Recommendations: Anime to Avoid

[elcamino41383]

the ending was really stupid and the whole series (series 1, I know they made a series 2 but I never saw it) was really slow anyway.

This is the case with MOST anime. When they come from being manga to anime, the creators just mess it up big time, throw in stupid filler and change the ending so it's so stupid it ruins the whole thing. Rurouni Kenshi was a great series but the last episode was almost entirely pictures from the real world thrown together and you just sit there going "wha....?" Of all the animes I've watched, most of the great ones are ruined toward the end because the creators just seem to give up.

As for any to avoid: I'm going with Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece. Over all I DO like these shows, though I honestly don't watch them much because there is so much goddamn filler. When it's not filler it's actually pretty good. Another is the new Guyver. That series pissed me off so bad. The reviews all over the box talk about "The greatest hyper violence ever," and call it a great series and what not. It was so damn boring and cuddling kittens seems more violent than this.

 

[LawlessSquirrel]

To avoid?
Erm, Rozen Maiden I guess, not that it's bad as such, just that it doesn't have an ending, it got cancelled

I actually enjoyed Rozen Maiden, despite expecting that I wouldn't. Has a much darker undertone than you'd expect given its appearance and general light-hearted style. But you are correct, it lacks an ending...which is very disappointing.

 

[Jonluw]

Wow! SO many haters. Naruto, Bleach and One piece are the top 3 for a reason.

Just like Justin Bieber is at the top for a reason, I guess.

.How dare anyone complain about One piece. It has a great anime and manga and unless your watching dub you have your only complaint is there are too many episodes? WTF? It's not like it gets worse as it goes on either, quite contrary it gets better AND it's good from the very beginning.

I have been trying to read One piece for a while now. I'm at chapter 158. It's really tedious to be honest. It's just the regular boring shonen stuff.

Truly avoidable animes are the ones that play on the brother sister fetish

What if you like that kind of stuff? Clannad, one of the best animes I've ever seen has a scene where it plays with this fetish. Does that make it bad? No, the scene is hilarious.

and/or go through the number of anime cliches. I've watched a lot of anime and unless it falls into one of these categories you have no excuse to not give the anime a try. (I made the mistake of putting off Hunter x Hunter for a whole year because I was too impatient to give something different a chance. It's now my favoirte anime and I have seen it over 5 times.)

From what I hear, it doesn't sound like Naruto, Bleach and One piece are exactly avoiding the cliches. They're truly generic shonen anime in my opinion.
Truly not the kind of stuff I'd recommend. Particularly not to a grown man who's going to watch it with his wife.

 

[Lood NL]

The ending of Soul Eater. You can watch the first three quarters though, they're pretty good.
But because the manga didn't catch up with the speed at wich the anime came out, the makers of the anime had to make up their own ending. BIG mistake. While the manga is still running with a better ending and sequals, the anime died a silent death with no remorse.

 

[bruunwald]

Awhile back, my wife brought home a sampler that had the first episode of Full Metal Panic! on it. The first five or so minutes of it was FREAKING AMAZING. I mean effin' EPIC. The next twenty or so minutes had a lot of the standard crap of kids in positions of great power and teenagers saving the world, mixed in with a healthy dose of girl-secretly-likes-boy-but-treats-him-like-a-pervert that you see in about 99.99% of all Anime all the time.

That said, it was all done quite well. So I took a chance and asked for it for Christmas and my wife dutifully bought me the "Complete Series" Blu-Ray box set.

What a hysterical, outlandish letdown. The series sells itself - especially with that first episode - as a sort of semi-romantic Robo Action show, but it really is basically just a girl-thinks-boy-is-pervy peep show with occasional Robo Action thrown in as an afterthought. One suspects they came up with this cool idea, then got shot down by the Anime Gods, who decided we needed yet even more shows with the girl smacking the guy each time he accidentally squeezes her boob (probably for the purpose of selling it to the ever-growing Anime girl crowd to make enough money to buy another yacht). The first episode sets a mystery up, for instance, THAT THE ENTIRE REST OF THE SHOW NEVER, EVER COMES BACK TO OR EXPLAINS. (For the old timers, imagine Twin Peaks started with the death of Laura Palmer, then moved off to the investigations of the deaths of other girls, switched suddenly to romantic comedy, then told you who murdered the other girls at the end, but never mentioned Laura Palmer again. EVER.)

