it could hold a handle to Berserk for a second, but its characters seem to suck and not really develop meaningfully and I thought I could get used to at least seeing how the two main traveling pair pan out, but then it commits the cardinal sin and my biggest pet peeve in anime and storytelling generally and changes focus for flashbacks and/or more random characters who are flat.

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann because although I'm not a huge mecha fan generally (I wouldn't count it as a least favorite genre; it's just not a favorite and something I don't go out of my way to seek out, but don't actively shy away from it either), if there is something which sounds unique or compelling in the premise I'll give it a shot, but after the first episode I could tell this would just be way too loud, zany, "cartoonish" for the type of show I was looking for.

Ghost Hunt because I'm tired of typical Shoujo cliches of main heroines with some unexplained love interest for a bland rude pretty boy and the premise of paranormal investigators was interesting, but it was both too episodic and not capitalized upon fully and then later also derailed by the main character's annoying antics and dumb crush and the other main character's obnoxious rude bishounen persona.

Tsuki ga Kirei because I don't mind slow at all and often favor it, so I was a big fan of the pacing, a big fan of the art style which seemed storybook to me, and I could already tell the music would be good because of its composer - it was overall a quality production. But its romance is just a little too plain Jane/milquetoast/vanilla and simplistic for me since I like more transgressive stuff than the mostly flawless typical boy meets girl middle school romance.

Shingeki no Kyojin - There isn't a single main character I find interesting - the usual always yelling/angry/angsty main character (Eren) annoys me and though it kept switching to show other characters and their struggles, I didn't feel particularly pulled in by any of them either. Also, at least in season two, unnecessary stupid cliffhangers to inflate maximum hype every episode, including many false cliffhangers, which were then either dropped or with some anticlimactic addressing the next episode, and minutes of padding recap every episode. Felt like a lot of style over substance.

Eizouken because it's very interesting and fresh to have an anime about actually producing anime, even - nay, maybe especially from the perspective of low budget independent student creators, but the plot seemed a little too episodic and every dilemma wrapped up too quickly without any real drama, stakes, or tension so it reminded me of some of the plainer American cartoons rather than a proper serial, which for that short a run doesn't allow me to get invested in characters either who were just okay. Felt kind of by the book and not really doing something as exciting or revolutionary with a great premise as I may have hoped. I will still finish this one though since it's a short series with currently only one season.

Spice and Wolf season two - Although I liked the first season, love the premise, and generally like the medieval old German/west European aesthetic and mythological feel and Holo and Kraft Lawrence are not my favorite main characters ever but still decent, I find Spice and Wolf as a whole a little overrated, even the first season, but this season is massively so. It's a gigantic waste of time, rehashing the same conversations and banter and undeserved feelings of inadequacy and unrequited love justified by nothing shown on screen, and none of it is as charming, witty, or endearing the second time around or how people make it seem. It wastes the entire season on some of the lowest rung bullshit in anime about some dumb misunderstanding because one person simply could have told the other something basic and simple and didn't for no good reason. And a bunch of mini-arcs and side characters which are unpleasant and uninteresting. And it's made all the more egregious by the fact that this was their last season since 2009 with no third season in the foreseeable future and they squandered it on this nonsense and ended on a cliffhanger to boot.

Only minor saving grace was more European-inspired architecture, the bird deity, and I like the basic 2000s art style well enough (and more than today some of the designs I find sterile/clinical and overly sleek). When I think back to how much this season displeased me and how much disgust I felt that it did nothing of consequence for either the story or characters it seems like even more of a slap in the face and a 4 rating doesn't seem low enough. It drags Spice and Wolf down as a whole in my eyes and makes the first season worse in retrospect, which should never happen.

Neon Genesis Evangelion - This anime is the poster child for what I mean when I say a 5 or 6 rated series for me doesn't mean plain or mediocre. This anime is anything but plain and mediocre. It contains a duality in that there are many aspects about it I both love and hate. Its influence on anime in the 25 years since is worthy and impressive. One of the best OPs ever, great animation and art style, great premise, great fight choreography and designs of the bio-mechs, some quirky and interesting characters like Rei/Gendo/Misato (and how many anime have a penguin mascot as their animal of choice?), a feeling of grandiose scale and I love apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic works as well as its incorporation of some psychological themes and dialogue.

So why? I didn't mind the transition from apocalyptic mecha war series to more of internally-focused psychological drama in the latter half, but didn't at all appreciate how it was done at the total expense, ditching and outright disrespect of its overall narrative (yes, I'm referring to the last two episodes and End of Evangelion both, which was a little too abstract/avant-garde for me to feel like a proper conclusion to the story in the way it was set up throughout the first half of the series' run) - it seemed like a total disrespect, disregard, and figurative "Fuck you!" to the audience and I was not amused or impressed.

I also loathe Shinji and Asuka both as main characters - my two least favorite anime characters in anything of all time. As well as the meaningless and shallow shoehorned-in gaudy pseudo-religious iconography and false symbolism for exoticism's sake alone.

CuteAssTiger said:


It really sounds like you haven't seen an anime when you call the deconstruction of a genre a regular member of the genre

Like
That's not even about taste or preference.
Your statement is objectively wrong