I have a friend who is shocked that I don't recommend the show. He says the later, inevitable OVA and other direct-to-video series are great. To my mind, that is counterintuitive. If the first show, with a setup that could have rocked the socks off of the biggest Anime haters ever, couldn't follow through, then how could the sequels?

 

[Karilas]

.hack//SIGN

I watched 5 or 6 episodes of it and while right it the beginning it looked quite promising, after the first episode NOTHING happened.

DNAngel, that, too, is gash.

 

[Lord Devius]

Most of those I haven't seen, some I have and they're fantastic (namely Darker than Black), but if I may recommend bumping Clannad above Rin and Angel Beats. Angel Beats flounders through, but is interesting enough to keep going and has an amazing ending (and an awesome OP song). Rin is... okay. Full of fanservice, that's for sure.

I know the feeling of being swamped; I have tons I still need to watch. I just started watching Les Miserables Shoujo Cosette, which is proving to be an interesting adaptation of one of the greatest stories ever written. Thing is, everything has more of an emotional impact for me after watching Clannad. I never cried before that anime; now I cry in freaking everything. The show broke me emotionally, and it makes emotional shows that much better. It's kind of awesome, actually.

That list is just the stuff I have access to but haven't watched. I think I'm just going to marathon Angel Beats and Rin and get them out of the way (yay for a week off school, even if it's packed with homework), then I'll get Clannad so it joins the ranks of "you can watch this to catch up."

I'm not a crying kind of guy, not with stories... or not that often, with the exception of a favorite character getting hit with something horrible (see: Major Hughes untimely demise in FMA, episode 8 of Gurren Lagann), or when something hits way too close to home to be comfortable. (see: Welcome to the N.H.K!'s last 4-5 episodes)

And actually, I just finished watching one of those series. Last episode of the season came out on the 27th. And one of those is a movie (Black Rock Shooter). Down to 27! 12 of which are comedy and/or rom-com. So... Lighthearted fare for a good chunk of 'em.

 

[[Kira Must Die]]

Mars of Destruction.
...
Actually, scratch that, watch it. it's so unintentionally hilarious, and fails on every level. If any of you want to know what a truly terrible anime really is, then you must watch this.
Also, Tenkuu Danzato Skelter Heaven, which is made by the same people and is just as horrible.

As for one I wouldn't recommend, probably Eiken.
My god, it's so horrible it's not even funny, unlike Mars of Destruction.

And Apocalypse Zero. I couldn't get through the first episode, it was so hideous, and is one of the worse things I've ever seen.

None of you people know what a bad anime is until you've see any of these shows.

 

[bruunwald]

To avoid?
Erm, Rozen Maiden I guess, not that it's bad as such, just that it doesn't have an ending, it got cancelled

I actually enjoyed Rozen Maiden, despite expecting that I wouldn't. Has a much darker undertone than you'd expect given its appearance and general light-hearted style. But you are correct, it lacks an ending...which is very disappointing.

I liked where Rozen Maiden was going in terms of the internal conflict of the main dolls in having to win this contest at each other's expense.

I could care less of the reek of fetish in it. I am not a prude in any way, and I have no problem with an honest fetish or two. But Rozen Maiden is another example of how anything and everything taboo can be too-easily commercialized and trivialized by an Anime market that I consider to be too big for its own good.

The end of this trend will be that Anime runs every gimmick it sniffs out into the ground until the whole human race becomes so bored with its trivialized existence that we all simultaneously commit suicide. Really, the industry needs to slow down and take a look at itself.

 

[Natocwal]

FLCL is only 6 episodes but it is very confusing and stuff just happens but you can follow along very well.

Chaos Head (12eps) was another one i found not to be that great, until the last 2 episodes when it actually got kinda good.

 

[Manji187]

Aside from those that are objectively...as in unarguably crap...like Garzey's Wing (apparently, haven't seen it myself...but I take Spoony's word for it) the rest just comes down to taste/ preference....i.e. opinion.

I personally didn't like Tenjou Tenge...but I'm sure someone else prolly did.

 

[omegawyrm]

]Mars of Destruction.
...
Actually, scratch that, watch it. it's so unintentionally hilarious, and fails on every level. If any of you want to know what a truly terrible anime really is, then you must watch this.

As for one I wouldn't recommend, probably Eiken.
My god, it's so horrible it's not even funny, unlike Mars of Destruction.

Can't believe we haven't mentioned Eiken. Goes to show how much of this thread has been about recommending against things that haven't been to our personal tastes instead of recommending against things that are actually bad.

 

[LawlessSquirrel]

I liked where Rozen Maiden was going in terms of the internal conflict of the main dolls in having to win this contest at each other's expense.

I could care less of the reek of fetish in it. I am not a prude in any way, and I have no problem with an honest fetish or two. But Rozen Maiden is another example of how anything and everything taboo can be too-easily commercialized and trivialized by an Anime market that I consider to be too big for its own good.

The end of this trend will be that Anime runs every gimmick it sniffs out into the ground until the whole human race becomes so bored with its trivialized existence that we all simultaneously commit suicide. Really, the industry needs to slow down and take a look at itself.

I'm assuming the whole loli-complex is what you're referring to? I honestly didn't get that vibe at all in the series, nor anything appearing fetishistic. I saw it more as a whole 'these are dolls, they're meant to be perfect' concept brought to life in an emotionally dark, and almost highlander-ish way. That's just me though, maybe it went over my head and I didn't pick up on any questionably subtext.

Maybe I'm blessed with a good ol' naivety where I just look past this stuff without knowing it XD

 

[the_green_dragon]

I'm not trollbaiting. I've just seen so much anime at my local store I dont know whats bad and whats not. I spent $150 on Gantz and sorely regret it so bad. I'm going thru and making a list, thank you to everyone whos contrubuted.

Also, please respect other peoples opinions, even if they are not the same as your own.

 

[Crazy_Dude]

If you think you will like an anime just watch the 1st few episodes and decide if you want to watch futher.

All this is subjective and a matter of taste some people might love a certain anime but others might hate that anime with a passion.

 

[figday]

Animes to avoid? for me..almost EVERYONE OF THEM!
i'm not saying that 90% of them are bad, but most of the manga-adapted animes are very pale in comparison to their manga counterpart (personal opinion). While there are still many good ones even though its adapted from mangas.

my conclusion : most manga adapted animes/movies fail. hence i cannot give specific answers. but i can give recommended ones to watch.

 

[WaReloaded]

I would actually say avoid Death Note. Its ver predictable, and if you see the first season, there's no need to see the second, cause its much of the same.

My thoughts exactly, I would have recommended avoiding Death Note too.

 

[Rakkana]

Wow! SO many haters. Naruto, Bleach and One piece are the top 3 for a reason.

Just like Justin Bieber is at the top for a reason, I guess.

.How dare anyone complain about One piece. It has a great anime and manga and unless your watching dub you have your only complaint is there are too many episodes? WTF? It's not like it gets worse as it goes on either, quite contrary it gets better AND it's good from the very beginning.

I have been trying to read One piece for a while now. I'm at chapter 158. It's really tedious to be honest. It's just the regular boring shonen stuff.

Truly avoidable animes are the ones that play on the brother sister fetish

What if you like that kind of stuff? Clannad, one of the best animes I've ever seen has a scene where it plays with this fetish. Does that make it bad? No, the scene is hilarious.

and/or go through the number of anime cliches. I've watched a lot of anime and unless it falls into one of these categories you have no excuse to not give the anime a try. (I made the mistake of putting off Hunter x Hunter for a whole year because I was too impatient to give something different a chance. It's now my favoirte anime and I have seen it over 5 times.)

From what I hear, it doesn't sound like Naruto, Bleach and One piece are exactly avoiding the cliches. They're truly generic shonen anime in my opinion.
Truly not the kind of stuff I'd recommend. Particularly not to a grown man who's going to watch it with his wife.

Actually since you pointed it out Clannad is an exception. It is a fantastic anime with well developed characters.

If you've tried One piece and simply decided you don't like it fair enough, your right it's just not for you. Now I think about it Bleach is quite generic too. But I don't think that should stop you from trying the other what should be generic shonens.

As you just said Clannad can strike you as quite cliched but it's done well enough to excuse this. Unless you try all the other anime's you'll never know which ones break the mold.

 

[Megacherv]

Any Gundam series made after Wing is not worth watching for the whole angsty 'let's complain and whine about how war is bad and that peace will never happen if people don't listen whilst we fight in giant 60-foot tall robots'-ism

 

[darthotaku]

Though I loved the manga version, the anime of Rosario+Vampire is so bad. the entire plot was sex jokes and pointless. they completely destroyed the plot from the manga.

also Mariaholic. it seems good from the first few episodes but nothing happens.